Changeling Neo Regular Font Free Download
Ariano Waiker
Yet the origins of changelings may have not been supernatural at all, but instead, as a way of understanding neurodivergence in children, I recorded a video one year ago at a famous site associated with Celtic and fairy folklore in Ireland. I released the video Changelings and the Folk History of Autism on YouTube today, April 30, along with this accompanying blog in honor of Autism Acceptance Month.
To make this blog/video, I traveled to Sligo, Ireland, an area which inspired the Irish writer W.B. Yeats who collected folklore about fairies. I even hiked to the top of Knocknarea mountain to visit the legendary burial mound of Queen Maeve.
One of my primary interests in changeling folklore is how it may be tied to historical attempts to explain developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities in children including Autism, ADHD, Epilepsy, Dyslexia, Hyperlexia, Dyscalculia, and Down syndrome. As a neurodivergent person myself, that has led to an interest, one might even say an obsession, with the folklore of the changeling.
One of the more unusual and less violent ways to drive a changeling out was to have it reveal its true nature by playing a trick on it, such as boiling stew in eggshells or boiling eggshells in a pot, which is again referenced in the Yeats Book of the Irish Folktales and Fairy Tales of the Peasantry.
The woman, having very little to feed herself and her child, nevertheless offers what she could to the elf and her child and upon doing this is blessed by the elf that her food should never run out. The elf asks that the woman continue to take care of her child and raise it like her own, which she agrees to do. The young elf child, now left behind with the woman and her son actually grows up well fed by the enchanted food and happy to play with its stepbrother. And the two form quite a happy bond together.
Folktales in fairy beliefs such as in changelings and fairy kidnappings perhaps provided a way for parents to understand and console themselves if their child began exhibiting disabilities and or seemed to develop slowly and or differently from other children. A child being able to speak or play the fiddle at a young age might cause alarm, as it would also cause alarm for other autistic or neurodivergent traits to appear before there was medicine to explain it.
But again, as I mentioned, this has quite a darker side to this folklore. The idea that changelings were ravenously hungry, that they were parasitic and might place an undue burden on a poor peasant family, led to changeling myths perhaps being used to justify the murder, abandonment and torture of these children. And this has been recorded numerous times in the historical record. And these historic records of changelings even include a writing by Martin Luther claiming that as changelings had no soul, they could be put to death. This justified filicide murder of children by their parents and would seem a thing of the past. But in fact, parents regularly murder their disabled children to this day and get away with it.
These attitudes are horrific relics of changeling myths. Yet I think these myths can also be hopeful and inspiring in showing us that disabled children have always existed. And perhaps changelings can inspire neurodivergent people in reclaiming these myths to tell stories of how our differences from other humans bring us strength and joy.
While changelings can look like anyone, they do have a true form. A changeling in their natural form looks rather like a doppelganger, with a lesser resemblance to a regular humanoid;[2][3] in comparison to a human, they appear faded and lacking detail[9][7] or as if unfinished[2][9] or vaguely depicted yet still striking.[1] They appeared to have a gray and gauzy additional layer of skin all over their bodies.[9] Their skin tone is pale, either white or light gray,[2][3][9][1][5][7] and their hair is thin and fair,[2][3][9][7] most commonly a light shade of silver-white,[1][5] followed by platinum and blond, with traces of green, pink, and blue. Otherwise, changelings have little if any body hair and facial hair.[1] They have over-large colorless or blank white eyes[3][9][7] that may appear sunken and circled by dark rings.[1] Their nose, lips, and mouth are small, even barely noticeable,[2][3][9][1] so they seem expressionless[3] and almost featureless.[7] Their noses lack nostrils.[9] Nevertheless, their features are still somewhat more distinctive than those of a doppelganger.[2][9]
However, given their shapeshifting talents, most changelings are rarely seen in their true form[5][7] and may prefer to adopt all kinds of humanoid shapes, treating their appearance like others treat clothes.[5] A changeling typically has a few preferred appearances and a common trait they may keep through all their forms, such as a mole, birth mark, or hair color.[9]
How a changeling chooses and uses each new guise they adopt is up to each individual. It may be for mischief, for entertainment, for exhibiting an emotional state, for artistic expression, or for heroism, or it could be for terrible misdeeds. To one changeling, it may be no more than a disguise, but to another, it could be another facet of their soul. They have different terms for different kinds of guise. A 'mask' is a guise that lacks a backstory and deeper personality; it is created on a whim to display a mood or to fulfill a need and can be discarded, never seen again.[5][7] A 'persona' is a full identity with a backstory, depth, and beliefs of its own,[1][5][6][7] and even its own friendships and associations.[1][6] In contrast, other races who cannot shapeshift as they can are called 'single-skins'.[5]
Most changelings maintain a handful of personas for different applications and situations,[1][5][6][7] so if one identity is compromised, they can disappear and switch to one of their others. One who travels a lot could take on a different identity in every community in order to blend in. They may change their identity from day to day.[1] A particular persona can aid a changeling in focusing on a specific skill or emotion.[5] Changelings and changeling communities can also share their personas (for example, three changeling healers can play the one physician persona, the kind old medic Tek, in shifts) or bequeath them to their descendants (so a young changeling can have the benefits and contacts of an older persona).[5][7]
However, the mutable ways of changelings provoke suspicion and fear in members of other races, who think they use their shapeshifting abilities for malevolent purposes. As a result, many changelings use those same abilities to conceal their true nature, sometimes even from those closest to them. They try not to draw undesired attention to themselves and look for their own place in the world.[1]
Changelings tend to be subtle and deceptive in their ways. A typical changeling is careful and wary of dangers, only undertaking a risky endeavor if the rewards or the odds of success make it worthwhile. On the other hand, they have expensive tastes, especially enjoying the comforts and luxuries that riches can bring, and seek them out whenever they could afford them.[2][3]
Unsurprisingly, this power gives a changeling a great facility for disguise and impersonation, with them able to create a highly convincing disguise on cue.[3][1] They can take on any face they want, even those of other people and races, but of course cannot look like someone they've never laid eyes on.[5][6][7]
While it's widely assumed that a changeling's disguise is perfect and almost impenetrable, this is often only because people tend to believe what they see and ignore the subtle clues that say otherwise. A changeling's disguise may be given away by them having unchanged clothes and equipment, lacking the skills of their alleged profession or species, being unfamiliar with their apparent culture, or otherwise making errors.[9]
They tend to be charismatic.[1][5] Unlike doppelgangers, changelings cannot read thoughts, but they still have an intuitive aptitude for reading body language and mood, and with astonishing accuracy.[2] This extends to a sensitivity to the mannerisms of a culture and the values and mood of a community.[9] Changelings theorize this is a residual element of the doppelganger's power and some may be better at it with training and familiarity.[9] As a result, they have an innate ability to both deceive and intimidate others.[2] A changeling speaks softly, but when they talk to someone they have a knack for getting them to give away more information than they intend to share.[2][3] Thus, they tend to be skilled in areas of deception, intimidation, sensing motive and deceit,[2][3][4][1][5][7] persuasion,[5][7] or performance.[7]
A changeling avoids combat if they can and would rather bluff or bully their way to a peaceful resolution. When pushed to fight, they favor ambushes and sneak attacks and will remain on the defensive while they weigh up their odds and look for a way out. If defeat is likely, they will retreat or run away.[2][3]
Having no culture or nation of their own, changelings use their shapeshifting powers to live in secret amongst others, most often humans but also goblinoids and other races, by blending in among them and living in their shadow.[2][3][12][1][5][7] They favor communities with principles and practices that they share. Somewhat parasitically, rather than creating their own art and achievements, changelings are happy with claiming other societies, their works, and their culture as their own, not only to maintain and enhance an identity but also making them part of themselves.[1] Nevertheless, some new changeling communities will seek new homelands of their own.[13]
Big cities are where changelings are most often found,[3] for these are perfect places in which to blend in or disappear and where most folks are too wrapped up in their own concerns to pay much attention to a peculiar stranger.[1] But even in such cities, they do not gather in great numbers. Those without families operate alone or in small changeling gangs of only about five members under one charismatic leader. Those with dependent children or elders come together in 'clans' for mutual protection and aid. These clans are not bound by blood, but by voluntary association. A clan head governs the clan and sets a common purpose, but only with the consent of its members, so the role is replaced regularly. Clan bosses help organize and keep order in the clan. The clan comprises anywhere from 10 to 60 capable adult members; an additional 30% children, elders, and non-combatants; a boss for every 10 adults, two elders, and one clan head.[3] These clans form their own safe havens in the cities.[5]
64591212e2