The Freehold of the Mammoth is a Sluagh stronghold in the Duchy of Blue Grasses.
Overview[]
Mammoth Caves, Kentucky, is one of the state's most visited tourist attractions. A band of sluagh, led by a matriarch named Jiruna, found that some of the lesser-developed, hidden caves contained Glamour. Sealing off the entry to their lair from the more traveled portions of the system, the sluagh created a freehold for themselves using balefire stolen from the Duchy of Blue Grasses. Left in their natural state, the caverns and passages are easily traveled by sluagh, but the small, twisting openings prove impassable to other kith. Lit intermittently with low-powered lights, most of the freehold remains dark and mysterious, just as the sluagh prefer it. Each member of Jiruna's motley has his or her own cavern... many with ledges or secondary caves attached. As a whole, the community has adopted the practice of carving out dwellings in the ledges similar to those used by the Native American cliff dwellers. While other Kithain would find life in the caves distasteful, the sluagh enjoy the darkness and quiet their freehold provides. The darkling caves also produce a quantity of dross in the form of small crystalline drops of condensation that solidify into tear-shaped pebbles.
When necessary, Jiruna meets with visitors in the outermost cavern of the freehold, a dimly lit cave with enough room for a table and several chairs. The sluagh live on money made from selling hand-thrown red and black pottery. Jiruna sells a more valuable commodity to select clients: information. From the outside, the doorway looks like a normal part of the grassy hillside. Visitors cannot go beyond the meeting hall unless they too are sluagh and capable of squirming through the tiny halls leading inward.
References[]
- CTD. Kingdom of Willows, p. 67.