GLITTER GULCH
Bull and Bear Motley
Carmelo Mihai (Moriganna)
Charlie Swift (Link)
Marisol Corazon (Claire)
Uisce Nairne (Suzy)
Rank 3; Market; Affinity: Primary - Props, Secondary - Fae

Appearance
Glitter Gulch is located in the westernmost section of Vegas� dazzling Fremont Street, and for all intents and purposes, appears to be five blocks filled with a variety of shops and entertainment bound to spark the imagination. Gaudy, flashing neon signs announce the presence of each business. Wares range from perfumes, costumes, avant guard fashions, jewelry, antiques, alcoholic beverages, renaissance weaponry replicas, and more. Foods to please all tastes and cultures line Fremont Street, and most restaurants and pubs are packed on any given night. Entertainment includes such things as burlesque dancers, tribute performers, Wild West re-enactment shows, magician acts, and death-defying acrobatics. The Glitter and Glitz of the Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a convenient front for a faerie market.

Most of the shops are hidden in plain sight, either back rooms in existing attractions or accessed by doors not visible to mundane eyes. There are strict rules at the market, though enforcing these rules has proven to be a problem in the past. The Freehold doesn't cover the entire five-block area, but seems to be wherever Changeling shops have been established, giving the Freehold a checkerboard, random feel. Some of the shops have been around longer than most fae in town can remember.

GLITTER GULCH SHOPS
If you would like a character to have a shop in Glitter Gulch, treat it as a "regular" business application. Submit with the character sheet or submit after C approval to: vegasinshadow@gmail.com.

History of Glitter Gulch and The Bear and Bull Motley
Years ago, when Las Vegas was just beginning, two friends recognized the potential glamour of the city. The County of Shining Lights wasn't in existence then. Nor was the Duchy of Shifting Sands. But these friends, just barely past their Childing days, decided to stake their claim. Known to most as Bull and Bear, the troll and Nocker established a small Freehold they dubbed Two Brothers. They suspected that the city around them would grow and that their business would expand. But things went from steady to tourist attraction faster than they anticipated. And the Two Brothers market was expanded and given a new name, Glitter Gulch. The motley of two became a motley of three and then a motley of five. And despite the shifting of the county around them, neither the commoners in control nor the Freehold itself suffered. The stability of Glitter Gulch has attracted many changelings and encouraged them to set up shop - with the motley's permission of course - along Freemont Street. The motley in control of the Freehold rotates, bringing in new members when others move on (in one way or another). But in deference to the two visionaries who first founded the Freehold, the motley is still called Bull and Bear. The assumption that the name is a nod to market trend technology isn't normally corrected.

Information
To access the faerie market, changeling and enchanted mortals or prodigals only need to find the doors not visible to human eyes. These portals, known as raths, can never be found at the same location twice. Only the Bear and Bull Motley knows where the portals are at any given time. Either by searching for them or plying the information out of the motley can changeling travel to the Near-Dreaming surrounding the Gulch. A Perception + Kenning Roll, Diff 6, is required for any commoners to follow the pull of Glamour to the current location of the rath Diff 8 for Sidhe.

Once in the Near-Dreaming, changeling can view Glitter Gulch as it was meant to be seen, no longer a checkerboard of shops as it appears in the Mundane World. A silver trod runs through the center of parallel establishments: shops, restaurants, pubs, and entertainment venues. Even the sidewalks lining the streets are spotted with vendors selling their wares under the open air. The feel is that of an Arabian Nights market mixed with the modern glitz of technology and an Italian carnival. Wandering minstrels, fire-dancers, traveling actors, comedians, and other entertainers travel the market.

At the very end of the trod is a massive mosaic building. The silver trod passes beneath an archway build into the structure. This is known as the Gulch Museum and the Bear and Bull�s headquarters. Any changeling with market space are allowed to visit, as are other fae with questions and curiosities about the Freehold. The open door policy doesn�t extend to the heart of the Freehold, and the location of the Balefire is only known to a select few.

As the freehold is strictly a market, there is no place for Changeling to stay a spell unless they�ve secured the permission of the Bear and Bull Motley to rest in a room at their head quarters.

Those who attempt to search for the Balefire without the permission of the motley will find a plethora of dangers awaiting them. Traps magically spring from nothing. Doors lock changeling in rooms, send them through a maze of rooms, or dump them into a pocket realm in the Near-Dreaming. Hallways start to stretch endlessly or send the intruder wandering in circles. Chandeliers fall from ceilings that were empty a second ago. Chimerical guardians leave their paintings to defend the freehold. Some paintings even draw the intruder inside, trapping them until they�re finally set free. Looking glasses mesmerize changelings with their own appearances. Some rooms are even known to sport fantastical modern contraptions, such as massive, spinning saw blades, moving lasers that cut through flesh and bone, blaring klaxons, plush rugs that swallow changeling whole, and chimerical robots. This does not mean that finding the Balefire is impossible, though it certainly seems that way to some aspirant Glamour snatchers.

Anti-monarchist sentiments run rampant in the Gulch as the commoner residents are fiercely proud and protective of their autonomy. While there are strict rules about the hospitality of the freehold, they are often overlooked by the commoner militia called The Minute Men that police the market. Many Sidhe and ennobled commoners have been the target of pranks, and most are only too happy to turn a blind eye to these antics. Unless the Bear and Bull specifically takes a Sidhe or ennobled commoner under their protection, it�s open season on any that wander into the Gulch.

Beyond the Gates of the Gulch, the trod takes changeling out into a desert where open-night market is held during important changeling holidays, particularly commoner celebrated ones. After immediately passing beneath the arches, day shifts to a brilliant starry night. The light of blazing bonfires beckon consumers onwards into the open market. Exotic Eshu manage to return from their wanderings on open market nights as they are especially fond of selling their wares and stories here. Where the trod runs, the sand glitters silver, and past the open market is desert land of wild imagination.

Leaving the silver trod isn�t recommended. Those who wander from the shining path abruptly find themselves in the middle of the Desert of Eternal Night, at the mercy of the Nightmares that roam the ever dark desolation. Finding their way home, if they survive the nightmare chimerical beasts prowling the desert, is arduous.