Wilston

"Autumn in Wilston," Martin of Certua CE 980

## Historic Sigil

"Felix the Red Fox," an important symbol for Wilstonites

**Wilston** is a major city in *Corrivalia*, less than fifty miles from Certusa. It is about twenty miles from the coast of the Broken Gulf, built in the hilly grasslands during Goodfellow occupation of *Corrivalia*. The city was built initially with a fortress to protect surrounding lands, and later expanded to include many amenities associated with large cities today. After the fall of Lenorum during the Merovian Schism, Wilston grew especially as a place for traders and merchants traveling to and from Certusa by land.

The city of Wilston itself is unique among large cities in that it is not featured directly upon the coast nor built on a river. Its initial purpose was as a defensive structure for the remnants of the Olivian Army to store supplies and distribute them among their legions. Later, it would grow as a place for farmers in *Corrivalia* to readily drop off bushels of crops and grain, as many Cagot caravans continued to stop in Wilston long after the end of Goodfellow rule.

Its most striking feature is its citadel, Regivala, which sits in the eastern part of the city between its many buildings and the expanses of farmland over the grassy hills. It is also called "The Jewel of *Corrivalia*" and the "Hidden City."

## Origin and founding myth

The founding story of the city, as well as its name, come from its status after the Perthic Wars. The general Attacus Rex devastated the countryside of *Corrivalia* in an effort to get the region to bend to his will, to no avail. For the next two centuries, Corrivalia would remain in a dreadful state, many of its rivers and lakes toxic and its soil infertile. However, after the Castigation of Espios, Gaius Virilo Olivius had the remaining educated class in Lenorum research how to cleanse the soils of *Corrivalia*.

Aside from the massive undertaking of this project and its occult implications, the site of Wilston was the test site for the resulting *terra-preta*, making its soil some of the finest and most fertile in Arborea. Shrubs and trees began to grow again, sporadically, in its soil on their own, and on a visit to moniter its progress, accompanied by his 1st Legion of the Fox, Gaius Olivius spotted a wild fox darting between the trees. Olivius called the area *Vulpenon*, a play on words using the Dwarvish *vulpes*, or fox, as its root.

Over time, a supernatural trickster and protector became associated with the town, being something of a local legend and a patron deity. The entity was said to take the form of a fox and protect the town, especially the citadel, from falling into the wrong hands. When the Goodfellow garrison was ousted in CE 498 by the Falians, the next day, it began to snow, a rare event in this part of Arborea. This prevented the Falians from fortifying the town, and left it as an overlooked settlement in their short-lived rule. The apocryphal story concludes with a tale regarding a red fox bounding through the town's roads in the snow, around the fortress and leaving no pawprints.

The deity, called Felix, is said to have been lonely and wanted company, and went out of its way to have a town form around his grasslands to play with the people who lived there. For this, the name *Wilston* comes from Ascani Common roots, meaning "town of will" or "desired place," in reference to the tale of Felix "willing" the town into existence.