Birmingham Changeling: The Lost VSS

VSS Details:

Region – Northern
Domain – Birmingham
VST – Steve Clapton
Storyteller contact – steveclapton@gmail.com
Games held - TBC

Style of Play Description Rating

Action Combat and challenges 2
Changelings are not creatures of raw fury like werewolves or driven by an animalistic beast, as such there should be less instances of combat than in the other venues. It can still happen but should be considered unusual rather than the norm.

Character Development Personal dilemmas and choices 5
Changeling PCs are faced with many choices that impact how the story their future will go, do they reclaim their old lives, face off their fetches, hide from the Fae, face off against the Fae, support the Grand Courts or try to find a new way forward. All these choices feed into the game on a permanent basis.

Darkness PC death or corruption 4
This is the world of darkness and as such bad things happen to good people and bad people and often for no reason. Also Changeling is a dark venue dealing with the legacy of kidnap and abuse all characters have suffered and how that impacts on their personalities. PC death is a possibility certainly but more often there will corruption of the ideals of a PC and the degeneration of Clarity associated with it.

Drama Ceremony and grand story 4
The Freehold will be the centre of the local game and its rules, traditions and ceremonies will feed into most games. There will be a ceremonial hand over of power between the courts every three months as well as Court based rituals and other ceremonies that will often provide the premise for a game session. As such ceremony will feature heavily in the game.

Intrigue Politics and negotiation 4
The relations between the various power blocks in the game like the Courts will lead to intrigue and politics as people jockey for position and power. The members of the Freehold all share common goals to protect themselves from the Fae and so should not resort to violence to overcome differences of opinion and this will lead to more politics and negotiation amongst the PCs.

Manners Social etiquette and peer pressure 3
The Freehold as a centralized social structure provides an forum for social interaction, showmanship and point scoring where the PCs can seek to uphold or break the traditions of their society. The rituals performed by the Courts will also add opportunities to explore social situations in the venue.

Mystery Enigmas and investigation 4
As the venue is not combat conflict orientated there will be much more mystery plots in the game. Exploration of the Hedge and dreamscape both provide opportunities for investigation based characters as well as quests to discover the machinations and motives of the Fae and other Changelings all feed into this.

1 = Never Present
2 = Sometimes Present
3 = Often Present
4 = Usually Present
5 = Always Present

Description of the Venue:

Useful links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Birmingham
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society_Moonstones
http://www.opacity.us/site77_great_barr_colony_st_margarets_hospital.htm

Theme and Mood:

The world of the Lost is one of choices. Having reclaimed their freedom from their Keeper’s and returned to the mortal world a Changeling is faced with many choices, but the key one is ‘what next?’.
Do they try to reclaim their old lives, to face the imposter left behind to replace them, or do they cut themselves off from family and history and seek a new future amongst their own court. Do they stay hidden and hope never to see a True Fae again or do they set out to protect others from being kidnapped in the future.
The future of the Changelings in Birmingham is in a state of flux. The older leaders of the Freehold are ready to step down for various reasons and so are looking for new blood to lead the Freehold forward.
There will be ample opportunity for conflict between the old guard and the new guard, between the Courts and between individual Changelings with each other, outsiders and their fetches. Basically where will the characters find a home.

History:

Why has no one noticed the Lost in Birmingham before? - Because the first concern of the Lost has been to remain hidden, safe from the Gentry and as such they have been very careful to not attract attention, especially of the other supernaturals that might be in league with the True Fae. Also none of the other supernaturals have a way to notice the Hedge or see through Fae Masks so they simply have been ignorant of them.
This of course means that whilst there have been Changelings present in Birmingham for centuries they have rarely been noticed by the other creatures that also populate the area. In fact there has been a Freehold and Changelings in the city for centuries but they have had a turbulent history.
The current Freehold has only been in existence for a little under 150 years after the fall of the Freehold of Arden Forest to the Fae, during the Preistley Riots of 1791. The fall of the ancient Arden Forest Freehold left the Changelings of the city in disarray and they remained scattered and hidden for decades.

The Freehold:

The Freehold of the Moonstones was founded in the 1810s by a compact between the four Grand Courts of Birmingham. Linked with the mortal society of thinkers of the same name of which both Darist Green of the Spring Court and Solice Pherson of the Winter Court were members and met each other. Realising thatfor the growing numbers of Lost in the city a palce of safety was needed they organized the Grand Courts into a new Freehold. They approached the members of the other courts and on 16th July 1821, the 30th anniversary of the destruction of the Arden Forest Freehold the new Freehold was founded.
Ever since then the Freehold of the Moonstones has meet by or near the Moonstones in Great Barr. In modern times now that the Moonstones are surrounded by a supermarket the Freehold calls Great Barr Hall its home. The Hall, the Moonstones and most of Great Barr are covered by the rules of Hospitality. However with the decline in the state of Great Barr Hall meetings are commonly held in the nearby Scott Arms public House with the Hall used for major ceremonies.
A Trod into the Hedge opens in grounds of the Hall.

The Freehold follows the traditional Seasonal model of the Grand Courts. The Courts rule in seasonal order with power handed over in accordance with tradition. The Courtly ruler is referred to as the Mayor or Mayoress and have a range of powers over the Freehold, including the ability to put in place any officers they see fit for their reign and to put in place a Call to Arms as per the Freehold Pledge.
But the founders of the Freehold did not want the weaknesses of the past to be carried on with the strengths and realizing that the Arden Forest Freehold had fallen largely due to the weakness of one or more of the Court rulers and the over zealous ambition of the Summer King of the time they instituted a second teir of governance in the Freehold – The Council.
The Council sits in session all year round and consists of one Speaker for each Court which is selected by each Court as it sees fit. The Court ratify any decision made by a Seasonal Mayor that affects the whole Freehold, in reality this mainly means a Call to Arms needs to be approved by the Council before any are expected to answer it. The Council ensures that the Freehold runs smoothly and that the day to day care for the citizens and body of the Freehold is maintained. Whilst the Mayor sees to matters relating to their Court.
In times when there are not enough members of any of the grand Courts do not have enough presence in the city for a Mayor to manifest a Crown the Council member for that Court is appointed as Deputy Mayor and acts as a purely figurative position to maintain the Freehold’s Blessing.
There are a number of laws which have been laid down by Councils in the past and these are known as the Enduring Laws of the Freehold. A Mayor can enact new laws for their reign but these Seasonal Laws are not allowed to conflict with the enduring laws of the Freehold and any that the Council agree would conflict are over turned. The Council can create new enduring laws but only when in complete agreement and the Mayor can veto the implementation of any new Enduring Law for the length of their period in office, at which point the Council can petition the new Mayor to accept the new Enduring Laws.
The Freehold Pledge requires that any Changeling wanting the protection of the Freehold supports a duly appoint Mayor, the Council and the Enduring Laws and will answer a correctly leveled Call to Arms.

The Hedge:

The Hedge around Birmingham reflects the long period of the history when the area was covered by the Arden Forest and as such it forms as an ancient woodland of traditional English varieties. It is not however pleasant or safe to traverse. The Trees are old, gnarled and lean in over each other cutting off the light from above making the Hedge seem dark and oppressive. Meanwhile the undergrowth is thick and unmanaged making travel difficult and slow except for the winding hunting trails that lead off through the depths. Strange noises and bird calls fill the Hedge during the day and by night all that can heard are scuffling and scratching noises from within the undergrowth. Few that stray off the path, or travel far by night are seen again.
There are several Trods in the Hedge that lead into Birmingham, the main one being a ruined archway in the grounds of Great Barr Hall which seems to be the most consistent Trod in the city and is well protected and watched by the Freehold.
Storytelling Mechanics

Character Creation Guidelines:
1. Canonical Snowflakes: Creativity is encouraged, however, every genre has published canonical materials which define the setting for that genre, and characters created for play within that genre should conform to that canon. Characters which break canon can be interesting, however, they also strain credibility and damage a venue. Please bear this in mind when creating a new character, that if it strays too far from canon your ST may choose to deny it.
2. Ensemble Story Telling: The themes of this game are not centred around controlling other PCs, nor are goals necessarily Player versus Player. This story is group-oriented, and any PC that places his or her own fun above the lives of others is an inappropriate concept. The creation of motleys is strongly encouraged.
3. Role Play vs. Roll Play: The Storytellers of the game reserve the right to ask participants of a scene to run the scene cinematically and with role playing rather than with challenges.

Proxy Rules - As per The Camarilla Rules Addendum

Character Restrictions – Characters should meet the requirements of the Lost Addendum. Free Changelings should be the norm with ensorcelled mortals, loyalists or privateers rarer. All characters should be generated to add to the game and not be designed simply to destroy other characters or the venue.

Cross-Venue Guidelines
Highly unlikely to occur of due to the secretive nature of the Changelings, and the relative lower power level of the venue.

Downtime Scenes – By negotiation with the ST team.

Travel Risks – Travel into and out of the city by mundane means is relatively easy for Changelings. Travel through the Hedge comes with its own risks of discovery by Fae, Privateers, Hedge Creatured etc.

Visiting character/plot policy –

Experience Guidelines:
Attendance and Downtimes - As per the Camarilla Addendum.
Roleplaying a Flaw - As per the Camarilla Addendum.
Roleplaying a Derangement - As per the Camarilla Addendum

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