The Premise

Home

It is Midsummer 2020, and while the news of our world seems to concentrate on wars, celebrities, the rise of far-right and climate change, many smaller, seemingly insignificant events are changing the world in ways most humans cannot begin to understand.

Doorways between worlds, ancient sites, solitary hawthorn trees, hidden places that are homes to those few Fae still bound to this world - all are in constant danger from housing development, tourism, vandalism or pollution.

A very few humans, however, still know, still remember the days when the Middle Realm and the Faerie Realm were but a step, a blink, a wish apart. They know that the loss of the Fae or permanent separation of the worlds means an end to all magic and wonder in the world. They have reached out, and their message has been heard "Let us help you, let us save the realms"

Midsummer is the height of Seelie power, and thus their Monarch Tierney (pronounced TEAR-knee) has chosen this time to call for a Cruinniú (Krin-you), the ancient rite of assembly and conference.

Invited are those humans that seem most likely to help - the dreamers, the wanderers, but also the politicians and agitators;

   Emissaries from other lands, the Courtless and of course the Unseelie who must also agree to uphold the agreements reached when they reign.

Four sites have been identified as being under immediate threat in the Middle World, sites that are homes, doorways or sacred to the Fae:

* The Men-An-Tol in Cornwall, England
* A Fairy Tree and Road near Bantry Bay in County Cork, Ireland
* Fairy Glen near Betwys-y-Coed in Conwy, Wales
* Faerie Pools on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

And so the invites were sent out, and you are one of those chosen to attend; will you help reach an agreement, perhaps sacrificing some of your power so the Realm can continue? Or do you believe the Middle Realm is beyond saving and to save the Fae all ties must be cut? Were you perhaps a human who lost their way and has been in the Faerie Realm for who knows how long, sent to negotiate with humans because you are, or perhaps were, one. Or are you one of those rare humans who can still dream of the impossible wonders of the Fae world and believe them both true and worth saving?

The Cruinniú will take place at the Crossroads of the Worlds, one of the few places where the veil between the realms is thin enough to permit easy travel.

## Seelie

Your Monarch Tiernay has invited you to attend the talks and to negotiate on their behalf. The sites must be saved, but how will the humans be enabled to make sure of that? This is Midsummer, the height of your power, but also the night you would normally give to revelling, crossing to the Middle Realm and perhaps finding humans to play and dance with. Will you be able to contain that exuberance and do as your Monarch bids you? Or will the magic and music pull you away to more joyful pursuits? Keep Seelie in line

## Unseelie

Cessair, Ruler of the Unseelie is both impressed and infuriated that these talks are to occur when Unseelie power is at its weakest, The Unseelie, however, must be present and must have their voices heard. And so you have been sent, and whether you attend gladly or with resentment, would you dare defy your Monarch in this? You enter the Court at the height of your enemy's power, instructed to ensure the sites are saved, but also to perhaps undermine Seelie power, grow Unseelie power or carry out other orders you have been given. It may seem foolish to go, but disobeying Cessair is far more foolish

## Taken Human

You were taken by the Fae at some point in the past 400 years; maybe you do not even know how long it has been, or maybe you are waiting for the end of your time in the Faerie Realm with longing. Perhaps you stepped in a Faerie Ring as a child, or were swept up by the Wyld Hunt. Are you a musician whose music drew their attention, or did you transgress against them in the distant past? Do you wish to leave, or have you fallen in love with the Faerie Realm and its strange inhabitants? The Fae who has kept you here has sent you to the talks, with them or alone, in the hope you can help. Will you help or try to use this as a means of escape?

## Human Visitor

You have always been a little different to the others around you. As a child, you may have had invisible friends who stayed with you as you aged and realised they were, in fact, real, or gone on long adventures no one ever believed. Now, as an adult, you have come to see how fragile the existence of the Fae is, and how tied to the world of humans they are. Perhaps you are a world-renowned author who weaves tales of magic and wonder, an environmental activist, or a lawyer fighting to save wild spaces. Or perhaps you are from a shadowy organisation who have sent you here. Whichever it is, the mercurial Fae you have come to know have invited you to discuss how best to save both your worlds

## Emissaries

The Fae of Ireland and the British Isles have embarked on a brave and possibly foolhardy quest to have the humans help them save the Faerie Sites. Perhaps you have lived on the Isles yourself for some time and have a vested interest in helping, or perhaps you have travelled from afar to observe and see what you can learn. Not all lands are friendly to the Isles, have you come to undermine the talks or on a secret mission of your own?