Lardburg

Old Lardburg is a city located in western Rhell, outside of Rathnir. It is the official capital of the Lardburgian Caeronate. New Lardburg is a city located in southern Alteniquia. It is the capital of the lardburgian province of Coenia, and the Archduchy of Coenia itself. It is the current seat to the Caeron of Lardburg and Gidesh of Coenia, Bowph Elernel, and is the center of Lardburgian and Coenian culture in Rathnir.

Name
The cities of "New" and "Old" Lardburg are both formally called Lardburg, their adjectives only being used to easily recognise the two cities in casual speech. The name Lardburg itself is the english reimagining of the czech word "Sádlov", literally meaning "lard town". In some texts, Old Lardburg is still referred to by its czech name.

Old Lardburg
Old Lardburg was originally founded as the city of Watchton by the Order of the Watchful Eye around the autumn of year 2019. It would fall into ruin after being severely griefed by the end of 2019, becoming completely uninhabited around two months later. The ruins were looted severely by remnants of the Order and other unrelated bandit gangs all throughout early 2020, leaving only the ruins 3-4 houses remaining.

Nova Carnia
The originally small outpost of Nova Carnia was founded at the site of the ruins by Caeron Kerplis Elernel. Kerplis only constructed a keep and a few watchtowers to overlook the nearby road, which lead to the great ancient city of Carn.He would then lease the city to independent mayor Bivoy the Lard (Bivoj Sádlo), who constructed a small village next to the keep. With the permission of Kerplis, he built a larger, circular keep atop the hill overlooking his village. Instead of incorporating the nearby ruins of Watchton, he decided to cover them over with dirt and constructed an artificial hill around the village to protect it from foreign invaders. From this time period, only the Old Keep remains in its original state, as it was reincorporated as part of the Carnian Walls. The New Keep was incorporated into the Lardburg palace, and the houses were all eventually torn down and rebuilt.

Sádlov - Early Lardburg
The settlement of Nova Carnia was, after the fall of Carn, rebuilt into a new town, which Bivoy the Lard (Bivoj Sádlo) renamed after himself. The first building to be expanded upon and rebuilt was the keep, which Bivoy remade into a fortified castle. This was by far the most glamorous and decorated part of the town, and, at the time, likely the best build in Rhell, which was recovering from the fall of Carn.

After this, Bivoy tore down the small wooden houses of Nova Carnia and constructed the town of Sádlov, which is standing to the present day and is sometimes referred to either as "The Old town" or as "The Harbourside". However, with the war of Lardburgian succession, construction in the town largely paused.

When Kerplis moved into the town from his temporary exile, he was given a house above the site of the Old Carnian keep. As the war began, he realised that the town was in need of defences. This prompted him to construct the Carnian Walls, which would serve as the city's first system of defences. The original walls were rather small from a modern perspective, but in a time without the extensive use of heavy artillery, they served the city well.

The Siege of Lardburg
The city was besieged by Derius and his supporters at the end of the War of Lardburgian succession. It was, at the time, severely undermanned, with only Kerplis, lord Peter and Drakakus defending it. The besieging force numbered around 15-20 people at all times. The siege would, in the end, last two real life days, with assaults every few hours. Peter famously got 2 hours of sleep during the whole weekend. An elder guardian was brought into the city as a way to ensure that the walls could not be broken via pickaxe, which was the main reason for the city lasting as long as it had. During the siege, the city was bombarded by small, light artillery, with cannons that could, at most, shoot 1 tnt at once. The Fire stick, an artifact present in Rhell that allowed its user to shoot fireballs, was used to set large parts of the city alight. Almost the entirity of the Old Town, except for the harbour, was destroyed.

On Sunday evening, Derius had to perform a last ditch assault to attempt to take the city. As he prepared to charge the main gate one last time, not knowing that the defenders had no more resources, and would certainly be defeated, Bivoy the Lard charged out of the nearby dark oak forest with his supporters and destroyed the unprepared forces, effectively ending the war, and saving the city.

Rebuilding efforts and the modern city
Following the war, a large part was left in ruins. Bivoy the Lard hired Kerplis to help rebuild the city. Kerplis had permission to tear down any houses he wished, but was advised to try and preserve as much of the old town as he could. After a few days of planning, Kerplis drafted up the Lardburg plan, following which he would rebuild the city center following the principles and ideas of Ancient Carn. All damaged houses in the Harbourside were either fixed and restored to their original state, or remade in the Neo-Carnian style. This new movement was dubbed the Carnian Renaissance. The city center, which was almost completely in ruin, was torn down. In its place, Kerplis constructed a grand square, with colourful, renaissance-style houses, and a large clocktower. Along with all this, a second layer of walls, dubbed Kerplis's walls, was constructed around the city. This new system of defences had three layers of walls, with four moats, and 5 gatehouses with extended stone bridges on both gates, and was the greatest system of walls of its time. Around the area of the ancient Carnian amphitheater, a new district started being built, which is sometimes called the New Town, or the Arena district.