With our second blog post we provide an overview of the
courts in our Changeling chronicle. We have chosen to create custom courts as
opposed to using the familiar seasonal courts because we did not want a set
destination for how Lost society should develop (i.e. the Seasonal courts will
always form a seasonal rotation, the directional courts will always carve out
courtly territories).
We are currently finalising mechanics for each courts mantle
and will include them in more detailed write-ups of the courts at a later date.
ST Note: to
reconcile the ‘just off the bus’ nature of the new Lost chronicle: The Four
Elemental courts are something connected with the wider story of humanity and
for a new character will denote their motivation for escaping Arcadia. This
means a whole background ark of “What you were stolen for? How did you escape? And
what brought you back?” can easily be answered by Kith, Seeming and Court.
The Fire
Court- The Court
of Pride, The Path of Flame
As you fled
the eldritch horror and heady beauty of arcadia you followed a bitter yet
soothing siren song: YOU were the first in your family to ever go to
university, YOU managed to qualify for the national championships, YOU were
president of the school debating society, YOU were the guy all the girls fell
for at school, You were the woman everyone sought advice from, YOU weren’t
nobody: YOU WERE SOMEBODY…
Arrogant, assertive, daring, dramatic, Jacobin, judgemental,
visionary, violent… There are many ways to describe the walkers on the Path of Flame
and all of them are dynamic like the court itself. The Members of the Fire
Court burn with the Promethean flame: the divine spark of ingenuity and the
determination to force the world around them to work on their terms. When a
Lost soul who would become a member of the Fire court hears the call of their
memories they do not consider escaping: they know they must…it’s just a matter
of how. As such the culture shock of returning can be quite sharp, their hopes
and dreams lie in tatters and the world has all but forgotten about them…just
another woulda, coulda, shoulda… It
is therefore understandable why the Lost of the Fire court are quick to ire and
resistant to compromise. Despite their losses they will not forget that they
are better than this and will push themselves and others to even greater
heights. But fire is not just a source of warmth and power; it is inherently
destructive in its nature. For the loftier a Fire Courtiers ambition and the
closer it falls within their grasp, the further and harder the weight of
reality can crash down upon them.
Promethean
Flames:
To the uninitiated, the philosophy of the Path of Flame can
be considered dangerous to the stability and liberty of Lost society, after all
pride is generally considered to be a negative and reductive trait in human
society. A Fire courtier however, would simply retort that it is better to be
open and upfront about your failings because acknowledging a problem is the
first step towards rectifying it. To the Fire courtier, pride is not an aloof
sense of complacency but an active expression of the individual’s agency and a
drive to reach ever greater heights.
A slave accepts their situation and bends to circumstance
whereas the Fire courtier bends the world towards their agenda: it is always better
to die on your feet than live on your knees.
Character
Concepts:
Polemicist, Lay preacher, ‘Visionary’, Hooligan, Vigilante,
Grifter, Hacktivist, Amateur league Athlete, Hedge Knight, Ghost Hunter, ‘Man
with Van’, ‘Expert’, Martyr, ‘Judge Jury & Executioner’.
The Earth
Court- The Court
of Envy, The Alabaster Road
To be Lost
is not simply a matter of not knowing where you are, the voice told you, but to
know that the things you hold dear have been taken from you. YOUR wealth, YOUR
status, YOUR looks, YOUR thoughts, YOUR hopes, YOUR dreams. To be Lost is to be
a slave, to be owned, to be possessed there is no agency, no justice…but to
reverse such a wretched fate…it simply starts by taking back what is rightfully
YOURS…
Calculating, controlling, cunning, capricious, holistic,
hoarding, sage, selfish… It is often said of the walkers of the Alabaster Road
that they know the price of everything and the value of nothing…but nothing
could be further from the truth. To escape the realms of Arcadia the members of
the Earth court realised a fundamental truth: The burden of emancipation is
yours to carry alone, you carry your weight or you carry your chains. Following
their memories of what they have lost and what they will regain, those who
would become members of the Earth Court seethe over the many injustices that
have been committed against them and plan how to right those wrongs. This can
make the return all the more bitter when the Earth Courtier confronts their
Fetch, a shallow and lacking doppelganger left in stewardship of their legacy.
Despite the wracking torment of seeing a
pretender squander all the Earth Courtier strove to build before their capture,
many play the long game; accounting for every detail and every omission the
fetch has made so as best to slip back into their old lives. For Earth is cold
and resilient, a level head and ruthless calculation will see those who stand
in their way break long before they do. Once an enemy has been vanquished and
their ‘assets’ have been consolidated under the Earth courtier’s control they
will look for the next perceived wrong to be rectified. For the sad truth is
that once an Earth Courtier finally gets back all they have lost, they soon
realise that it was never enough…
The Land
Knows. The Land Remembers:
Though brute force and social assassination are the probable
outcomes of a walker of the Alabaster Road’s latest acquisition, many know that
the surest road to power is knowledge. As such even the most meat headed of the
Earth court have a working knowledge of something: whether it be esoteric lore,
local history or simply a little black book for blackmail. Many within the
Earth court carve an existence amongst Lost society as Consiglieres, Mandarins and middlemen; exploiting
their knowledge and dubious connections to enact and facilitate the Freeholds
will. Though an Earth courtier’s council may at times be highly charged or
partisan it always contains sage analysis and insightful expertise. While many
welcome the wisdom and teachings the Earth courtier can provide, the cynical
state the Alabaster Road does not act out of something so simple as altruism.
Favour, popularity and respect are all forms of currency the Earth Courtier can
exploit in their ever increasing flow of wealth. As with its material counterpart,
the influence of such ‘wealth’ can be corrupting of even the most ethical
members of Alabaster Road, as many who enter a bargain with an Earth courtier
soon learn the hard way if they choose or are forced to renege .
Character
Concepts:
Street Corner Dealer, Burglar, ‘Spiv’, Token Appraiser,
Parish Councillor, Protection Racketeer, Collector, ‘Jobsworth’, Local
Historian, Pawn Broker, Scholar of the Dark Arts, Opinion Leader, ‘Black Hat’, ‘Hands
on’ Loan Shark.
The Water
Court- The Court
of Dread, The Drowned Procession
With every
step you took towards freedom the voice inside your head whispered: All the
barbs in your soul, all the pain in your joints…You are nothing to them. You
were not the first, and you will not be the last…you were not chosen, nor are
you special. You are dust and to dust you will return…but they found you. How
easily they could find YOUR sibling, YOUR lover, YOUR friends, YOUR
colleagues…one day they will come back…and you will be waiting for them…
Inquisitorial, indomitable, melancholic, meticulous,
paranoid, paternal, temperate, terrifying…many a heart and a tongue stills when
a follower of the Drowned Procession enters the room, for they are held equally
with fear and awe. Lead back not by recollections of their triumph and humanity
but a deep seated unease that everything that has tortured and tormented them
can just as easily be handed down to those they cared about before their
enslavement. It is with grim determination and a poisoned love that drives them
to walk the roads less travelled and face the unimaginable horrors of the world
of darkness, using their mastery of dread and careful planning to ward off
mortals to the dangers hidden in plain sight. It is for this reason, many
amongst the Water Court, intentionally or not, cultivate a mystique from which
many an urban legend springs forth: The Hook, Bloody Mary, Spring Heeled-Jack
and Slenderman were most likely all inspired by members of the Drowned
Procession. But as the enemies of the Lost and the Servants of the Gentry are
forced back night after night, the Water Courtier looks down upon the blood on
their hands and the weight on their soul… little by little they realise that
the most dangerous threat to those they care about is themselves…
The Briny
Abyss:
It is an easy mistake to believe that Water is the court of
fear…but fear creates adrenalin. Fear is primal and engages the fight or flight
reflex…and it is astounding to see how much fight is borne of ignorance. No.
The Drowned Procession are not the court of fear but the court of dread. For
dread does not play to flutters of the heart but operates on the cold
superstitious logic of the mind. The Water court may not be able to choose the
nature of their opponents but they can
choose the terms of engagement. Ruthless strategists bordering on the
psychotic, Water courtiers may spend countless hours brooding on a problem,
second guessing both themselves and their opponents, before deciding on a
course of action but when it comes to the execution it is rarely anything but
flawless. When it comes to engagement the Water Courtier will already have
carefully laid the ground work and tightened their trap to cause maximum
destruction, and in many cases merely the threat of the courts intervention can
halt an enemy in their tracks…after all the anticipation of a monster hiding
just out of sight can be more potent that an actual encounter with the monster.
Character
Concepts:
Conspiracy Theorist, Gang Enforcer, ‘Kooky’ Elder, Night
Doctor, Jaded Detective, Briar Ranger, ‘Family Man’, Curator of Forbidden Lore,
Survivalist, Legate of the Dead, Urban
Legend, ‘Creepy’ Groundskeeper, Bailiff, Folklorist.
The Air
Court: The Court
of Desire and Regret, The Zephyrus Trail
It never
felt real… the voice in your ear telling YOU the darkest secrets of your soul,
The exam YOU winged because you didn’t think it mattered, the boy at school who
YOU could never find the courage to speak to but were haunted by every teenage
night, The job opportunity YOU turned down even though it had been what you
always wanted, The dreams YOU held…but were too scared of failure to follow
through…at first they felt bitter and mocking because all you had known was the
dizzying vibrant bleakness of Arcadia. And then they felt cruel and barbarous
because the voice told you stories of why you were weak when you were at the
depth of your helplessness. And then they felt alluring and dreamy because even
THEY couldn’t take your regrets from you…and then the flash of headlights the
screaming obscenities of the swerving motorist and the sweet refreshing touch
of the breeze…it never felt real…but does that even matter…
You’ve defiantly seen them; you probably even know some of
them. The Guy who turns up at the bar at opening time and is somehow still
drinking at last orders, The Girl who’s out clubbing every Friday night and is
always hauled off in the back of a police van for getting into fights. The
middle aged pariah who dresses as if they were still twenty years younger and
is up for ‘anything’…all broken individuals both wearing and masking their
pain, but the school of hard knocks has toughened them and what can be seen as
either ‘reckless abandon’ or ‘dereliction of the self’ is often a true grit
that allows one to survive the mind bending beauty and horrors of Arcadia. The
followers of the Zephyrus Trail claim to be the court of Desire, wild
hedonists and capricious addicts who
bring with them a little of the beauty and madness of Arcadia wherever they go.
But the hardest lies for a trickster to swallow are the ones they tell
themselves, for deep down in their hearts each member of the Air Court knows
they walk the path of regret. For all their grand illusions, when reality
starts to bite many within the court feel the weight of the void in their souls
heavier than others as they come to realise the cheap fixes of desire cannot
numb them forever…
NO
regrets, NO fears, NO anxieties:
Regret is a powerful emotion and for the Lost regret can
easily be seen as survivor’s guilt. The members of the Zephyrus Trail are
survivors, the memories that brought them back were rarely positive and even
those that are sting with bittersweetness. But despite this, the Air Court find
their regrets oddly empowering for regrets are born of compromise, appeasement
and ultimately the surrendering of one’s agency. The Air court have made a personal
vow never again to be held down by their regrets; living in the moment and
making sure that every action and choice they make is first and foremost for
their fulfilment. As such, the Air Courts seemingly headlong drive towards
self-destruction lends them an inner strength and almost unshakable
determination once they have set their hearts on something. Seen as skittish,
self-obsessed and flaky by the other courts, nether the less when the chips are
down and the Freeholds survival rests on a knife edge. You will always find the
members of the Air court front and centre, holding the line.
Character
Concepts:
‘Glutton for Punishment’, Addict, ‘Chancer’, Hedge Fruit
Gourmet, ‘Tortured Artist’, Temptress, ‘Adrenaline Junkie’, Patsy, ‘Fight Club’
Initiate, Party Drug Dealer, ‘Lovable’ Rogue, Hedge Beast Trainer, Gossip, Knave.
The Courtless
For the Lost, following one of the four elemental
philosophies is more than a mere political affiliation. It is an article of
faith. Faith in their own humanity, conviction in their agency and the power
they now possess to defy their former Keepers. The Mantle is therefore not some
mystical membership card or gaudy bauble but a symbol of the bearer’s broken
chains. How curious then are those whom are euphemistically referred to as the
Courtless.
The Courtless are at best distrusted and at worse openly and
actively despised. There is always a lingering fear that the Gentry send
servants back to the real world to bring back their wayward slaves. Whereas the
mantle reflects the struggle and ultimate triumph to escape and the emotional
weight behind such a struggle, it could always be possible that a Lost who
‘escaped’ without a mantle was simply placed there by their Keeper as an
unwitting pawn in their grand schemes. A Courtless who doesn’t make friends fast
and learns to toe the line will quickly end up dead at the hands of the
Freehold’s most zealous defenders, rightly or wrongly accused of subversion and
loyalism.
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