Changeling Hysteria
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_The stories of a few tragic deaths and one or three changelings actually found in Norwick plus stories of even just a few in the city itself, sends wild stories swelling through the commoners and peasants. Such stories are probably discounted by the well-off as urban legends and wive's tales. Otherwise level-headed people accuse their neighbors, their friends, their own children of being impostors. Even with only a handful of the accusations being true Fear and distrust brews just under the surface.
After rumors rise of one woman who supposedly killed her own baby fearing it was not really her own child. The story goes that it was her own infant and she was struck down with grief. This cautionary rumor a alack of any new true changelings discovered put a lid on the hysteria, if not quash it. The seed is planted in the back of many a commoner's mind. The whispers continue amongst closest friends only, but no one says anything in public. Are their worries mostly assuaged or[ will one more incident with a real changeling spark something worse?[/color:7951de5ba4]_
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_The hysteria among the general populations of Narfell mellows further. Only a minority remain in the hysteria's full grasp. The longer most people go without direct contact, the more nebulous and dreamy their recollections of run-ins with Fey or changelings. Some do not even remember at all.
The crazies who still insist the source of the widespread hysteria is/was in fact real and not some haox coked up by local magelings or the product of too much ale and wine around the taverns or overimaginative children, quite a few of them find solace in superstitious precautions.
With other very real and more tangible threats hanging over the heads and everyday lives of common folk and noble alike, it is easy for most to dismiss those crazies._
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_As time passes, the general hysteria has settled down. People exchange old wives tales and stories of different ways to keep the Fey at bay or to appease them or ways to test if someone is a changeling or not. There is not end to the endless variety in stories. Do they really work or do they just give the Fey reason to laugh. No really knows, but the masses in general take hope and peace of mind that there is something they can do. The important thing is the stories help them to no longer feel so helpless and settle their hysteria.
Many among the masses make regular rituals of the superstitions going around the grapevine..knocking on wood, throwing a pinch of salt over their shoulder, keeping their chosen deity's symbol near their bed and at hte ready. Incidence involving changelings decline.
As time passes, all but the most paranoid grow lax in their rituals. Are there really fewer changelings? Or have they just gone unnoticed…depends on who you talk to._
