Changelings

Changelings are fae that look like a baby to an extent. They can control doll-like vessels as "mothers" to move around,<ref name=11.3e2/> presumably with an application of Glamour.

Appearance

They look like babies that were far from perfect. A little too hairy, with ears pointed at the tips, a little too intelligent in how their eyes moved. Eyes like a cat’s or a dog’s, with barely any whites.<ref name=11.3e2/>

Notable changelings

• Pack hunters<ref name=11.3e1>There were a group of Others on the approach. Female figures with a range of body types, with babies strapped to their chests, backs, swaddled in slings, or in strollers. Six in all.
  
  What caught my interest was the lack of communication between them. They moved with an urgency, like they had a mission, silent. None of the babies cried.
  [...]
  Another mom was coming down the street from a block over. I saw her pick up her pace, approaching the ‘mombie’ group.
  
  She said two words, cooing and adjusting her own baby, as if ready to present it to them, when the lead mombie bumped her with one shoulder.
  
  Completely ignored.
  
  She said something in response, offended, and left in a bit of a huff. - Excerpt from Malfeasance 11.3</ref>

Trivia

• According to common myth the child was removed from the crib, often by the faerie, for something resembling a baby, so the faerie could put one of their spawn among humanity and have a human baby to raise themselves.<ref name=11.3e2>I stood two feet away from them, separated by a pane of glass and a degree of reality, and I watched them.
  
  Dolls. Their skin was too perfect and even in complexion, their makeup painted on. Their babies, by contrast, were far from perfect. A little too hairy, with ears pointed at the tips, a little too intelligent in how their eyes moved. Eyes like a cat’s or a dog’s, with barely any whites.
  
  Changelings was the first idea to pop into my head. A myth that I remembered learning about before, from some movie or another. The child was removed from the crib, often by the faerie, for something resembling a baby, so the faerie could put one of their spawn among humanity and have a human baby to raise themselves.
  
  I watched as the remainder of the group passed. Each changeling was scanning its surroundings from its mommy-doll perch, each positioned to look in a different direction. - Excerpt from Malfeasance 11.3</ref>
• In real life the myth of changelings evolved from an attempt to understand why perfectly healthy children suddenly develop illnesses or become uncommunicative or numerous other maladies.
• In story the closest to literary changelings would be Joanna whose identity was usurped by the local fae for their own purposes.<ref>Interlude 13</ref>

References

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