Brownies are weird little amalgamations of various fairie myths in terms of their inspiration. They are "perhaps" half halfling, half pixie, lawful good, able to repair or create items of wood, leather, and metal with ease, and are good guides. They also can be convinced 50% of the time to help lawful good charaters, and havfe a hodgepodge of magical abilities to keep them safe- protection from evil, ventriloquism, dancing lights, continual light, mirror image, confusion, and dimension door. Their speed and camouflage allows them to escape as if invisible, and they are never surprised, and they come in groups of 4d4, which is honestly pretty terrifying if you consider the consequences on being on the receiving end of 9 Confusions.
Finding them and gaining their aid would be a tremendous boon, and might be the sort of help one might hope a brave, kind, honorable fellow (ie, a Lawful Good character well in line with a fairy tale protagonist) would obtain on a wilderness quest.
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| Brownies of various walks of life describing their work environments, so as to provide framing for the game of 'whose job sucks worse' |
More commonly known as Hobs, these are halfing servants, trained in specific useful magics and domestic services, of Alves who were drawn into the fey realms when the Alves retreated from the waking world into various dream realms in the 3rd intersolar period. They have grown magically potent in these realms, but are bound by strange fey laws and revert to regular halflings if they break their rules. Some brownies are entirely opposed to losing power, having grown accustomed to the favors and privileges allowed to favored servants of Alves. But others would happily forsake their corrupted Alf overlords and return to mortal lives, if only they can find an escape.
The Winter Court- The alves that struck pacts with ice and darkness ride in the frost and snow at the edge of the worlds, their own light and life sustained only so long as they pillage and steal from the sunlit realms. The halfling sorcerers dragged along for the ride were not infected by the cruel madness that took the Alves, and serve their masters only begrudgingly, and may offer aid to those humans who prove themselves worthy. They may not accept gifts without losing their powers, and doing them favors is a grave insult as that forces their hand to repay the favor in kind. They open mirror-gates in reflective ice and water so that the Hunt may spring forth, and are well versed in protective wards to keep Darkspawn away, and maintain artificial auroras to light the glacial fortresses that stretch between dream, waking, and the mirror-realms.
The Summer Court- the Alves who retreated into the dreams of trees are kindlier, in seeming, than those of the land of the ice and snow. Their Hob servants often venture forth to the waking world as scouts and messengers to mortal races who have despoiled too many trees, warning them to keep out of the forest before more strenuous objections are raised. Some brownies are assigned to households to keep an eye on the mortals, and ingratiate themselves by performing various household chores and repair jobs, as well as providing guiding lights to those lost in the woods. They may ally with humans against monsters that despoil their master's groves, acting as, essentially, animal control.
The Iron Moon- Those Alves who did not escape the fall of the 3rd Sun found themselves bound to its corpse, the Iron Moon, but their brownies were bound in no such way, and established mutually beneficial relationships with humans in the intersolar period. As such, some forests and households in the moonlands have brownies watching over them and keeping them from falling to the shadows and moon madness. Acknowledging these 'Free Brownies' directly may ruin their powers and revert them to their original mortal forms, so milk and bread are left out 'for the cats' and clothing 'for the children.' It is only on the holiday of Names Written In Light Upon the Face of Darkness that they may safely reveal themselves to humans and frank discussions may be had. Their names are lost, part of how they gained power, and discovering ones name ensures they cannot use their powers in your presence, and threatening to reveal it can compel obedience if the brownie fears loss of their magical powers and reversion to a regular little person. They fear Alves and Elves, for those immortal beings are more likely to know their secret names than any other being.
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