Aquaine People

Episode 22
Vincent calls Doc Berry by way of Sending, briefly explaining that the lower planes were bleeding into Wheldon and asking for any help. Doc Berry casts Sending back, saying that he had been to Wheldon to treat some "interesting rot" on the head of the families there. He also says that the Wheldon area has always had a history of extraplanar activity, and he recommends asking the Aquaine people, since they had been able to keep the bleed at bay.

Vincent doesn't know much about the Aquaine people, but has he thinks about the time they've spent in Wheldon, he thinks about the clocktower, which hasn't rung since they entered town.

Episode 23
Selk tells Azzurum that the Aquaine people were the indigenous people of the western coast of Aphra, where Wheldon and the Sovereignty now are. The Aquaine people are long gone, and although Selk has a bit of a connection with them (the symbols of Umberlee in her home), Astrid would be their best bet for finding out more information.

Astrid explains that the Aquaine people were forced out of their lands by the Starlight Sovereignty, but generally, this area used to be a settlement for indigenous worshipers of Umberlee. At the time, they didn't have the clocktower, but they did have the bell. Then, when Wheldon was built, the people of Wheldon moved the bell into the clocktower in "remembrance" of the Aquaine people, and they've left it up to keep up appearances even as they've shoved those people down into the undercity.

The bell originated as an artifact from the worship of Umberlee. In this area where Wheldon now stands was one of the Vandric trees - a tree planted by one of the primordial gods - and left in that tree was a bell. The tree itself was said to be gorgeous, with vibrant leaves in hues of blue, and the fruit was full of juice, or a water of life, that sustained the Aquaine people. They would ring the bell to give thanks to Umberlee and ask for her protection. When the Aquaine people were forced out, the tree wilted, and Wheldon was built on top of it.