Changelings of In Very Truth Weighed

Washington DC is a city rent with divisions. Tolerating only black and white thinking, the people of the District have long since lost the delicate art of compromise. Political distinctions, racial tensions, and ideologies divide mortals and changelings alike. Sacrifices once made for the good of the many have given way to unending drive to be right, history be damned. And yet it was not always this way.

The Freehold of Washington D.C.

This freehold is liberally adapted from the one described at A House Divided.

The Freehold of Pillars and Masks is ruled by two Courts which constantly rule jointly, protecting the population against the Gentry. Swearing an Accord to share rulership before the mythic Oathstone, the local changelings declared that the Argent Court and the Shadow Court would forevermore hold the Freehold of Pillars and Masks as a bastion against the True Fae. In the wake of the Accord, the gates to Arcadia slammed shut, protecting the mortal world from the vengeance of the Gentry but reducing the number of escaping changelings to the barest trickle.

In the modern nights, the Accord stands but it has frayed. The long dormant gates and roads to Arcadia have reawakened. Starting a year ago, dozens of changelings have emerged from these portals, some only recently taken, other lost for years, all driven to escape the monsters that pursue them. Changelings have taken to calling this migration the Return.

Freehold Laws

The following laws have governed the Freehold of Pillars and Masks since its inception:

  1. No Freehold member shall murder, maliciously harm, or falsely imprison another.
  2. The Law of Hospitality shall be accorded by all.
  3. No Freehold member shall betray another human or changeling to the Gentry, nor attract their attention.
  4. Each Freehold member shall be free to deal with their fetch as they see fit, so long as the Freehold is not endangered.
  5. All who pledge fealty to the Freehold of Pillars and Masks shall contribute for the benefit of all.
  6. Just as the Mask protects us from detection, so shall all who pledge fealty protect the secrets of the Freehold from mortals.
  7. All duels shall take place in the presence of the Court, and duels to the death shall take place only at the pleasure of the reigning Liege.
  8. The Argent Court shall take sovereignty upon the vernal equinox. The Shadow Court shall take sovereignty upon the autumnal equinox.
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