The Long Forsaken Kingdom : cWOD : Changeling the Dreaming

The Long Forsaken Kingdom

June 2011 to May 2012

cWOD : Changeling the Dreaming

Once Upon a Time...

there lived a city that never slept.
There lived a statue that never moved.
There lived an enchantment that was never broken.

Once.
Upon a time when things were young.
There lived a servant.
A sword.
And a secret sleeping.


Once.

But that time is over.
This is now.

The game began with Rocky playing a pooka knight named Sir Felix Southpaw, Urim playing an Eshu wandering storyteller named Flynn Wordweaver, Mahar playing a Fiona Sidhe Baroness named Lady Songbird and Victor playing an amnesiac Redcap named Rendsever the Steel Gnasher.   All the players, save for Urim, were new to Changeling the Dreaming but they had played Changeling the Lost, so it wasn't too hard to get their minds around the concepts of Chimerical versus Real, Glamour and the haunting beauty and dangers of the Dreaming.

While I have most of the story (yes, still haven't finished updating the game blog) the game concluded a few days ago with a surprising twist.  While most of the game was inspired by the tales of Asterlan, the Kingdom of Willows book (which includes the treachery of King Meilge), the War in Concordia book, and lastly, the Time of Judgment stories, I had the following key plots as major threads in the story:

The fall of High King David, and the search for a successor.

The relationship of Caliburn to the Gray Sword of the Dauntain.

The hidden past of Joseph van Noceti III.

The disappearance of the Crystal Circle.

The Fomorians and the Triumph Casque of Sorrows.

And the truth behind Arcadia's exile of the Changelings.

I created a myth of three swords: Caliburn, the Gray Sword, and the Silver Dancer - as three swords whose fates are locked to the Kithain kingdoms.  With the Silver Dancer as the mediator, the two other swords were to represent the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.    Little did Sir Felix know, the Silver Dancer in his hands was so important in determining the fate of the Courts.  From an adventurous lynx pooka, the young knight eventually uncovered lost memories of his membership to the Scathach House, a membership which entrusted the blade to his care.  And in that past, Joseph van Noceti III was both his fellow murid, and his loving partner.

Lady Songbird's tale danced around the political arenas, more so when she befriended Faerylith, the Eiluned beauty who was to be the Queen to High King David.  When Meilge's treachery placed Faerylith in opposing camps against both Princess Lenore and the Dame Morwen, Songbird delicately played the courts to maintain a place of security.  She helped uncover the presence of the Shadow Court, and despised the unveiling that her true court was that of House Lheanan.  But the biggest twist was when she learned she was not truly Sidhe.  Instead, she was a Fomorian "changeling" that the White Court sought to manipulate for their kin to enter the Autumn World.  But the Red Court opposed this, knowing her truest nature:  She was the living Triumph Casque of Sorrows, and hers was the role to give birth to the Fomorians in the world.  When her audience with the Green Court opened their eyes to the Arcadian's treachery of the oaths, the Green Court rose up from the Silver Sea and retook the Dreaming, understanding the Dreaming must have a sense of intelligence... a Wyrd to guide it.

Flynn Wordweaver's tales explored the finer levels of how the political machinations affected the rest of the Kingdoms.  With David's fall, Caliburn fell into his hands and from that day, his misadventures became unexpected steps towards finding the missing King.  Eventually, it would be his capacity for stories empowered by the Art of Talecraft in the Deep Dreaming that would turn the tide in the battle against the fomorian hordes.  And when his destined steps lead him to the entrance of Arcadia, it would be this knowledge that has him bring the Oathcircle to the finale as they faced the True Fae lords.

Sadly, Rendsever barely had story time as his player was overwhelmed with real world responsibilities.  His was to be tales of the Crystal Circle's experiments with Banality, the whereabouts of the legendary Asterlan, and a more direct confrontation with the Red Courts as they unleashed the Adhene to the world, ushering the purge that the Arcadians wrongly decided to unleash.

The game ended with Arcadia's walls being breached.  The Kithain escaping into the Autumn lands, believing safety has come for them.  And the True Fae being driven mad by their losses that they hid away in far corners of the Dreaming, reinventing themselves into Gentry that now seek to abduct those they can.

The Changelings of the Dreaming have ended.

All that remains are those who the Gentry feel are Lost.

The game's chronicle blog is found here.