Collinebourg

Collinebourg is the capital and largest city of the Serene Grand Duchy Yonderre. Collinebourg stands on the Peritonne river with a population of 8.200.000 in its metropolitan area, making up just under 9% of Yonderre's total population. Collinebourg is also the capital of the eponymous Collinebourg County. Previously independent cities like Nouvelle-Estia and Nymia have been incorporated into Collinebourg due to urban sprawl.

Collinebourg was founded in 1464 by the Estian Count (later King of the Goths) Joanus de Martigueux when he built his castle on a hilltop overlooking a narrow stretch of the Peritonne river at the height of the Conquest of Joanusterra. Local Gothic settlements had existed on and around the site since neolithic times. Settlers soon came from the Holy Levantine Empire and Collinebourg saw rapid expansion even in Joanus' own lifetime. Collinebourg was made capital of the new marcher realm Jouanusterra in the Treaty for the guarantee of Joanus' Land signed with the Holy Levantine Empire in 1494. Collinebourg remained an important trade city for land-based trade into the Age of Enlightenment due to its strategic location on the crossroads of Catholic Levantia and Ultmar. The Great Fire of Collinebourg raged for four days in 1728 and ravaged much of the medieval city, and although it left around a quarter of Collinebourgers homeless it also cleared the path for modernization and urbanization previously thought impossible in the inner city. Further developments during the Yonderian Golden Age brought a Neoclassical look to Collinebourg's architecture.

Collinebourg remains a cultural and economic powerhouse in the Vandarch region. With a number of bridges connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterised by parks, promenades, and waterfronts. Collinebourg is home to Guillaumebourg which houses the Yonderian Parliament. As the historic core of the modern state Yonderre, Collinebourg serves as the home of numerous Yonderian artists, scientists, and sports figures due to the presence of its various museums, academic and political institutions, and theaters. The city is home to Collinebourg University, the oldest and largest university in Yonderre. Collinebourg is an international tourism destination, being the second most popular in Yonderre after Gabion. Collinebourg is also home to the Ligue Yonderre football clubs Artillerie FC and Collinebourg Chevaliers.

Etymology
The name of Collinebourg comes from the Collinebourg Castle. It is a combination of the Burgoignesc words colline meaning "hill" or "mount" and bourg meaning "castle". Historic Gothic names for Collinebourg have been Gothizied spellings of the Burgoignesc name including Kohlangburg and Kölingburg as well as the directly translated Höhenburg, "Hillcastle" or "Castle on the hill".

Collinebourg has sometimes historically (if incorrectly) been referred to as "Collinsburg" or "Collin's Burg" in Ænglish.

Early history
Collinebourg was founded in the mid-1460s during the Conquest of Joanusterra, centred around Collinebourg Castle which was under construction at the time. The settlement was made atop a tall hill overlooking a particularly narrow part of the Peritonne River that stretches from the Vollardic Mountains to the Vandarch Sea. Although the lands around Collinebourg were already settled by Gothic peasantry, the first settlers to move to Collinebourg were Derians, chiefly Bergendii people. These Bergendii settlers established the neighbourhood Bourgville immediately outside Collinebourg Castle itself. Crispinian de Burbindær became the first Castellan-Steward of Collinebourg in 1470, a form of supreme bailif to rule the city in the absense of Joanus de Martigueux. By Papal Bull, the University of Collinebourg was founded in 1479, also in Bourgville, which drew in more settlers. Bourgville became enclosed within an outer stone wall in the 1490s, a ring wall as part of the Collinebourg Castle. Collinebourg at this time had already expanded beyond the confines of the hill on which the castle stood and was now covering both sides of the Peritonne River thanks to the emergence of ferrymen operating boats on the river. The Urcean lord Niall Ermarco wrote of the importance of Collinebourg as a crossroads of commerce in 1502: "It lies between the Angles, the Derians, the Urceans and the Goths, and it belongs to the King of the Goths".

Great Fire and Golden Age
Beginning on the evening of 20 October 1728, a cataclysmic fire spread through Collinebourg lasting for three days and three nights. Started by a fallen tallow candle in a hayloft in Bourgville, the fire quickly spread throughout the affected medieval neighbourhood thanks to its primarily timber construction and close promixity of the houses. The Collinebourg volunteer fire department found itself powerless against the fire which soon reached the University of Collinebourg whose library containing more than 35,000 texts, many of which were unique manuscripts, was set ablaze by midnight. A human chain carrying buckets of water from the river Peritonne to Bourgville had been established by the early hours the next morning, organized by Grand Duke of Yonderre Giles IV de Mortain who had personally taken charge of the escalating situation following a dysmal performance by the military commandant of Collinebourg Giles de Cabronne. A number of houses were demolished in quick order to stem the further spread of the fire and the Life Guards of Foot of the Grand Duke were ordered to charge the fire with brooms around Nouvelle-Estia, literally beating the flames back. The fire seized in the early morning hours of 23 October thanks largely to a major downpour of rain.

Measured by counting the number of destroyed lots from the cadastre, the fire had destroyed 47% of Bourgville and approximately 28% of urban Collinebourg, leaving around 20% of Collinebourgers homeless. The market stalls of the Collinebourg Bourse were vacated by orders of the Grand Duke and the Bourse itself used to house refugees, as were the Grand Ducal War Stables. Reconstruction of Collinebourg began shortly after the fire and lasted until 1737. As a direct result of the fire, new laws were introduced that demanded new houses be built with a certain amount of bricks to be more resistant to fire, rather than the medieval timber framing that had previously made up much of Collinebourg. At great expense, Bourgville was rebuilt in a baroque style that still defines its visual appearance into modern times. This was largely done for reasons of prestige, Bourgville being the closest neighbourhood to Collinebourg Castle and within the outer renaissance ring wall of the castle itself.

Education
The University of Collinebourg is Yonderre's oldest university founded in 1479. The Academic Ranking of World Universities placed it 30th in the world in 2026. The city is also home to Collinebourg Business School, Metropolitan University College, University College Capital, Technical University of Yonderre, Yonderre Business Academy, IT University of Collinebourg and the Collinebourg campus of Gabion University. The Yonderian Academy of Fine Arts has provided education in the arts for more than 300 years. It includes the historic School of Visual Arts, and has in later years come to include a School of Architecture, a School of Design and a School of Conservation.

Population
As of 2025, Collinebourg is home to 8,230,000, making it the most populous city in Yonderre ahead of Gabion with 7,842,000. Collinebourg, like much of Yonderre, experienced a population boom in the 1940s and 50s in the aftermath of the Second Great War. Defined as having at least one Yonderian parent, 83.2% of Collinebourgers are ethnic Yonderians, 8.9% "Other Levantine", 3.2% Sarpic, 2.5% Cronan and 2.2% from elsewhere in the world. The largest single group of immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants in Collinebourg are Bergendii people from Burgundie, making up 2.6% of the total population of Collinebourg.

Languages
As in the rest of Yonderre, the Burgoignesc and Gothic languages are used almost interchangably throughout Collinebourg. Signage including road signs, service signs and information signs are all required to be bilingual by law. Toponomy like place names and street names are also bilingual such as the Place Joanus (Burgoignesc) and Joanusplatz (Gothic) or the Rue de Caryale (Burgoignesc) and de Caryale-Straße (Gothic).

Compared to the approximate 40-60% split of Burgoignesc and Gothic as native languages among Yonderians respectively, Collinebourg has a higher number of native Burgoignesc speakers at around 50-55% depending on census. The number also depends on the individual munincipalities; while Centre-Collinebourg more or less matches the 40-60% split, Bourgville has almost 70% native Burgoignesc speakers and Nymia approximately 75% native Gothic speakers.

Museums
As capital of Yonderre, Collinebourg is a major hub of Yonderian museums. The Yonderian National Museum in Centre-Collinebourg houses the largest archaeological and cultural collection in Yonderre. The Grand Ducal War Museum is the largest of its type in Yonderre and covers both Yonderian and select foreign military history and includes several grand halls with displays dedicated to military history from the Bronze Age to the modern period with curated displays on such topics as the Conquest of Joanusterra and the Great War period. The Grand Ducal War Stables houses a museum dedicated to the chivalric mounted warfare and the culture of knighthood that surrounded it from the Conquest of Joanusterra until around the Yonderian Peasants' War. The Weorcbrick Museum in Bourgville houses a collection of artifacts related to Anglasweorc, particularly of bricks taken from the wall carrying inscriptions but also of items made from said bricks such as kids' toys, pipes and decorative items.

Government/Governing body
The city of Collinebourg is governed by the Count of Collinebourg and the Castellan-Steward of Collinebourg. While the title of Count of Collinebourg is hereditary to the House de Martigueux, the Castellan-Steward of Collinebourg is an elected official. The current Castellan-Steward is Guillaume Archibault representing the United Yonderre party, having held the office since 2016.

Law and order
The Custodes Yonderre is headquartered in Centre-Collinebourg. The Collinebourg Urban District in which it lies is the largest district overseen by the Custodes Yonderre in terms of population, covering the entire urban population of Collinebourg. Collinebourg is one of several cities in Yonderre that employs a Sociolance Service which works in close collaboration with the Custodes Yonderre, providing social and medical care for vulnerable social groups in the city. The Custodes Yonderre considers the Sociolance Service an important tool of urban crime prevention.

Sister cities

 * Cana, Urcea
 * Estia, Burgundie