Woleseat

Woleseat is a city, and capital of the freehold of the same name, which lies north-east of Pembleton at the point where the river Wydow meets Lake Walden. It is divided by the river into two halves, North Woleseat and South Woleseat. The city is distinguished by its unique flint stone houses, which are split between the two floors, traditionally to become separate residences for two generations of the same family.

## Economy

Traditionally, Woleseat's primary industries have been agrarian in nature - predominantly the farming of sheep for wool and meat, alongside stone quarrying and the timber harvesting sector centred on Woleseat Freehold's substantial territorial holdings across the Greatwoods directly to its north. The freehold was long regarded as something of a rural backwater, but has been forced to change with the times in recent decades as a result of several factors: the advent of the Transcommonwealth Grand Canal Company; the establishment of the Masterworks Institute in North Woleseat; and the expansion of sheep farming in the Southern Freehold - resulting in the decline of its own sheep farming industry.

In modern times, the Transcommonwealth Grand Canal Company and its shipping subsidiaries employ approximately a quarter (24.5 per cent) of the total population, while the lumber industry is the second largest employer in the city, accounting for approximately a fifth (21 per cent) of employed workers - the industry has thrived in the wake of booming construction in cities across the northern Centrelands. Tourism represents a further fifth (19 per cent), while approximately one in 10 are employed at the Masterworks Institute or its offshoots.

Far from its historical peak of almost half the working population, the wool industry now only accounts for around eight per cent of all labourers in Woleseat. However, in light of cheaper competition from Southern Freehold wool and meat producers, the city's remaining sheep farmers have now shifted to marketing their produce as a 'premium' product - wool produced in the city is sold under the legally protected trademark of 'Wole', while Greatwood lamb is now a sought-after delicacy which the Woleseat Mutton Board promotes as being 'present at all the finest tables in the land'.

Similar to the wool industry, Woleseat's traditional stone quarrying sector has declined somewhat due to the growing popularity of mass produced clay bricks. Despite this, the Woleseat Stone Company has managed to weather the storm by promoting the carvability and durability of its product - consequently, Woleseat Stone is now a popular choice for ornamental masonry.

## History

During the time of the Old Kingdom, the City of Woleseat was a wealthy and prosperous town, being the centre of both the wool trade (from which it derives its name) and the lumber trade from the spruce trees of the Greatwoods. Its produce was exported along the length of the canals and waterways that cross the Centrelands, and the freehold's influence and wealth allowed the burghers of the city to sponsor such extravagant projects as the University of Pembleton's Woleseat College.

Woleseat's gradual decline came with the opening of the southern frontier to colonisation, with new towns on the plains southern plains such as Crossing Point being able to breed far more sheep without being limited by pre-existent land ownership laws. Furthermore, the advent of the railways made much of the traditional canal trade obsolete, with many new trade routes bypassing the old trading hub.

In recent years, the establishment of the Masterworks Institute in the city has lead to Woleseat's emergence as a major centre of technological industry, shaking free of its former reputation as a sleepy, somewhat backwards freehold. The city has benefited from the Institute's presence with the introduction of gas street lighting, a new viaduct, and even, somewhat surprisingly, the revival of the canal industry through the development of new barges from collaboration between the Masterworks and the Canal Company. Furthermore, the lumber and stone industries have continued to thrive, with the rapid expansion of neighbouring cities such as Rubellium and Pembleton growing demand for building materials immensely in recent years.

## The Two Woleseats

The 'City' of Woleseat is divided into the two settlements North and South Woleseat, which are divided by the Walden lake. The lake is fed by the river Wydow, which was incorporated into the Grand Canal.

### South Woleseat

South Woleseat is the older and better preserved of the Woleseats, however in recent years it has suffered relative decline compared to its northern counterpart. Settled in the Lesser Kingdom period as a farming colony of Pembleton, it is referenced by Mayor John Kerball in the historic Great Boke.

The South is home to a small church, dedicated to Saint Mitus, and the city's famous Watchtower; the tower, which is nowadays the meeting place of the Mayoral Council, is said to be the oldest extant freestanding wooden structure in the world, constructed shortly after the city's founding.

It is also notably home to the headquarters of both the Transcommonwealth Grand Canal Company, which owns and operates the canals which cross northern Pem, and its canal shipping subsidiary, the Transcommonwealth Canal Trading Company. The company has been based there since it was founded, however with the decline in canal trade in recent years due to the expansion of the rail network has weakened the Transcommonwealth Companies' hold over Woleseat.

For many years, the Companies pressured the Mayoral Council to suppress any the construction of a railway beyond Woleseat, with some success. However with the ascension of the Masterworks Institute in Northern Woleseat, the construction of a viaduct to North Woleseat has broken this monopoly on transport across the lake. Despite this, no railway station exists in South Woleseat to this day.

The South is also the home of the Woleseat Stone Company, a major quarrying company whose primary product, the famous Wolestone, has been used in the construction of major landmarks in the Centrelands. The quarry is also a major producer of the flint commonly used in the construction of cottages in the freehold.

### North Woleseat

Traditionally the heart of the wool trade in Woleseat, sheep pastures continue to dominate the riverside, whilst residential properties and businesses scatter the hillside to the east of North Woleseat; these features have remained largely unchanged in several centuries. In more recent times, the Masterworks Institute was established in the northernmost area of Woleseat, bordering on the Greatwoods.

This has led to the development of North Woleseat into a major academic and engineering centre, and arguably the capital of Pemblish technological innovation. While the Institute was initially small, it has rapidly grown through a mixture of government and private sector backing, and its rapid accumulation of patents across a broad range of sectors - which it then licenses to private businesses for a fee.

North Woleseat is also home to the city's only railway station - which serves both passenger and freight services in and out of the city. Consequently, travellers from South Woleseat wishing to travel by rail must first take a ferry either to the North, or to Walden.