Winsburg

Winsburg (Serbo-Croatian: Vinzburg, Latin: Vimburgum) is the largest and capital city of the United Provinces. It is home to around 1,840,000 penguins and serves an important global economic, political and business center. It is located on the Tahmish river. Apart from being a city it is also its own state bearing the same name, Winsburg, as of August 4, 2017.

The city was founded in the 8th century by the Oslovens. It used to be a much smaller fishing village back under the Glodic Empire: thanks to the Oslovens it became a bustling trade hub and one of the most economically most important cities of the entire continent. The city was devastated by many wars, bombed many times and suffered lots of fires that destroyed much of the city, but despite all that it stood out as one of the most historically preserved cities of the entire continent. It is the second most important city politically of the Western Union, behind the capital city of Acadia, as many institutions of the Western Union take seat in Winsburg.

The city is for being one of the largest fashion, music and arts hubs of Antarctica. There are yearly expositions dedicated to arts which are attended by thousands of penguins worldwide. The country is also renowned for having beautiful baroque and bohemian architectural design of its buildings. The city is visited by over 1 million tourists yearly: nearly more than the entire population of the city. To put it in perspective, 7 million tourists visit the whole United Provinces yearly.

The city was founded in the 8th century by a group of settlers. It evolved to become the largest city in the island archipelago. It became a large trade hub on the Tahmish river and it later became the capital city of the Osloven Empire and, after its collapse, the Kingdom of Snowiny.

History


The city of Winsburg was founded in the 8th century by the Oslovens. Previously, it was a small village under the Glodic Empire. The city of Winsburg eventually became the capital of the new Osloven Empire, and the Emperor moved to live in that city. The city grew over the centuries and by the 15th century had a population of around 1,000,000. It was devastated by wars in the 15th century and its population fell down to around 800,000, but the city managed to survive very well. High Penguins attempted to raze the city down in the 18th century, to no avail as the fire was put out very quickly. In 1803, the Osloven Civil War began and the city was extremely divided. Communists arose in the city and managed to occupy a great part of it, but the rebellion was put down several years later and order was restored to Winsburg.

Winsburg's population started declining just like the population of the whole country. In the early 20th century, Khanzem occupied Winsburg and exterminated dozens of Winsburgers. The population fell to 450,000 from around 800,000 just years ago. After the war, Snowinns from across the country united to rebuild the city. It saw an unprecedented population boom and by 1947 the city had a population of around 1,000,000, becoming one of the fastest growing cities in Antarctica. Within a few decades the population stabilized around 1,100,000. As of 1993, the population is slowly in decline but it is very stable. Now it holds on to around 1,050,000.

Locations
Winsburg is the capital city of the country and has a lot of locations and attractions to visit and explore. Notable locations that are of utmost importance to the administration of the city and the country include the House of the National Assembly (Dom Narodne Skupštine) and the Government House (Zgrada Vlade Ujedinjenih Provincija) near the city center, as well as the Presidential Palace (Predsednička palata). Another famous location for the President is the Belvedere Palace (Palata Belveder), his summer getaway, located in the far south-southeastern part of the city. The palace is incredibly luxurious and is maintained by taxpayer money, much to the inconvenience of said taxpayers, who believe money could go better to developing other neighborhoods in the city and to lifting more penguins out of poverty.

Notable restaurants and cafes in Winsburg include: Café Parie, Grill at John's (Roštilj kod Jovana), By the River (Pored reke), Olde Puffish Tavern, and many others. Notable hotels in the city include Hotel Prestige in the Old Town, Hotel Welltrain in the Lower Town and Hotel Cambridge in the English Town of Kalekaranija. All those hotels are relatively affordable for middle-class tourists and are visited by tens of thousands each year. Famous statues and monuments you should visit include the monument to President Lavender, monument to Brant Esser, monument to the struggle of the Yowien penguins and monument to Osloven Empress Elisabeth. The monuments are dedicated to historical figures or to people United Provinces had great connections with, as is the case with Lavender and Brant Esser, two monuments that have been protested because the two leaders are still alive and leading today, with protests taking place against both individuals quite often.

There are several major squares in the city of Winsburg, including Republic Square (Trg Republike), Snowiny Square (Trg Snovinske), Liberation Square (Trg oslobođenja), Ed Island Square (Edski trg), Kapitola Stroj and Penland Battalion Square (Trg penskog bataljona).

Neighborhoods


The city of Winsburg has many extremely vibrant and diverse neighborhoods, each with their own history and characteristics that set them apart from the others. The most important one to mention, of course, is the oldest one, and that is the Old Town, the very center of the city. The Old Town is in the very heart of the city, and is the location of the famous and must-see Republic Square. The architecture in the Old Town, as in most of the city, is mainly the European architecture that you can see in notable cities such as Vienna, Budapest and Prague, and other smaller cities like Zagreb, Krakow and Bratislava.

The neighborhood with the most vibrant immigrant community is, without a doubt, Kalekaranija, which has seen heavy immigrant settlement (with less than 55% of its population being of a Snowinian ethnicity!). The business and financial heart of the city is Mostar, hosting the seat of the Bank of Snowiny (BoS). The most affluent neighborhood of the city is Vinogradi, where most of the population are very rich people living in extremely unaffordable mansions and villas. Most of the poorer residents of the city live in brutalist, concrete blocs in New Winsburg, similar to post-communist architecture that can be found all over Eastern Europe, particularly in cities like Warsaw, Belgrade and Bucharest.

Kapitola Stroj is named after the fort that stands at the tip of the peninsula the neighborhood is located on. This fort is known simply as the Kapitola Stroj fort, with Kapitola Stroj literally meaning "the capitol militia".

Crime
Winsburg is one of the cities with smallest crime rates in Antarctica. This is largely due to the fact that police patrol all communities and neighborhoods regularly and are friendly and ready to help the local population. The area with the smallest crime rate is the Old Town, and the area with the largest crime rate is Birantek, an area mostly inhabited by Puffalians and Puffarussians, but even that area has a low rate in general that is only considered high in comparison to other areas of this city.

There are 4 prisons in Winsburg. Just like the rest of the country, as decreed by the United Provinces government it chooses the method of rehabilitation over punishment - and the system has been remarkably successful. Prisoners are given good food and fair treatment in prisons and their rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United Provinces are still theirs and they have a right to exercise them. The maximum prison sentence in the United Provinces is 30 years which can be extended by another 30 years once that deadline is over, but in order for it to be extended the criminal must be brought to court.

Death penalty is illegal since 2005. President Robert Smith made it legal once again in 2011 but President Simon McClark made it illegal again in 2015. Prior to 2005 death penalty was usually carried out by hanging or firing squad. In 2011 Robert Smith, when he once again made death penalty legal, made it so death by hanging and death by firing squad are illegal while keeping lethal injection as the only legal death penalty method.

Demographics
The city has a huge immigrant demographic. Around 65% of the city's population are native-born people, while 35% is the foreign-born population. The city's demographics drastically changed over the last 20 years due to a huge influx of immigrants, migrants and refugees included. 35% of the city's foreign born population is from Yow, 30% of the city's foreign born population is from Puffalia, 10% of the city's foreign born population is from Puffarus and 6% of the city's foreign born population is from East Pengolia. 19% are from other places. The city's large immigrant demographic has greatly impacted internal politics in the United Provinces and immigration has, for quite a while now, been a major issue in United Provinces politics due to opposition from far right-wing parties.

The primary penguin species living in this city are Emperor Penguins and King Penguins. There are Adelie, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Macaroni and High minorities. This is due to the fact that most Snowinns in general are Emperor and King Penguins as they have settled the Sub-Antarctic areas quite substantially. High penguins have their own communites and ghettos in parts of the city like Mitervija or the North Town. They also have their own clubs, organizations and parties for minority rights. The High Penguins by name are protected by the Constitution of the United Provinces due to discrimination they have suffered in the past and due to heavy lobbying by organizations such as the Penstubal Post, and the constitutional protections the High Penguin community enjoys led to a vibrant and diverse High Penguin culture being created with its center in Winsburg.

Architecture
Winsburg has an architecture deeply influenced by architectures from the Ninja Archipelago, such as the Snoss and Francterran architectures. It has the look of a typical Western or Central European city, with baroque-style buildings and bohemian architecture. This is due to the fact that many penguins from all over the Ninja Archipelago settled in this country as it is in a suitable trading position - between the Ninja Archipelago and the Sub-Antarctic Islands, and Winsburg as it is on the largest river in the country, the river Tahmish, and thanks to it is connected to the sea port of Snowy City.

Upon settling in the country those penguins from the Ninja Archipelago brought their culture, design and arts. They were quickly adopted by the Snowinns who since then started calling this amazing mixture of Ninja Archipelago architectures and arts as their own unique Snowinn culture. This clearly left a mark on the architectural design of the city and the city's design from the era when Ninja Archipelago traders and settlers arrived in the country is still preserved today.

Tourism
Winsburg is historically the number one urban destination for tourists due to its size and historical significance and present-day importance in the country and in the Sub-Antarctic region. Winsburg is visited by around 1 million tourists annually and a significant sector in its economy is, in fact, tourism. Most tourists originate from other Western Union countries, such as Acadia, Candvia, Duck Island and Tropicalis, or from other countries outside the Union like Seal Islands, Flystaria or Andera. Tourists who come to Winsburg usually explore as much as they can in the entire city, but of particular importance is, of course, the very center of the city, the Old Town, which is the historical area.

Nightlife
Winsburg has a well-earned reputation for a vibrant nightlife, with many clubs open until dawn that can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Winsburg are the barges (splavovi, splav in singular) spread along the banks of the Tahmish river. They are popular places for gatherings, for birthday parties and for all types of celebrations with close friends.



Transportation
Methods of transport used in Winsburg include car, metro (subway), tram and bus. All four are used on a day-to-day basis by nearly everybody in the city.

Metro is quite an efficient form of transportation and has more commuters than the tram and bus do as it is very fast and it is easy to get around the city with the metro. The Winsburg Metro has 3 lines: BM1 (Skoplje - Aerodrom), BM2 (Šiškomer - Nova železnica) and BM3 (Travobordom - Dubrava) and a lot of tax money is spent on funding them every year. This is the reason why there are so many Winsburg Metro trains and why they are always up to date and maintained every year. The Winsburg Metro is currently the only subway network in the United Provinces and was originally supposed to be built in the 1980s - there was a failure to allocate the appropriate funds, however, and in the 1990s war prevented the project from taking place. In the 2000s Geronimo Stanling began the project on the metro, finishing its first line by the end of his presidency - his successor Robert Smith finished a second line and Simon McClark a third line, with one more line under construction at the moment that would connect Podbrežje with Mostar.

The bus system is also quite developed. There is a bus stop every few hundred meters and a lot of streets have bus stops. Most buses are new and up to date thanks to heavy government investment in public transportation, although there are some very old buses left that have not been decommissioned and those buses are known to heavily pollute the environment, which is why the United Provinces government has plans to abandon all of them. The tram system is most developed in the exterior areas of the Old Town, and also has many commuters every day. Most of Old Town is a no-vehicle zone and getting around there is mostly done by walking and/or bike.

Trivia

 * The city resembles real life cities like Prague, Kraków and Vienna the most.
 * The city is home to the famed Veggie Emporium vegetarian restaurants, which are visited by many every year.
 * Winsburg is the wealthiest city and region in the United Provinces and has the best living standards in the entire country.
 * Winsburg's local government invests heavily in social programs and infrastructure and bettering life inside the city, and this has led to very heavy taxes for its citizens - a majority reports being satisfied with that, but more right wing and libertarian demographics in the city are increasingly frustrated and regularly protest for less government spending.