The City of the Fireflies

The City of the Fireflies is a major city-state on the border between the Human World and Annwyn. It doesn't actually exist in any place on Earth geographically, but it can be reached by people who know how to get there.

## Culture

While the City of the Firefly has non-human residents, it is primarily a Human city, and one with a reasonable amount of trade with the Human World. The people of the City of the Firefly are aware of tv shows and movies and other elements of the pop culture of Earth, though they have their own media industries producing content which makes up the bulk of their viewing--a resident will likely have seen Star Wars and Titanic and other big movies like those, but the majority of the content they watch will be locally made.

Within the borders of the City of the Fireflies, anyone can understand any living human language when spoken. This is a magical effect, and it does not give people understanding of written language.

Human technology works in the City of the Fireflies. Though magic does sometimes interact with technology in unexpected ways, it doesn't necessarily prevent technology from functioning. That said, there is sort of a memetic preference among the citizens of the City of the Fireflies to use magical solutions to problems rather than technological ones, if those solutions exist. There are exceptional individuals who are especially into technology, but they are nerds.

## Government

The City of the Fireflies is ruled over by a principality ruled over by a reigning Crown Princess who is selected through a Succession process wherein all active Knights duel one another to discover the most powerful living magic user--this is done because the Crown Princess is expected to command the most powerful magicks so as to maintain the respect of the fey creatures living outside the walls, and to be able to fight off invasive fairies and the strongest Shee.

While the Crown Princess may delegate tasks as she sees fit, traditionally this takes the form of a Cabinet known as the Royal Guard, consisting of the Knights who served under her during her succession, though sometimes cabinet members might retire or be replaced, or new Guards might be added at the behest of the Crown Princess. This is not the only structure the government can take, but it is the most common.

The Knighthood itself acts in some ways as a combination Police Force and Military for the City of the Fireflies, though they specialize pretty much exclusively in magical crimes when they do fight crime--there are normal police to handle mundane crimes. And the City of the Fireflies has an official position of Neutrality toward all wars, so they only act as military when the City is attacked. Officially Knights are not required to perform these services, but Knights who participate in this way get paid, and those who act against the interests of the government are treated as magical criminals and targeted by loyal Knights for arrest.

The current Crown Princess is Tsukiko Takeuchi, and her Royal Guard consists of Alma, Heart, Daisy, and the Knight of Mirrors who disappeared years ago.

## Geography

The Geography of the City of the Fireflies is difficult to pin down. One week you might find that a building is on one street, and the next week it might be somewhere else. This seems to be a partial effect of the warping nature of Annwyn on the city, but some people believe the City itself is alive and responding to its inhabitants. Some people seem to be able to walk in any direction they want and end up where they want to be--others seem to never find the place they're looking for. It is as though the City has favorites and it has people it hates. This doesn't seem to be limited only to geography, but even to things like the reactions of crowds, the weather, or wild animals such as pigeons and rats that inhabit the city.

Some people consider it superstition, but it is generally considered safest to want to be a Friend of the City.

Climate-wise, the City of the Fireflies is temperate. It experiences snow in the winter times and heat in the summer times, with brisk autumns and springs. It is never daytime in the City of the Fireflies, but Twilight lasts the hours that daytime normally would--the city draws its name from the omnipresent fireflies that are around even in winter. The City provides streetlamp-shaped firefly habitats that draw fireflies to them en masse and are used as a source of bright, electricity-free illumination at all hours.