Encyclopaedia Elyden update #22 - Durchaa

Here's the 22nd Encyclopaedia update for your perusal, based on the map of Durchaa. Please let me know what you think and let me  know if there's any mistakes or typos as these entries are heading straight to the Encyclopaedia at the end of the month :)  

You can keep up with these entries by looking for the  'Encyclopaedia Entries' tag.  

If you have any queries about any of the following entries, please don't hesitate to ask :)

I've made a PDF of the entries for ease of reference, this can be found at the end of the page.

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ARATATH: ancient stone city constructed in a cleft within a cliff in the wilderness of N Durchaa. The city is abandoned, and is likely a remnant from ancient times when the climate was warmer, possibly the Third Age.  

ARESTA: boreal forest across the border between the E of Durchaa and the S of Pergost.

BAEFIR: narrow cold sea to the N - E of Durchaa, dividing the Utaghaa Mtns. in the W from the Mammoth Mtns. in the E.

BARCHAA: fortified city in the far S–W of Durchaa. The city is one of few to trade south with Almagest (pop. c. 19,800).

BOSARA: boreal f. in the S of the ntn. of Valbar.

BRAAGOSH: city in the N of Durchaa. Its is known for its large fleshmills and cloning ateliers, which are geothermically-powered. It is controlled by three Patrician houses with vested control in the industries in the city (Pop. c. 38,000).

BRAHAN: small city in the W of Durchaa, known for its meteore mines (Pop. c. 17,200).

BUESRA: boreal f. straddling the border between S - E Durchaa, the N of the Desolation of Astudan, and the N - W of sabia. 

CHAIN MASK, the: veil made of chainmail worn by the priests of the Hand of the Machine in Durchaa.

CHATHADHAA: region of discontinuous permafrost in the N of Durchaa.

DAALKATH: major city in the N - W of Durchaa in the N of Llachatul, along the course of the r. Varagod. It is a major industrial centre (Pop. c. 90,000).

DARHOLT: Bestial humanoid race, averaging 6’ tall, 300 lb. Grey fur, bestial features, limited intellect, but learn instructions well. Common in cold regions, particularly in Durchaa.

DARUTOSH: small city in the E of Durchaa, forming a part of the Durchaan Umbra Lines. It is known for its trapping and games, and many are employed as guards along the Lines, spending months away from the city, as far N as the Utaghan Mtns. and S as the capital (Pop. c. 13,000).

DHAMA IKH: fortress in the S–W of Pergost, overlooking the border with Durchaa. The fortress is a remnant of past ages, originally of a scale far too large for humans, leading some to attribute it to giganri or oghurs, or possibly some other unknown gigantic race. The fortress has since been expanded and refitted for the human and dverg guards of Pergost. 

DHAUGOSH: Manufactory-city in the ntn. of Durchaa. It was once a monolithic edifice that stretched beneath the permafrost of Durchaa’s surface, covering miles of natural and hewn caverns, though fell into decay following the independence of Almagest from Korachan.

The city was unnatural, its populace thriving only thanks to the vast acergene engines that kept the air circulating, and technarcane engines that kept the food flowing and the corridors safe from Atramental seepage. With the Sundering of the Shadow, Dhaugosh’s engines fell silent, its people dying in droves. What was once a major metropolis became a tomb, festering with the decaying bodies of its dead.

It was later repopulated though vast chambers and corridors of the city are sealed off, their once unceasing engines, dusty and silent. Today the city is overseen by shaper tyrants who rule the unfortunate remnants of the once-great city (Pop. c. 23,200).

DRUCHAN: city in the c S - W of Durchaa, known for its meteore mines (Pop. c. 28,200).

DURCHAA: 1. Once the N–most province of the Korachani empire, N of Almagest and Astudan, founded on the ruins of the nation of Thythia, which was destroyed following a lengthy military campaign that lasted from c. 900 - 1491 RM, during which its populace was enslaved and the indiginous people of the region were wiped out. 

Eventually embodying a diverse population of demiurnes, humans and dvergai, the province became known for its felshmills, ateliers and cloning manufactories, where many of its manufactured creatures, including some iterations of the the Steel Legions, were incepted. It also became a major source of meteore. Many boreholes have been excavated to reach concentrations of pure-umbra deep below the surface and the region was a major supplier of raw umbra to the empire before its eventual loss during the War of the Artifexes. Over the years, the chthonic taint seeped to the surface, where the land itself became twisted, warping otherwise healthy flo. and fau. making much of the surface inhospitable. 

The War of the Artifexes in 3014 RM saw Durchaa sundered, its S-most parts taken by Almagest, with the rest remaining as a tentative colony. But contact with the Korachani empire following the independence of Almagest was sporadic at best, allowing it to fully break away in 3101 RM, though a sole Korachani city-state remains to this day, heavily fortified. By that time even more lands, including vast territories S of the Marmara Massif, had been taken by Almagest.

What remained eventually became a small kingdom, heated by geothermal power and continuing the Atr. and cloning traditions set forth by its forebears. Today it sells vat-grown beasts and creatures to the highest bidder. See Vol III: the Nations of Elyden.

2. Capital of the ntn. of the same name. The first major imperial colony in the region in c. 740 RM, before Korachani attacks on the indigenous populations began, it began as a city on the fringes of Imperial life where daredevil frontiersmen and prospectors would gather after long sjourns into the wilderness. 

It has since grown into a thriving city, the largest in the ntn. and is home to many great manufactories, some of which experiment with the thick Shadow-stuff found beneath the area, as well as more mundane sciences such as geothermal energies. It is situated in a great basin (once a cavern, its roof now collapsed), at the S - E shore of l. Thythia and is prosperous, well known for its slave workforce, which is largely comprised of the descendants of natives who were taken by Korachani subjugators (Pop. c. 380,000).

DURCHAN UMBRA LINES: expansive umbra pipelines covering most of the ntn. of Druchaa, originating in the offshore umbra fields of Oggutei. The pipelines are heavily guarded against attack and theft and are fortified throughout their 1,900-length and patrolled regularly. 

DUSAGHAA: rocky hills in the c E of the ntn. of Durchaa. 

DUSTINA: ruined city in the c of Durchaa, W of l. Thythia. It was once a major deep-bore umbra siphon, though the engines fell silent in c. 3112 RM after decreased contact with the empire after the War of the Artifexes led to a lack of maintenance. Today the region is an Atramental wasteland, at the centre of which is the ruin of the old city, which once housed 30,000 bodies during its peak in c. 3002 RM. 

EBECHAA: ruined city in the S - W of Durchaa. It was once a deep-bore umbra siphon, though the engines fell silent in c. 30500 RM after decreased contact with the empire after the War of the Artifexes led to a lack of maintenance. Today the region is an Atramental wasteland, at the centre of which is the ruin of the old city, which once housed 30,000 bodies during its peak in c. 3020 RM. 

ECHANEM: Mtn. in the far N of Sabia, forming a border with Durchaa and Pergost.

ERIAS: also ‘the Black Tower’. Atr. siphon-engine in the region of Escunur, in the S of Durchaa. Constructed in c. 2000 RM to concentrate the considerable Atramental energies in the area, where many Atm. experiments were conducted. But this strength of the Atramenta in the region was too much and the place was destroyed in a calamity that left the place a ruin in c. 3220 RM, its researchers, Set and technarcanists obliterated, their soulless bodies haunting its rusted chambers under the sway of the Atramenta.

ERIHAAS: harsh plains in the c of the ntn. of Durchaa, in the N of Llachatul. The plains are known for the large fau. that travel S across them in summer. 

ERIVASTA: duststone expanse, over 325-miles long in the N–W Durchaa, forming its N–W border with the unclaimed lands of Valbar. The last 200-miles of the course of the r. Varagod is known for its canyons and waterfalls, as the water travels through duststone formations. 

ESCUNUR: region of heavy Atramental taint in the S of Durchaa, dominated by many gigantic slanted menhirs in the centre of which is a coalescing of the Atramenta, rendering shapers in the area drunk with power, the strength of the Atramenta there crippling them. Attempts were made to harness this force, resulting in the founding of the city of Erias, which was obliterated in 3220 RM. 

FALLIAGH: major coastal f. in the far N of Durchaa, overlooking the estuary of the r. Varagod. 

FLESH-ENGINE: a form of Sicthainen Techna, built around a base-form of a haghouer, usually humanoid. The fleshy core of the engine is augmented with armoured extremities, and is typically used as a shock troop in battle, to draw the attention of artillery away from more important targets and sow fear and confusion amongst enemy ranks. They are typically employed by the armies of the High-empire and are commonly crafted in the ateliers of Durchaa.

GINGHAA: small city in the c. of Durchaa, along the N - W shore of l.Thythia (Pop. c. 16,500).

GNANHA: small coastal fortified city in the far N of Durchaa, overlooking the Sea of Polaris. It is a major whaling outpost and trades in whale oil and meat. The city is largely self-sufficient and has little overland contact with the rest of Durchaa, though maintains a tentative sea trade-route with the Durchaan city of Urotha, as well as Valbar and Pergost (Pop. c. 16,500). 

HAND OF THE MACHINE, the: giant fossilised hand in the c E of Durchaa. Discovered by Korachani explorers in 1631, over 10-years after its conquest of the region from the kingdom of Thythia, though it is believed to have been known to the natives for centuries before that time. 

The hand forms the centre of a corrupt cult of the Undying Machine that serves as the national rel. of Durchaa, evolving slowly following its isolation from the empire in the wake of the fracture of Almagest from Korachan in 3014 RM. A hereditary order of militant monks has guarded the site since c. 3200 RM.

HISTER: city and surrounding iron mines in the c S - W of Durchaa (Pop. c. 40,000).

HURINA: city in the c W of Durchaa, along the course of the r. Varagod. It is a major producer of umbriska, and its refineries are amongst the more modern in the ntn. The city dammed the r. Varagod in 3932 RM and uses its water to generate much of its electricity for in the refineries (Pop. c. 38,000).

IHSONGHA: gigantic open-cast lead mine in the W of Durchaa, to the N - E of the Marmara Massif. It was one of the largest lead mines in Elyden, though decreasing yields, increased cost of maintenance, and political instability in the region, saw it abandoned in c. 3470 RM. 

The largest of the pits still contain some ore, which is exploited by opportunists and scavs who often clash with the Durchaan guards stationed there in their search for scraps to trade.

IRON BULWARK, the: fortified wall in the S - W of Durchaa, running for 900-miles from the Maraghan Mtns. in the W to the S of the plains of Mhorsina in the E. The wall serves as a first line of defence against  Almagest attentions. Once manned by thousands of soldiers, it is today served by a skeleton crew which can barely cover the length of the wall, let alone provide an adequate defence. Its main purpose is to serve as a symbol, and to stall any attack long-enough for warning to reach Durchaa’s armies.

ISANTH: small city in the c S of Durchaa, N of the region of Mhorsina. It is at a crossroads of local trade routes and distributes imports from the S with the rest of the ntn. It is named after a Thythian ruin on which its foundations were built (Pop. c. 14,000).

JODOPHI: region in the c N of Durchaa, known for its fantastical lattice-like stone formations. 

LARTOSH: fortified coastal settlement in the N of Durchaa. It’s main industry is whaling (Pop. c. 800).

MARAGHA: Mtn. in the N of Llachatul serving as a border between the ntn. of Durchaa in the E and the lands of Valbar in the W. It forms an extension of the Marmara Massif.

MEKONIA: city in the far S of Durchaa that once specialised in cloning. Following the fracture of Durchaa from the Korachani empire in 3101 RM, the city diminished, its government fragmenting, leaving it as a lawless state of rogue technarcanists. 

The city has since recovered and is now a centre of manufacture in Durchaa, ruled by a warring patrician houses and populated by rival gangs under the sway of the patricians. The rest of it populace is composed of refugees and the opportunistic descendants of clones, haemacolytes and other manufactured beings from its its imperial days (pop. c. 84,000).

MHORGCALU: (lit. tainted tower) corrupted tower built over a dagger-like peak in the far S - W of the Mhorsina plains in the far S of Durchaa, dating to an ancient time, its walls corroded and rank with the stench of decay.

MHORS: settlement in the S of Durchaa that serves a trade-hub between the more rural S-cities and the more industrial N (pop. c. 10,000).

MHORSINA: black plains in the S of Durchaa, eerily beautiful in winter when covered by snow.

MORINA: small city and umbra extraction facility in the c N of Durchaa. The city is owned and controlled by a single patrician family with ties to the Durchaan monarchy (Pop. c. 17,500).

MUSER: boreal f. in the S - E of Durchaa.

NATTRANEN: Mtn. in the far S of the ntn. of Durchaa, forming part of the border between it, Sabia and the Desolation of Astudan.

OGGUTEI: offshore umbra fields in the far N of Durchaa, in the Sea of Polaris. The fields are expansive and lucrative, pumping millions of gallons of shadowstuff to the city of Urotha yearly.

OTH MAMAKHA: also ‘the Steaming fields’. Expansive region in the c S - E of Durchaa, known to be geothermically active. The area is named after the steam that is constantly seen escaping from the ground, which has resulted in it being on of the few areas that is now covered in snow, ice, or permafrost.

PHANNIA: settlement in the far E of Durchaa, known for its trapping and trade in pelts. The settlement is known to attract itinerants and mountain men who spend more time in the wild than they do in civilisation, returning to the city on to sell their trophies (Pop. c. 6,000).

RUSSINA: caravanserai-city in the N - E of Durchaa (Pop. c. 13,400).

SEBEHOKH: settlement in the c of Durchaa, just over 55-miles W of the capital. It is known for its sheep and their thick wool, which is used to make clothing adapted to the climate (Pop. c. 6,000).

SHAACHAA: rocky coastal region in the N of Durchaa.The region is uneven, and covers over 120-miles of cliffy coastline.

TEBERCHAA: settlement in the c of Durchaa, some 9-miles S - E of the capital. It is a major producer of food for the capital (Pop. c. 7,200).

TEMERACHAN: independent korachani colony in the far N of Llachatul, along the border between the ntns. of Durchaa and Almagest, and the lands of Valbar. It is a remnant of imperial colonialism, and dates back to c. 2800 RM, before the War of the Artifexes led to Almagest’s independence from the Korachani empire. after the war, the empire was unable to hold on to Durchaa, which by 3101 would break away and become an independent ntn. of its own. Despite this the city of Temerachan, which until then was a refinery for the umbra pipelines that fed raw umbra S to the heart of the empire. The umbra pipelines have long since fallen into disuse, but the city remains under tentative Korachani rule, though its purpose, of which there must be,  is unknown. For there must be a reason for a city to remain under Korachani rule, with no apparent resources of note, so far from the heartland.

Temerachan is heavily fortified and is one of few extant regions with a standing force of Steel Legionnaires (Pop.c . 40,000).  

TOROGHAA: settlement in the S of the ntn. of Durchaa, relatively close to the tainted region of Escunur. Like many settlements in the S - E of Durchaa, it is known for its trapping and fur industry (Pop. c. Pop. c. 7,800). 

TUL I’ SICH-AHUR: Lit. ‘land of ice-fire’. Basin in the c N - E of Durchaa. Today called Tulsichar, it is volcanically active and shunned. 

TULSICHAR: rocky basin in the c N - E of the ntn. of Durcaa, S of the Utaghaa Mtns., N - E of l. Thythia, and N of the Dusaghaa hills. It is the most inhospitable region of Durchaa, and is characterised by blacked earth that is volcanically active. The heat in this area means that the region surrounding it is never frozen. At the worst of its activity the erh cracks and rivers of molten stone can be seen below.

The name is a corruption of the Korachani name for the region, Tul I’ sich-ahur, which meant ‘Land of ice-fire’.

THYTHIA: 1. extinct kingdom in the far N of Llachatul, to the N of Almagest and Astudan, that between c. 1900 - 1491 RM as subjected to prolonged attacks from the Korachani empire ending ultimately in is destruction. The kingdom was dissolved, its S - W territories taken by Almagest, with the rest resettled by Korachan, with its populace set to work in its meteore mine as slaves after its royalty was executed in 1491 RM.

Little remains today of its culture, and many of its once-impressive structures were toppled in the decades after its destruction. See Vol III: Extinct nations.

2. l. in the c. of Durchaa, named after the kingdom that once occupied the region.

3. plains dominating the S of the ntn. of Durchaa. The plains are dotted with the ruins of the extinct kingdom of Thythia and the detritus of the war with Korachan there.

UBBASHA: settlement in the c of Durchaa, around 50-miles S - E from the capital (Pop. c. 4,000).

UGKHAA: small city in the c of the ntn. of Durchaa, just 5-miles W of the capital. It is a major source of food for the capital, producing mosses, lichens and offal for use in the dross industry (Pop. ).  

UGROTHAA: coal quarries in the S - W of Durchaa (Pop. c. 14,000). 

UKOHINA: ruined city in the W of Durchaa. It was once a large deep-bore umbra siphon, though the engines fell silent in c. 3130 RM after decreased contact with the empire after the War of the Artifexes led to a lack of maintenance. Today the region is an Atramental wasteland, at the centre of which is the ruin of the old city, which once housed 20,000 bodies during its peak in c. 2970 RM. 

UKON: small fortified settlement in the Korachani colony of Temerachan, in the N of Llachatul (Pop. c. 3,000).

UMMERSA: settlement in the c of Durchaa, just over 100-miles W of the capital. It is known for its sheep and their thick wool, which is used to make clothing adapted to the climate (Pop. c. 4,000). 

UROTHA: coastal city in the N of Durchaa. It’s primary role is the collection and refining of umbra siphoned offshore, in the region of Oggutei 130-miles to the N, before distribution across the major cities and manufactories across Durchaa (Pop. c. 50,000).  

USEBERCHAA: city in the E of Durchaa, known for its trapping and hunting industries. It is a major supplier of pelts and furs, which are sold S as luxury items (Pop. c. 28,000).

USTOKHAA: ruined city in the W of Durchaa. It was once a large deep-bore umbra siphon, though the engines fell silent in c. 3150 RM after decreased contact with the empire after the War of the Artifexes led to a lack of maintenance. Today the region is an Atramental wasteland, at the centre of which is the ruin of the old city, which once housed 50,000 bodies during its peak in c. 3010 RM. 

UTAGHAN: expansive coastal Mtn. chain in the N of Durchaa, running W - E for over 700-miles.

VARAGOD: major r. in the ntn. of Durchaa, in the far N of Llahatul, flowing N - W for 1,550-miles from sources in the Nattranen and Echanem Mtns. before emptying into the Sea of Polaris.