Changeling
Brief Overview
By the time Houston was settled by people of European descent, the gateways to Arcadia were long closed and those who traveled with the colonisers were mostly commoner Kiths and the occasional Autumn Sidhe. Relations between the newcomers and the indigenous Nunnehi were, if not as strained as those between their human kin, certainly tense as each learned that there were creatures like them but very different. Perhaps, in time, they might have come to settle in peace but those of the Autumn Realm had other ideas and the Changelings were swept up in the story of their mortal kin.
In modern nights Houston itself is populated by Fae of all kinds, Kith, Hsien, Nunnehi and stranger beings who still call the Dreaming their birthplace, all following their mortal kin in search of new Dreams. Of course there are Prodigals as well, the Mages, the Vampires, the Shifters...Some are friends to the children of Arcadia, some are foes, still more are enemies of the enemies of the Fae.
When the gates began to reopen they were centred on events inextricably tied to the city. The immortal words "Houston, we have a problem." linked the city to the dream of space travel, to the first human footsteps on the moon, and to the dream of something more. The ripples were felt throughout the Autumn world and Arcadia alike as the world's attention shifted and mortals found a new Dream. It is no haven for Dreamers though, the oil industry has had its talons in the State as a whole and Endron exudes Banality far beyond the "normal" for an industrial scale pillaging of the earth dragging mortals into an endless cycle of grinding mundanity.
Lights in the Darkness
There are two major Freeholds in the city, the central public Library and Julia Ideson Building have housed the Seelie fae of the city for more than a hundred years now, drawing on the dreams of authors and those escaping into a fictional world as well as the heritage built into the foundations of the area and the memories held dear in Sam Houston Park just across the way. It's a place of learning, remembering, and freeing the mind, guarded by the Sluagh librarian Gertrude Simms who has protected this Freehold since before the Resurgence.
The other is newer although still just about lays claim to predating the Resurgence. The library, while a revered Hold, lacks space for grand meetings or holdings of a larger court. The Houston Astrodome (formerly known as the Harris County Domed Stadium) was declared the eighth wonder of the world when it was finished. While the city celebrated the construction of a grand sporting arena, the Changelings knew different - the Courts had come together to feed the dreams of baseball players and the city that supported them. The source of Glamour was crucial for those still trying to make their way in a world that had mostly forgotten them and no one quite recalls who made the initial suggestion. What the older Changelings of the city do know is that all other quarrels were put aside for a while, the project's foremen and women were Autumn Sidhe, a joint effort between members of House Dougal and House Ailil. The workers were drawn from all Kiths across both courts and anyone else who wanted to be involved was welcomed with open arms. The Astrodome was to be a refuge for all and the dream of something bigger for both Changelings and mortals. These days it primarily serves as the Unseelie Freehold under the auspice of Jarl Eirik Borgersen ap Aesin - an up-and-coming star player who traces his lineage to the Kingdom of Dalarna.
While both Courts technically owe fealty to the Duchy of the Lone Star and High King David beyond that, the Changelings of Texas did quite well before the Resurgence and have resisited the newly arrived Arcadian Sidhe trying to shake up their system too much.
Tensions
There are other sparks of Dream, the kindling of Balefires elsewhere in the city of course; things that the Mages call Nodes and the Wolves call Caerns. Many of them are firmly and fiercely held by those factions and much as the Changelings may be drawn to the welling of Glamour around them, they are held at a distance by those who already claim them for other purposes. With the city hovering on the edge between rebellious Dream and stultifying Banality, perhaps these Prodigal fires might be the thing that make the difference. Alliances may need to be forged if the local Changelings do not wish to declare a war on multiple fronts, but surely many people have an interest in not seeing the world return to darkness and nightmare? Don't they?
Other things lurk around the edges of Changeling society, things that returned with the Arcadians or have been emboldened by the creeping darkness. Lost Ones and their strange Sanctuaries reappeared with everything else, Thallain and Denizens creep through the cracks to spread their nightmares in the Autumn world, seeking to create a wholly different Dream. Some even hint that the twisting wrongness that pervades certain areas of Houston has begun producing Dauntain...
If the city is not to fall back into Banality and become anathema to all Fae, something must be done. Will you tip the balance towards Dream or Darkness? Or simply invite Bedlam and let the Autumn world look to itself.
(For Changeling comms channel in game type "addcom cha=Changeling")
Seelie
- Houston Central Public Library
Unseelie
- Astrodome
Other
Neutral
Seelie
- Gertrude Simms (Librarian Freeholder)
