he County of Rowan-Oak covers a fairly wide swath of territory, and contains within its borders about a dozen freeholds and glades known to the Seelie Court. Half of these are tiny hearths or glens hardly worth mention, and are in the keeping of commoners, although the countess claims fealty from their inhabitants in return for letting them manage their own affairs. Provided the sites are protected from Banality, Rosamund is content to leave them to their keepers, rarely drawing their Glamour to her own hearth save in the direst of need.

Three notable holdings remain in commoner hands. The ruling seat of the Barony of Fair Oaks is Pine Hall, a homey tavern housed on a quiet back-road where the boggan Lord Mayor and proprietor, Elmer Brickie, offers food, drink, and a place to stay for a reasonable price. The lodge is the freehold most frequently used to house visitors to the county, as it is spacious and pleasant, well staffed, and convenient to most other locations.

To the west of Fair Oaks, amidst sparsely-settled hills, a satyr Tragos has staked its claim to Fiddler's Green from time out of mind, and jealously guard their meeting-place against noble usurpation. A glade rather than an actual freehold, the green lies within the demesne of Ben Bison, although the baroness has scrupulously avoided interfering with its management. Quite without relinquishing ownership, the Buckthorn Tragos graciously permits the occasional noble fete here, and seems not to mind that young bloods of the county resort to the green when illicit duels of honor are fought.

The freehold of Tinker's Dam is an exception to many rules. Housing extensive refineries and mills in which the raw stuff of the region's bounty is crafted into finished goods, the freehold pays a tithe of goods and services to be excused from the Countess' jurisdiction. The nocker inhabitants still nurse a grudge dating back to the Accordance War, which the countess has yet to wholly overcome. It's mortal disguise as a junkyard and abandoned factory dissuade mortal attention.

Five freeholds are held by the Countess Rosamund or nobles owing fealty to her. The thronehold of the county is Caer Ondomorna, located in the Near Dreaming adjacent to Blackstone University. While it is by no means the grandest freehold in the county, it is the one most convenient for the countess' use, and hence she prefers to reside there.

Winterlong Manor is the freehold of Dame Lillian ap Liam, formerly scribe to Countess Rosamund's household. A sprawling farm house on the edge of Floyd town, near the center of the county, it houses Winterlong Academy, a boarding school where young kithain can be given the focussed attention they require. Until quite recently, it was known as Fair Oaks Manor, until its ruler, Lady Quave, was brutally slain by her redcap guards. Students allege that her restless shade wanders its halls by night, to prey upon childlings foolish enough to stray from their beds.

Perhaps the most striking of the noble freeholds is Tyr-o-Yr Glas on the outskirts of Roanoke. With the aid of her squire, Dame Angarhad of House Eiluned oversees the Glass House -- to mortal sight a ramshackle Victorian greenhouse adored with art-glass panes in an overgrown garden, but to enchanted eyes a wonderland of stained glass and exotic plants.

The most formidable freehold is the least accessible, save by trod. Set in the Dreaming interior of Buffalo Mountain, Ben Bison Brugh houses the baronial court of Lady Ausmandine. Ben Bison is favored as the freehold of resort by most commoners in the county, and is most likely to house casual visitors from elsewhere, as Lady Ausmandine's hospitality is legendary. Most of the natural glades in the county fall within Ausmandine's domain.

Long derelict, the Barony of Baywood has recently been reclaimed, its Balefire rekindled, and its territory returned to sidhe rule. Baron Dar'Nall ap Gwydion and Baroness Celeste ap Eiluned hold title here, undertaking the task of securing the region against the incursions of nightmare chimera from the Dreaming, and restoring Glamour to their fief. Reaving is taken very seriously by Rowan-Oak fae, and the Fall of Baywood is a commonly heard tale. The barony faded after this heinous crime, and the region is only now reclaimed by nobles pledged to Reverie and inspiration, its mortals too banal to support a faerie population on their creativity alone. Reavers throughout the County face the stiffest penalties which the Escheat and the High King's law allows.

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