Freeholds

The Agora

Level 3 Holding

Freehold Type: Market

The Agora is located in historic Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited landmarks. The frequent flow of visitor traffic helps mask the presence of local Changelings and some of the odder happenings that may occur around the place, easily dismissed by tourists and locals alike. A freehold has been located there since Faneuil Hall's first construction, and centuries of historic action and high dreams of libery have infused the place with a heady Glamour.

Several raths are scattered throughout both Faneuil Hall and the market buildings themselves, looking like innocuous service entrances to back rooms. On the Near Dreaming side of the raths, the market is transformed into something decidedly more Old World and eclectic than the more commercialized version on the Autumn World, with all of it taking place under the same bright roof. The Agora appears to inhabit a single large building, with numerous colorful stalls and shops set up for the perusal of its customers and clients. In the market's center is an amphitheater that houses open court sessions and festivals; around the edges are the lodgings of courtiers and smaller rooms for conducting official business.

Some changelings keep shops on both the Autumn World and Near Dreaming sides of the freehold, allowing a free interplay of commerce and information--the more illicit kind being equally likely to happen on either side.

The Agora is ruled by Count Berint Eskil ap Gwydion. The Count is an even-handed if occasionally severe ruler; while allowing the Kithain of Boston great freedom in conducting their private affairs, he will intervene sternly with the occasion requires. Much of the time he is out of the city, at the royal courts of either Queen Mab or High King David, and leaves the daily running of the County those courtiers to whom he has entrusted responsibility. The County sigil matches that of Faneuil Hall's historic emblem on its weathervane, and nods to the House colors of its lord: a golden grasshopper on a green field. Courtiers conducting official business can be expected to display the emblem somewhere on their person.

Due to uprisings during and after the Accordance War, the Agora is the only major freehold in Boston capable of sustaining a full noble court. Smaller holdings might be scattered throughout the city, but none of these are large, and cannot support more than a scant handful of Changelings greedily jostling for Glamour. Boston's Changelings must depend upon Dreamers and dross for sustenance, for good or for ill.