Welcome to Port Bowen", proclaim the highway signs, "An All-American City". Those signs are a bit stupid, really. These days, no one just drives around wondering what huge economic powerhouse they'll run into next. The signs have another purpose, though: they mark the territory of the Freehold of the Mist-Burnt Veil.
~Buddy Doubtless, Autumn Courtier
This page is a brief setting guide to the world I created for use in the Port Bowen changeling game. It's a bit light on details right now, because I tend to improvise like mad when running a game. As the world grows and develops, I'll fill in more and more detail so that it's easier for other people to use.
This city is the primary location of the party's adventures and provides an urban backdrop for changeling life. It lies on America's Eastern seaboard, replacing Portland, Maine. It's a mecca for artists, entrepreneurs, crime lords and CEO's alike. Politically, its residents are split evenly down party lines, with nearly 48% signing Republican and 49% Democrat, with the remaining 3% split between everyone else. It's a notoriously fickle city, though, making it a guaranteed stop for every presidential campaign.
Port Bowen has a long and storied past, and is one of the oldest cities in America. It stretches from Yarmouth in the north to Old Orchard Beach in the south, and from Little Diamond Island in the east to Gorham in the west. It has a lingering manufacturing industry and thriving corporate presence. For simplicity, the city's districts take their names and approximate locations from the real-world districts and towns surrounding Portland.
The region's ethnic makeup is unique in America, partially due to Port Bowen's nature as a shipping port and proximity to Canada. It has seen multiple waves of immigrants settle into city life and has suffered the racial tensions that follow. The most recent arrivals were Somali refugees fleeing civil war, and Bantu groups moving north from Clarkston, Georgia.
Unlike most large cities, Port Bowen has only one freehold. It's only been around for 10 years, but even that is a significant achievement: most freeholds with 1000+ changelings fall to internal strife within one or two years. The freehold is dominated by Winter Court and has an oddly large number of Beast changelings.
The hedge of Port Bowen is much like the hedge everywhere else: mean, twisted, and painful. There are a fair number of trods within the City, leading to a high concentration of changelings and lending support to their paranoia. It most often takes the form of neat, ordered hedge rows which grow and decay into a choking parody of Maine's forests. From there, who knows where you'll end up?
The history of Port Bowen is one of struggle and success. It began as a French trading settlement and grew slowly along with its single freehold, until trade and industry pushed it onto the national stage. Its original freehold grew and split many times, with each smaller freehold following the same pattern. The freeholds' story is one of constant siege, as the dreaded Keepers waged covert (and not-so-covert) warfare on their escaped playthings.