Klerkenshoop

Klerkenshoop, also referred to as "Klerk", is the most populous city in the Daelyrian Archonate of Cliffton and is the fourth largest city in Daelyria. It's current mayor is Broyo Fireborn Silverhand who governs the city along with his deputy-mayor Nitro Domussanad.

Founding
The foundation of Klerkenshoop started with Broyo Silverhand meeting Miksa Silverhand in a bar in the city of Frostarch. Miksa would overhear Broyo's drunken rants about his desire to own a town of his own and would then approach him offering Broyo to fix up the ruins of the former town of Painfield. Broyo eagerly accpeted the proposal and quickly recruited settlers from towns around Kastollia, promising them a fresh start away from their messy lives in Kastollia. The excited band of settlers would set off into the cold north singing songs of the pioneers of old. Broyo and his party would arrive to find the ruins in a state of near-disrepair, the ground was shattered, streets were nonexistant, houses falling apart, the city walls filled with holes, a harbor replaced with a farm, shacks literring the town and worse of all, the squatters inhabiting those shacks. Broyo and his band would spend a long painful month pushing out the squatters, an experience Broyo described as "worse than living in Meteora". The settlers would succeed in pushing out the squatters and planted the first diorite post in the town, naming the town "Klerkenshoop" after Broyo's recently deceased friend Klerk who died during the scuffle with the squatters.

Early years and the Plauge
The settlers would immediatly get to work, fixing the streets, demolishing ruins and clearing out trash. The first street, Wilkinson street, would be laid down two days later and houses would begin to spring up along the street. The town would rapidly grow, much to the surprise of everyone, as more and more houses drew migrants in from all over the country, raising the town to a population of 14 people in total. But a sudden plague would throw a wrench in the town's development, killing 70% of the town's population. Broyo would be incredibly saddened by this, molding the once eager, energetic man into a quiet, reserved man. But he would pick up the pieces and recieve unexpected help from a newcomer to the town.

Recovery Period and the arrival of Nitro Dommusanad
Klerkenshoop would slowly recover from the devastating effects of the plauge with more migrants arriving as part of the former Helmian Federation promoting Klerkenshoop as a young town of opportunities. But the arrival of one man, would accelerate the recovery of the town and pushed it towards prosperity, that man would be Nitro Dommusanad. Nitro would arrive in Klerkenshoop and immediately got to work reworking parts of the town, notably the Wilkinson Street area. Broyo would also develop the long neglected south-west region of the town, building another street which would be beautified by Nitro with a public market and general store.

Housing Crisis
As Klerkenshoop made a full recovery from the plague, another problem soon arose, this time it was due to a rapidly increasing population. With Klerkenshoop now fully recovered from the plague, migration intensified which lead to minor housing shortages. But with the current-government promoting Klerkenshoop even more than before towards migrants lead to the housing crisis to fully swing in. Broyo would announce the "Dense-Housing Scheme" which mandated only dense housing units be built until the crisis is deemed to be officially over. Broyo and Nitro would first get to work, undertaking the most ambitious building project Klerkenshoop would see. The pair would extend the walls around the Klerk Heights which opened enough room for the "Oranje Center", an apartment complex which also includes some space for shops. But the construction of this building would be significantly delayed as Broyo would suddenly contract an illness that was ravaging Helmia at the time, leaving him stuck in his bed as he was too weak to even walk. This left Nitro, who had been named deputy-mayor at this point, to take on the responsibilities of eleviating the housing crisis. Nitro would remove the squatter farm that still somehow managed to remain untouched all this time to make room for a proper harbour, which provided much needed space for more houses. By the time Broyo had recovered, Nitro had cleared out so much more space for housing that it allowed Klerkenshoop to have a surplus of housing well after the crisis. With Broyo now recovered, Oranje Center was completed in 3 days and construction on houses around the harbour area quickly began. Finally, the houses would finish and Broyo would officially announce the official conclusion of the housing crisis on the 10th of April, 2022.

Klerkenshoop today (most recent)
Klerkenshoop nowadays is a prospering town, with urbanisation slowly increasing throughout. With the population growth now slowing down, the town's administration shifted focus to allocating land for agriculture and other projects. Klerkenshoop would become the largest producer of wheat and potatoes in Cliffton with the shift in focus, allowing the town to gain money by keeping the rest of the country fed. The fishing industry would gain a sudden boom as well due to "Broodvis", the town's signature dish, suddenly gaining massive popularity back in Kastollia. All in all, the future looks bright for Klerkenshoop, with many optimistic citizens and administrators even proposing merging with the city of Silverhill to created a hypothetical "Cliffton City".

Culture
The culture of Klerkenshoop can be divided in two phases, the first phase of Klerkenshoop culture was heavily influenced by Kastollian culture as mentioned above due to the original settlers originating from Kastollia. The second phase refers to culture after the effects of the Klerkenshoop Plague and was infuenced more by culture from Caeraeneryon, Illeryon and Duskyon due to many of the original Kastollian settlers dying out during the plauge and increased immigration from those regions.

Language
The language spoken on the streets before the plague was mainly Kastollian (later Clifftonic-Kastollian) while Daelyrian was only spoken in official speechs or when a Daelyrian official visits. 90% of the of the town had been noted to be very proficient in speaking Traveler's Tongue due to Klerkenshoop being a preferred pitstop for merchants from around the world looking to travel to Adwa or Arbitor at the time. After the plague, only 1 other citizen in the town besides the mayor spoke Clifftonic-Kastollian, the death of that citizen marked the end of the first phase of language in Klerkenshoop. The most spoken language on the streets would be Traveler's Tongue due to immigrants from around the world and other parts of Daelyria replacing the previous Kastollian population and thus replacing Clifftonic-Kastollian with Traveler's Tongue. Clifftonic-Kastollian would be reduced to a cultural language through the mayor's attempts to protect the town's fading Kastollian identity, with street signs always having a Clifftonic-Kastollian translation right beneath the Traveler's Tongue name, official documents having a Clifftonic-Kastollian copy and the largest building in the town (Oranje Sentrum) having a Clifftonic-Kastollian name. The Daelyrian language's position within Klerkenshoop had also slightly strengthed as many prominent citizens of the town would learn the language in ordrer to blend in with the upper-class of Duskyon and Illeryon.

Culture
Initially the first settlers were very hard distinguish from the average Kastollian, but after years of interactions with the locals, the population of the town had developed their own identity. The settlers still enjoyed Kastollian cuisine and still had the same pioneer spirit of the Kastollians. Although they would adopt the mindset of "This land was made for you and me" which was a belief held by the locals of Cliffton that humans had every right to twist and shape the land however they pleased. This would cause the settlers to develop a culture that prided itself on constructing building and bringing civilization to the untamed land, ironically much to the disgust of Kastollia, who have a culture that respects nature. The people of Klerkenshoop also have a stoic attitude, living through a housing crisis, enduring plagues and food shortages.

Culinary Culture
The cuisine of Klerkenshoop is heavily influenced by Kastollia through the heavy prescene of bakery and pastry products in many dishes.