Apr 26, 2018 21:04:55 GMT
Post by Nobody on Apr 26, 2018 21:04:55 GMT
When the Arcadians came to the United States, they were allowed to choose the land of their choice. They chose the Mounds of Cahokia, where old magic still remained, slumbering. Originally the magic had fought the Arcadian, and then it had embraced them, accepting and recognizing their rulers. The land belongs to Arcadians, who have diplomatic immunity. In separate areas of these vast mounds are several courts, the most notable of which are the Seelie Court and Unseelie Court. The demi-Arcadian also have their own court, as do the goblins and the Slaugh. The mounds of the Goblins, and the Slaugh are closer to the Unseelie Court. There is one demi-Arcadian mound close to each of the Sidhe courts.
THE GREATER COURTS
The two Greater Courts in Arcadia are the Seelie and Unseelie. There are numerous Lesser Courts, mostly based on race, but all such Courts obey one of the Greater Courts or suffer the fate of being exiled. The generally less destructive Arcadian tend to be Seelie and the more predatory ones almost always end up being Unseelie. The Arcadian races are divided between these two tendencies, thus naturally falling into either Seelie or Unseelie. The Sluagh are almost exclusively associated with the darker colder elements of the Unseelie, taken to the most monstrous extremes, thus setting them somewhat apart from even the dangerous Unseelie Court. The Arcadians are not easily categorized as wholly good or wholly evil, despite the common characteristics of their race or Court. Regardless of Court or racial norms however, the behavior of the rulers and nobles within the Courts tend to be much more serious and the consequences far more dire.
Seelie Court
Known as the Court of Light. Other names for the Seelie Court are ‘The Shining Throng’ and ‘The Golden ones’ and ‘Those Hidden in Light’. Their primary symbols deal with renewal and life, such as the egg and the tree. The Seelie tend to control and embody the elements or aspects of fire and air, heat and light. They tend to rely more on diplomacy than violence, unlike the Unseelie, but it is unwise to anger them nonetheless. The Seelie Court are known to seek help from humans or Non-Arcadian, to warn those who had accidentally offended them, and to return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a Arcadian belonging to this Court will avenge insults and could be prone to mischief. Seelie Arcadians are known for playing pranks on Non-Arcadian and having a light hearted attitude, forgetting their sorrows quickly and not realizing how they might be affecting the humans or Non-Arcadian they are playing pranks on. The Seelie tend to also engage in Duels over slights of honor and like to indulge in Court pageantry of one sort or another depending on the season and the whims of the rulers. The generally less destructive Arcadian tend to be Seelie. The Seelie however have an unfortunate tendency to be judgmental pertaining to what they consider to be Seelie virtues and traits. Seelie Arcadian must adhere to this rather nebulous standard of behavior or risk being kicked out of the Court for not being Seelie enough…
Unseelie Court
Known as the Dark Court or Darkling Host. The Unseelie Court is associated with the dark and the fear of its nebulous unknown. The Unseelie tend to control and embody the elements or aspects of earth and water, cold and night. Their primary symbols deal with harvest and death, such as the scythe and the horn. The Unseelie Court consists mostly of the more predatory Arcadians. Their aspect tends to be darker than Seelie Arcadian and are somewhat inhuman in general, tending towards violence more often. Unlike the Seelie Court, no offense is necessary to bring down their assaults. As a group, they appear at night and assault travelers, often carrying them through the air, beating them, and forcing them to participate in such acts as assaulting unsuspecting victims. However, like the beings of the Seelie Court who are not always benevolent, neither are the Arcadians of the Unseelie Court always malevolent. Most Unseelie can become fond of a particular Non-Arcadian if they are viewed as respectful, and would choose to make them something of a pet. Unseelie tend to engage in Melees concerning various struggles of dominance and strength and generally like to enforce a pecking order based on who wins these contests on any given day. The more predatory Arcadian almost always end up being Unseelie. The Unseelie Court has a long standing policy of accepting all Arcadian that wish to join them, even those exiled or rejected from the more judgmental Seelie Court. However the Unseelie tend to value strength over compassion, so survival of the fittest is the general rule in the Dark Court.
Lacrimosa Knights
A Lacrimosa Knight order is openly the pinnacle of martial pursuits within the realms of Arcadia. Neither truly Seelie nor Unseelie the order serves both or none. The Lacrimosa’s seemingly singleminded pursuit of martial perfection has earned them the highest ranks of esteem. There has been no King or queen of any court that has not sought them as their Ravens. The Lacrimosa have guarded every monarch of Arcadia as far back in time as any Fae can recollect.
It is no surprise that the LKO has existed since the beginnings of Arcadian history. No scholar not of the order knows whence they came nor why. What is known is that any and all Knights of the order are like unto the very essence of battle. They when entering a battlefield neither ask nor give quarter to any enemy that stands before them. The only recourse when challenging a Knight of the Order is to prey they find your cause noble. There is no escape however should you be found unjust. Each knight upon completion of the trials necessary to blood themselves into the order swears an oath that binds them into the service of the order which supersedes all other oaths and grants them a level of autonomy unheard of within the lands of Arcadia.
Crowns of the Seasons
All fae share a strong affiliation with nature and this is shown most prominently in the crowns of the seasons. These powerful artifacts are bestowed at the beginning of each season, and are given only to those most in touch with the true meaning of each season and what it stands for. Any fae may make a bid for a crown be they noble or common; usually the commoners don’t have the capacity to fully embrace what a season encompasses, though it is not unheard of for even the lowest of goblin grunts to be given a crown. Each court has two seasons with which they share the strongest natural affinity, spring and summer for the Seelie, autumn and winter for the Unseelie. When it is time for the crowns to be given out they are brought by appointed representatives of the courts and presented to their bearers formally. However, in the rare cases where the bearer is courtless or not of the affiliated court, an avatar of the season itself will come to present the crown. There are two types of crown greater and lesser, there is only one greater crown and it is given only to the true monarch of season, to date no one other than the kings and queens of the Seelie and Unseelie courts have received these. The lesser crowns are many and the bearers of them tend to shift around a lot to be given a seasonal crown more than once is very rare and to receive more than one even more so, presently only the Unseelie princess has received both crowns of her court each season for the past few centuries.
The seasons are divided in purpose and power, based on what each season means and does to nature. Autumn is a transitional season, a time when the power of summer begins to pass into winter, it is a time the time when fear grows powerful as the world looks forward to the coming winter and the shadows grow longer as the days grow shorter. Winter is a high Season the time of sorrow when nature looks back on what it has lost and the white snow throws all the hard truths into stark against naked branches. Spring is another transitional season when winter must start surrendering to summer; it is a time of desire as the world wakes up and starts to discover itself again. Summer is the other high season the time of joy as all revel in the soft bounty that nature provides so freely without thought to what the future may bring or what the past might hold. The power of the crowns reflect these philosophies offer their bearers greater strength or new powers based off of what the season has to offer, but their gifts are as varied and unpredictable as the seasons which they embody. Also in addition to the crowns there are the veils of the seasons, these belong to crown holders out of their season, though they have no real power to offer there wearers they are symbols of who and what they were for a season. A veil wearer may keep their veil forever, but it is considered bad form to wear it in public for more than one season.
THE LESSER COURTS
Any of the various Arcadian races can have their own rulers, customs and culture within the political umbrella of one of the Greater Courts. Royal Arcadian of whatever kind are given greater status according to their race within the Greater Court hierarchy, but these Royals are expected to give their Court’s ultimate loyalty to the Greater Court.
Notable Lesser Courts (out of many)
Aelwyd Eryie Demi-Arcadian Courts
These Arcadian tend to live in Aelwyd Eryie, a series of hills between the Seelie and Unseelie lands, though one minor Unseelie Demi-Arcadian Court lives in the Underdark. Demi-Arcadian have a Seelie Summer Queen in Summer and an Unseelie Winter Queen in Winter, with many minor courts of their own under each ruler based on race or faction. Many of these minor courts plot against each other in various sneaky ways.
Dwarven Courts
The Dwarves tend to live in the far mountain ranges to the Southeast known as the Iron Hills. They have several different clans, each with their own King and Queen based on lineage and with mostly on equal footing with each other, though all are beholden to the Seelie Greater Court. There is always some rivalry between clans but they will all work together when needed.
Goblin Court
The various Goblinoid races tend to live in loosely grouped tribes in the far mountain ranges to the Southwest known as the Fangspires. Whoever is strongest rules this singular Lesser Court for all the goblin races, the winner typically killing all competition to reach the throne. Sometimes there is a King and Queen, sometimes there is only one ruler, depending on if one eats the other at some point.
Sidhe Courts (Arcadian horses)
These Arcadian tend to live in the vast rolling plains called Rowanlea that runs to the foothills of the mountain ranges beyond. They hold separate Seelie and Unseelie Lesser courts with several racial and faction based minor courts in each, but all use parts of the same territory regardless of season.
The Barrows Mayor
The main gathering places of the Barrowfolk are located beneath the cliffs of the Seelie Court Halls, called unsurprisingly The Barrows. They don’t have a traditional ruler in their Lesser Court, but rather a Mayor of either gender voted in at regular intervals by village elder councils.
Various Arcadian Courts, both Seelie and Unseelie
All the Lesser Courts of the Arcadian races are of equal standing with each other under the Greater Courts, all vying amongst each other for the upper hand. They are located throughout Arcadia.
Sluagh Court
Currently in a Lesser Court due to losing their Royals recently, with the oldest Reaver as unofficial leader of it. They are generally called the Underfolk. Sometimes referred to as The Wyld Hunt, although the Sluagh are recruited into the Hunt by the Huntsman and are not in control of it. Non-Arcadian tend to ignorantly call them the Host of Unforgiven Dead. The Sluagh are almost exclusively associated with the season of Winter and the darker colder elements of the Unseelie, taken to the most monstrous extremes, thus setting them somewhat apart from even the dangerous Unseelie Court. Herein resides the monsters of yore. The law of fang and claw seems to be the only rule these dark Arcadian follow, lacking much formal culture or symbology. All of them suffer from madness to some degree, though this may change depending on if and when their shattered Court is restored. The Sluagh traditionally have indulged in Bloodmatches, often to the death, to settle disputes and establish their power structure and generally consider violence the best way to handle any situation. The Sluagh Court has traditionally been allied with the Unseelie Court, and so for now the remaining Sluagh are under the Unseelie Court in their Lesser Court, until and if their own Royals can be found for their own Court once more. The Seelie Court generally considers Sluagh natural enemies and might have a wary truce with them at best. Many of their ranks have traditionally been recruited for war or the Wyld Hunt. The Sluagh have been treated as mindless savage threats to everyone and designated kill on sight by both Courts until somewhat recently and much of that wariness lingers when dealing with these darkest of Arcadian.
Nightflyers/Nighthags
Subspecies of Sluagh that have their own minor court under the Sluagh Court. Tend to live anywhere you don’t want them to sneak up on you. They also tend to hang around the Cwn Annwyn, joining in the Wyld Hunts and otherwise feasting on part of the spoils wherever the packs roam and hunt. There is a separate minor court for the males and for the females of this race and they haggle between themselves for mating rights and other resources.
The Mounds
The mounds are in the western part of the United State of Illinois. Each Court has its own mound. The mounds are also called a Sithen. The Sidhe Sithens are a part of Faerie, as well as being its own being. No one is quite sure what the Sithens are. Each Sithen rearranges itself and decorates itself on its own choosing, as well as obeying the ruler of the Court. Each Sithen also has modern plumbing, and one telephone used to contact the humans.
The two Sithens are on opposite sides of the mounds. The land in between is a dangerous place to be and is protected from human eyes by magic. If any humans were to see what truly went on, then the Arcadian would be exiled from the U.S. The spell used just wills a human to look away and forces their minds not to register what it is they see. It's a type of powerful glamour. In the middle of the land between the two Sithens is a hollow hill, with a field and a forest. All paths and roads towards each Sithen stop far away from the mounds, and the rest of way is covered with grass, showing no particular route to the doorway of each Sithen.
- The doors of each Sithen are hidden from human eyes and rotates on its own or the ruler's schedule.
- There are many hidden doors to each Sithen all are hidden from human eyes the main hidden egress to the Sithen of the Glittering Throng reside in the Mountains of Los Angeles. While the main hidden egress into the Sithen of the Darkling throng reside in the New York City Underground.
- Only a Sidhe can use their magic to find the door and then pass their hand over the grassy bank to get the door to appear.
- When the door appears it is a light-filled opening that is always the correct size for the person/group that are waiting to enter.
- The sound of beautiful music can also be heard. The inside of the Sithen is made of a grey stone that is alien to the United States.
- Deep inside the mounds there are meadows and orchards, and when the Arcadians were in full power there used to be a moon and sun inside.
- The Sithens are always lit, although the source of the light is another of the Sithen's mysteries.
