the Western Surrach (Atlas Elyden)

[vorropohaiah]

A key/legend to the map can be found here

Map #33 is ready! There may be a few labels I missed but I'm calling this one done. I haven't worked on a map with this many labels in the Atlas Style before and to be honest, I'm not looking forward to doing it again any time soon... which I will be, for the Eastern Surrach, next month

EDIT: the eastern part of the map is here.

the Surrach - west low-res.jpg

THE SURRACH
(lit. ‘many lands’) imperial name for the land of Saviud, which occupies a 4,000,000-square-mile area of N–W Sammaea, bordering Izabal, Erebeth, Cyhlagharr, Khalhat, and the Daened Sulrach, some 6,000-miles away from the politicking of Korachan, though it is still not entirely outside its sphere of influence.. The region is known for its many disparate city-states and small demesnes of loosely allied people.

Some 2–millennia past Korachan was exploring the immediate world, funding colonisation efforts in many regions, including the Surrach. Major efforts at colonisation were made in c. 2300 - 2400 RM, but due to more pressing matters at home as well as difficulties in area the empire was attempting to exploit led to the abandonment of the colonisation effort, though many groups chose to remain there. Some ruins and relics of this original century of colonisation efforts remain, largely in ancient fortresses and harbours, some of which are still in use to this day. Elsewhere, various imperial ruins can be seen.

Until c. 2760 RM the region was a single entity, known as the empire of Selahim, that sprawled from the W-coast to the Surrachi Plains in the east. The suicide of emperor Drakugh in 2761 RM after the region was sundered by a great earthquake and volcanic eruption in 2759 RM left the empire leaderless and without direction. The thirteen Ankhs, his closest confidantes, could not elect a leader and their squabbles and power grabbing rapidly descended into a civil war which gripped the region for 13 years, at the end of which the land was divided between the 7 surviving Ankhs and the coalitions of city-states that had formed during the war. A state of uneasy truce emerged though political backstabbing remained common, leaving borders in a state of constant flux and the emergence of new states commonplace.

By c. 3000 RM the region had become known as Saviud, which means ‘conflict’ in the native tongue. It was during this time that the region became characterised by its many disparate charismatic leaders, whose ideals shaped the cultures of their respective domains. Though now regarded as tyrants and despots, records show that they were mostly revered (though the verity of our sources is debatable, at best) by their subjects. By c. 3400 RM the region of Saviud had taken on a cadence little different to that of today, though many city-states and demesnes have come and gone since then.

The region is most characterised to outsiders by its fragmented nature, though this is in no way an indication of an unhealthy culture. The Inner Sea, with its many rivers feeding it and (originally) better climate, was more conductive to the formation of larger nations. The Surrach in general, and he W-coast in particular, are in a drier climate with scattered resources. This has made it more difficult for settlements to unite as nations as they have elsewhere. As a result, most settlements in the Surrach appear over places that are rich in a particular resource. This means that most cities tend to have a particular character where most industries and exports revolve around that particular resource.

This in turn has made trade between city-states a vital part of life, and merchant caravans are a common sight, snaking across the many territories, trading important commodities and exotic items across the Ivory Road. Both sea trade along the W-coast and land trade E into Parthis, via its colony in Varta.

Though each region has its own language, there is a common root, Saviudi, dating back to the original language of Chegrint, though divergent evolution has led some areas to now be very different to each other. There exists a pidgin tongue that is commonly employed by merchants and travellers, that uses the more simple words from ancient Chegrintish, that are used to facilitate trade and communication. It is this language that has allowed the region to thrive, even as each territory maintains its own identity.
The S of the Surrach is known for its somewhat disparate culture, including the custom of binding the skulls of newborns to create elongated skulls,and the chthonic dei. they worship in rock-hewn temples known as hypogea.