i heard they made two of the Unseelie houses more playable

[Konradleijon]

The weekly Leanhaun Rhapsody was a typo. It was meant to be monthly. Still virtually unplayable until c20.

Wait where did you get that from?

[Saint Michael]

Very old errata from the original White Wolf site.

[Erinys]

I only know about the Sidhe houses from the Wiki. I'm wondering what the Balor are if their .... um, entire schtick is gone. No longer buddies with Thallain or Fomorian servants? No longer always Unseelie? ... What does that leave them with, besides their frailty? Are they still even descended partly from Fomorians or was that also split off into the Sevartal?

I guess I must be the only one who likes the Unseelie Court political changes. I mean, I wish they'd updated the legacies a bit, but it seems to me like with Ailil, Daireann, Varich, Aesin and Danaan you now have a court that would believably have taken over for half the year back in the day. They're a little colder, a lot more independent and a lot less romantic but could be good people too. Daireann, with their poison and potions expertise combined with a sense of honor that hinges on hospitality -- which is all the more important in the cold winter months -- seems like a great Unseelie House to show the nuance possible with an Unseelie character.

I saw the Aesin that way but if they're now allowed to experience empathy for humans (dang meatsuit messing with my mind!) then that also makes them more sympathetic.

The Shadow Court split up makes sense if you consider the C20 a continuation of 2E, and believe the earlier Shadow Court had been Balor, Ailil, and Leanhaum accepting Thallain, but the arrival of the other Houses (Varich, Aesin, and Daireann all expressed anti-Thallain and anti-Balor opinions in Book of Lost Houses) and then the Evanescence threw everything up in arms. Sevartal were not part of the Shadow Court 2E, and I think the surfacing of a Thallain version of Sidhe would certainly be enough to cause a Shadow Court reorganization that would split the Black Court and the Old Guard. The New Generation Shadow Court makes sense in the idea that Unseelie are supposed to be independent, forward-looking, and willing to accept the harsh truths of the world as opposed to Seelie, and makes sense based on the old 2E stuff that a lot of commoners went Unseelie due to dissatisfaction with Seelie conservative leaders.

Balor and Leanhaum seem like straight up villains to me still, and for my game I have them pretty much in the Black Court trying to wrest power from Thallain, with everyone else from the Seelie Court to the Old Guard Shadow Court understanding that Thallain are nightmares and a threat.

I find this immensely more interesting to play than the idea that the Unseelie nobility is all just fronting for the Shadow Court which is basically being manipulated by Balor and Thallain.

So what are the new divisions of the Shadow Court? Black Court allied with Thallain and Fomorians and other baddies, Old Guard just trying to re-establish the seasonal cycle of rule?