Tyr-o-Yr Glas





Nestled on the side of Bent Mountain overlooking the city of Roanoke at the end of a cul-de-sac is a run-down Victorian greenhouse, its garden overgrown with cultivated ornamentals run wild, and it's decorative panes of art nouveau stained glass obscured by years of dust and neglect. Located out of an easy line of site from the rest of its street, the glass-domed structure for the most part goes unnoticed by its neighbors. Those who see it think perhaps it's a shame that the quaint building is likely falling to pieces, but they forget it soon after.

This inattention is encouraged by the Mists which shield the fragile magics of the kithain from mortal scrutiny. Faerie sight reveals the greenhouse in its true splendour -- a miniature palace of stained glass, with minarets and onion-domes in a whimsical "Arabian Nights" style. Its gardens are well-tended, though informally laid out to resemble a natural glade. By night, the freehold's balefire shines through, lighting the entire structure from within like a thousand sparkling jewels. Although the freehold's hearth is not potent, the glass walls and fanciful dome delight the eyes and provide a stunning setting for the exotic plants cultivated within.

The Glass House was the turn-of-the-century creation of an eccentric nocker of considerable ingenuity and monumental wealth. For seventy years, the Glass House was the delight of Rowan-Oak's commoner kithain, and the site of their Beltaine revels. When the shining gates opened again in 1969, and the sidhe returned, they were slow to find their way to the Blue Ridge. Once they had arrived, the knights and ladies in MacDougal's train were stunned by the small freehold's beauty, and the Glass House was soon claimed by the Shining Host. Count Malcolm MacDougal gifted it to his Lady Dierdre who renamed it Tyr-o-Yr Glas, and made it the County of Rowan-Oak's Summer Court, and keeping his Winter Court at Baywood.

Of all the events of the accordance War in Rowan-Oak, it was the siezure of the Glass House (which was, after all, the masterpiece of a commoner artisan) which rankled the worst. When open court was held there in the summer months, many commoners, especially the nockers of Tinker's Dam, refused to attend. And when Lady Dierde happened to be stranded in the city by an ice-storm one winter's night, someone saw the chance for revenge. Her body was found in an alley by the police the next morning, along with the wrought-iron bar which had been used to beat her to death.

The Summer Court never returned to Tyr-o-Yr Glas. Lady Dierdre's death sent Count Malcolm into a depression from which he never recovered, and when he stepped down from his seat of rulership Dierdre's brother Vathek became count in his stead. Vathek is a name of infamy in Rowan-Oak to this day, and his persecution of Tinker's Dam and the nocker motley there began his rule on the worst possible terms.

It has taken Rosamund all of her years as his successor to begin to heal the breach between the motley and the feudal nobility, and so long as Tyr-o-Yr Glas remains in sidhe hands, relations remain somewhat strained. It says much for her diplomacy that the monthly open court held at the Glass House has begun to see the occasional nocker delegation from the city.

Tyr-o-Yr Glas is the only other freehold other than Caer Ondomorna within Countess Rosamund's personal demense, and it is ruled on her behalf by a knight-banneret, Dame Angarhad Morraine ap Eiluned, whose work as a curator at a city museum allow her to use the freehold as her part-time residence with relative convenience. Her squire, Tamlyn MacDougal, competently sees to the physical maintenance of the greenhouse and gardens in both chimerical and Autumn world aspects.






Tyr-o-Yr Glas is not supported by its own chat. To play a scene set in the Glass House, use the Dreaming. Chat instead.

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