Mansion dust is gathered from the remains of rooms that have been destroyed. No one knows who collects the dust, how they enchant it, or why some rooms qualify while others don't. Some speculate that places with deep emotional resonance and importance are prime candidates. Others believe that violence and trauma surrounding the room's destruction causes it to transform when the remains enter the Hedge. A few believe that the sacrifices made for the building matter most.

Regardless, every now and then mansion dust shows up in Goblin Markets, sometimes in plain burlap sacks, urns, cremation boxes, even large preserving jars. The goblins usually charge a sizable fee for the seemingly useless contents because when they are buried in the soil of the Hedge, watered with Glamour, and fed with Willpower (two points of each per dot of the trifle), the remains conjure up the rooms they belonged to.

The reconstructed rooms are rarely accurate representations of real-life locations but they are close enough, and solid enough to remain standing. Some major items of furniture may also appear, especially if they were well used or evoked strong emotions, but often the rooms are bare. It is notable that these room have no doors into or out of the Hedge whatsoever; all such doors must be added. In exceedingly rare instances, rooms might have the remnants of old wards, but usually they have none. Each dot of mansion dust grants one room, though these rooms tend to be a bit larger than average. It is in this way that some hollows get started or are expanded.

Mansion dust can be used to start a hollow (with Storyteller permission). In such a case, the deal with the goblin market will transform the player's Hollow merit points into an actual place in the game. During character creation, this can simply be part of the backstory or prelude. During game play, each dot of mansion dust adds the prescribed number of rooms (thereby granting dots in hollow size). These rooms do not all have to be in the same style or even from the same time period. Such a hollow has absolutely no doors of any kind; they must be made. It also has no wards or amenities unless the Storyteller allows it.

Mansion dust can be used to expand a hollow that already exists. Additional rooms generally take on the amenities and wards ratings of the larger hollow. Mansion dust rooms add to the size of a hollow but will not add any doors or wards; with Storyteller permission, they might add amenities. Once the dose of dust has spawned its room(s), they cannot be moved, although there have been rumors of prized bags that can spawn and collapse rooms for transport.

Given the nature of goblin trade, however, these rooms come with quirks of their own. Some of these problems can be fixed, while others remain part of the construction itself. Mansion dust can come with any of the following drawbacks:

The walls have serious damage. There will be leaks, plants may start to grow inward from the Hedge, smaller Hedge creatures might find it easier to get in, and the walls will be easier to knock down.
The room is actually a mix of two different rooms whose remains were mixed too much.
Ghosts of former inhabitants, bound to the place, haunt the premises.

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