Overview

The Porcelain Queen (Commontongue), also Rhiannon (Feytongue \riænən\ for great queen), is named for her porcelain attire. The Grey King (Commontongue), also Arawn (Feytongue \ˈɑraʊn\ for exalted one) is named for his colorless appearance. Like all Strange Gods, lore about The Porcelain Queen and The Grey King is rare and incomplete. Mostly it comes from scholars who study Bleak Gods and Orisons that have served the two Fey monarchs. Unlike most Fey God pairs, they are considered siblings and not romantic.

They are the co-rulers of the Lower Bone Court and gods to Bodachs and Bogles.

History

The Porcelain Queen and The Grey King arose together during the early Dark Age, when Elves migrated Pelithos after The Fall, circa 1395.

Arcadian myths say that the two were not originally separate beings, but that they split into two when they ascended to Strange Godhood.

Description

The Porcelain Queen appears as an Elven child, roughly seven years of age. She wears an anachronistic, fancy, worn, dirty dress and her skin is covered in smudges of dirt. Her hair is in a fancy, braided bun, but is matted and stiff with dirt. She wears a porcelain doll mask that completely covers her face. The mask is starkly white, glaringly in contrast with her dirty clothes and skin. The porcelain mask is pristine, except for one crack on the forehead.

The Grey King appears as a tall, gaunt, desiccated man, stooped over, but still immense and towering. His body is wrapped in layers upon layers of robes, resembling burial shrouds and funerary vestments. His hands tremble constantly. His skin and clothing is completely without color, all in shades of grey. His thin hair is long and wispy.

Personality

The Porcelain Queen is curious, attentive, and sincere. She innocently asks questions without understanding their sensitivity. She delights in caregiving rituals: feeding pets, mending broken toys, arranging dolls just so. Her Bleak nature is revealed by her need to lose, break, or abandon the things she cares for, hurting every time.

The Grey King is melancholic, patient, and exhausted beyond despair. He remembers everything, but it brings him only sorrow. He speaks slowly, often losing his train of thought midway through a sentence, less from confusion than from lack of purpose.

The two cling to each other desperately, never far from each other and often holding hands. The Queen clings to him as a constant presence and the King looks upon her with his last shadows of joy. Neither can exist without the other.

Strange Philosophy

Things have meaning because they end.

The Lower Bone Court espouse the teachings of The Porcelain Queen and The Grey King, which are that meaning arises from impermanence. The Court believes that Arcadians lost meaning when they lost the ability to die, it is their deepest flaw. They are obsessed with Mortals, in particular their birthing and funerary rituals. They idealize impermanence as a virtue.

Orisons

Most Orisons of The Porcelain Queen and The Grey King are Bogles and Bodachs, numerous within the Court. Mortals who form pacts with these monarchs often include:

The bereaved
Elders who are near death (albeit briefly)
Undertakers, menders, and caretakers of abandoned things

Notable Orisons

Adeline Fendred (c. 2195), aging beauty of Acrolon in the Dawn Age, made a pact with the monarchs to avoid aging. She lived for several more decades with untarnished beauty, then vanished from the world. People say that she visits dreamers on occasion, apparently in great distress, though they can't remember why.