Greenhill
Greenhill & Southdene (British English: /ˌgɹɛnəl ən(d) ˈsʌðdən/, American English:: /gɹiːnhɪl æn saʊθdin/, toki pona: ma nena en ma anpa), commonly known as Greenhill (British English: /ˈgɹɛnəl/, American English: /ɡɹiːnhɪl/, toki pona: ma nena), is a self-governing city-state in Eastern Nostria. Geographically, Greenhill lies along the southern bank of the River Seine in wide meander known as Greenhill Bay. For the majority of Terra Nostra's history, Greenhill has been the most important and productive cultural centre and it has the highest active population of any settlement in Terra Nostra.
History
Settlement
Greenhill was the first settlement after the Great Spawning and was founded by Maria and Kawa on a joint venture. They discovered the mountainous landscape at the eastern coast of Nostria and began the founding of Greenhill with the construction of a simple staircase up from the river to a slight terrace in the hill. It was upon this terrace that Blossom House was built by Maria, shortly followed by Kawa's House. The first road built was Blossom Plaza, connecting the old staircase to Blossom House. Shortly thereafter, Occult Street was built by person or persons unknown connecting Blossom House to Kawa's House. The name Occult Street, however, did not come about until later when the apothecary was built.
Growth
TBW
Founding of Southdene
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Geography
Landscape
Greenhill lies between Greenhill Hill, a long mountainous hill that spans the length of the town, and the River Seine on the northern side. At the part of the Seine by which Greenhill was founded, the course of the river is much wider than at other points and it begins to meander northwards. This area became known as Greenhill Bay.
On the other side of Greenhill Hill, the valley of Southdene provides a large expanse of flat land for building and therefore gave its name to the later borough of Southdene.
Metropolitan area
The area comprising Greenhill and Southdene is formally known as the Greenhill Metropolitan Area and this area definition forms the basis of the foundation of the Greenhill Council.
Economy
Greenhill's economy is largely natural, unregulated and based on bartering and local customs rather than any formalised economic system. Despite there being many buildings that describe themselves as 'shops' or 'companies', none of these operate under a monetary economic model and instead rely on trust, often allowing the free distribution of goods and services without any form of payment. This is indicative of it being a post-scarcity economy and of the culture of Greenhill preferring community abundance over private ownership and hoarding.
The natural post-scarcity economy forms a large part of Greenhill's culture, which is altogether more based around community ownership and community governance in comparison to other states in Nostria.
Agriculture
A large aspect of Greenhill's self-sufficiency comes from its proactive agricultural industry. Farms have long been a part of Greenhill's history, providing much needed animal and plant produce in abundance.
Buildings
Greenhill is home to many different buildings. The settlement is notable for the fact that a large proportion of buildings are municipal and have utility for the whole community, as opposed to other regions in Nostria which tend towards a higher proportion of residential buildings.
The architectural style of Greenhill is quite varied, though there are shared characteristics amongst many buildings, especially varying by borough. In the borough of Greenhill, there's a tendency towards light-coloured or wooden buildings framed with spruce logs and rooves lined with deepslate bricks. In addition, the buildings tend to be more insular. In Sugar Hill and Southdene, on the other hand, there is a tendency towards more colourful buildings, especially arranged in terraces.
Transport
Roads
There are many roads in Greenhill, most of which were built through its history as new buildings were planned and constructed and the town grew. The distinctive style of roads in Greenhill has become an iconic marker of the town, with stone bricks and spruce slabs in use for most of the town, with the exception of the north west of Greenhill, which uses deepslate bricks and stone brick slabs, and Southdene, which favours wider streets of various grey bricks, often lined with flowering hedges.
Nether
There is one nether portal in Greenhill, accessible from the Promenade. It connects directly to the Nether Highway in the Nether and therefore makes it easy to access destinations such as Chicken Island or the End Portal without the use of elytra.
Elytra
Since the defeating of the Ender Dragon, elytra use has been commonplace in Greenhill and there is a firework shop situated on Mountain Walkway to easily enable this. In spite of this, the Boaties countercultural movement has steadily grown in Greenhill, leading many residents to reduce or completely eradicate their elytra usage. For the most part, Greenhill is a suitable location for those partaking in the movement due to its walkability.
Governance
Subdivisions
The Greenhill Metropolitan Area is made up of five boroughs: Greenhill, Southdene, Sugar Hill, Highbridge and Northweald. The boroughs of Greenhill and Southdene have ceremonial township status in their own rights, reflecting their history as having been founded as independent towns at one point that later joined together into a single continuous conurbation.
Politics
Greenhill is an independent city-state which describes itself as self-governing. Formally, power is vested in a council which is made up of all resident members of the Greenhill Metropolitan Area.
Culture
Art
Art is a large part of Greenhill culture, with a number of art installations having existed over Greenhill's history.
Food
Food plays a large role in Greenhill culture, with the iconic Le Café de Flore being not only the oldest café in Greenhill but also amongst the oldest buildings. There is also the Poultry House, which provides fresh factory-farmed chicken to Greenhill residents, the Rusty Spoon pub on the Promenade and Seni's Ramen House in Southdene.
Folklore
Due to its large and active population, Greenhill has a long history of folklore. Once such example is the legend of Occult Street where due to the unknown builder of Occult Street, many folk interpretations of its construction have been adopted instead.
Literature
Greenhill enjoys a rich literary culture, with Southdene Library housing the collections of many local writers and poets in its local authors section.
There has also been a long-running news publication in Greenhill since the early days of its settlement, known as the Greenhill Herald. To date there have been two published editions of the newspaper. It is overseen by the Greenhill Publishing Company situated in Publishing House on Paper Street.