The Kingdom of Heather is a Changeling Fief and part of the larger Kingdom of Albion, known by mortals as England.
Overview[]
Also known as the North Country, this stretch of land borders the Lakes Country along the eastern shore as far as Hadrian's Wall and the Tyne River, which form the traditional border between the Kithain of England and Scotland. While the two countries in the mortal world have had (and continue to have) disputes, the kith in this region have, for the most part, existed peacefully for centuries.
During the 1500s, the Kingdom of Tears was partitioned off from the rest of the kingdom. Though the two have been reunited now for close to a century, the Lakes retain their own rulership, and in turn owe fealty to the sovereign of the Heatherlands.
The current ruler of the Kingdom of Heather is a troll, Lawrence Ormond. Though he has ruled well for more than 20 years, many fear that he is beginning to feel the chill of Banality, for his heart has been captured by the Autumn. The responsibilities he bears are many; in addition to overseeing the Kingdom of Heather, Lawrence is married to a dashing young lady barrister from York... who knows nothing of his fae life. The two are very much in love, but Rebecca is beginning to worry that Lawrence has been unfaithful to her. Lawrence knows that the honorable thing to do would be to explain to her why he is often called away for days at a time... but sadly, she would be more likely to believe any lie than the truth. For although she loves him deeply, no amount of Glamour or enchantment has been able to break the spell that the mundane world has cast upon her. Though there was a time in her life when she might have believed in invisible castles and faerie steeds, she left all that behind in her struggle to be taken seriously in the highly chauvinistic world of the British law courts. Lady Ellyndil has advised him that perhaps the best thing to do would be to let her go, but Lord Ormond will not consider it.
Cities & Sites[]
York[]
One of the best-preserved walled cities in England, York retains much of its ancient charm while keeping pace with the modem world. Its Arts Centre hosts local and international performing and visual artists, and the town's rich history is passed on through daytime and evening tours of the town's historical sites. Although York is notable among scholars of the spirits of the dead for the disproportionate number of ghosts who have remained, this somber feeling does not dampen the magical feeling of the place.
One of York's most colorful Kithain is Billy, a goat pooka who spends his days and evenings giving guided tours of the city. Billy knows most of the secrets of the old city, including a good bit about the wraiths who haunt the taverns and ruins. Of course, if he occasionally embellishes a little, no one seems to mind, least of all the tourists, who keep Billy well-supplied with tips (most of which go to buying collectible card games). Accompanying Bily on most of his tours are Sachi, a young Eurasian girl with dark, laughing eyes; and Jared, a tall American fellow who wears jeans, a NIN T-shirt, and an ankh. While the sluagh tends to stay out of the way when Billy is giving a tour (often scaring the wits out of the tourists when he appears out of the shadows at the end of an evening tour), Sachi shows her eshu tendencies when she occasionally tries to steal the show from Billy... no mean feat.
Whitby[]
Few would dispute that Bram Stoker's most famous novel is the source of much of Whitby's tourist trade. A "Goth" festival overruns the town annually, as the normally quiet town is flooded with young people paying homage to Stoker's pale-skinned nobleman. Among them are several Hollow Ones mages, and sluagh, who come with their un-Awakened companions to soak up the dark and stormy atmosphere that still permeates the place.
The windswept cliffs outside Whitby once housed a grotto of some power, but the sacred stone was shattered more than a century ago. It seems that a number of would-be vampire hunters came to the area, drawn by local stories about the "real" Dracula. In their zeal to wipe out anything possibly connected to the fictional bloodsucker, they toppled tombstones, violated graves, and destroyed anything they came across that smacked of the occult. The local clergy, at first supportive of their efforts to purge the land of any possible occult influences, were horrified to find the local cemeteries dug up by this latter-day Inquisition, and ordered it to desist activities immediately.
Sadly, one of the monuments toppled was the sacred stone of a local changeling grotto. Its almost palpable warmth and the barely audible hum it emitted on the Changing Days (solstices and equinoxes) was proof enough of demonic influence to hunters, and so after several hours of work with chisel and hammer, the stone was reduced to rubble.
While these hunters did succeed in destroying most of the benign magicks and sacred places of the area, they met their end some miles out of town in the person of several of the undead they were seeking.
The Principality of Tears[]
Once it's own kingdom, the Kingdom of Tears, this fief has been incorporated into the Kingdom of Heather, though it still has its own character. See the article Principality of Tears for more information.
Locals[]
References[]
- CTD. Isle of the Mighty, pp. 49-50.