Arcadia and you

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Hecate
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Arcadia and you

Post by Hecate »

Arcadia & The Realms

“Arcadia is the realm of the True Fae. It is neither the wellspring nor the gutter of imagination, but imagination defines it. Arcadia is a stage, with the will of the True Fae its lights and sounds, and their changeling and hobgoblin captives its actors. In Arcadia, the whims of the Fae are the laws of physics. And that can make it damn hard to get home.” (CtL 2e 63)

In EN 2.0, Arcadia is a richly diverse and vast land of various realms and True Fae factions. It is in constant motion, and while you may have just escaped, it is likely things are already different than they were when you escaped the grasp of your Keeper.

Your Keeper & Durance

“The Fae are from Arcadia, and of it. In Arcadia, they can shape the very fabric of the world. Tell any story. Be any villain. Or hero, if it could suit them.” (CtL 2e 63)

What is a Keeper? A keeper is a title in Arcadia, of any Gentry who takes and keeps those who become changelings later on. Any True Fae can adopt the title of Keeper, and it is one of the only titles that doesn’t need to be claimed from another Gentry.

We encourage players to use the setting information here when they are working out their durance parts of their character history, and taking an established keeper is a good way to be connected to the dynamic setting in the Changeling game. While each True Fae will have “favored kiths” that they tend to create, all Keepers can create all kiths and all seemings so do not let the lack of your kith being listed as a “favored” by the Keeper deter you. However, you are not limited to these keepers and realms. We encourage all of your creativity, and if you have an idea for a realm and a keeper that is not listed here, please do submit it for potential Contributing to the Setting Beats! If approved, the ST team will add your custom-designed keeper and realm as a minor court or as an extension of The Enchanted Forest and credit you with your contribution to the setting. You do not need to design a realm if you choose one of the existing realms.


What Follows in the posts below is a description of the Realms and a brief description of key Gentry in a given realm. If you wish to share your own Keepers please do so and as it says above we’ll add them to a court or realm that fits


The Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest is a chaotic and large realm surrounding the inner courts of Arcadia. This vast forest is home to the faerie tales of old, but none of them are quite as familiar as a mortal might believe. The realms within The Enchanted Forest are defined by having no real tangible location within it, by that, of course, they exist there somewhere, but since the Enchanted Forest is believed to be more alive than the hedge itself, the changing dynamics of the forest keep the realms within them both separate from the inner courts but still distinct from each other. According to Arcadian legends, even the Gentry themselves do not know how vast The Enchanted Forest goes, or what lies past it, but there are plenty of stories.

The realms within The Enchanted Forest are not named individually for their locations, like the Inner Arcadian Courts. Instead, they are simply divided by the Gentry who holds power in those areas. There is an unknown amount of Arcadian creatures, true fae, and other things that roam these forests including hobgoblins.

The Gentry:

The Birch
[*]The Dark spirit of the Wood, covered in their flesh bark, they tend to hunt those they keep mercilessly, filling their captives' time in Arcadia with nightmares of being pursued by the forest itself.

The Beast
[*]Beauty did not tame this beast, though he is still swayed by beauty and wishes to possess it. The time spent under the Beast's tender care is that of the abusive relationship, afraid to leave, and somehow always convinced you have a chance to change him. When he grows bored of you, many find themselves changed into various items in his castle to be used and befriend or hinder the next Beauty.

Baba Yaga
[*]The Witch in the woods. Cunning, dark, but oftentimes correct. From her chicken legged hut she keeps people to both consume and the promising ones to become apprentices and muscle for the workings in the woods.

Red
[*]Both Maiden and Wolf, Red works in the woods acting out her passion play of innocence lost and consumed innocence. Her changelings are both kept to play Red or occasionally to be the wolf

The Woodsmen
[*]The Consument hunter, working the enchanted forest looking for lost ones to be prey, spouse, or apprentice.


The Arcadian Courts

The High Courts:

The Undersea

The undersea is the court of the oceans of Arcadia. There are several minor courts within the undersea but unlike the Arcadian courts above the waters, below them, the courts are strongly united under a monarch gentry. The undersea is as varied as above the waters, with all kinds of water true fae living beneath the waves. These denizens of Arcadia are used to living in colder and darker places with little to no natural light

The Gentry:

Sea Witch

[*]The Sea witch is a dark foreboding woman, at the center of a complex web of deals she gives people what they wanted, but frequently takes what they had. She has her tentacles in every part of the Undersea. She acts as keeper to lost souls traded to her in deals, as well as occasionally employing hench men and apprentices.


Amphitrite

[*]Amphitrite is Queen of a vast kingdom, ruling over many subjects with her iron fist. By far though, those that had it worst for her are her “children” for she is an overprotective, and overbearing mother. Demanding the best from her children, and changing them if they are less then the best. Recently she has been at increasing odds with the Sea Witch as the Sea Witch let her favorite Daughter return ironside in exchange for the fragment of Amphitrite’s crown that the Daughter had stolen


The Midnight Kingdom

The Midnight Kingdom is a realm of perpetual night. The landscape is dotted with many country estates ruled by lesser gentry living their own lives such as it were. The Kingdom is ruled on high form the Clocktower castle by The Prince of the Midnight Ball. The Country estates are all devoted to aiding their prince in his search for a “wife” or in staffing his castle with delights. Among the untold wonders of the fields of jewels and glass there in rebellion afoot as the Queen of Hours, The Prince's first wife, gathers support to redress her grievances with being set aside.

The Gentry:

The Prince

[*]The Prince is a devilish and charming man, frequently looking for a Wife, which despite the word the gender of the wife doesn’t much matter to him as long as they look beautiful in their gowns and manage his household. He occasionally adopts brothers to train in the princely arts, and when he grows tired of a wife will gift them to the “brothers” to use as they will.

The Queen of Hours

[*]The Prince’s first wife and now a member of the Gentry in her own right, she took offence at being set aside when her Husband grew bored of her, and now she wages war with support form some of the lesser gentry in the court.

The-Dame-In-Tatters
(see the post by Blackthorn below)

The Briarwood Court
The Briarwood Court lies on the border of the Enchanted Forest, the border, such as they are in the flexible realm of Faerie, is heavily fortified by almost impassable briars. The court is a land at war, as the Queen of Briars seeks her revenge against the Triad.
There are scattered ruins of castles, and fallen kingdoms scattered throughout the Briarwood, remnants of the battles between the Queen and the Hero’s The Triad try to prop up to face her in there never ending battles
The Gentry:

The Triad

[*]The Triad, or the Three who are One, style themselves as the “good” fairies, they work to grant wishes and “blessings” on those in their charge, granting beauty, Wealth, and whatever else you might believe is your heart's desire. At war with their one time princess, they raise and bless heroes in addition to there normal princesses

Queen of Briars

[*]The Queen of Briars wasn’t always the Mistress of All evil. Once Upon a Time, as the story goes, She was a beautiful woman, one who was given gifts by The Triad, these gifts transformed her into the thorny wooden creature she is now. After her “gifts” she turned her considerable force towards revenge against those who cursed her. She raises her own army, offering power to those foolish enough to take her up on it.

The Court of Termites

The kingdom of perpetual nightmares and reveals of unspeakable terrors. The monster under your bed, the darkest fantasies that one might secretly wish to explore, it all lives within The Court of Termites. They do not have the sole right to everything rotting and dark, but if it exists, this ancient court is likely the purview it came from. The Court of Termites is ruled over by Lord Roibin, who holds several titles he stole from conquests… such as The Boogeyman.



The New World


The New World is a realm that is a great patchwork, made up of the quilt that makes up the cultural background radiation of North and Central America. You can go from Alien Ships to colonial villages all the way to great stone pyramids. There is no one ruler to this great quilt, rather it is a loose federation of smaller states represented by whichever Kindly One is considered strongest at that moment.
The New World is considered a way for the lesser courts to most easily “Move Up” and as such it sees a great deal of “immigration” of lesser Gentry and their retenues.

Notable Gentry:

Coyote

[*]A trickster spirit and probably the oldest of the “New World” gentry running around. He is a shapeshifter, taking mortals as it amuses him, to become apprentice, lover or victim.

The Captain of Industry

[*]Born of the American thirst for progress, and worship of the wealthy. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, the Captain of Industry works there employees to the bone, making goods that have no purpose, and presenting a beneficial face to the public. The Captain takes mortals to work in their factories.

The Mother of Stars
(See Volklore's post)

Columbia
See post below from me.

The Low Courts:

The Village (Rural fairytale village)

The Village is the archetypal quaint provincial town, seemingly stuck sometime in the late 17th century. No single regional architecture seems to be dominant, you can find buildings that wouldn’t be out of place in France, the americas, or even asia. It is more the idea of “village life” that reigns here, from gentry playing clergy, to cheesemaker to one notable cobbler.

The Shoemaker

[*]The shoemaker is a hardworking cobbler in The Village. His work is hard and he seeks help so he may better enjoy his time by kidnapping mortals and turning them into “elves” to work in his sweatshop.

Castletown

For the discerning fair folk looking for a more urban eternity there is Castletown. A vast, sprawling realm, made of a patchwork with sections from any city you can imagine. Here you’ll also find “vampires” “witches” “werewolves” all made by The Wanderer, looking to play some gritty urban fantasy novel.

The Wanderer

[*]The Wanderer moves from court to court, neighborhood to neighborhood in Castletown, a fae parody of the “paranormal” investigator he’ll make approximations of various cryptids and turn them loose for him to investigate.

The Mirrorsilver Kingdom

The Mirrorsilver Kingdom was once the crown jewel of the Great Courts, but when the Fading Queen grew too jealous of her charge, and sent the Woodsman after her, the Kingdom and the Queen began to fade. The realm is in decline, The Village already split from it and became its own realm. Everything here is tarnished and old, you can see only faint reminets of its true glory and beauty.

The Fading Queen

[*]The Fading queen was once the Fairest of them all but what's the point of being fair with out someone to appreciate it, so she takes on young women and men to love her, but one such person became more beautiful than her and she started to fade and decline when she sent the Woodsman after her.
Blackthorne
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by Blackthorne »

The Dame-in-Tatters
The Cruel Stepmother, The Headmistress, The Bride-Maker, Miss Havisham

Some say The Dame-in-Tatters was, once, a Bride of the Prince, just as was The Queen of Hours; just as The Queen of Hours, The Dame-in-Tatters was in turn cast aside. Unlike The Queen, however, the Dame chose a different path, and her plans to regain her former heights came to deliver her to new ones. The Dame sought to earn the Prince's renewed favor by providing him with a new, biddable Bride - or perhaps to put a poisoned viper at his breast in vengeance; in the end it did not matter which was her true intent, for though her first Brides did not suit the Prince, she found prestige and influence in gifting them to other lesser Arcadian lords and ladies - or, at times, to those same lords' and ladies' enemies....

So it was she would become the Bride-Maker, kidnapping young mortal women to mold into perfect Brides for her fellow Lost. However, the Dame's cruelty and spite never truly faded, and her luxurious Manor-turned-Finishing-School became a nest of vipers, with would-be-Brides battling for the Dame's favor, abusing the unfortunate hobs, Ogres, and Wizened who serve as their Keepers' footmen and house-servants, and cruelly destroying any they see as rivals to their success....
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volklore
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by volklore »

The Mother of Stars – The Endless Night
Mother, Queen of the Night, Celestial Empress, The Star Demoness

High above the New World, the void looms, the alluring light of the stars are the only feature in an otherwise amorphous realm. The stars are the only light and the only solid part of this dreary landscape. But anyone who’s wise knows that the stars are not friendly, vicious monsters sit in wait, swooping down on the ground below whenever total darkness falls on the land. Not every monster is a shining paragon though, a menagerie of horrors taken from all over Mesoamerican mythology wait in the gloom.

The Mother of Stars is beautiful from afar. Her light shines brighter than any star, some say she will rival the sun in time. But her beauty is merely the lure. Up close, she is a thing of nightmares: cruel fangs, twisted face, and hungry eyes freeze her victims in terror. She hates all life and waits impatiently for the day she and her daughters can devour the world. In the meantime, she will twist all the life that comes to her realm – she loves inverting people’s morals and virtues, for instance. Those she takes tend towards two extremes – they become shining things of beauty or they merge with the darkness of her realm, Fairest and Darklings are very common, though any seeming is possible.
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Hecate
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by Hecate »

Updated the original post with what you added and am adding a new Gentry here

Columbia

Columbia, Goddess of America was born when Europeans first “discovered” the new world, or when Europeans started dreaming of the New World they found her in their dreams. Fae folklorists aren't sure which came first. As the new continent developed its own identity so too did the image of Columbia change. She rose to power as a prime gentry in the New World with the charge of Manifest Destiny. With the crys to settle the frontier, so too did Columbia take her charges to “settle” the wild lands of Arcadia. Columbia sees it as her Destiny to settle all of Arcadia, and enfold it in her arms.

While she had been largely quiet until recent decades, when more and more mortals are smuggled to her in the hedge to serve as either settlers or soldiers. Those lucky few that have escaped say that her lands are increasingly drenched in blood.
PapaSpit
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by PapaSpit »

The knowledge between the cracks- The Libary within the Abyss
The old one, Truth, Seer of the mad, The one who talks, you

Within the cracks of Reality between the various realms of arcadia, the mirror verse and the lower planes of existence is a library that should not be. Within is information, out of time and space, stored in books and computers that is seeking to be learned. The library changes, shifting, flooding, exposure to the radiation of the other realms. Most often than not the strange souls that find themselves transformed within this space walked in themselves although unknowingly. Those who leave often leaving in a similar manner, though not without a heavy toll on their memories.

The library and it's other titles have a fondness for those wise enough to either avoid entrance upon discovery of it and for those who found a way out. It shows it's appreciation with further dialogue toward those people. It's quite chatty and loves to gossip about the various information it has collected over its entirety regardless of it's otherness or impact upon the receiver. The greatest gift it could receive is 100% new information. It has no opinion on the other gentry although it watches all carefully for any possible threats to its hord.
Capybara
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by Capybara »

So close he is to the Enchanted Forest, he can taste the magic in the air. And he wants it, he craves it. But...he can't have it, not without force. The seemingly whimsical and wild Jack Frost has a small sliver of Arcadia. And he has been trying to grow in power for a long time, though, after a relatively recent escape, most of his Lost have gotten away, and have escaped his clutches. Weakening the power of the great Jack Frost.

Now he plots and plans, slinking back into the wintery shadows he holds. And readies a new champion to try to take back what he has lost.
Veritas
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Re: Arcadia and you

Post by Veritas »

At the "edge" of the Enchanted Forest, two small realms are locked in a never-ending conflict. Foreboding mountains rise quite suddenly as you reach the the outer bounds of the forest, and if you know where to go, you will come to a broad valley.

On one side, verdant fields stretch for miles, blossoming with every imaginable wildflower and glistening with fresh dew. Atop a mountain perch sits a stately, beautiful castle that recalls the towering spires of the most elegant storybook artwork. This is Castle Brightgarden, seat of the Duchess Verdant and Resplendent. The Duchess is a beautiful, gleeful maiden with long golden hair and a rosy complexion and always accompanied by the fragrance of fresh flowers and sweet dew. To be in her presence is to feel the warmth of a sunrise on your face and the kiss of spring rain on your lips. You will love her, with all your heart, body, and soul. And if you don't, you will answer to the Thorn Knights, the famed warriors she has collected from across the mortal world to serve as her defenders and instruments in her war against the True Fae across the valley.

Where the spring-kissed fields of Brightgarden end, the snow-blanketed fields of Winterheim begin. Equally vast and beautiful in their own stark way, the lands of Winterheim are held by His Hibernal Excellency, the Rime-Crowned Margrave. Where the Duchess is bright and beautiful, the Margrave is cold and monstrous. He most often appears as a towering, gray-skinned troll, dressed in fine armor and carrying a massive gnarled club instead of a more elegant weapon. From his icy citadel, The Frosthold, he stands against the Duchess in a meaningless war without beginning or end. The Frosthold is a stout, thick-walled fortress that squats on a ledge overlooking the valley like a hungry vulture. From within the black-ice walls of the citadel, the constant sounds of clashing swords and shouted commands echo through the mountains. The Margrave demands constant training and readiness from his Frozen Legion, and since everyone knows that high standards are never perfectly met, he insists that his captains dole out harsh punishments to the changelings under their command. Regardless of whether they actually witnessed any failure or not.

So they battle one another. These two Gentry whose only motivation is that a lord of winter and a lady of spring should oppose one another, despite both being technically sworn to the service of the Prince. They send armies against one another, and when a soldier is slain on the battlefield, they invariably wind up re-forming back in their master's stronghold sooner or later. The Duchess often treats these poor souls as fresh sproutlings, radically re-shaping them according to whatever her new whim happens to be. The Margrave, however, sees only failure and disappointment. He too often reshapes the fallen changelings, but usually into servants and drudges and beasts as punishment for their pathetic performance.
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