Willow's Heart is the Royal Fief of King Meilge of Willows and corresponds to the mortal state of Georgia, United States of America.
Overview[]
Encompassing the metropolitan area of Atlanta and all of Georgia, King Meilge's domain reflects both his Seelie and Unseelie natures. It includes some of the most progressive and industrialized parts of the Kingdom, while harboring large areas of rural poverty and provincial-minded people. Though it serves as the center of the Kingdom of Willows, many changelings see instead a rotten core at the kingdom's heart.
Physical Geography[]
Willow's Heart stretches eastward from the Chattahoochee River, which forms its western boundary with the Duchy of Cotton, to the Atlantic Ocean and the Savannah River on its eastern boundary with the Duchy of Palmetto. On the north, it borders the Duchy of Appalachia, while it extends southward as far as the Kingdom of the White Sands.
The region's landscape features the Appalachian foothills in the northern part of the region, broad central plains in the region's heartland, and a 100-mile-long coastal stretch of sandy beaches and exclusive island resorts. Near the White Sands border, the Okefenokee Swamp (now the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge) is a priceless ecological preserve featuring rare and vanishing species of plants and wildlife... an earthly paradise for pooka.
Major Cities & Landmarks[]
Atlanta and the North-Central Area[]
The South's largest metropolis, located in the heart of central Georgia, expresses the diverse interests of the new South. Atlanta simultaneously steeps itself in history and competes with the rest of the country in urban growth and economic prosperity. The spiritual center of the Old South, Atlanta has also served as one of the major bases of the civil rights movement. Its eclectic population includes many northern transplants, as well as a varied mix of Caucasians, African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and Asian-Americans. Changelings of all kith make their homes amid the skyscrapers and suburbs, drawing on the many resources of Glamour available in Atlanta.
Downtown[]
The city's hub boast a skyline of towering, architecturally distinctive skyscrapers, asserting its claim to metropolitan status. At night, the colorful lights glimmering from most of these steel-and-glass sentinels transform the city into a breathtaking landscape of multicolored hues, masking the urban sprawl and squalor too evident during the glaring light of day. King Meilge's own freehold claims pride of place as one of the most eccentric skyscrapers in the area, while Baroness Sabrina and her mortal husband occupy the penthouse floor of an exclusive residential building in the downtown area. Notable sites include the Renaissance-style Georgia State Capitol, the CNN Center, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. The Georgia Dome (home of the Atlanta Falcons) plays host to sports-minded Kithain who feed on the Glamour generated by hopeful fans, while Underground Atlanta (a six-block subterranean compels of shops, restaurants, and clubs) provides the backdrop for a daily feast on the wonder of tourists and the occasional Kithain party. Satyrs frequent the Underground, hoping for the chance to arrange interesting trysts.
Midtown[]
Once a haven for the counterculture of the '60s and '70s. the region just north of downtown Atlanta now serves as a center for gays, young professionals, and rising artists and musicians. Midtown shows it connection to Atlanta's changelings through the Science and Technology Museum of Atlanta (a favorite hangout of the city's nockers), the high Museum of Art (frequented by fewer Kithain, but notable for its attraction to the sidhe), and the Atlanta Botanical Garden, which holds enduring interest for pooka, satyr, and boggan alike. The classic, Egyptian style Fox Theatre is a landmark and a treasure to all Atlanta's Kithain.
Outlying Districts[]
While the Buckhead, Virgina Highlands, Druid Hill, and Emory University regions that surround central Atlanta contain other cultural and historic sites, their main attraction for changelings are their numerous art galleries, eateries, and night spots. Even the sluagh find darker, quieter pursuits to entertain them in this region, which caters to young, creative Atlanteans.
Savannah & the Coast[]
Once Georgia's most important city due to its prestige as a port city, Savannah now basks in the faded glories of history, yet begins to look toward its future as a center for both a newly revived shipping trade and a rising center of manufacturing. And, of course, there are the tourists who flock to one of the few major Georgia cities that Sherman did not burn.
Savannah's Historic Center draws Kithain drawn to its romantic view of the past, while the River Street Train Museum serves as the site for the Annual Nockers Rail Fest. The city's sluagh population frequents the Colonial Park Cemetery, the site of many colonial graves. The bustling Port of Savannah functions as the largest port between New Orleans and Baltimore; its revitalized wharf area provides shopping and dining for tourists, and is the defacto center for Kithain activity in the city.
Since the 1994 publication of John Berendt's nonfiction novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, residents of Savannah have wholeheartedly embraced the seamy, steamy, underside depicted in this socio-cultural true-crime story. Many of the sites mentioned in the book, such as the Mercer House, the Chatham County Courthouse, and the Bonaventure Cemetery, have become major tourist attractions, as well as unofficial gathering places for the city's Shadow Court.
The Natural Kingdom's Heart[]
Willow's Heart's coastal islands form a decorative fringe that wanders lazily down the Atlantic coast between Savannah and the Kingdom of the White Sands. Including Cumberland, Jekyll, St. Simon's, and Sea Island, among others, these sub-tropical environments serve as exclusive resorts, private retreats, public beaches, and wildlife preserves. Drawing artists with their wild splendor, the Sea Islands also attract Kithain eager to nature that inspiration.
Straddling the border between Willows and White Sands, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge represents the largest undisturbed wetlands environment in Concordia and harbors an enormous peat bog, as well as stands of virgin cypress, pine islands, and a network of natural canals. Rumors of a mixed satyr-pooka pirate base occasionally surface, usually in time for a "swamp-crawling party" sometime around Samhain when those who plan to attend are expected to don their best buccaneering gear and follow strategically placed Jolly Roger markers to the site of the gathering.
Enchanted Places[]
Dramatis Personae[]
Kithain[]
Non-Kithain[]
References[]
- CTD: Kingdom of Willows, p. 50-52
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