Marienburg

"The Business of Marienburg, is business."

- Director Jaan Van de Kuypens

Marienburg is considered to be the largest trading hub in the Old World and is the greatest of its ports, far more wondrous than even the city-states of Tilea. Straddling the mouth of the River Reik as it drains the mainland into the Sea of Claws, nearly all maritime trade that concerns Bretonnia and the Empire happens here. It is a place of great wealth and great opportunity. It is a place despised by the Empire, despite its reliance on the fabulous port city’s good fortunes.

Marienburg is vast. It is a bright spot in an otherwise forlorn and wretched landscape. The city itself rises from the foetid swamp that typifies the Wasteland, that gloomy march between the impenetrable Drakwald Forest and the immense Pale Sisters. With the regular rains, sucking mires, and the strange breed of peasants that make their living trawling the dark waters of the countryside, reaching the grand city can sometimes be a feat in itself. A visitor to Marienburg can quickly be overwhelmed by the sheer size of this metropolis, with its innumerable islands, canals, and labyrinthine streets. So large is the city that many of its denizens rarely venture beyond their own districts, and can only speculate about what happens on the other side of the city.

Overview
Marienburg is a city of islands, bridges and canals. When trav-ellers arrive here, usually from the sea or after sailing through the fens on the Reik, the first thing that strikes them is how it rises from the water like some behemoth, safe behind the massivewall of the Vloedmuur, unconcerned with anything around it. The second thing that strikes them is how crowded all the islands are, with every inch taken up by residences, shops and warehouses, even on the bridges. The third and final thing that strikes the new arrival is the need for a large parasol when travelling the canals under the bridges or beneath overhanging windows. Marienburg's islands are the remnants of the land on whichstood the ancient Sea Elf port of Sit Rionnasc'namishathir, (Fortress of the Star-Gem on the Sandy Coast), the Vloedmuuritself following the outline of the old Elven fortress wall. By the time Man arrived, nothing but broken ruins remained onthe surface, though their foundations provided the base for