A place to write down the 'rules' we've sketched out for the weirder elements of the setting.

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How long ago did The Event Happen?
One way or the other, I want at least a hundred years of decay, disuse, and the effects/regrowth of Nature -- enough to cause the kind of damage I've described, and the suburbs into nothing but chimneys, tree-cracked foundations, and cellars and swimming pools cum planter boxes.

That doesn't mean it has to have actually been 100 years... it might have been longer, and it could certainly have been less time -- the magic of the fey have simply accelerated the growth and aggressive expansion of Nature.

The Fae

• "Fae" is a catch-all term for weird creatures from the myth history of many cultures. Trolls, faeries, (some flavor of) vampires, lycanthropes, grendel, giants, ogres, kappa... whatever -- they all fall under the collective 'fae' heading, they're all back, and many are angry.
• The oldest of the fae have sloughed off the greatest part of their 'mortality'. This has obvious upsides, but a downside is that many of the 'highest' fae actually need humans to reproduce.
• Parenthetically: in their natural state, the Fae are clearly CLEARLY not human -- eyes are too big, no whites... mouths are too small, fingers too long, too clawed... whatever it is, it's like starting with human, then distorting it. Only the very mightiest of glamours conceal 100% without telltales of some kind.

Faerie Magic

Expressed as Mortal Coil theme document:

• Fae can use magic, but are allergic to Iron (or, in some cultures, other relatively common substances).
• Glamours are 'easy' fae magic -- making something look like something else, or changing a thing to be something it's not, but it's never permanent.
• Glamours can be dispelled with 'mundane things'. (Salt, iron, running water. It depends.)
• Glamours can conceal the true nature/appearance of a thing (a person, a place), but no matter how good the glamour is, some telltale of the subject's true nature will still show.
• Fae can manage other, more permanent, or different kinds of magic, but they need humans (or parts of them) to accomplish such things.
• Humans can use magic, but they ALWAYS need materials and implements to make it work.
• Those materials are often fae-derived (pixie dust, a brownie's femur for a wand), but can (distastefully or horribly) use human 'ingredients'.

Faerie Glamour Q and A

Do glamours exist independently, once established?

I'd say exist independently, definitively. For a finite and presumably decent amount of time.

When you walk into a glamoured room, and the occupant is not there, do you (well, does anyone) see it as it really is, or does the place have a glamoured appearance even if you haven't met with the owner?

The later.

Manhattan

Water, water, everywhere

• When the Fey came and things fell apart, power failed in the cities. That's bad for lots of cities, but particularly bad for NYC.
• The subways tunnels are (almost) all laid out UNDER the sewer system AND the water table. When everything is working correctly, MTA has to pump 13 million gallons of water out of the tunnels every day just to keep them from flooding. With the electric pumps down, they have to rely on diesel-powered "pump trains" to clear the water, and there simply aren't enough enough of them, nor an infinite supply of fuel. Most tunnels filled to the ceilings in less than 4 days.
• Most basement-level stuff anywhere in the city has water in it -- exceptions include the north end of the island on either the west or east sides.
• "Sea-level" is higher than it once was. (See attached images.) Many streets are underwater on the south end of the island, and the west side of the island has returned to its Salt Marshes from which they came (the ruins of many neighborhoods sticking up out of the morass).
• The lakes in Central Park have expanded, becoming marshier.
• After years of submersion, the support struts in many of the subway tunnels gave, and the tunnels collapsed. When the 4,5,6 lines caved in, Lexington Avenue became a river again - The Lex.
• Flooding in the basements hasn't collapsed any of the major sky scrapers yet - their foundation is the bedrock of the island - but some of the tallest groan terribly in the worst storms - it's only a matter of time.

One upside: no waterborne fey raids, no nixies... no water-sprites sneaking onto the island or swimming in through the subway tunnels and up into the basement of Central -- the iron content from the rusting steel in the water is far too toxic to their kind; probably will be for another thousand years.

Where the settlements are:

• "Your" settlement is right in the heart of town, south of Central Park: a vague circle of territory that includes Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station, the New York Public Library, and the southern section of Central Park. This area, and specifically the Station, are simply referred to as "Central". In terms of distance, The Library is two blocks from Central. Penn station (in considerably worse repair than Central) and Central Park are about ten to twenty minutes away, on foot. Greenich Village isn't very far away either, and lies right on the edge of the West Marsh and the flooded southern streets. The eastern border of Central is the Lex.
• Upper West (rows of very durable brownstones) has held on fairly well. Some of that area is used as a patrol point for the west bank, especially the guard patrol on The Bridge.
• Upper East (simply too far above the water line to have sustained as much damage) has suffered more roof fires, but has rebuilt. List Upper West, there is temporary housing here for shore patrols, and a more desultory watch on Hellgate.
• The Scrapers - probably not the proudest settlement... thinking boat people, fishers, and scavengers -- maybe some lookouts, watching the sea for traders coming in from far afield.
• Central Park has stayed somewhat clear of the every expanding North Central Forest, due at least in part to farming efforts near the southern end. The Ramble is an impenetrable maze now, straight out of Tolkein's old forest, and houses a settlement of neutral-to-vaguely-unfriendly fey of various types. The 'park' itself has overgrown all the way to the West Marsh in some places, and east as far as The Lex.

Animals Bears, wolves, deer, and lots of smaller critters.

As an upside, there are no more cockroaches (a tropical import, they died off in the first winter without electrical heating) and very few rats (no more garbage to live on, and lots of raptors living in the 'scrapers, looking for an easy meal).

Bridges With one exception, the suspension bridges leading to Manhattan have collapsed. There are three bridge access points to the city.

• The Bridge - The one remaining suspension bridge that hasn't collapsed, and isn't likely to in the next 10 generations -- maybe 100. Stupendously overbuilt, it contains enough steel cable to circle the earth four times. It bridges the Hudson on the west side of the island. Technically, it's a wide open access point for the fey and heavily guarded as a result, but its iron reek and rust-dripping cables seem a strong deterrent.
• The Q - A cantilever bridge across the East River. The central span of the bridge (over Roosevelt island) was destroyed soon after The Event -- travelers have to descend to the island (where some trade boats dock) and then climb back up to the opposite half of the bridge to follow this route.
• Hellgate - In a thousand years, this bridge will still likely be serviceable for foot traffic. Almost ridiculously overbuilt, the entire span (designed for locomotives) is steel, covered in a patina of rust - it is nigh fey-proof. The bridge is guarded, but only by a token sentry - the fey do not - could not - use it. The rails are still functional, and the tunnel from Hellgate into Manhattan is high enough above the water table that it has remained unflooded as far south as Penn Station (near Central).

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