Npc's of Cambridge - May

So I thought it might be a good idea to give you brief write ups of NPCs you meet in the month and others you have heard of and what you may know about them.

NPCs you have met

Raymond Narbonne - an elderly wizened who lives above an old toy shop in town. The shop is shut now, but he still lives there. He seems to have mellowed a little with age but has a reputation for being curmudgeonly to near hostile in attitude depending on how well he likes you. Oddly he professes to have been a spring courtier.
Almost blind.
Next door there used to be a sweet shop

Kimberley - a relative new comer when the fall came. Kimberley runs a retro clothes store on Mill Road and crafts hedgespun raiments for people. She gets in trouble with the "Leather Jackets" a lot due to her hedge activities.
Fairest Muse courtless but suggests a preference for spring.

Frank, Pete and Lisa - Leather Jackets
Members of the King's Motorcycle club all wear the jackets and are patched. They work for Lottie the boss of the club and enforce the laws of the "barony" they seem to want to be given an excuse to let off steam.
Frank and Pete are darklings, Lisa a snakelike beast.
They all have autumn mantle.

NPCs you have heard about

Lottie/Charlotte Withers - Leader of the King's MC, before the fall she was an autumn courtier "postdoc" of Andrew Harris. She is remembered to be a beast hunterheart.

Andrew Harris - once a potential Professor of Autumn for Cambridge, he fell from grace after Otto became Professor, due to some scandal that was mostly kept internal to the autumn court and took to reclusively living in the real world. Known game player, wizened with contracts of the board.

Otto -former autumn court professor of the Cambridge barony. Hated Harris. Interested in the hedge and its denizens particularly hedge beasts and "monsters" renowned for finding good ashen run targets and keeping a managiery as well as expanding the occult library with new additions. Darkling Antiquarian.

Xanthe Chambers - former professor of Spring, renowned botanist and hedge gardener made several crosses new to changeling society, and found new uses for many old hedge fruits and oddments. A scientist and an artist she was as driven by the need for aesthetic purity as she was the desire to understand and make new things and new life.
Fairest flowering.

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.

Diocese of Ely - NPCs you should know

Okay so I want to give people an overview of important NPCs that characters should know at the start of play. Obviously as the game premise is one of exploration others will be added and probably quite quickly after we start, but people will likely need to know who is who at the very start.

At the top of the Barony/Diocese we have the rulers:

The Bishops of Ely

Roach - The second eldest of the bishops, Roach is akin to a monk in lifestyle and always has pithy advice, an advisory tale or fable or a pearl of wisdom. He has an intense gaze that can, some say, see into the soul.
When people go to him for counseling he often plays devils advocate and shows people the sequence of consequences that follow from their actions.
Roach is a winter courtier and a beast skitterskulk - looks like a cross between Peter Falk as Columbo and Al from Quantum leap with insectoid qualities.

Zoe Malone - The youngest of the bishops, she is very active socially, is outgoing and takes time to engage and talk to everyone. She listens and understands you, and finds the best approach to talk to you for you.
She especially loves the arts and likes to involve people in things like poetry, music and song, or painting as a way to express their feelings.
She's also a good session facilitator.
Zoe is a Spring courtier and Fairest Muse.

Rutherford - The oldest Bishop and perhaps the most grumpy, things weren't like this in their day and age. Full of fear inducing glares and painful home truths you need to hear, tough love, pull yourself together.
But when you need help they listen, and advice flows often hard to swallow but they will move mountains for you.
Autumn courtier Wizened Chatelaine/Mirrorskin

The Fenland Rangers - aka Les Voltigeurs

A motley group of weathered old hedge survivalists, Barons of the lesser ones, Margraves of the brim etc. And 'The Kid'
They are scouts and hardened warriors able to act on their own or as a unit. Lately they have been involved in training up the recruits for the Cambridge mission

Sweet William - the leader of the group after the former leader drew the lottery for Cambridge duty 5 years back. William has fought hard locally in the deep fens (an area of danger to the barony) and in the war on the Bristol front. The latter cost him an eye and part of his lower jaw.
A nice guy though softly spoken and good to his men.
William is a Summer court Ogre Cyclopean, and Baron of the lesser ones involved in keeping good relationships with the local hob tribes.

The Kid - The newbie of the motley, he has a winning smile boyish good looks and the surest shot you ever did see. He often takes on missions to prove himself and is welcoming of company, he might even ask for it at times.
Spring court fairest who desires adventure.

Their Majesties' Hedge Guard - aka the Old Guard aka the Grumblers

A motley mostly made up of summer courtiers and the most effective military unit in the three barony area (Cambridgeshire) sworn to the Barony. Strung out and peppered with losses and injuries during the war they still are an impressive sight and run like a tight unit of battle hardened veterans. They have a reputation for straight talking and complaining based on an old edict that allowed them to voice opinions direct to the monarchs circumventing the chain of command.
Whilst this is no longer needed they still find things to grumble about, after all its their name.

Evey - an escapee from an arcadian gulag, Evey is a guerrilla style commando with a reputation for criminal violence and active protest (on environmental issues). Uncompromising and hardened beyond what you might expect to look at her, Evey leads the Guard.
Wizened Soldier/stone bones

Witness - Witness saw crimes happen every day in Arcadia, along with innocent bystanders, never allowed to become more, just see murder after murder, assault after assault. Eventually he said enough.
Watching violence so often teaches you things he says, teaches you how to stand against it and how to use it against others who perpetrate it. Witness started as a vigilante but Evey nurtured his rage and skills. Now he's as dedicated and skilled as she is.
Elemental - Manikin

Whilst the above would seem to suggest that Ely is very military and summer court dominated nothing could be further from the truth. The Barony has a very religious outlook and the courts here tend towards evangelism of their beliefs. Preachers and Motleys formed around ideals taken to levels of fervour abound. It's also a sanctuary and refuge for those lost or who have lost their homes in the war or otherwise (hence it is the home for the Cambridge refugees).
For example the winter court in Ely are very much like a religious cult, albeit a very benign one.
NPCs of these will come soon.

Hobs and more about Ely as setting guide to follow in another blog post.

Keepers -Thoughts and options

So a while back I read some good example True Fae Keepers from Ross (you may guess I really like the background he's done for the London game) and tried to think of keepers for my game mostly got stumped and felt that for the most part they should be a player driven thing, after all its your durance its about and the impact that has on your PC.

Then I thought well some example ones could be useful maybe for future plot ideas but also as off the shelf keepers for local PCs or inspiration for your own keepers. Also I had some inspiration.

As a reminder I like the game as a horror game and think of this in both psychological horror - personal horror stuff and in more squicky alienness horror ways (which can also play with player psychology)

So for your reading here are my ideas on Keepers.

THE COLLECTIVE

A hive mind like fae entity, its minions have an unswerving loyalty as they feel that they are part of the whole.
Some researchers at the old colleges wondered whether this was actually true or whether it was some form of token (or an implanted token) or dream invasion, a new contract or pledge or just the title magic of the fae. They were looking for subjects to study to determine this before the barony was lost
Members of the hive often have specialised roles, recruiters, soldiers or workers.
Deep in Arcadia at the heart of the hive are two alien insectoid lovers locked in perpetual sex and mutual cannibalism, they exude waves of love, ecstasy, consumption, death and combat around them as they slowly fall into becoming one being - a being that grows within them both.

New humans are transformed into hive members/changelings by being cocooned with a waxy leathery egg the colour of which is said to determine their seeming when the chrysalis opens. It is debated whether the changeling that results is actually human or as much a copy as the fetch which grows in a nearby pod.

The Ohrwurm (aka the Hum or the Buzz)

An unusual keeper as they have no known visual manifestation merely an audible one.
Those it takes either first hear an annoying hum or low level droning, a high pitched whine or suffer from an infectious song lyric or melody others can't hear.
"It's in the god damn ship!" - slowly this erodes their sanity and reality bends for them leading them to the source of the noise and thence to Arcadia.
"The night is dark and full of terrors" its demesne in Arcadia is visually and perhaps physically without form - black and full of noises, pleasant and terrifying - changelings maybe elementals associated with sound darklings associated with the sound of fear, fairest muses or beasts that work by echo location or who might cause fear in people by noise.

The NDs or N-Dimensional creatures

Is it a single fae or many that we have yet to understand?

In some ways a typical alien snatcher fae the NDs also have a distinctive Biological Geiger-esque twist.
They exist beyond the 4 dimensions humans can sense in an N-dimensional space (part of Arcadia but less understandable)
People are classically snatched or fall into their Arcadian hell. They appear as disconnected parts of an unseen whole much like a cartoon strip might see your finger tip if you pressed it to the page.
People are experimented on by "hands" that just appear in mid air. They tend to experiment until exhausted and throw the captive or whatever is left into a dimensional prison cell (disconnected from anything else to human perception)
Or they experiment with a purpose that the changeling may or may not be aware of (if actively working for them) and throw them back to earth.
Presumably to enact their purpose or for the entertainment of the ND.

(Example experiments might be making a disease bomb, someone to farm dreams for them or to poison dreams, a parasitic larvae inside them, or just being able to see through their eyes)
Imagine the most horrid alien biology you can and then make it unfathomable and squicky.

(Yeah I like SciFi tropes my big bad from the last chronicle was a 5th doctor baddie)

Shops and learnings

Bit of a bodge together post this.
Two things I've been thinking about of late are markets/shops for the barony that was (and may still exist) and things that I learnt and went well this chronicle.

So shops, markets and stalls are kind of one of the interesting points of a lost setting, and they come from all sorts of places be they Rossetti and the poem "goblin market" or more Stardust's market place through to strange ramshackle shops tucked away in backstreets or similar that delve into the hedge itself.

Cambridge had a little from column A and a bit more from column B, inspired by the number of little alley like streets in town with small shops tucked away selling books or cheeses and so forth.

I have a few in mind but one example of these is further out of town, found by going down a winding street off the popular Mill Road. It looks like a beat up possibly long closed shop that on the outside proclaims itself to be "The Blank Tape Shop".
On the right days at the right times as shown by a yellowing note in the window the door actually opens and inside one can indeed buy blank tapes. But venture further back into the shop and things get stranger, there are tables upon which are old cardboard boxes full of papers, lists, things once whispered to conspirators or lovers, or what you wanted for dinner last week. It has the look of an old second hand comic or record shop but what is on offer are secrets and memories a record of things mundane to the strange, to browse or to buy.

Okay things that I've learnt this chronicle.

1) buddy up PCs with NPCs and make players want a stake in their lives and to care about them. Some of these NPCs I inherited from Luke others were my creation but having NPCs that a PC wanted as a friend or dependent and who got into scrapes and needed help or dragged the PC down into their issues or who just went on adventures with the PCs , in my opinion added to the game. It helped me bring plots in, gave PCs personal plot and meant at least one person in the room knew who I meant when I played someone.

- Improvement for me would be to costume better for npcs

2) people don't always downtime but people do seem to like what I call reverse downtimes where as an ST I send players snippets or overviews of what happens in the month and seed out plot elements to them all with an on going proviso that they can ignore it or change it should they desire. I can be a bit scripted but hopefully people know that I'm serious about meaning that they can change whatever doesn't suit them. Storytelling should be collaborative and sometimes my small scripts can start that off sometimes I can be a bit restrictive (unwittingly) but on the whole I think they encourage downtimes, remind people about the game and give people goals and things to talk about at the start of games.

- improvement for me would be to try and hit all players with these where I can and where it was liked.

What sort of things have people enjoyed/want to see more of?
Also what would you like to see?

I'd like to hear any constructive criticism (preferably sandwiched between some praise) and ideas of what you might like going forward.
Email privately if you like.

Barony History

Changelings have always been active in the area since records of such were kept but the first true "occupation" if the area that was to become the Cambridge Barony was in Norman times.
However the Diocese of Ely predates it as a Barony in Cambridgeshire which was settled by Blackbird Bishops and members of the Scarecrow Ministry.

Then in Tudor times a group of lost set up their own Barony taking after the University there they formed it as a College "Michaelhouse College".
Their goal was not to educate young lost but to set up a centre of deeper learning for Changelings to concentrate their studies. However it did help some lost learn the ropes.

Over the many years between then and the Victorian period the barony slowly withered until it was barely a motley with a baronial title. But then as the town grew with the railway so the barony grew again too, rejuvenated but somewhat shifted in focus, it solidified over the Victorian era into a centre of learning and research.

It became a place where newer lost came and learnt how to survive and thrive under the guidance of the winter court.
Where Spring and Autumn undertook deep research into hedge herbology and the secrets of magic and tokens.
Where Summer hosted competitions to hone skills needed to fight the gentry and adventured deep into the hedge for Glory bringing back treasures.
Winter vetted these and his many away but others supplied the libraries and laboratories of the other courts.

The leading force behind the rejuvenation was a motley that came to Cambridge from elsewhere in the freehold when it was at its lowest Ebb. They took on the names of Colleges instead of their former names.
Over the years the motley went through many incarnations as people joined others left or died. Towards the period of the fall they were given to twist naming conventions Sidney was a female autumn Darkling , Trinity a male elemental summer courtier who liked bombs, Darwin liked doing crazy stunts etc.
And they tended to be very summer court focused with other court members as "support".

(Nb other Motleys existed these were prominent in the history and to give an example motley)

Then Ten years ago, whilst everyone in the freehold if not country was focused on the cold war towards Bristol, one email was sent by Johns (a hunterheart (hound) from the colleges motley) to summer courtiers asking for assistance to arrest the Chancellor and three professors, nothing more - but then he was always a man of few words.
Half a day later the winter court of Ely receive a garbled phone call from a winter courtier from Cambridge saying refugees are inbound.
Ely moves to respond and picks up three winter courtiers who fled through the hedge along a trod one has one can't talk, another stares into the distance and the last howls in anguish. All clarity is crushed for them but the bishops have tried over the years. Others have tried to discover what they encountered but to little avail.
As of 2015 only the second still lives, however the bishops are open to questions.

Entitlements

So I haven't posted in a while but I've been doing a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff on the area to be explored and the people etc who are there.
But one thing I did do (inspired by Ross in part) was make a list of entitlements I think are especially thematically suitable for the game, ones I plan to have as NPCs and ones I won't have at all.

So what don't I want?
Very short list: no Phantom Tong, Court of solstice or Parliament of Victors. The first two as they tend to be active undermining of structures and I'd like the group to at least at first be fairly dependent on each other. And the Victors don't fit with game ethic either as they tend to need to be top dog and I think that fits better within a mature structure rather than a developing one.

Particularly suitable entitlements are: Bishopric of Blackbirds, college of worms, Margravate of the brim, sacred band of the golden standard, the toll taker knighthood, magi of the gilded thorn, ancient and accepted order of bridgemasons, barony of the lesser ones, the eternal echoes, guild of the sacred journey, lord sages of the unknown reaches, hedge wardens, squires of the broken bough, twilight gleaners, adjudicators of the wheel and legion of the iron wall.

Now you might think "but I wanted...." Its fine as long as its not on the banned list I'm OK with it, just that entitlements on the suitable list are well better suited to the game as I plan it to be which is exploring the hedge, looking for clues, setting up a barony in a reconquest or resettlement and getting along with the neighbouring NPC baronies and maybe involving yourselves in their intrigue.

Yes I have therefore left some powerful entitlements open for play however they tend to have big requirements for play if you desperately want them then sure go for it.

A little bit on courts.

I'd very much prefer it if the majority of characters were seasonal courtiers that doesn't mean I'm against the others it just makes things a bit easier for me and game play. Equally if you plan on politically going for baron/baroness or even higher over time then seasonal court probably matters.