(This article is for the modern city. For the ancient galtic settlement, see Caerd-rûn)
Caerun is the capital and most populous city of the
Commonwealth of Ardun. With an estimated population of 3.4 million in an area of 240 square miles, it is also the principal city of the Greater Caerun Area (which holds a combined population of 7.6 million). Since the beginning of the Steel Age, Caerun has been one of Bruna’s largest centers of industry, arts, and science.
Located on the shores of freshwater Lake Purken, Caerun has been major regional power for thousands of years. The city’s ancient core was once the
galtic settlement of Caerd-rûn, ancestral home of the
Ardunnon Tribe, though the original foundations — including the legendary Oaken Throne — are as of yet lost to time. Caerd-rûn itself would cease to be the Ardunnon capital after the death of
King Fennar Falkrun, but it would never lose its strategic and economic value through the ages, switching hands between galtic rulers until its incorporation by the
Kingdom of Ardun in 470.
A global center for industry, Caerun was the birthplace of the modern Labour Movement, and was part of the Labour Party’s stronghold in the hinterlands in the years leading up to the
The Ardunan Revolution. It hosted the
United Labour Front‘s provisional government for much of the
Ardunan Civil War, and was made into the nation’s capital after the Constitutional Convention of 1246.
Caerun is considered one of the most important and powerful global cities, and as such it exerts considerable impact over the arts, commerce, entertainment, research and development, and media. It is also home to some of the leading educational institutions in the world, such as Marseton University (formerly Caerun Royal Academy).
Districts
The city of Caerun is divided into 20 districts (19 neighborhoods plus Revolution Mall). Each district is administered by a Common Council, which answers to the Municipal Commune of Caerun.
Union Place
Union Place is Caerun's government district, seat of both regional and federal governments. The most important of these buildings sit along the Madoc River waterfront, at Snowden Square, such as the Ardunan Commons and the Trade Union Congress.
The district is also home to several hotels and embassies, as well as the Ministry Quarter, where elected representatives are housed in a modest project.
Oldtown
Oldtown is the historical district of Caerun.
Red December Park
Inaugurated in 1252, Red December Park (also known as Revolution Mall or Red Square) is a massive landscaped park built to honor the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. The park contains several monuments by famous Ardunan artists, most notably the gigantic "Fair Lady Revolution", designed by Aina Tuomela. It also has plenty of spaces designated for recreation or special events.
Red December Park is surrounded by several museums dedicated to the history of syndicalism and the Ardunan Revolution, as well as the Kennedy Stadium (home of the Caerun Steelers), which preceded the revolution by nearly 20 years.
East End
Known as Caerun's Entertainment District, East End is a historical neighborhood with a world-famous waterfront area, which houses most of the city's theaters and bars.
Snowden Point
Snowden Point (formerly Brannen Point) is another historical industrial district, originally housing Caerun's first coal power plant. During the Ardunan Civil War, the area suffered heavy bombardment from the royalist air force, in an effort to cripple the industrial might of Marseton. After the war, the most heavily damaged sections of the district were cleared out and set aside for future development, and a small aerodrome was established in the area by the Marseton Society of Aviation.
The district was then renamed to Snowden Point, in honor of labour activist and socialist author George Snowden, as part of a wider push by the new government to remove and replace symbols of the old order.
By the late 40's, air travel was becoming a prominent mode of transportation, and the first Five-Year Plan passed by the Trade Union Congress included a section ordering the construction of five international airports in major Ardunan cities. Thus, in 1248, construction began on Caerun International Airport (CAR), which was inaugurated 8 years later.
Caerun International is staffed and operated by the National Aviation Workers' Union.
Bookerton
Named after
Owen Booker, a major ULF leader who was shot by the royal guard shortly before the revolution, the district of Bookerton stands atop the remains of an old mansion district, Penhallow Hills. The Hills were an symbol of the pre-war wealth inequality, with regal suburban estates sitting just a few miles fro the poverty of inner Caerun.
With the revolution of '42 came Executive Order 9, which began the full expropriation of all privately owned land in The Hills, so the estates could be repurposed for the war effort. Since the vast majority of the land was owned by old noble houses (the rest owned by wealthy industrialists), the district was already mostly empty by the time the order was carried out, as the residents had fled east to escape the revolution.
After the civil war, most of the old estates were torn down to make way for the construction of relatively cheap housing units, or "Lennies", though some mansions were repurposed as community centers, union halls or living museums.
Bookerton was built as a testament to the revolutionary promise of housing for all, and the Commonwealth spared no expense in constructing a world-class neighborhood that could demonstrate Ardunan ingenuity to the international community. The whole district was tightly planned on a grid, designed by visionary urbanists to efficiently use the available space to comfortably house as many families as possible.
Today, many of the old Lennies have been replaced with newer construction, but the planning principles that went into designing the neighborhood have been adopted throughout the syndicalist world.
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