Stadpræst is the capital city of Lugonomeks, chosen because it was the capital of the ancient Lugonomeks, where til arktosubre (Lugonomek for "the high cheif") made his home. It is located on a great river in the Lugonomek state of Lanterkut, and all those living in the city are considered residents of Lanterkut, save for federal officals. This is because the city is quite large and its suburbs expand over much of the state, making it hard for it to be a seperate political entity. The name comes from the Lugonomek words "stad", refering to a walled city, and "præst", meaning "stillness" or "peace". This name is taken to mean that people within the city are responsible for keeping peace between the various tribes of Lugonomeks. Contrary to its spelling, the "a" and "e" sounds in the name are seperated by a glottal stop, so its name is pronounced STAD-pra-EST. Since the name does not fit the convention of other Lugonomekan cities, it is assumed that it was originally a nickname, but the original name of the city has been lost.

History

Early years

It is not known exactly how Stadpræst came to be. According to myth, it was chosen to be the capital because it was the site of a portal between the land of mortals and the land of the underworld. It was believed to be the site of the creation of the bear and where the legendary hero Lugon made his children gods. (For more information about Lugonomek mythology, see the Ancient Lugonomek Religion article.) According to legend, this site was lost for centuries, but then Lugonomek priests received a prophecy that they would find it where they saw two mighty oak trees standing side by side that grew into each other, forming an arch. They were to use this arch to build a passage formed by two rows of upright stones side by side, with still more stones lying on top of this. This passage was to slope downward into a pit, and in this pit they would hold religious ceremonies. This pit was to be covered with a stone roof, and on top of the roof a city was to be built. Indeed, the stone passageway and chamber still exist beneath modern Stadpræst. Evidence to Stadpræst being the capital of Lugonomeks dates back to about 3600 years before the founding of Thorin (BF). However, reference to the city dates back much earlier, suggesting that it has always been important to Lugonomek politics. The oldest known settlement of the city has been dated to around 4400 BF, making it the oldest known city in the region.

Golden Age

The thousand-year period before the city's fall is often referred to as its golden age. During this time, Stadpræst was a major center of not only politics, but also culture and the sciences. It was the site of several universities and the birthplace of several philosophers whose teachings many Lugonomeks still follow. During this time, the city became the largest city in the Lugonomek empire, and had to expand outwards into nearby areas. It was also a melting pot of different cultures, and had the third-highest Thornichi population of any major city in the empire, despite being many hundreds of miles from the northern mountains where the Thornichi then settled.

War and Fall

Beginning around 1870 BF, the constant disagreements between the various groups of Thornichi became convinced that they could no longer live together peacefully, and must each get their own land. This unfortunately this meant pushing south into Lugonomek territory. Due to the sheer vastness of the Lugonomek empire, it took the Thornichi decades to take the area entirely. By 1827 BF, they had pushed into the far-southern regions of Konromeks and Levimeks, between which Stadpræst was situated. In the summer of that year, Zircoromborgians (a tribe of Thornichi) under a warlord who called himself Stefan I of Romborg laid seige to the city. After nearly two months of fighting, the city surrendered, and til arktosubre abdicated and fled the city. This officially signaled the collapse of the unified Lugonomek empire, despite the fact that fighting continued elsewhere, especially west of the mountains.

After the Fall

Stefan was for some reason more lenient on Stadpræst than on other cities under his control, allowing Lugonomeks to remain in the city as long as they swore allegiance to him, had not been proven to have actively fought against the Zircoromborgians, and allowed Zircoromborgians to share their homes. For the next three and a half millenia, Stadpræst remained a rather large city with the largest Lugonomek population in the region, despite the massive emmigration of Lugonomeks who attempted to go overseas as other Lugonomeks were around the region. By the time of the founding of Thorin, it remained the city with the highest Lugonomek minority. A few centuries later, during a revolution and attempt to overthrow the Romborgian government, Stadpræst tried to become an independent city-state, but its attempts were crushed by the New Romborgian government. It tried again after the collapse of New Romborg, and succeeded in retaining independence, but was not recognized by any nation in the region. The city then became claiming the area around the city, now calling itself the Republic of Greater Stadpræst. Many Zircoromborgians in the area resented the Lugonomek-dominated government, and tried to rebel against it. These rebellions were minor and scattered, and the new government was able to handle them easily, mostly thanks to the wave of Lugonomek immigration into the area. However, the Zircoromborgians still managed to stifle trade, causing the Lugonomeks to fear that other nations would get involved, particularly the powerful Xerconia to the north. Because of this, the Lugonomeks chose to unite to create a more powerful, and hopefully recognized nation. They decided to make Stadpræst the captial, because it had the largest population and because it was the capital of the old Lugonomek empire. However, the leader of Greater Stadpræst, Benidict Yosefomek, was not allowed any involvement in the new government, due to the fact that he had controlled the area for more than 20 years with near-totalitarian control. It took some convincing (and the threat to bring in the Lugonlanter army), but Yosefomek agreed to abdicate in 786 AF, and Stadpræst was made capital of the Opressed People of Lugonomeks.

After the Founding of Lugonomeks

With the official founding of Lugonomeks, Lugonomek immigration into the area increased dramatically, particularly in and around Stadpræst. The population of the city soared to one of the highest in the region, higher even than the capital of the regional superpower of Thingamajiggers, Hydranj.

Landmarks

Til Arktosubre's Palace

The palace that til arktosubres lived in, as it stands today, was built around 4000 BF. It is an enormous, three story tall square dry stone building with a tower at each corner. It consists of nearly one hundred rooms, and every room is decorated with fine pottery and tapestries from all over the world. A peculiarty of the palace, as well as several other government buildings across Lugonomeks, is that all the doorways are extremely low, no higher than three feet (90 cm) above the floor. This was so that, in case of an invasion, an armed gaurd could stand by the door and decapitate any enemy attempting to pass through the door, and so the enemy would be stooped over in order to make this task either.

The High Temple of Lugon

The high temple of Lugon was once the center of Lugonomek spirituality. A good proportion of the temple is taken up by a single room, in which there is the main altar with an enormous gold statue of Lugon in his traditional bearskin. In the back of the building is a small room where the preists supposedly met, featuring little more than a staircase leading to the undergroud chambers beneath the city. In later years, as membership of the Lugonomek religion declined, the temple was used for soldier's quarters.

Til Porgaderu and the Great Underground Chamber

As mentioned above, just outside the original city, there once stood in the middle of a thick forest two enormous oaks side by side that had grown together to form an arch. These two trees were called til porgaderu, or "the tree gate". Ancient Lugonomek preists used this as a starting point for a passageway that sloped downward until it was completely underground. The passageway was continued from the tree by constructing enormous trilothons, or two upright stones with a third lying across them. The trilithons, as well as the original trees, where covered with earth in which saplings were planted, so that eventually the forest grew back around it. This was to conceal the passage so that no one but members of the preisthood would be able to find it. This passage led to the great underground chamber, in which the preists held secret meetings. There were several holes in the stone roof to make room for staircases leading to the temple and to the preist's quarters. As membership of the Lugonomek religion declined, the chambers were converted to millitary use, just as the temples had. Soldiers would be able to hide in these chambers, and would come up through hidden staircases into the temple and preist's quarters, as well as several houses, and run into the streets to attack the invaders. This convinced many Zircoromborgian invaders that the Lugonomeks employed mercenaries from a foreign land where men could become invisible.