By: Chris Howard
Sample file
Credits
Written by: Chris Howard Developed by: Ian Lemke
Edited by: Rob Hatch, Ronni Radner
Vice President in charge of Production: Richard Thomas Art Directors: Aileen E. Miles and Lawrence Snelly Layout and Typesetting: Aileen E. Miles
Art: David Fooden, Rebecca Guay, Andrew Mitchell Kudelka, Brian Le Blanc, Brian O’Connell, Richard Thomas, Drew Tucker
Border Art: Henry Higgenbotham Front Cover Art: Tony DiT erlizzi
Front & Back Cover Design: Ash Arnett, Aileen E. Miles
Special Thanks to:
Richard “Imperial Herald” Thomas, for doing those shields and loving/hating it.
Josh “Vicissitude” Timbrook, for staring into the gaping maw of controversy.
Aileen “Nomad” Miles, for being bitten by the Sega bug.
Kathy “Storytelling” Ryan, for getting to do it again.
Larry “Transcontinental” Snelly, for spreading the gospel of White Wolf to the Mediterranean.
Ash “Mr. Particular” Arnett, for being so.
Katie “Clermont Lounge” McCaskill, for being the hostess with the mostess.
Matt “Obi Wan” Milberger, for his growing collection of Star Wars toys.
©1995 by White Wolf. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without written permission of the publisher is expressly denied, except for purposes of reviews. Changeling: The Dreaming, Mage: The Ascension, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Wraith:
The Oblivion, Vampire: The Masquerade and Nobles: The Shining Host are all trademarks and copyrights of White Wolf.
The mention of or reference to any companies or products in these pages is not a challenge to the trademarks or copyrights concerned. printedincanada
Sample file
Contents
Introduction 4 Asterlan 8
Book One
Chapter One: History of the Uasal Sidhe 18 Chapter Two: Rank and Privilege 26 Chapter Three: Politics 36 Chapter Four: World View 54 Chapter Five: Those Who Rule 72
Book Two
Chapter Six: Storytelling 82 Chapter Seven: The Nobility of Concordia 94
Appendix 105 Sample file
Sample file
Introduction
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
-—Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Introduction
The Dream Lords are in their rightful place of power once more.
The year 1969 marked an event as momentous as the moon landing or the raging war in Vietnam: the return of the sidhe. The lords and ladies of the sidhe are unlike any others in the World of Darkness: untimely ripped from the bosom of the Dreaming and cast newborn into the cold, white light of what humanity calls “reality.” They are a people of neither world.
Behind Them: Torn from the Dreaming where they once ruled, the sidhe passed through the Mists of Memory and do not remember their immortal past. Their myths and stories (both racial and personal) are tantalizingly, painfully beyond their grasp.
Before Them: The dark and hostile world the sidhe find themselves thrust into is unlike any they dared dream of in the days of antiquity. The world has changed since they were last part of it, walking among the superstitious throngs of humanity as gods. The simplicity of the farmer in his fields or the shepherd tending his flock in green
pastures has given way to a noisy horror show of supersonic transports, digital highways and nerve gas.
The newly returned sidhe walk a razor’s edge between the worlds of past and present, fancy and reality, with nothing to depend on but themselves. A less worthy peo- ple may have crumbled in the faee of such overwhelming adversity, but in the 25 odd years since their return the sidhe have not only survived, but have triumphed. Ship- wrecked on a strange and alien shore, the sidhe drew upon their inner strengths, battling commoner and commoner noble alike to regain their place of leadership amongst the Kithain. What is remarkable .is the degree to which, in 25 short years, they have succeeded. The earthbound fae, long resentful of the imperious nobility, nevertheless in large measure now concede them their historical place in Kithain society.
During their long absence many myths and super- stitions grew among the commoners. Most Kithain have longed viewed the sidhe with superstitious awe and fear.
The time since their initial return has done little to
Sample file
change this opinion in the minds of many changelings, who (consciously or subconsciously) view the sidhe to be their superiors. Beautiful yet terrible, the sidhe walk the streets among the teeming throngs of humanity, and the look in their eyes is one of proprietary disdain. Something about even the lowest among them gives pause to even the most radical commoner antimonarchist. At the same time, something unsullied and innocent about them touches even the most cynical human.
Many commoners whisper that the nobility protects itself from the reality of the world by living in palaces of spun sugar in the Dreaming. They laugh, knowing that the first strong rain will wash the intruders away. Perhaps this is true. Although the sidhe have fought many great battles with the other Kithain to regain their lost power, their mettle has yet to be tested by the other great powers of the world. Yet the time of this great testing quickly approaches. The great cataclysm that the vampires call Gehenna and the werewolves call Apocalypse gathers like a great storm. The Kithain call this time Winter, and the newly arrived nobility may soon find themselves battling forces beyond any they dared imagine.
Noble Lexicon
• Children of Lilith — Vampires.
• Tuatha de Danaan—The progenitor race of all the Kithain, according to the sidhe.
• Dream Lords — The sidhe.
• Fionn Sidhe —Fair sidhe.
• The Five—The five noble houses of the sidhe, who returned during the Resurgence.
• Fomorians — A brutal and powerful race of mis- shapen monsters. Traditional enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan and the sidhe. Possibly related to fomori.
• Hidden Ones — Human mages who trade in the powers of Banality ( a.k.a. the Technocracy).
• Impulse — The three main persuasions of Seelie Concordian political life (Traditionalists, Reformers and Modernists).
• Lost Ones — Faeries (mostly sidhe) who disappeared into their freeholds during the Shattering.
• Morphean Oracles — Kithain soothsayers who specialize in predictions about the Dreaming. The best belong to House Scathach and control much of its destiny.
• Nertmar Sidhe —Powerful sidhe.
