The+Royal+Court

//This is part of the Hangover city, Liverpool, uk setting//

=The Royal Court of The Fisher King=

The Faerie living in the city are divided into two major factions;
 * The Court Proper** - being the sidhe and the knights and those of noble birth,
 * Commoners,** which are every one else, and who are expected to live in serfdom to the nobles.

This being liverpool, with something of a socialist ideology colouring the political attitudes of many of its mortal inhabitants, it is perhaps not to surprising that the ‘Commoners’ are not a ‘loyal to their noble leaders’ as the Court Proper would like them to be. It is not unknown for one of the knights coming to collect the monthly tribute to be told of “F@@K off”, or for a Elf commoner to steadfastly refuse to given up their seat in the bar to the Sidhe waiting expectantly for it, or for the phrase “yeah make me” to be uttered when a Sidhe makes an unreasonable demand of a ogres. Successful members of the Court Proper have to master the art of diplomatically manipulating the commoners around them so as to achieve their goals. This same independent nature of the city has seen it divide itself from the normal faerie courts of Summer and Winter. Many of the local Sidhe instead draw their powers from the Fisher King instead; the boon of the Fisher king.

Because of the international flavour of the city, there are many Faerie living in Liverpool that you would normally expect to find in other parts of the globe; Papa Bois, essentially a variant on the Green Man, now inhabits Princess park in Toxteth, having moved here with the Caribbean community. China town is crawling with things that might be Faerie, but no one is really sure. Many of these sit outside the Classic Commoner/ Court frame work. The Court Proper may consider them Commoners by default, but they would never accept the title themselves.

That said, just as many people of england may respect the queen whilst protesting against her government, most of the Faerie have a degree of affection for the Fisher King. Its hard to have anything against a man who is so clearly ‘doo-lally’ as local parlance would put it. He is the nutty great uncle in the corner at christmas who occasionally interrupts proceedings to ask if dinners ready, only a hour after you all finished eating. Also every one knows that every now and again he sits up and says something really important, and at those times the survival of every one depends on doing what he says. Deep down all know he does have an extreme level of power and no one wants to upset him and feel that turned against them.

Court of the Fisher King Game Mechanic

The location of the same name
The Royal Court of the mortal world is theatre cum music venue in the centre of the city. It is a large square building painted in dark colours. All traces of the victorian architecture were removed when it was renovated in the 70's. Inside there is still traces of its music hall days, with ornate plaster work and boxes but most if it has been hidden by the lighting. The ground floor beyond the booking office and entrance is now just a large sloping ramp leading to the front of the stage. However the balcony is still retains its seating. The bar is accessed from a stairs leading down from the back of the ground floor and is a long corridor of a room with the bar on the far wall. The colour scheme here is also very dark with blue carpets and walls and gold fittings on the black bar. Doors from the room are painted black.

In fact most supernatural visitors access the Fisher King’s Court via the stage door and then down through the bar area of the theatre and through a nameless door at the far end of the bar that most mortals assume just leads to the bar stores area. The area inhabited by the Faerie still contains the props from the theatre days and all to often sleeping Fae appear to be manikins still dressed in costumes form plays performed long ago. The Kings throne is at the far end behind a series of brightly painted scenery flats. It has been constructed out of the props and the Fisher Kings ‘Treasures’, collected on his daily trips through the mortals lands, scattered around it. Unfortunately this means it does smell some what of decaying rubbish and stale beer. The rest of the court have taken to spraying the scenery with perfume, but it really does not help.

On every full moon, in the early hours if there has been a gig on, The High Council of the Covenant meet in the Royal court. The High Council and special guests, or defendants, sit on the stage. (Except the Liver bird, who prefers to perch on the balcony). Every one else in attendance stands in where the audience, but any one in the room can speak.