Grande Ballroom (CTD)

The Grande Ballroom is the Kithain name for the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco.

Overview

Side by side with an unusual manifestation of Banality, the Civic Center Plaza nonetheless is a central gathering point for the Kithain of San Francisco. Each day the shadow of the Federal Building sweeps over nearby United Nations Plaza, bringing with it a deadening zone of Banality. For Kithain trapped within that creeping darkness, it is as if the world has suddenly become painfully, personally real in its everyday drabness. Just as many human suicides choose the Golden Gate Bridge for their final plummet, some Kithain choose the United Nations Plaza for their last taste of Glamour.

This is not to say that the Civic Center Plaza is a morgue for dreams. Nothing could be further from the truth. When the mortals are not looking, or even sometimes when they are, great fae dances are held here. The stone of the Plaza, drab and bubblegummed to mortal eyes, appears to changelings to be cunningly inlaid with semi-precious stones of staggering size. Were the scene to be viewed from the air (and there were no fae or mortals to obstruct the view) the Plaza would seem to be a map of the moon, done as it might have been instead of how it is. Turquoise represents the seas which we "know" to be dusty rock, amethyst shadows the edge of the night side, and gleaming alabaster traces the faintest suggestion of a smiling face.

However, the Plaza is not merely to be gazed at. It is intended to be danced upon, and danced upon it is. The Kithain form great circles, often sweeping unsuspecting mortals into their midst, while the street buskers and fiddlers play for all they're worth. Often the din from this gloriously ragged revelry is loud enough to tickle the ears of the operagoers. In fact, the struggle between the street people and the theatregoers for the "right" to the Plaza was as much a war between the nobles and commoners as anything else, as the sidhe preferred the more refined entertainments inside while the many commoners preferred a less restrictive evening's entertainment.

References

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