The Hedge Locations

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The Hedge is a seemingly sentient ecosystem that forms a boundary between Arcadia (where the True Fae live) and the mortal realm. It’s a wild place whose thorns tear at the mind, soul and body of a person – leaving unwary traveller’s memories and identity in tatters. The Hedge is full of life, including magical goblin fruits and creatures of all shapes and sizes called hobs. Whether these creatures are Hedge natives or creatures from Earth who have suffered prolonged exposure to the Hedge is debatable. Within the Hedge are paths called trods that are well-travelled by changelings, hobs and (in the grandest cases) the Fae themselves. They often link gateways to other significant locations such as hollows, hedge markets and Banished Fae’s lairs. There are no trods that lead to Arcadia itself, or at least none a changeling can find, as the only way to Arcadia is if a True Fae takes you. Detroit’s hedge looks like an overgrown city, but one built by a mad achitect, with stairways leading to nowhere and building facades that sometimes have no building behind it. Trees sprout out from broken pavements, plants clamber over rubble, and thorn-covered vines cover everything.

Doorways

In the past, Changelings could open a doorway into the Hedge from anywhere within the mortal world but now you must find special doorways or gateways, often connected to Blended Areas, to step across. Activating a doorway is not complicated. A changeling merely needs to touch part of the doorway and make some sort of request to be admitted. A knock or a verbal request (“Let me in, damn it!”) is sufficient. You spend a point of Glamour, and the gateway opens, provided that it can. Example doorways include:

• A Hedge gate that looks like an apartment building door that doesn’t appear on any floorplan and is ignored by passersby.

• Several rusty sewer hatches - but be careful because the pattern that covers it is the only clue as to where it goes and how dangerous it may be.

• A rarely used cleaner’s closet in an old building whose paint flakes in strange patterns.

Blended Areas

The blend of reality and creativity, imagination and truth, which assails the city’s senses in the cyberpunk era seems to have led the Hedge, both here and elsewhere, to bleed into the real world. Most people ignore it, stepping lightly over thorny vines that grow out of a nearby dumpster and meander across the road, or avoiding the staircase that leads to a garden bar with an illegible name. These Blended areas can still be quite dangerous as occasionally hobgoblins will move into these spots, attacking the unwary, or some incautious traveller will trip on a crack and fall against the thorns, losing memories to its sharp edges. Some examples include:

• An alleyway between a noodle shop and a supermarket.

• An old subway station long ignored since it was boarded up years ago.

• The back room of an Antique Store that the owner keeps forgetting about. • A single FlopCube from which hedge vines keep growing and must be trimmed back lest the neighbours be injured by them.

The Detroit Hedge


 * The River
 * Cross Road
 * Huddle Territory
 * The Nameless Highway
 * Ice Street
 * Octavia's Hollow

The Maze of Flaming Spiders


 * Goblin Market

The Swamp


 * Edge
 * Outer Reaches
 * Swamp Hag's Hut

The Deep Hedge


 * To Be Discovered