Kin

Kin. are primarily born as babies, to other races. Basically 'replace' the fetus. And this is triggered when a person crosses over into the faewyld (not *known.* widely theorized but difficult to prove. (taboo!) so people do it anyway). They experience a rapid growth (like 6 months to adulthod), and they learn things their sire knew/experienced. not as memories, but as 'feelings/dispositions/associations.' (intersting social stuff exploring the way people relate to their unwanbted children. deep, and personal, and interesting. a little heavy). could explain how to optionalize this with a content note). Even among parents who raise them lovingly throughout this experience, there's often a call outward to find some of their own or learn about themselves. parents lack that familiarity that one feels toward their source self. When a newly adult Kin sets off and arrives in a new city, Conjunctivist meetings make a good starting point. but peple can be eager in a ally way and scare people off.
in bizarre circumstnaces they might come into being fully formed. an optional start.
note: it's uknown if crossing twice creates a second kin, or if your 'shadow' is only born once.



NEW &^^^^
The Kin are the second-newest species to the scene. While the other species (minus olympians) arrived around 700 years ago en masse, Kin have been trickling in and through different means. Some are born to the parents of the other sentient species. Others are born in the Wyld and cross over (NEED to work on this one).
Despite that origin as children born to parents of other species, they are in fact, their own species. and populations of kin have formed (particularly in Nuremborc and Ost Almira), where kin pair and have children of their own.
NEED: figure out about those that crossover. because if they cross over without memory of their home and are exiles, that's copying Olympians. BUT i'm reluctant to have them bearing knowledge about the Wyld, which needs to be mysterious. maybe magic forbids them from speaking of the wyld - when they try, it inherently makes no sense to people here. (prefer the magic forbiddance of it). if i go that route, that means developing a fae settlement or something like that. not entirely against that. it can be a place they remember fondly (or not fondly), but a wistful Avalon thing.

Horns

Kin have tiefling horns and its awesome. idk about tails.

Floral Affinity

Kin bear a natural affinity for flora. they instinctually are skilled with gardening. This comes from some mysterious sense they have to empathetically understand the state or condition of plantlife. Many are gifted with magical abilities regarding plantlife. (put some kin in the dwarven societies that work on agriculture - tension there where a lot of the dwarven science put into agriculture isn't super kosher to the plants themselves).

Ost Almiran Role

Fae have grown into a large population of Ost Almira.

In the Wyld

The Fae are incorporeal - most of them whisps of air or shadow - but they have an ability to project a bipedal form (called a glamour). Kin, however, are trapped in the corporeal forms they're born with. The Fae will invariably use this limitation to make a Kin feel unwelcome in the faewild. Fae are manipulative and cruel almost as a rule. The Fae themselves are rooted firmly in the unseelie. The kin, however, are not - they are their own full people capable of whatever. This relationship is that of creator and creation - not parent and child. in the published material, make a disclaimer about that to avoid readings that this is somehow about demonizing parents of first-gen immigrants. (galvan may be lightning in the faewild)

Mutability

While kin lack the incorporeality of their creators, they do inherit some portion of that mutability. SOME kin bear the limited ability to shapeshift into beasts.

Naming

(at some point in history - NEED to define) there was a practice of crossing-kin (those that appeared wholecloth from a crossing) choosing the month of their crossing as a surname. Those born to families often inherit the surname of that family (with exceptions). Maybe tie this to ost almira.

inspiration: Tieflings. Fae.
Themes: counterculture providing a place for people who feel they don't belong. adoption readings maybe?
Tropes leaned into: nature. chaotic -> instinctual. changeling/mutabliity.