The Diocese of Ely

Last post I covered NPCs, this post I want to spend time talking about locations you should know about in Ely and other things like local traditions, hobs and wildlife.

As a note when I say locations I pretty much solidly mean in the hedge at least this post.

The Cathedral

The main location in the diocese, its visible from a long way away in the hedge and so to a degree makes navigating the local hedge easier, or at least its hard to not be able to make your way back to it. Some call it the ship of the fens, this has been known to confuse some hobs though - whilst other hobs use it exclusively.

What the Cathedral is however is hard to describe as it is many things.

It is to an extent a hedge manifestation of the real world Cathedral and the faith of man invested in it over centuries.  But a manifestation shaped by changelings to be even more akin to its real world look alike, albeit a pre-dissolution of the monasteries version.
It is thus a sprawling complex of rooms, halls, covered walkways, towers and monuments.

Its a hollow or bits of it are or are warded and connected by doors and established hedge gates to the real world.

It's a meeting place and focal point for the barony, a "market place of ideas" ideologies and faiths. The nave of the cathedral is given over to a kind of "speakers corner" many people can set up their stalls here and talk about whatever they wish. Generally at least one member of the four main courts can be found here talking to whoever will listen, more on market days or Sundays.

On Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays the main cloister is taken up by a hob market, the main produce is simple fair - fruits, oddments, skills, some goblin contracts and some tokens. All hinging around a hob economy focused on fenlands and religion.

Its a refuge for changelings and one hob tribe (the Veneration) - the massive walls of the cathedral and its precinct hold back multiple dangers and make it a safer place to live. That said the living conditions can be somewhat medieval (more so for hobs who will sleep anywhere)

It is a place of knowledge and learning. The cathedral has a small school for instruction of lost in the ways of lost society and has a well stocked library - though this tends to focus on history and the courts.

Hobs and Changelings have equal standing in the cathedral - it might be headed by the bishops as a diocese but the Cathedral is by ancient pact a hollow and a hob village - they work together united by common purpose. But everything has a price, bishops are very clear on the policy of exchange if goods and services. Just because a hob has something useful to the diocese/cathedral does not mean it is taken and used in common.

The look and feel of the cathedral is somewhat different to how some might imagine - the outside is lime washed white with colourful gargoyles, patina roofing and metal leaf here and there.
Inside it is painted in colour and has stained glass in the windows. The decorations show the foundation of the 4 seasonal courts, the freehold the diocese, the hob treaty and other sections of history in pictorial form. Add to this multiple wall hangings, religious icons and the occasional parade of relics and an overpowering smell of incense and you start to get a feel for it all. Then overlay the noise of preachers, market stall holders, the choir and the chimes of bells.

The Graveyard

The graveyard is much as it sounds a place of burial, of monuments to the dead and gone it lies outside the cathedral proper but is very much within its sway. Some hobs and less reputable changelings come here to rob graves and gnaw on the bones of the dead. Of course being the hedge not everyone lies still....

Hobs that have fallen so low as to eat the dead are called Ghul and actively shunned by the Veneration. They are occasionally dangerous.

The Quay.

Hedge Ely is an island in a sea of fens rivers and lakes. It therefore has a quayside a small docking area of boats, and hob navigators willing to take changelings for a ride - one way or another.

There is some light hob industry here mostly hedge spinning of everyday items.

The Fens

Whilst the hedge around Ely itself and the Cathedral match up to what changelings expect of the hedge for arable farmland. Venture much further than a couple of football pitches out and the hedge dramatically changes into a boggy marshland crisscrossed by streams, ditches and branches of several wide rivers in a fashion that ever changes.
Apart from the very centre of wide river channels it is covered in plant life big rushes and reeds that, even if the ground were solid would be head high. Willow like trees in places seek to lure the unwary into their clutches to be digested. Bogs of moss suck you down to drown, and swarms of midges come to suck at your glamour. But its not all doom and gloom, their are numerous animal wonders and lily pads able to act as boats, as well as the occasional island rich in fruits and blossoms.
Travellers should watch out for the Fen hogs (dangerous hippo sized pigs) and the famous tigers, as well as the Gyrwas Hob tribe.