The Glass Court
The Glass Court: the crystalline, elven people who hold the western uplands, forge the crowns and take the exiles as labour and as minds for their crowns.
An off-world crystalline people who came long before the exiles. They hold the western uplands, forge Neuro-Crowns and field Wardens. They mine the basin floor and take exiles as labour and as minds to calibrate crowns on.
Ruler: Regent of Facets. Soldiers: Wardens.
Who they are
The Glass Court is an off-world people who reached Earth long before the exiles. They are tall and elven, pale and luminous, and they build in crystal: cities of fused salt-glass, faceted towers, a signal tower of pale glass on the Atlantic cliffs. They hold the western uplands from Britain to the Alps and down the Spanish plateau, and their capital, Saltcrown, stands on the Balearic ridge above the Salt Deep. Their ruler is the Regent of Facets.
The Court extracts. It mines the dry basin floor for crown-stuff, and it takes exiles as labour and as minds to calibrate crowns on. The Receiving House sits where the Rift opens, so many new arrivals end up in the Court's hands before they ever see the camp. Causeway, at the foot of the ridge road, is where the taken are counted and sent to the mines.
How they fight
The Court's soldiers are the Wardens, crowned and disciplined, carrying lances. Beside them come three elites in stained-glass plate:
- the Lucent, a tall melee fighter with a two-handed crystal blade, who closes in
- the Iridant, a psychic caster whose Glare, a lance of refracted light, dazzles the exile it hits
- the Scintle, who flings crystal splinters from mid range
Wardens are always the core of a Court force. The elites join as a force grows, and every siege brings a Lucent. All of them act together in the Wardens' turn. Their stats, weapons and behaviour are on the Glass Court's enemy page.
What taking their places gives
The Court's cities are worth more than ground. The Anvil forges crowns. Stormlantern sees the whole map. The Span charges salvage. Causeway holds captive exiles. The Receiving House catches the Rift's arrivals. And Saltcrown is half of the campaign's victory. See places.
The rivalry
The Court and the Brine Choir are not allies. Both came from other worlds, separately, and Earth is the prize between them. They fight at their shared borders, trading regions, and the Singing Mere faces Saltcrown across the salt as the flashpoint between them. On a battlefield the two never share a pod and keep their distance from each other. Their war wears them down, which opens chances for the exiles. See the war.