Marrianburgh

Marrianburgh is a massive port in the north-west of The Empire located in the province of The Lowlands. Marienburg has long been the largest and most prosperous trading city inEurope . Many call it the City of Gold which alone conveys a good idea of the wealth of this sprawling cosmopolitan city. Nowhere else can be found the vast array of shops selling goods from as far away as the Elven kingdoms of Ulthuan in the west and distant Cathay in the east. The city’s craftsmen represent every skill known to man, and a few others beside, so that it is said in Marienburg there is no activity that cannot be quickly turned to profit. Many mercantile guilds have their headquarters in Marienburg, most important of all the secretive High Order of Honorable Freetraders which represents the elite amongst mercantile society. This large, rich and ambitious body of men feel themselves shackled by the old order and are eager to seize power for themselves.

Marriangburgh was founded later then basically every other city in the Lowlands, and thus its rise was extremely shocking. It was first founded when the army of Sigmar made its way into the Lowlands during the campaign to control the lands of what today is The Empire. During this one of Sigmar's most able commanders remained behind in the Lowlands and during this stay he would become hateful towards the nobility in the Lowlands so he basically picked a new city from where he would rebuild the aristocracy of the region.

Geography

Climate

Marrianburgh has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb), strongly influenced by its proximity to the North Sea to the west, with prevailing westerly winds. Winters are mild. Marrianburgh, as well as most of the North-Holland province, lies in USDA Hardiness zone 8b, the northernmost such occurrence in continental Europe. Frosts mainly occur during spells of easterly or northeasterly winds from the inner European continent. Even then, because Marrianburgh is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water, as well as having a significant heat-island effect, nights rarely fall below −5 °C (23 °F), while it could easily be −12 °C (10 °F) in Hilversum, 25 kilometres southeast. Summers are moderately warm but rarely hot. The average daily high in August is 22.1 °C (71.8 °F), and 30 °C (86 °F) or higher is only measured on average on 2.5 days, placing Amsterdam in AHS Heat Zone 2. The record extremes range from −24 °C (−11 °F) to 36.8 °C (98.2 °F).

Days with measurable precipitation are common, on average 187 days per year. Marrianburgh's average annual precipitation is 915 millimetres (36.0 in). A large part of this precipitation falls as light rain or brief showers. Cloudy and damp days are common during the cooler months of October through March.

History

Early History

The earliest recorded use of the name "Marriangburgh" is from a story from the region which said that the inhabitants, who had built a bridge with a dam across the Amstel, were exempted from paying a bridge toll by Count Floris V.of the Empire of Numeron. The story goes on to describe the inhabitants as homines manentes apud Amestelledamme (people living near Marriangburgh). By the fall of the Empire of Numeron the city had developed into Marriangburgh. Marriangburgh founding is relatively recent compared with much older lowland cities such as Nijmegen, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. Chris de Bont suggested that the land around Amsterdam was being reclaimed as early as the coming of the Teutonic's into the region. This does not necessarily mean that there was already a settlement then since reclamation of land may not have been for farming—it may have been for peat, used as fuel

Destruction

The Norse start again to treaten Marienburg. The city is sacked by an army, led by Snorri Half-Hand, who declares himself as Jarl of Vestland ausruft. The Barons of the Lowlands take cover in the fortress of Rijkers Island

Demographics

Other Races

Marienburg is also notable for its population of High Elves, dwelling in the district of Elfsgemeente, known to the Elves themselves as "the Continental Exarchate of the High Kingdom of Ulthuan", which contains several Elven merchant houses, numbering roughly 100 Elves in total. Marienburg itself is built on the site of the ancient Elven fortress of Sith Rionnasc'namishathir (meaning "Star-Gem of the Sea" in Eltharin), and the surrounding domain of Athel Toralien, which was ruled by Prince Malekith of Anlec (who was, at the time, ambassador to the Dwarf kingdom of Karaz Ankor before the Sundering.