Redcap

The legends of the Redcaps claim that they were born of Nightmare itself, when the world was still young, and mankind cowered in caves for fear of the dark and terrible things which lurked Outside. This was the golden age of the Redcaps, the First Winter, when the waking world was a land of perpetual darkness, called the Fimbulwinter Country. Only when the humans, in despair, cried out to their dreams to save them did the Tuatha de Danaan arrive, the accursed Shining Host, whose children are the Sidhe. The Shining Host struck a blow directly against Nightmare by doing the unthinkable; they lit the sun. The Nightmare Lords were driven by its baleful light into hiding, and the Redcaps were chained beneath the earth. In desperation, the Redcaps devoured the sickly things that lived beneath the earth, for sustenance, first those things that crawled, and then the poisonous plants and fungi, and finally the rocks in desperation. It was this which earned the Redcaps their second Birthright, their powerful jaws and stomachs, and they ate their way out of their prisons to freedom.

Certainly this horrifying legend is the stuff of fancy, but it describes well the attitudes of the Redcaps. Redcaps loathe the humans around them, considering them weak flesh, best Ravaged and then devoured. Even other fey are fair game, and some Seelie nobles declare open hunts on Redcaps in their fiefdoms simply as a matter of principle. In general, Redcaps are offensive, loud, capricious, maladjusted, and generally difficult to get along with. Even other Unseelie fey are hard-pressed to be able to tolerate them for too long. Redcaps survive best in small groups of their own kind, which they form mostly as amusements for themselves. Often, a few Redcaps will patron a gang of humans, provided they are appropriately violent and disruptive. Those gangs which Redcaps join and assist frequently gain reputations for their terror tactics, and their enemies are hard-pressed to keep them from expanding their turf. Motleys of Redcaps are traveling freakshows, delighting in the carnage and terror they leave behind them. Destruction and mayhem are their only real goal.

This is not, of course, to say that Redcaps are particularly loyal to each other, such as the kith-bands of Satyrs or Trolls. In a Redcap motley, might makes right, and leaders are often called upon to enforce their edicts with violent reprisals against upstarts. When dealing with others, of course, Redcaps are able to draw upon their other Birthright. Redcaps are able to intimidate just about anything; their hideous faces and sickeningly inventive minds cause others to quake in terror, or at least flinch away. This allows Redcaps to even bully about Nocnista and Nervosa, making those nightmare Chimera follow their orders. Redcaps frequently have pernicious chimera which they can turn loose on their enemies, second in ghoulishness only perhaps to the eerie Sluagh. The only problem with such threat techniques is that smarter creatures realize what the Redcap is up to, and will often work to undermine him, or simply keep from running into him, once he leaves.

Redcaps are not simply violent brutes, however, and they delight in new and horrific methods of warfare, fashion, and general ghoulishness. Among younger Redcaps, extreme piercing has become all the rage. Holding those humans who simply get minor piercings in contempt, Redcaps adorn themselves with fish-hooks, barbed-wire, staples, stitches made with fishing line, bone piercings, and the like. The toughest, or perhaps bravest, among them even pierce themselves with rusted metal, or, in some cases, cold iron, enduring the Banality it inflicts upon them as a sign of personal pride. After all, the true lords of Nightmare should be able to endure the trappings of Winter.

Most common among Redcap fashion is the habit from which they get their names; traditionally, Redcaps received a white cap at their Saining, which they would soak in the blood of their enemies, dyeing it deep red. While the fashion for caps comes and goes, all fey shudder when they see one of this fey with a shock of red hair, or a leather jacket with dark stains around its shoulders. The fashion for dyed clothing, or dipped hair, still runs rampant among these fey. In bygone days, Redcaps bit off the body parts of their enemies and wore them, or adorned themselves with bones or skulls. Some Grumps, or extreme traditionalists among the fey, still maintain such practices.

Redcap appetites and capacity to devour anything are legendary. It is often said that a Redcap's jaw is as strong as his will. When attacking foes, a Redcap frequently seeks to bite the weapons or bodies of his enemies. Redcaps can eat anything: flesh, bone, solid steel, concrete, anything, so long as he can get his mouth around it.

Most Redcaps regard themselves as an oppressed minority among the fey, and use this attitude to justify all manner of monstrosities. Unseelie fae admire the determination and savagery of Redcaps, and even Seelie fey may hire Redcaps warriors, assassins, or bodyguards. Seelie Redcaps are uncommon, but do exist. They are frequently at odds with their Unseelie brothers and sisters, who sometimes actively hunt their Seelie kin, either to return them to the Unseelie Court or to destroy them for besmirching the "honor" of the fey. It is these Seelie Redcaps who are likely to find employ with Seelie nobles, selling their services to the Sidhe or Trolls in return for protection from their own kind. For the most part, however, Redcaps rebel against any authority which doesn't either flatter them and let them do as they want, or simply crush their skulls.

In their fae mien, Redcaps are hideous. They often have gray or white mottled flesh, with rubbery features and glaring yellow eyes. Their wide mouths hold yellow, crooked teeth, which can bite and tear through anything. In build, they tend to be stocky, though a number of Redcaps are almost skeletal. Their clothing is almost always dark, though reds are as important as anything else. Younger Redcaps adorn themselves with metal, as has been previously detailed.

-No one likes a Redcap, not even other Redcaps. Their love for terror, and delight in abusing humans, is too well known, and their fae appearance does nothing for the relationship with Kithain and Enchanted beings. Some noble Freeholds try to ostracize or even kill Redcaps on general principle.