World Notes: Leystone, a Quick Introduction (1948)

Leystone is still being rebuild during the events of A Year and a Day. The borough was born from the destruction of the East End of London. What once was a thriving area of docks, warehouses, and train yards became a bombed out ruin by the end of the Blitz. Located just east of Victoria Park, the new borough of Leystone is one of the city's many urban renewal projects.

The northern section of Leystone contains buildings that were much less damaged by the Blitz, older brownstones with the occasional modest Victorian home. Southern Leystone, where the destruction was much more extensive, is in the process of being leveled for the construction of council estates.

A large - three stories above, two below - conservatory is scheduled to be erected in 1949. A quarter of the space will be reserved for RCSI use. The remaining seventy-five percent will be dedicated to plots for the use of personal gardens for the residents. Given the nature of the majority of Leystone's inhabitants, RCSI suspects many of these entailment plots will be dedicated to herbs and plants more common in an occult shop than a market.

Moraine and RCSI have extended a welcome to the growing magical population, offering assurance that all beings will be treated as citizens and will have the same rights, as well as be required to follow the same laws, as everyone else. According to RSCI, at least half of Leystone's population is made up of magical creatures of various sorts - lesser Fey of all description, half breeds, succubi, incubi, gargoyles, and various creatures from other cultures. All of the magical residents have registered with RCSI and do their best to live as their neighbors do.

Approximately twenty percent of Leystone's population are considered sensitives. These are mortals with some bit of magical talent. These talents are usually minor, such as speaking to birds or being able to tell which piece of fruit is the freshest. The acceptance of Leystone as a community has drawn them in, and they appreciate living in a place where they aren't considered crazy. The remainder of Leystone's inhabitants are an eclectic mix of general mortals, RCSI agents, and delusional nutjobs.

RCSI is unsure just what has led to the borough being so heavily populated by the more magically inclined. While some believe there may be multiple gates in the area currently undiscovered by RCSI, many suspect it's the Agency itself, as well as Moraine's influence over the rebuild, which is drawing people to live in Leystone.

RCSI offers a form of protection and control that is often lacking in Wildfey, the area of the Fey realm many of the new residents have migrated from. RCSI's commandeering of all the Tube tunnels running through Leystone has led to few general mortals wandering into the borough randomly, giving the community a feeling of closeness and secrecy.

Knowing the effects iron can have on magical beings, Moraine has insisted that all rebuilds in Leystone be as free from iron as possible. While this has delighted many of the new residents, it has frustrated builders and led to the proposed tall tower blocks being replaced by wide, squat designs of at most three stories in height.

'Run Like Hell'

This spread for A Year and a Day Issue 3 kind of got away from me. I was hoping to get an ominous feel here. I'm not quite sure if I quite pulled it off, but I'm still happy with the results.

'A Year and a Day' Issue 3, Page 1

I really like the way the art, as well as Bertie's monologue, turned out on this one.

World Notes: Does Mercy Kill?

Mercy Mackenzie, Max and Ruby's neighbor, is a succubus. This means she lives off the life force of others, using seduction to gain access to it. So does that mean Mercy kills the people she's intimate with?

While killing ones meal is the typical behavior for a succubus, Mercy chooses not to. This is one of the reasons she's able to live in Leystone and is seen by RCSI as a law-abiding citizen. She follows the rules set up by the agency and limits how much life force she takes from each individual.

She does take a bit each time she's intimate with another, but the amount is low. At most it makes her current partner feel drowsy and a little euphoric. Of course, the euphoria could be from everything else going on at the time. The next morning the person is refreshed and not affected at all, yet Mercy still had her meal and a bit of fun to boot.

While it rarely happens Mercy has occasionally gotten carried away in the moment, shall we say, and taken a little too much at once. While it's still not enough to kill, this can lead to her current partner feeling as if they are under the influence of LSD. In these cases Mercy has been known to rush the person to RCSI Headquarters and straight to the Medical Bay. This is done despite the fact that admitting to having taken more than the regulated amount in one sitting will result in her having to pay a fine and possibly receiving a mark on her record.

Draining a person completely and killing them would mean that Mercy would need to feed less often, maybe once every few months instead of once or twice a week. But she doesn’t mind. Mercy actually enjoys being around others and making them feel good, whether that be emotionally or physically.

Mercy also enjoys baking and likes to infuse her creations with her own special brand of magic.

While she can't induce people to fall in love, her magic can create feelings of lust in others, especially if there's a bit of emotion already there, lurking under the surface. While this may sound hazardous to youngsters, she is careful to keep to RCSI's regulations. The end result, minors are not affected by Mercy's spells, potions, influence, or food.

Mercy's proof that a succubus can live among mortals without causing any harm. She's a sweet woman who wants to enjoy life and find her true love. Unfortunately, in her mind, her true love is every man - and more than a few women - who crosses her path.

'The Hunt in Piccadilly'

Herne and his Hunt have invaded Piccadilly Circus. I doubt they're there just to see the sights.

World Notes: True Names

Every Greater Fey - a Fey who's a member of an Aspect's court - has one True Name that can give others a measure of control over them. This mainly occurs in the form of granting boons or requests. The level of control depends on the magical strength of the individual in question. The more magical essence the person attempting to use the Name possesses, the more control they can have.

This control is limited to three uses. Once the third boon is granted, a person can no longer control that Fey through its Name. While three boons seems like a deal there is a catch to this... once the third boon is granted the user becomes the property of the individual who told them the Name. Unlike the Name usage, this binding has no limit. And considering that Fey and mortals locked in the Fey Realm are virtually immortal, this is a very high price to pay.

There are ways around this debt if one is underhanded enough. Killing the Fey who told you the Name is always an option, though one that's often tricky to pull off. A cunning mind, meanwhile, may come up with another method of getting out of their debt.

Greater Fey have numerous other names that people refer to them by on a regular basis.

The Queens are often referred to as Summer and Winter, though Titania and Mab are used on occasion as well. Speaking their True Names causes them to appear even after the three uses are up. Since this is something that annoys them, most people who know Summer and Winter's True Names prefer not to speak them.

Puck himself is an old Fey - he’s been around for a long, long time. Like all Greater Fey he has one True Name, thought as far as RCSI can tell no one knows what it is. He goes by many other names beside Puck, some of them include Puca, Robin Goodfellow, Hob, and his female shape, Helena.

World Notes: How Big is the Fey Realm?

The Fey Realm is actually quite large, most of it uncharted. The gates to the mortal world tend to be close to the Goblin Market, which is itself situated in a strip of neutral ground between the Summerlands and Winterlands. RCSI believes this close proximity is why the lands of Summer, Winter, and the Goblin Market itself occasionally feature in mortal literature. The residents of these areas are the ones most likely to wander through a gate into the Moral Realm.

The Goblin Market has four entrances - two which open out into neutral ground, one which points towards the Summerlands, and one to the Winterlands.

While there are pockets of neutral ground here and there among the lands of Summer and Winter, the majority of the, as far as RCSI knows, neutral land is out beyond these two main Courts. This is where most of the Wild Fey are from.

Unfortunately, the Wild Fey are generally not big on map-making. As a result, RCSI is unsure just how large the Fey Realm truly is. While they're beginning to understand that each Aspect has its own Court and land, RCSI does not have full knowledge of how many Aspects actually exist.

One of Roderick's tasks is to attempt to create a working map of the Fey Realm. This is proving difficult, as the area is too vast for the whole camp to travel together easily and many areas are suspected too dangerous to wander through. The information gathered so far has come from individual agents of The Lost Squadron exploring on their own as well as what's been gathered from friendly Fey.

The rumor that the fey Realm shifts and changes with time is also not helping the map creation any. Occasionally small pockets will plop into and out of the Fey Realm and mortal buildings, such as abandoned churches, may be sucked into Fey.

Many in RCSI believe that these fluctuations in the landscape represent subtle power-shifts within the Fey Realm, but without solid proof this remains merely a theory.