Hagneå
| Hagne Förvaltningsområde | |
|---|---|
 Panoramic view from the Hagneå's west bank towards the city center. | |
 Flag |
 Coat of arms |
| Location | |
| File:Hagnealoc.png | |
| Country |  Vittmark
|
| Region | East Hagen |
| Foundation | around 6500RH |
| Government | |
| Type | Democratic |
| Body | Förvaltningsområde |
| Mayor | none |
| Physical | |
| Elevation | 14 m |
| Time zone | UTC-3 |
| Population | |
| Rank | 11th place |
| Demonym | Hagnean |
Hagneå (pronounced as hang-no) is a city in eastern Vittmark. Even though it is rather well located on the shorelines of the Northern Sea and has a well equiped port, it has always functioned in the shadow of nearby Hinnårum and remained a lot smaller. It is mainly known as the seat of the formal headquarters of Fisks Han, the world's largest shipping company, but that office only employs 12 people. The local economy is dominated by the naval facilities built in the early 77th century.
Etymology
It is named after the river its mouth is located on by the Skaran traders that gave the local settlement city rights under this name.
History
The area has seen human settlement since thousands of years back, but mainly as an agricultural settlement. During the Orkanan Realm, most of the trade around the river was done in nearby Sönderborg, but that settlement was evacuated during the migration period. It took until the 65th century that the northern banks of the river became stable enough for a more permanent trading settlement. Since the local warlords were using Västerhamn about 5 km inland, the Skaran traders opted for fortifying a rural settlement on the north bank and calling it Hagneåborg.
The castle itself was demolished after battle for control over the river mouth when the Union of Skara had reached its peak. Helland's naval forces occupied the town after which it became part of the Greater Stoldavic Empire. Instead, the new rulers opted for building three defensive towers called kastal instead of a single fortification. As such, the suffix ~borg dissapeared from the town's name.
After the fall of the empire, the local mayor kept control over the town's fortification and started calling himself Lord of Hagen. It functioned as a city state with a surrounding rural region for several decades, but warlords from nearby Hinnårum wanted to expand their territory to accommodate for their larger port town. However, the large city was much more vulnerable for economic downfall due to loss of trade, failed harvests and contagious diseases than Hagneå, so the smaller town could ally itself with many more agricultural settlements in a continuous expansion. Hinnårum had no choice than to merge with Hagneå through a personal union between Peter Lord of Hagen and Torkal Lord of Hinnårum's only child Thunilda.
While Hagneå became the de jure capital of the newly formed Kingdom of Hagen, most important decisions were made by the merchant stims of Hinnårum anyway. In 7321 the Lord of Hagen moved his entire executive government to Hinnårum in order to keep better track of what was going on in the larger city. Hagneå remained the seat of the stift of Hagen and had a sommer palace for the royal family where they preffered to stay, especially during times of social unrest in the new capital.
This confirmed the position of Hagneå as a minor city compared to Hinnårum only 40 km away. Up until the 7580's it functioned in the shadow of the capital with a well functioning staple port for those river barges that didn't dare to make the coastal journey towards Hinnårum, as well as a center for food production and conservation. Small scale industries were started as well, providing a local economy that was stable for most residents.
However, when Vittmark liberated West Hagen and came into conflict with Häverist Aedeland and the Häverist Commonwealth, both eastern cities became easy targets for the enemy navy. Hagneå was shelled several times, often being mistaken for its more prosperous neighbour. Much of the city was destroyed when the conflict ended in 7603.
It was rebuilt as a modern service town around a new naval base that was moved from Hinnårum. That city wanted to focus more on trade, so the Hagenite Group of the Vittmarker Federal Navy was moved here in 7613 when the new base was completed. Even the Stift's facilities were rebuilt, which gives a peculiar demography for the city, consisting of sailors and Orkanan clergy. The service industry is aiming at both these pillars of the local economy with limited industrial and port activities. In 76XX the global head quarters of Gotha's largest shipping company Fisks Han were located in Hagneå, but this never led to an economic boom since it only employs about a dozen of people, mainly in mailing duties. The local GDP however gets distorted by these headquarters, since all the improved value of the company stocks gets registered and booked here, which on paper makes Hagneå by far the richest city in the world. In reality, it is nothing more than a regular provincial Anarian city.
Local government
While the city (settlement) is called Hagneå, there is no local government covering the city as a whole. The city core is made up of four sockens (Ex. Fane, Ex. Thone, Thuresala, Ex. Mår, Bomanshus) while the suburbs are part of more rural sockens (Hedesund, Ex. Hille, Valby, Hammarängen). These nine sockens, which are much larger than a regular sized socken in Vittmark, cooperate on issues regarding infrastructure, education, city planning, waste management etc. under the name of Hagne Förvaltningsområde (Hagne area management administration), much larger than the city itself but quite a lot smaller than a region.
This is the reason the city does not have its own flag or coat of arms and the management's colors and emblem are used as such instead. However, some people are using the emblem of Thuresala socken as well, since that socken presents itself as Exemplar Thures Hall in Hagneå (Förebild Thure Sala i Hagneå) thus implying that they are the city core's local government.