Osthaven

Osthaven, the jewel of the former Imperial Overseas, started humbly as a fishing coastal village. While it did possess a good haven, it was far from the populous trade routes, and its prospetiy was very limited, even though somewhere in the fifith century it did obtain a charter that made it a market town. The main source of income and the main occupation for the populace was still fishing.
Prominence came to it along with the imperial soldiers. When they set their foot on the ground of what would become a rich province of theirs for almost six centuries, they saw the merit of Osthaven's position, and the imperial prince Ludwig von Fernwald-Fernwald, leader of the expeditionary force, elected to make it his base of operations. When the land was successfully subjugated, von Fernwald-Fernwald, appointed the first Count of the Overseas by the emperor Friedrich-Oldwig, made Osthaven, which quickly grew to be his favourite city, his seat of power, putting the money he obtained in his campaigns by various means to the city's betterment. Since Count Ludwig amassed a veritable fortune, and the new status of Osthaven meant a great increase in traffic, both due to the treasure ships departing for the mainland and the trade between the mainland and the overseas, the city grew quickly, obtaining new dikes, new foritficaitons, and even being rebuilt twice. During Osthaven's heyday proud citizens boasted that only the Imperial Palace in Isenburg could compete with the Count's Palace.
Osthaven's eventual ruin came from the same source that brought it wealth and fame - imperial wars. During the reign of emperor Willibald, the empire was hard-pressed to fight on many fronts, and there were not sufficient troops to impede the overseas provinces being overrun by the ambitious enemies. Although count Atanarich von Steinbrücken, serving as Count of the Overseas, prosecuted the war with ability and valour, he was slowly forced back due to lack of men and weapons. Eventually he was forced to abandon defence of Osthaven itself, instead electing to consolidate his position further north, where there were more numerous natural obstacles and havens no worse and, perhaps, even better than that of the Star of Overseas.
Osthaven came under siege and was besieged for six years, suffering from constant artillery fire and a great flash flood, and when the last commander of the garrison colonel Oldwig von Fernwald-Obermarkt acquiesced to an honourable capitulation of the fortress, the city was left in veritable ruins, and there scarcely was a building that was not at least half-reduced to rubble.
Osthaven, along with the rest of the western Overseas Province, was lost to the empire as per the Theodahad's peace, and its new masters (ironically, as many other nobles in the region, of predominantly imperial ancestry) were faced with the task of rebuilding a great city that was now lying in ruins, among which, perhaps, less than a thousand people lived - a far cry from its populous and prosperous past.
Its resurgence, once again, came from its haven and docks. Restored by a great monetary expenditure, the haven allowed for a trade in grain to be established with the former metropoly, which now experienced regular famines during the period of great instability. This returned traffic to the city's port, and with the traffic came wealth - both to the von Fernwald-Obermarkt-Osthaven nobles that ruled over it and to its inhabitants. Since Osthaven was both the seat and the most prized possession of its offshoot of the illustrious imperial von Fernwald family, a great deal of income from tariffs was invested back in rebuilding the dikes, which were reduced during the siege, and the fortifications, and the palace quarter, and many other facilities, including a new naval arsenal.
Now, perhaps, Osthaven is still not the Star of the Overseas it once was, having even lost some of its trade prominence to other cities like Willibaldsburg to the north, it is most certainly one of the wealthiest and best-fortified cities in the region, and it boasts a great traffic due to lucrative trade with the Empire.

Type

City