Basic Information
Erlangen is a medium-sized city with about 100,000 inhabitants in Franconia, the northern part of Bavaria. Its economy is mostly dependent on the Siemens Corporation (which has some of its largest research and manufacturing centers inside of Germany here) and a large university with more than 20,000 students.
The major social event each year is the Bergkirchweih, the third largest beer festival in Germany (the Oktoberfest in Munich is, of course, the largest). It takes place around Pentecost and draws about a million visitors each year. A variety of local breweries supply the beer for the occasion, which is stored in ancient tunnels built into the side of the hill where the festival takes place.
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Game and Story Use
- The Bergkirchweih, with its huge crowds of frequently drunk people, makes for interesting fight scenes. The terrain is also more interesting than at the Oktoberfest, since while the Oktoberfest takes place on a relatively flat area, the Bergkirchweih takes place along a single street built along a very steep hill.
- The ancient beer cellars built into the hill might hide anything, from hidden bodies to lost fairy kingdoms.
- In the latter context, it is worth pointing out that the "Franconian Switzerland", a hill region with a fast range of fairy myths and legends, starts not far to the Northeast of the city…