The sidhe returned to England in 1969 to find that Albion, their land of old, had changed beyond recognition. Their kindred across the ocean in Concordia had an easier time of it, in some ways; that land had never been theirs before the Shattering, and so they saw it only for what it was. The sidhe of Albion had to reconcile the sheltered glens, mighty forests, and misty moors they remembered with the land they had returned to.
Not only had the land changed, but so had the people. The War of Ivy -- the English answer to the Accordance War -- was not nearly so bloody and awful as its Concordian counterpart, because the concept of hereditary nobility was still deeply entrenched in English society, both mortal and fae. Paradoxically, though, the royalty of the land had degenerated almost beyond recognition. A dynasty of German descent ruled England (speaking incomprehensibly of "Great Britain" or even "the United Kingdom"), and their deeds were the stuff of tawdry tabloids. In America, where kings had been thrown out centuries before, the idea of kings was at least free to endure as a dream; in England, it had been dragged down into the commonplace. No fae had claimed the title of King in Albion for centuries, and the sidhe found it hard to reinstate.
To tell the truth, the biggest trouble of the War of Ivy was among the sidhe, deciding who would rule. In the end, Belinus Grann ap Gwydion took home the crown, dividing Albion up into Fiefdoms based on the existing geographical regions and giving their stewardship over to sidhe who claimed the title of Princes. Today, King Belinus rules from a freehold outside of London.
At the time of the Resurgence, the Heatherlands of Northern England were not exactly unified. The closest thing to a local leader was an enthusiastic and headstrong young troll named Jasper, who seemed to think he should be in charge simply because he was the best man for the job. Various other local fae disagreed, and he merrily fought back and forth with them. The battles were rarely if ever lethal; mostly it seemed to be an outgrowth of some hotblooded wilders needing something to do on a Saturday night.
West of the Heatherlands, in the Land of Tears (the Lake District), matters were much more settled. The elegant boggan wilder Lady Melda Shadymere ruled over the area, in cooperation with her lover, a magnificent Autumn ghille dhu called simply the Lake Lord. Together they worked to protect the natural beauty of the region (the Lake Lord achieved the creation of the Lake District National Park in 1951) and the area's reputation for inspiring artists -- efforts which met with a fair bit of success.
Matters were not so happy to the south. The Midlands of England, once known as the Fields of Wool for the incredible number of sheep herded there, were the birthplace of industrialization in England. Natural glens were ravaged, freeholds destroyed, and the mortal population of the area fell beneath the grinding wheels of drudgery and toil. Now called the Smokelands, for the pollution which mars the sky, they play home to few fae. When the sidhe returned to the Autumn World, the ruler of the Smokelands was another boggan, Peggy Popper. A grump whose boggan husband had committed suicide a few years before, she struggled on alone to fight the forces of Banality in her home.
Against the grey wastelands of Smoke, the Mistlands of the western coast shone like a beacon of hope. Nestled in the crook of the Bristol Channel and home to the beauties of Glastonbury, this region retained much of Glamour and beauty. Its lord was a gentle Seelie sluagh grump named Master Louren, who struck a fine balance in protecting his lands from tourism and exploitation, while still sharing their Glamour with the outside world.
The Hollow Shore south of him was not nearly so quiet and meditative. So named for the tin mines which honeycomb the rock of Cornwall, it was ruled by a coalition of crazed nockers calling themselves the Tin Men. They maintained an energetic partnership with the industry of the area, with the result that the Hollow Shore is not nearly so ravaged of a place as the Smokelands.
The southern shore of England, called the Chalk Coast, was under the aegis of Lord Basher the Brilliant, a satyr wilder who kept his people in line by making sure they were having too much fun to think about causing trouble. In an area long used as a holiday destination for the English, his methods worked just fine.
And in the heart of southern England, the Roselands enjoyed a fairly stable, sensible rule under the hand of the troll grump Lord Edgar Whitestone. With faerie eternity to keep him young, he had been ruling the area for decades; fae died and reincarnated to find him still keeping order in the Roselands. Whereas in the north, Jasper claimed to be the best man for the job without ever doing anything to prove it, Lord Whitestone matched deeds to words, and his people respected him for it.
Then, of course, the sidhe came back.
Probably the saddest story of the Resurgence handover came in the Smokelands. According to those who were there to see, when an envoy came to Peggy Popper's house to talk with her, she shrugged, told him he could have the place if he wanted it, and walked out the door. Banality had claimed her at last; Margaret Potson went on to handle accounts for a shipping company before dying of cancer in 1973.
Given the horrible state of the Smokelands and the sidhe vulnerability to Banality, the newly-returned nobility had a difficult time finding anyone willing to take charge of the area. Even the lure of the title of "Prince" wasn't enough to tempt most of them into an early grave. In the end, a Liam volunteered, and despite the ingrained distrust of that House, they let him have it. Prince Harald Feldring ap Liam succumbed to Banality in 1977, but has been succeeded by a line of other members of his House, each valiantly taking up his duty. At present, the unmarried Prince Othon Tornot ap Liam has the rule; there has been discussion of instituting a rotation of rulership, to distribute the burden of ruling the Fiefdom of Smoke.
In the Heatherlands, Jasper joined forces with many of his erstwhile enemies and fought many of the War of Ivy's few battles. He was heard to say that the sidhe had unforgivably abdicated their responsibilities when they fled to Arcadia, leaving some fae historians to speculate that he might have been the latest incarnation of Philip Tallaxe (the Troll Who Waited), disillusioned at last. Eventually he and his Heather Lads were defeated, some (including Jasper) having been killed, others having decided that it wasn't worth the cost and they weren't going to win anyway. Now the stern Prince Basal Allarn Redland ap Gwydion rules the Fiefdom of Heather, keeping a close eye on the commoners there.
The Land of Tears went through a much more peaceful transition. Some people speculate that Lady Melda seduced the Fiona nobleman Perceval Young; others say he fell passionately in love with the Lake District the moment he laid eyes on it, which could bode poorly for the area if it's true. He dwells now in one of the protected glens of the Fiefdom of Tears, aging but slowly, and Lady Melda has been kept on as a trusted adviser. Whatever she did to ensure good stewardship of her people and her land, it seems to have worked -- though no one has seen the Lake Lord in some time, and he is feared to be dead.
Master Louren of the Mistlands vanished shortly after the sidhe reappeared, and there are dozens of stories as to what happened to him. He went on a quest into the Dreaming; he disguised himself as a sidhe and took up a new life; he buried himself inside Glastonbury Tor and will sleep there until the sidhe go away again. Some of the speculation is that he died, and has reincarnated by now, from whence he plans to retake his the Fiefdom of Mist from Princess Melessa Arian ap Eiluned.
Unsurprisingly, the Hollow Shore went to a Dougal. Lord Wellan of the Copper Arm carried out negotiations with the Tin Men and arrived at a compromise that the nockers swear was daylight robbery and they've no idea why they furgin' agreed to it in the first place -- which means, of course, that it was quite fair and equitable to all. Prince Wellan of the Fiefdom of Hollows, as he is now titled, remains in cordial cooperation with the Tin Men, though they are not so organized as they once were.
On the Chalk Coast, matters again were not quite smooth. Lord Basher knew better than to tackle the sidhe head-on the way Jasper did, but he didn't hand over his lands, either. Instead he fought an underground rebellion that still hasn't quite been quelled -- perhaps because the sidhe had the extremely poor judgement to assassinate him, thereby making him a martyr. Seven years ago, Prince Elu Suleric ap Gwydion died under mysterious circumstances (perhaps murdered by Basher's Boys, perhaps not); since then, Princess Allia Trillian ap Fiona has taken his place, in the hopes that a Fiona may be able to reach a more peaceable state with the commoners of the Fiefdom of Chalk.
The Roselands were also something of a thorny matter (a pun which the pooka still haven't let die). Edgar Whitestone was an institution; when the sidhe tried to pat him on the head, thank him for all his hard work, and take the Roselands away, the commoners raised such an outcry that there was a real risk of conflict on the scale of the Accordance War. Finally they reached a political compromise; Edgar was married to a sidhe childling named Shiel Fairhands ap Gwydion, the daughter of King Belinus. She was made Princess of the Fiefdom of Roses, while Whitestone kept London, becoming the Count of the Tower. Princess Shiel, protected from the ravages of time by her father's freehold, is now an elegant young wilder, but whether or not she and Count Edgar have consummated their marriage is hotly debated in the fae equivalent of the tabloids.
Welsh and Scottish nationalists have a friend in the sidhe of Albion. When the nobles left, mortal English kings had just begun making claims to those two corners of the island of Great Britain, but newly-minted mortal politics were beneath the notice of the great fae. (The supposed English claim on Ireland meant even less to them.) So, when the sidhe returned in 1969 to find England supposedly mashed in with Wales, Scotland, and part of Ireland as one big kingdom, they sniffed and kept doing things as they were accustomed to. The border between Albion and Caledonia is marked by Hadrian's Wall, just as it was before the Shattering, and Cymru is likewise independent of King Belinus' rule.
The regional names for Albion have remained more or less the same since ancient times. Within these regions, certain areas have variously been known as counties, shires, or other names, depending on the time and who is in power.
County of the Tower (Greater London) -- historically, this area has always encompassed the City of the Tower and its environs, which increasingly became a part of the City itself as London grew.
County of the Channel (Gloucestershire) -- borders on Smoke, Mist, and Cymru, as well as wrapping around the point of the Bristol Channel.
County of the Circle (Wiltshire) -- far west of London. Home to many of the most famous stone circles in Britain, including Stonehenge and Avebury, which are both within the Barony of Henges. This has long been one of the richest fae strongholds of Albion, though modern tourism to Stonehenge threatens to erode that.
County of the River (Berkshire) -- immediately west of London. This area is often disputed, as part of it lies to the south of the Thames and is sporadically claimed by the rulers of Chalk.
County of the Horse (Oxfordshire) -- northwest of London. Named for the figure of the White Horse cut into a hillside in Uffington. The county seat is the Barony of Spires, the mortal town of Oxford, called "the city of dreaming spires" by nineteenth-century poet Matthew Arnold for its lovely architecture.
County of the * (Northamptonshire) -- north-northwest of London.
County of the Field (Buckinghamshire) -- immediately west-northwest of London. A major agricultural part of the region. The county seat is the Barony of Swans (Aylesbury Vale district), which has long had the responsibility of providing swans for hunting and feasting to the rulers of Albion and England alike.
County of the Hart (Hertfordshire) -- immediately north of London. The mortal name of the county derives from an Anglo-Saxon term meaning a ford frequented by stags; the fae name recalls this more clearly, as royal hunts even now seek a fabulous white hart that is sometimes sighted in the region. Contains the Barony of Six Hills in its northern part, which is site of Roman barrows.
County of the Ford (Bedfordshire) -- north of London.
County of the * (Huntingdonshire) --
County of the Quill (Cambridgeshire) -- north-northeast of London. Named for the scholarly pursuits of the area, which have long been in rivalry with Oxford.
County of the Torc (Norfolk) -- far northeast of London. During Roman times, this was the homeland of the Iceni, to whom Queen Boadicea belonged.
County of the Loom (Suffolk) -- northeast of London, and renowned for centuries as the major center of the English cloth industry.
County of the Dawn (Essex) -- immediately northeast of London.
County of the Garden (Kent) -- the southeasternmost corner of Albion. Called "the Garden of England" even by mortals, it is one of the most surpassingly pastoral and beautiful parts of Albion. Contains the Barony of Cliffs, which encompasses Dover.
County of the Sun (Sussex) -- southern coast. The sunniest part of Albion, and a popular place to relax.
County of the Woodland (Surrey) -- between Sussex and the Thames. The most wooded part of England, with a large, untouched area of natural forest even in modern times.
County of the Harbour (Hampshire) -- southern coast. Contains the Barony of Sails (Southampton, long an important port city).
County of Tin (Cornwall) -- the southwesternmost corner of Albion. When the Tin Men made their arrangement with Prince Wellan following the Resurgence, they received the County of Tin for their own; six nockers were granted the Baronies of Tin, and (by their own preference) they chose one of their number to speak for the county. The six baronies are named Hammers, Chisels, Picks, Drills, Candles, and Explosives.
County of Granite (Devon) -- central peninsula, east of Cornwall.
County of Sandstone (Somerset) -- the northeastern part of the Hollow Shore.
County of Limestone (Dorset) -- the southeastern part of the Hollow Shore.
County of the Tor -- the Fiefdom of Mist being such a small territory, it contains only one formal county (encompassing Glastonbury Tor), whose lord serves as the Chancellor to the ruler of the Mistlands. The rest of the region is controlled by lesser nobles sworn directly to that ruler.
County of the Imp (Lincolnshire) -- when most of the rest of the Fiefdom of Smoke became a horror story of oncoming Winter, this county seemed almost a throwback to a quieter, slower time. Of course, many people in modern times began moving there in search of those qualities, which might yet sink the area under the problems the rest of the Midlands face, but for the moment, there is still hope. Glamour is rich enough in the area that the Imp of Lincoln Cathedral, a tricksy but rather cowardly chimera, still survives.
County of the * (Rutland) --
County of the Cave (Leicestershire) -- location of a cave in the Dane Hills that is haunted by Black Annis, a witch who may be a changeling, a chimera, or some kind of mortal magic-maker -- no one's gotten close enough to find out.
County of the Green (Nottinghamshire) -- some rather violent arguments persist as to whether the modern decline of this area is the fault of the sidhe. Once the locus of vibrant legends about a man who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, Nottinghamshire has in recent years become the exemplar of how to commercialize the Glamour out of an idea. Anti-sidhe radicals say this was a deliberate move on the part of the nobles, who did not like the popularity of Robin Hood (his stories having sprung up during their absence). Accusing the nobility of deliberately destroying Glamour, though, is a perlious thing to do.
County of the Peak (Derbyshire) -- caught in modern times between the grinding industrial Banality of the Machine and the shiny commercial banality of the Green, Derbyshire is a desperate refuge of natural beauty. Tourists are beginning to overrun the Dark Peak region (which contrasts with the more southerly White Peak, outside this county), but still, some sites of natural Glamour remain.
County of the Mere (Cheshire) -- small glacial depressions dot the landscape of this area, which the locals call meres. In modern times, this forms part of the County of the Machine.
County of the Border (Shropshire) -- owing to its position along the center of the Welsh border marches, Shropshire is one of the most heavily fortified regions of England. In modern times, this forms part of the County of the Machine.
County of the Knot (Staffordshire) -- a simple overhand knot has been the symbol of this region since Mercian times. In modern times, this forms part of the County of the Machine.
County of the Weir (Warwickshire) -- in modern times, this forms part of the County of the Machine.
County of the Orchard (Worcestershire) -- originally a part of the Woollen Fields, even after the region's transformation to the Smokelands, in the 1990's King Belinus reassigned it to the Fiefdom of Roses, along with the County of the Mistletoe. This area has long been famed for its apples and pears, particularly the Worcester black pear, and the ciders made from them.
County of the Mistletoe (Herefordshire) -- like the Orchard, the Mistletoe was originally a part of the Woollen Fields, but became annexed to Roses by decree of King Belinus during the 1990's. Geographically it makes sense, as the southern arm of the County of the Machine in Smoke cuts this relatively Glamour-filled area off from the rest of its former fiefdom, but this was also likely a power play on Belinus' part; he chipped away at one of the few non-banal places under the control of the Liam Princes of Smoke, and put it under the control of his daughter, Princess Shiel -- which is to say, under his own control.
County of the Machine (modern Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, southern Lancashire) -- this nominal county encompasses several mortal counties and the Iron Triangle of Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool. No region of England is more banal, and despite the best efforts of a succession of princes, little progress has been made there. So few fae occupy the area that the position of Count of the Machine is unfilled, and has been for several decades. Recent strategy has been to give up the Iron Triangle as a lost cause, and to focus on saving the rest of the fiefdom (and the kingdom) from the Banality spreading out of it. One of the only freeholds known to remain there is the Stronghold of the White Peak, in the Pennine Mountains in Staffordshire.
County of the Fells (Cumberland) -- this region is rarely unified under a single ruler. Instead, the Lords of the Fells each claim one or more peaks of this mountainous region for themselves.
County of the * (Westmorland) --
County of the * (Furness) --
County of the Wall (southern Northumberland) -- though the mortal county of Northumberland crosses Hadrian's Wall, the Roman fortification has always formed the traditional boundary between Albion and Caledonia.
County of the Moor (Durham) --
County of the Rose (Lancashire) -- not to be confused with the Roselands or Fiefdom of Roses to the south. The Red Rose of Lancaster is a famed symbol of the region, and was adopted for the coat of arms of the Earls of Lancaster in the thirteenth century, becoming famous during the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses.
Duchy of the Yew (Yorkshire) -- this name survives from Celtic times. As the regions of Albion are customarily ruled by princes, this is the one Duchy in the kingdom, and takes its status from its considerable size. Three counts rule in the Yew, along boundaries dating from Anglo-Saxon times; their fiefdoms are the West, North, and East Yew Ridings.