Barony of the Lesser Ones

**Requirements:** Wyrd 2+, Mantle 1+ (Black Trees), Empathy 2+, Intimidation or Persuasion 2+, and one of the following Merits: Gentrified Bearing, Hob Kin, or Interdisciplinary Specialty (Goblins)

**Origin tales:**

1. A goblin baron fell in love with a beautiful Fairest. By the time she realized her lover was false, the Fairest had already made off with her coronet and title.
2. The first Baron negotiated a treaty between Lost and hobgoblins. The Lost didn’t hold up their end, so the Baron appeased the goblins by promising to make it up to them — forever.
3. A captive changeling turned the tables on her goblin jailor, stealing its signet ring and penning a contract in its name that granted her freedom. She reforged the ring as her own and pledged to protect other Lost from the fate she’d endured.

**Legends:**

1. Once, a Baron became a Goblin Queen but didn’t put down the title. He became known as the inventor of the Hedge fund — a complicated web of Goblin Debt and favors owed to layers upon layers of middlemen instead of directly from one party to another. He used this fund to help mortals who couldn’t pay their debts, and to apply leverage to both changelings and hobgoblins whenever conflict arose.
2. Once, a Baron turned Bridge-Burner and waged a one-changeling war against the Hedge’s denizens, abusing his power and position to sabotage negotiations, destroy Hedgeways, and encourage freeholds to turn on their goblin allies. Eventually, a clever young changeling stopped him by tricking him into burning his own title out of himself and taking it up in turn to repair the damage her predecessor had done.
3. Once, a Baron inherited a sworn oath of bloody vengeance against his own husband, who had long ago killed another Baron’s Goblin Queen sister for crimes against his court. Heartbroken, but driven by duty and knowing the Wyrd would punish his lover if he abandoned the oath, the Baron ruined his own marriage until love turned to hate — he knew his husband would never go through with the final duel otherwise — and let his beloved slay him. Confessing the truth as he lay dying in the arms of the Lost he adored, he passed the title on, resting assured that the oath was fulfilled and no Baron of the Lesser Ones would ever hunt his lover down again.

**What We Do in the Shadows:**

Goblins treat the Baron as kin, and the Gentry view him as both changeling and hobgoblin. Goblins trust him with juicy gossip and exclusive deals and play favorites with him when assigning tasks they’ll accept to pay off Debt.

In return, the Baron is a liaison between the Lost and Hedge natives. Usually, he acts as a neutral third party in negotiations, mediates conflicts, and plays messenger or delivery boy. When words fail, he’s a defender for whichever side he believes is in the right. The latter duty can cost him friends, but most changelings and goblins accept that it’s his job to choose sides and don’t hold grudges. When they do, or when he clearly acts in his own best interests rather than trying to be objective, vendettas against him can be vicious and last lifetimes.

Most Barons travel from freehold to freehold and market to market, offering their services for room and board or some other price. The Baron who chooses to make one freehold his home base may view himself as that freehold’s exclusive attaché, or may treat his title as a business, advertising at local Goblin Markets to attract clients. A few historical Barons have served a mostly courtless clientele, reasoning that freeholders already have the resources they need to deal with hobgoblins effectively, while the courtless must hack it on their own.

**Mask & Mein:**

Barons wear durable traveling clothes on the move but change into dress duds when serving as an official or diplomat; when they must settle disputes as a dueling champion, they don military-style uniforms or elegant but sturdy clothes that are easy to move in. Everything they wear takes on a motif of winding, thorny branches symbolically detailing deals he’s made, enemies he’s bested, and dangers he’s escaped. The Baron can suppress this retelling with a thought, keeping a generic bramble motif instead if he likes; but he’s considered always “on call” as far as the title is concerned, so he can’t suppress the brambles entirely. Even his skin takes on tattoos to match.

**Bequeathal:**

A Baron of the Lesser Ones rarely turns down would-be inheritors, as it’s a relatively unpopular title due to its overall thanklessness. Still, petitioners do exist. Some believe the Lost as a whole should treat goblins better and aspire to be the change they want to see, while others are more interested in protecting their freehold’s interests from hobgoblin schemes or just making bank as a mercenary diplomat; all changelings encounter goblin problems at some point, after all.

Quitting is more difficult, as the entitlement requires recruiting a willing successor. A Baron may find himself “fired” if he misuses his title to benefit himself over others and another changeling finds out about it then successfully performs his duty for him. That changeling then has the opportunity to claim the title instead, and if they turn it down it becomes fallow.

Every Baron inherits his predecessor’s reputation, as his success in the role depends heavily on trust. The reputations of earlier former Barons may precede him, too. Inherited allies and enemies both abound, as a Baron’s duties require not only interacting with people constantly, but making judgment calls about who to support and how conflicts should resolve.

Inherited allies come with caveats, though — the Starry Ocean freehold of San Francisco Bay is glad to help, but only if he keeps his predecessor’s promise to visit annually and rid popular undersea Hedgeways of dangers. If the new Baron can’t breathe underwater, well…he’d better learn quick if he wants to keep these friends.

When a Baron inherits memories, they run the gamut between heartwarming reconciliations and heartbreaking betrayals. One predecessor thought her negotiation was successful until a hobgoblin stabbed her in the back on her way home; next time the current Baron sees that goblin, he remembers that death at its hands in grisly detail — all the pain and horror, relived. Others blame him for that failure, which led to a vicious battle with too many casualties and hunt him for restitution. They expect him to know the details, but he only remembers flashes of bleeding out in the Thorns to the tune of mocking laughter. Later, he visits a freehold where they welcome him with open arms and pile gifts at his feet for uniting them in solidarity and trust with the denizens of a local Hedge town, giving them crucial allies against a Gentry incursion. He doesn’t have the heart to tell them he’s not the one who deserves the thanks, and wonders whether he should feel guilty or flattered

**Token: The Seal of Thorns[1-5]**

A signet ring in pewter and carnelian bears the Baron’s sigil. Its Mask appears dented and dulled, but when activated while worn, its metal shines and its gemstone sparkles, while its sigil glows with a warm light. Upon activation in the mundane world, the Baron automatically learns where the closest existing Hedge gate is, active or dormant.
In the Hedge, while the seal is active, he may spend 1 Glamour to force the Storyteller to roll twice and take the worse result for any one of the Hedge’s rolls in a chase, as local hobgoblins spot the glow of his ring and actively make way for him or help him overcome an obstacle. He may do this (token’s rating) times per chapter. This doesn’t affect other competitors in a Hedge chase. (Conditional) The Baron’s player also adds dice equal to the token’s rating to any rolls made in direct service to safely delivering a missive or package that bears his seal in wax.
**Catch:** The user must affix his seal to a missive or package he doesn’t actually want to see safely delivered to its destination, and send it on its way in good faith, within the same scene.
**Drawback:** Upon activating the seal, the Baron gains a temporary version of the Hedge Addiction Condition (Changeling, p. 340), as though he were faetouched. It isn’t persistent and resolves the first time he fails to resist its pull and enters the Hedge when it’s highly inconvenient or dangerous to do so.
**Additional Blessings**

* [1] This blessing lets the changeling regain 1 Glamour whenever she regains Willpower through her Needle in direct pursuit of her role. She may spend the Glamour immediately on anything she likes or store it in her heraldry token for later use. The token can store up to her Wyrd in Glamour. If she can neither spend nor store it, it’s lost. All stored Glamour empties at the end of the story.
* [1] Choose one of the following specialties: Survival (Hedge), Persuasion (Diplomacy, Goblins), or Occult (Goblins, Hedge). The chosen speciality also gains exceptional on three successes instead of five.
* [1] Additional Thread.
* [1] Gain Allies (Wyrd/2, rounded up) for a particular group of hobgoblins, such as all merchants of a specific Goblin Market, or all briarwolves; these Allies remember favors previous Barons did for them. (Conditional)
* [1] Gain a hostile oath (Changeling, p. 214) to one specific changeling, whether the character knows that changeling already or not, leftover from unresolved enmity resulting from a predecessor’s actions as Baron. Definitively fulfilling this oath refills all spent Willpower.

**Touchstone:** A mortal the Baron rescued from danger in the Hedge.

**Clarity Curse:** Clarity attacks suffered while favoring hobgoblin interests over changeling ones add damage dice equal to ranks invested in this Merit.

**WP:**Once a scene, gain a WP when the Baron resolves a conflict with goblins, peacefully or otherwise, in a way that personally inconveniences himself or his motley.