over five). The player subtracts the points from his character's his permanent Glamour rating.
our rating. Glades function slightly differently;
Glamour rating permanently, unless he bought the freehold with
the Holdings Background during character creation. Sometimes
several changelings may hold a freehold, going so far as to use a
common balefire. (The difficulties to resist Banality are reduced by
one for shared freeholds.) Each can withdraw what she initially
invested in the freehold. Thus a changeling who invested three
points of Glamour draws from the freehold at a higher level than the
changeling who invested one point does.
Creating freeholds in the Deep Dreaming is far more complex
and requires special Arts known only to a few.
OiuneRship of a pReehold
A changeling may acquire a freehold in one of four ways. She
may create the freehold, gain it as a gift or inheritance, discover it by
chance or as the result of a quest, or she may steal it from another
changeling. If the character discovers or inherits a pre-existing
freehold or glade, she must swear an oath to protect it if she wishes to
stake her claim. The character must also invest an amount of
temporary Glamour equal to the level of the freehold. If something
destroys a changeling's freehold, the owner gains a number of tempo-
rary Banality points equal to the level of the freehold. If she created
the freehold, she also regains any Glamour that she invested.
Changeling tradition holds that once a changeling claims a
freehold, no other may claim it until the owner's death unless he
chooses to give it away. The full force of the Dreaming backs this
law, making "claim jumping" rare. There are exceptions, though.
A noble with a pennon treasure (a count or higher-ranking
lord) can use it to take a freehold against a commoner's will, though
she must invoke a formal fior to do so. A "neutral" noble, mutually
agreed upon by the contestants, chooses and administers the fior. If
the commoner refuses the fior, the freehold becomes the legal and
mystical property of the noble and it responds to only her com-
mands. The returning sidhe used this age-old power to take over a
number of commoner freeholds, but this practice has slowed con-
siderably since the Treaty of Concord. Nobles who use this power
too freely are understandably unpopular among commoners, and
occasionally meet nasty ends.
If a changeling becomes Undone by Banality, his freehold's
balefire gains a bluish tint and the freehold "dries up" at the rate of
one Glamour point per year. If the changeling's Undoing is tempo-
rary, the owner may rekindle her freehold by spending a temporary
point of Glamour. Another changeling may claim an "abandoned"
freehold on the basis that it is better to rescue a freehold than to lose
it to Banality. Seelie tradition dictates that the original owner has
the truest claim to her freehold, and that a new owner should return
the freehold without protest. The original owner typically thanks
the freehold's "caretaker" with a small gift for protecting the
freehold while she was away. Unseelie tradition holds more to a
tradition of ownership by the strong; a changeling who becomes
Undone is obviously unfit to maintain a freehold. A returning
changeling must often invoke a fior to regain her lost property.
Qaining QlamouR
The owner of a freehold may use it to renew his Glamour, though
he can grant this power to another as a favor instead. To obtain
Glamour from a freehold, the character must sleep and dream in the
balefire's light, or near the secret stone of a glade. Upon awakening,
he recovers a number of Glamour equal to the amount he initially
invested. Of course, the changeling may never gain Glamour above
226 Changeling: The DReaming
the first person to dream within the glade in a night is the one who
gains Glamour. Changelings rarely share glades.
Reaving
It is possible to gain Glamour from a freehold, even if one is not
the owner or does not have permission, through Reaving. It risks
causing permanent damage to a freehold, though. The owner may also
Reave his own freehold in an attempt to gain more than the daily
allowance of Glamour. To do this, the character stands in the
presence of the balefire or sacred stone and wills the Glamour to come
forth. The player rolls the character's Banality rating (difficulty 7).
The number of successes determines the amount of Glamour gained.
If this number is higher than the level of the freehold, the character
still gains that amount of Glamour. The freehold loses one level for
every two successes over its rating. Most changeling rulers (Seelie and
Unseelie) have outlawed Reaving; destroying a freehold is one of the
most horrible crimes a Kithain can commit.
Qades
While freeholds are often created (and hence artificial sources
of Glamour), glades are naturally occurring wellsprings. They are
extremely rare and, when discovered, become carefully guarded
secrets. A glade has a sacred stone, which is similar to a freehold's
balefire. Sacred stones can take many forms. Some are tall standing
stones left as chimerical glacial till, while others are sacred gems or
smooth stones rounded by mountain streams. They may sit in a
,
place of high honor or rest unnoticed by a tree root. Regardless of
its form, the stone is the source of a glade's power. Removing or
destroying a sacred stone strips a glade of its magical energies.
Nunnehi still control most natural glades, but many European fae
covet them. This has lead to numerous fights over the years.
TROC!S
If Glamour is the Dreaming's life-blood, then trods are the
arteries through which Glamour flows. Trods are the fae's nearest
connection to the Dreaming and Arcadia beyond. They are also
power. The sidhe realized this during the Resurgence, and rushed to
reclaim most of the recently re-opened trods. Those who control the
trods have considerable control over Kithain society. Changelings
may move troops and secret missives through them in times of war.
They are ideal trade routes and vital connections to the Dreaming in
times of peace. Most trods closed during the centuries of the Interreg-
num, but reopened spectacularly with the sidhe's return.
When a changeling enters a trod, she disappears from the
mundane world. Trods may lead to a number of places. Most follow
a path leading from one earthly location, through the Near Dream-
ing, to another earthly location. Others end at specific locations
within the Dreaming. Time and location shift constantly in the
Dreaming. After over 600 years of being severed from the Dream-
ing, most commoners are not adept at traveling through it. Few
Earth-bound changelings used trods, but now travel them in grow-
ing numbers. (This is especially true of the sidhe and eshu.)
Few changelings live directly in the Dreaming due to its
hostility and restless nature. Those who leave the safety of a trod's
Silver Path (see below) risk becoming lost forever in a constantly
shifting wilderness, with only monstrous chimera for companion-
ship. However, some changelings manage to set up homesteads
along trods, in the Dreaming. These are scattered throughout the