the Surrach (west) W.I.P.

I was really hoping to have my 1st half of the Surrach map ready for posting today, but it’s just too damned big and is really taking ages to get done. The Surrach is so big I've had to split the map into 2 halves (west and east). The region is so large that even the single west half I've posted here is bigger than any other Atlas Map I've posted so far, and it will have proportionatley more labels than any other map too, which is taking lots of time - keep in mind that every label on the map gets a small write-up in my encyclopaedia (more on this later).

I'm working on both at the same time, though concentrating on the west map in an attempt to get is ready as soon as possible. I'm hoping to have it online today week, perhaps sooner if I manage in it. In the meantime I’ll post a WIP jpg of the map for patrons, raw as it is. In truth it doesn’t look too different to what the finished product will have – just a lot less key markers, labels and details.   


Whilst I'm on the subject of the encyclopaedia entries, I was thinking of including all entries for the region when I post the map. If this is popular I'll take the time to add these to all future maps going forward. These would be similar to the encyclopaedia extracts I've been posting, but will specifically refer to keyed places in the map - so you'll be able to read up about certain regions that pique your interest. This is really something that I should have done from the 1st Atlas Map, but never really got round to it.

I might go back and repost the older maps (updating there where needed and adding new labels) with appropriate encyclopaedia exerpts going ahead if people would like to see that sort of thing. I'll see how popular this is first and take it form there :)

I have 12,000 words of encyclopaedia entires written up for the Surrach so far and will be posting them alongside the full western map whenever I upload that.

For the time-being here's the writeup of the region, formthose 12,000 words: 

SURRACH, the: (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. See Vol II: Extant Realms and Nations.