Kingdoms: Creating the Court

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The King Dreams, The Court Serves

The King Players are responsible for creating their Courts. The Queen Players can offer advice, but ultimately it is the king who gets final call on who is part of his court.

There is one specific exception to this - the Queen Player always gets to generate the character sheet for the Queen. While the king can say what he would like, the Queen is a self-made woman!

The in-game explanation for this is this is as follows:

Every son of royal blood is a conduit for Glamour - the raw stuff of dream that comprises and maintains the Fae Realms. The whole of Fae Reality owes its existence to Glamour. As a young princeling grows up, he literally dreams his Court into reality. It is his subconscious and his Glamour that gives them form and substance. Once formed, the greater of these creations will gain independent sentience, but they still owe their existence to their King.

The exception to this is the Queen. She is a sorceress and outsider who was dreamt into being by secret cabals and ancestor spirits in the Outer Realms. At the appointed time she arrives and presents herself to the Court, ready to take her place at the new King's side, and to make his Court complete. She is not of the King's creation, but she binds herself willingly to his destiny.

It's also worth noting that while the Adjudicator oversees the creation of the Courts, the two opposing Kings dream their creations separately and secretly from each other. At the start of the 12 years the Courts will be revealed to the public eye, in all their glory, but each King must prepare for war without knowing what his opposite is doing.

The Dreamform

Every Court has a Dreamform based on the way that each King visualises himself and his kingdom. This Dreamform creates a unifying style and theme for the entire Court.

The Seelie White Kings normally dream of unified kingdoms with strong hierarchies and rigid societies. Often, their peoples will be of a single race, and with a single shared culture. For example, a Seelie White King might dream of a desert kingdom where he is the Undying Sun Pharoah, and where legions of skeletons serve him. Alternatively he might dream of a theocracy land ruled by its Church, where he is the Godhead to a million human worshippers.

The Unseelie Black Kings usually reach into the wilder and uncontrolled depths of the Dreaming for their visions. Their people will be diverse, passionate and prone to wildness. One Unseelie Black King might see himself as an Orcish Warlord, with a feral horde of trolls, nightspawn and greenskins at his command. Another might see himself as a Giant Spider, controlling a sprawl of "independent" city states through blackmail and influence.

Because the Dreamform shapes the King himself, and because Seelie or Unseelie nature plays a part, there is little reason for the two brothers to be similar in any way. Genetics and inherited traits have no place in the Fae Realm - the imagination of the subconscious mind is the only limit.

As the King-Player defines his Dreamform, he should complete the character sheet for his King piece. This Dreamform will determine the theme and nature of the rest of his Court, with one small exception...

The Arrival of the Queen

The Queen piece, being formed independently and not as part of the Dreamform, will almost never fit the same themes and appearances.

The Queen Player fills out this Piece's character sheet, and should try to strike a contrast that is aesthetically pleasing rather than ridiculous.

For example, if the King is a dusky skinned sheikh of the desert, then it is excellent narrative to have the Queen be a fair-skinned beauty from a green and pleasant land. On the other hand, if the King is a seven hundred foot tall stone behemoth ruling elemental earth, then perhaps it becomes more appropriate to the story if the queen is a spirit-dragon made of elemental air.

Contrast with consistency is the goal. Don't forget also that by nature, the Queen will be opposite to the King. A Seelie King has an Unseelie Queen, and vice versa.

Ultimately though, remember that both King and Queen are of the same Court, and thus should be natural allies. Whether there is love at first sight (as is not uncommon in the Fae realms), or whether there is simply a mutual understanding of shared goals, the Queen binds herself to that Court and to working towards its ultimate victory.

Ready for War: The Knights

Each Court has two Knights - one Seelie and one Unseelie.

A Knight is, essentially, a master of warfare. Knights are essential to success in the season of Summer, and will be the Pieces you use most often to lead your Summer Campaigns.

Cynics might observe that aside from cosmetic and moral differences, Seelie and Unseelie Knights fulfil much the same function. The most important differentiator, of course, is that one Knight will follow the orders of his Queen, and the other will follow the orders of his King.

Regardless, when the Court is created, it is the King's-Player who must make the decisions, and fill out the character sheets for both of the Knights in his court.