Harrud

Ashta Harrud is the oldest human city in the known world, and the oldest of any outside of Daphoa. It is the capital and cultural heart of a territory spanning half the continent, and is the cradle and birthplace of humanity.

Geography & Weather

Ashta Harrud is located in the southern part of the continent, following its east coast. The region is primarily hot and arid, with the city itself being built around the mouth of the Arrakie River where it flows into the Uthlin Ocean. To the southwest is a chain of rolling mountains called Fenthira's Spine, which curves south and east. The Spine serves as a partial barrier between the desert and the more humid jungles of the Sotuei Cauldron, tapering off well before reaching the coast. This gap is home to a millennia-old trade road connecting the human nation to the srryn.

History

Shortly after the storms of the Sundering began to calm, humanity emerged as disparate tribal groups in the east of the Sotuei Cauldron. With Jolinn unable to tend to His creations in His somnolence, Ashur and Lilune instead shaped humanity's earliest days. As the nascent people indulged in ever-bloodier barbarism that began to sweep up their srryn, nefortean, and caladaran neighbors, . Iandir's response was the creation of Dolgrael, who was tasked with bringing humanity in line.

Under Dolgrael's auspice, disorganized raiding bands and petty warlords became functional militaries capable of seizing and holding ever-increasing swaths of territory. The most successful of these warlords was ultimately Pree Faarax gith Harrud, who settled most the coast and founded the city before his death. In human tradition, he was succeeded by his son, and though his bloodline retained control of its territories for a mere handful of generations it would forever bear his name.

During the War of Fire, Ashta Harrud was first to experience first-hand the rage of the nefortu as driven by Bayyal and Its devils. In particular, the devil dog Kyez-Pancuma singlehandedly razed two thirds of Harrud's arable land before being bound to a swath of land now known as the Crimson Sands. Binding the devil to the land had stopped it from continuing its destruction, but had ensured the land where it was bound would never heal. This destruction included the destruction of the Arrakie River, which once ran through those lands. The city itself was almost entirely destroyed, and survivors of the incredible violence faced famine on a massive scale.

Presently, the lands claimed by Ashta Harrud officially begin at the Eoshith Arroyo north of the Ngahe Waste, but the Crimson Sands have served as a natural barrier since their creation and in particular since the collapse of the Republic of Earendam and subsequent waning of trade through the region.

Culture

The Dolgraelite tradition of gladiatorial combat continues to be one of Harrud's most popular sports, with talented gladiators achieving a celebrity status.

Religion

Ashur is the primary god of the Harrudim, where It is revered as the night sky. The practices of Nightfallen void scholars come from ancient religious rites, and the Harrudim are credited with having their own lineage of void magic as ancient as the shuddeni's summoning.

Lilune has retained a perpetual presence in the region and city ever since its founding, but Her popularity among the populace waxes and wanes.

Dolgrael has likewise been present since Harrud's founding and is revered by craftsmen and soldiers alike.

There has been a strong Serachelian presence in the city ever since the War of Night, and some Harrudim claim the god actually originated there, though Daphoans in particular reject this claim.

Iandir's touch is felt across Harrud's government as in all places, and the practice of punitive slavery is explicitly an Iandiric institution.