Winston

Winston, capital of the colony of Farinia in Saldonia, was built upon the highest handful of summits of a ridge of hills stretching between the White Mountains and the coast. Each of Winston's six fiercely proud neighborhoods, each positioned on a different summit, believes itself to be the "true" Winston, the others being just pale imitations. In years past, fractious disputes between the hills sometimes erupted into vicious street fighting. This forced succeeding governments to station more and more troops in the city simply to keep the peace. Even now, long after Winston's residents have arrived at their own unique way to settle the quarrel, tradition still makes it one of the larger military stations in Saldonia.
Cobblestone streets wind their way amid elongated buildings of rosy brick and dark wood. The highest stories sometimes actually lean against each other like old comrades, making rooftops a thrilling playground for the city's children. Each hill also boasts a full complement of identical public buildings arrayed on the open square at the top. However, only one set gets used during any given year; something determined by the arkmelon festival.
Winston's residents prize the obscure arkmelon, despite the fact that their city earns its reputation as a source of fine wine and other delicacies, not to mention furniture, musical instruments, and other pieces of quality woodworking. With a rind of ghostly silver, the arkmelon quickly ferments on its own once plucked from the vine. Though this makes it almost impossible to preserve, it also gives it an increasingly potent kick before finally becoming inedible. During the hottest days of summer, cartloads of arkmelons pass through Winston's gates—ammunition for a citywide food fight. Over the 5-day festival, everything in town shuts down as the neighborhoods celebrate another year and strategize for the festival's final day, on which every resident runs riot with overripe arkmelons, squads from each neighborhood barraging each other with pulp and juice to decide which hill gets to claim primacy for the next year. At the end of the festival, the Governor declares the winner by moving his headquarters to one of the hills. As a sign of their superior status, winning citizens wear red hats for the following month and lord their victory over the other five hills.
Winstonites love spectacle and usually choose the finest things they can afford. They avoid wearing red, except of course when their hill wins the ark melon festival, and frequently experience an instinctive dislike for visitors who do. When facing aggressive or demanding people, Winstonites sometimes blurt out, "Who gave you the red hat?" They also spend a great deal of time musing about genealogy and referencing their own family trees, and often use their own family trees as metaphors. Most Winstonites claim the ability to trace their ancestry back to the founding of the city, and that the residents of the other hills came from somewhere else.
Category:Locations
Category:Locations in Farinia
Category:Locations in Saldonia
Category:Small Cities
Category:Settlements
Category:Settlements in Saldonia