Segura
Overview
Like southern Kahraman, it is a land of rolling grass plains where great herds once grazed. Scattered with villages and lonely ranches, it was famous for it's windswept grandeur and occasionally stark beauty. It's wealth came in part from the farms and herds, and in part from the cunning of it's merchants. Segura was once a centre of trade for the Freeborn with Faraden to the west and the Iron Confederacy to the south. In Anduz, the Freeborn rubbed shoulders with the traders of these nations, and acted as a trade gateway for the Empire.
The grasslands were no stranger to violence; on at least two occasions, armies from the Iron Confederacy pushed across Imperial borders and attempted to stage an invasion. In pre-Imperial times, there were occasional tragic border skirmishes with the Faraden. For the most part, however, the buffer provided by the Lasombrian Hills to the south and west meant that foreign armies rarely had the stomach for protracted campaigns. For most of the last two centuries, Segura was a centre of trade rather than conflict. The Freeborn prospered in the certain knowledge that their way of life was secure ... until the barbarian tribes of the Lasombrian Hills put aside their differences and sent a great army sweeping down to burn and pillage the plains of Segura.
Recent History
The peace of Segura came to an abrupt end in 363 YE when a great force of barbarians moved in from the west and took Anduz, scattering the foreigners and the Freeborn and burning much of the grassland. In quick succession, they swept through Yellow Chase and Anozeseri. The Freeborn armies clashed with the barbarian forces on the Iron Plains, but after days of vicious fighting they were slowly pushed back to Anozel. The Freeborn senators demanded assistance in the Senate but while they had the support of Emperor Hugh for a campaign to drive the barbarians back, the rest of the Senate and the Military Council seemed more interested in apportioning blame than helping the Freeborn. The political position was exacerbated by the deaths of the General of the Red Wind Corsairs and the Senators for Madruga and Kahraman during the fighting on the Iron Plains. When Burnish fell to the barbarians in 367YE, nobody outside the Brass Coast seemed to notice or care.
Today Segura is a battleground; every time the Freeborn try to reclaim ground they have been fought back. The garrison at Anozel keeps regular patrols across the remaining regions, and the Lasombrian armies themselves seem disinterested in doing more than occasionally raiding into the remaining Freeborn territories. Reports from the interior claim that, after a frenzy of initial looting and killing, the orcs have made only minimal efforts to slaughter of those Freeborn who have not fled to the safety of Sobral Grasses or Lucksprings.
Many of the Seguran refugees have settled near Anozel, Sobral or Cerevado. Those who have left Segura for the comparative safety of the other Freeborn territories tend to maintain a distinctly nomadic lifestyle; they refuse to settle down because to do so would be to admit that they will never return to Segura. Many now operate travelling parador; among the most famous is that of Shula i Ezmara i Erigo the 'mother of orphans' whose family includes large numbers of adopted Seguran orphans. Refugees from the rolling plains sing the lament Lost Segura to remember it's loss, and often display a weary camaraderie between families and tribes - a result of their shared loss.
In the Winter of 377YE a major offensive by the Red Wind Corsairs and Hounds of Glory, supported by a powerful enchantment and over a thousand auxilliaries drove the Lasambrians out of the Sorbal Grasses, liberated the farms of Anozeseri and forced a barbarian retreat across the Iron Plains.
At the Autumn Equniox 378YE summit at Anvil, the Imperial Senate accepted an offer of peace from the Lasambrian orcs. The offer included an exhange of valuable materials for the remaining regions held by the invaders, with the understanding that their armies would cede the occupied regions and withdraw to the west. Assuming the Lasambrians keep to their agreement, it will be a relatively simple matter for an Imperial army to claim the vacated land.
Major Features
Anduz
The largest town in Anduz, built on the ruins of a much older settlement. Depending on which historian one asks, the ruins belonged either to the Terunael or the Faraden; regardless of their provenance, the settlement was much larger than modern Anduz - for which it provided a great deal of building material. Many of the structures of Anduz incorporated elements of the older city which gave it a distinct aesthetic.
In Anduz, the Freeborn rubbed shoulders with traders from Faraden and the Iron Confederacy, and there they acted as a trade gateway for the Empire. Anduz was sacked in 363YE and then burnt - only the stone structures survived. Fifteen years later, the shattered ruins of Anduz have become difficult to distinguish from the ruins of Old Anduz from which they were built.
One of the lucky survivors of the orcish destruction was the Kabalai Palace which overlooks the city from the western hills. Built in a rare fusion of Freeborn and Faraden styles, this beautiful parador was claimed by the orcs but never razed - rather it was preserved as a residence by one of the Naguerro captains. With the swift advance of the Imperial forces, the parador was liberated in a lightning-quick raid by the Hounds of Glory and has weathered it's barbarian inhabitants surprisingly well.
Anozel
Once the economic centre of Segura, but since the invasion of 363YE, its hinterland is lost and its prosperity in tatters. Once-busy markets are quiet, or given over to tented military encampments. It survives as an armed camp, supported by regular caravans from Sobral and marked the westernmost border of the Sobral Grasses.
While Sobral is the elder of the two, Anozel had (until recently) eclipsed it's younger sister in prosperity. Humorous stories and songs from the region often compared the two to disgruntled brothers - crotchety, traditional old Sobral and his younger, prettier brother Anozel whose amorous adventures invariably caused trouble for his elder sibling. The antics of the pair were often overseen and exacebated by the mischievous middle sibling (representing Cerevado) and brought to an end by the intervention of the distant, powerful parent (Anduz). While they showed clear signs of League literary influence, the tales themselves were often based on real historical political and economic conflicts between the settlements of Segura. Those stories and songs have fallen out of fashion since Segura fell, perhaps unsurprisingly.
The liberated town of Anozel is home to the Turunca Distillery. The distillery closed it's doors in 366YE, partly due to the difficulty of securing good fruit in a war zone and partly due to the dissatisfaction of the owners with "the uncultured palates of soldiers who do not care if they are swilling fine orange brandy or Sarvosan dock-swill fancy fruit juice." With the liberation of Segura, the distillery has re-opened, albeit under new management.
The Towers of Anduz
Built during the reign of Empress Mariika, this line of seventeen white granite towers traced the edges of the Lasombrian Hills in western Segura. Primarly built in Anduzjasse and Anozeseri, with three in Yellow Chase and one in Burnish, these towers were manned and maintained by volunteers. Paid for in part by donations from the merchants of Anduz and Anozel collected by the Senator for Seguara, they protected trade routes between the Brass Coast and their foreign neighbours in Faraden and the Iron Confederacy. Every parador proprietor, bazaar master and trading post owner in Segura benefited from the increased trade these towers secured. Sadly,when Segura was conquered by the barbarians these towers were among the first structures razed to the ground and the economic advantages they brought to the Freeborn were lost. It is unclear what state the towers are in today, but rebuilding them is likely to be a priority once Segura is reconquered.
Regions
Anduzjasse
Site of the ruins of both Anduz and Old Anduz, the ancient settlement in three concentric stone rings, on which Anduz is now built. Several miles to the south-east of Anduz itself lies the Longing Circle - a series of concentric monoliths connected in some manner to the astronomantic sign of Three Sisters. The circle possessed a potent regio whose alignment was said to shift, making it a centre of power for three groups of Hakima (one for each tribe) in uneasy alliance. Connected as those stars are with family, loss and regret they had a dark reputation; today they are seen by some as a symbol of what has been lost.
A comparatively short distance from the Longing Circle stands the Garden of Sighs, a mana site liekwise associated wth the Three Sisters. Apparently established by one of the three founders of the Brass Coast, no historian has yet proved conclusively if it was laid out by Guerra, Erigo or Riqueza - nor which of the sisters corresponds to Hermaa Suspire in whose name it is dedicated. The Garden is considered a prize by the hakima of Segura, and in folklore custodianship brings with it the mixed blessings of the Sister of Sighs.
Anozeseri
The sweeping plains of Anozeseri were home to some of the richest farmland in Segura, and a lot of the wealth of Anozel was tied up in the agriculture here. Orange tree orchards and vineyards were common, with the largest being the grea Golden Terraces - perhaps the oldest orange orchards in the entire Empire. There are also several broad conservatories dedicated to the cultivation of useful herbs (many associated with the nearby Spice Gardens of Feroz.
When the Lasambrians invaded, several bands of freedom fighters displaced from their farms, took up residence in the westernmost hills of Morajasse, and fought a limited guerilla war against the Lasambrians here. When Anozeseri was liberated during the Winter of 377YE, these freedom fighters joined the triumphant armies of the Red Wind Corsairs and the Hounds of Glory in sweeping out the Lasambrian presence here - the most prominent are probably the band known as the Morning Swords, who have found the warrior-lifestyle to be much more appealing than a life of farming.
Burnish
Nestled between three tributaries of the Scorrero, Burnish is something of a hinterland. Not as wild as Kahraman, it was home to scattered forests and the occasional mine. The ground is much rougher here, sloping up towards hills in the west and down towards the forests of south-western Kharaman in the north. Perhaps the largest consistent settlement on the plains of Burnish is Sunsong Ranch, a sprawling expanse of land dedicated to raising all sorts of animals for food, wool and leather. The ranch stubbornly resisted the Lasambrians for most of the war, using its defensive position between two tributaries of the Scorrero to draw raiding orcs into costly traps.
Iron Plains
Central Segura is somewhat more arid than the rest of the territory. The site of multiple battles throughout Freeborn history, farmers and herders here occasionally turned up the odd valuable relic of a past invasion. For the most parts, the Iron Plains are wide, empty and windswept. A place to come from or pass through, rather than a place to live. The dry soil is littered with battlefields, which makes it surprisingly fertile for the cultivation of certain herbs, especially marrowort, and the extensive well-irrigated Red Fields, one of the best-known gardens in Segura, are rightly praised for the quality of their plants.
Lucksprings
The settlement of Cerevado is still a major pull. Sited at a particularly difficult set of rapids on the Scorrero. Some captains will un-ship their cargo, and push their boats along a league of rollers set into the rocky bank. Braver captains will pilot the foaming water and risk the rapids - and who amongst the Brass Coast would admit to anything other than daring of the highest order? The wreckage of those who failed is for sale in the Cerevado market. The settlement itself is also home to more than two dozen casinos and gambling houses - initially set up to cater to sailors traversing the rapids, but eventually exerting a much wider draw with gamblers from as far afield as Holberg visiting the bustling town to engage in the annual tournaments of dice and counters. Unlike the rest of Segura, Cervado continued to prosper though the Lasambrian occupation - off-duty soldiers and mercenaries rubbed shoulders with desperate refugees looking for the money to escape and start again.
Reports have repeatedly come before the Synod of a predatory cult of heretics based in Lucksprings who prey on the needy and the desperate; to date no real evidence has been found despite claims fro the House of the Two Moons - the large congregation centred in Cerevado - to the contrary.
Sobral Grasses
The Sobral grasses are the site of two key settlements - the armed camp that now occupies the town of Anozel and the town of Sobral where the herds were once brought for slaughter. Sobral kept Anozel alive through the recent occupation and guarded the bridge across the Scorrero into the eastern Brass coast. Connected by a reasonably well maintained road to it's beleagured sibling to the south-west, it allowed supplies of food and armaments to travel reasonably effectively. That very reliability was almost a liability however - several key shipments were captured by raiders out of the Iron Plains, and attributed to "orc spies" in Sobral. Even with the liberation, it is one of the few places in the Brass Coast where the Imperial Orcs receive a frosty welcome. These raids also threatened the prosperity of the herders and cattle-ranches of the Sobral grassland. Several strains of plump Freeborn herd animals are threatened with extinction already and if the raids had continued it would not have been inconceivable that the herds would have become unable to sustain themselves.
Not everything in the Sobral grasses is about trade or cattle, however. It is also the site of the ancient earthworks known as Ghita's Veils, an old and powerful mana site that scholars believe may be of Terunael origin. It is tended by a small group of magicians who find the isolation and mournful grasslands to be spiritually uplifting; during the Lasamabrian invasion it's isolated position meant that it was largely overlooked by the orcs.
Yellow Chase
As with Burnish, parts of western Yellow Chase are quite rocky and uneven, and the soil is very poor. A "Yellow Chase farmer" is a slang term used in parts of Segura for a liar - especially someone lying about where their money has come from. The inhabitants had a bad reputation for banditry and theft. There are a few rumours that some of the families here may have collaborated with the barbarians in the past. Today the area serves as a centre of power for the Lasambrian barbarians, and they have a great armed camp here from which raiding parties sweep down onto the plains. Despite their long history here, there are no reports of any fortifications - it seems the Lasambrians have little interest in building anything, least of all a castle.
OOC Note
- As of the beginning of Spring 378YE the Empire controls Sobral Grasses, Lucksprings, Anozeseri and the Iron Plains. The Barbarians control Anduzjasse, Burnish and Yellow Chase.
- A list of the spoils of war, allocated by the Military Council at the Summer Solstice 378YE can be found here.