Kahraman
Overview
The mountains of Kahraman rise from the great grasslands of Segura to the south and the Mournwold to the north, presenting a treacherous land of broken rock and barren mountainside. Fast-flowing streams spill down deep jagged-edged valleys. There is precious little in the way of vegetation, only scrub that clings to the slopes. However, there are riches in the mountains: here, the Freeborn find precious metals and minerals, often as sediment lying in the streambeds. Scattered settlements shelter in the valleys, with the remains of stone fortresses and watchtowers decaying on the heights above, remnants from the days before the Empire when the Freeborn warred with the Marches.
To the south of the mountains of Kahraman lie sweeping grass plains, a seemingly desolate landscape dotted with strange rock formations shaped by the wind. Here the Freeborn graze the bulk of their herds of goats and sheep. The wind from the west, the Delés, is constant and bitingly cold at night. As a result, for shelter, Freeborn communities settle in bowl-shaped depressions cut from the earth, their tents sunk below the plains' surface.
The families of Kahraman have a somewhat undeserved reputation for being quarrelsome; as a response, the Freeborn established the post of Dhomiro of the Cinnabar Hills to help mediate their disputes and to encourage trade between the sometimes quite isolated settlements here. The Dhomiro is an Imperial title that is appointed each Autumn by Freeborn citizens who control fleets.
Recent History
Since Liathaven and the Mournwold fell into the hands of the Jotun barbarians, there has been an increase in raids by orcs from the north. The Freeborn maintained vital trade routes and communications with the Navarr holdouts in Beacon Point, until the Jotun orcs forced the Navarr into Kahraman in late 379YE. By the spring of the new year, the Jotun had pushed deep into Kahraman, eventually making it all the way to the Great Mine of Briante until they were repelled by Imperial armies. After several months of fighting, the barbarians were chased back into the forests of Liathaven and by the Winter Solstice 380YE was Kahraman was free from barbarian occupation. However, the Jotun left a warning on the walls of Damata, saying that they had come once and would come again.
A second serious invasion began in 384YE, this time spearheaded by the Lasambrian Jotun. Rather than echoing previous invasions, which went straight for the rich resources of Serra Damata and Serra Briante, they focused their efforts on the plains of Gambit and Jade Range. After significant early gains, they eventually faced the might of all three Navarr armies and both Freeborn armies. Their attempt to take capture Braydon's Jasse, and cut the mountains off from the rest of the Empire, were blocked and by the end of the year they were once again driven out. It wasn't long before yet another offensive began, this time emerging from Liaven's Glen straight into Braydon's Jasse. The Jotun captured Fort Braydon for the first time in recorded history, dealing significant damage to the fort in the process. The Imperial counter-attack was quick to push them back out, but the short but fierce fighting saw the walls of that ancient bulwark finally collapse.
Major Features
The Gilded Peak
The mountain that separates the valley of Briante and the ancient stronghold of Fort Braydon bears a most peculiar summit, which at sunset or dawn gleams as if the rock is made of gold. The mountain is treacherous, and no-one has yet achieved it, although many have tried. “Climbing the Gilded Peak” has passed into local parlance as a phrase meaning “a fool’s dream”.
The Northern Peaks
The mountains along the northern borders of Kahraman are the home of several vicious clans of orc barbarians. Descended from mine working slaves who revolted during the orc rebellion, they refused all overtures from the Empire and expressed no interest in becoming Imperial orcs. Rather they created out-of-the-way strongholds for themselves and proceeded to prey on travellers and poorly defended caravans. Most of their spite was reserved for traders trying to cross the mountains to Liathaven, but in the years since they went rogue they have launched more than one concerted attack on a mining camp or northern village. The Empire would very much like to deal with them permanently, but they are like weeds - when one group is put down, another springs up a few years later to claim its territory.
The Great Mine of Briante
The Great Mine of Briante is a Bourse resource located in Briante. Custodianship of the Great Mine is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 22 Imperial wains of mithril every season. Control is allocated to any Imperial citizen by open auction during the Autumn Equinox.
The Damatian Cliffs
The Damatian Cliffs are a Bourse resource located in Damata. Custodianship of the Cliffs is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 27 Imperial wains of white granite every season. Control is allocated to any Imperial citizen by open auction during the Summer Solstice.
The Red Depths
The Red Depths are a Bourse resource located in Damata. Custodianship of the Red Depths is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 19 Imperial wains of mithril every season. It is assigned to the Freeborn candidate who receives the most support from the Brass Coast owners of fleet resources during the Autumn Equinox.
Roads of Kahraman
The roads of Kahraman have seen extensive rebuilding since the traitor Stephen of Sarcombe supported the Lasambrian Jotun in their strike at the northern regions. During the Winter Solstice 384YE Delara i Fijadoz i Guerra, in their role as Senator for Kahraman, raised a motion to appraise the territory for ways to restore or improve the infrastructure. The next season the imperial Senate approved the motion to set about rebuilding with the addition of Kamkrag, simple two-storey stone towers surrounded by a low wall, with stout doors and barred windows, across the territory. Specific Kamkrag have words of recognition and thanks engraved on them; the Imperial Orcs, the Fijadoz Family, and the Highguard Benefactors Council are all recognised for their efforts in providing funding for the rebuilding efforts.
Fort Braydon (destroyed)
Fort Braydon was very old, built in the early decades of the Brass Coast to protect the miners of Braydon's Jasse from the barbarian orcs who once dominated Kahraman. Long before the reign of Empress Teleri brought the Mournwold under Imperial control and finally drove the orcs west into the hills, it watched over them and over the passes to the north. Several times in the centuries since there were calls for the fortification to be decommissioned - calls the Freeborn defeated each time they were raised. While the castle itself protected a "safe" border, the garrison has long served to police the northern hills of the territory against bandits and the incursions of the western orcs. When the Mournwold fell, the fort helped to drive back more than one attempt to extend Jotun dominion south, and supported efforts to keep the Lasambrians out of the rich hills. The continuing war with the Jotun secured Fort Braydon's important role in protecting the cinnabar hills from western aggression. That aggression came to a head in a recent invasion 385YE where the Jotun briefly held Fort Braydon, and sadly the walls of the ancient fortification were torn down in the savage Imperial counter-attack a season later.
Regions
Braydon's Jasse
- Quality: Hills
The valleys of Braydon's Jasse are home to many small mining villages and the isolated homes of Freeborn families who value their privacy. The region is home to some of the oldest settlements in the territory - the mines here were run by Freeborn families for centuries before the formation of the Empire when most of the land here was in the hands of the barbarian orcs. The most famous feature of the Jasse was Fort Braydon, an old fortress dating from the days before the Marchers, when the Brass Coast kept watch against the barbarians and the Feni. The recent barbarian incursions led to the rebuilding of its walls and strengthening of its defences, but after many centuries of guarding the region it is no more. (OOC Note: Fort Braydon was a rank 1 fortification). Not far from the ruins stands the Azure Chorus, a temple-cum-performance space that attracts travelers, pilgrims, and performers from across the south-western Empire.
Gambit
Wide, arid plains characterise Gambit - named because every venture begun there is said to run a little extra risk but offer a little extra profit. Sunk into a natural depression in the rock-slopes that mark the southern limits of the Kahraman mountains is Rojota. Surrounded by goat-farming land, it is a hard place to scratch a living. Its fame is for a peculiar method of foretelling the future. Precious - for the Brass Coast - scraps of wood are left to weather in dust blown by the Delés and interpreted by sutannir skilled in such matters. There are more trees in western Gambit than in any other part of the Brass Coast - gnarled red-wood trees believed to be distant cousins of the beggarwood tree, adapted to survive in the arid grasslands of Kahraman and the Lasambrian Hills. The wood is unsuitable for construction or shipbuilding, and apparently good for little save burning. As a whole, the sparse woodlands are referred to as the Sand Forest due to the way the trees greedily trap every drop of water in their roots and leave the land even drier.
Jade Range
The Jade Range takes its names both from the rich deposits of tempest jade in the hills and from the dark, rich colouration of its grassy plains, kept lush by great underground aquifers. The grazing here is good, nearly a match for that of the Great Grasses in Madruga or the Sobral Grasses of Segura. The plains are spotted with settlements, the largest of which is probably Nestor’s Bounty, named for a scrivener who made a vast fortune writing contracts for the sale of rich claims found in the hills. As with Briante, this town is well-known for its mines, particularly precious stones and tempest jade.
Serra Briante
- Quality: Hills
This hilly region is named for the Briante valley and the town that shares the same name. Surrounded by rich open-cast mines, Briante is now home for a number of displaced Navarr steadings, pushed out of Liathaven by the Jotun incursions. The town still maintains the Navarr beacons that once allowed the inhabitants of southern Liathaven to maintain simple communication with their northern neighbours - as well as provide early warnings of potential attacks from western lands outside the Empire. The Great Mine of Briante - one of the great wonders of the Empire and perhaps even the world - lies at the heart of the valley.
Serra Damata
- Quality: Hills
One of the most important settlements in the Serra Damata is the town from which the region took its name - Damata. For centuries a trading centre for the surrounding peaks, where rich deposits of orichalcum are still found, Damata was famed for its walls, every metre of which is covered in finely calligraphed script, recording stories that have been told amongst the Freeborn for generations. One day, they say, there will be no more room for writing, and then the town will perish, its life written. Until the Jotun invaded, Dawnish troubadours and Winterfolk scops alike travelled for some distance to learn the stories on the walls of Damata. The Damatian Cliffs, a valuable Imperial Bourse seat, are found near Damata.
In Winter 379YE, a force of barbarian orcs swept down out of Liathaven, conquered Damata, and then moved on to secure the Damatian Cliffs. After the region was reclaimed by Imperial armies at the end of 380YE it was found that the town had weathered its occupation without the walls sustaining any damage. The Jotun had in fact added to the walls, carving an ominous warning that said "We came. We shall come again".
One of the most noteworthy mountain peaks in Serra Damata was the Red Pinnacle that straddled the western border with both Liathaven and Reinos. In Summer 385YE Imperial heroes forever changed the face of the landscape by ripping the mountain peak asunder with the aid of heralds of Estavus. In doing so, new and unclaimed sources of bounteous mineral wealth were discovered in the ruined crevices and depths that remain of the Red Pinnacle.
Strategic Considerations
- The Kahraman Peaks impede movement between Liathaven and Kahraman
- The destruction of the Red Pinnacle blocks movement into and out of Liathaven and Reinos from northern Kahraman
In addition to the qualities of the individual regions, there are certain strategic consideration that affect military campaigns in Kahraman. The Kahraman Peaks make it difficult for armies to pass between Kahraman and Liathaven. Armies can move between Braydon's Jasse and Liaven's Glen with relative ease, but elsewhere things are not so straightforward. Armies cannot move between Serra Briante and Liathaven, nor can an army move between Serra Damata and Beacon's Point following the destruction of Redgate Pass. A second pass exists between Serra Damata and Liath's Heart, but due to the presence of the vallorn on the northern side it is of minimal use to Imperial forces.
As part of a deal with the House of Fire and Flame, heralds from the city of Estavus in the Autumn Realm, the Red Pinnacle mountain was brought down by the Empire during the Summer Solstice 385YE. This collapse blocked the Redgate Pass, and caused extensive additional damage. It is not possible for campaign armies to enter or leave the territory through Serra Damata. Armies can still move west from Gambit but access to the mountains, and the Damatian Cliffs, from Jotun territory is currently blocked.
| Summit | Elected |
|---|---|
| Autumn Equinox 386YE | Ramos I Inigo I Raqueza |
| Autumn Equinox 385YE | Delara i Fijadoz i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 384YE | Delara i Fijadoz i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 383YE | Delara i Fijadoz i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 382YE | Qusay i Kalamar i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 381YE | Qusay i Kalamar i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 380YE | Qusay i Kalamar i Guerra |
| Autumn Equinox 379YE | Maher i Zaydan i Riqueza |
| Autumn Equinox 378YE | Zamira i Covas i Erigo |
| Autumn Equinox 377YE | Rauul i Jannat i Riqueza |
| Winter Solstice 376YE | Rauul i Jannat i Riqueza |
Recent Senate Elections
As an Imperial territory, Kahraman is represented by a senator elected in the Autumn. This title is currently held by Ramos I Inigo I Raqueza; it will be reelected at Autumn Equinox 387YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.
OOC Notes
- As of the start of the Summer Equinox 385YE, all the regions of Kahraman are in Freeborn (and thus Imperial) hands
- Fort Braydon was a rank 1 fortification, and as of the start of the Summer Equinox 385YE it is destroyed.
- Mines in the territory benefit from the Roads of Kahraman and produce an extra two ingots each season.
Further Reading
Core Brief
Additional Information