What Are Fae?

Fae are glamour-bearing beings who live convincingly as human but weave courtesy, art, and oath into quiet miracles. In Baltimore the Free Court recognises three broad kinds:

• Gentry: salon fae of etiquette and compacts; excel at mask-work, polite coercion by favour, and reputation craft.
• Greenbound: season- and park-touched spirits in human guise; sense shifts in weather/ritual calendars; steady gardens and festivals.
• House & Hall: genii loci of buildings, halls, and galleries who borrow human shape; keep thresholds polite and rooms well-behaved.

Common traits: glamour (masking, soft influence), strong etiquette sense, oath-keeping, and aversion to vulgarity. Limits & taboos: cold iron bites; coarse salt and rowan disrupt; broken hospitality stains; names have weight; public spectacle is forbidden. Most fae pass as human and keep to strict courtesy to avoid turf friction.

Overview

The Free Court curates civility for the hidden city: it hosts salons, arbitrates minor disputes, and mends masks so neighbours can pass among mortals without incident. It prefers timing, taste, and invitations to threats. Whispered talk of short, unnatural boosts — a faint gold bloom that makes glamours hold too easily — is logged as stories until repeatable proof appears.

Maxim: “Courtesy buys peace. Art buys time.”

Leadership & Faces

• Edda Glass (Patron & Convenor) — Sets the tone; pours grace into tense rooms; remembers every favour.
• Rowan Pike (Greenward) — Speaks for park spirits; keeps the seasonal calendar honest.
• Jaya Mir (Maskwright) — Mends faces and reputations by needle and light; no flash photography.
• Mr Hallow (Doorman) — Threshold obeys his ledger; invitations mean what they say.
• Thimble (Runner) — Carries notes along rails and alleys; returns borrowed things before you remember them.

PC/NPC hooks: Petition salon minutes via Edda; season rites and park permissions through Rowan; mask repairs with Jaya; entry protocol by Mr Hallow; delicate deliveries through Thimble.

Structure & Salons

Order (courtesy-led): Convenor → Wardens (Mask • Green • Door • Ledger) → House Salons (neighbourhood circles) → Sworn Guests

Salons

• Winter Room: main gallery floor; petitions, exhibits, arbitration.
• Side Gallery: narrow walk for private negotiations and quiet apologies.
• Green Room: tea, harp, and tempers cooled; where favours are weighed.

Protocol & Customs

Etiquette

• Bring a gift or a truth when asking a favour. Either suffices; both are remembered.
• Do not break a Mask in public. If it slips, look at the art, not the person; ring for the Maskwright.
• Never waste an artist’s hour. Installations and performances are protected time.

Boundary Courtesy

• No feeding, hunts, or moon drills within sight of the salon. Those belong to other houses.
• Announce misting or mirror-work near Court spaces 24 hours in advance; confirm with Glasswright schedules.
• Meridian visits by appointment; interviews in the Side Gallery with drapes drawn.

Court Law

1. Hospitality holds. Guests who accept bread and salt are safe under the roof until dismissed properly.
2. Consent binds. No coercive glamours; no theft of names; masks mended only with the wearer’s leave.
3. No spectacle. If it reads on camera, it was done in the wrong room.
4. Honour neighbours. Boundaries stand; treaties keep tempers civil.

Resources & Fronts

• The Winter Room: moveable wall, light temper, courtesy net; stage for calm talk.
• Maskwright Studio: needles, silver thread, face cabinet; glamour templates under lock.
• Invitation Keys: embossed cards with cut edge; seasonally renewed; non-transferable.
• Silence Book: leather ledger signed by non-fae contractors who then forget to gossip.

Relations (Boundary-respecting)

• Meridian Commission (Baltimore FO): Formal; exposure control and calm handovers when needed.
• Crimson Harbour (vampires): Cool civility; no salon nights overlapping feeding windows; disputes via Seneschal.
• Iron Belt (werewolves): Seasonal courtesy; drills rescheduled so howls don’t meet harps.
• Highland Concord (djinn): Warm; clause language borrowed for invitation keys; tea changes hands.
• Glasswrights (mirror-folk): Professional; sightlines and pane schedules coordinated.
• Lodge (water-folk): Weather veils coordinated for harbour events; no fog as theatre.

Emerging Rumours (GM Guidance)

• Golden Bloom: Jaya notes a faint gold sheen on a repaired mask after a scuffle; gone by morning. li>
• Calendar Slip: Rowan hears the fountain sing out of season during a gala; something nudged the ritual week.
• Wrong Name: Mr Hallow’s threshold refuses to speak a guest’s name though the card is perfect. Ledger error, sabotage, or truth unpaid?
• Policy: Verify twice, act once. No “overclocking” inks, no sped rites, no public trials.

Known Rooms & Working Sites

• The Winter Room (Mount Vernon): main salon; arbitration floor; drapes that eat flash.
• Side Gallery Walk: narrow corridor for delicate talks; frames double as sound baffles.
• Fountain Court: courtyard used for season readings; invitations only; no cameras.

Membership (Sample NPCs)

• Edda Glass — Convenor; a smile that asks for your best behaviour.
• Rowan Pike — Greenward; keeps the calendar true.
• Jaya Mir — Maskwright; stitches light to faces.
• Mr Hallow — Doorman; the door remembers his ledger.
• Thimble — Runner; returns borrowed civility before it’s missed.

Open Slots: 2–3 salon hosts, 1 junior maskwright, 1 mortal curator who signs the Silence Book.

Hooks & Episode Seeds

• Three Minutes: Edda grants a desperate petitioner three salon minutes. Who objects, and what will they pay to steal those minutes?
• Unkind Light: A photographer’s flash pierces the light temper; retrieve the card and fix the story.
• Wrong Mirror: A loaned pane returns with a hairline crack and a whisper of gold; quarantine or display?
• Courtesy Debt: A guest owes a truth instead of a gift; paying it will offend someone powerful.
• The Door That Forgot: The threshold sends an invited dignitary back to the lobby. Fault, insult, or warning?

GM Notes (Backstage)

• Tone: urbane, curated, quietly dangerous; problems solved with timing, art, and etiquette.
• Pressure Dials: Exposure □□ • Rumour Heat □□ • Courtesy Debt □□□
• Escalation Path: rumours → first clean artefact → pressure to “overclock” maskwork → internal vote (ban vs. trial).
• Fail State: mask tear on camera; invitations revoked; neutral ground lost.
• Win State: proof gathered quietly; measured stance; salons stay the city’s safest room.