House Dougal
The members of House Dougal are perfectionists known for their technical acumen. Lord Dougal, the founder of the house, was a great faerie smith who devised a way to weave Glamour into steel, making it safe for faeries to use. Some say that Lord Dougal himself stayed behind on Earth during the Interregnum because of his fascination with metalwork and machines.Members of this house are very precise, both in word and deed. When a plan is made, they insist that it be carried out to the letter. Efficiency is considered the highest of virtues. Very few of them rule, preferring instead to make sure everything runs like clockwork. Because of their orderly disposition, they often work as clerks and barristers, although they perform their tasks with an intellectual flair. The rare member of House Dougal who does rule usually governs his fief in a very matter-of-fact, practical manner, but tends to deal with problems better in theory than in practice.
This ideal of perfection puts them at odds with many other fae. Few can live up to their expectations, which tends to make these sidhe even more elitist. They take their amusements far too seriously. Higher mathematics, mechanics, architecture and smithwork are common vocations for them. They're no strangers to hard work, and they firmly believe that "if you want something done right, you've got get House Dougal to do it."
When reality fails to live up to their ideals, sidhe of House Dougal tend to display one of two solutions. Their first reaction is to roll up their sleeves and redouble their efforts. In fact, they can display an amazing display of willfulness when they're desperate to make an ideal work. Should this fail, they fall into their Unseelie Legacies until they find something that stirs their idealism again. Their penchant for precision also presents a curious weakness. When witnessing a well-maintained machine or masterpiece of engineering, they can become enraptured. Some attain a state of reverie and can contemplate such things for hours. Through hard work, perhaps, reality can be fixed to imitate the ideal.
The blazon of House Dougal is or, an arm embowed maintaining a hammer sable on a chief gules three cogwheels or (Three gold gears on a red field above a black arm and hammer on a gold field.)
Boon: Members of House Dougal are strong-willed and known for their ability to invest Glamour into everything they do. Once per story, a member of this house can convert portion of her temporary Glamour points into temporary Willpower points (up to the level of her permanent Willpower). This must be done during some sort of physical exertion: working, exercising or participating in combat.
Flaw: Physical reality seems flawed to these fae, just as they are flawed. Only through hard work can they overcome these flaws. Sidhe of this house always have a physical handicap that must be compensated for. This is usually something that can be corrected by cunningly Grafted smithwork: a mechanical leg for a club foot, an intricate eyepiece for poor vision, and so on. These handicaps are present, though not always as visible, in their mortal seemings.
Exile: During the Resurgence, the sidhe of House Dougal were exiled to Earth because of their fascination with technology. The current ruler of the house tells a story of building a massive siege engine, just prior to the resurgence, to defend the gates of Arcadia from mortal invaders. The threat was highly exaggerated, and the havoc wrought by the infernal device disgraced them. Sidhe troubadours tell and retell legends of the mechanical monster created by High Lord Donovan. Each tale ends differently, as no one can fully remember it.
High Lord Donovan currently resides in a freehold built around a factory in the western lands of the Kingdom of Apples. While the factory itself is an empty husk in the mortal world, within the Dreaming, it is a fortress of chimerical inventions. A dozen nockers apprentice within the Freehold of the Forge each year.