Garnoye remis

Garnoye remis, literally "White Fort Area", is an area of the city of Isana, named after the iconic Garnoye, or White Fort, which stands in the north of the area. To its north is the Waranye river. This remis is an important residential area, mostly for the more affluent of the city, and is mainly into seven residential districts, mostly occupied by high-rise apartments. At the same time it contains several of the city's major gardens, parks and public areas, as well as museums, especially in its western areas adjacent to Awenhine remis.

During the early days of Isana, the area that is now Garnoye was an agricultural district, but also contained many military installations and public buildings, including the old building of the Afengar, and Old Isana Train Station. Many of these buildings have been preserved, mostly in the vicinity of the Waranye river.

Site and Situation

Garnoye is the largest district in the east of Isana, roughly occupying the areas formerly known as Konenime, "south of the hill" (as opposed to Konebara "above the hill" which is now the eastern portion of Waranyebara remis) and Adunitaboga, "Aduni's Tower". The eponymous fort is in fact sited near the boundary between this remis and Waranyebara in the north, which is set along the Waranye river.

The remis is presently mostly residential and commercial in nature, though pockets of land devoted to manufacturing and other industries still exist mostly in the southeast and east, where the remis adjoins Hinegaes and Hirsa. While in the past it was touted as a suburban region in contrast to the densely populated western half of the city, in the 1970s to 2000s extensive development and movement of population from the west has brought it to a level of density approaching, and in some areas surpassing, that of Basetimena remis or Nimegose remis.

From the 1950s on the idea of generally decentralised, mostly self-sufficient planned towns passed eastwards after its highly successful application in Basetimena; in 1966 the remis administration was redrawn, and 7 such new towns were set up, with most of the infrastructure being complete by the early 1970s. Keeping lessons learned from the west in mind, the Garnoye new towns are generally known to be more spacious and set farther apart from each other, separated by parklands and internal green belts.

History

The area now known as Garnoye remis was in fact not part of historical Isana, but Garnoye's history is nonetheless closely tied to that of the capital which once lay to its north, and it has served many roles in regard to the city, being variously its breadbasket, its prison, and in some cases its municipal government. In the early days of Isana's growth the rich lands of Garnoye proved an important breadbasket, and valuable land; in the Saumos ta Gauserin compiled in 878 DN Konenime, as well as Awenkara and Basetimena, were some of the richest and most populated rural lands across the Feladmena Plain. That most of the land this close to the capital was owned by wealthy families, as well as the proximity of the area to the capital itself, meant that extensive irrigation engineering and other works were far more advanced in this area; even now part of the extensive network of canals remains in the remis.

With Garnoye fortress situated in its north, the area also took on a significant political and military role for the city; while foreign invasion was ostensibly a threat, given that the major rival of Masal was the Kingdom of Rarena to its south, an even closer fear was that of peasant rebellion. During the Committee of Guardians, the threat was reversed with great resentment amongst the Isanani for the generals; the new government built its headquarters just south of Garnoye fortress itself, and even built a 730 metre tunnel linking the building to a side keep of Garnoye; at the same time the White Fort (which was painted white for the first time in 1736) was heavily fortified and served as prison and arsenal. Making use of the labour of convicts, the Committee originally planned to build a completely new city in this area, but disorganisation and generally poor planning hampered this task greatly; nonetheless considerable progress had been made in urbanising Garnoye, such that by the time of the 1827 Restoration the groundwork had been laid for the eastward expansion of the city, as the residence of the middle-class families.