It is Highsummer Night, a time of pranks and merriment and romance.
Duke Sean of the Cross, the Summer Duke of Novanglia, left on a major
quest during the reign of the Winter Duke (the Unseelie satyr Nicholas ap
Balor) and has not yet returned, even though Highsummer should mark the halfway point of Seelie rule. Nicholas has been keeping the throne warm
for him until his return, with the capable assistance of Sir Daniel the
kinain chamberlain, grandson of the famous Duke Asterlan himself. While some (especially those who know him best) may suspect the Winter Duke of foul play, even those who do not assume a connection between the satyr and Duke Sean's disappearance are beginning to realize a terrible truth: the Midsummer Arrangement, the pact between Seelie and Unseelie that, over a year ago, helped to keep the peace in Novanglia, has not made it through even one full cycle.
In addition to the ever-present danger that the current faerie war raging throughout the kingdom of Concordia will finally come to to the duchy, rumors of new threats from
the Dreaming and even from the sea have reached the ears of local
residents...
To that end, if you have a character from before, please send it to me or to Steve in some form some time this month. (Text pasted into an e-mail would work best; attachments aren't so good as I have constant quota problems with my account. Or you could just physically hand hardcopy to one of us.) If you haven't played before and want to, or if you want to play a new character, give us an idea of what kind.
For a basic concept, I don't just mean "I'll be a redcap." "I'll be a redcap thug" is slightly more helpful, but better still is "I'll be a redcap thug in love." Think about what sort of role you want to play in the plot, as well; even if you don't have the slightest clue what kind of creature you want to be, information like "I want to be an antagonist" or "I want to be a foil to someone else" is useful stuff. Also keep in mind the fact that, outside the borders of our duchy, fae society is breaking down and old enmities are leading to bloodshed, and only good luck and some political maneuvering have kept the seelie and the unseelie and the nobles and the commoners from fighting in the Trods. Do you wish you could firm up the shaky peace? Do you wish you could find an excuse to make the Harbor run red with the blood of your enemies? Players of older characters should think about these things as well.
When we (being Steve D. and I) have a clearer idea of who is coming and what kinds of characters there will be, we can begin planning in earnest. Most non-returning characters will be at least partly pregenerated or otherwise "plugged in" to the plot(s); returning characters are, of course, largely already a part of any ongoing plots and would be featured prominently in new ones, since pretty much all of the "key" roles in local changeling society are taken by PCs.
This pact between the Two Courts and between nobles and commoners has managed to preserve the peace in Novanglia, but outside the duchy and throughout Concordia fae fights fae. A mysterious sidhe knight said to be first sighted in the Boston area gathers support for his claim to the vacant High Kingship. Meanwhile, strange fae called the Dark-Kin and, most recently, it is rumored, long-forgotten noble houses of the sidhe have entered the waking world with unknown motives. Some say they herald the imminent return of the Elder Dark, the unspeakable Fomorians who, it is whispered, control the Shadow Court from their fading prisons and are only biding their time until internal warfare has sufficiently weakened the fae, their ancient enemies. Now, with Duke Sean gone and dangers threatening from within and without, it is only a matter of time before Novanglia's fragile peace is broken...