HL:City of Harlon

Harlon is the capital and main city of the server, also serving as the spawn point for all new players. It is from this city that the server also got its name.

Being the capital city of the country, the city servers all government functions of the nation, such as the Harlonian Parliament, the HQ of HCS Staff, Spawn, and the Resident Application. It also has many culturally significant landmarks of the server such as Parliament Square, Sergels Square and Stenford Bay.

Founding
In April 2017, the first parts of the City of Harlon were constructed at South Avenue, a few hundred blocks south of the Harlonian river. Quickly however, development moved to the north site of the river where the first houses still remaining can today be found just next to Victoria. The original builders of the city were Antlucl, Optimized_, quickly after followed by KarWe and then SeeItSayItDoggo (formerly known as DannyPokemon), the latter of which would go on to become the server's main developer coding for example the Go2-Card. The city originally expanded west from Victoria to St James's Park, an area which KarWe would later become the mayor of. From St James's Park, the development then sparked northwards up towards Green Park. This section, whilst making up a smaller proportion of the city's size today, was built in the period from April 2017 to the fall of 2018. During this time, the city had also seen its first public transport services; with the District and Queenvic lines commencing operation as well as the TramLink, with the latter being the first piece of public transport infrastructure in the city.

The big boom
In the late autumn of 2018, the rate at which buildings were constructed at exploded, originating one evening in the Earl's Court area when multiple houses were built. The growth quickly moved on to move back to where process had previously stalled at Green Park; keeping the area going northwards up to Sergels Square, as well as the city now expanding eastwards from Victoria to Parliament Square, where the Parliament of Harlon was constructed in the early spring of 2019. Whilst Parliament Square itself had been constructed much earlier already in 2017, none of the houses surrounding it nor the buildings between Victoria and Parliament Square were built.

The boom continued moving eastwards on to Habton, Eastgate and Upminster; where it reached the sea and thus ended. Over the summer of 2019 building continued on a regular pace, with areas such as Penrith and Sergels Square being built. However, there was no similar boom out into the western suburbs of the city, which is the reason that there is still a lot more of the city and its services located east of Victoria rather than to the west of it.

Server opening
The server opened to the public on the 14th of December 2019, with the city thus seeing many Torusits & Guests during its early days; with some choosing to settle in the city by purchasing apartments and start companies. The area of Olympia was already overcrowded with factories before the New Year had already arrived; and thus, Penrith was rapidly expanded, and the Millennium Line opened to serve the area and all of its factories. Penrith can today be seen as the beating heart of the Harlonian economy.

Opening growth
With many new players now playing on the server; as well as some applying and becoming Builders, the city again rapidly expanded with areas such as Southbank Hamlet, Waterloo, and The Core, later in the spring being followed by places such as Epping and Catford.

Stenford Bay
Following the first Harlonian Elections, the Harlonian Party proposed to introduce Stenford Bay south of Penrith - an area in which everyone ranked Resident & higher - you no longer needed to be a Builder to build. The area immediately exploded in popularity and is today one of the main places where players play on the server.

Geography
The geography of Harlon is mainly flat, with the Harlonian river flowing in from the west heading eastwards through the city whilst gradually growing in size. It flows out into the Eastern Sea just south of Upminster and north of Harlon-Penrith City Airport. The entirety of the city's eastern outer areas, such as Epping, Seaside, Oldbury Park, Upminster, Penrith and Stenford Bay are bordered to the east by the sea.

Administrative Subdivisions
Harlon is divided up into councils, which is headed by an un-elected Mayor nominated by the Senate. In order to become a mayor; and thus be responsible for the city planning and main overseer of construction within the area; you need to hold the rank Architect or higher. The exception is Stenford Bay, which is run by all people active in the area. Local elections are planned for Stenford Bay; in which a mayor would democratically elected - and would be required to hold the Resident rank. Council borders can be seen on the Dynmap by activating the "Councils" layer. The full city of Harlon is not divided up into Councils; the areas which fall outside of one are controlled by the Senate.