Kashdushan States

 

The oldest known evidence of ancient societies anywhere on Tear are ancient earthworks in the Isthmus of Desh. Defensive mounds and levees possibly used for agriculture are estimated to have been constructed between 12000 and 11500 BCB. A megalithic stone wall near modern day Sanek's Gate suggests ancient giant tribes occupied the Isthmus of Desh, eastern Ayodesh and southern Kashdush, and may have been in contact or conflict with ancient eoten socities in Kashdush. There is no recorded history relating to these societies, but songs and poems still recited by Odesherai sages and shamans in the Adi-Odesh language tell cryptic tales of ancient cities, gods, heroes and wars.

With the Upheaval and the Ash Winter, glaciers would cover most of Kashdush, and it is presumed that no settlements prior to the beginning of the Third Epoch remain. Despite this, some spriggan claim that by 1700 BCB there was already an established, centralized spriggan state, centered in the valley between the Crown Mountains and the White Pine Mountains and led by eoten monarchs, but there has never been evidence to support this claim.

The first evidence of the existence of such as state would come during the orcish conquests. Hashuin, which at the time was the only stone-walled fortress city on the continent, was captured in 376. The orcs did not push further north than Hashuin, choosing to plunder southern Kashdush for resources and put any cities that opposed them to the torch.

Then, in 392, organized spiggan legions marched out of the White Pine Mountains and began retaking southern Kashdush. The orcs didn't see it coming, and the spriggan forces made rapid gains. With the aid of the elite Oberschi Stol Rosoi, the spriggan forces recaptured Hashuin in 396, and by 398 all of Kashdush had been liberated. Organized spriggan forces would be seen fighting to liberate Obersch a few years later. But it would not be until the end of the orcish conqeusts that spriggan emissaries would official declare the existence of a eoten and spriggan nation state in central Kashdush. This nation was not universally recognized, however, as it had no specified capital, nebulously defined borders, and an alleged eoten monarch who no one had ever seen and who would not be named.

Spriggan forces of this unnamed monarchy would appear intermittently during the Imperial Era - always fighting to disrupt Imperial expansion, but even by the end of the Imperial Era, the nature of the eoten and spriggan would remain unclear.

Council States of Maritime Kashdush

The Council States of Maritime Kashdush are a group (or groups) of loosely aligned, independent city states spread out over three distinct territories. The largest are a group of city states located above the Crown Mountains and around Blowhole Bay in northern Kashdush. To the southwest, there is another group of city states near Bomang Bay on the west coast of Kashdush. Additonally, Olmskirk Island in the Sea of Odesh is also considered to be included in this grouping of independent states. Maritime Kashdush is considered distinct from Independent Kashdush largely because of their industrial focus on the fishing and whaling industries and their connection to several major factions that control these industries.

Independent Kashdush

The area of southern Kashdush, above the Isthmus of Desh and below the White Pine Mountains is the most populated region of Kashdush, and home to a group of autonomous city states. While the city states here are not joined into any kind of formal union or confederation, they are strongly allied with one another. This is the temperate region of Kashdush, and it is by far the most developed and most fertile. Trade across the Sea of Odesh is a central to the prosperity of this region and relations with the city states along the northern coast of Ayodesh are also strong.

Hashuin, which is the largest city on the continent, is located here at the base of Lake Hashuin, where it drains to the Hashuin River separating Independent Kasdush from United Kasdush. Hashuin is home to a de facto embassy to United Kashdush, and it is from here that representatives of the monarchy of United Kashdush make their presence known to the broader world.

United Kashdush

United Kashdush is unofficial and largely unrecognized monarchy, allegedly ruled by a eoten monarch, and a royal council of eoten and spriggan elders who few have ever seen. While Eotenvale is the largest city in this region, it is not held to be a capital, and the monarch and royal council comprise an itinerant court who wander the wilderness of central Kashdush between the Crown Mountains and the White Pine Mountains and into the inhospitable frozen tundra of the Kashdushan Shield.

Despite lacking the recognizable structures of a central state, the cities of United Kashdush are all presided over by Governors who are appointed by the monarch and royal council and who administer the cities and their lands supported by local governing councils whose members are partially appointed and partially elected by citizens. Governors are usually, but not always spriggan. Each city is required to maintain a battle-ready legion, and the soldiers in these legions are also mostly spriggan.

The monarchy of United Kashdush considers Kashdush (all of it, not just their own lands) to be the spriggan (and eoten) homeland. As such, under their laws, all spriggan (and eoteon), regardless of where they sprouted, are considered to have at least tenants rights, and also have significantly reduced barriers to petition for residency or citizenship. It is suspected, though not recorded, that the spriggan legions that contributed to the liberation of Obersch from the orcs between 400 and 402 and those who supported the Oberschi invasion of the Shaded Coast in Golanicja in 709 where not legions from Kashdush, but were rather mustered in Obersch and granted Kashdushan citizenship for their service.