Highsummer 2001 to Midsummer 2002
(updated 6/20/02)
Click here for a more printer-friendly version.New material in bold. If I have misunderstood something or assigned actions or words to your character that seem wrong, let me know.
AUGUST 2001- Soon after the events of the last game, Sir Bob "The Good Guy" Roberts of House Gwydion leaves Novanglia for the Dreaming. Also soon after, Baron Corwin grants the Boston Common to the Parliament and People of Novanglia. Duchess Regent Jacqueline alarms many by claiming as her own quarters the probably cursed parapet formerly occupied by Duke Nicholas. Rumors begin to circulate of a "secret" wake for the late and/or transmogrified Duke.
- Meanwhile, to the shock and horror of all of Concordia, Princess Lenore, the missing High King's appointed heir, is assassinated by Knights of the Red Branch who feel that Morwen should rule as High Queen in her own right rather than for the young Lenore. Morwen, disgusted, steps down as Regent in favor of Queen Mab. Some suspect rival claimant High Queen Faerilyth of having a hand in the deed.
SEPTEMBER 2001 - Queen Mab loses Manhattan, now a realm of Nightmare after events in the mortal world unleash terrible fear-born chimerae. While the humans mourn and eventually recover, the chimerical horrors make it difficult for fae to enter the area, a situation which continues into the present. Refugees pour into neighboring realms, including Novanglia. Many seelie nockers from Goblin Town in Manhattan are welcomed into Chi Mu (and a few unseelie ones find useful employment in the workshop of Goblin Bob at Caer Asterlan).
- The day after the attacks in Manhattan, nobles in the Duchy of Granite (NH) mark the first anniversary of the Massacre at Mount Granite, when a band of commoners armed with cold iron had destroyed the freehold of a moderate, modernizing sidhe ruler and all those within. The leader of this so-called "Urban Renewal League," the redcap Rotgut Redhelm, had left a bloodstained letter urging commoners not to let "nice" sidhe enslave them; sidhe nobles responded to the attack by forcing all commoners to swear fealty. Over the following year, most "live free or die" commoners end up getting the latter.
- Duchess Regent Jacqueline meets with Queen Mab to reassure her of Novanglian support, but reportedly attaches conditions to her fealty. The meeting does not go well.
- Toward the end of the month, Sir Ashe ap Scathach begins making scouting forays into Maine to assess the dark-kin threat. He volunteers to take interested parties with him on return trips; a few accept his offer.
OCTOBER 2001 - On Samhain Corwin takes the Regency amidst a general fear that the Dark-Kin would attack that night, based on threats some say Duke Nicholas himself made, if you believe he was a bad guy. Nothing happens. Corwin's first actions are to knight Lady Melisande ap Gwydion and to remove Sir Daniel Sorensen as Chancellor.
- Sir Bob Roberts returns to Novanglia, announcing that he has been forming a Noble Fighting Corps to guard the northern border. Sir Daniel Sorensen endorses the move, and becomes active in recruiting a body of commoners with similar goals: "Sir Bob and I, as kinsmen of Asterlan, first Duke of Novanglia, feel it is our family's duty to do our utmost to defend our homeland from all who threaten it."
NOVEMBER 2001 - Soon after the Leonid meteor showers, Baroness Jacqueline ap Eiluned, Summer Regent, leaves for the Dreaming, accompanied by Sir Ashe ap Scathach and Spring, niece of Matthias Scroop, saying she'll be back well before Beltaine. ("We've heard that before," some grumble.)
- Reports come in that Dark-Kin DID attack areas of Novanglia and the Kingdom of Apples on Samhain, although no two stories agree on where. All of the stories agree, however, that a shining figure who resembled the missing Duke Sean came to the rescue, drove the Dark-Kin back, and, when thanked by grateful peasants, said simply, "It is my duty, for I am Asterlan, and I rule here." Similar sightings begin to crop up in the following months. Sir Daniel, in an interview on Dreamline, says that while everyone wishes that his famous grandfather Asterlan were still alive, such "legend of Elvis" reports do a disservice to his memory.
- Despite this unexpected protection, however, the threat of the Dark-Kin appears to remain very real, and much of rural Maine is said to be controlled by forces of Nightmare. Queen Mab and the Duchess of Stonecoast (Maine), however, publicly doubt the this threat, seeing no evidence in Stonecoast: "Any unusual activity in the Kingdom of Apples on the part of dangerous chimerae undoubtedly stems from Manhattan."DECEMBER, 2001 - The remnants of the party sent out after Baron Sean’s disappearance to find him in the Dreaming finally returned, consisting entirely of Lady Andrea, Captain of the Guard. Lady Andrea reports that they were ambushed by unwholesome creatures in the Far Dreaming and that not only Sir "Big" Dick McGee ap Balor, as one might have expected, but also, surprisingly, the boggan Ethel Fletcher turned on the rest of the search party. The sudden attack combined with treachery from within left Lady Andrea the only survivor, as far as she knows, and she herself was left for dead and out for days. Naturally, they never found any signs of Baron Sean, and Andrea is skeptical about these Sean/Asterlan sightings. McGee and Fletcher apparently escaped with their new friends. The Duke Regent declares seven days of mourning for those betrayed and slain. Yule celebrations are muted and private.
JANUARY 2002 - The fate of Lady Andrea's party fuels some concerns (or hopes) about what might happen to Baroness Jacqueline and her companions. As if in answer, Sir Ashe and Spring the pooka return to Novanglia just after the New Year. Saying only that the quest has so far been successful, but that other matters need to be attended to, Sir Ashe leaves Spring with her uncle and goes off to rejoin Jacqueline. From Spring's pooka-childling-speak it can only be deciphered that they found shiny star rocks and fought some monsters and that there was a bunch of other cool stuff that she doesn't remember so well.
FEBRUARY 2002 - On Imbolc, the annual rekindling of the Balefires based on the royal balefire at Tara Nar is viewed with trepidation, since the last couple of years the torch-runners were attacked.
And it happens again.
ABSOLUTELY NO runners get very far from Tara Nar before having to turn back or face death at the hands of creatures of Nightmare. Some balefires throughout Concordia have since gone out. Competition for glamour has become even more fierce throughout North America, further feuling the civil warfare between courts and kiths.
But Novanglia's is rekindled: for Baroness Jacqueline returns from the Dreaming that night with three unexpected things: a baby unicorn, a piece of a star, and a torch bearing balefire from Hibernia across the sea.
MAY 2002 - On Beltaine Jacqueline takes up the Summer Regency. She reinstates Sir Daniel as Chancellor.
- In late May Jacqueline meets with ambassadors of Queen Mab and even of Mab's open rival, High Queen Faerilyth, behind closed doors. The next day, both Queens declare Novanglia a renegade province, giving everyone a lot to talk about for the past few weeks (with an in-game date of June 23). Speculation abounds whether Queen Mab has the inclination and resources to invade the duchy. Baron Corwin leaves for his cousin Mab's freehold at Caer Palisades, saying he'll sort it all out. He returns a week later, apparently without success.
- A representative of Fiachra ap Dougal, King of Connaught in Hibernia (Ireland), arrives at Caer Asterlan. Some whisper he is there to receive in the name of the King the fealty of the Duchy of Novanglia, to be sworn by the Duchess Regent.
- The Parliament, backed by Baron Corwin, ask for a full explanation of what has been going on.
JUNE 2002 - Jacqueline posts an open letter to the populace explaining her policies.
- The Weekly World News publishes an article about an "antler baby" recently born in Maine. (1) Sir Ashe proclaims it the work of The Enemy.
- A strange spherical object washes up on the beaches at Provincetown. (2) A contingent from Chi Mu goes to investigate, and successfully "liberates" it from mortal authorities when it is discovered to be nocker-work. The object is brought to Chi Mu for further investigation.
- The Duchess of Stonecoast demands that Novanglian military forces depart from the area of the Maine-Massachusetts border.
(1) In fact Alaska. But so what.
(2) In fact South Carolina.
Home
