The world spins, Queen Victoria sits on the throne of England. The world is as it should be.

…..But not quite.

Here people walk home a little quicker at night.

There are villages where people attend a fair every ten years wearing blindfolds and those that peep are swept away.

That dark things sit on mountaintops and contemplate their ancient sin.

And small groups of men and women gather in private clubs, or small cults, and magic is performed of glorious or profane might.

Because Gate is not our world, the similarities begin and end with a crack in the wall, a gate that leads to nowhere, just behind a mirror. Because there are were the Fey dwell. Where magic originates. These two worlds spin rubbing against each other. One the “real” world, the other a land of fey and magic.

ost people on the human side of Gate don’t even realise the other world of the Fey lurks around the corner. So changelings wander the world without knowledge and sorcerers are rare, but viable, though they are often overshadowed by the charlatans and mountebanks of seaside towns or yellow-curtained stalls.

On the Fey side, Fey courts floorish, Dwarfes gather in stone halls, Goblins travel in wild packs, Trolls guard there stone homes and there world has its own politics that mere mortals are brave to delve into.

At the time of writing this Gate is a popular and exploratory world, giving the system scientists and adventurers who travel, often with genteel naivety, through the Forest Argent on a mission to discover new vistas and meet interesting people.

Races: Victorian Humans, Fey, Trolls, Witches, etc

Costume Requirements: Human 17th - 18th century, fey, inhuman features, ears, tails, orcs, trolls etc.

Inspiration: It take its inspiration from books like Stardust by Neil Gaiman (now a motion picture) and Dr. Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanne Clarke with just a dash of Celtic mythology, sprinkled over by a healthy dose of Lovecraft.

Important People & Places

Goblin Combe: A manor house, on the edge of a village, that nestles against woodland and rocky ridges in the Somerset. It is rumoured to be haunted by Fey and ghosts, with stories of children going missing and fey seen walking the paths near the village.

There is a path to the Fey world (specifically the domain of the “Three Under The Stone”) through a broken rock in the woods that sometimes is nothing more than an interesting break in a wall and sometimes a strange path to a different place.

The Three under the Stone: Are a Triumvirate of old, old fey spirits who are sometimes known for protecting children and taking sudden vengeance on mortals who stray too close to their domain.

The Bramble Fort (And the Unseely Court of the Bramble): Just outside of the Christian Kingdom of King Rupert lies the Bramble Fort and the domain of the Court of the Bramble, a warlike faction of the Unseely Fey.

So far all attempts at communication with them have led to some form of sorrow.

The Christian Kingdom of King Rupert (and touching on the Blackthornes): Not all the Puritans left on the Mayflower, some by horrible mischance found themselves in the world of the Fey; over the last few hundred years they have carved themselves out a small Kingdom where they have banned magic and instituted Witch Hunting on a wide scale. Forefront of this are the BlackThorne family, the right hand of the King.

UPDATE: The Kingdom descended into a brutal civil war, ending with the death of the King, the destruction of the Blackthorns, and is now run by a council made up of Nobles, the Church and their neighbors.

FURTHER UPDATE: The Christian Kingdom is no more, now styling themselves "The Republic" they are run by a council and have outlawed witch hunting. Though the Church is still central to their culture it is a far more liberal voice in governance. The head of the Blackthorne order was executed and the organisation dismantled.

The Thrice: Is a strange spirit who uses mortal or fey ambassadors to make deals on their behalf.

Little is known of them other than this except that they are respected and maybe even feared by many Fey.

The Star Chamber: The British Empire keeps a clandestine court who investigate sorcerers going on, cults, monsters etc. They are semiautomatics and have access to powerful resources.

The Purple Cities: Out of the sea the spires of the Purple Cities can be seen for miles, a small series of island ports run by the fey they are Venetion in style, with families running their spire using old laws and centuries of politicking. The high city is a hive of education, wealth and art. The low cities... less so. They thrive on trade, both prosaic and in favours.