The Time of Legends[]
The first Fae, known in early Irish culture as the Tuatha de Danaan , existed in a world where there was no separation the realms. They traveled as they pleased among the early humans, born from their dreams of gods. From the beginning, humans learned not simply to dream, but to also fear the products of their dreams. The Tuatha de Daanan and other Fae such as the Fomorians were all-powerful to the humans of that time. Capricious, unpredictable, and fearsome, the Fae treated humans as toys- or worse. Other creatures, such as the powerful nature spirits the prodigals call the Incarna did exactly the same. Humans loved thier gods, but also feared them; that love and dread fed the Fae and Umbrood equally.
The War of Trees[]
The Tuatha fought against against the Formorians in a long, epic battle known the Tesserakonta, the War of Trees. The Kithain served among the armies of the Tuatha; the Adhene chose to serve the Fomorians instead. At the conclusion, the victorious Tuatha banished the remaining Fomorians into the Deep Dreaming, casting out the adhene as well. When the Tuatha decided to retreat to Arcadia and leave the terrestrial world completely (a decision causing or caused by The Sundering), they appointed the sidhe to rule the rest of the kiths .
The Sundering[]
The Sundering lasted from circa 1000 BC to 1200-1400 AD, when the agriculture revolution swept through human cultures and new religions took hold. The Tellurian split into buffered layers of reality: the terrestial world, the three umbral realms , and the Dreaming . The Dreaming itself became stratifed to keep new human dreams from effecting Arcadia. Midway through the Sundering, the Mists were established by the now permanant split between mundane and mythic realms. Human belief in its own myths and religions declined and banality entered the world, growing momentum over time.
The Shattering[]
If the Iron Age served as a catalyst for the Sundering, than it was the outbreak of the Black Plague in 1347 that caused the Shattering to commence. When 75 million people,(1/3 of the entire population of Europe), fell prey to this virulent disease, fear and despair washed over an entire continent and echoed across the Mists . Gateway after gateway leading to Arcadia faded or tore apart. The kithain made one of three choices Most of the sidhe fled to Arcadia through the remaining gates, sometimes clashing in fierce battles as different hosts tried to seize the opportunity to cross first. Most of the commoner kiths were abandoned by the panicked nobility and forced to adopt the Changeling Way, beginning a series of reincarnations as Changelings, creatures both human and Fae. A handful kithain were able to seal their holds or glens through great rituals, making them into vaults outside of time were they became Lost Ones, trapped in their own unchanging reality.
The Interregnum[]
The 15th century can seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance for humans, and it was a time of enormous change for the kithain of Europe. As changelings, they were were only marginally connected with their memories and powers. The departure of the sidhe shattered their social conventions, unraveling the culture that they had grown attached to. Changelings were forced to band together in small groups to seek out what glamour they could find in what freeholds and glades yet remained or to attempt to blend into human culture directly for the first time. The old customs died hard, and many changelings clung to the medieval class system. The most enterprising kithain assumed the titles of vanished nobles and attempted to claim their holdings. Likewise, the handful of sidhe who'd remained behind- House Scathach most notably- attempted to provide the commoners with social institutions that mixed ideas of Noblesse oblige with embracing the new arts, crafts, and sciences that were beginning to stir the human creative potential once more.
At the height of the Renaissance , the changelings found a renewed wellspring of glamour in human dreams and hopes. For a time, it seemed as if the kithain were not possibly better off without the sidhe and perhaps damage done by the Shattering repaired through inspiring new generations of Dreamers . By the 17th century, however, banality brought on by the Age of Reason and its successor, the "Enlightenment " proved crushing. Even as changelings, the kithain found themselves losing more of their Fae identities with each new reincarnation. It became harder to remember and connect to their pasts. Still they struggled on.
photo by Guillermo Morgana
The Compact[]
Before the Shattering, the Seelie and Unseelie courts maintained unwavering rivalry. At some time within the Interregnum, the leaders of both factions agreed to an unprecedented truce, for the duration of their time trapped away from Arcadia. The Procession of the Seasons was agreed up, with the Seelie to rule from Ostara (mid March) to Mabon (late September) and the Unseelie through the other half of the year.
The New World[]
The Age of Exploration was another time period where the human imagination spawned many new and wonderous dreams. When colonization of North America began in the 14th century, changelings came in high numbers. Their encounters with the nunnehei , the native Fae of the Americas were not necessarily violent, but the two cultures were dramatically alien from one another- and the genocide of their native Dreamers by Western disease and settlement embittered them quickly. They withdrew, allowing the kithain to expand into their previous territories alongside the new American civilization. Now, only a handful of nunnehei remain and they keep their sacred glens hidden and closed to all outsiders.
The Resurgence[]
By the time World War II had ended, most changelings whispered to each other of the coming Endless Winter and the ultimate triumph of banality. Then something miraculous happened and kithain society was shaken to its core. On July 21, 1969 when millions of people all over the world watched via television the lunar landing glamour exploded into the world like a series of nuclear warheads from a sudden rewakening sense of wonder via magic's old nemesis science. It may have only lasted for a moment, but it was enough. The explosion of glamour temporarily blew upon or recreated the gateways to Arcadia. Silver Paths became non-dormant, lost freeholds reappeared and sidhe from a handful of the original thirteen houses were cast right back into the terrestrial world, banished for their part in some great disturbance or war that had taken place in Arcadia.
Berefit of any clear knowledge of their crimes, these sidhe hosts were suddenly thrust into a completely alien and banal terrestrial world with the gates to Arcadia once again shattering closed behind them. With the Summer of Love at its peak, many sidhe especially of House Fiona were drawn straight to San Francisco and went right to work to attempt to re-establish a new fae kingdom despite 600 years of change- and violent opposition by the kithain who had been earthbound through it all.
The Accordance War[]
A massacre of commoner leaders at a peace summit on the following Beltane after the Resurgence catapulted Changeling society into the Accordance War. For three years, the commoners fought desperately against the sidhe and those who swore themselves back into vassalage, aided by many of the sidhe of House Scathach and other individual sidhe who'd likewise stayed behind and felt more loyalty towards the established social order than their former peers. Lord Dafyll ap Gwydion served as the warchief for the Shining Host . Starting on the West Coast, he led the sidhe through countless victories, defeating the commoner armies until a climactic battle on Manhatten Island that ended in his death, but also brought the war to a successful conclusion for the sidhe.
Young David Ardry ap Gwydion emerged like King Arthur of legend with the sword Calibur in the middle of the Accordance War, serving as a peacemaker and a figure of hope that inspired many changelings on both sides of the War. He was a powerful influence during the diplomatic talks that resulted in the establishment of the Treaty of Concord, which reaffirmed the sidhe's right to rule but recognized the rights of the commoners as to an unprecedented degree, including requiring nobles to appoint representatives from the commoner kiths to positions in their courts, including the opportunity to earn knighthood or even more prestigious title including possessing freeholds as part of vassalage .
The Reign of High King David[]
David won the hearts of the the sidhe through his nobility and courage and the power of Caliburn and other omens; he became beloved by the commoners by his egalitarian philosophy and respect for the achievements of the earthbound during the long Interregum. From 1973 until 1998, he ruled Concordia and kept relative peace throughout the land. Then abruptly David vanished while on tour with his new Queen, Faerilyth ap Eiluned . The nation was stirred into turmoil as months passed with no word. Tensions rose between Queen Faerilyth, who declared herself her husband's regent, his sister Morwen , and Queen Mab of the Kingdom of Apples. Nobles and commoners alike began to factionalize in their support of a new successor, while everyone anxiously waited for the eshu Serif , entrusted by the Dreaming itself with Caliburn, to chose a successor or the King's valiant Redbranch knights to successfully end their quest with the rescue of David and restoration of him to the throne.
photo by Bertil Berhardsson
War For Concordia[]
In the early spring of 2000, a second and longer if less bloody conflict broke out among the kithain. It started slowly on the east coast, where kithain loyal to Faeriyth, Mab, and Morwen began to clash with one another over small and seemingly unconnected events. The Parliment of Dreams, established by High King David to ensure peaceful negotiation between the Courts and Kingdoms, is dissolved. An attempt on Princess Lenore ap Dougal's life appears to have been arranged by Queen Mab ap Fiona. Despite Mab's protestations of innocence, House Dougal declared war upon House Fiona ; the rest of the houses, Seelie and Unseelie, were quick to choose sides. Finally, in 2004, Princess Lenore, with Caliburn in her hands, was able to gain first control of House Dougal and then reconvene the Parliament of Dreams. In May 2005, she is crowned as the new High Queen and David Ardry's acknowledged successor. Her reign has lacked the resplendence of David's, but it has been stable. After ten years of rule, Queen Lenore seems eager to find an heir of her own to groom. So far, none has emerged.
And Now, Pacifica[]
... but the last ten years have not been peaceful, especially in Pacifica where House Fiona rules. Queen Mab, banished from the Kingdom of Apples, still continues to declare her innocence and blames the Shadow Court for the attempt on Princess Lenore's life. The aged sidhe Queen is showing signs of bedlam, however, and her place in the court of Queen Aeron seems precarious. Young Queen Aeron recently abandoned holding any public court appearances at all, seemingly prefering the company of her new lover, the satyr Hamal to all others. The burden of leadership seems to be falling equally on Queen Mab, Count Harold di Maros, Duchess Aoibhell and Duchess Aliera . Count Jericho ap Balor of Oakhold seems to be very good at playing nobles off each other. Queen Mab is making many public vindictives against House Dougal and its closest allies: Gwydion and Liam. Yet all of Pacifica cannot but wonder what truths (or lies) there might be to Queen Mab's claims and eye House Eilluned in particular as to blame for the current state of the realm.