The Freehold of the Cracked Sky

This page describes the Freehold of the Cracked Sky, presently the domain of the Countess Catherine Suessi. Included here is a description of the place, an overview of its characteristics, and a bit of its history. This material is subject to revision, should I decide it's needed, as more sourcebooks roll in.

Location

The Freehold is within the County of the Cracked Sky, overlaying (roughly) what we call Webster Groves and Crestwood today. The Freehold is the County Seat, from which Countess Catherine Suessi rules her lands.

Mortal Identity

The Freehold is something of a gathering spot for youths. It includes a couple video games, a snack bar, tables, a dance floor, and a stage for performances on the lower floor. Middle floors include hostel-like accomodations. The upper floor is mostly offices and such, and is where the actual court takes place.
The club is called The Cracked Sky, which may or may not serve to give it away to locals. In the phone book, however, it is listed only as Crestwood Youth Hostel, making it somewhat difficult to locate without a guide.

Chimerical Description

The lower floor looks much like its mundane counterpart, but with thick gilding along the walls. Pillars are balustrades; the verdant growth of plants already thick throughout the lower level seems still more lush as the vegetation snuggles up against the glamour.
The dancefloor is a wood parquet, oiled and waxed to the point where footsteps seem to glide along inches above the floor. The acoustics lend themselves well to both recitation and performance.
Several of the hangers-on are clearly Thanes of the court. They may lounge at the tables, or work at the counter, but these fellows are quite ready for what may come through the doors, and look as if they would not hesitate to call upon the Wyrd.
Upstairs is a completely different manner. Whereas it looks like reasonably well-appointed offices to the mundane eye, fae will see the thick, heavy piles of carpet, vibrant tapestries, and resonant hardwoods of this court in the midst of the old Kingdom of Grass.

Characteristics

The Freehold presently has only the following characteristic defined: the Balefire produces 4 points of glamour, making this a fairly large freehold. Some dozen Trods leave and arrive from the freehold.

History

During the Interregnum, an elder Boggan happened upon the Trods within this place, and recognized the place where the Dreaming leaked through. Surprised, he reported back to the then-acting Count, a Troll named Marcus Browning. Browning was himself a grump well into his middle ages, and living mostly off the patronage of his lieges, who formed a moderately successful jazz combo that played riverside.
The commoner court purchased the land that the site was on, and as they drew from its strength, so did they return on the investment. Over time, the city expanded to encompass the site, and the old house was razed in 1953 to put in the building which now stands there, under the watchful eyes of the satyr Lisa McCormick, then steward of the household (Lisa repeatedly refused the title 'Countess', but acted as Chancellor and Steward of the area for many years).
By the time the Sidhe returned in the early sixties, the Youth Center was already calling itself a Youth Hostel after the European fashion, and an elderly Sluagh had worked together with an Eshu to establish a trust fund for the location. Between their two personal fortunes (both significant) and those monies contributed by the County's vassalage, the Freehold was paid for, and its property deeded to the Hostel's board of directors.
The return of the Sidhe gave rise to considerable concern. Many of the household's constituency wanted to abandon the feudal structure and turn the Household into a Motley. When Duke Joseph of the Booming River Duchy yielded his rulership to Duchess Anne O'Brien, much of the discussion stopped, though. The Count Benjamin Fristo was granted the Household. Nearly half the fae attached to the household refused to pledge fealty, thus birthing the Broken Night Motley, to this day a thorn in the side of Catherine's household.