Senone

Senone
Capital City and Commune
Flag
Motto(s):  Sortir des Cendres "Out of the Ashes"
Country	Meronnia
Territorial Authority	Coeurie
Department	Greater Senone
Arrondissements	21
Government
• Maire	Mélodie Bombelles (Faction Radicale)
Population  (January 2020)
• Commune	2,812,671
Demonym(s)	Senonaire(s), Senonienne
GeoTLD	.senone

Senone is the capital and most populous city of Meronnia, with a population of 2,812,671 within the Commune borders as of 2020. For centuries, Senone has been a major Liran center in diplomacy, culture, science, and commerce. It has also been the origin and center for major political shifts within Meronnia; the city was the hub of the Communard forces which won the Meronnian Civil War, cementing what was already Meronnia's most populous city as its center of government and politics.

Senone is the Commune with the highest GDP, and second highest GDP Per Capita, in Meronnia. Economically, it makes significant contributions to the Republic's technology, tourism, and finance sectors, as well as being an administrative hub where many thousands of civil servants of Meronnia's federal government are employed. It is also a hub for fashion and arts, as well as being home to some of Meronnia's most prestigious academic institutions.

Senone is a major transport hub, home to Boulanger International Airport, the larger of Meronnia's two major international airports. The city is a major center for the national railway system, including high-speed rail links to many other major cities in the Federal Republic and beyond. The Senone Commune maintains a Mass Rapid Transit system, Senone Métro, which services more than a million passengers daily.

Senone is especially known for its architecture, museums, and cultural landmarks. The Ourselle is the best known museum in Meronnia and prominently home to a multitude of famous artworks, the Musée d'Ollienne hosts one of the largest collections of cultural artefacts and natural history exhibits in Lira, and the Musée de la Technologie de la République prominently features the largest collection of historic space technology in the world. Along the city's Avenue Dorothée are the Columns of Senone, a series of five major monumental columns erected in celebration of major historic events and figures.

Even beyond the city's landmarks, Senone in general is remarkable for its architectural style; the city has among the most protected buildings of any in the world. Large parts of the boulevards and buildings of the Barrault Restoration remain intact and well preserved, and the Commune regulates heavily on the façade of new buildings, affording the city a classic and iconic look which has been replicated to a lesser degree in several other Meronnian cities.

Etymology

A large number of ancient settlements have existed in and near where the river Pais meets the coast, the names of many of which are not recorded. It is known that when the Orthurian Empire conquered this region of Meronnia in 94 CE a fortified town was settled on the Western bank of the river, named Lutona, believed to derive from a Pre-Gostic Meronnian root word for marshlands.

By 464 CE, almost a hundred years after the withdrawal of the Orthurian Empire, Lutona had grown into a significant regional town, and at least five major tribal congregations had settled nearby including Douena, a walled Gostic settlement on the Pais river's Eastern banks. When Queen Viriata subjugated the area the congregated settlements were combined and named Senona, likely from the Orthurian for six. This would, in time, evolve into the modern Meronnian Senone.