Former capital, technological centre of the Empire’s war machine and intellectual heart of humanity, Nuln is “the crown that glitters with a hundred jewels.” Though second to Altdorf in terms of population, it is first in social life and the arts. Yet like much of the Empire, Nuln has its secrets, its dark underbelly people do their best to shut away in the sprawling sewers and within the hearts of the slums. And for every gala ball the Countess throws in the cavernous halls of her fortified palace, another Mutant is born in the belly of the Maze, another Skaven scampers alongside slow-moving sludge in the sewers, and a killer brutally murders his victim on the soot-stained streets in the Neuestadt.
Though Nuln has its sinister underbelly, it is still a place of refinement, at the forefront of the arts and social life. It is the economic hub, distributing goods to and from Wissenland, Stirland, and Averland. With the gold earned during the Storm of Chaos, the division between the classes is even more pronounced, and the elite are ostentatious in their displays of their newfound wealth, as the poor look on with haunted eyes and cinched belts. Nuln is a city of contrasts, contrasts between the rural farmsteads that support the city with food with the sophistication of the aristocracy. It is a place of uneducated rabble who work in the Forges across the river, contrasted with the educated students who walk the halls of Nuln’s ancient universities. It is a place the clash between old and new, of shanty and palace, of fine meals with crystal goblets and filthy beggars rooting around in rubbish-filled alleys. Nuln is conflict, making it the perfect place for intrigues and the best adventures.
