A brief overview of Changeling history (part 3)

In the last installment, we had just arrived at the point in which the sidhe had returned from Arcadia. At first, most of the kithain were overjoyed, as this seemed to signal a new Spring, a symbolic end of the hardships of the previous six hundred years, as Glamour began to return to Earth.

Their hopes were soon dashed, however, as the sidhe looked around themselves and said, 'Your rulers have returned. Bow down and serve us once more.'

Obviously, the commoner kith were none too pleased at this development. The sidhe had, after all, abandoned them to potential Undoing at the hands of Banality, only to return and demand fealty once more without even so much as a 'Good job in our absence.' Tensions mounted, until in most areas of Europe, the Americas, and Oceania, war broke out between the commoners and the sidhe. In some ways, this conflict was most severe in the Americas, where hostilities began with the Night of Iron Knives, otherwise known as the Beltaine Massacre. The sidhe had agreed to meet with the commoner leaders and forge a peace treaty. The leaders were instead betrayed, as the sidhe slew every one of them with Cold Iron, obliterating their faerie souls for all eternity.

The beginning of conflict wasn't so violent in other parts of the world, though the conflict itself was harsher. In the British Isles, the sidhe won a decisive but brutal victory, and returned to rulership. The Iberian peninsula suffered a similar fate. The Scandanavian commoners, on the other hand, chose to hand the crown back to the sidhe willingly; perhaps they had had their fill of self-rulership and were only too pleased to return to the traditional system of governance. In North America and (more slowly) Australia, the sidhe won the war, but then met with the commoners and agreed upon a compromise: the sidhe would resume their traditional positions of monarchical leadership, but their rule would be tempered by the existence of a Parliament of Dreams which could override the king. Furthermore, positions of leadership would be opened to non-sidhe changelings for the first time. In fact, with all of North America unified into the Kingdom of Concordia ruled by David Ardry, the continent was subdivided into several lesser kingdoms (Apples in the New England area through New York and Pennsylvania, Willows in the South, White Sands in Florida, Grass in the midwest, Burning Sun in the Southwest, Pacifica on the west coast and Hawai'i, Northern Ice covering Canada and Alaska, and all of Central America as the Feathered Serpent), the Kingdom of the Feathered Serpent was ruled by a troll monarch.

The Galatian Confederation was the oddball amongst the conflicts. The commoners in Eastern Europe all the way to Germany united to defeat the sidhe invaders. After their success, they formed the Galatian Confederation, a commoner paradise. There are very few sidhe here at all; most of them fled to France, which became the Kingdom of Neustria, a traditional monarchy in the style that had existed before the Shattering (the collapsing of the portals into the Dreaming). In fact, because of the influx of sidhe from Galatia and the commoners fleeing the harsh treatment of the sidhe, Neustria's changeling population is 90% sidhe.

For several years afterwards, there was peace and prosperity amongst the kithain. There were political intrigues, conspiracies and secret societies, and no shortage of adventures, but most were content. Things began to unravel in 1997 though, when David Ardry went missing shortly after his wedding to Faerilth ap Eiluned. Concordia began to unravel as many competing factions vied for the newly-vacant throne. Eventually, the sidhe Danwyn ap Gwydion ascended to the throne, and began warning the kithin of the return of the Fomorians.

His rulership did not have the auspacious beginning that he might have hoped. The kithain of California rebelled, and eventually won their independence. They formed the Golden Confederate Republic, a democratic state free from the monarchy of the rest of North America. Many of the existing sub-kings fell or disappeared, and Danwyn had to replace them.

Then more global omens began. Originally, only eight of the thirteen noble houses of the sidhe had returned from Arcadia (not counting those Scathach sidhe who'd remained on Earth after the Shattering). But after the secession of the Golden Confederate Republic, the reamining five houses appeared. Shortly after that, new kith began to appear from the deep recesses of the Dreaming. Although the Fomorians have not arrived yet, these omens along with prophecies from noted seers indicate that it is coming. It is only a matter of time.

Thus ends the history of the fae (thus far).

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I should note, at this point, that some of what has been included in this history is of my own devising. Some of the events in the recent history (such as the creation of the Golden Confederate Republic and the ascension of Danywn ap Gwydion) are the result of games that I have GMed, and so were influenced by gamers in my games. Others, such as the existence of Dark Glamour and a Dark Dreaming, are of my own devising based on my personal philosophies on the nature of the game's setting.

But, even with that in mind, I hope that you have enjoyed reading this history of Changeling: the Dreaming. I will see you here again next week! Until then,

Game on!