The County of Islands is a Kithain domain that encompasses the five boroughs of New York as well as the whole of Long Island. It is a land stalked by Nightmares and withering in the cold winter winds of Banality. However, it is also a land where peace is kept and hope is cherished. It is one of the great centers of Glamour in Concordia and home to a dazzling array of fae.
Important Places
History
For centuries before Europeans first settled in the area, what is now called Manhattan was home to an underground Grotto sacred to the Nunnehi of the area. The first Kithain to arrive were a group of Pooka who came over as early as the 1650s. The Pooka sold their claim to the Nocker architect, Dr. Zachary Tapp, in 1664. Tapp paid nearly nothing. Little did Tapp and his associates know, the Pooka had recently stolen the land from the Nunnehi and had subsequently been harried by Rock Giants who believed their sacred place had been defiled. The Nockers inherited these enemies with whom they were engaged in active combat for the next 20 years.
Dr. Tapp soon discovered why the Nunnehi valued the island so highly. He found the Black Crystal Caverns beneath the city, an incredibly powerful Grotto of naturally occurring Glamour. Tapp determined this as the perfect opportunity to finally create a living, moving piece of architectural sculpture. The beginnings of Goblin Towen were only a few stories deep and amounted to basic tunnels. However, the Freehold grew deeper and broader, its tendrils spreading everywhere. Meanwhile, the Nockers grew fabulously rich selling to Kithain and mortals alike. Tapp mysteriously vanished in 1750 but he left his master plans behind. The Nockers kept building according to his intentions.
Goblin Town remained the only Freehold in the immediate area for decades. In 1733, Trolls established a Lodge named Knightsbridge near the King's Bridge in what was then the Town of Yonkers. The Trolls provided protection for all Kithain and more secure hospitality than could be found in CtD:Goblin Town.
In 1740, the Boggan Joseph Peale opened the Richmond Inn and Tavern.This completed the original three Commoner Freeholds that have roots from before the Resurgence. Kithain sought Boggan hospitality and Troll justice but it was Goblin Town which held the power and the associated goblin market that drew fae from across the country and around the world.
In 1969, the Arcadian Sidhe returned. In New York, as all over the world, the Commoners had mixed feelings. The sudden increase in Glamour and the opening of Trods and new Freeholds came as an enormous blessing. The Sidhe were also beings out of legend and for many represented a return to the glory days of the Kithain. However, Commoners no longer governed themselves by those old systems and the returning Sidhe's expectation that they would just step aside enraged many.
The Sidhe invited representatives of the Commoners to meet with them under flag of truce. Two from New York traveled to that ill-fated meeting. Kate Tyler was a Boggan from Richmond Inn and Tavern. Kovi Gingel was Troll chief. Both wanted peace. Kate wanted only to help all the fae. She wanted to turn none a way but also to drive none from their homes. Kovi was thrilled at the return of Glamour to the world and remembered the Sidhe from tales of knighthood and nobility. He hopes they could represent a restoration of the fae spirit, if only they could adjust themselves to the modern world. Both were murdered with cold iron along with the other Commoner leaders before a single word was exchanged.
The Freehold drew its power from a deep Grotto once sacred to the Nunnehi and thus they had made common cause with the Commoners for a promise to restore what was theirs. Alas, Nunnehi and Commoners had lost together and the peace allowed Redd her holding. In fact, she was one of the newly minted Nobles meant to show the Sidhe would now share power. At least a little. She had made other pacts aside from those with royalty and dark rumors of secret experiments and strange curses from her or those Nockers who worked with her were common as long as Goblin Town stood.
It had fallen during the Evanescence, not to Banality but to Nightmare. It was now a province of Thallain and Adhene and Nightmare chimera and Nockers given over wholly to the service of the Elder Darks. Other Freeholds had fallen during the battle as had the Count of the time, Raymont ap Fiona.