Arcadia

Arcadia is a realm of constant change. The weather, the landmarks, even the very geography is never the same per visit. Each Acanthus reports different features through which they must travel to the watchtower upon their Awakening. On the whole, the physical features of Arcadia are similar to those of the Fallen World, but taken to extremes. Great mountains, vast oceans, deep caves, fetid swamps, and plains and deserts that stretch on forever are commonplace.

But these features are transient. Rivers change their courses. Mountain ranges shift. Only two features are known to be constant, and only one is ever in the same place for any length of time. The first of these is the source of the Alphaeus River, but although the source is always around somewhere, that somewhere changes frequently. The second is the Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn, which is always at the centre of the realm, though that centre has been known to shift around from time to time.

The weather in Arcadia is even more fickle than the land. Great storms and tornadoes whip up at random and out of nowhere, accompanied by earthquakes of frightening intensity. These conditions disappear as soon as they come, giving way to skies of blazing azure and light, playful breezes. Drought and floods, rain and snow, gales and storms each occur in places on a regular and disorienting basis. Time, too, is sporadic in comparison to the Fallen World. The stories of people going to sleep in an isolated part of the wilderness only to wake up centuries later most probably stem from contact with the realm of Arcadia. There is only one binding thing in Arcadia, and that is the force of words. Words spoken in Arcadia have great and terrible power, and the realm can exert this power over those who speak foolishly or who would make a false oath.

The Watchtower

The Watchtower of the Lunargent Thorn is the Watchtower of Arcadia. It sits at the centre of Arcadia and is perhaps the only constant feature to be found there. Sitting in a place of eternal night-time lit only by an ever-crescent moon, the watchtower is made of brambles and is always lit, from the moonlight shining off the silver thorns and roses that surround it. The interior of the watchtower is a series of chambers, each circular, spiralling upwards and ordered by size, from the largest room at the base of the tower to the smallest at its summit. The features and fixtures of the room change according to whoever is viewing it, depicting scenes from the mage’s past, present, and future. It’s the only known structure in Arcadia, though others are theorized to exist.

Arcana of Arcadia

Fate

The subtle expression of Arcadia. Action is a driving factor in Arcadia. To do nothing is to stagnate. Every action in the realm of the Fae implies risk, and this risk powers the realm. Everything one does in Arcadia is a risky endeavour, as even a perfectly executed plan can bring down a world of pain as the chaotic and uncaring environment foils foolproof plans. The power of chance is strong here, and to those who would draw their strength from here is granted the Arcanum of Fate; the power to increase their chances of survival, and to lay down blessings and curses, and to make oaths binding.

Time

The gross expression of Arcadia. Time passes strangely in the realm of the Fae. What seem like minutes in Arcadia may denote the passing of years in the Fallen World, as the myths tell, and the reverse may also be true. Journeys of miles may take days in the Fallen World’s time, yet they seem only as minutes to the traveller. To those who follow the Path of Thistle, the Realm grants the power of the Arcanum of Time; seeing into the future, looking into the past, and even interacting with the past and future.

Forces - Inferior

The environment of Arcadia is constantly changing. Storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes are common coin there. This general unpredictability in the realm makes control of Forces there difficult; it is difficult to grasp at things that are constantly in motion. The Acanthus thus find their control over the powers of the Arcanum of Forces limited; drawing their powers from Arcadia as they do, they are subject to the Realm’s weaknesses as well as its strengths.

Inhabitants

The Fae

Arcadia’s inhabitants are as changing and as eternal as the realm itself. “Fae” is a collective term for the creatures that live in the realm of Arcadia. The Fae seem to spontaneously emerge from the realm of Arcadia, and certainly have an intimate connection with the land there. Beings of air, light, and mystery, they are the very reflection of their home realm, in that they are flighty, enigmatic, and powerful.

The Fae are a diverse group ranging from the jinn of the Middle East to the powerful sidhe of the Celts. Supernatural creatures from mythology all around the Fallen World can be found here; satyrs, invisible people, and many other creatures of lore and legend. But in truth, these are all pale reflections of the Fae as they exist on Arcadia, in their full primal splendour. The Fae have interacted with the Fallen World a great deal in the past, as evidenced by their cropping up in stories and folklore from across the Earth. But never on the Fallen World have they shone out in all their true glory; radiant, beautiful, and deeply menacing.

A number of humans with strange powers arrive in the Fallen World every so often, claiming to have escaped the courts of the faeries. These “changelings”, if they are to be believed, have been kidnapped in the past by the faeries they refer to, and the mythological background supports their claims, to an extent. It is unknown whether or not the realm from which they claim to have escaped is the same as Arcadia, or if the “faeries” are the same as the Fae – at this point it can only be theorized – but, true or not, it casts a dark and sinister light across the Fae of Arcadia.

The craft of summoning identifies two types of being that can be called from a Supernal Realm; manifest beings, embodying the Gross Arcanum of that Realm, and recondite beings, embodying the Subtle Arcanum. This is one of the few patterns that the Fae of Arcadia follow, but as ever with matters Arcadian, there may be exceptions; see below.

• Anachronisms, the manifest Fae of Arcadia, embodying the Arcanum of Time. The word anachronism means 'something out of the temporal position in which it is supposed to exist'; this is true of these Fae, who are by nature of their summoning plucked from their rightful place in time and brought into the alien time of the Fallen World. Anachronisms manifest in forms suggestive of time’s passing. They may appear at the extremes of youth or age, or constantly shift between them, or they may manifest with imagery suggesting the passage of time; clocks, machinery, calendars, or even something biological like a heartbeat. Anachronisms have unparalleled understanding of time, and are said to be able to journey anywhere in its flow or change the rate at which it passes. Though they are often more rational than the Moirae, they are still Fae, and capricious by nature.
• Moirae, the recondite Fae of Arcadia, embodying the Arcanum of Fate. The term Moira comes from the Greek name for one of the three Fates of that mythology. The Moirae can manifest in any form, and no few change their form every instant into whatever they please. They are all blessed with some knowledge of fate, and most have developed some special connection to destiny that can be used to benefit a summoner. Even if they have no such connection, their very nature can create and change destinies in anyone around them, and they can grant great knowledge of fate. However, they are notoriously volatile and unpredictable, and many cannot help but subvert their summoner’s intentions; worse, not a few do so intentionally. Thus, a mage dealing with the Moirae must be cautious, lest the Fae take offence or even bind him to his words.

These rules hold for Fae summoned by mages, but it should be noted that those Fae encountered by the changelings do not appear to fall into either category, at least not clearly. It may be that these 'True Fae', as they call themselves, are an altogether different class of being from the Fae that mages can call upon (which might render the latter as being advanced hobgoblins rather than True Fae, or perhaps a different 'evolutionary branch' of True Fae); more simply, it may be that changeling Arcadia and Supernal Arcadia are not the same realm. This is one of the many enigmas that mages contend with in the Fallen World, and the answer may never be known.

References

• Summoners, pp. 84-85
• Tome of the Watchtowers, pp. 22-24