Haven's Freehold: Journeysend
NB: My changeling characters, Abigail and Phaedra of the Pearls are played within the greater "Haven" verse in sixwordstories. That is to say, their stories are generally set in Haven, California, a fictional suburb of Los Angeles with a large amount of spacey-wacey handwaving for characters not within the Haven setting. That is to say, they won't contradict another muse saying something about being "a few miles from the border with New Jersey", but they default to Haven if the other muse isn't specific. This write-up is for my characters' sake, as I'm the only one in the Haven-verse who currently plays changelings, but if anyone else picks one up, I'm more than willing to discuss this with them and make changes.
The Haven Freehold is a fairly standard Freehold, in that the main Courts represented are the four seasonal Courts, and rotation of rule is determined solely by the calendar, with the solstices and equinoxes being Changeovers (though it is tradition in the Summer Court and some pockets of the Winter Court to call it a Turnover instead).
Each Court appoints their own Regent, who may then organize and task the rest of the Court as they see fit. While the Summer Regent tends to act as a direct commander to his Court, the Spring Regent prefers to be seen in a mothering role toward hers. However, the Wyrd, the active force of Fate, manifests the Crown on the Monarch's head in season. It is possible for a Court's Regent not to become Monarch in their season, but this has not happened in over five years.
Freehold Hollow
The main meeting place for the Freehold is reachable from the mundane world through several points in town. The doors to the Hollow will not open unless the changeling accessing them is carrying a small pewter token of their Court (or in the case of the Courtless, a pewter token of the ruling Court. The Monarch may choose not to give a distrusted Courtless their token).
The Hollow itself takes the form of a large crystal spire, spiralling up toward a chamber only the Monarch is allowed to enter. At the very bottom is the Great Hall, where the entire Freehold gathers for important events. The decoration of the Great Hall varies seasonally, but what never change are the four tables, one for each season, that form a circle around the room.
Above the Great Hall are rooms for use by Freeholders, but no Court holds their private meetings in the Freehold Hollow. Each has other Hollows for that purpose.
The Regents
Spring
Commonly Called: Lora
Seeming: Elemental
Kith: Woodblood
Keeper: ?
Freshly crowned and perhaps too young for the job, Lora is a little forgetful, but enthusiastic and excited to be useful to her Freehold.
Summer
Legal Name: Roland Kreutz
Commonly Called: Sir, Roland, Morgan (only by The Lucrece)
Seeming: Wizened
Kith: Artist/Soldier
Keeper: The Baron of the Blood-Poppy Fields
Roland is a martial artist in more than one sense of the words. A respected smith, a commander of men and a fighter of great skill, he's earned the respect of his Court for representing well-tempered Wrath. He and the Winter Regent shared a Keeper and knew one another in Arcadia, and to this day, they have a complex relationship that tends toward the positive. The Autumn Regent, however, has been known to call him 'simple' behind his back.
Autumn
Legal Name: Helena Black
Commonly Called: Lady Hel, The Black Bitch of the Bay
Seeming: Beast
Kith: Barghest
Keeper: The Masked Prince of the Savage Dusk
Entitlement: The Lost Pantheon
While Hel invokes Autumn's emotion of Fear by being unpredictable and appearing omniscient, she's also worshipped, particularly by a mortal cult who views her as a goddess of Fate. Hel is not the most stable of the Regents, and everyone knows this. However, she is close to the Winter Regent, who shared a motley with Hel when they were younger. This alliance has helped keep the Black Bitch in power.
Winter
Legal Name: Medea Lucrece
Commonly Called: Medea, The Lucrece, Giselle Borgia (by certain mortals)
Seeming: Darkling
Kith: Leechfinger/Chirugeon
Keeper: The Baron of the Blood-Poppy Fields
Entitlement: Knights of the Knowledge of the Tongue
Medea views herself as a 'necessary evil'. The Winter Court's most skilled medic as well as their Regent, she represents Sorrow in the form of regret, and lives to make up for what wrong she did in Arcadia. As skilled in combat as in medicine, she was a member of the military before her durance. Her mundane job, however, has nothing to do with either field--she's found a new beginning for herself by driving a lunch truck.
Courtless
While not a Court unto themselves, any Courtless (meaning someone who chooses not to enter a Court, not one who hasn't decided yet) who needs representation in the greater Freehold can call on the Middleman for aid.
Legal Name: Erebus Quirke
Commonly Called: Quirky, The Middleman
Seeming: Darkling
Kith: Whisperwisp/Oracle
Keeper: Unknown