Oly Extended History
From Changeling Venue
Olympia, WA- History of Freeholds in the City
The history of The Guild of Broken Waters is one filled with mystery and unanswered questions, made all the more difficult to decipher by an air of paranoia. What is generally agreed upon, however, is this:
Prior to the 1930's a group of Darklings comprising either a single Motley, Entitlement, or both, came into the region then known as The Freehold of Flowing Waters. Their mission, as outlined in a partially surviving document called The Dark River Charter, was to impose order on the Fae madness of the Freehold in order to promote a civic good and preserve the healthy Clarity of the Freehold. It was generally agreed by these five Darklings that order was anathema to the Gentry who thrive on passion and chaos, therefore the imposition of organization including the control of thought would in turn lessen the threat of Others. Styling themselves the 'Viscounts of Shadow' or 'Shadow Kings', the five proceeded in their goal by preparing a number of warded gathering places where various Changelings could 'leave their court at the door' and be themselves. This rudimentary idea sparked the beginnings of a service industry within Flowing Waters as the Shadow Kings became functionaries and entertainers par excellence. Over the course of the years, each Viscount took an apprentice, who then took an apprentice, and so on until they had developed a staunch hierarchy from their manipulated fellows. It was at this time that a plot to overthrow the seasonal courts and create a court of eternal Winter was conceived and began to be carried out covertly.
Their ascent to power was protected by a growing paranoia of outsiders; a common affliction in the early post war world until the Sixties when the equally potent peace and love movements clashed with conservative values. Believing their cause just, the Shadow Kings enacted totalitarian police actions to maintain their dominance over the myriad groups of dissidents and excised them from the Winter court. The Shadow Kings used their political and social acumen to quash a major Lost rebellion called The Revel, beating back the onset of the Spring court. Still dealing with regular civil unrest within their own realm, the Shadow Kings promised to dedicate forces and material to Adamant's Folly, the ill-fated assault on Arcadia. At the last and pivotal moment of the assault, for reasons not quite understood even by those few survivors of Adamant's Folly, the Shadow Kings' support failed. Without the support of the Freehold of Flowing Waters, Adamant's war was doomed to failure and the Shadow Kings' constructed power base collapsed under it's own considerable weight.
This period of Winter has since been identified by two names: the Tyranny, by those who recall the Viscounts, or the Old Kingdom by those who do not. As such, another common identifier for the current administration of The Guild of Broken Waters is the New Kingdom.
Important bits of legal precedent for the Freeholds
This area is free for alteration and the inclusion of new precedents as they are determined by the guild
