Koffie Heuwel
Seelie
Durban contains many Seelie commoners and the current nobles in power likewise are of a Seelie bent. This exposes just how hypocritical the Seelie can be, however, because for all their talk of nurturing Glamour, they’re quick to forget or even defend their colonial-era behaviors. Newer generations of faeries fortunately are less defensive and more inclined towards true reconciliation.
Nobles
The Sidhe ruling in Durban today did not Chrysalize here. They instead hailed from the Kingdom of Flowers and Kingdoms of Albion. House Gwydion dominates. They did not seize any freeholds from the commoners but rather earned them through helping to defend all such sites against Emere attacks. They occupy only one freehold but have built it up grandly. It is located in the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve, located in the Yellowwood suburb southwest of the city proper. Hidden deep within the reserve (though open limitedly to the public, so something of a hidden gem for tourists) is the Coedmore Castle, an old stone estate that the Gwydion now occupy, calling it Caer Geelhart (a Level 4 Holding).
Commoners
Trolls were the first Kithain in Durban, back when it was known as the Natal Colony. Pooka soon followed with the promise of exotic animals to “play with”. Boggans and others then arrived and later a great many Eshu. To date, the (Seelie) Eshu are the only chance of peace with the Emere. They eschew staying in Kithain-controlled freeholds as a symbol of reconciliation and speak always of diplomacy.
Commoners control several mews and hearths around Durban, including in public gardens, parks, and nature reserves. Most famously, a Boggan-run coffee shop called Koffie Heuwel (Coffee Hill; a Level 4 Holding) thrives in the more affluent Berea Ridge district of Durban. Here, nightly poetry slams convey the faeries’ mixed feelings about their heritage and rights and lives in South Africa. Many commoners are of mixed ethnicity as it stands.
Unseelie
The Unseelie have long established themselves in Durban, too. The first, a corby of Redcaps, arrived with the British colonists in the early 19th-century. They gleefully engaged in chimerical (and often real) warfare with the weakening Emere. And unlike their Seelie counterparts, they don’t pretend to feel the least bit bad about it. Furthermore, they gleefully scorn apartheid and have a genuine record of always doing so (just like Glamour, fear and pain should be shared with all, after all).
Nobles
The only exception to the rule regarding disavowal of segregation practices are the Unseelie nobles in Durban, who are dominated by House Aesin. Of course, Aesin believes in segregation from all “lesser” beings, so that’s hardly anything new. These Sidhe arrived in the 90s, fighting side by side with Gwydion against the Emere and other threats. However, they were not rewarded for their efforts, and were forced to seize a small manor (Level 2 Holding) from an old Satyr Grump retiree. It is called now Cat Arend, found in the Kloof suburbs northwest of the city proper.
Commoners
Redcaps are most common and a few corbies have formed. A sub-species of the Redcap Kith, found also in the Americas, as a result of the mingling between whites and colonized blacks, is known in Durban. These Blackcaps decry apartheid and lingering white racism, though often end up just butting heads with other Redcap corbies. They command fewer holdings of any size than their Seelie counterparts.
The Gallain
There are three significant kinds of Gallain in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal. The first, already mentioned, are the Emere. The others are a clutch of hsien and a city of Merfolk off-shore (discussed below). Here the Emere will be more covered. Tikoloshe are the family most native to the Zulu and Thembu peoples and can be found scattered in the bush near the more rural and traditional settlements of these peoples. Hai-uri also roam the bush, closer to the Drakenberg Mountain border. Both families count among the more frightening sorts of Emere (and are thus assumed to be of the “Unseelie” persuasion). There is nearly no organization now that the Shaka Pact was shattered.
However, the Burman Bush—a nature reserve located southeast of the city proper near the affluent suburb of Morningside—has become more important. Despite that neighborhood’s wealth, the Burman Bush park has earned a reputation for criminal violence. This is in at least part due to the Emere haunting the trails and harassing hikers (skin color notwithstanding, since culture is what defines and empowers Pure Land fae, not “race”). It may very well become a staging ground for the Emere’s eventual rebellion and assault against the Kithain. Within the forest, a band of Tikoloshe have reawakened a moderately sized Font (Level 3 Holding) fed by the nearby Blue Lagoon and gather their Ase (Glamour). This band calls itself Izindonga Ezidiliziwe (“Shattered Walls”), and their intentions are clear in their name alone.
The Hsien
The hsien in Durban are a very different story from the native Emere. The hsien, entirely of the Shinma courts, accompanied the heavy immigration of the South and East Asian workers and merchants to the city. Indian and Hindi influence waxes strongest among these changelings. While a significant immigration population does exist, the number of hsien remains small—barely enough to call itself a court. Some arrived (and have been reborn since) with the first waves of immigrants in the 19th-century, but most have arrived more recently in the newer waves who retain and infuse the diaspora with fresh Asian cultural reverence.
Thus, the Shinma created a court, naming it Heeradil ka Darabaar (Court of Diamondheart). The court is dominated by Wu Hsien (“commoners”) though the leadership claims Yü titles and authority. These hsien watch over and guide their immigrant kin as they would in their homelands of India (especially Southern Tamils), Bangladesh, Pakistan, and farther east. They remain insulated from the affairs of Kithain and Gallain, claiming allegiance to neither side. That said, their court’s temple was built on a Dragon Nest that once surely belonged to the Emere. Both sides seek to drag the hsien into the conflict and hope to make allies of them.
The kamuii dominate leadership positions. Most of the Wu Hsien are hirayanu, as usual. All of the core Kwannon-jin are fairly represented.
Dragon Nest
The hsien claimed a Level 2 Dragon Nest and helped build the Umbilo Shri Ambalavanaar (First River Temple), which actually houses three temples in one, dedicated to Shiva, Draupadi (a goddess of beauty), and Mariamman (an incarnation of Durga, goddess of rain and war). The yugen can be accessed by praying or meditating before any of those three shrines. The Shinma personally ensure the temple’s upkeep. It’s located on the western side of the Umbilo district of the city, placing it near the center of Durban.
Merfolk
Ur’hac’coul, the City of the Lost Gyre, provides home to a population of Merfolk off the shores of Durban. Their coral city lies three miles away just off the sea shelf past, beyond, and through secret tunnels of the Aliwal Shoal. The Shoal is a great reef mass, complex and riddled with old sea caves. Most of these are dead ends and lairs of various fish and other sea life (including plenty of sharks). Only the Mer know the single path that leads down into the abyss to their impressive secret underwater city, hidden among the Mists of time. Lorelei patrols guard these paths, local sharks not only a problem for these Merfolk warriors but often allies (even mounts). House Syrinx dominates the city as they often do, maintain a throne in a Level 3 Grotto. The Merfolk have chosen to avoid any substantial relationships with any of the Kithain. They dwelled here long before the Kithain did and had a trade agreement set up with the Emere and some choice mortals. In fact, these Mer are quite African themselves… They tend to interact more with the Rokea, Narqual, and other aquatic denizens of the Indian Ocean than land-dwellers.
