Scneimunt city

The Saristanerplatz as seen from the castle atop Scneimunt mountain, as seen under the governance of Pičkovšek

Scneimunt city is the de facto capital and largest city (lorewise) of the Grand Duchy of Hollenberg. It is also the capital of the county of Scneimunt. It is renowned by many for it's baroque, rococo and neoclassical architecture. While not large in terms of population when comparing it with other cities such as Palermo and Loire it is nonetheless considered one of the more important cities of Cinder.

The city is located in the north eastern portion of the of Hollenberg, it's official coordinates are -500 2600. It sits on a small plateau north east of the mountain of Scneimunt, the highest peak of the continent of Cinder. Directly north of the city is a canyon which used to have a small river flowing through it, that river was back in it's day the only river in all of Danouvia-Scneimunt.

Scneimunt city is also the centre of the Egjenist faith with most residents historically adhering to the reformed Scetétian church, although during the reign of emperor Ignatius the number of Pyrannists began to equal that of the Egjenists. Scneimunt city in contrast with the western parts of the country did not have a strong Pyrannic community until the reign of emperor Ignatius, as other parts already had a well established Pyrannic community (in most areas in majority) since the times of the first Revolutionary State.

History

Early history

Scneimunt city was established only in January of 2024, months after the Tauern were settled by Danouvian mountaineers. At first it was just a small settlement with a church, however when the Grand Duke moved his residence to Scneimunt castle, overlooking the city, the city experienced it's first population boom and quickly grew. The first houses were built along what today is the upper Brauereistraße and not long after an egjenist church was built, later this church would become an enlightened scetetian church.

The Revolutionist state

With the Grand Duke becoming increasingly unpopular among the lower classes, a revolution was sparked by dissatisfied residents of Smilets by. The city remained loyal to the Grand Duke and the city's inhabitants were able to repel the first attack of the revolutionaries, however as foreign volunteers joined the revolutionaries and many other citizens decided to join the cause, the city's defences were overwhelmed and the remnants of the shattered garrison surrendered. Due to the animosity of the city's inhabitants to the leader of the revolutionist party Jan Joškar, a peasant man from the Hollenberg valley, Joškar decided to move the capital to the smaller and increasingly pyrannist Smilets by. Scneimunt was governed by Josef Pičkovšek, a burgher from Scneimunt who joined the revolutionist cause. Despite him being a member of the party, he was well liked the population.

Reign of Stefan II. and rise of Pičkovšek

Despite the revolution being more favoured in Smilets by, Scneimunt city was taken last by Grand Duke Stefan II. The country's de jure capital remained and still remains Smilets by. This is because Stefan, son of the previous duke lived away from the court in Scneimunt and grew up in Smilets by, although he was transferred to Pičkovškovo per orders of the revolutionist regime.

Stefan II rarely visited the county of Scneimunt, so he named Josef Pičkovšek, who had been pardoned as Count of Scneimunt. Pičkovšek further expanded the city, but not before building a palace of his own - the Belvedere in the 2nd district, Obrezovica. Pičkovšek expanded the city and built a massive new square called the Herzogsplatz and erected a triumphal arch as the city's northern gate. Pičkovšek remained Count of Scneimunt till his death and had openly showed his plans for the further expansion of the city. When Pičkovšek died the entire city mourned his death, his remains are still waiting to be put in the mausoleum Pičkovšek planned for all the great heroes of Hollenberg.

In the Holy Pyrannic Empire

On february 3rd, when Hollenberg officially joined the Holy Pyrannic Empire, many citizens of Scneimunt were caught by surprise and many of them joined the Tauernwehr led by Engelbert Feist, a Hollenberger nationalist and staunch opponent of the Zabels - the new rulers of the Tauern. Throughout the city many protests and even riots broke out, but were eventually calmed down when the charming and charismatic Ignaz Almdudler arrived, a newly appointed pyrannic archbishop who was born in Scneimunt. Almdudler, who was born in the city but then moved with his family to Alfama, near the Schönquelle palace of Stefan II. introduced the Pyrannic faith again to the Scneimunt populace who started to convert, the number of conversions and rise of the Pyrannic populace soared when Ingaz became emperor. As Scneimunt city was without a ruler, Stefan II appointed Ignaz Almdudler as the new count of Scneimunt, as Pičkovšek did not have any legitimate children. Pičkovšek who later became emperor unfortunately did not have time to do any major expansions to the city, being focused more on his rule as emperor but he did convert the Egjenist church into the Pyrannic church of the Toic acolytes, a contreversial move but highly celebrated by the Pyrannists.

Saristanerplatz, June 2025

The second Revolutionary period

After the fall of the empire, the people of Scneimunt largely supported a new revolution, hoping to restore the city to it's old days of glory under Pičkovšek. Despite being a Pyrannist and the former Emperor the people still saw Ignatius as their leader and loved him for his charitable deeds (what these deeds were has never been specified). Under the new revolutionist state Ignatius has began the renovation of the church of the Toic acolytes, a completion of the buildings and introduced a cheaper method of obtaining the colour white.

The Rebuilt church of the Toic Acolytes

The Great Fire and continued construction of the city

In the night of the 6th of August, as the city's residents were heading to bed a great fire erupted in the church of the Toic Acolytes, the city's oldest church. The city firemen rushed to the scene and even numerous citizens offered to lend a hand, unfortunately the flames were great and could not be put out. The flames engulfed the front façade of the church completely destroying the belltower, the oldest part of the church and also the city of Scneimunt. Luckily the nave of the church was saved by rain which extinguished the flames. Soon the city council announced their plan to redesign the front façade and tower of the church, claiming that the old church façade, while beautiful and the oldest building in the city had to be slightly remodeled in order to fit better with the great townhouses that now surround it. Just 2 days later the bells rang from the new tower and the people once again rejoiced at their beloved church.

The Obersowitzer Haupstraße

Alongside the church reconstruction the city has been experiencing a wave of great construction works with the intent of lifting Scneimunt city to the position of one of the great cities of Cinder, being able to compete with Loire and Palermo. The city is still experiencing great construction works and has recently gotten a 2nd church with a mausoleum for the Grand Dukes and other important figures in Hollenberger history and most notably a theatre, the 2nd in the entirety of Cinder. The city has already expanded so much during this phase that a new district of the city has been formed - Oberzovica/Obresowitz, consisting of roughly half of the city.

For the first time since 2024 the city has also recieved foreign investors with foreigners buying real estate in the city. The former emperor Ignatius also could not be kept from joining in on the construction frenzy and had an opulent palace constructed for himself as Archbishop. The splendid new façade crowns the appropriately named Ignatiusmarkt together with the Mausoleum church.