Gremlin-class creatures in fantasy are neither like gods above, nor like demons below. They exist at log level of humanity, causing sub-critical glitches in system output, causing a debilitating stream of accidents, amplifying entropic decay with mischief. Dare I say liminal?
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Most fae / fairies / fair folk in various European folkways are like this. Human-scale or smaller critters making things run smoothly or poorly, according to their nature and how they’re treated.
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Gremlins, as you may be aware, are among the newer entries in that canon, dating back only to WWII.
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Yeah that’s why I picked them since I’m interested in technologically modern societies
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European fairy stories are super focused on labor and compensation. Lots of fae who live in a family’s house and maintain it, but leave (or worse) if mistreated. I’ve been grinding lately on a world based on the interface between that tradition and more modern forms of labor.
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