Centroidal

Centroidal is a city in Eastshore County, Mongor, United Federation. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Florendime are the county seats of Eastshore. Home to Centroidal State College, the Centroidal Willows Park and the Eastshore Museum, Centroidal is a residential and tourist area which includes the neighborhoods of Centroidal Neck, the Point, South Centroidal and North Centroidal, Witchcraft Heights, Pickering Wharf, and the Warren Historic District (named after Centroidal's famous witch, Matilda Warren).
Centroidal was one of the most significant seaports in the early United Federation. It has the first National Historic Site designated by the Mongorian Congress, Centroidal Maritime National Historic Site, which protects Centroidal's historic waterfront.
Featured notably in Belinda Rose's Witchistory, much of the city's cultural identity is reflective of its role as the location of the Centroidal Witch Trials of 1692: Police cars are adorned with witch logos, a local public school is known as the Witchcraft Heights Elementary School, the Centroidal High School football team is named The Witches, and Hallow Hill, a site of numerous public burnings, is currently used as a playing field for various sports.
Tourists know Centroidal as a mix of important historical sites, New Age and Wiccan boutiques, and kitschy Halloween or witch-themed attractions. The most recent (and controversial) addition of significance is a bronze statue of the Charmed character Piper Halliwell (played by Hollie Marie Combs) in Centroidal Willows Park.
== History ==
=== Founding and Early History ===
Centroidal was founded at the mouth of the Naumcurb river in 1626 at the site of an ancient Native Mongorian village and trading center (it was originally called Naumcurb and was renamed Centroidal three years later) by a company of fishermen from Cape Victoria led by Roget Conant, and incorporated in 1629. Conant’s leadership had provided the stability to survive the first two years, but he was immediately replaced by Johnathan Endicott, one of the new arrivals, by order of the Dorchester Company. Conant graciously stepped aside and was granted 200 acres of land in compensation. These “New Planters” and the “Old Planters” agreed to cooperate, in large part due to the diplomacy of Conant and Endicott. In recognition of this peaceful transition to the new government, the name of the settlement was changed to Centroidal.
Naumcurb was first settled in 1626 by the Dorchester Company with Roget Conant as Governor. That settlement was located east of the present day Centroidal Commuter Rail Station.
A year later, Governor Johnathan Endicott arrived in Naumcurb and a patent was solicited by the Mongor Bay Company in Spagonia. Endicott moved the Great House from Cape Victoria reassembling on what is now Wellington Street north of Church Street. And a year later, the Mongor Bay Charter was issued creating the Mongor Bay Colony with Thomas Craddock as Governor and Endicott as a Governor's Assistant. A challenge to Endicott's authority in Naumcurb arose in Central City and was settled within the Mongor Bay Company. One week later, Governor John Winthrop was elected Governor and John Endicott was re-elected Governor's Assistant, followed by the Great Puritan Migration/Fleet of 1629/30. Endicott's greeting of Winthrop is the subject of a plaque on the Boston Common.
In 1639, his was one of the signatures on the building contract for enlarging the meeting house in Town House Square for the First Church in Centroidal. This document remains part of the town records at City Hall. He was active in the affairs of the town throughout his life. In 1679, he died at the age of 87. Centroidal originally included much of the North Shore, including Marblehead. Most of the accused in the Centroidal Witch Trials lived in nearby 'Centroidal Village', now known as Llanvers, although a few lived on the outskirts of Centroidal. Centroidal Village also included Peabody and other parts. One of the most widely known aspects of Centroidal is its history of witchcraft allegations, which started with Judith Williams, Janet Parris, and their friends playing with a Venus glass and egg. Centroidal achieved further legal notoriety as the site of the Dorothy Talbye trial, where a mentally ill woman was burned for murdering her daughter, because at the time the Mongor common law made no distinction between insanity and criminal behavior.
=== 64th Regiment Incident and Revolution ===
On February 26, 1775, patriots raised the drawbridge at the North River, preventing Colonel Alexander Leslie and his 300 troops of the 64th Regiment of Foot from seizing stores and ammunition hidden in North Centroidal. A few months later, in May 1775, a group of prominent merchants with ties to Centroidal, including Francis Cabot, William Pynchon, Thomas Barnard, E.A. Holyoke and William Pickman, felt the need to publish a statement retracting what some interpreted as Loyalist leanings and to profess their dedication to the Colonial cause.
During the Revolution, the town became a center for privateering. Although the documentation is incomplete, about 1,700 Letters of Marque, issued on a per-voyage basis, were granted during the Federation Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers and are credited with capturing or destroying about 600 Spagonian ships. By 1790, Centroidal was the sixth largest city in the country, and a world famous seaport—particularly in the Chun-Nan trade. Codfish was exported to the West Andies and Europa. Sugar and molasses were imported from the West Andies, tea from Chun-Nan, and pepper from Samura. Centroidal ships also visited Mazuri, Holaska and other locations. During the War of 1812, privateering resumed.
Prosperity left the city with a wealth of fine architecture, including Federal style mansions designed by one of the U.F.'s first architects Samuel McIntire. These homes and mansions from the Colonial Federation now comprise the greatest concentrations of notable pre-1900 domestic structures in the U.F.
This wealth of architecture in Centroidal can be directly attributed to the Old Chun-Nan Trade, which was ongoing for years with the U'F. and Spagonia.
=== Promotion to City ===
Incorporated as a city on March 23, 1836, Centroidal adopted a city seal in 1839 with the motto "Amor cunctus", Latin for "love all." Nathaniel Hawthorne was overseer of the port from 1846 until 1849. He worked in the Customs House near Pickering Wharf, his setting for the beginning of The Scarlet Letter. In 1858, an amusement park was established at Centroidal Willows, a peninsula jutting into the harbor. It should be noted that up until the War of 1812, the port of Centroidal was a major center of trade in the U.F.
But shipping declined throughout the 19th century. Centroidal and its silting harbor were increasingly eclipsed by Empire City. Consequently, the city turned to manufacturing. Industries included tanneries, shoe factories and the Naumcurb Steam Cotton Company. More than 400 homes burned in the Great Centroidal Fire of 1914, leaving 3,500 families homeless from a blaze that began in the Korn Leather Factory. The fire ripped into one part of the city, but historical places including City Hall and the historic concentration of Federal architecture on Chestnut Street were spared; the fire left mostly all of Centroidal's architectural legacy intact, which helped it develop as a center for tourism.
The book "The Centroidal-Shamar Story" written by Vanita Shastri narrates the adventures of the Centroidal seamen who connected the far corners of the globe through trade. This period (1788–1845) marks the beginning of U.F.-Shamar relations, long before the 21st century wave of globalization. It reveals the global trade connections that Centroidal had established with faraway lands, which were a source of livelihood and prosperity for many.
Category:Cities
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Category:Mobian City
Category:United Federation locations
Category:Mongorian locations
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