Old World Order

Most supernatural factions have their own hidden histories, dark secrets, and personal beliefs on how much they have affected world history. Yet, they do tend go to some effort to make sure that mortals don’t even bother to start looking for their fingerprints in the first place. To the supernatural set, comfortable ignorance is what most of the world should enjoy.

However, some events and episodes of supernatural interference are well-established and can even be tracked by mundane humans.

Old World Organizations

The “supernatural nations” detailed below tend to follow an Old World aesthetic of manners and methods. This often means a Renaissance-era mindset in their approach to political issues. It’s as if they read Machiavelli’s The Prince and just stopped there.

Meanwhile, the philosophies and technologies of mortal-kind have advanced. In fact, you could say that the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution caught the supernatural factions with their pants down. The aftershocks of both are still being felt among magical sorts. The disparities between the rough-and-ready modern mortal outlook and the more courtly and traditional supernatural attitude frequently causes friction between the factions.

All that being said, however, the most important aspect of interaction among the supernatural factions is the Unseelie Accords.

The Unseelie Accords

The Unseelie Accords, devised by Queen Mab of the Winter Court of Faerie, are a supernatural cross between the Magna Carta and the Geneva Conventions.

The Accords recognize major magical factions as independent political entities (or “nations”) with the right to defend, protect, and avenge their members. Even “Freeholding Lords” are recognized: entities of power that do not necessarily represent an entire kind, just themselves and their supporters.

HARRY: Simply belonging to any supernatural faction is enough to get a nice set of enemies along with your metaphorical membership badge.

The Accords lay out an important concept: magical nations are responsible for policing their own. If they don’t do this, and let their people run willy-nilly, these activities can become a lawful grievance to another nation—even up to a justification for war. The Accords also lay out other rules concerning such topics as the treatment of prisoners (though the rules do little if anything to protect them), setting prices on ransoms or prisoner exchanges, laying out procedures for negotiations between hostile supernatural nations, the establishment of neutral ground, rules of engagement and territory, a basis for diplomacy, and so on.

Most importantly, the Accords establish several hard and fast rules that provide ancient (read: Old World) customs of hospitality and honor with the force of law. If any two things are regarded as concrete by the supernatural nations, it is: 1) the binding power sworn oaths; and 2) the obligation of a host to offer aid, comfort, and protection to her guests.

The Accords recognize that it is mutually profitable for the supernatural nations to avoid overt or large-scale conflicts; indeed, they provide a means of settling disputes between rival nations by means of a trial of champions—based on the Code Duello—presided over by a mediator. Any member of any nation can be asked to be a mediator, but the choice must be mutually accepted.

All in all, the Accords are extremely complex, and applying them generally leads to a lot of arguing rather than actually solving any problems (it is likely that this is what Mab intended). They work, however; conflicts are often defused by the lengthy legal discussions. The Accords are supported by all sides, mainly in order to keep things from getting worse than they already are.

We’ll talk more about the letter and the spirit of the law in two weeks. Stay tuned.

General old world order, setting