Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: nerdy
  • Music: The Nields, "Ten Year Tin."

Because You Asked: Hiding.

I have once again promised to make five posts answering questions about Toby's world to celebrate the release of an upcoming book. This is the last time I'm going to do this for Toby: the questions are getting too character and book-specific, which trends into spoiler territory. So if you had a burning world question, now would be the time to scroll back to my original entry and ask it.

This is post #4. I will make post #5 tomorrow.

enigmoid asks, "How do the fae remain hidden from the human world from cameras recording devices, and satellites? It only takes one mistake."

Ah, but you see, there are two assumptions here.

1) That fae illusions do not work on recording devices. They do.
2) That anyone would believe what they saw.

Mistakes have been made in the past, and I mean the recent past, not the old, dark, pre-hiding past. Illusions have slipped, things have been seen that shouldn't have been seen...and you know what? People shrugged it off. For every "I WANT TO BELIEVE!", there are ten "I do not want to live in a world where that is possible, and thus it is not possible." Consider the zombie walks, LARPs, comic book conventions, real-world superheroes, and Bigfoot seekers in our real, known world. Consider how few of those are reported as proof of the supernatural.

Now consider what an excellent source of camouflage they are.

Satellites are a different can of worms, and one with potentially more issues, since if the military spots a pod of Merrow, they're likely to respond...badly. But at the same time, that's where the fae predilection for hanging out in the Summerlands comes in handy. Most fae, if they're not indoors or playing human, are in knowes or the Summerlands. Why? Because they feel safer there, where there are no satellites.

So yes, it's a concern, and a good one. But willful blindness and basic caution do a lot to minimize it.
Tags: a few facts, ashes of honor, continuity checking, toby daye
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  • 18 comments

beccastareyes

August 29 2012, 14:48:12 UTC 4 years ago

A friend of mine will occasionally wear elf ears just because -- small ones, not the giant anime-elf ones. I think she's surprised sometimes how few people notice. (Of course, she also has long, loose hair, so...)

Actually, this makes me wonder if the more humanoid (and younger*) San Diego fae take advantage of SDCC to go out in groups without full illusions. The sort of thing that seems more daring than it is because they're doing it around thousands of humans dressed like superheroes and anime characters, and even talking about magic and the Sumemrlands openly isn't any weirder than mentioning Faerun or Eberron. (Or any large con where you have costumed people out and about in the area.)

* I assume older fae are a bit more cautious about humans, since they remember a time when humans believed in fairies... and would react badly to them.

seanan_mcguire

September 16 2012, 05:29:54 UTC 4 years ago

They don't as much, because the elders are so against it.

The cryptids over in Verity's world, on the other hand...