Harthport
The Port of Call
From across the 12 Worlds, have come free peoples, who have staked their lives within this City. A Hundred Languages, many Dozen faiths, and we have all stood within this fair land through thick and thin, through bloody war and quiet peace. Every one of you, who has struggled alongside one another these bloody years, you all truly show what it means to be the People of Harthport, a citizen of Albion, and a hero of the Commonwealth.The City of Harthport, one of the largest in the Kingdom of Albion, is a City with a long and deep running nautical history. In the centuries past, it was the first of the great Warp Ports of Call, instrumental as a maritime crossroads in the trade and commerce between the far corners of the 12 Worlds. Now, it more than retains that status, home to a vibrant harbour along the Trans-Warp Routes, with millions of tons of cargo passing through its terminals. It is also a key location for the United Commonwealth Navy, with United Commonwealth Naval Base Harthport being among the oldest and largest of its kind in the existence and still in service.
An Illustrious Heritage
My Father, my Grandmother, and one of my Great Grandmothers worked in these Docks, or on the great ships, and my Great Grandmother other served in the Fleet, so when the time came, and I considered taking on a nautical career......well, it wasn't a terribly painful choice.
A Young City
Over its long history, Harthport has played a role in international affairs that far ourclasses its relatively small size. Starting off centuries ago, before the Kingdom of Albion was anywhere near what it is now, let alone the United Commonwealth, as a humble fishing town, the City steadily grew in size and diversity as more of the various people's that had ended up on the island of Albion came to take Harthport as their home.
A Shining Age
This slow and steady growth, would soon be interrupted by a sharp increase, spurred on by the invention, and rapid improvement, of the specialised Bender-Bracing, attached to the hulls of Warp going vessels, and which finally made long distance Warp travel safer and faster. This led to a rapid increase in the volumes of shipping passing through that City, with a corresponding increase in population hoping to catch that Golden Age in trade and commerce. This sudden increase in inter-World trade led to the formation of dozens of Trans-Warp Routes along which those vessels would travel, and hundreds of new Ports of Call and Trading Companies. Harthport would soon be caught up in this economic boom, a boom which would only grow stronger with the formalised creation of the United Commonwealth, and the subsequent reduction in trading barriers and increase in international, inter-World commerce. Harthport's population, wealth, and fame all grew, faster and faster, in that golden age of trade, and that growth increased sharply yet again when the still new United Commonwealth formally created the U.C. Navy, which, in its hunger for bases and shipyards, quickly set its sights on that fair city. Soon, UCNB Harthport would be created, and the vessels of the Royal Navy of Albion soon would often be joined by the ships of the new member states on the High Seas and Warp, almost all of which would eventually pay visit to Harthport itself. In that function, Harthport would prove invaluable, being the staging ground and headquarters of over a dozen U.C. Military Operations, including the long running and famed Chainbreaker Campaigns, over the course of which it would serve as a new home for over 15,000 freed slaves, many of whom would eventually start new lives in that City. Harthport's Naval facilities would would expand rapidly, and in 115 A.S. the 2nd Fleet was formally established, with Naval Base Harthport as its headquarters and main operating base.
Distant Storm Clouds Near
That Golden Age would last far, far longer than most do, and fortunately for all concerned, its end would be slow down in growth rather than a sharp drop off a cliff. In the 130s and 140s A.S., after that long period of rapid development, Harthport would experience two decades or so of relative quiet, though it was only relative, as the city would remain an economic powerhouse, now just one of many that had sprung up. However, those decades of relative stagnation and peace would be brought to a screehing halt by the Seminal Tragedies that were the great Wars. These 3 conflicts, taking place over a mere 2 decades, would scar the 12 Worlds like nothing had before, and the City of harthport would face those horrors first hand.
Crashing, Sweeping Waves
To describe the incredibly complex series of events that led to the Great Wars and their subsequent effects across the 12 Worlds is an undertaking for another time, but as far as their effect on the City of Harthport is concerned, it cannot be overstated just how much the Great Wars changed every facet of that city. One merely needs to look at the vast number of construction sites scattered across the entire city, to get a sense of how thoroughly beaten up it was, be it by the Missiles of the Ocrisian Empire or Tsardom of Vostokya in the 1st and 3rd Great Wars respectively, or a Naval raid conducted by the People's Republic of Griffmark, leaving hundreds of people dead, and the streets filled with rubble, shrapnel, and many tons of unexploded ordnance that years later remains a lethal reminder of the that dark time. But, those horrors were in the past. Yes, there are few in the that City who do not remember the terror and horror of the bombs and War, the rationing and the constant fear of death, but in the current tense, yet calm peace that mostly reigns in the aftermath of the horrorshow that were those 20 years, they have picked their lives back together, and Harthport, and its people, are determined to ensure that the future will be as bright as it could ever be, and this post war age ould be a Golden Age once more.
A City, has its Spirit
Harthport's illustrious and Worlds-spanning history lies at the heart of its culture. From the descendants of freed slaves to those of travelling crews, or immigrants by the many other means, to those who have had family there from the start, for the majority of its existence Harthport has prided itself on its diversity in every sense. Innovation, too, is an ideal showcased here, as Harthport has been home to technological innovations that have rocked the Worlds, chiefly in the fields of the maritime industry and other nautical affairs. These include some of the earliest Bender-Bracing research, and the first successful use of the technology ever, and the continuous of improvement of that system is pursued with vigor in the Universities and commercial Research facilities within the City.
The Home of the Fleet
The Storms themselves seek safety, and the Wave and Tides recede. The Beasts of Sea fly far and wide when the Fleet puts out to Sea. Our Foes are Great and Numbered, but they bear not to face us, They dare not leave their Ports, When the Fleet puts out to Sea!UCNB Harthport, its vast facilities, and its strategic location, have been vital to the successes of the Navy, and the Armed Forces at large, in their recent campaigns both on the Alphanian Continent, and across the vastness of the Warp. It is the Homeport of a great many Warships of the Commonwealth, from the vessels of Warp Fleet Command Task Group 7, which prowl those warped waves on their ever vigilant watches, to the mighty 2nd Fleet, with its vast numbers in ships and granduer in power dominating the High North Sea of that World, to that special service of the 2nd Strategic Naval Command, whose silent sailors patrol the Polar depths, in their great game of chess, and their deadly payloads ever ready, to end all life on that World. To support these vast forces, the Naval Base is also home to a vast Shore Establishment, with all the necessary facilities to conduct sustainment and maintenance activities, from the full removal, repair and refurbishment of a Naval Atomic Powerplant, to applying new coats of paint to a Minehunter. The Naval Base, aside from the Armed Vessels of the Navy, is also home to Naval Transportation Group Alphania, which controls various unarmed support vessels, from the massive Heavy Fleet Tankers and Heavy Stores Transports which serve the 2nd Fleet's warships, to other assets such as Expeditionary Amphibious Transports which serve to help move ground forces from the Marines or the Army to various locations by sea.
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I like the history of the place, its sudden rise, fall, and recovery. Would be interesting to know more of its structure and defenses.
Too low they build who build beneath the stars - Edward Young