The Kingdom of Chalk is a Changeling Fief and part of the larger Kingdom of Albion, known by mortals as England.
Overview[]
The Kingdom of Chalk has historically had the most contact with the Continental kingdoms, owing to its close proximity to France. Though it was the first area settled by the Romans (and the first to feel the sting of the Banality they brought), its ties to Arcadia and her erstwhile sons and daughters have remained strong. Since the days of its first ruler, the eshu talespinner Benin, the Kingdom of Chalk has been known for its frequent festivals and warm hospitality. Though occasional problems with Thallain and the Prodigal have plagued individual duchies, the kingdom as a whole has remained one of the more peaceful areas of Albion.
The chalky soil of the southern counties is well-known throughout the country; for those used to the rich black-brown earth of the northern kingdoms, the sight of Sussex chalk-mud can prove downright disturbing. Looking more like freshly mixed concrete or paste than soil, many a traveler has marveled at how anything can grow in such stuff. But all criticisms are silenced at the first sight of the chalk downs by moonlight, when the very ground itself seems to shine like silver. At times like these, it is easy to see why childlings have for untold generations, believed that the moon was crafted by a nocker from the silvery ground of the south.
Like most areas of the Isle of the Mighty, the Kingdom of Chalk has its share of standing stones. While perhaps not as well-known as Stonehenge or as potent as Castlerigg, they too serve as connecting points between the people and the land, as crossroads between worlds, and as neutral meeting places controlled by no single faction or individual. The western duchies of the kingdom are particularly rich in standing stones and dolmens. (For more information on these formations, see Ireland (WOD)#Archaeological Structures.
Brighton[]
About an hour south of London by rail on the southern coast, Brighton is home to one of the most active, youthful cultures in Britain. Some call it "The San Francisco of England," and it does share much in common with its sister city in Pacifica: a strong gay subculture, a thriving intellectual community, and a sense of fun even a childling would envy. But it also has a history and a flavor all its own, a flavor that its Concordian cousin will never match.
Brighton has long stood as an emblem of escapism to the English since before the days of Prince George, more than a century ago. Whether it played host to Londoners in need of a seaside holiday or to those who wished to lose themselves in the music and glare of the Pier lights, many people have come to Brighton to forget. Though the majority of this is innocent, darker forces are also at work in the shadows.
Brighton's two most famous attractions are the Palace Pier (a riot of sound and light reminiscent of that in The Lost Bays) and the Royal Pavilion, an Eastern-inspired confection of a building that looks decidedly out of place in the otherwise typically English city. The Pier itself is host to slot machines, arcades, and overpriced souvenir and snack shops, as well as carnival-type rides, karaoke bars, and a few fortune tellers, all on a strip of wood and concrete jutting out into the Atlantic. The Pavilion, once the residence of the naughty Prince George, was opened to the public as a museum by a thoroughly disgusted Queen Victoria. Rumors persist of a network of secret corridors and canals beneath the city that hid the perversions of past rulers from the eyes of loyal subjects. The local sluagh firmly deny that such canals exist.
Further down the shore, the West Pier, a broken down ruin, stands like a ghostly shadow of the Palace Pier. A few sluagh wilders have claimed the place as their own, gathering on the shaky foundations to find some peace from the sound and fury of the city. Occasionally sheets of parchment adorned with charcoal sketches and fragments of poetry, drift onto the nearby beach.
Places of Note in Brighton[]
Canterbury[]
Since the coming of Christianity to England, Canterbury has been one of the faith's strongholds. The first missionaries to come to the Isle were quick to condemn the native fae there and elsewhere as demons, and encouraged the local populace to break all ties with the Good Folk. Though some continued to follow the old ways, leaving cream and cakes outside each night, most fae found the area to be inhospitable and retreated from the sound of the church bells. Many made their way to Glastonbury, where the old and new faiths were able to exist side by side.
So while Canterbury has long been avoided by most changelings and their kin, increasing tolerance on the part of the Church has drawn more Kithain back to this beautiful town. The local university is known for studies in alternate spirituality, and tolerance levels have been steadily increasing without any decrease in the faith or spirituality of the place.
If changelings have stayed clear of Canterbury, the opposite is true of Celestial Chorus mages. Since the first Sons of Mitras and members of the Sacred Congregation came to the island with the Romans and later conquerors, Canterbury has been the focal point for Christianity in the Isles. The periodic schisms that have rocked the mortal Church hierarchy have had effects on that of the Chorus as well. Though opinions were sharply divided at the time of the formation of the Anglican Church in the 1500s, most Choristers have tried to disassociate themselves from the politics of the world, at least, as much as possible in a country where there is no separation of Church and state.
The Principality of Cornwall[]
Once its own kingdom, the southwest corner of England is now part of the Kingdom of Chalk. Dartmoor Park has been the site of more than one midsummer gathering, away from the prying eyes of mortals. Stone circles litter the landscape of the southwest like nowhere else in the south of England. The Merry Maidens, Men-an-Tol, countless dolmens and harrows remain popular gathering spots with local Kithain, who seek to remember the tales of the past.
St. Michael's Mount, a craggy island at the southern tip of Cornwall, is the terminus of the so-called St. Michael's Ley, or Dragon Ley. Legends from Mont-Saint-Michel off the Brittany coast in France imply that the two places were once connected by a trod, but no evidence remains today.
Ley Lines[]
Understood by many cultures throughout the world, ley lines carry the life energy of Gaia to every point in the world. Most major Nodes, freeholds, and caerns lie along these "old straight tracks," and any place where two or more lines cross is likely to be a place of legend. Even ghost stories tell of the mystic power of crossroads. Scholars among Kithain, mages, and other supernaturals have varying theories on the origin and exact nature of the leys, none of which seem to wholly capture their essence. But regardless of which theory a given scholar ascribes to, all agree that their power seems greater in the Isle of the Mighty than elsewhere in the world.
Tintagel[]
Once a great castle, Tintagel now lies in ruins. The remaining structure was built in 1236 by the Earl of Cornwall. Legend claims Tintagel to have been the birthplace of King Arthur (at least, according to some English versions of the legend) and the location of the cave where Merlin was imprisoned.
Some claim that the castle was built at the insistence of the earl's wife, who was kinain. Ill omens had shown that the time of the Shattering was drawing near, and some of the fae in the area hoped that a stronghold might be constructed that could draw upon the energies of the nearby ley lines and hold together the fraying threads that bound the Dreaming to the land of men. Whether such a thing could have been possible is up for debate, but in the end, no freeholds at Tintagel survived the Shattering.
Disputes over the locations and ownership of any new freeholds split the region's fae into a dozen or more factions, some of which hastily attempted to find suitable places to found freeholds of their own. But sacred stones potent enough to sustain freeholds were hard to find. Some claim a quarrel between the earl's wife, who is said to have served as one of the maidens at Bride's Hall in her youth, and Megan, the guardian of the flame in Glastonbury, resulted in a refusal to allow any fae of Cornwall to partake of the Great Balefire at Bride's Hall to establish new freeholds for a period of a hundred years. There is some evidence of this to be found at a nearby stone circle, as well as in the so-called "Merlin's Cave" nearby Tintagel, but neither is a freehold today.
Locals[]
Though the Kingdom of Chalk is predominantly composed of eshu and satyrs, Kithain from all over the island come to the sunny beaches of the south shore for holiday, and many of them decide to stay. As the sprawl of London creeps southward, more nockers of a technological bent have been setting up shop in suburbs as far south as Gatwick (where, it is said, several nockers work in maintenance).
References[]
- CTD. Isle of the Mighty, pp. 37-39.