Frehmenwerth

Frehmenwerth Frémenwerd (Hendalarskisch)
City
Descending, from top: the Maximilianic University, a view of Maximilian's Square, the Hendalarskara Parliament and FK-FK-Arena
Flag
Motto(s):  Erste Stadt unter Städten The First City Among Cities
Country	Hendalarsk
State	Hendalarsk Capital Territory
Foundation	782 CE
Founded by	Damsgard I Jochn
Hendalarskara Bundestag	Nine seats
Government
• Type	Executive mayoralty, conciliar parliament
• Body	Frehmenbund
• Mayor	Andreas Reinhart
• Deputy Mayor	Maria Schwolschloß
• Provisioner	Lukas Armenoren
Population  (2019)
• Total	2,583,455
Demonym(s)	Frehmenwerther (m), Frehmenwerthrin (f), Frehmenwerthrö (n)
Time zone	UTC-2 (Hendalarskara Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-1 (Hendalarskara Summer Time)
Area code	332
Website	www.frehmenbund.hdl

Frémenwerd, officially known as Frehmenwerth (/freɪmənveːɐ̯t/; Khunyer: Vrémenverda, /vreːmɛnvɛɹdɒ/), is the capital of the Most Serene Federation of Hendalarsk, located in the centre of the Hendalarsk Capital Territory. Home to around 2,600,000 people, it is the third-largest city in Hendalarsk after Wrzeszcz-Kokoszki and Zalgisbeck. The nation's political hub, Frehmenwerth is also the key commercial entrepôt of the Upper Zalgis and serves as the gateway to southwestern Hendalarsk for domestic and international traffic from both the north and the east of the country.

Located in the centre of Hendalarsk at around 800 metres above sea level, Frehmenwerth has a relatively mild climate, in no small part due to the moderating influence of the prevailing southwesterly wind; this also has the less desirable effect of making the city one of the windiest in Hendalarsk, as air is funnelled through the valley in which the city sits. The Zalgis remains ice-free in the city year-round, a factor which contributed to its early significance and prosperity, although floes have been known to drift north from the more mountainous land to the south in especially harsh winters.

First mentioned in texts in 378 AD and likely founded substantially earlier, Frehmenwerth is widely held to be one of the oldest Gothic cities in Hendalarsk, and has been prominent in Hendalarskara politics and culture since its foundation. The city's sacred grove, located on an island in the middle of the Zalgis, was (and remains) a key devotional site in traditional Hendalarskara religion, and now forms the core of the Frehmenwerth Memorial Park commemmorating the Hendalarskara Civil War.

Although it has become displaced as the nation's primary economic hub in recent decades by Zalgisbeck, with the latter's position on the Vandarch at the mouth of the Zalgis driving its growth, Frehmenwerth remains the home of the national stock exchange, the HenBürs, as well as the site of many ministries and institutes of government. Most foreign governments have their primary diplomatic bases in the city's World Quarter (Weltviertel), while the Khunyer Quarter (Khunarviertel) on the banks of the Zalgis is the nation's greatest concentration of classical culture in the form of museums, theatres, galleries and concert venues, and is consequently a very popular destination for tourists. The Maximilianic University, Hendalarsk's most prestigious educational institution, is one of several universities and technical colleges located in the city, while Frehmenwerthers are regularly ranked the most educated people in Hendalarsk. The city's rent controls have helped to keep its cost of living in line with other major Hendalarskara cities - at a level which is unusually low for a capital city - and this has ensured its consistent status as the country's most liveable city in many surveys.

Politics and administration

Administration

Frehmenwerth is the key settlement (and the reason for the existence) of the Hendalarskara Capital District, with the city itself forming one of the five major divisions of the district, the Frémenwerdske Bezik. This in effect encompasses the metropolitan area of the city itself and is governed by a mayor (Stadháder) and city council, both separately elected by all residents of the Bezik. The Bezik is also administratively subdivided into eighteen boroughs, or Ordsdéle, each of which has its own council led by an alderman (Schöfe). Unlike the Stadháder, the Schöfer are not separately elected, but instead chosen by whichever grouping(s) command a majority of the council. These local councils are primarily representative and limited in their administrative powers, although they do have delegated authority regarding planning permission, venue licensing and other similar fields subject to the ultimate veto of the Stadháder.

Transport

Frehmenwerth is, as with most other Hendalarskara cities outside the Pentapolis, dominated by public transport. Private vehicles are allowed in most of Frehmenwerth, albeit subject to strict emissions limits and a congestion charge, but with the exception of permitted commercial vehicles are entirely banned from the city's Old Quarter, itself largely pedestrianised. Thanks to a considerably lower water table than Zalgisbeck, where a subway system has long been deemed economically unfeasible, Frehmenwerth was able to establish its first underground system during the Old Archkingdom. That line, founded in 1879 as the Metropolitan Line (Metropolinie) remains in use by the Frehmenwerther U-Bán, with heavy modifications, to this day. Public transport in Frehmenwerth is managed and operated by FMVV (Frehmenwerther Metropolitaner Verkehrsverband, "Frehmenwerther Metropolitan Transport Consortium"), under the ownership of the Hendalarskara Transport Commissariat but subject to the political control of the FVL (Frehmenwerthre Verkehrsleiterei, "Frehmenwerther Transport Directorate"). As a publicly-owned company, FMVV's profits are typically reinvested in the network's own infrastructure and maintenance, although 35% (higher than the 20% typical elsewhere in Hendalarsk) of profits are reserved as dividends at the disposal of the Frehmenbund. The head of FMVV is both nominated and appointed by the Frehmenbund, although in practice this typically involves consultation with key stakeholders in FMVV such as trade unions to secure a consensus candidate.

FMVV operates an integrated transport network in Frehmenwerth, in which tickets can be used across all FMVV services (U-Bán, trams, buses, commuter rail and ferries across the Zalgis). Tickets are available for individual or a set number of journeys, as well as single-day, three-day, weekly and monthly tickets. The most popular class of ticket, however, is FMVV-365, a yearly ticket which originally cost 365 HGT when introduced in 1994. Subsequent price rises, although held at or below inflation, have seen the price of an FMVV-365 reach 807 HGT in 2033, a price which at a mere 67 HGT a month for all transport within the city nevertheless substantially contributes to Frehmenwerth's unusually low cost-of-living. Studies carried out by academics from the Maximilianic University's Economics Department have also suggested that FMVV's low fares aid both service use and fare compliance, with evasion estimated at only 0.9% (in comparison to an average of roughly 3-4% on most other public transport networks in the developed world), which in turn mitigates the financial impact on public finances of maintaining artificially low fares.

Economy

Frehmenwerth was, as the capital of the imperial Archkingdom, a key site of early industrialisation in Hendalarsk, particularly renowned for its vast copper-smelting industry. As early as 1787, the Anglish traveller Alfred Balforth was moved to remark that "in the capitale of that Kingedome [sic], the glow of the great roaring Furnaces does turn Night into Day, while the ſmoke from the Furnaces likewiſe turns Day into blackeſt Night". This pollution was the root of the industry's demise; eventually the Archkings came to disapprove of it, and the industry gradually relocated downriver to Schulahaun and back east over the Kupferberg. Given the abundant hydraulic power on offer from the flow of the Zalgis, Frehmenwerth instead developed through the nineteenth century as a crucial hub of the Hendalarskara textile industry; the district of Rótersted in particular became renowned for the spinning frames of its riverside mills, powered by colossal water-wheels. The inventor and entrepreneur Hénrik Samer was prominent in this field, driving the adoption of the spinning frame over cruder, more artisanal methods and becoming one of the richest men in the Archkingdom as a consequence.

Frehmenwerth continues to be a centre of the domestic textile industry to the present, although its water-wheels now exist solely as heritage pieces, having been superseded by electrification from the early twentieth century onwards. The city is also a leading centre for renewable energy research; it was the site of one of the first operational wind farms in the world, the potential for which had long been obvious to scientists and industrialists subject to the valley's relentless southwesterly winds. Industrial teams at the Maximilianic University, intensively supported by the Hendalarskara state, are at the forefront of research into long-term battery storage technologies (to mitigate the variability of weather-dependent renewable energy) and nuclear fusion. The latter technology is the subject of particular interest in Hendalarsk not just because of the enormous energy potential it entails but because of the formation of helium as a byproduct, which would secure the long-term future of the Hendalarskara airship fleet.

The Maximilianic University is itself one of the city's largest employers, with over 10,000 academic and administrative staff on its payroll catering to over 50,000 students. Other smaller institutions bring the city's student population to almost 100,000, many of whom remain in the city after graduation since its economy is dominated by graduate jobs. Most of the city's economy is constituted by the education sector and its research-industrial appanages, the state civil service (several commissariats are headquartered in Frehmenwerth), the textile industry, FMVV and the tourism and service sectors, although many other smaller industries have a presence in the city too. Although Zalgisbeck has a larger economy than Frehmenwerth, Frehmenwerthers enjoy the highest PPP-adjusted GDP per capita of any Hendalarskara city, and the city also has the nation's lowest unemployment rate (excluding the Pentapolis) of around 1.8%.

Culture

Religion

Frehmenwerth is the seat of the Thearch of the Hendalarskara Catholic Church, the supreme ecclesiastical authority of the Frehmenwerther faith. Sankt-Nikolaus-Kirche is the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Frehmenwerth, and the Thearch is thus often referred to as the Archbishop of Frehmenwerth. Conclaves to elect a new Thearch are likewise held in the church upon the previous incumbent's death, resignation or deposition, and pilgrims flock to Frehmenwerth from across the nation for open-air services in the adjoining Maximilian's Square at key occasions in the ecclesiastical calendar such as Christmas, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and the Day of the Waters.

Sport

Frehmenwerth is the association footballing capital of Hendalarsk, home to three established Bundesliga sides and many additional lower-division teams. Khunyeria Vrémenverda, often known as Khunyeria for short, represent the city's prominent Khunyer minority, while Frehmenwerther Kickers and Rapid-Frehmenwerth are two of the most successful sides in the country's history, regularly qualifying for continental competition and challenging for major honours. Their rivalry, contested in the Capital Derby, is arguably the league's fiercest, while both clubs also maintain a friendlier rivalry with Khunyeria. FK-FK-Arena, Frehmenwerther Kickers' stadium, is additionally one of the largest sporting venues in the country, and is home to many of the male and female national teams' fixtures.

Other sports, while not as popular as football, enjoy some popularity in the capital. Baseball does not have the same domestic prominence as in other Levantine nations like Urcea, but the Frehmenwerther Phalanx are the most well-supported team in the country.