Aumiers

Aumiers, officially the City of Aumiers , is a major city in the commonwealth of Maresia. It is the parish seat of Marée Parish. In 2024, the Census Bureau estimated the population was 809,277. The Greater Aumiers area ranks 7th-largest in Cartadania, and had a 2024 population of 7,392,448. The metropolitan area is part of a five-parish market region or combined statistical area. Between 2010 and 2020, Aumiers was ranked as one of the country's fastest-growing metro areas, with 591,000 new residents. Based on Cartadanian Census data from 2014 to 2024, it also is among the 50 largest Cartadanian cities referred to as millennial hubs, a major trend of Maresia itself. It is the second-largest city in northeastern Cartadania after Maresia's own state capital, Auvergne. It is the seventh-fastest growing major city in Cartadania. Residents are referred to as "Fluminense" from the Latin flumen, fluminis, meaning "river".

Aumiers has a, a unique characteristic in Maresia caused by prevailing winds. It is located on the Millau Delta, which drains into the Marée Channel. Carrying waters from its headlands in the Sardou Ridge, it has accumulated sediments at its mouth that form a large portion of Maresia's already shallow coastal regions and parts of São Ricardo's far eastern islands.

Burgoignac colony
The natural harbor that Aumiers is built upon was chosen as a settlement by Bergendii colonists in 1315. Due to its distance from the Kingdom of Dericania it was run semi-autonomously.

Bailiwick era
Aumiers joined the Vilauristre Conference in 1540 as a bailiwick, where it remained until 1573 when the Conference was forced to cede its lands to the local authorities.

Cession to Maresia Regio
In 1573, Aumiers and the remaining upper Charente was ceded to the Maresia Regio of Cartadania as part of the crown's refocused efforts in Levantia during the Great Confessional War. A thriving port city, Aumiers was unlike much of urban Maresia, which surrounded Auvergne. It was the only major city to possess a monsoon climate, and its dialect was strongly based on that of Burgundie as opposed to a more fusional variety, which would come to be known as Charentais. According to historians, the specific dialect arose around the early to mid-18th century from Maresia's northwestern coast and spread southeasterly toward the Aurillac River. Although it is considered a dialect of the Burgoignesc language, due to it's standard Latin, Cartadanian, and native influences over the years, it can be difficult for some Burgoignesc speakers to understand Charentais.

Due to amicable relations between Bergendii and Cartic peoples over the multiple decades that lead up to the regions cession, the change was relatively fluid, and Alahuela's continued efforts to preserve Charentais as much as possible even prior to the city's annexation has made relations amongst Maresian groups pretty light-hearted.

Cartadanian city
For many years following the change of the city's suzerain, it was allowed to self-govern as an autonomous region of the regio. Although Cartadania's complete control of the area did not occur until the early 1710s, Alahuela maintained a hands off approach to much of the northern portion of the commonwealth, where the Charentais culture had been developing. This, of course, changed when Maresia became a state in 1711 and divided itself into its constituent parishes. Aumiers was became Maresia's second-largest city after Auvergne and ahead of Rochelle.

In an effort to standardize linguistics across the state, the Commonwealth instituted a requirement that Cartadanian be either the only language across the state, or at least its primary language. The back and forth between the parishes of the upper Charente and lower portions of the state, which were now seeing large influxes of Charentais culture, resulted in a co-official status between the two.

20th century
The 20th century prior to the Great War saw Aumiers in a period of decline. The growth of railways and highways decreased river traffic, diverting goods to other transportation corridors and markets. The economy of Aumiers had always been based more on tourism, trade, and financial services than on manufacturing, but the city's relatively small manufacturing sector also shrank after the Second Great War, relocating further inland. After the Great War, the city began to see an upturn in population and its economy once more as many whom had been enlisted in the military returned home. The city was a major component of Cartadania's post-war baby boom.

Present day
Today, Aumiers is a city primarily based around the tourism and service industry. It has been the site of many renewed efforts to bring Aumiers into a more diversified economy, and with the completion of Maresia's Lynx route between it and Auvergne, the two metropolitan areas are becoming increasingly tied together. The city now has access to a roughly 45-minute train ride from city core to city core, a trip previously taking just over two and a half hours by car. Aumier also serves as a distribution point for Lynx to other cities nearby.

Geography
Aumiers and its suburbs are located on a broad plain between the Marée Channel to the west and the Marée Channel to the west, which extends from Lake Anagen westward to the Urlazio. The elevation of the area averages at around 2 m above sea level in most neighborhoods, especially near the coast. The highest points are found along the Aumiers Ridge, which lies under most of the western Aumiers metro. The main portion of the city is on the shores of Rosalie Bay, which contains several hundred natural and artificial barrier islands, separating it from the open Marée Channel.

Adjacent Municipalities

 * Bonheur (south)
 * Chance (south)
 * Harmonie (south)
 * Orange (south)
 * Port-au-sant (south)
 * Eau Parish (east and north east)

Government and politics
Aumiers is governed under the strong mayor form of government. The Mayor of Aumiers is the chief executive officer of the city government and is elected in four-year terms, without a term limit. The current mayor is Jeanine Boudreaux, who took office on 1 March 2024. The City Council is a legislative body served by eleven members. Seven members are elected from the city's each seven arrondissements, and the other four are "at-large" members (serving citywide).

Public school system
The city's public school system is Marée Parish Schools which operates all public primary and secondary education facilities within the parish. It is the third-largest school district within the state of Maresia, after Rhône Parish Schools and Essonne Parish Schools. An estimated 198,000 students are taught in 200 separate elementary, middle, and high schools. Aumiers, similar to Auvergne, commits educational funding directly to Marée Parish Schools, primarily to its subdistrict, but the school district as a whole as well.

Aumiers is home to several well-known Catholic, Jewish, and non-denominational private schools. The Archdiocese of Aumiers operates the city's Catholic private schools, which include St. Jean-Baptiste Catholic School, St. Bernard Catholic School, St. Thérèse School, Immaculata-Camille High School, Monsignor Ignace Lazard High School, Archbishop Marcel Jacquet High School, St. Marie High School, among numerous other Catholic elementary and high schools.

Colleges and universities
Aumiers State University is the only public four-year degree-conferring institution located in the city's metropolitan area. It has approximately 35,000 students during any given school year, many of which remain in Aumiers post-graduation or move to Lua. Coastal Maresia Community College (WMCC) has campuses across the metro area, with four located within Marée Parish. The Maresia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine recently constructed a medical campus wing at Saule Hospital of Auvergne in order to grant medical degrees to students in the Western Peninsula region, thus medical students typically relocate to the capital region for medical school. The city also has several private universities and various vocational schools, including Auguste College, Beauregard College, Clearwater College of Aumiers, and Marée Institute.

Additionally, the University of West Maresia is located 144 km southeast of the city in Aube, while the University of Maresia (UM) and Maresia Institute of Technology (MIT) are located in the Greater Auvergne area in Rhône Parish and Essonne Parish, respectively. The University of Maresia is the commonwealth's flagship university and has the highest enrollment of any single institution in the state with over 70,000 students in 2024.