Eindhoven

**Country**
 **State**
 **Population**
 **Notable structures**

**Eindhoven** is a Free City (Vrije Stadt) in the Kingdom of New Tarajan. It is the largest and most populous city in the Kingdom, and it is at the same time also capital of the Duchy of Nerzogen, and seat of House Van Geldern, one of the most ancient and powerful Major Houses of the country.

It is located on the shores of the Shalimar River, the largest watercourse of New Tarajan, which greatly contributed to the early modern development and growth of the city, supplying it with an excellent way of communication with the other Antanaresian fiefdoms of Tarajan, and being a source of food for the whole population through fishing and irrigation of the surrounding, mostly desertic, countryside.

## History

Eindhoven was one of the first, original foundation of the Antanaresian lords who conquered Tarajan in the XVI century. On the wake of the acquisitions made by House Van Vinkel in the first two decades of the century, and particularly after the foundation of the Marquisate of Merlberg in 1520, Mathieu I Van Geldern, nephew of the Gustav Van Der Grudeln, the first leader of the Antanaresian lords in Tarajan, decided to found his own principality on the shores of the Shalimar, not far from one of the ramifications of the Great Eastern Road, the backbone route of the ancient Ajanic Shahdom. The place for the town-fortress which was to become the centre of the new principality was personally chosen by Mathieu: a later story claims that he made the choice after he had seen a beautiful young girl (initially thought to be the Virgin Mary, but who was later to be identified by many as Shalimar herself, after the end of Christianity in the Kingdom). Despite significant geographical disadvantages (like today, it was mainly surrounded by desertic lands), the town grew significantly, concomitantly with the development of the Antanaresian fiefs all around it. Trade and commerce soon formed the backbone of the its economy, aided by the fact that it never became a target of direct military actions, even during the troubled civil wars which devastated the newborn Kingdom for decades (and despite House Van Geldern being one of the main opponents to the ascendancy of House Van Vinkel). The power of the Eindhoven traders increased so much that in 1591, after the catastrophic defeat suffered by Mathieu II Van Geldern by the hands of Sigismund Heinrich II, they petitioned the then-prince of Merlberg in order to obtain the rank of Free City under his protection, thus escaping the duke's direct jurisdiction, something they managed to obtain a year later, when the prince finally lost any hope at mending the fracture between himself and House Van Geldern.

Despite the newly-achieved autonomy, during the Sigismundian Period, and later during the Heinrichian one, Eindhoven saw its relative importance diminishing in favor of Merlberg, and particulalry Alleskandberg, as the main Tarajani trade centre. If not indirectly, the city could not profit from the wave of colonial expansion which took place in the XVII and XVIII centuries, and slowly decayed to a more provincial role. Exploiting the situation of relative weakness of the city, House Van Geldern repeatedly attempted at re-acquiring its old capital (in 1654, 1677, 1689, and 1718), but without any success.

A new age for Eindhoven only began in the XIX centry, and the advent of the Industrial Revolution: thanks to its huge source of waterpower, combined with the available space in the surrounding, uninhabited, areas, Eindhoven found a new vocation as industrial centre. From 1840 to the end of the century, the city's population increased exponentially, from around 15.000 to more than 780.000, making it already the largest city in the Kingdom, a primacy it would keep from that time onward. The Communist regime established after the Revolution made Eindhoven a target for one of its most ambitious industrial and infrastructural projects: the construction of the Shalimar Dam, and the creation of a whole new industrial pole in the region. The results, however, were catastrophic, with the whole area soon subject to increased desertification, and the dam finally falling down in 1945, one year after the communists had been overthrown. Due to its industrial importance, Eindhoven was particularly hit during the Tarajani Civil War as well, being repeatedly bombed, and hotly contested by both parties during the Battle of Eindhoven. When Duke Geralt II Van Geldern retook possession of his ancestor's duchy, he found the situation to be almost irredimable: the city had been almost razed to the ground, most of the population had fled or was dead, all forms of agricultural subsistence has been destroyed, and the desert was already beginning to reclaim the ruined peripheries. It was hard to predict that it was the beginning of the true golden age of Eindhoven.

Between 1944 and 1975, mostly thanks to the generous efforts of Duke Geralt himself and the reconstruction policies enacted by both the Landsraad and King Conrad III all over the Kingdom, Eindhoven rose from the ashes. The duke immediately recognized Eindhoven's independence (the Free City Charter was confirmed by Conrad III only in 1946), inaugurating a new period of close cooperation between his House and the city's authorities. As a result of this, he gained the right of settlement on the city territory, which was recognized as capital of the duchy (a right his ancestors never managed to obtain since 1592). Both Geralt II and the city's authorities soon understood that it was impossible to restore the city simply as it was: a true rebirth had to pass through a radical redefinition of its role inside the Kingdom, particularly on the economic role. What the duke, true leading figure of the reconstruction, envisioned, was a reformulation of the ancient trade glories of his capital: a new, modern, financial hub for a new Kingdom. In 1949, the duke and the city government secured the approval of King Conrad for the re-establishment of the Kingdom's Stock Exchange in Eindhoven (it was previously in Alleskandberg). From then onwards, Eindhoven has strengthened its role as financial and economic capital of New Tarajan, a role it keeps firmly until now.

Eindhoven soon became the seat of all major Tarajan financial institutions and organizations (the Royal International Bank and ING just being the most famous among them), a result crowned by the decision, taken in 1966 by the International Business Group, to built its general headquarter in the city. From the 1950's, and thanks to the continuous presence of financial capital, Eindhoven also became the main centre for Tarajani high-tech, aerospace, and car manufacturing. As a result, the population grew exponentially. In 2010, the city's new airport also became the first Tarajani infrastructure to obtain the status of spaceport.

## The city

Nowadays, Eindhoven is the most populous, most advanced, and most economically developed, city in New Tarajan. It has evolved to become a concrete symbol of the renewed power of Tarajani economy after the disasters of the civil war, and is home to some of the most powerful financial institutions and groups of whole Esamir.

Rebuilt from the ashes left by war, the city is today mostly characterized by its daring skyline, made up by some of the tallest and most beautiful skyscrapers of Esamir. Large highways and roads, and a metropolitan high-speed train network complete the picture of a city where almost nothing remains of the ancient past. From the end of the last century, Eindhoven also promoted the establishment of high-tech industries in its area, soon arising to the role of leading hub for firms in the field. It is no coincidence that the city hosts the annual air show, nor that its airport has been the first to be labelled with the futuristic name of spaceport in 2011. From 1877, Eindhoven is also seat to the **Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology**, which has been completely renewed in 2014 in order to meet the higher requirements of contemporary days.