grimm tales v1.1

8/12/2019 Grimm Tales v1.1

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GrimmTales

A Chronicle for Changeling: The Lost

"Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a

walking shadow, a poor player that


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struts and frets his hour upon the

stage and then is heard no ore: it

is a tale told by an idiot, full ofsound and fury, signifying nothing"

- "acbeth#Act $, %cene $&


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Theme: The Past as Prologuen the (unintended conse)uences* category,

the first changelings to arri+e in the region ade

pacts that still affect changelings to this day

The regions history weighs hea+ily on the

shoulders of any changeling here, e+en if hes

-ust passing through .eeber, in Changeling,

tie can be easured and affected like asculptor works stone /+en ore iportant here,

howe+er, is the web of fate that binds e+eryone

0 entangling the young in the kara of the old

The strands of fate binding the region arent

all bad The city did spawn the 1oston Tea 2arty,

which helped to create a new nation dedicated tofreedo and liberty The city also saw the %ale

3itch Trials ts the city where 1en 4ranklin

grew up, and the place where the infaous

%trangler stalked n other words, its a place of

potency 5ew things are created daily at T,

while 6ar+ard grads figure out how to best steerthe course of society

Mood: That Old Black MagicThe woods of 5ew /ngland and upstate 5ew

7ork ha+e a certain rep for ha+ing been haunted


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by de+il8worshipers, witches or creatures of the

night during the tie of the pilgris and the

later colonies #the 6eadless 6orsean, for

instance& 3as this all -ust in the iagination of

the 2uritans, or is there soe grain of truth

here9

The ood of this chronicle is one of ancient

fear, as old horrors claw their way out of the

past to retain a hold on ortal and Changelingalike and dread secret alliances o+e in the

shadows, eager to wrest power away fro the

Lost This is not your standard (splatterpunk*

horror but instead a long, slow dread, one that

e+okes feelings of lore best left forgotten:

specters walking lonely roads and abandonedhallways and gatherings of terrible purpose, in

which oaths are spoken and the blood of the

firstborn is let t is the fear of speaking the

5aes that bring adness 0 of beholding sights

eant for no ortal eye 0 a good, old8fashioned,

5ew /ngland fearStyle:

Warped Fairytale full of dark eauty and

horror!

"nspirations:


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Paprika! The +illains want to bring Carcosa

to earth through dreas The elding of

/arth and dreas is their ob-ecti+e 2erhaps

e+en using the parade as the shared

dreascape

#elloy ""! The Troll arket is certainly

inspiration for the oblin arkets Also, the

idea that the ortal world is dark colours,

straight lines and such, but the world of the4ae is full of rich golds and reds, with

cur+es and such

The Fisher $ing!The hoeless li+ing in the

city, with a sense of chi+alry %oe of the

drealike se)uences like the dance in the

train station and the .ed ;night


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Geography ofBoston

To both residents and tourists, Boston is bigger and more haunted than it may seem upon first

glance. Relative to its significance in Americas history, Boston proper is a relatively small city of only600,000 people, and many of the institutions that Boston is famed for, although located in the greater

Boston metropolitan area, are not inside the city proper. Two of the most famous, !T and"arvard #niversity, are both north of Boston in the ad$oining city of %ambridge. That said, the city of

Boston is a ma$or American city in every sense of the word, and it boasts a world&class array ofneighborhoods, ethnicities and attractions, some of which are well&'nown to the areas changelings (

and some of which are feared. ore than $ust a city, Boston is the urban hub of a megalopolis radiatingout into the surrounding landscape for miles in all directions.

Boston, along with its outlying areas, is the home of a )ost community that has its own socialprotocols, values and mores. ortals have no idea that changelings wal' among them and that an

invisible *auntlet separates them from a world stranger and more magical than any they imagine.This section reveals Boston at the street level, characteri+ing the city and its environs through

its wide range of component neighborhoods and giving players and torytellers ali'e a taste of the city.

Boston%s CharacterThere is perhaps no better, 'inder, more open and accepting city in the #nited tates than

Boston ( provided you are e-traordinarily wealthy and your family has lived there for at least two

generations. veryone else can e-pect a cordial cold shoulder. ome claim Boston has traded warmthfor efficiency. /thers blame the transient nature of the students attending the areas 0&some colleges

and universities. 1hatever the cause, Boston is an unfriendly ( some say paranoid ( city. )ocals 'eep

outsiders at arms length 2defining 3outsider4 as anyone theyve 'nown for less than a decade5.Bostonians dont return phone calls. They turn down invitations and rarely issue any of their own.

Anyone moving to Boston for any reason other than to attend one of the many colleges or universities

in the area can e-pect to be treated as something of a pariah for a minimum of two years before beinghesitantly and grudgingly allowed into the community.

Boston is a very bal'ani+ed city. !ts assorted populations do an uncanny $ob of e-isting in the samegeographical area without ever actually mingling. The students mi- with each other, but rarely with

students from other schools and almost never with the citys permanent residents. The white& and blue&

collar sectors ignore each other as much and as smoothly as possible. The citys blac' and whitepopulations are as mutually e-clusive as both groups can ma'e themselves, to the point of living inparallel worlds. Almost every one of Bostons component populations is oddly insular and e-clusive,

and, while several of these groups may be at odds with one another, no one group would be so rude asto let these frictions boil over into a manifest conflict, so Boston is 'ept in a state of perpetual cold

simmer. hould these assorted antagonisms ever flare up the cool demeanor of the city would rapidlyfall into chaos.

1hat no longer shows on the citys face, at least not without active snooping, is the citysrelatively recent near failure. or decades, Boston foundered. or many years, the rich holed up on

Beacon "ill, allowing the rest of the city to become one massive slum. The citys bric' 7ictorianbuildings were allowed to fall into egregious disrepair, and the safe sections of the city became smaller

by the year. By the early seventies, Boston was an urban nightmare +one.

&eighorly' &eat and Orderly8eighborhood councils are a potent force in Boston. These small neighborhood organi+ationshave a remar'able 2some say e-cessive5 amount of pull with the city and reinforce Bostons puritanical


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image by preventing the opening of new bars and clubs and shutting down e-isting businesses that aredeemed too noisy or 3troublesome.4 A perfectly legal business can spend a fortune obtaining all the

necessary licenses and $ump through any number of legal hoops only to be told, a day or two beforeopening, that the neighborhood council has deemed the business somehow incompatible with the

neighborhood character, thereby preventing the business from ever opening. Any changeling wantingto avoid trouble with her neighbors is advised to present a straitlaced image and to save the

eccentricities for the hollows.

The &eighorhoodsBoston is 'nown for its role in the Revolutionary 1ar and gets a vast amount of tourist trade

due to the citys history. Those who visit, however, discover Boston to be a city of e-9uisite

architecture, high culture, e-cellent restaurants and intelligent, liberal&minded people. Any of these canbe found throughout the citys many neighborhood areas.

Boston is a ran'ensteinian city that has grown by ra+ing hills, filling in marshes and portionsof the bay and ravenously anne-ing nearby towns. The citys character comes largely from its

component neighborhoods, which themselves span the gamut from the urbane to the desolate.Boston proper may be a relatively wealthy city with a college educated populace, but many of its

outlying neighborhoods and suburbs have a much more industrial, blue&collar feel. Rightly or wrongly,

more refined Bostonians often develop a bit of a siege mentality with regard to venturing beyond thecomfortable gentility of Bostons more civili+ed neighborhoods. This is far less prevalent now than itwas :0 years ago at the nadir of Bostons decline, but Boston is a very traditional city and old habits

die hard.or changelings, this siege mentality is a reality of life. or them, however, the causes of this

attitude are far more rational. or the )ost, some areas really are much more dangerous than others,

for any number of reasons. The following list provides a taste of Bostons neighborhoods. The list is by

no means e-haustive, but it does emphasi+e places fre9uented by the )ost and places with whichchangelings are most li'ely to be familiar.

(llston)BrightonAllston and Brighton are large ad$oining neighborhoods connected to Boston by a thin ribbon

of land and the BTA *reen )ine. Both neighborhoods used to be agricultural land and stoc'yards,but theyre now more 'nown for their population of party animals than farm animals. Boston %ollege

and Boston #niversity are both located in Allston, and it shows. A great deal of renovation has ta'enplace in Allston in recent years resulting in a range of new bars and restaurants that appeal to the

young. Allston is a loud, youthful and cheap neighborhood. Thrift stores are everywhere, and the street&level changeling will have an easy time finding what she needs to get by.

Brighton isnt 9uite as noisy and boisterous as Allston, but it has a similar student ghetto feel.

*raduate students and young families ma'e up a large portion of Brightons population in addition to a

few young changelings who have $ust begun their studies.

Brooklineurrounded by Boston on three sides, Broo'line is almost an island, more of a neighborhood

than a separate city. /nly the fact that Broo'line wont allow Boston to anne- it allows it to remain a

separate legal entity. Broo'line is a sleepy community. !ts neither where people go to party nor is ithip. !t is, for the most part, a 9uiet residential area with a good par' system and lots of green space.

any professors from the local schools call Broo'line home, and the age of the average Broo'lineresident hovers around the low ;0s.

ince the e-odus from attapan at the end of the 60s, Broo'line has become the main


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ost of the enway neighborhood is glaringly illuminated at night by a lurid, multi&story neon%itgo sign, lending everything and everyone in the area a surreal glow. The college students who ma'e

up a large portion of the residents dont seem to mind, as the nightlife here, centered on the infamous)ansdowne treet, is 9uite distracting.

%heap housing appeals to some changelings $ust as much as it does to students and youngprofessionals, and the somewhat fun'y character of the enway neighborhood has its own charm. The

'ind of nightlife found here is of the more garish and glit+y "ooters and beer bong variety so, so whilesome changelings may need to let off some steam on occasion, the bars of )ansdowne arent big

attractions for the )ost.

The FensAlong the ban's of the slow moving and aptly named uddy River, $ust south of enway

=ar', theres an e-panse of low, boggy par'land that gives the enway its name. ssentially used as

green space by the city, the character of the fens changes dramatically when the sun goes down.The more elevated sections of the fens, $ust off Boylston treet, are devoted to do+ens of large

community garden plots, and summer wee'ends find a swarm of eager gardeners descending on thearea to nurture, prune and tend to their small garden plots. /nce the first frost hits, usually by late

/ctober, the community gardens become lonely places until spring.

arther down the ban', between the community gardens and the ban's of the uddy River, isa wide swath of land that is neither solid land nor river but rather a muddy bog. everal acres of thic'rushes, twice the height of a tall man, rise up from the marshy ground, and, at night, lonely men come

to the fens and navigate the ma+e of rushes to find others for companionship. rom late evening untildawn, particularly during the summer, do+ens of men can be seen prowling the manicured paths

between the community gardens and the ma+e of rushes. everal times that number can be found deep

in the labyrinth getting what they came here for.

%ruising the fens, whatever else it may be, is a dangerous pastime. 8ot only are muggings and bashingscommonplace here, but there have been wholesale disappearances. That comes as no surprise to

Bostons changelings> a large trod to the "edge e-ists here

MattapanBoston once had a thriving


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neighborhoods as whites and )atinos have begun pouring bac' into the area, attracted by cheap realestate on tree&lined streets.

@orchester is a popular neighborhood for changelings see'ing to establish their homes. Thelarge, beautiful houses easily provide room for more than one motley, and the plentitude of trees is

li'ely to attract changelings who prefer a more natural setting.

,o-uryouthwest of Boston proper is Ro-bury, the neighborhood most associated with poverty,crime and urban desolation. !n the 0s, Ro-bury was the poorest and most blighted of Bostons

surrounding communities, but even it is now benefiting from Bostons general upturn as well as thewave of gentrification that began in the mid&0s. The recovery is slow. /f the three neighborhoods,

Ro-bury had the least to interest buyers who might start the wave of gentrification and the most todiscourage them. !f one Boston neighborhood is avoided more than any other, this is it.

Ro-bury is also the home of ama @esta, a powerful Boston /gre 1itchtooth. ama @estaoversees a networ' of children whom she pays to use as pawns. A large minority of Ro-burys children

are in ama @estas employ, and its unli'ely that other changelings will be able to get aroundRo-bury unseen unless they use magic.

Back BayThe actual bay this neighborhood was named after was little more than a stagnant pool of

seawater, and it was filled in during the last half of the ?th century. The bay is now one citys

wealthiest neighborhoods and sports an e-tensive collection of bric' row houses and high&end bouti9ue

stores, most of which are along 8ewbury or Boylston streets.7endors haw' mass&mar'et mainstream culture from carts, from 'ios's and from malls.

Although the malls and bouti9ues are slic' and full of pretty, successful people, theres little reason formost changelings to spend time here once theyve finished their shopping.

The South .nd%alling the outh nd a trendy neighborhood is both understating the point and failing to givethe area 2and its inhabitants5 credit for its astonishing turnaround. At late as the early 0s, Bostons

outh nd was an urban nightmare not much better than Ro-bury. %rac' whores and street thugs

controlled the streets, and the long boulevards of grand old ?th&century buildings were steadily fallinginto seamy disrepair. Bro'en windows, burned&out cars and neglected children were commonplace on

every bloc' of Tremont treet.And then the urban pioneers moved in. %onsisting mostly of gay men with disposable income,

no 'ids to worry about and an appreciation for beautiful architecture, these shoc' troops of the

gentrification army bought neglected, unwanted and run&down old buildings for very little money andbegan fi-ing them up. Buying and renovating old outh nd buildings became The Thing To @o

among the affluent members of Bostons gay community, and the results were remar'able. Buildings

on the verge of demolition became elegant, rehabilitated trophy homes. !n the space of five years, thestreets were safe. !n the space of ?0 years, property values had increased tenfold. 8ow, where once the

length of Tremont treet was an urban eyesore lined with grimy, shuttered storefronts, now is one ofBostons hippest and trendiest neighborhoods, sporting restaurants that 'eep the area bustling seven

nights a wee'.Any member of the )ost who fancies himself 3hip4 is li'ely to visit the outh nd on

occasion.

Beacon #illThe first uropean settler in what would become the city of Boston was the Reverend 1illiam

Bla-ton, who arrived in ?6?. "e lived alone for five years on what is now Beacon "ill before more

uropeans arrived. 8ow Beacon "ill alone is home over to ?0,000 people.!n the current day, bluntly put, this is where the money is. /ld money, well connected and

strategically spent, made Beacon "ill what it is today. Although there are suburbs of Boston with

higher per&capita incomes, within the city of Boston, Beacon "ill is the site of the citys mostcelebrated dynasties and most prestigious addresses. Bric' row houses line the narrow old cobblestone


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streets, and the citys two biggest par's, the Boston %ommon and the Boston =ublic *arden, are here.any of the citys power bro'ers live on Beacon "ill, a very convenient state of affairs for them since

the tate "ouse Rotunda is only a short wal' away.Beacon "ill is neither trendy nor hip. /n the contrary, its aura of =uritanism casts a pall on

anything that is not the strict provenance of wealth and privilege.

The &orth .ndor decades the 8orth nd was 'nown for the part it played in the Revolutionary 1ar. The/ld 8orth %hurch 2where =aul Revere hung his lanterns5 is here, as are =aul Reveres house and

%opps "ill Burying *round ( a very old cemetery. The 8orth nds narrow winding streets represent

the oldest sections of Boston and its historic city center.

1aves of immigration have changed the 8orth nd, giving it a distinctly uropean flavor.#ntil Bostons disastrous attempts at urban renewal in the 0s ra+ed much of the 8orth nd to put a

highway through town, the neighborhood was also the home of a large and thriving !talian community.

1hile its still Bostons 3)ittle !taly,4 its a shadow of what it once was.That said, the 8orth nd has been called the most uropean neighborhood of one of

Americas most uropean cities. any !talian immigrants still ma'e the 8orth nd their home and

bring the culture of their homeland with them. The many wharfs of the waterfront, including the %oast*uard pier, are arrayed around the 8orth nd li'e pins radiating from a pincushion.

+o*nto*n)ocated between Boston %ommon and the 8orth nd is Bostons downtown, an unremar'able

collection of slightly worn s'yscrapers.

Chinato*nince ?E0, Bostons %hinatown has been the first home for many %hinese immigrants.

Bostons population of %hinese immigrants is relatively small and not particularly well connected>conse9uently, Bostons %hinatown, unli'e that of many American cities, is far from being a tourist

attraction./n the contrary, this neighborhood has been one of the citys problem areas for decades, the

center of much of the citys se- trade and gang violence. !n the ?0s, an urban blight seeped through

Boston and grabbed a firm hold on several s9uare bloc's of the downtown area, most of which were inBostons %hinatown. /nly the *lass lipper, a strip club, and a handful of adult boo'stores prospered

at the time> most other businesses were forced out of the neighborhood 2if not out of businessaltogether5 by the high crime rate and the neighborhoods e-pedited decay. @rug dealing, prostitution,

gang violence and other sorts of violent crime were both widespread and blatant.ince the E0s, however, efforts to reclaim 3the %ombat Fone4 have been ma'ing headway,

and %hinatown has benefited from that immeasurably. But with the impact of the %ombat Fonewaning, the business sector is now loo'ing at %hinatown with a hungry eye. %hinese buildings and

businesses are now being bought by developers and torn down to ma'e way for upscale restaurants andhotels, and the %hinese who have lived in the neighborhood all their lives are being forced to leave the

city for suburbs with smaller %hinese communities.

South Bostonore commonly 'nown as 3outhie,4 outh Boston is populated largely by blue&collar !rish

immigrants and their descendents. !ts a toss&up whether there are more %atholic churches or

neighborhood pubs in the area, but outhie seems to have gotten stuc' in the late 0s, and theres notmuch to draw people to the neighborhood. Those with talent or potential typically flee, moving up to

Boston proper or elsewhere, leaving the surly, pious souls of outh Boston trapped in their chronicallyworn neighborhood that feels nearly 0 years out of step with the times. The tightly 'nit community of

outh Boston is too conscious of outsiders 2some might say blatantly -enophobic5 to be a comfortableplace for changelings 2or any other supernaturals5 who do not have a long history there.

/amaica Plain


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/nce something of a run&down neighborhood,


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Western MassTo the west of Boston, assachusetts opens up into a dense mass of wilderness and rural

areas dotted with small towns. any Bostonians go west only to attend concerts or cultural events at

the outdoor concert venue called Tanglewood, but western assachusetts has its share of changelings,

some leading a solitary life amid the trees, others creating reeholds in the larger cities.%hangelings are clear on one thingH western assachusetts is dangerous. Those staying on the

ma$or roads are li'ely safe, but the less&traveled paths are surprisingly dangerous. !ndian curses onuropeans, ruins of old "allows, violently haunted sites and, most dangerous of all, werewolf&claimed

territory 2and the li'e5 are relatively common in the dense wilderness of western assachusetts. Anychangeling loo'ing for trouble will li'ely find it.

(mherst)&orthamptonTwo hours drive west of Boston, arrayed along the !&? corridor, lie the nearby cities of

Amherst and 8orthampton. These two cities create one of the larger brea's in the lush greenery ofwestern assachusetts. This area contains five separate colleges and universities, referred to as 3the

five college schools4 of mith %ollege, t. "olyo'e %ollege, Amherst, #niversity of assachusettsAmherst and "ampshire %ollege. The concentration of so many colleges in a small and relatively

sparsely populated area gives the whole place a strong college&town feel. urthermore, mith and

t. "olyo'e are women&only schools and contribute to the areas strong feminist ambiance.

.ast MassBoston sits on the ocean, but parts of assachusetts e-tend farther into the Atlantic. All of

%ape %od and the two wealthy resort islands, 8antuc'et and arthas 7ineyard, lie east of

Boston.The waters off Boston have a longer history of shipping than most of the rest of the country.

There are a number of old wrec's off the assachusetts coast and no shortage of rumors of ghost ships

( some 9uite notorious.

Pro1inceto*nAt the very end of the somewhat conservative assachusetts cape lies a small town where

Bostons puritanical tendencies are cast off li'e the heavy burden they are. The drive to =rovincetown

2or =town, as its 'nown5 is three hours from Boston. Ta'ing the ferry from Boston "arbor reduces thetime to one hour.

=rovincetown began as an artist colony and now functions as a trendy and somewhat libertine getaway

for bohemians, gay men and party animals of all persuasions from throughout 8ew ngland.=rovincetown has a pronounced decadent carnival atmosphere throughout the incredibly busy summer&

vacation season, but, from 8ovember through arch the place shuts down, leaving only the year&roundresidents to deal with the desolation, dar'ness and storms of winter.

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