Editing Changeling: The Lost (section)

==Pledges and Oaths==
As suggested above, the Wyrd takes any sort of promise or statement of intent very seriously. Most beings aren't connected closely enough to the Wyrd for it to have an impact on them, but Fae beings can make such statements supernaturally binding. 

Given that most Changelings come out of their Durance with severe trust issues, the knowledge that their promises will be supernaturally enforced does a lot to keep them from descending into paranoia. More importantly, the Gentry's powers are dependent on the oaths they swore upon coming into existence, which means that if they ever end up breaking those oaths for any reason, they will be severely weakened or even annihilated outright.

===Sealing===
The simplest form of pledge requires a Changeling to see or hear a statement of intent being made; whether said statement was serious or made as an exaggeration is irrelevant. So if you say "if my team doesn't win this game, I'll eat my hat" in front of a Changeling and said team loses, ''you had better take a bite of that fuckin' hat'' or the Wyrd will impose some minor but immediate punishment on you for going back on your word. While Fae are not immune to sealing, they can undo the sealing before its effects take hold; among changelings, sealing is done to demonstrate willingness to keep their word on a relatively minor matter.

===Oaths===
For more serious agreements, Changelings rely on oaths. These require mutual consent to be sworn, and both parties will be permanently bound by the oath from that point forward. As long as both parties uphold their part of the oath, they will gain its benefits. 

While the terms of the oath can certainly be violated, this does not erase the oath so much as change its terms, which almost always involves grave penalties for the oathbreaker. (On the rare occasions that the penalty for violating the oath isn't specified in its terms, the Wyrd will punish the oathbreaker as it sees fit. And it is a vindictive little bitch about it.) On top of the immediate consequences, oathbreakers are reviled among Changelings and the only way to be forgiven is to make restitution to all parties involved, including the Wyrd itself. 

Yes, it is possible to end up bound to obey oaths that are mutually exclusive with each other. No, the penalties for breaking one oath to uphold another are not reduced, and if anything can actually be ''worse'' than usual; read up on Cu Chulainn to see how that can bite you in the ass. Moral of the story, don't make oaths that you might not be able to keep.

===Bargains===
Bargains can only be struck between a Changeling and a human aware of the Changeling's fae nature. The Changeling offers to perform some kind of service for the human that's within their ability to provide in exchange for something else, but what the human can provide is always supplemented by the Wyrd making it harder for the Gentry to track the changeling. 

If the bargain is broken by the changeling, they lose its benefits but are otherwise unaffected. But if the human is the one to break it, they will be at risk of stumbling into the Hedge with all the nastiness that involves. No Changeling would wish that fate on anyone, but the Wyrd's demands for restitution are absolute.