House Fiona

*Lady/Lord, to you I give all the affections and warmth of my heart that these may ease you across miles and years to come. I will be your friend, your companion, and your mate as you desire. In desolate hours shall I keep you company and on the field of battle bear your token with pride and honor. Never shall you be lonely; never shall your tears go untouched by my hand. Ere my bond be broken, no longer shall my loins find pleasure; no longer shall my heart find gladness in carnal pleasure. May the teeth of Fiona’s silver lion tear me asunder if I betray your trust!*

**Pronounced:** fee-OH-nuh

**Court:** Seelie

**Nickname:** Lions, True Hearts, Gossips (vulgar)

House Fiona does nothing by halves. Fierce and intense in both love and loyalty, the sidhe of Fiona revel in the pleasures of food and drink, sex, battle, and anything else designed to stimulate the senses. They love deeply and absolutely, valuing true love in its many forms above all else, particularly when that love comes at a high cost. Courtly love plays a central role in their games and challenges. They engage in activities with reckless abandon, not just ignoring the risks, but actively embracing them. In fact, the greater the danger, the greater the thrill, as the nobles of House Fiona continually search for an even bigger rush. The fetes thrown by Fiona rival the wildest satyr bacchanalia, lasting for days and sometimes sweeping entire fiefdoms into the merrymaking as noble and commoner alike indulge their darker lusts and wildest fantasies.

For this reason, and because they seldom brandish the power of their station, the nobles of House Fiona tend to be well-regarded by the commoners. Fiona fiefdoms may not be run in the courtliest fashion, but their open-door policy towards their vassals minimizes political unrest and fosters mutual affection between the lords and ladies of House Fiona and their subjects. This relationship is best exemplified by the events of the Shattering, when some members of Fiona were welcomed to shelter from encroaching Banality within the freeholds of commoners, and others turned their sovereignty over to trusted commoners to rule in their stead. House Fiona still has a high number of commoners holding titles.

Members of House Fiona swear by complex codes of honor, but these codes are theirs alone, with rules that fluctuate wildly from individual to individual, limited by the Fiona’s own passions and values rather than by antiquated conceptions of what nobility should be. They have handled the transition into the modern world better than some other houses for that reason. They embrace technology for its entertainment value, with a particular love for reality TV, tabloid new shows and websites, and any other programming that delves into the titillating private lives of individuals, and sidhe from House Fiona often have a difficult time resisting the desire to document their own passions. More than one Fiona has found himself involved in a sex tape “scandal” as well, not that House Fiona necessarily finds such things scandalous.

The sidhe of House Fiona fight with the same passion as they love. Warriors of great renown, Fiona battle fearlessly and recklessly. Lady Fiona founded this noble house after she and three of her loyal knights battled the fearsome beasts, the Fachan and the Each-Uisge, which were terrorizing Arcadia. Lady Fiona and many of her house chose to stay behind during the Interregnum, rather than flee to Arcadia with many of the other sidhe. Here, she took a mortal lover, a relationship fabled to have ended with her tragic death.

## House Boon

Those swearing fealty to House Fiona are truly courageous, and fear holds no power over them. Even in the face of certain defeat, Fiona’s legendary reckless bravery continues to shine. As such, any attempt to generate fear in them, magical or natural, automatically fails. The only thing that can truly inspire fear in a member of Fiona is a direct threat to the life and safety of her lover; these attempts are not subject to automatic failure.

## House Flaw

Fiona’s passions easily become obsessions, and their recklessness in the face of peril quickly transforms into seeking out danger for danger’s sake. A sidhe of this house finds ways to make even the more mundane passions, like food or drink, into hazardous activities — she’s the one eating the deadly fugu sashimi or challenging the troll twice her size to a drinking contest. In romance, especially, Fiona’s passionate nature attains lofty heights, with epic love affairs that often end in tragedy. When a member of House Fiona backs down from a challenge in order to avoid risk, they lose one Willpower.

## Exile

The common Fiona belief is that their house was not truly exiled, but that they chose to leave Arcadia to attend Lady Fiona’s wake after her tragic death. This particular legend is certainly in keeping with House Fiona’s celebration of passion and love, even of the tragic variety. The details of Lady Fiona’s death tend to change from one retelling to another, however, and the wake itself may be more apocryphal than historical. Other possible scenarios include the Fiona nobility accompanying their liege lord or lady into banishment after the liege’s misdeed, or that they voluntarily left Arcadia to swear fealty to one of the Fiona nobles who stayed behind during the Shattering. Portraying themselves as celebrants of tragic love or loyalty certainly feeds into the Fiona ethos.

## Factions & Societies

* The Knights of Sathar are a chivalrous order founded during the Accordance War and comprised of both sidhe and commoners.

* The Boytoys, a group of beautiful Fiona of all kiths (and genders, despite the name), began as an excuse for drunken orgies and dangerous activities, but evolved into a high-end fae dating service that stages extravagant erotic events for its clientele to meet and mingle.

* Loki’s Brood are an assortment of sidhe politicos devoted to intentionally creating political unrest through opposition of majority viewpoints.

* Maker’s Markers is an artistic crafting guild whose finished works are displayed in annual art galas that attract the who’s who of fae and mortal society alike.

* Silver Lion Productions is a small production company that develops reality shows focused on romance, cooking, and any other Fiona passion, and whose participants provide an amenable source of Glamour.

## Notable Members

High Lord Rathesmere, the liege to whom many exiled Fiona flocked, and possibly a key reason for their exile, Queen Aeron of the Kingdom of Pacifica, Lady Julia Spencer-Drake, a Kithain historian, Duke Selim, the enigmatic leader of Loki’s Brood, Queen Laurel of the Kingdom of the Northern Ice, Count Gut Splicer, a redcap ennobled by Queen Laurel, Lady Finnula Finnegan, a poet and emissary to the Fianna, Sir Sathar, founder of the Knights of Sathar, Baron Winston Dorsett and Baroness Gala Dorsett, siblings who run Silver Lion Productions from their co-ruled barony, and King Finn of the Kingdom of Ulster, once thought to be the reincarnation of Irish hero Fionn macCumhaill.