What is Known (BCB)

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Willowgate Arcade and the Tree

• Built in the late 19th century around the lifelike tree sculpture in the central atrium.
• The Tree, more properly known as the Stone Willow according to news articles of the time, and the arcade itself were widely believed to be the work of Victor Herbert Crane, preventing any demolition of the arcade. This was found not to be the case in 2017, thus clearing the way for the demolition.
• Something happened in the 1980s, deaths may have happened. A group that included Theodore Slocum, Laylah Spenser and Fred Spears did something that stopped it, binding it in a circle of . The basement of the complex was sealed up and removed from the plans of the property.
• Those who went into the basement heard a voice or number of voices repeating a phrase over and over. If they stayed too long or too close to the roots they seemed to fall into a trance, repeating the words and harming themselves with whatever was at hand.
  • The words: Veistu, hvé rísta skal? Veistu, hvé ráða skal? Veistu, hvé fáa skal? Veistu, hvé freista skal? Veistu, hvé biðja skal? Veistu, hvé blóta skal? Veistu, hvé senda skal? Veistu, hvé sóa skal?
  • Translated: Knowest thou how to cut? Knowest thou how to rule? Knowest thou how to win? Knowest thou how to tempt? Knowest thou how to ask? Knowest thou how to bleed? Knowest thou how to kill? Knowest thou how to sacrifice?
  • Source: The Rúnatal, a section of the old norse Hávamál revealing the origin of the runes and describing Odin's sacrifice to himself for knowledge.
• Mages (Mel and Carmine) reacted badly to the basement and the roots when shown. Mel did not understand it btu said that it warped ley lines around it and called it abyssal.
• The Tree seemed to go quiescent after the incident that dragged the Children face to face with their nightmares and deeper, onto a beach of black sand under warped and unfamiliar stars. There they saw something utterly immense, a mass of fractal branches like a tree sprawled out to galactic size, falling endlessly into the depths of an endless night-black sea.
• The Tree was removed from the arcade the night before demolition was to begin. It was transported to a nondescript warehouse in a particularly unpleasant part of Morganville. Morris tailed it there and was attacked by something wolf-like.

The Willoughbys

• Willowgate Arcade is named for the Willowgate, the estate of the Willoughby family and the small town that grew up around it. Both burned in 1814.
• Ambrose Willoughby and his family emmigrated to the New Hampshire colony in 1651. Puritans from Lincolnshire, they found success in farming the land south of the nwly founded trading port of Blackmouth. Over time they prospered and farms grew into an estate on the wooded hills overlooking the Sauntain river (now culverted under Manton and Lockham).
• By the early 18th Century the area around the Willoughby estate had come to share the name of the estate and was known as Willowgate, ever in the shadow of the estate and the family.
• Matthias Willoughby, great-grandson of Ambrose was a member of the Continental Congress and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
• The fortunes of the Willoughbys ended in 1814. When Blackmouth was razed by the British, Willowgate sufffered the same fate, destroying the livelihood and claiming the lives of the Willoughby family.
  • Why did they die rather than flee? History records that Robert Willoughby (son of Matthias and family patriarch) was stubborn and proud, did not believe that the British would have reason to attack Willowgate (it would be unconscionable and uncivilised when there was no military value) and would not leave nor let his family leave.
  • Why did the British burn Willowgate? History records only sketchy details, the commander believed that Willowgate was being used by American irregulars to harass his troops, that they took the town to prevent that and in conflict or confusion fire was started in the estate and spread through the area. Historians theorise that it was the result of unclear orders.
• The only member of the Willoughby family to survive was Eleanor Marie (grand-daughter of Robert) who had been outside the Willowgate estate. She inherited the remnants of her family wealth but refused to set foot on the old estate – it was too painful for her to bear. She married Nathaniel Moth, son of a wealthy Boston family whose descendants would help shape Blackmouth in the late 19th and early 20th century.
  • Nathaniel's descendent Thomas Moth donated a large portion of his family land to the city at the turn of the 20th century after the tragic deaths of his family. The land became Moth Park, notable for the great sycamore standing in its heart.
• Willowgate lay in ruins for a generation as much resources were needed to rebuild Blackmouth itself. When it was rebuilt it was as part of the new town of Ormwood, at the request of Eleanor Willoughby-Moth to “let something new rise and those lost lie in peace”.