Overview
Hollow is the name of a secret fey community that is situated within the Jade Ring. It is hidden within a dense and overgrown thorny shrubbed area in the forestry region of the Jade Ring that has been untouched by agricultural works thanks to the machinations of the fey, who use illusions and subterfuge to maintain Hollow's hidden nature.
Hollow is entirely enclosed within the bramble. Fey druids have enchanted the interior to have daylight cast within as well as illusory walls to give the impression of the community being situated within a placid meadow. These enchantments are designed to evoke images of the fey realm, though no fey within Hollow now has ever seen it.
Hollow is inhabited solely by
Feykin. It is a bastion of hope for fey beings in Novus, particularly for non-shifter fey who cannot easily blend in within the city of Novus. Centaurs, alseids, and other such creatures live here for lack of them being able to live anywere else.
The Fey Court of Novus rules Hollow. This mimicks the structure of the Fey Realm's own courts, with prominent community individuals making the choices for the preservation of the community at large.
Hollow is surrounded by magical fey plants. What appears to be dense, thorny foilage is actually an assemblage of vine, twig, and thorn blights. These creatures will occasionally ensare and devour a wayward traveller seeking to enter through the thicket, but otherwise provide the first line of defense for Hollow. A variety of illusions and memory charms also protect Hollow. These charms may inflict a nosy traveller with the overwelming desire that they have forgotten something important, causing them to turn back. Others inflict terrifying vision of giant carnivorous plants (not far from the truth), intimidating seekers away.
Hollow farms food, much of it enchanted with fey properties. Workers within the community (shifter fey who can blend in) take these goods beyond Hollow, selling them mostly on the black market to avoid questions of the food's source. In this view, it is better to have the assumption that the food was stolen from official distribution channels, rather than grown in a secret fey community. Using the money from this trade, they fey purchase goods that they need to keep the community running, such as
Ether crystals, metals, or other goods.
Hollow is mostly an agrarian community, with more than half of the land devoted farming and the remainder being reserved for housing. The community is self sufficient, with goods and resources shared within the community. There is also a semi-open meadow area where public gatherings and trainings occur. This meadow encircles the Fey Gate, an inert portal to the Fey Realm.
Hollow was built in the aftermath of the fall. Desperate feykin looking to return to the Fey Realm gathered around the Fey Gate, only to find it inert. These fey initially thought that fixing the gate would be easy, but were proved wrong in the coming days and years. The First Fey Court of Novus convened to discuss what a way forward looked like for the fey. This led to the formation of Hollow and the decision to hide it away. Fey worked hard to travel through the city, using memory charms to expunge all recollection of the fey, believing that secrecy and seclusion would be the secret to their survival while the brightest of the fey worked on a way to restore the gate
The decisions were not without controversy. Hollow had limited space, so not every fey could live there. Choosing who could live there became a delicate and controversial matter. A group of changelings sharply disagreed with the separatist views espoused by many fey, and left Hollow to live integrated with Novus society, encouraging all shifter fey to do the same. Other fey believed that it was best for all fey that Hollow remain hidden, even from other fey, believing that having more people know of Hollow's existence was a threat to all fey.
Structures are simple yet whimsical, harkening back to the sorts of structures one might find in the fey realm. Most homes in Hollow are multi-family residences, allowing for space to be maximized in the community.
Hollow's enchantments extend to control over the weather, simulating the balmy, almost intoxicating quality of the Fey Realm,
