Court of the Solstice

Solstice Courtier or simply Courtier. Derogatory; Betweener

Lords of Summer p. 117-120
Wyrd	●●●
Preqs	Courtless (No Mantle dots)
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At what point does a true Great Court of changelings develop and how is the process initiated? The so-called Courtiers of the Solstice believe that they are on the path that leads to such a thing, venerating and, in some cases, perhaps even safeguarding the transitions between the seasons. Naturally, the hegemony of the "true" seasonal Courts looks askance at the ambitions of the Solstice Court, and enmity is, in many places, developing between those that belong to the four Great Courts and those that wish to become known as the fifth.

Mien

Courtiers of the Solstice tend to dress in neutral hues, and many of them prefer smoky silver-gray or beige in their attire. Some also hold sable, burgundy and midnight blue to be appropriate colors for those so entitled. They tend toward symbols of the times and places of transition, as well: crossroads, clock hands set to midnight, the dawning or setting sun, a solar or lunar eclipse, the shoreline, and other such places indicative of the between. Some manage to incorporate these images into their dress, while others go for more permanent means, such as tattoos. Some Courtiers of the Solstice find that the marks of their Seemings or Kiths reveal them as creatures of the between, such as Beasts incorporating the features of two or more animals, or Darkling Gravewights, who straddle the line dividing life from death.

The mien of a Solstice Courtier might also manifest subtle changes, such as faint markings upon the skin indicative of all four seasons (green leaves for Spring, flames for Summer, bones for Autumn, and snowflakes for Winter, for instance.) Others may find themselves marked by images of the celestial bodies most closely associated with the annual periods of transition in their parts of the world. Still others find that hair and eyes take on the sheen of smoky silver. Solstice Courtiers of particularly advanced Wyrd tend to project a generally neutral atmosphere and temperature in their immediate vicinity; those closest to them often feel neither hot nor cold, save in the most extreme environments.

Feast of Scraps (Privilege)

Solstice Courtiers do not benefit from any pact with a fundamental force of terrestrial reality strong enough to keep the Others at bay, and so they do not truly comprise a Court as other changelings would understand (and recognize) the concept. That said, however, the fae of the between have searched for their own communal identity, something to set them apart and make them distinct from the courtless, and may have found something in what elder Courtiers have come to call the Feast of Scraps.

Courtiers of the Solstice may consider Desperation to be their native "Court" passion: An amalgamation of the Desire, Wrath, Fear, and Sorrow preserved and propounded by the four proper seasonal Courts. Such changelings may, for example, harvest additional Glamour from this emotion and, with a potent enough Wyrd, may incite Bedlam based upon it. Any Solstice Courtier who joins one of the seasonal courts loses this benefit completely and permanently. Should the Court of the Solstice somehow eventually manage to rise to the station of a full-fledged court, then Desperation would almost certainly remain its driving passion.

Joining

The Solstice Court gladly welcomes anyone who shows an interest in joining them. The greatest barrier to entry is the Wyrd requirement, which demonstrates the difference between the Solstice Court and one of the "true" Great Courts; the entitlement itself doesn't have sufficient mystical power to bless any changeling. They must add their own strength to some degree. Another potential obstacle is the entitlement's rarity; they aren't present in all freeholds, and in some places few people are likely even to have heard of them. Otherwise, the Solstice Court is particularly enthusiastic about recruitment, turning away interested and qualified applicants only if their presence would do the Solstice Court great social ill (such as adopting a known privateer). The actual initiation varies from place to place, though tends to err more on the side of pomp and ceremony. The Solstice Court wishes to be seen as entirely respectable, after all.