Blood and Ice - Yorkshire Campaign Notes.

[Keravin]

This is to let some other people see the game we've been playing for the last two years.   We started out with 6 players, but have now cut back to 4 to allow more in depth roleplaying and to not drive the GM quite so crazy. 

Our City is the whole of Yorkshire in England which gives us a nice scope, but also allows us to use the history of the county in our setups.

One of the things we've also done is embrace other fantasy series and some ideas into the mix.  Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift books and Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant books both have elements that we've readjusted for the game.    Oh and Mr Norrell and the Raven King are now big elements at the centre of the story.   

I'll post up the last summary of the themes and persona connected to the story.

[Keravin]

One of Chase's contacts managed to acquire the following notes filled by a Detective Nightingale:

CASE NOTES: BLOOD AND ICE
OFFICER: NIGHTINGALE

Location: YORKSHIRE

Aspect: CRASH OF WORLDS
Threat: A local Red and White Court Cold War is on the verge of breakout. Increasing White Court ambitions are disturbing the local balance of power. Especially now that the RC have been forced out of their home in Hull.

Aspect: ECHOES OF THE PAST
Theme: York is an ancient city steeped in history. Alleged to be the most haunted city in Europe, strong ties to it's Viking past and ancient building. Ghosts are everywhere. Ancient Things lurk in ancient buildings. Things best forgotten are perilously close to the topsoil. Medieval villages lay abandoned on the moors. The Masons and Templar’s have a long and uncertain history running strongly through the area.

Aspect: WINTER FOLLOW FALL
Threat: Yorkshire is gripped in deep winter. The Autumn Court as revealed its hand and Winter move in to finish them off once and for all.


Locations

Lendal Cellars, York
Theme: This pub is right on the river front in York. Chances are it will get flooded this year. Again. As it has for the last few hundred years. Grounds out all that accumulated magic, makes a great meeting spot.
Aspect: ACCORDED NEUTRAL TERITORY
Face: 'Bruce' - Australian bar worker who keeps a handle on things in York.

Wharram Percy
Theme: This village was abandoned in the 15th centaury. Tourists come. It's haunted. People see UFO's. What they don't know is that it is the last hold of the Autumn Court and it's Lord. He longs for the power stolen by the Summer and Winter Courts so long ago. His power is waining and his Herald is uncertain.
Aspect: GATEWAY TO THE AUTUMN COURT
Face: Caliban - One of the few remain Autumn Court flunkies, and true to his master Lord Prospero

Dove House: Beverley Care Home for Orphans
Threat: A care home for orphaned children. It has a troubled past - first run by the necromancer Poulson, and now it has been purchased by the local Red Court Vampires. Why? Whats there move? What could go wrong when Dogs long lost brother attends? [REDACTED]
Aspect: CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE
Face: Wayne Baxter - A up and coming ambitions RCV, has been getting his teeth into the local politics until and unfortunate election campaign last year.

Yorkshire Post
Threat: Horrible things happen in Yorkshire. It never gets mentioned on the news or in the papers. Editors get paid and threatened to keep people in the dark. How long till an ambitious journalist throws a spanner in the works and the cards come tumbling down?
Aspect: HOME OF FRUSTRATED JOURNALISTS
Face: Perry White, Editor in chief, suppressor extraordinaire. What's his secret?

Bransholme Estate, Hull
Threat: One of the largest estates in the country. Hull suffered in the War. Bombed to bits. It's fishing and industry gone. Nothing else there. Even the motorway gives up 15 miles from it. No investment, just decay. European immigrants, the poor, the unskilled. The red court trafficking humans and drugs. Feasting in their towerblocks of suffering. Until recently this was part of RCV territory but they have been forced out by a gang of Russian Mafia shapeshifters known as the Brown Sloths. Who are they? What do they want? Where have the Red Court gone?
Aspect: DEBRIS OF SOCIETY
Face: Andy "The Baron" - human drug lord with ambitions to find out more about his Red Court masters

Temple Newsam, near Leeds
Theme: There has been a property here since the Doomsday book. For the longest time the Knights Templar owned this. Indeed they built the village and the first Church in Leeds. In the iron age a freakishly big fort (Grim's Dyke) was built to keep something out. Or if you look at the right way something IN (at least that’s the theory of one rogue archaeologist). There is an ancient circle of stones, for which no one knows the purpose. Gifted to Leeds Council, the curators of this land and house (origins dating back to the early 17th centaury) say the fact they all belong to the Masons is just coincidence. [REDACTED]
Aspect: MASONIC STRONGHOLD
Face: Charles Oxoby, head curator - and rumour has it ranked a Templar Knight in the Masonic Order of York. And terribly, terribly posh.

Eye of York, York
Theme: This bare patch of grassed ground with a slight mound has been like this for a long time. It's surrounded by important buildings. It also happens to be an intersecting point of a lot of Ley Lines. Power radiates of it and Ghosts are drawn to it. And The Bag Lady makes sure it, and the city's homeless are OK. Who knows what would happen if The Wrong Person tried to do something with it.
Aspect: PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER
Face: The Bag Lady - a powerful god spirit of the homeless and dispossessed. Has also taken it upon herself to protect The Eye. No-one has dared tell her to stop so far.

Porpoise Tunnels, Leeds
Threat: There are allegedly tunnels running under Leeds. From the armoury (Don't you find it weird they teach people armed combat twice a week with real swords. I am sure it's what the Templars would have wanted) to the university. They are called the Porpoise Tunnels as there is a story about our special water based mammal friends appearing out of no-where. Well, as log as nothing dangerous lurks in them. Right? [REDACTED]
Aspect: A WHAT POPPED UP WHERE?
Face: Zak Wilson-Page - a member of Leeds Preservation Society. Full of young hip people with long hair doing crazy hip things like jumping off buildings and exploring disused buildings. What could possibly go wrong.
Mord - a Celtic goddess of death and battle recently released from Hel has [REDACTED].

The Hole, Bradford
Threat: Bradford. City of Immigrants and run down areas. In the centre of town there was going to be a great new development. Then the riots and the depression and all the investors paniced. Now it's just a hole. In the centre of town. Filled with the unwanted, the hateful and the fearful.
Aspect: HEART RIPPED OUT OF CITY
Face: Griff - A white court thug stirring up trouble for the White Yorkshire Rose political party (a far right hate group heavily sponsored by House Chimera, fear feeding WCV's).

Rivers of Yorkshire
Threat: Water is life. The rivers flow and have nurtured and empowered the county for longer than anyone remembers. They have faces. And agendas.
Aspect: THE RIVER SPOKE TO ME
Face: Beverley Beck - Water Nymph of the Beverley Waterfront. Posh, agenda rich, leverage heavy, hot as hell.

Faces of Note:


Richard Chimera
Charming, Charismatic, Hater. Head of House Chimera, a cunning manipulator and investing heavily in the White Yorkshire Rose political movement. Recently his aggressive expansion has come into conflict with Red Court interests. There will be blood.
FACE OF: CRASH OF WORLDS
HIGH CONCEPT: WHITE COURT LORD
MOTIVATION: Expand & control through fear

Thomas Polowski
Vicious, brutal, ancient. The Polowski's have had it easy in Hull. Trafficking humans, pushing drugs. Endless cattle to feed on. Now the White Court is pushing in on their territory.
FACE OF: CRASH OF WORLDS
HIGH CONCEPT: RED COURT LORD
MOTIVATION: Enslave through drugs and slavery

Douglas Tyler
Sometimes the masons need dirty jobs doing. Swords drawing. Things silencing. That’s where the Tyler comes in. What are they hiding? Recent encounters and training has lead to the understanding that he is a member of the [REDACTED], a group of religious soldiers, with swords blessed by The Higher Power. Fighting Evil.
FACE OF: ECHOES OF THE PAST
HIGH CONCEPT: MASON ENFORCER
MOTIVATION: Obey the elders, protect the family

Prospero
Angry, vengeful Lord of the Autumn Court. [REDACTED]
FACE OF: ECHOES OF THE PAST
HIGH CONCEPT: LORD OF THE AUTUMN COURT
MOTIVATION: Recover my lost power

Gilbert Norrell
The only White Council member in the area. And all he wants is a quiet life. To be left alone with his books. He's had quite enough excitement for one life time with that Jonathan Strange, damn him. If he sees another fresh face, excitable magic using youth bothering him again he might break the first law of magic. Gentleman or not. He practices [REDACTED] magic.
FACE OF: WHITE COUNCIL/ECHOES OF THE PAST
HIGH CONCEPT: WHITE COUNCIL WIZARD
MOTIVATION: Horde knowledge to myself and have a quiet time.

Daniel Poulson
Rogue warlock, and ex-apprentice of Norrell. DEAD. You saw the axe embedded itself in his skull.
FACE OF: N/A
HIGH CONCEPT: ROGUE WARLOCK
MOTIVATION: DEAD

Ben Robertson
Clued in Ghost Tour operator.
FACE OF: N/A
HIGH CONCEPT: CLUED IN TOUR OPERATOR
MOTIVATION: Keep the ghosts at bay

Bruce
Australian bartender in the Accorded Neutral Ground
FACE OF: LENDAL CELLARS
HIGH CONCEPT: AUSTRALIAN BEER-O-MANCER
MOTIVATION: Keep the peace in ANG

Caliban
FACE OF: WARRAM PERCY
HIGH CONCEPT: PROTECTOR OF AUTUMNS LAST REFUGE
MOTIVATION: Protect the Autumn Court

Lucy Harker
A Black Court Vampire. They salted the earth and burnt her remains. BCV's hardly ever recover from that....

Perry White
FACE OF: YORKSHIRE POST
HIGH CONCEPT: TERRIFIED MEDIA MOGUL
MOTIVATION: Don't upset things that go throat rippy in the night

Andy "The Baron"
FACE OF: BRANSHOLME ESTATE
HIGH CONCEPT: DRUG GANG HEAD
MOTIVATION: Be on top one day

Charles Oxoby
FACE OF: TEMPLE NEWSAM
HIGH CONCEPT: CURATOR OF MASON SECRETS
MOTIVATION: Keep the Masons safe and strong and THINGS locked away

The Bag Lady
FACE OF: Eye of York
HIGH CONCEPT: SPIRIT OF THE HOMELESS AND HIDDEN POWER
MOTIVATION: Keep my domains safe

Griff
FACE OF: THE HOLE
HIGH CONCEPT: WHITE COURT THUG
MOTIVATION: Create despair and become like the boss

Abus
Dragon of the Humber. A murky swill of an estuary, healthier than you think, trade rich and with 20% of the country's water ending here incredibly powerful. [REDACTED]
FACE OF: THE HUMBER
HIGH CONCEPT: HUMBER DRAGON
MOTIVATION: Keep my home clean

Hod
Blind Norse god in Hel. Given a Red Court demon. Given power of the Autumn Court. Has an agenda... whats his play?
FACE OF: OLD GODS RISING
HIGH CONCEPT: BLIND, DEAD, POWER HUNGRY NORSE GOD
MOTIVATION: [REDACTED]

Loki
Trickster God, stuck in Hel. What will he do to break free and bring about Ragnarök?
FACE OF: MAGIC MISCHIEF
HIGH CONCEPT: COMPULSIVE [REDACTED]
MOTIVATION: Revenge on my captors, chaos amongst mortals, [REDACTED]

Jed
Chase's brother. He went missing over a decade ago. Only he's back an doesn't seem to have aged a day. He's housed at the Orphanage. He has the smell of the supernatural about him.
FACE OF: [REDACTED]
HIGH CONCEPT: [REDACTED]
MOTIVATION: [REDACTED]

Beverley Beck "B.B."
Water Nymph of the Beverley Waterfront. Posh, agenda rich, leverage heavy, hot as hell.
FACE OF: BEVERLEY
HIGH CONCEPT: WATER NYMPH OF BEVERLEY
MOTIVATION: Keep Beverley, Beverley

Wayne Baxter
Ambitious, young Red Court Vampire. Has personal beef with Sean Edwards.
FACE OF: [REDACTED]
HIGH CONCEPT: RCV GRABBING FOR POWER
MOTIVATION: Settle and Revenge

Akunin
Leader of a gang of ruthless Russian mobsters. Also he can rip out your throat with his teeth. As a bear.
FACE OF: HULL'S UNDERWORLD
HIGH CONCEPT: WERE-BEAR SHAMAN GANGSTER
MOTIVATION: [REDACTED]

Iago
Winter Court Mastermind and 'Fixer'. Hes come to fix the Autumn Court.
FACE OF: WINTER FOLLOWS FALL
HIGH CONCEPT: WINTER COURT MASTERMIND
MOTIVATION:[REDACTED]

Hel
FACE OF: HEL
HIGH CONCEPT: GUARDIAN OF HEL
MOTIVATION: Bide my time, do my job

Mr Frost
Agent of the Winter Court, power, ice, fear. He hunts at night and will freeze the life from your blood if he doesn't rip of your face first. [REDACTED]
FACE OF: WINTER FOLLOWS FALL
HIGH CONCEPT: WINTER COURT RETRIEVAL SPECIALIST
MOTIVATION: Enforce the Cold Law


Lord Black
Lord of the Spring Court - [REDACTED]
FACE OF: SPRING COURT
HIGH CONCEPT: [REDACTED]
MOTIVATION: [REDACTED]

Mord
The Morrigan - Released from Nordic Hel by Alfred Tremain, what are her plans now? [REDACTED]
FACE OF: OLD GODS RISING
HIGH CONCEPT: CELTIC GODDESS OF DEATH AND BATTLEFIELDS
MOTIVATION: [REDACTED]

Vali
Bored Norse god. Wants to kill his brother. Again.
FACE OF: OLD GODS RISING
HIGH CONCEPT: BORED NORSE GOD
MOTIVATION: Find my purpose and kill it again


Other Notes

The Autumn Court is missing it's King. Turns out he's sleeping somewhere. The Prince is on his hunt, tied to no court no more. Can his power be taken by another? [REDACTED]

The Red Court are forced out of their slum in Hull by the actions of the [REDACTED] and the Brown Sloths. What impact will this have on the surrounding area as they via for new territory and new food.


Suspects - or the Characters as some might call them.

Chase "Dog" McKenzie - Reporter with a Nose for Trouble [In too deep this time?]
Alfred Tremain - Defender of the Realm (Servant of the Royal Family/former White Council mage)
Drew Hawkins - Herald of the Autumn Court [And it's final betrayer?]
Sean Edwards - Redeemed Avenger [What will the Red Court will do when they find he gave away their brother?]

[Keravin]

As the player of Drew Hawkins my current issue is trying to come up with a way the Autumn Court can change to be allowed to survive.

We've established that the Spring Court has been allowed to survive by changing into the Neon Court and becoming a very different type of institution to what it was.   The Autumn Court went into hiding, presumably after its King - the Raven King, John Uskglass - was put to sleep by presumably Mr Norrell.   My character has been trying to rebuild the court, though no longer in the manner his patron, Lord Prospero, wanted.   Drew is of the opinion that Prospero was out for his own power grab rather than wanting to rebuild the Court.   Having bargained to rescue Uskglass from Hel (Viking Hell) Drew is now trying to wake the King, whilst having now been given a week to come up with a solution to what the Autumn Court will become or be killed by the Winter Court which is in ascendance at this time in the game.

So either he brings change or he dies.  Quite a nice character arc even if I have no clue yet what to turn the Autumn Court towards.

[Mrmdubois]

Well, what's the difference between the way the Spring Court was and the way the Neon Court is now?

Was the gentleman with the thistle down hair a major autumn player?  Considering what his enchantment did to Lady Pole I could see it.  If so, his curse on Strange is ending soon which could have all kinds of effects.

[Keravin]

From the GM the Neon Court is

"24 hour party people
Better dressed, better looking than you
Blow your banking bonus in a night
Elegance
Decadence
Sell your soul for the (brief) time of your life


They represent the fast pace, the 24 hour lifestyle, the electric hum and constant beat of the city. They are the vain superstars. They are the dream sold through TV's. They are the models on the billboards. They are the consumerism you want. They are the perfect moment of euphoric happiness caught at 4am as you dance. They are Fashion.


If Summer and Winter represent more primal aspects of change of the seasons and the cycle of life, the Neon represents the desires and dreams of man that arise in high density, high media urban life.


So can autumn find an opposite of this theme? Or a role that must be served?"


Which is interesting as I'd saw them gone more future facing than that.

What about the embracing of change?   The look to the future, the technologists?

Strange and the Raven King were all about embracing change and not looking to just the status quo, which is what annoyed Norrell so much.

I'd assumed the Neon Court were about that rather than decadence - but they are very much a live for the now approach.

[Mrmdubois]

If Courts are supposed to be each other's polar opposites what happens if Autumn embraces enlightenment?  Rather than being driven by consumerism and living in the now they become more withdrawn, deliberate and spartan.

Which actually kind of fits the Raven King and Strange, in the book they both departed from our world in order to learn and work ever greater magics.  The Raven King's concerns became so epic in scope one of his lieutenant's scared Strange quite badly by readjusting his perspective to see how little Strange mattered.  It was actually a great analogue to Harry seeing the Summer and Winter Queens in all of their power, and he was lucky enough not to have their attention.

It might make the Autumn court seem nicer than the Spring court, which is probably kind of jaded, always exploiting, thrill seeking, etc, but the Autumn Court would appear to have epic levels of apathy, getting them to do something other than oppose the Neon Court would probably be like trying to get Ents to go to war, not easy, and full of long deliberations.

[Keravin]

Took some ideas from that and it looks like this is the direction we're going.

Autumn could be the science/ideas side of Tony Stark as opposed to the primal experience side that Spring represents.

Rather than go for geniuses which would get old quickly better to play with ideas that fit with the Raven King as well.

Futurists - not content with the status quo, ready to embrace new ideas - fits with Uskglass and also another reason why Prospero is at odds.
Embracers of technology - something which stands them out from the fae and the mages
Gatekeepers - with humans in the mix the autumn court stand as a bridge between world's, but is there another reason why they sit at Wharram Percy? Are they protecting against something? Stuff in Raven king history about him protecting his subjects.
Withdrawn?
Deliberate?
Ready to make the change - the Raven king changed, the court changes, this is the next step
The king stood "between England and the Other Lands, between all wild creatures and the world of men"
Modern magic

From the GM: I also need something that is still essential Fae in nature. How about changing into something like:


Wind Court

Ever present, ever changing. A different face every night. Hidden in plain sight. We are the change in the air, the ever changing breeze, whispers on the wind. We are evolution. We are mutation. We are change.

Power
Change Magic [-4]
- As per Seelie Magic and Unseelie magic, but can only cast spells that fit it's essential nature: wildness, change, wind, future.
- In addition you may spend a fate point to use the True Shapeshifting ability, however, once you change from a form, you can never go back. That form is now your true form. That is the way of progress.


So the Autumn Court become the court of change, having been stuck in an almost self imposed rut for centuries.

[Mrmdubois]

Sounds pretty cool.

The Fay courts aren't ever fully mean or nice though, so what's the dark side of Autumn now?  Transformation magic is mentioned in YS as being the grayest area of magic because things are very good at being what they are.  Obviously a willingness to use change magic on others is pretty gray, but what are the kinds of repercussions Autumn experiences from changing themselves?

[Keravin]

Well we had the in character discussions with the Raven King yesterday which allowed shaping in game of the idea of the court (and also raised various questions about who is the High King of the Autumn Court as the Erlking has seemingly given up his portfolio and also the sanity of the Raven King himself).   

The idea then is

THE FABLE COURT (or The Court of Parables)
covering the themes of Tales, Gatekeepers and Change.   

Dark side is probably best exhibited by the Raven King himself in that change is not always good.

One of the things that flowed from the conversation is that we may actually be coming to such a sizeable change to the chronicle when we eventually get to the shift of Autumn to Fable that we may look at closing this chronicle and starting another either with new characters or a new focus.   One of the ideas discussed was a mobile chronicle given the idea that the Fable Court would work well with Travellers and another was that given the issues over the Raven King and Prospero that probably keeping the 3 tier leader structure was a good idea and that might mean that my character, the herald, who has put all of this into motion may end up as one of those leaders and therefore need to be retired to NPCdom.

Lots more to sort out in game such as treaties, the awakening of the Raven King through a performance piece held at the Leeds Playhouse (which acts as the Neutral Ground for Leeds), and others getting involved.   No one's told Prospero yet and that should be fun.  In game though the Herald has 4 days left before Winter comes for him and he's now trying to get Summer aware so that Winter does not get a clear path.