Albrecht

Albrecht is the capital and largest city of Candelaria And Marquez, the site of the C&M national government and parliament, and the country’s cultural and economic heart. As with other national capitals, the term Albrecht is often used by metonymy to refer to the country's government, though Robinson House generally represents the Presidency itself.

Though one of the first stable British communities in the Candelarias, its first official city, and long-time administrative centre; there was for many years a deliberate effort to ensure Albrecht did not expand exponentially, and help create a reasonably even population spread across the islands’ costal population hub. As such, the city’s primary employers remained its port and the national government throughout most of the twentieth century. The make-up of the city’s work force has however changed dramatically in recent years, in tandem with a considerable population boom. One of the most significant changes in city’s history occurred in 1986, when Albrecht’s boundaries were officially expanded beyond those of traditional "Old Albrecht" to include five formally independent municipalities. In part because of this, modern Albrecht is considered by many to lack a unique identity of its own in comparison with other Candelariasian cities, being a conglomerate of many small "urban villages". There are upwards of eighty districts, of widely varying sizes, and considerable variation in architectural and housing styles.

The Republic is most famous internationally for the comparatively brief but successful history of its national football team and other sports teams, and Albrecht gained notoriety though the presence of the country’s national football stadia – successively the Millerman Sheppard Stadium, Solidarity Stadium and Tristar Songstress Stadium – and its two most successful football clubs, Albrecht FC and Albrecht Turkish. Following C&M’s withdrawal from international sport Albrecht’s status as a major cultural centre within Rushmore has significantly declined, but it remains at the heart of political, cultural and economic life in C&M.

History

Following the purchase of land at Scandolo Cove (later Libbis Cove and finally Albrecht Cove) by the Timmins Brothers whalers of Clotaire, a party of European settlers led by Alexander Morgan and the Anglo-German entrepreneur Thomas Albrecht established themselves in what is now the Albrecht area, early in 1840. Several ships landed at what became Morganstown shortly afterwards, though the majority of the area's early population settled from elsewhere on Candelaria. The town of Albrecht was then established, south-west along the coast and around a mile inland. By the early 1850s, roads ran from Albrecht to Bovington (later Bove) and Starless City, while the country's first public railway line opened from Albrecht to the once-bustling port of Gordon Bay City in the south-west of Candelaria.

The success of the agricultural and pottery industries in the town allowed it to effectively absorb the Morganstown port by the mid-1860s. Albrecht became a city by Royal Charter on 12 June 1843, the first such in the Candelarias. Many of the city’s fine Victorian buildings date from this boom period. The city and its port remained hugely important to the Candelarias, not least from 1863 when Albrecht succeeded Brayton as the seat of administration for Candelaria, becoming capital of the Dominion of the Candelarias in 1868. Until relatively recently however it remained smaller than many cities in the islands, with increasing numbers of immigrants, even those who had arrived via the port, and young people, preferring to settle elsewhere. As a result, Albrecht was for many decades merely the largest settlement in a large number around Albrecht Cove. By the late 1970s however, human habitation in the whole Cove region was effectively contiguous; the situation being officially recognised in 1986 when the city's borders were massively expanded to take in five other municipalities, leaving the city once again C&M's largest. Despite a challenge from El din, Marquez; it was the only clear choice to become the capital of the Republic following full independence from Britain in 1947.

The city’s population survived the early Civil War period relatively healthily, with the Socialist Party unwilling to cause too much pain in their base of operations. After several months of clear atrocities meted out on nearby cities, however, public mood rapidly turned against the government who by late 1959 were forced to flee the city to avoid a humiliating uprising. The main governmental offices were gutted by a series of arson attacks by McManus loyalists before opposition troops were able to seize power, which they were successful in doing after several days of fierce conflict within downtown Albrecht. The city remained an opposition-controlled enclave in Candelaria for two more months before McManus’ troops pulled back to the north-east of the island.

The city endured a number of terrorist attacks during the latter half of the twentieth century, though by far the most deadly were the 12/5 bombings on election day 2008 with at least three hundred and thirty-one fatalities in coordinated explosions in at Monument Place, Thompsontown High Street, Bramlive, Harbour and Pretty England in Magnus. Albrecht also saw some of the worst of the nationwide civil unrest following the Beatrice Event of 2010.

Geography and climate

Albrecht is located along the northern side of Albrecht Cove, on the west coast of the Candelarias' largest island. Morganstown Harbour - usually referred to simply as Harbour - is by far the city’s largest. The city’s growth has essential eliminated the original beaches.

The capital’s degree of urban sprawl has made the city almost contiguous with the city of Bove to the north, and several smaller towns to the south-west. Equally, the ease and rapidity of transport along the west coast of Candelaria and east coast of Marquez, and via the A-A Integral between them, has led many to consider Albrecht, Arrigo, Bass, Bove and many other urban areas as acting increasingly as a single super-city, known as the Strip.

Climate

Albrecht enjoys a maritime temperate climate characterised by mild winters, cool summers, and a lack of temperature extremes. The city does not experience as high rainfall as much of the rest of the Candelarias; the far west of Candelaria receiving twice that of the capital city.

The average maximum January temperature is 8 °C (46 °F), the average maximum July temperature is 20 °C (68 °F). The sunniest months, on average, are May and June, with six hours of sunshine daily (though daylight in these months is a lot more). The wettest months, on average, are December and August, with 74 mm (2.9 inches) of rain. The driest month is April, with 45 mm (1.7 inches). The total average annual rainfall (and other forms of precipitation) is 762 mm (29.5 inches).

Due to Albrecht's high latitude, it experiences long summer days (around 19 hours of daylight) and short winter days (as short as nine hours). Like the rest of the Candelarias it is relatively safe from common natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Strong winds from Rushmori storm systems can affect Albrecht, though usually less severe than other parts of the Candelarias. Severe winds are most likely during mid-winter, but can occur anytime, especially between October and February.

An urban heat island effect means Albrecht is a few degrees warmer than surrounding areas. There is also a slight temperature difference between the city centre and the city's suburbs, with the city centre slightly warmer, as it is more built up. The city is not noted for its temperature extremes due to its mild climate. Typically, the coldest months are December, January and February. Temperatures in summer in recent years have been rising to substantially above average figures, e.g. 31 °C (88 °F) in July 2006, over 11 °C higher than the average maximum. There was a serious heat wave in 2003. There’s probably been all sorts of Weather during the previous decade as well, but few have payed much attention, under the circumstances.

The main precipitation in winter is rain. The city can experience some snow showers during the months from November to April, but lying snow is rare (on average, only 4/5 days). Hail occurs more often than snow, and is most likely during the winter and spring months. Another rare type of weather is thunder and lightning, most common in summer.

Neighbourhoods

The City of Albrecht encompasses a geographical area formerly administered by six small municipalities. Though now controlled by the single City Council, their names remain in common use among Albrechters. Throughout the city there exist hundreds of small neighbourhoods, and some larger neighbourhoods covering up to a few square kilometres. The former municipalities are Hoxton, Lexaton, Liverpool, Magnus, Old Albrecht and Sorres.

The many residential communities of Albrecht express a character distinct from that of the governmental and commercial core. Victorian and Edwardian-era residential buildings can be found in enclaves such as Cockyard, Extra, Hell’s Bells, Hill Side, Moor Road, New Cockyard and Roby Park.

Old Albrecht

The Old City of Albrecht covers the large area generally known as Downtown. It is the historic core of Albrecht and remains the most densely-populated part of the city. The small but influential Financial District is along Capenton Street. Most other prominent buildings are situated in the area known locally as ‘Central’, along Claude Lenglet Street, St. Michael Street and Cohonda Street. The rest of Downtown essentially encircles Central. Downtown Albrecht is also home to several historically wealthy residential enclaves, such as Bramlive, Clamber Away, Extra, Hell’s Bells, Hill Side, Limbel, Moor Road and Roby Park, most stretching away from downtown to the north. These neighbourhoods generally feature upscale homes, luxury condominiums and high-end retail.

At the same time, the downtown core vicinity includes neighbourhoods with a high proportion of recent immigrants and low-income families living in social housing and rental high-rises, such as Cockyard, Kingston, Launzer, Mary’s Park and Sinjun City. North and west of Central, neighbourhoods such as Capana, Deevin, New Cockyard, Songstress and Thompsontown, are home to bustling commercial and cultural areas, with an increasing proportion of middle and upper class professionals that mix with the working poor or those on some form of government assistance. Few neighbourhoods in the central city retain a distinct ethnic identity, though exceptions include the trendy Irish Street vicinity, Little Turkey and the modern Hantown formally in Middem Village. The separate districts of Harbour, Morganstown and Dockyards are all considered part of the Downtown ‘ring’.

Suburbs

The inner suburbs are contained within the general areas of Lexaton and Hoxton. These are mature and traditionally working class areas, primarily consisting of post-World War I small, single-family homes and small blocks of flats. Neighbourhoods such as Etton, Impossible Bay, Moon Town and Thornywood, consist of mainly high-rise flats which are home to many new immigrant families. In the twenty-first century, many neighbourhoods have become ethnically diverse and have undergone gentrification, as a result of increasing population and a housing boom during the late 1990s. The first neighbourhoods affected were in the south-west, gradually progressing into the north-eastern neighbourhoods in Lexaton. Some of the area's housing is in the process of being replaced or remodelled, but most streets, particularly in the large Dale, Kien House, Kinsmen and Michael Halford districts still share the same characteristics of the “old” city.

The outer suburbs comprising the areas of Magnus, Liverpool and Sorres largely retain the grid plan laid before development during the latter half of the century. Sections were long established and quickly growing towns before the suburban housing boom began in the 1950s, such as Barton, Pretty England and Ritez in Magnus, and Banfleet, Silverwood Parks, Sorrell and Soulsey in Sorres. Suburban development grew quickly thereafter to include such upscale neighbourhoods as Manna and the Pony Trek in Liverpool, the area surrounding the Liverpool Hills, and most of central Magnus, such as Hanna’s Village and King’s Town.

Transportation

Over the last thirty years Albrecht, and C&M as a whole, engaged in mostly anti-automobile transport policies, and the capital has a very low vehicle-ownership rate for a developed country. Around 33% of all journeys in the Albrecht region are undertaken by rail; a slightly larger percentage by buses (of which there are a bafflingly large number and can be hopped on and off freely by tax-paying residents, and by tourists with the purchase of a Crustacean Card. The earliest settlers on Candelaria used crab shells as an impromptu form of currency for about a week. Apparently). Most of the rest are taken by road, with a heavy emphasis on bicycles.

Privately-owned motorcars and ‘bikes are usually C&M-made, and to quite strict environmental standards. Albrecht City Council is perpetually involved in large-scale projects to improve the quality of the rail network. The A-A Integral is the country's most expensive rail expressway, running underwater from Albrecht to Arrigo. The National Highway road network runs several miles west of the eastern coastal communities of Candelaria, and does not significantly intersect the cities. The city’s swarms of bright yellow taxis punctuate the otherwise surprisingly sedate feel of the city centre.

Albrecht’s ports are generally considered the largest in the country, though are effectively continuous with those of Arrigo, Bass and Bove. The port facilities have healthy rail access to the public, though freight usually arrives and is distributed via road. Albrecht remains a major cruise ship stopover point for wealthy Rushmoris. The National Ferry Service runs extensive, relatively plush, networks to all major coastal conurbations on Candelaria and Marquez, as well as to all the Outlying Islands.

Albrecht has various small regional airports as well as Albrecht International Airport, by far the busiest in the country. As with most similar industries in C&M's mixed economy; the nationally-owned Candelarias Air has a virtual monopoly on international flights, though budget airline simpleFlight has begun to make in-roads in CA’s domination, and major automobile manufacturers Patton-Carmichael are slowly expanded a line of predominately business-class flights.

Primary industries

Albrecht’s primary employers are the Candelaria And Marquez national government and the info-tech industry. Numerous major pharmaceutical, information and communications technology companies, both C&M-registered and foreign, have offices in the city; though the capital’s relatively small size has encouraged others to set up home in the country’s other major urban areas. Several international software manufacturers have established large plants in the western suburb of Lasana.

Albrecht’s status of the economic centre of the country is based on the commercial and industrial areas of the city. Though as with the country as a whole it is far from an economic power-house; banking, finance and commerce have become increasingly important to the city in recent years. The country’s Stock Exchange, National Mint, and National Bank are based in Albrecht, mostly along Capenton Street in the heart of Downtown.

In modern times, there has been a modest but noticeable increase in construction, which is now a key employer, especially for recent immigrants. Redevelopment is taking place in the Old Dockyards, Newport Basin, and others, transforming once run-down industrial areas in the city centre. The City Council maintains limits on high-rise structures, with the rebuilt Memorial Tower being the city's highest point.

Tourism also plays an important role in Albrecht’s economy, both from domestic visitors and foreigners. There are several casinos - gambling being a major source of revenue for the country - though most are located in the north-east of Candelaria (particularly Alvery and Caires); and a limited book publishing industry, though the bulk of this is located some way to the north in the country’s media capital, Bove.

The city harbour was traditionally the largest source of employment, and still maintains a small part of the workforce. With the increasing degree of cooperation with Arrigo, Bass, and Bove in the spheres of shipbuilding, the import and export of goods, and other maritime activities, and the advent of containerisation, the city's docks have become largely obsolete as workable entities in their own right. Much of the work done in Harbour is now on behalf of the country's other main seaports.

Government

Having formerly been controlled by a Lord Mayor, and later by six such individuals; the city is now governed by Albrecht City Council, which is presided over by the Council Leader, who is elected for yearly terms. Albrecht City Council is based in two major buildings. Council meetings take place at City Hall, the former Royal Exchange taken over for city government use in the early 1900s. Many of its administrative staff are now based at the controversial Civic Offices in Morganstown. The City Council is a unicameral assembly of 66 members, elected every four years from 41 “Local Election Areas”, and 25 ‘top-up’ seats. Chaired by the CL, the council has a high degree of devolved control, with a large annual budget for spending on traffic management, refuse, drainage, housing etc.

Albrecht has thirteen directly elected seats in the House of Representatives, with recent elections being closely fought affairs between the governing Progress party and more traditional Unionists. Albrecht – Sorres is the seat of current Unionist leader Mike van Mourik, and the capital remains a centre of power for the party despite the anti-establishment unrest of the post-Beatrice era, with the city having employed many national government workers who played their part in upholding the Candelariasian Conspiracy, as well as being home to many first-generation immigrants. Progress has however made similar inroads in the suburbs as with other Candelarian cities, with cabinet minister Paul Mkandawire among their MPs, in Albrecht – Magnus Down. The far-left Peace & Freedom have a notable presence in the city, with leader Bonaventure Coly maintaining his Albrecht – Songstress, Thompsontown & Lindsay seat in 2020.

Albrecht returns ten members in five seats to the National Council, including current Attorney-General Cameron Hardman as the first member for Albrecht Magnus & Liverpool.

Albrecht as C&M’s capital

Candelaria And Marquez’ national Parliament is based entirely in the city. The lower legislative chamber, the House of Representatives, is located on Claude Lenglet Street; the President herself resides at the Robinson House building. The upper chamber, the National Council, is located on St. Michael Street. The former Senate building on Claude Lenglet was entirely gutted in the closing stages of the Civil War, the Senate later meeting variously at City Hall, and buildings in Arrigo, Bove, Clotaire and Sloane, until the entity was abolished in 1992. The C&M government is based at various buildings across Central, collectively known as the Offices of Government. Most are on St. Michael Street and its assorted tributaries.

Sport

During the ‘International Era’ of Candelariasian sport, Albrecht was considered centre of sport in the country; having its fair share of share of football and cricket grounds, and venues for motor sport, tennis, badminton, netball, rugby union, swimming, snooker, and many other sports. Its harbour areas served as the centre of C&M's large sailing community.

With the collapse of professional sport in the islands, many of these venues and stadia have been demolished or repurposed, and even amateur participation remains comparatively low – though recent years have seen an uptick in the number of members of athletics, gymnastics, racket sports and bocce clubs.

Demographics

Albrecht is C&M’s most youthful city as well as its most cosmopolitan. While as with the rest of the country, accurate census data is lacking and older sources limited by the Candelariasian state’s policies in regards to the gathering of information on ethnic identification or religious affiliation, it is estimated that approximately a quarter of the capital’s population was born outside the Candelarias (excluding Ransome-Bkyki Island) as of 2020. Surveys suggest the largest overseas-born minorities in the city are those of Sorthern Northland, Bettia, Djocoranga, Sargossa and the Han Empire.

The majority of Albrecht’s population is still believed to be of largely European origin however, with the Anglo-Celtic component the largest as is the case across Candelaria. There remains a significant Italian-speaking community, though pre-war immigration of Dutch, German, Swedish and Czech origin has left little of a linguistic mark. The once large and distinct Irish population has been largely subsumed into the Sorthern Northlandish community, while the long-standing Turkish community has been overshadowed by the Bettian-origin population as the city’s – and nation’s – most visible Muslim element. Approximately 10% of the city’s population is believed to practise Islam, making it the largest religious alignment in Albrecht after Christianity and those of no religious affiliation.

Albrecht is home to C&M’s largest black and aboriginal Rushmori populations, as well as large and diverse Eastasian and Former Macedonian populations. It is the only city on Candelaria to maintain a significant population of native Spanish speakers, mostly being Hispanic Marquezians with a substantial Sargossan element.

Twinning

Albrecht is officially twinned with Merano, the posh half of the Fraternal Twin Cities of Zwangzug. Joe Arnaud, a retired geography teacher formerly at the Liverpool Hill Girls’ Grammar School, is President of the Twinning Association. Still. Presumably.

Landmarks and notable institutions

The following is a list of tourist attractions and landmarks in the Albrecht metropolitan area. Items are in Central Albrecht unless otherwise stated.

• Albrecht Civic Theatre

A large heritage theatre seating 2,298 people, in downtown Albrecht. A notable example of an ‘atmospheric theatre’, in which lights and design were used to convey an impression of being seated in an outdoor auditorium at night. It was opened in 1932, and re-opened in 2001 following extensive renovation. Or ‘butchery’, as it is more commonly known.

• Albrecht Portrait Gallery

Only the country’s sixth-largest art gallery, though the home of many of C&M's most prized artworks. Once specialising in portraits, the APG on Claude Lenglet Street (on the opposite side of the road from the Parliament Building complex) has expanded to include many other forms.

• Albrecht Public Library

The country’s second-largest by borrowings, its largest branch to be found on Livermore Road in Capana, with a smaller, older, establishment on Capenton Street in the Financial District in Central.

• Albrecht University

The oldest, largest and most traditionalist of C&M’s ‘big three’ universities, comprising ten colleges (including the National College of Medicine, in Bove). A large portion of the country’s political leaders have passed through New Hall, New College, University College or Gifton College. Other important tertiary educational institutes include the Albrecht Polytechnic, Albrecht University of Technology, Lippey University and the McMillan Institute of Technology.

• Albrecht University Library

The Auld Drippy is one of C&M’s three legal deposit libraries; a comparatively venerable and self-consciously gothic establishment believed to be the inspiration for both the university motto ‘Sub Cruce Lumen’, and its popular mistranslation, ‘It’s dark down here, isn’t it?’

• Balfour Street

‘Baffers’, a street in upper central Albrecht known for its bars, small shops, and clubs - the most famous and most often police-raided being Virus, Gulag (home to the semi-permanent residence of legendary DJ Monty Wong), and Dave's Fish ‘n’ Chips. Other notably shopping streets in Central include Bishopsprick (chain stores and restaurants, with a few independent outlets, popular with young shoppers and tourists), Mortimer Street (major department stores and numerous international brands’ flagship stores), and Thirty-Fourth Street (known for its distinctly Arab flavour, its many late-night bars and cafés, and for being so densely populated as to be almost a district in its own right).

• Bank of the Candelarias

C&M’s central bank created in 1934, when it succeeded the Bank of Bass in the role, it is the sole issuer of banknotes and the central bank for the Reformed Pound. The Bank of the Candelarias Building is located on the corners of St. Michael and Candelaria Streets in Downtown.

• The Bird in Flight

The city’s largest public sculpture, in New Cockyard. Essentially a bloody great thrush. Not especially cherished by the city’s residents but a notable landmark in the maze of identikit streets. Situated on a traffic island; on opposite sides of the road sit the large, iconic pubs The Bird In Flight and A Pint By The Bird.

• Candelarias Museum

The national museum, and its most visited alongside the adjacent, and considerably more modern, Museum of People. The CM is by far the elder, having been established on its now vast site on Salt Street in 1897. As is standard practise, the museum focuses not on the landmass from which it takes its name, but instead promotes artefacts politely half-inched from the Rushmori Greylands and mislabelled as votive offerings, grave goods, etc. Particularly popular at the current time is an exhibition focusing on the carved wooden and ivory idols of the G’Zunda people of Pavola dedicated to their god, The Long Thin Man With No Obvious Sensory Apparatuses Or Limbs.

• Catspaws

Formally a popular pub for Albrecht dockworkers, this Morganstown establishment reinvented itself in the twentieth century as the country’s premier intimate music venue and had been the automatic first destination for unsigned acts since the sixties.

• Christ Church Cathedral

More commonly known as St. Catherine’s, though the origin of this name is unclear. The earliest church was established in 1840, the first large congregation in the town. Eventually, in 1899, it was confirmed that the church would officially become the Cathedral of the Diocese of Central Candelaria. The Right Reverend Julian P. Underground serves as the Bishop of Albrecht.

• City Hall

The former Royal Exchange; built in what once - and is now again - a modest Hantown. Since 1900 it has been the base of the Lord Mayor and the scene of council meetings, a status it continued to enjoy after the massive expansion of what is considered "Albrecht" in 1986.

• Civic Offices

Most of the city council’s administrative staff are based in these buildings in Morganstown. A visually unattractive complex, they were built to great expense in 1999.

• Claude Lenglet Street

The main street of the city, running from Balfour Street down to the Harbour. Named for a former mayor of the city, it is the home of numerous key institutions including the Parliament Building, as well as a number of international embassies. Often referred to separately as "Upper Claude" and "Lower Claude", owing to the considerably differences between the city centre areas and somewhat less salubrious areas elsewhere.

• Cohonda Street

An important and historical pedestrianised street running parallel to Claude Lenglet Street. Home to Christ Church Cathedral, several key financial buildings, Monument Place, the largest Public Library and the Ministry for Social Affairs.

• Dee Street

Long ago one of the poorest and most densely-populated districts in the city (named for the major road that passes through it), it became gentrified in the mid-20th century. Still the home of a great many expensive houses and apartments; its ‘upper’ half has been reclaimed by the general public after a fashion, by the controversial opening of the country’s largest shopping centre.

• Fitz Inn

The city’s plushest hotel, in Extra, the name of which would cause much mirth if it were actually funny. An attempt at re-naming it the Fitz Hotel in the mid-Seventies failed miserably, and while it is now officially known as the marginally less risible Fitz Albrecht, the original title is the only one in general use. Rooms include Jacuzzis and a piano and whatnot.

• Harbour

The city’s once-extremely-important-now-a-tad-less-so port. Which isn’t a harbour at all. No-one really knows exactly how it received its name, aside from the probability of general stupidity on behalf of landlubbing government clerks, or something. Despite its significant downsizing in favour of the ports at Arrigo and Bass, it remains a major employer and handler of grain, oil and other such goods, as well as people. It operates twenty-four hours a day, thanks to its now limited capacity. Synonymous, perhaps unfairly, with the slightly grubby residential district of Harbour.

• Holy Trinity Church

Anglican church off Dee Street, built in the late 1800s. Designed by the then-prominent architect (he's not any more, on account of being dead) LK Andrews out of limestone.

• Hutton Road Museum

More commonly known as the Museum of Unfortunate Things, the ‘Hutter-Ro’ is a large, imposing, red-brick building on the corner of a busy pedestrianised intersection. A frequent destination for reluctant school pupils; it is home to innumerable displays on unpleasant parts of the Candelarias’ history with areas devoted to the National Eugenics Council of the ‘50s; the segregationist policies of various other public bodies; Abuses Committed In Our Jails; and chauvinistic, homophobic and Islamophobic incidents throughout time, among many others. Displays on the horrors committed by the McManus administration during the civil war era have recently been expanded after years of criticism that these events were being systematically downplayed. In the aftermath of the Beatrice Event and the public findings of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, the Hutter-Ro has been expanded considerably via a couple of hasty knock-throughs.

• HumphreyWorld Gardens

A large series of botanical gardens in Lexaton representing one of the few genuinely successful examples of a privatised public place. HumphreyWorld itself is an amusement park several miles to the west of the city in the village of Jena.

• Irish Street

A district and main street west of central Albrecht known today for arts, cafes and culture. And pubs. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the pubs. It remains the centre of the country’s Sorthern Northlandish community outside Clotaire, but is also home to various other, relatively well-to-do, immigrant communities.

• Kalman Building

The first purpose-built national governmental building in the city, constructed in 1872, in effect the de facto headquarters of the C&M executive. Unlike most of the Offices of Government, it sits on Claude Lenglet Street, across the road from Monument Place.

• Kyle’s Follies

A series of six iron towers built in late 1983. Ordered by the then President, Irish Street-born Harry Kyle, to form the basis of a planned system to defend the capital against aerial attack and severe weather. Though widely derided even at the time, the project was one of Kyle’s few to pass successfully through the House of Representatives. The full project was quickly abandoned following his failure to secure re-election as Unionist Party leader, and the towers were left redundant. Still among the tallest structures in the city, one has been sequestered by TV1, another has become the Kyle Viewing Tower, and another was re-named the Memorial Tower, though no-one has ever had the heart to ask exactly what it was specifically in memory of.

• Limbel Christian Fellowship

The country’s largest Pentecostal church, and one of the city’s most frequented places of worship. Often the attractor of controversy over all manner of nastiness, it’s located in the small, wealthy Downtown district of Limbel.

• Little Street Mosque (Abdul-Ur-Umar)

Though no longer in the geographical heart of the city’s Islamic community, which has shifted to Thompsontown after years of Bettian immigration, the ‘A-Bur’ is still the religion’s most significant place of worship in C&M, and often treated the community’s moderate heart. Having been badly damaged during the Great And Very Localised And Not At All Racist Thunderstorm of ’83; the Mosque was largely rebuilt, and in a larger area of about an acre. Enclosed in a walled garden, with a separate minaret, the building combines traditional Islamic architecture with the Victorian-Edwardian style housing common in much of Albrecht. Holding - at a push - up to 1200 worshippers; it also includes a meeting hall, sports facilities and a cafeteria.

• Martin Square

The hub of downtown Albrecht besides Claude Lenglet Street, it is often the site of crafts markets, rallies or arts festivals.

• Meissner Hotel

Intended to be a modern, trendy, but unfailingly classy establishment when opened in 1984; it has been somewhat co-opted by foreign visitors (particularly football teams and their supporters) and those in the 'lower classes', much to the horror of the residents of the shamelessly upper-crust Bramlive district it inhabits. Rooftop swimming pool, though.

• Metropolitan Zoological Centre

Or Albrecht Zoo, located in a 350 acre site in Liverpool. Home to over 3000 animals representing over 200 distinct species. The Smeeting Zoo was originally established as a tiny curiosity in 1888, the site eventually housing the national and city Zoo by 1970. By far the largest in the country, it includes a variety of quietly disappointing rides and animals just on the wrong side of flea-bitten. It does however do good work in conservation and the rescue of animals in unfortunate circumstances both in C&M and elsewhere in the world. As well as extensive breeding programmes to help the Candelarias’ endangered native species including the red squirrel, red deer, terminal burrowing zpinh and treeshrew; the Zoo also homes various more exotic rare creatures including many ivory-billed shrew, paradox albatrosses, white-whiskered spider-monkeys, nail-tailed warty dormice, yellow-nosed kingfishers, fish-eating moss-pigs, white-headed swamp mice, and poisonous pond-partridges. There's also various monkeys, lions, tigers, pandas and penguins, oh my. The city of Albrecht’s own domestic fauna is generally limited to a few slightly dull birds, urban foxes, domestic pets, and of course the occasional exotic fish. There is also a small colony of cynical, urbanised capybaras in Songstress and at least one panther in the Magnus area. Plus the Giant Toad occasionally visits, and then there’s the uncommonly confrontational waterfowl. Though they rather go without saying, so let’s not.

• Monument Place

A large square whose primary purpose has been co-opted as a general meeting place for locals and tourists alike, and a site of demonstrations and rallies of various types. Often considered the heart of the city, it is an entirely pedestrianised area and a major link between Claude Lenglet Street, St. Michael Street, Cohonda Street, and, if you can be bothered with a short walk, Capenton Street and Balfour Street. Its dominant feature was the tall war memorial to those killed in WW1, the Civil War and the Gordon Bay Incident, destroyed during the 12/5 bombings, or possibly rather earlier, Time is hard, and rebuilt even taller and more phallic, as tradition dictates. Just in time, as in turned out, for the Monument Place Incident involving a faerie queen who actually wasn’t, but who did possess quite extraordinary thigh muscles in hindsight, and a black-eyed baby, a man with bat wings, the sitting President and a misplaced pass. Glory days. Never again.

• Museum of Literature

It’s a big building with books and stuff in.

• National Aquarium

Based in the northern Impossible Bay suburb, it shows a wide variety of fish, sharks, dolphins and the most tentacles this side of Ilbon. Until recently, its outer walls were translucent and filled with live fish and crustaceans, allowing passers-by to watch marine life as they went to and from their homes and places of work (Impossible Bay is the base for the city’s pharmaceutical industry). A crack, which developed over several weeks and somehow went unnoticed; caused the Great I-Bay flood of ‘05. Residents still find exotic fish in their cisterns, and occasionally sisters.

• National Defence Headquarters

The main NDH building is at 95 Claude Lenglet Street near the intersection with Robinson Street. The headquarters of the Ministry for Defence rather than the country’s Armed Defence Forces - its own HQ and those of the Candelarias Armed Defence, Candelarias Naval Defence, and Candelarias Military Intelligence being based in unobtrusive locations elsewhere in the city or, for the most part, Allemali.

• National Gallery

The country’s premier art gallery, housed in a striking glass building on Robinson Street with a notable view of the Parliament Building on Claude Lenglet.

• National Library

A semi-autonomous government department responsible for the collection and preservation of the documentary heritage of the Candelarias through texts, pictures and other documents relevant to the culture and politics of the islands. The building is at 167 Claude Lenglet Street, though the archives themselves have over into various buildings dotted around Downtown.

• National Mint

Makes coins.

• Newport Basin

A marina and residential development in downtown Albrecht, and the base venue for most of the what were or are, apparently, the country’s beloved national regattas, though like most of the places on the list we’re sure it’s never actually been referred to once.

• Northern Ponds Stadium

Formerly the nation’s national stadium, it was long ago downsized to host speedway and horse racing, and rock and pop concerts, and has thus survived the general move towards the demolition of such places, including its immediate successor, the Millerman Sheppard Stadium.

• Parliament Building

The C&M executive, with sits on a distressingly flat Parliament Hill off Claude Lenglet Street. The main building, much deeper than its modest facade would suggest, contains the Debating Chamber (the House itself), Speaker’s Office, Visitors’ Centre, and committee rooms. The adjoined buildings to the left, considered part of the same complex, contain the Cabinet offices on the second floor, with high floors containing the offices of individual ministers, and various function rooms.

• Re-Unification Building

Extremely flash building a short walk from the Parliament Building, the ‘Rub’ was commissioned in 1961 following the Civil War as a general all-purpose place to show off to foreign dignitaries and such like. Such individuals also often reside here during state visits and similar occasions.

• Robinson House

The semi-official place of residence for the Candelariasian President of the Government named for and first bought by the first PM of the Candelarias, William Dawes Robinson. Although traditionally it was used exclusively as a home, various leaders including current President Fanny Tan have taken to using it as much as a place of work. Others have only used it as such, choosing to live elsewhere, while others still have ignored it altogether - President Israel Clark (1996-2004) is one such. The House, something of a ‘pile’ thanks to extensive extension work, backs onto a communal garden used (at least in theory) not only by the occupants of the houses next door – also usually government members or other high-ranking officials – but the somewhat less up-market half dozen houses backing on to it, the inhabitants of these buildings being extensively vetted before being allowed to buy the properties. Or possibly it actually overlooks the the Foreign Office. Bit of a point of confusion there, not help by the incident in 2008 where Robinson House briefly gained sapience, uprooted itself and attempted to vote at the polling station opposite the Kura-Pellandi embassy, before being coaxed back into something approaching its current position.

The House is officially designated 13 Robinson Street.

• Roby Park

Not the huge green expanse it once was, having been covered greatly by the modern Roby Park residential area; though it is still the largest public park in Central Albrecht.

• Solidarity Stadium

• Spirit Tower

The largest of a series of memorials built across the Candelarias to mark the traumatic fallout of the Beatrice Event on the Candelariasian psyche and the lives lost over the preceding, and indeed subsequent, years.

• Transport City

The hub around which the city revolves, anyone thoroughly lost by Albrecht’s maze of streets and highly flexible attitude to geography can generally find the way to wherever they want to go via the T-City inconveniently located in Thompsontown, a large district in the western portion of Downtown. Failing that, flag down a taxi. It'll get you there quicker, but costs more and requires considerably tolerance towards far-right political views.

• Tristar Songstress Stadium