Well after sometime I think Nuln is done enough for the moment. Sources include: Sigmar's Heirs, Skavenslayer, Manslayer, Iron Company, Forges of Nuln, Empire Heraldry Book, Beasts in Velvet and the WHFRP Companion.
Part I
The City State of Nuln
Resident Electors: Emmanuelle von Liebwitz of Wissenland and Kasmir XI Arch-Lector of Sigmar
Livery: Black
Heraldic Devices: Scales of Verena and Cannon Barrels
History:
In the days of Sigmar, the nascent city of Nuln sat on the borders of several great tribes of men. Its position, at the confluence of the River Aver and Reik, made it an important ferry point as well as a nexus for trade. However as it existed on periphery of each tribes’ land, it was far too isolated in times of war and did not have that large of population. Its continued existence at the time has been attributed to the influence of early Tilean traders who sought to purchase furs from the northern parts of the Empire.
Nuln’s growth and success was the product of Sigmar’s policies following the foundation of the Imperial State. In order to connect the more remote portions of the Empire to his capital in Reikdorf, Sigmar commissioned the construction of two great roads. The first of these was the of course the Alrdorf-Middenheim road which insured the capital’s contact with the Empire’s religious heart of the time. For his second project, Sigmar chose to connect Nuln as its position was not only ideal for trade but a convenient stop for the Counts of the southern tribes on their way to Reikdorf. With improved road and river commerce, the city quickly blossomed into a mercantile powerhouse.
The city’s place as one of the great in the Empire was sealed with the advent of the Sigmarite faith. Johann Helstrum, the Cult’s first Grand Theogonist, began his preaching career in the streets of Nuln and the city’s inhabitants were enthusiastic converts to the new religion. As the Sigmarite clergy played an increasingly large role in Imperial politics, Nuln became an attractive choice for Sigmarite Emperors. Coupled with the stubborn traditionalism Emperors faced in Altdorf, Nuln spent a great deal of the first millennium as the Empire’s capital. As home of the Emperor, the city reaped the benefits in the form of massive building projects and the endowment of the Empire’s oldest and most esteemed University. Skilled Dwarf craftsmen moved to the city in great numbers and aided, most notably, in constructing the city’s sewer system which are still more advanced than any other in the Empire. With the election of the Drakwald Emperors, the capital moved from Nuln to Carroburg. With the Emperor, went the highest echelons of the Sigmarite clergy as they sought to ensure the continued high political position.
The upheavals of the second millennium altered the economic and religious life of the city. Nuln’s advantageous position coupled with its large Dwarf population spawned a burgeoning arms industry. The constant strife between the provinces drastically increased the demand for arms and Nuln grew rapidly to accommodate the large workforce and wealth weapons manufacturing attracted. Having abandoned Nuln to pursue their own sycophantic ends, the Cult of Sigmar was unable to reassert its position of dominance. In the absence of the Sigmarites, Nuln’s University increasingly venerated Verena, the Goddess of Wisdom, whilst returning Crusaders imported yet another Classical Goddess, Myrimdia. When Gorbad Ironclaw sacked the city in 1701, the growing dissatisfaction of Nulners solidified. Nuln secured a position as an independent City-State and plied its own fortune during the dark years of civil war and the Wars of the Vampire Counts.
Nuln’s reintegration into the Empire came at the hands of its native son, Magnus von Bildhofen. The eldest son of a prominent Nulner family, Magnus was afforded the finest education available and excelled at Nuln’s University. In addition to be very learned man, Magnus possessed an inimitable spiritual fervor. In the dark years preceding the Great War on Chaos, Magnus’s skilled and unique oratory won a large following among the populace of Nuln appealing to nobles, burghers, and peasants alike. When the hordes of Asvar Kul crossed into Kislev, it was from Nuln where Magnus began his campaign against the Ruinous Powers. Following the victory of Imperial arms, Magnus was elevated to the post of Emperor and established his capital in Nuln. Though the Bildhofen dynasty did not maintain the Imperial Crown after Magnus, the Unfahigers of Stirland continued to use Nuln as their capital until the twenty fifth century. In 2421, Nuln suffered the indignity of being again sacked by Greenskin invaders. Dieter IV managed to cling to power for eight more years but instead conducted business from Wurtbad. With Marienburg’s scandalous succession and Deiter’s ensuing deposition, the capital moved to Altdorf in the Reikland. Since those days Nuln has drifted back into the orbit of the Counts of Wissenland. This greatly due to the position of the ruling Liebwitz dynasty’s title as Counts of Nuln in addition to the Electoral County of Wissenland.
The People
Though attached to Wissenland, the people of Nuln cannot be traced back to the lines of any of the old tribes of the Empire, it is an entirely cosmopolitan city showing the influences from many of neighboring provinces. In addition, Nuln houses a large numbers of immigrants and has the largest population of Tileans in all the Empire. Nulners are proud of their city’s history and are often better educated, regardless of class, than any other people in the Empire. The beauty endowed on the city by Emperors past manifests itself in higher aesthetic tastes of Nulners. Nulners are not particularly religious and coupled with their ‘fancy’ tastes they get branded as libertines by many Wissenlanders. While this may be true of some Nulners, particularly the younger of the city’s nobility, Nulners are simply a people who enjoy life and are not ashamed to show it.
Ruling House:
Von Liebwitz Coat of Arms: Yellow Scales on a black field.
Emmanuelle von Liebwitz is the beloved Countess of Nuln as well as the absentee Countess of Wissenland. The eldest of the Von Liebwitz line, Emmanuelle was set to inherit a vast demesne from birth. In addition, Emmanuelle is blessed by being one of the most beautiful women in all of the Empire. As fate dealt her both fabulous wealth and stunning appearance, she has been able to live a life in which her merest demands are answered instantly beginning with her doting father and servants to the vast array of lovers she has entertained since. There are few Elector Counts of the Empire who are not rumored to have, at one time or another, enjoyed the Countess’s charms. Though in her middle years now, the Countess is still a striking woman for her age and scandalous accusations continue to this day over her numerous affairs, most notably the recent suggestion of liaisons with the bachelor Elector Count Helmut Feuerbach of Talabecland. Completely disinterested with the dealings of state, Emmanuelle relies a great deal on advisors but has the sense to appoint competent ones at that. These advisors have seen to continuing many of her father’s directives particular towards improving Nuln’s wealth. Vast sums of money have been expended in order to open a Nuln Engineering College. Despite setbacks during the Mutant attack on Nuln early in her reign, the College has managed to attract a good deal of prospective Engineers. Proximity to the Imperial Gunnery School as well Nuln’s foundries, enables the Nuln College to siphon more and more students away from the more storied Altdorf Engineers College. Besides attending extravagant parties and purchasing the finest of things, Emmanuelle wants nothing more than make Nuln the wealthiest city in the Empire in order that she might divorce it from Wissenland. She of course wishes to retain her position as Elector of the Empire and is more than willing to remain as such through a very large donation to the Imperial treasury.
The senior branch of the von Liebwitz line has no other members since the tragic death of Leos von Liebwitz at little over a decade ago. Leos, the younger brother of Emmanuelle, was perhaps the finest duelist in the Empire being hired by some of the most influential of the Empire’s families as tutor in swordsmanship. Leos ironically met his end in a duel with an otherwise unremarkable Altdorf guardsman. Whether it was hubris on Leos’s part or blind luck on the side of the guardsman, few are willing to speculate. The Countess is particularly defensive about rumors surrounding Leos’s death and few are as unwise as to mention any such talk within the palace halls.
Important City Locations
Like any other older city, Nuln is divided into a number of sections of various ages and purposes. The earliest part of the city lies in the Altestadt, which is constructed upon a great hilltop. Before the ancient war between the Dwarfs and Elves, the hill was a fortified outpost and the early humans most likely built the initial city upon old elven ruins. The area is now home to the Countess’s palace, the homes of the nobility, and the city’s great temples. Below the Aletstadt, encompassing the land between the old city walls and the River Reik, is the Nuestadt. This district houses the bulk of Nuln’s population, its major centers of learning, and most of its merchant offices. The youngest portion of the city lies on the western bank of the river. The Faulestadt, as the region is known, is home to the bulk of Nuln’s industry. As the city has expanded its industrial output, more and more of the upper and middle classes have complained about the fumes and grime such activity creates. Laws have slowly increased the regulation of were certain activities can take place and the strictest of these have come under Emmanuelle herself. Along with the many of the city’s smelting operations all other ‘unpleasant’ industry has been transferred to the far side of the river by decree of the Countess. The smallest portion of the city comprises the spur of land between the Aver and Upper Reik and is referred to by Nulners as Der Halbinsel. Here the majority of Nuln’s Dwarf population resides as well as housing the bulk of Nuln’s military barracks and infrastructure.
The Imperial Gunnery School
High Chancellor: Lord Julianus Groot
Modern artillery began working its way into the Imperial arsenals late in the second millennium. The constant civil wars offered a lucrative opportunity for Dwarf smiths to found mercenary artillery companies and ply their trade within the Empire’s borders. The demand for these new weapons soon outstripped the supply. As early as the sixteenth century Marienburg vessels were beginning to be outfitted with primitive guns. These guns were often based on Tilean designs as the Tileans were more than willing to share the information they had copied from the Dwarfs for a price. This competition inspired more and more spurned Dwarf Engineers to sell their services to wealthy Imperial lords and open their own foundries within the Empire’s borders. By the beginning of the Vampire Wars, most Elector Counts sported a moderate artillery train and a handful of Handgunner regiments.
It was only in the twenty-second century in which the first combination of foundry and gunner school was opened in Nuln. The preexisting arms industry in Nuln along with its large Dwarf population made it the ideal site for such a venture. The arrangement was further solidified through a substantial donation to the Dwarven Engineers Guild, which up until this point had clamored for redress at the illegal Imperial ‘reproduction’ of Dwarven technology. The Count of Wissenland, at the time acting as the ‘Sigmarite’ Emperor, nearly bankrupted the state in order to pay for the enormous costs of expanding Nuln’s foundries, building the School’s facilities, and paying the hefty sum demanded by the Dwarfs but once paid for, the financiers of the venture reaped profits often in excess of three times they had invested in a little over a decade.
In the four hundred years since it opened, the Imperial Gunnery School has greatly expanded. Its buildings in Nuestadt are quite large and imposing compared with those of Nuln’s University. As the School and city have expanded, new parts of the town have been annexed for the School’s use. The most important of these acquisitions is Aver Island where the School conducts the bulk of its live fire testing. Though the foundries of Faulestadt have taken over a good deal of the work, the School still casts many cannon and mortar barrels on site. Most of the large caliber pieces are cast from brass or bronze but evolving technology has allowed the school to experiment with iron. Most of the carriage fittings for artillery are also made on school grounds along with a number of pieces for handguns and pistols. The School is also responsible for production of a great deal of powder and shot it uses.
The curriculum for students is aimed at training master gunners. Math is a key component of this education along with the knowledge of how to keep a gun operating in the field. Each student is at least given rudimentary training in how to repair field pieces as well as producing powder and shot for their weapons.
The Temple District
Though not as highly placed in the old city as even the homes of the nobility, the cities various temples hold great sway in the city’s affairs. Nuln’s Cathedral of Sigmar is the most ancient building of Sigmarite worship in world. Constructed over the area in which Johan Helstrum first preached the divinity of Sigmar, the Sigmarite Cathedral may no longer have the same clout as the Grand Cathedral in Altdorf but still attracts a great number of pilgrims and donations. The city’s Temple of Myramidia is one of the grandest in the Empire taking up an entire city block. Though not the Orders Headquaters, many Knights of the Blazing Son are stationed in Nuln because of the large Myrimidian Temple. Arguably the most influential of Nuln’s temples is that of Verena. Strong patrons of the cities Universities, the Temple of Verena is a massive structure located at the edge of the Temple District. In addition to religious duties, the temple is also used as the city’s court house. Countess Emmanuelle does reserve her right to pardon cases and have final say in sentencing but most of the city’s judicial business is conducted by the cult. In addition Nuln boasts a large Garden of Morr and a small Temple of Ulric.
The Nuln College of Engineering
Headmaster: Waldred Teuber
Nuln’s Engineering College is often overlooked by people as a separate entity. The Imperial Gunnery School’s age and size eclipses that of the Engineering College and that the Engineers have a close relation with the Gunnery School further blurs the distinction. Opening an Engineering College in Nuln was the brain child of Emmanuelle’s father, who began luring Engineers away from Altdorf in the 2490’s. Immense sums of money were expended in order to procure the services of these Engineers as well as to construct a campus on par with the older Imperial Gunnery School. Shortly into Emmanuelle’s reign the College was completed but was soon ravaged by fire set by unknown saboteurs. The College has never been completely rebuilt though construction continues to restore the facility to its former, if brief, glory.
The College still garners a considerable endowment from the Countess but funds are directed at moving the College out from the shadows of both the Gunnery School and the Altdorf Engineers College. Many of the original faculty were the lesser professors from Altdorf and brought with them many of the tried and true designs of the great engineers such as Leonardo da Miragiliano and Ludwig von Meinkopt. Unfortunately this stifled the Nuln College’s originality and, to many Altdorf Engineers, the College looked more like a talentless parody. In order to remedy this problem, the College scoured the Empire for fresh and innovative minds. Initially the policy was a success but senior instructors began to grow concerned that the work of some students flirted too close to heresy. To curb the unrestrained imagination of some in the student body, the College offered positions to many exiled Dwarf Engineers. The fusion worked perfectly and now the Nuln College of Engineers produces nearly as many new and fantastic inventions as the much larger Altdorf College.