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| - The Crooked Dais is, more so than many freeholds, a place as well as a community. Rather than committing to a single building, the freehold is pieced together with bits of other buildings, all tied together with a system of contracts not widely known among the Lost. Enter a basement, cross the right threshold, and the next thing you know you're in an attic across town. The links between rooms are constantly shifting as more buildings are tied into the system, which can make it a bit of a nightmare to navigate. There's usually a haphazard system of signs to guide people through the labyrinth, but wandering it isn't an exercise for the faint of heart--there's always the chance of stumbling upon a Hunterheart in the middle of a 'meal,' or a pair of Summer court Ogres having a sparring match t
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| abstract
| - The Crooked Dais is, more so than many freeholds, a place as well as a community. Rather than committing to a single building, the freehold is pieced together with bits of other buildings, all tied together with a system of contracts not widely known among the Lost. Enter a basement, cross the right threshold, and the next thing you know you're in an attic across town. The links between rooms are constantly shifting as more buildings are tied into the system, which can make it a bit of a nightmare to navigate. There's usually a haphazard system of signs to guide people through the labyrinth, but wandering it isn't an exercise for the faint of heart--there's always the chance of stumbling upon a Hunterheart in the middle of a 'meal,' or a pair of Summer court Ogres having a sparring match that involves hurling each other across the room. The freehold is the place for all changeling activities that must take place out of mortal eyes, and most long-time members revel in the chance. Most of the rooms are self-contained, and entrances to the freehold are few and well-hidden, lest an unsuspecting mortal stumble in. This network of rooms serves as many things: a headquarters for the freehold's leadership, a place to hold festivals and other 'public' gatherings, a social gathering area for the town's changeling population, and a place for the newly-escaped to take refuge while they decide what to do with their new lives. Additionally, there are several small workshops for crafting goods that are best kept out of mortal eyes, such as weapons and armor. The four courts and several entitlements all have their headquarters in corners of this system. While most of the court headquarters' locations are public knowledge, several entitlements and the Winter court only reveal their locations to their members. The entrances to the freehold are well-known to its members. All buildings with an entrance to the system are marked with a prominently-displayed sign on their exterior which proclaims that they are protected by the fictional Trenchant Security Company. The most commonly used of the entrances is an uptown bar called the Iron Wand, located just across the street from the park for easy access to the hedge. Its proprietor, a Brewer by the name of Quiet Tom, takes a great deal of care to make sure that the bar maintains a creepy enough reputation to scare off most mortals. As a result, the bar is one of the few gathering places for the town's changelings outside of the freehold. Entering the freehold proper is as easy as walking down a flight of stairs in the bar's back room--though this, of course, must be done only when the bar is free of mortals, lest the more inquisitive ones start wondering why people walk back there and disappear. The room beyond these stairs is usually constant, a small, branching hallway that serves as a hub for the freehold. In the center of this hallway, there's a large bulletin board, plastered with layer upon layer of fliers and leaflets of interest to the fae populace. The 'throne room,' where the court leaders usually conduct their public business, is in a small warehouse on the outskirts of the town, with only a few paths through the freehold leading to it. It's typically well-decorated with the regalia of the ruling court. This large space also serves as the site of most of the community-wide events, such as the Winter Formal.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)