Stimpton

Stimpton is the capital city and largest city in Picketralia. The city sits in the Mollard Valley as part of Bartholomeu County, and is the largest city in the world by population. It is often coupled with South Stimpton, a slightly smaller sized city directly to the south, and the two cities are often twinned to form the umbrella term of the area.

Stimpton
Capital City
City of Stimpton
Central Business District (also known as Emerald Village) Calyur Chapel, in the Chapel Hill neighborhood The Picketralian Capitol, a prominent landmark.
Flag
Coterminous with Bartholomeu County (red)
Coordinates: 0, 0,
Country	Picketralia
Population
• Total	120,500

History

Pre-Zorthenian Era and Early History

The city was founded by disbanded Kronx Tribes in 1800BCE, who, after their homeland was ruined, settled the Mollard Valley, after it was discovered a few years prior by a rabbit hunter. It is derived from Stimp, which means prosperous in Pik, and Ton, which means town in Pik. Stimpton's first house was located at what is now the intersection of Flat Avenue and Haybale Street, as they began a settlement there.

There were dotted wood houses on the hill, and where South Stimpton is now, the flat land was used for farming. They elected Burla Mayn's next of kin, Abilin Grivan, as their leader and he built himself a Royal Residence in the fields south of the city. Today, it is the Royal Berry Farm. The settlement quickly grew and grew. In 1775BC, a messenger from the nearby kingdom of Flourtess, who were over the river and through the woods, asked to begin a trading relationship. Only 4 years later, they merged to create the Empire of Pik-Flourtess. The ruler of Flourtess ascended to become their king. His name was Czeaica.

They called the area, "Burla Mayn Valley", or "Burla Mayn's Valley", but after coming into contact with the neighboring Flourtesians, they had a word in their language, "Burlamæn", meaning "thread". The Pik language, which is derived from the Kronx family of languages, also had a word for thread, but it was "Malird", which is how the area became known as the Mollard Valley.

Stimpton became the capital, and they conquered most of what is now Southeastern Moria. During this time, the city's economy grew exponentially, as it became a major port city, situated very close to the Stimpton River, which proved as an excellent trading spur as a dead-end river, branching off from the Sullivan River and Birch River. The area's frequent rainfall also proved helpful for the farms south of the city, which did sit on the river.

In addition, during this time of prosperity, the area's high amount of copper reserves were discovered after a quarry was constructed in what is now South Stimpton. Copper, and other metals such as bronze, iron, silver, and gold, became the city's number one export.

However, a Flourtesian man named Jubol Xcak was rising the ranks in the Pik-Flourtess government. He took control and seized the government in a violent coup d'etat on February 2, 1500BCE, forming the Flourtess Dictatorship. He died 10 years later, and his body burnt by the angry Pik and Flourtesians and thrown into the river.

The empire split in half, and the Pik's entered into a period of chaos which is now known as the period of the Non-United Pik Tribes. The people split into four rivaling factions with fierce territorial behavior: Philow, Suntan, Ot, and Grivan. Stimpton was fiercely disputed by the four factions, and they fought violently over it.

Not much is known about this period of time, but what is known is the Grivan faction, the original descendants of Burla Mayn, won, and formed a new nation: what is now known as the Equal Pik Union, which lasted for a mere 5 years and 7 months.

The Equal Pik Union attempted to make every citizen equal. However, the application of this concept failed miserably, and corruption was rampant in the government, which lead to another coup d'etat by Ullaba Ot, a military officer, took control of the nation after being disgruntled over the loss of the Ot faction. He ran a militarized dictatorship, and Stimpton's economy, already battered and beaten by the past few years of unrest, fell into shambles.

Ot died in 1460BCE, after 16 years of the Pik Dictatorship. Just like the body of Xcak, he was burned in the streets of Stimpton before being discarded into the Stimpton River. The citizens of Stimpton, which constituted the only inhabited part of the region, decided to form a strong government under tightly enforced strict, but fair laws. They, for most of the rest 1460, drafted a new set of laws and systems, and out created the Stimpton Monarchy. They appointed Horshaw Grivan III, and he took office in 1559BCE.

The Stimpton Monarchy is considered by historians to be the most successful pre-Zorthenian era kingdom of the Pik's. The economy of Stimpton was rebooted, and the copper mines were reopened as well as any previous trade blockades or wars with any neighboring countries and ports, entering into an era known as the Time of Happiness.

The Stimpton Monarchy dissolved in 1117 BCE by King Carus I of Pik. He turned it into a self proclaimed empire, but it consisted mostly of sending threats to nearby kingdoms to attempt to submit them into joining. When he dissolved the Stimpton Monarchy, he named his "empire" the ECPU, or Emperor Carus Pik Union. He lasted 17 years until his son took over.

Carus II renamed his empire C2PU or Carus II Pik Union. By now, Railtown had become independent and would rule as a sovereign kingdom until 978 CE. Zorthenia, a rapidly growing empire, set their sights on the C2PU, and were actively fighting their neighbors, the UKoD and Barne.. Carus II died in 1077 after being murdered by Zorthenian troops. A year prior, the C2PU had been put under Zorthenian control. It was now the Zorthenian State of Pik. The UKoD and Barne would fall a few years later.

Zorthenian Era

Stimpton became the 7th largest city in the empire and the capital city of the State of Pik. They built many new things, such as Calyur Chapel, completed in 1069BC. Five Zorthenian officials are buried there: King Calyur, King Calyur II, King Baron I, Governor Westwr of Pik, and Governor Yurtur of Dwarfland.

The Pik lands were treated as a vacation destination by the Zorthenian elite, which did not sit well with the Piks. The Pik lands were the warmest corner of the Zorthenian Empire that wasn't a desert, and the warm beaches of the Stimpton Delta soon became home to Zorthenian nobility. Many Piks had no other choice but to become indentured servants to the Zorthenian nobility's beachhouses and cater to them, as the economy in Stimpton failed and Zorthenia forced many farmers off their land to build what is now South Stimpton under edicts by several of Calyur I's successors.

The town of Sand Dune City, now today a tiny incorporated hamlet, with it's only notable feature is that it is the High Court Seat and the Capital of the Council of Nations, was originally founded as a town for all the Zorthenian manor homes on the Stimpton Delta, of which all are gone. After the war, all the manor homes were torn down, the materials made to build new things, and the remaining servants built a small community of sandstone shacks.

However, the Zorthenian Governor of Pik loved the Royal Berry Farm and insisted to the Zorthenian monarch that it shall remain. The Zorthenian king reluctantly agreed.

During this time, Stimpton was neglected by the Zorthenian's. Despite it being a large city, they focused their efforts on cities and settlements in more accessible areas in present day Moria.

The Piks had been under Zorthenian rule for 1,174 years when they revolted. With the help of Morian troops, by 99BC, they had mostly kicked out Zorthenia and by 100CE, they were gone, in the First Pik Independence War.

Free Pik State and Railtonian Era

The Pik's knew that their ancestors, long ago, were able to rebuild after a brutal dictatorship. They set out to do just that, and create a new government, one attempting to replicate the success of the Stimpton Monarchy. They spent two years receiving and utilizing foreign aid from Moria, to create a new country that would become the Free Pik State. Under this new government, the country would elect a new Grivan family member every 7 months as a leader.

However, they failed. The electoral process was ridden with fraud, and the same leader was elected several times in a row: Betwren Grivan, who would use voter intimidation tactics against opposition, and killed three of his siblings and close family members to avoid losing power. This left the country susceptible to attack, and in 126AD, that's what happened.

The neighboring Kingdom of Railtown, which was in decline, commanded a special attack on the city, eyeing the now long untapped copper reserves for their own due to mismanagement after centuries of Zorthenian rule, and general incompetence by the Free Pik State. The special military order, which is now known as the Fall of Stimpton, took just less than five hours.

During Railtonian rule, many of Stimpton's citizens left the city to the surrounding rural areas, which lead to the founding of Desert Falls, situated just outside of the city on the Stimpton River. In response, Railtown constructed a wall around Stimpton and South Stimpton to keep the citizens in. This wall is now mostly gone, but remnants of it can be found all across the city. In addition, Railtown initiated frequent fires every few months in attempts to quell rebellion, leading the city to be in ruin several times.

It was also revealed via renovations done to Calyur Chapel in the 1370s that the original color of the stone of the chapel was a grayish white, however, due to the frequent fires in the city of Stimpton, the stone had turned to it's iconic black/dark gray. The building was painted blackish gray in 1376 using parts of the chapel's charred stone.

Bartholomeu I, and 27 other rebels escaped the city in 971, and began a rebellion against Railtonian rule, in what is now known as the Second Pik Independence War. They won, and Stimpton, alongside the rest of the newly founded country of Picketralia, was now independent.

Present Day

The city's economy rebounded after the Treaty of Pafalia, in which the agreement was that all of the money of Railtown was to be given to the new country, and all of it's remaining territory to be ceded to Moria. The copper mines opened back up, the old wall was destroyed, and the city had a population boom.

New port facilities were created near to the old ones, to open up the old shipping routes. Bartholomeu I instated low taxation rates, drawing many merchants to the city's ports after what they viewed as the high bureaucracy of the port of Tradeland. In addition, Bartholomeu V created the Port Authority of Stimpton in 1123, to have a governing body, while still continuing low taxation rates.

The city replaced much of the old Railtonian and Zorthenian architecture with newer buildings that were stronger, and more reliable. In addition, the Stimpton Inn System was created by Ravonh III in 1257. This system provided funding and constructed dozens of new "inns" across the city for the homeless population to reside in. Inn's usually consisted of one or two rooms, each with rows of bedding.

Fire of Stimpton, 1363

On October 7, 1363, a workman was replacing a window on the Old Picketralian Capitol when the sun focused onto a leaf, which caught aflame above the hot sand. It caught the wind, and from there, set a house on fire. The fire spread from there, and eventually, most of Stimpton was on fire. People noticed, however, that the Calyur Chapel building was not on fire, and people took refuge inside of it. It got so crowded that some broke into the unused burial vaults just to get some extra space.

Pigot School was also affected. However only the wooden roof of the school building burned.

Meanwhile, the feeble fire prevention system only weakened by the previous king, Dovin I, who had only died a few months ago couldn’t do much to save anything. That included the Capitol building. It was on fire, and the government officials were doing their best. A group of people had taken important documents and ran to nearby Frogton-by-Farm across the river and sought refuge there.

One rogue citizen broke into the Skulls of War monument to save the skulls of the unknown soldiers and buried them underground for safety. The monument was rebuilt in 1370 but the skulls remained underground. The rogue citizen survived and was given a medal by the king.

Another group of people had smashed a window to get the priceless historic throne, one dating back to the Pik-Flourtess empire out of the building. Miraculously, the group of ten men had carried the very heavy throne out and dragged it onto a barge that would float to Frogton-by-Farm. It had been decided that the government would be run there at the Library of Picketralia for the time being.

Miraculously, the fire ended when a brief rainstorm came through. By then, many citizens had died in the fire, and many others escaped. Some went to Llama Hill, Frogton-by-Farm, while others literally left the country and went to Mordor. The furthest anyone had gone was Templand in Moria.

Once everyone had escaped and taken everything important out of the government building, it was left to smolder into ruins. Eventually, the ground cooled down to where you weren’t just walking over hot charcoal.

The city was practically gone. It had only taken 4 hours. People gradually came out of hiding to see their homes destroyed. Many called for relatives or friends, to no avail.

Somehow, none of the street cats and dogs had died. Stimpton keeps a registry of all the street cats and dogs and none of them were reported missing. It is now known that an old lady took them all with her to Calyur Chapel.

The king called for a complete reconstruction of the city, but he was criticized for taking too long. He got to work, and by February 1364, most of the city was back. Except the government building.

After the fire ended the king issued an edict to the Library of Picketralia, a historic grand library located in Frogton-by-Farm across the River. From then until 1370, the government was headquartered there. The books were shipped to Moria where they would be kept in their library.

The bookshelves were torn out to make way for open desks, similar to modern cubicles. The government would work here until 1370 when the new government building was reconstructed at a grand opening in December. The government officials were glad, they were sick of working in such tight spaces. Now they each had their own office.

Government

Stimpton, along with South Stimpton, both have their City Hall located in the same building, on West Lung Lake Drive, in the Plain Estates neighborhood of South Stimpton, and a mayors mansion located on Flat Avenue in Stimpton.

The Mala Family has been the hereditary mayors of Stimpton since the first Mayor of Stimpton, Croton Mala, was appointed by Bartholomeu I on June 28, 978. Once a mayor retires after a 15 year term or death, their next of kin becomes the mayor, and affirmed by a vote in the city.