The Low Dukedoms of Quox and Mux are Dream Realms near the Vale of Mists.
Overview[]
Toward the limits of the Bullydale Wastes, the petty selfishness and violence becomes more mindless; the schemes increasingly more outrageous. The usual rules bend and finally collapse into absurdity. Once totally absurd behavior is the rule, then the traveler has arrived in the Low Dukedoms, the heart of trickery and slapstick comedy in the Dreaming.
Everyone in Quox is obsessed with playing practical jokes on people. Everyone in Mux is obsessed with the same thing. The only difference between Mux and Quox is that Muxians hate Quoxites and Quoxites hate Muxians. To an outsider, both are equally obnoxious breeds (or amusing, depending on one's point of view).
- See also Mux (CTD)
Legendary Framework[]
Simply put, the origins of Quox and Mux are one of the most confusing aspects of the Dreaming. There are two main sources of this confusion. First, all important residents are liars, cheats, and pranksters, making it difficult to trust historical sources. In fact, the more informed a source is about the Dukedoms, the less likely they are to be telling the truth, and vice versa. Second, the very identities of the dominions that we know as "Quox" and "Mux" appear to have changed randomly throughout the past, and it is difficult to be sure that any two sources are talking about the same "Quox" or the same "Mux."
The Dukedoms (or rather, the earliest known pair of Dukedoms) first appear in the Green Compendium during the age of the fomorians. At that time, the Animal Courts were already a subjugated people, being used by the fomorian overlords as food, slave labor, and raw materials for cruel entertainments. Those Animals who remained free lived hidden with their wild cousins in the depths of the Dream Forests, where they endured a sad existence.
Fortuitously, at the time of the sidhe gigantomachy against the fomorians, two Animals were born in this first exile. One, a Hare, was named Quox. The other, a Coyote, was named Mux. As is usual in such stories, the two immediately became lifelong rivals and spent their waking lives spinning elaborate schemes and traps for each other, in hopes of pulling the Ultimate Prank and becoming the unchallenged Great Trickster.
When the two combined forces in an epic practical joke, the magical arsenal of the Red Fomorians was destroyed, which enabled the Arcadians to defeat their foes. Ever since, the Animals have ruled the independent dream-nations of Mux and Quox, given autonomy from Arcadia by the grateful sidhe. Now, the Dukedoms exist as completely independent anarchical states within the Dreaming, ruled only by whichever pranksters possess the epic talent to claim inheritance of the original Coyote or Hare. Only Zozo the Monkey, original leader of the dispossessed Animals, remains a constant moderating voice in the otherwise insane noise of the Dukedoms.
The chief residents of the Low Dukedoms are childlings of all sort, pooka, and members of the two Animal Courts. However, any faerie of the requisite temperament is welcome to become a citizen of either realm. Apart from the insanely convoluted paperwork required for citizenship (which everyone ignores anyway), the only prerequisite is that the prospective Quoxite/Muxian survive the traditional period of hazing by their new neighbors.
Quoxburg & Muxtown[]
Quoxburg, the only important inhabited area in Quox, is the size of a small town. Because animals, childlings, and childling-sized chimera compose the majority of the local population, many of the more important buildings are scaled down, making the Quoxburg skyline both picturesque and vaguely disturbing. Visitors of larger size who do not possess shapeshifting magic tend to find it difficult to navigate the small stairwells and doorways, which creates impromptu "Small Only" areas.
Important places within Quoxburg proper include the palace of Chaunticleer Quox (a Rooster) and the adjoining Egg Factory, which forms the rudimentary basis of what passes for the Quoxian economy. These eggs are packaged and shipped to points throughout the Dreaming, where they are used for a variety of purposes, from food to sorcery (including special armors and Orfeo's Path) to simply being thrown at people. Other points of interest are the Tricked-Out Bazaar, which specializes in gaffed and other joke clothing, various training and recruitment facilities for the Nursery Battalions, and several exotic novelty shops.
Muxtown, the Muxly counterpart to the neighboring Quoxburg, resembles its rival in many respects, including the childling-scaled architecture. In fact, Muxtown boasts an entire ghetto neighborhood that is scaled even smaller, as it accommodates toddlers and the smallest animals only. Called "Puttitown," this notorious region is the nexus for many of the most ruthless Putti crime syndicates in the Dreaming; it has an ominous density of milk bars and clip shops.
The increased presence of the Putti and openly carnivorous animals makes the flavor of Muxtown rather rambunctious and wild compared to Quoxburg, which is saying a great deal. Unseelie brawls break out in Muxtown streets far more frequently than in Quoxburg, and they tend to spread farther and to be more violent.
Other than Puttitown (with its pawnshops and so forth), Muxtown boasts the Mansion of Reynardine Mux (a fox), a gunpowder factory, and Joe Miller's Archive of joke books (see the external article Joe Miller (actor)).
Local Color[]
The primary affinities of the Low Dukedoms are animals of all sorts. According to disreputable scholars, it is for this reason that the pooka kith is so closely attuned to the anarchic logic of Quox and Mux. Perhaps the kith even originated from the Dukedoms long ago. While all animals are beloved in the Dukedoms, special honor is given to elephants, monkeys, roosters, foxes, hares, and coyotes. Other magical keystones of the Dukedoms include the Seven Naughty Words, the Kazoo, and the Bent Spoon. The heraldic insignia for both Mux an Quox is an inflated bladder; the bladder of Quox is displayed normally, but for Mux the bladder is inverted.
The constantly shifting nature of the Dukedoms makes it difficult to provide a definitive list of local points of interest. Still, some aspects of each realm remain "classic," enduring in some form or another from generation to generation. In any case, the traveler should note that, although the favored building material in both Quox and Mux is candy, it is generally considered bad form to snack without permission.
- Zozo's House
- The Putti
The Joke Isn't Funny Anymore[]
Although the manic energy and nonstop laughs of the Dukedoms hide it, Winter is actually quite deeply established in the realm. The signs are subtle but undeniable. Since the sealing of Arcadia, the Bruins (chimerical bears) have all disappeared and are thought to have died out. Certain particular choice novelty items like good itching powder or Special Gum are now difficult to find, as the raw materials have become extinct within those parts of the Dreaming where they were once harvested. A general malaise has set in, compounded by an influx of comparatively serious-minded military childlings and mercantile Putti who would prefer to make revolution or money than to laugh. Every time somebody tells a joke and nobody laughs, a Quoxite dies. Every time somebody gets told to stop goofing around, a Muxian dies.
Saddest of all, Zozo the Monkey has finally grown sick with his advanced age, and no longer seems interested in fostering the amusing rivalry between the Dukedoms. It is uncertain whether the internecine pranking would continue when he dies, or what (if anything) would replace it.
Denizens & the Low Dukedoms[]
These animal kingdoms have always maintained a precarious position in the Dreaming. Before the War of Trees, much of this realm was under the heel of the Fomorians who used the animals for food or brute labor, despite their obvious sentience. The servants of the Red Court have not forgotten and since the Week of Nightmares, the animal dukedoms have suffered assaults from abroad. The majority of the attackers have been fir-bholg from the Splintered Mountains or naraka. Parts of Mux and Quox are in flames, and many of its lighthearted people have been slaughtered without mercy or forced into bondage.
References[]
- CTD. Dreams and Nightmares, pp. 69-71.
- CTD. Denizens of the Dreaming, p. 31.