neues emskrank

Neues Emskrank was the first port in Nordland to open in 2460 IC as a scheme to siphon off business from Marienburg. Failed miserably.

Originally a small fishing village called Pugsblatter, the rights to the town were bought by an investment group headed by a charlatan named Jens-Pieter Riemanns, and which numbered among its backers three Elector Counts and several lesser but still wealthy and powerful nobles and Imperial merchant houses. Their plan was to create two ports that would siphon off traffic from Marienburg, thus cutting out the middlemen there and creating more profits for themselves. To this end, Pugsblatter was bought in 2460 and renamed "Neues Emskrank". The local residents were forced out and resettled in the area of Wilhelmskoog, and colonists were brought in to reinvigorate the place. The cartel built houses and shops to give the city a fresh look, they invested in warehouses to handle the traffic surely coming their way, and they built new trading caravels that would be the vanguard of their fleet. Naturally, it was a total disaster.

Things went wrong during the construction, so much so that the new residents swore the old Pugsblatters were sneaking back to sabotage their work: there were fires and accidents, and once the town flooded when the Salz overflowed its banks, something that had not happened in living memory. When the first ship capsized after leaving its dock for the first time, people began to say the town was cursed. Of the ships launched from Neues Emskrank and its sister-town in Ostland, Salkalten, none returned. The cartel collapsed, the investors tossed Riemanns into a debtor’s prison, and Neues Emskrank was sold to the Elector of Nordland for a pittance.

Now the town is a depressed fishing village that lives off the catch from the sea, whatever trade comes through, and money made in the service of the priests of Manann at the monastery of Manaansheim in the bay. The buildings have a rundown, ill-kept look to them, and strangers are not readily welcome there. Surly townsmen and their hard-bitten wives and sullen children stare out at strangers from decaying houses that saw their best days long ago. Neues Emskrank has such a depressed, unloved feel to it that other Nordlanders have begun to speak of it as having a "taint".

Old Town

The original Emskrank is a small fishing town perched high upon cliffs overlooking the sea. It benefited from a sheltered cove, protected from the worst elements of the Sea of Claws by a cape that locals called Manann's Nose. The buildings are low stone affairs blending with the cliff top. Where the cliffs did not offer natural protection from attack the locals built rocky escarpments as a defence from all sides. The streets are narrow and steep–a stark contrast to the flat, wide roads of Neues Emskrank Since Neues Emskrank was built, the old town has suffered from the competition. Old fisher families stubbornly keep to their side of the river refusing to cross to the new town. Many refuse to have anything to do with the new town, and the community here became tightly knit as a result. In an effort to encourage the villagers to join the Neues Emskrank project, about ten years ago the Elector Count made it against the law to live in the old town. This has not been enthusiastically enforced. However, the entire community is technically illegal.

The True Kipper

The old town centred upon Heringplatz, a small square that accommodated the local fish exchange and markets selling goods brought down the river from Salzenmund. The True Kipper was the old town's only proper inn catering to the rare travellers that came through. Nowadays it is a haunt of ageing locals and diehard fishermen and sees almost no passing trade. Should newcomers decide to stay here, the locals will generally wonder why and look at them suspiciously.

The Old Temple

The old Temple of Manann also suffered from the creation of Neues Emskrank. A grand new temple was built in the new town, and so the old one, an ancient stone structure right on the cliff's edge, spectacularly overlooking the sea, was largely forgotten. Apart from getting cleaned by initiates every few months, it is rarely used. Locals still lay offerings against the wall, or throw them over the cliff-side, but the doors to the temple are kept locked. No one has been back to the temple since the murder that re-awakened S'iba'aht.

The Hohebreuke

The Hohebreuke is a precarious, swaying, rope suspension bridge high above the river. Just wide enough for a cart, it is the only link between the old town and the new town. It would be a daunting task to break either one of the two ropes holding the bridge with a single blow from an edged weapon.

The New Town

It is hard to know whether the city of Neues Emskrank is a great feat or greater folly. Certainly it does not seem to be going well. The dwellings are half-empty, the streets unusually quiet for an Imperial town. There is no thriving street life or energy about the place.

The entire town's layout was planned from the outset, which lends it a very orderly, regular structure that feels unnatural and unpleasant to anyone accustomed to the usual ramshackle streets of the Empire's cities. The town is built on the low land exposed to the sea and is incessantly buffeted by the wind and prone to flooding at the highest tides. It is also strangely denuded of Human activity.

On the other hand, the neat rows of warehouses and houses look quite nice and orderly from a distance. The man-made quay is a genuinely impressive feat of engineering.

Sigmar's Nose

Aping the sheltering effect of Manann's Nose on the opposite side of the river mouth, this artificial sea wall calms the waters of the Sea of Claws, mostly. In fact, when the waters get up, the structure does more harm than good, causing wild riptides and churning whirlpools. Vessels entering the port are wise to give the wall a surprisingly wide berth.

Imperial Docks

Rows of warehouses line the quayside like so many military barracks. Loading and unloading goods here is always impressively quick and efficient. The dubious and insidious practices of dockside gangs the Old World over have not taken hold here and the stevedores are enthusiastic and hard working. Rather than a refreshing change, many a sea captain docking his vessel here reports finding the whole experience a bit unsettling. They don't even have to bribe anyone!

The docks area includes the Dockers, Riverworkers, and Seamen's Guild house, which is essentially a tavern with an office on the top floor. In keeping with the local design scheme, the guild house is almost indistinguishable from the warehouses on either side of it.

Magnusstrasse

Flanked by the grand buildings of (over) ambitious merchant houses and private dwellings of (once) wealthy merchants, this wide thoroughfare would be all the more impressive if these sorts of buildings continued on into a rich cityscape. However, to the west there are no buildings at all behind the first row of grand structures and to the east there is little beyond the half-empty rows of Grosse Nordlander Stadt.

Theoderic Gausser Platz

This overly large grand square is paved with colourfully patterned flagstones. A tall white flagpole in the centre of the square flies the Nordlander flag and the banner of the Neues Emskrank League (a white ship on a blue field). The city’s most important civic buildings are built around the square. Among these buildings are the offices of the Neues Emskrank League (League Hall) and the temples of Sigmar, Handrich, and Manann.

Temple of Manann

The Temple of Manann is the highest building in the city, its three tall spires pointing skywards like the great prongs of Manann's trident itself. For all its modern architecture and impressive height, the building could be said to feel somehow soulless and uninspiring.

The priest of the temple, Gilles Kiemen, is not long for the world. Yet he bravely opposes any who'd seek to pillage the temple.

The Leaping Salmon

Neues Emskrank’s only inn, the Leaping Salmon, is modern and purpose built like everything else in the city. It is run on behalf of the Neues Emskrank League by the prim Jenni Wirtin and manages to lack the homely feel of most Old World inns. The rooms are all a bit too clean and tidy, and the prices are kept low to encourage traders and merchants to visit; even so, the inn is always at least half empty.

League Hall

League Hall is the grandest and by far the most ostentatious building in the city. Its grand columns of imported white marble hold up a classical-style roof decorated with sculptures depicting industry and trade through the ages. Manann and Handrich are the most prominent deities depicted, with Sigmar and Ulric taking conspicuously minor roles.

Grosse Nordlander Stadt

Grosse Nordlander Stadt is made up of identical regimental terraces of small family houses, built to accommodate the masses of workers who were supposed to flock to the city. There is little feeling for city life here. The usual characteristics of an Imperial street, from the winding passages and darkened nooks to the curving walls and rickety structures, have been replaced by right angles and open spaces. This is not the sort of place where most Imperial citizens would feel at home.

Karl Franz Stadt

Karl Franz Stadt would be similar to Grosse Nordlander Stadt had it been completed. The rows of houses are all marked out and the occasional foundation dug, but little actual construction was ever started. Some of the area is currently being used to billet the Grevenfeld Company mercenaries. After many years campaigning with Imperial armies in Kislev and the Worlds Edge Mountains, the "Bears" are taking it easy and earning, as they see it, easy money sitting on their bottoms guarding a town that is of little interest to any enemy. It may be cold, but Neues Emskrank is a convenient place to recuperate and get paid before heading back to Kislev.

Geld Prospekt

Geld Prospekt was designed to give the wealthy merchants grand sea views and living space away from the laboring masses, but only a few mansions were ultimately built. Unlike the other buildings of the city, each mansion is unique. Unfortunately, their diverse styles are so ostentatious and tasteless that this side of town feels the strangest of all.

Leopoldschloss

Leopoldschloss is the town’s main defence. It is a keep of four storeys with an additional perimeter wall. However, it seems to have been designed to look impressive from the city side. The practical considerations of defending an assault from the sea seem to have been a low priority to the architect. It is currently home to the Neues Emskrank Company of the 1st Nordlander Handgunners, known as Leopold's Lions, who have been charged with the city's defence. The posting is not popular in the Nordland military, being considered cold and boring.

Dreizack

The Coast Road passes just below this ruin. It looks like there were once three towers on this site, clinging to the cliff top, commanding views miles along the Coast Road and far out to sea. Legends tell how this is the place where Manann lost his trident and these ruins are all that remain of it. The ancient site was originally elven, but human tribes have built upon it since the time before Sigmar. It has been ruined now for a thousand years.

• Olaf Warhound
• Tuula Bloodhair
• Emil Paxmann (Councillor)
• Sister Emma Pflegerin (elderly itinerant Shallyan priest)
• Willi Ziege
• Mann Hirsch
• Zara Bok
• Ignatius
• Felix Lowe (Captain)