Drewburgh

Drewburgh is the capital and metropolitan city of Bristle Island (and before that, South Island) province in Sober Thought. Although one of the smaller cities in the country as a whole, it is the largest city in all of the Coastal Provinces (whether before provincial mergers or afterwards). Thus, its government and citizens behave is if they were of greater importance than raw demographic statistics of 1.3% national population might suggest. Drewburgh is twinned with Misma, Baranxtu.

Geography and transportation

The city is situated on a rocky peninsula jutting into the sea and curving around to create a natural harbour. Early settlers found the haven from rough seas in the ocean essential for emigration and trade.

The city is laid out in a grid but with frequent alterations to accommodate hills and steep ravines unlike other similar sized municipalities in the country such as the city of Worthington or Middle Sax County.

Before the advent of motor, rail and air transportation, water was the cheapest and most reliable method of moving people and goods. Under these conditions, Drewburgh, its harbour and its environs prospered. However, with every improvement and expansion of transportation technology, the relative competitiveness of the city declined and the more limiting its position on the outer fringes of the nation became.

Today, Drewburgh is the hub of a land, rail, sea and air regional transportation network. In contrast, it is but a small spoke of the national network maintained by CommunitAir and STferro.

Regional economy

Primary industry still supports a small number of people who work in fisheries and forestry. The ocean's bounty is nowhere near as plentiful as it first was when settlers first arrived, but careful management of the fishing grounds continues to provide employment for few and nourishment to many. Although the rocky and nutrient poor soil will only support softwood evergreens, it can provide building materials and paper pulp.

Secondary industry in the province mainly developed in the smaller cities of Picton and Sheldon where coal and iron ore were plentiful. At the time, this seemed a hardship to Drewburgh but over the long run it proved a boon as the air and land were not polluted and the city did not have a cruel adjustment period of deindustrialisation. Light manufacturing, cottage industries and assembly of prefabricated components form the largest part of secondary industry in the city which as a whole accounts for about twice that of primary industry.

Tertiary industry or the services sector accounts for the largest portion of the Drewburgh economy. As major port and rail junction, warehousing, intermodal transshipments and wholesaling are key activities. Regional banking and financial services also provide a lot of employment and other economic activity.

A cluster of government and private institutions of higher education in the city round out the tertiary and quaternary industries. Furthermore, they act as a magnet for young people in the Coastal Provinces and throughout Sober Thought thus driving the average age of burghers downward.

Government

Drewburgh is represented in the House of the Federation by three seats -- often held by three different political parties. As the most cosmopolitan, youngest, most intellectual and most radical city in the province and region, it has the most left-wing MHF in both.

The provincial House of Assembly meets in Drewburgh and the capital city is represented by thirteen MHAs. Like their federal counterparts, the city's representatives tend to be more radical than the provincial norm but are actually much closer to the national average. This illustrates the relative value of terms used to describe the political spectrum.

The municipal legislature is headed by a Lord Mayor elected at large and 13 city councillors (using the same ward boundaries as the provincial constituencies, and sometimes having the same representative) elected in their own separate wards. Functional committees are created to oversee things like public transit, garbage disposal, architectural conservancy, parks, etc.

Armed forces

One might infer that Drewburgh, especially because of its unimportance in nation transportation networks and small population, is unimportant to the overall defence of Sober Thought. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The large natural harbour in the city remains the fleet base of choice for the Community Defence Forces' navy. Aircraft carriers, cruisers and other warships are frequent sights on the cityscape. The shore establishments of seaborne naval aviation and marines are based on the outskirts of the city.

Lack of economic opportunity, as well as the chance to use their skills as mariners, has resulted in a disproportionate number of Drewburghers enlisting as fulltime soldiers in the CDF Land Service and sailors in the CDF Naval Service. Those who enlist in the CDF Air Service are concentrated primarily in the Naval Air Divisions.

For parttime service, the provincial Civil Guard raises a battalion of support troops or a battalion of armoured infantry within the city on alternative waves of one hundred million population. These serve in the 5 series divisions staffed in roughly equal portions by Coastal Provinces' civil guards, Central Province Civil Guard and the CDF Land Service.