Varna/ Odessos
Description
Varna was founded in November 14, 2018 by Cheeseknife, with financial help from Tsar SimonthecrafterI and Habstrakkt. The town's objective was to secure Bulgaria's coastline on the Black Sea, to link up with Turnovo, as well as to expand to Bulgaria's modern national borders, with the possibility of including the Silistra and Burgas areas in the future.
Varna is notable for its uniform rustic style of buildings, pastoral fields of crops, its proximity to the Black Sea, and the presence of several 1:1 scale builds of real life buildings and warships.
History
Varna was first settled in the early days of the Bulgarian empire, with its first manmade structure being the neo-Byzantine styled Varna Orthodox Church. It has undergone slow expansion since then, gradually increasing in size and population, thanks to there being few conflicts taking place in the area.
The only notable battles that have taken place in the vicinity of Varna were an ISIS incursion into the Dobruja region in February, north of Varna, which was eventually driven back with Byzantine aid, as well as the multiple sieges of Constantinople. Although the sieges were generally destructive, fighting rarely spilled over into Varna due to Bulgaria's absolute neutral position in the conflict.
To the immediate north of Varna is Romanian land, and a border line has been agreed upom, based on the real Bulgaria-Romania border, adjusted to fit into map chunks. Parts of Varna's southern border remain unclaimed, but are under de facto Bulgarian control, due to the accepted Bulgarian- Byzantine border at the latitude of Burgas bay.
As of recently, Varna (and Bulgaria) has entered a period of inactivity, due to many of its older members emigrating to new regions. Varna was turned over to its second mayor, Diamond191 in April 2019, after a period of training as the town's councillor. In a departure from tradition, the town was renovated to a more modern appearance.
Varna collapsed in June 2019 due to the inactivity of its last mayor. The town was subjected to minor vandalism. Cheeseknife repaired most of the botched modernization by the last mayor to leave the town’s ruins in a presentable state. The iconic horse monument marking the centre of the town was dismantled and moved to the Argent Museum. It was later moved to the Castle Stonesite in Sussex, Britain, where it remains today.
Since the town’s fall, the old land it occupied has been reclaimed by Byzantine citizens who are revitalising the area. The town now goes by its name in the Roman times, Odessos.
Notable sights and buildings
A prominent structure in Varna is the Bulgarian Navy Headquarters building, seen on the town square. It is based on the real building of the same name, found on Preslavski Street #16, Varna. Also on the square is a small dome shaped gazebo, a replica of the old nation center of Bulgaria, made of some of the original materials. At one point, this structure was the oldest structure in the entire Balkan area. Finally, to the south of the town is a 1:1 scale Sierra-I class nuclear attack submarine.
