Palomar, Maldoria

Palomar, Maldoria
City
City of Palomar
A Steel Mill in Palomar, 2020
Country	Shalum
Duchy	Maldoria
Government
• Margrave	Kristian Schweiger
Area
• City	233.2 km2 (90.04 sq mi)
• Land	231.3 km2 (89.31 sq mi)
• Water	1.9 km2 (0.73 sq mi)
Elevation	1,204 m (3,951 ft)
Population
• City	168,245
• Metro	376,528

Palomar is an industrial city located near the center of the Duchy of Maldoria. As of January 2020, its estimated metropolitan of 376,528 made it the second-largest in the Duchy after the capital city of Concordia. It was originally founded in 1814 under the supervision of House Schweiger, who had been issued a royal charter to develop the area and exploit the surrounding mountains which were resource rich. As the industrial revolution took hold across Shalum, the royal courts dispatched several experts from the Dresden area to create and oversee a planned development of the city in order to increase its manufacturing output. Due to the success of the initial program, it has served as a model for several other planned developments across the Empire.

The area surrounding the city represents the largest mineral deposits under Shalumite control, which had made it a subject of considerable development since the early stages of the Eracuran Great War. The Ashland-Manswell Rare Earth Industrial Complex is the biggest processing facility in the city with over 46 acres under roof between its various campuses and over 11,000 onsite employees. In recent years, environmental groups have raised concerns regarding the rapidly rising levels of pollution to the south of the city. Imperial health officials have also raised alarms due high levels of poor health and birth defects present in much of the city's population as a direct result of the current ecosystem.

History

While no records of the area prior to Shalumite colonization exist, oral traditions passed down by locals indicate that the region had been inhabited by several different tribes over the generations. While the mountainous region surrounding the Palomar area is rocky and barren due to a general lack of rain, the area around the city was fed by several streams created from the runoff of melting snow. Nomadic tribes would often lead their livestock through the area so that they could graze in nearby pastures, while those who settled in the area lived off the land. Cash crops that were traded with early explorers included tobacco and hemp which did not grow easily elsewhere in the Empire.

As settlers began to move into the area, prospectors followed in their wake. As early as the late 1700s, numerous deposits of gold, silver, and saltpeter had been discovered in northern Maldoria. These mines were a source of great revenue to their owners and were a great attraction to many of the duchy's early immigrants who were brought in to support the burgeoning industry. The competition was so intense between nobles and trading unions that the royal government was forced to step in and regulate matters before conflict could break out between involved parties. In March of 1813, members of House Schweiger's expedition party moved into the Palomar area and began to survey the surrounding hills for signs of mineral wealth. It did not take long for their experts to discover several promising veins. This prompted the noble party to stake a claim on the land and return to the Shalumite capital to petition for a royal charter to its rights. They arrived several months later and successfully lobbied for the authority to develop the area. The noble house was awarded an initial 130 square kilometers, which was designated as the Margraviate of Palomar, as well as financial assistance from the royal treasury to jumpstart their efforts.

After months of coordinating the colonization efforts, Margrave Friedrich Schweiger and his cadre arrived at Palomar by means of a wagon train in February of 1814. Along with them were 47 families who would make up the first wave of settlers along with a detachment of Imperial troops who were tasked with protecting them. Construction of the new settlement began within days of arrival and was centered around Fort Providence, a stockade with two blockhouses meant to protect the residents in case of attack. While relations and trade were generally positive with local tribes, they would eventually deteriorate over the course of the next ten years as some were dislocated by new arrivals to the city. By this time over 140 families had moved into the area, and more arrived with each month as more mining sites were opened at the Margrave's direction. Many of these new settlers were not necessarily present by choice. Many of them were slaves from either the Empire itself or one of its many expeditions, prisoners who had been sentenced to hard labor, or indentured servants who had been sent to work off their debts to the crown.

A major point of contention that arose between natives and Palomar was that the city had begun to expand into much of the arable fields which the local tribes had farmed for centuries. The Margrave initially tried to find a peaceful resolution which included several attempts to persuade the tribes to leave, but all the offers were deemed unacceptable and rejected. In the spring of 1825, a scuffle broke out between natives and Shalumite farmers which left two dead on the colonist's side. When the local tribes failed to produce those who had been involved, discontent began to rise amongst the city's populace and resulted in several more incidents. After a native reprisal left a farmhouse burnt to the ground and its inhabitants hacked to pieces, the Margrave was forced to call up the soldiers under his command to put an to the dispute before more lives were lost.

The conflict between the Imperial soldiers and the natives lasted approximately six months. A detachment from Fort Providence marched against local villages and engaged in a scorched earth policly. The initial assault left over two hundred natives, including women and children, dead or taken into slavery. After they had evacuated to the southern hills which overlooked the city, the native warrior forces banded together to carry out a series of raids against the city and its mines. After suffering further losses, however, what remained of the tribes were eventually forced to surrender to the Margrave's forces. The tribes began to migrate away from the area in September of that year and there are no further records of their existence. It is believed that they were either wiped out or assimilated by other tribes who inhabited the areas beyond Imperial control.

20th Century to present

In the late 1890s, as the Shalumite Empire's control over foreign holdings was beginning to decline, the Imperial government saw a need to further develop their domestic production abilities to offset their losses elsewhere. By this time the Duchy had grown to be the heart of the Shalumite mining industry, and Palomar itself was home to sixteen mines of various types and a number of processing facilities. By that time, geologists had come to learn that the area constituted the largest mineral reserve under Imperial control. With this in mind, House Schweiger had begun to formulate plans which would allow them to maximize the output of Palomar's industry. To do this, a team of city planners and industrial experts were brought in to help streamline the process. Based out of the upper wards of Concordia, they traveled to the city of Palomar numerous times between 1905 and 1914 to create a development plan.

The Palomar Five Year Economic Expansion Plan, as it was officially proposed to the Margrave's economic council, was based a grid plan which divided the city into a series of production zones. Factories and production centers made up the center of each zone and were connected to each other through a series of rail lines and arterial roads. In an effort to reduce commute times and increase pedestrian traffic, residential housing blocks were to be constructed parallel or adjacent to their residents' workplaces. Green spaces and marketplaces were meant to act as a buffer to workers from some of the smoke and fumes released from the factories, but in many cases, those were disregarded in favor of more housing or support facilities instead. The end result allowed the city to grow exponentially in size but caused quality of life to decrease as single-family dwellings were replaced by apartment complexes and shops were located artificially rather than to serve their community's growth naturally.

As factories expanded in order to meet the nation's rising demand, so did the companies' slave populations. While it was not often mentioned during development meetings, each zone had a secure block set aside for their housing. By the start of 1925, over 1/5th of the city's population was either enslaved or indentured and a department of the local police force was tasked with patrolling their areas. Many of the new arrivals came from some of the last foreign territories, such as the Æþurian territories of Liam and Gallagher, or from Maldorian tribes in the southern areas of the duchy who were defeated by Imperial military forces. Forms of federal indentured servitude persisted in the city until it was disbanded nationally in 1945. Due to the lobbying power of the mining companies, especially ones located in and around Palomar, it continues to remain legal at the state level. Numerous human rights groups in Shalum have challenged this ruling, but as of 2020 none of their cases have been successful in overturning it.

Administration

When the area was initially settled, the Margrave of Palomar held total control over the local population and area through the use of the military forces under his command. The majority of administrative duties fell to lesser members of the ruling house, economic matters were handled by Imperial trading guilds, and policing duties were carried out by garrison troops. As the city grew in size and planned development took the place of natural growth, this style of leadership became untenable. The influx of citizens from across the Empire, especially those of free birth or who had come to work in industries not related to mining, accelerated the need for a new form of local government. Because the Margraviate is legally independent of the Duchy's central government and was heavily influenced by the new settlers, it was decided that the administration would not adopt a tribal-style government found elsewhere in the region. The first city council was founded in 1916, and seven additional municipalities were created to more easily manage the city's public services. The Margrave is the only permanent member of the council and serves as the chief executive with the ability to veto council decisions and assume control of the city during times of crisis. All other seats on the council by democratic election every two years.

The municipalities which make up the metropolitan area of Palomar have numerous civil responsibilities. Some of these include the maintenance of the city's green spaces, city roads, libraries, community buildings, healthcare clinics, waste collection, economic development, and emergency services. The majority of this is paid for through taxes collected from the corporations that operate in the city, while the rest is provided through federal funding. The Imperial government is responsible for larger and more expensive projects such as education, operating the city's larger hospitals, maintaining the major roadways, and developing large infrastructure projects. It is not unheard of for Imperial military forces stationed in the city to also assist in public works, especially during emergencies. The Margrave of Palomar can call up Shalumite garrison troops in the same way that the Duke or Duchess of Maldoria can activate state guard troops.