Glamours!!!!

GLAMOURS! What the heck are they, and what do they do? For those not familiar with the Fables canon, they probably sound confusing as all heck, so let's shed some light on them, shall we?

So what exactly IS a glamour?

A glamour is a magical spell, used to make any Fable who cannot pass for human, become packaged in a handy human form. In Gren's case, it makes this(sans right arm) look like this.

Okay, but why do they have to do that?

One of the major laws of Fabletown, of living in the mundane world, is that Fables cannot, under any circumstances, reveal their true nature to mundies (regular, run of the mill Earthly humans). If a nonhuman Fable refuses to, or is unable to, wear a glamour, they are sent to live on the Farm, the upstate part of Fabletown. Despite it's nice name, it's not a fun place to be, it's a prison, from which no nonhuman Fable can ever leave. Unsurprisingly, if they can avoid being sent there, they do.

Well, at least they've got an easy out from that, good for them.

Not really, no. Glamours are expensive. On the 13th floor of the government Woodlands building, licensed witches, wizards and other spellcrafters are charged with making glamours for the nonhuman Fables living amongst the mundy. But magic is not an inexhaustible source, the more Fables need glamours, the more effort goes into making them, the prices go up and the potency of the spell goes down. The less well off Fables have to turn to black market glamours, made by witches operating under the radar in order to stay concealed. These spells are flawed at best, and tend to fail. A lot.

Ouch. SO what does a glamour look like? Is it a physical object?

That depends on the spellcrafter who made it. In higher market ones it's an enchantment, intangible and unseen. For less well off ones, it's an object carried around, with the items required for the glamour to work concealed inside. Given Gren's social status, and the poor state of his glamour, chances are he uses Auntie Greenleaf - one of those sneaky black market witches. Her glamours come in little wooden boxes or pods, cut from her magical tree; on which she carves a white deer, her trademark:

A box huh? Can it be opened? Can you look inside?

Sure can, a few twists and turns will unlock it, and turn off the spell. Done too fast, and it hurts like all hell, as the unfortunate Fable is forced from one shape to another without time to prepare. Not that any Fable would let someone else touch their glamour if they could help it. Glamours are, understandably, very personal things.

So, can I tell if a Fable is in glamour?

Yes and no. By sight, touch, smell and what have you, a glamoured Fable looks completely and absolutely human. Any abilities they have, which they could only access in their true forms (like strength, in Gren's case) are null and void. They're stuck as squishy pathetic humans until they shed their glamour. If a character can sense magic spells, however, they will be able to tell a Fable is glamoured, even if they probably won't be able to tell what they actually look like. Of course, glamours have...imperfections. Gren's right eye is quite often stuck as its natural white colour, for example.

So a Fable can shed their glamour whenever they like?

Yep, but due to their laws, they don't do it in front of mundies, because people generally notice when a person suddenly becomes a troll, ogre, three foot toad and so on. When a glamour is shed, there's usually a creepy green glow, or twinkly sparkles or whatever, because ~magic~.

Can a Fable remain glamoured indefinitely?

NOPE! A glamour's magic will always run out eventually, the speed of which it does really depends on the quality of the spell gone into it. When the magic runs out, the glamour fades. Bye bye human disguise. A witch (or anyone capable of magic) is then needed to top up the magic in the spell, to keep the glamour functional.

Well, now I think I know more about glamours. But I still got a question!
Leave a comment, and I'll get back to you!