Tuhannen Saarip Maazira
The Tuhannen Saarip Maazira (Imperial Wythian: Land of a Thousand Islands), commonly known simply as the Tuhannen, is the name given to the island archipelago located south of Tel-Raiq and northwest of Barazár. It is inhabited primarily by the descendants of nomadic Erzihari tribesmen and Gnomish seafarers, both of whom settled the area several centuries prior to the birth of Friedrich Wythe. The archipelago is home to dozens of disparate polities, ranging from tiny backwater hamlets unable to maintain control beyond their own walls to magnificent city-states that claim dominion over entire islands. Since their inception, the inhabitants of the Tuhannen have been entangled in an incomprehensible web of alliances, border wars, trade agreements, and political marriages. However, on occasions when the sovereignty of the entire archipelago is threatened by foreign powers, the numerous city-states and petty kingdoms have been known to band together into a loose military alliance until the foreign threat has been driven off.
Culture
Government
Euqda
The Euqda (Wythian: lit. "Gathering/Knot") is a sacred Tuhannish governing body, summoned only when the sovereignty of the archipelago as a whole is threatened or when major events concerning the greatest city-states must be discussed. Once the Euqda has been officially called upon, the head of states are expected to gather within a large underground hot spring (typically found on Ronk Quima, see below) which has been carved out over centuries to accommodate a growing number of polities. Members are not permitted to carry weapons into the springs, and must fully disrobe to show their commitment to candor before being granted entry. Once gathered, the heads of state sit and discuss matters that pertain to the security of the archipelago. Traditionally, ornate wooden boards are provided that serve as both floatation devices and portable writing desks.
Major Polities
Kallohauta
Kalliohauta (lit. “Tunnel-League”) is a confederation of gnomish settlements built among a chain of low, cavern-riddled islands whose interiors are honeycombed with expansive natural chambers. Much of the population resides partially underground, where temperatures remain stable and precious freshwater is preserved in sealed cisterns.
Governance is distributed among the custodians of these subterranean reservoirs, whose authority derives from control over access to stored water. The League exports little beyond salt and dried fish, but it maintains disproportionate leverage in times of drought, when its hidden reserves become a highly coveted resource. Outsiders are rarely permitted beyond the outer settlements, and the full extent of its subterranean works remains uncertain.
Khorbatt
Khorbatt is a sparsely-populated city-state built upon the remnants of an earlier, poorly understood settlement. Much of the original site, which is largely constructed of crumbling, monolithic stonework, predates current habitation by thousands of years. The present polity occupies only a fraction of the site, governing from restored upper districts while leaving deeper levels sealed or unexplored. Trade is modest, consisting primarily of carved stone and recovered artifacts. Persistent accounts describe lights within the abandoned sections and the sound of faint howls, though these reports remain unverified. The city’s leadership maintains strict control over access to its lower quarters.
Lemek-Tur
Lemek-Tur (“Grand Harbour”) is an ancient mercantile city-state situated at the convergence of several major sea-lanes. Its harbor, deep and well-protected, is sustained by extensive cistern systems and engineered quays capable of accommodating vessels of considerable size. The city has long served as a point of convergence for traders, envoys, and itinerant populations, giving rise to a stratified linguistic character in which a Gnomish-derived trade tongue exists alongside an older Erzihari dialect preserved in law and ritual. Governance is exercised by a council of merchant houses whose influence derives from control over tariffs, warehousing, and maritime brokerage. Lemek-Tur maintains a careful neutrality in regional conflicts in order to avoid drawing the ire of its more militant neighbors.
Linnelép
Linnelép (“City of the Thousand”) is the principal mainland polity of the Tuhannen and the most populous settlement in the archipelago. Situated along a prominent peninsula north of the island chains, the city commands both terrestrial approaches from the interior and maritime access to the surrounding seas. Its position at the boundary between mainland and archipelago has rendered it a point of convergence for trade, migration, and political negotiation.
The city is expansive, its districts extending outward from an ancient harbor complex into successive rings of habitation, markets, and administrative quarters. Unlike the more insular island polities, Linnelép sustains a large and permanent population supported by both maritime commerce and limited inland agriculture. Linnelép’s harbor is among the busiest in the region, serving as both a staging ground for voyages into the archipelago and a terminus for goods arriving from beyond it. Warehouses, drydocks, and counting houses line the waterfront, while numerous foreign enclaves cluster along its outer districts. The city’s population reflects this diversity, with Gnomish-descended inhabitants forming the majority but with substantial Erzihari communities present in both mercantile and administrative roles.
Governance is formally vested in a civic council composed of merchant families, guild representatives, and landed interests from the surrounding hinterlands. In practice, authority is diffuse, shaped by shifting alliances between commercial and political factions. The city’s scale and economic gravity make it a de facto arbiter in disputes between island polities, though it rarely intervenes directly unless its interests are threatened.
Merilauta Tasavalta
The Merilauta Tasavalta (“Sea-Board Republic”) is an unusual polity composed not of a single island but of a dispersed network of floating platforms, anchored barges, and semi-permanent hulls lashed together into stable configurations. These structures are built atop a shallow underwater reef where traditional settlement was considered impractical by early settlers.
Governance is republican in form, with representation granted to the owners of major platforms and shipyards. The Republic specializes in salvage, sending out vast salvage fleets across the Tuhannan in order to dismantle wrecked vessels and reclaim their materials for trade or new constructions.
Qarn al-Azraq
Qarn al-Azraq (“House of the Blue Horn”) is a mannish princely state established upon a crescent-shaped island marked by deep anchorage and distinctive blue-tinted coral formations. Its harbor, among the few in the archipelago capable of receiving large ocean-going vessels, has made it a focal point for long-distance trade. The Amiir Azraq or "Blue Prince" governs with the support of a professional maritime retinue, drawing wealth from harbor tolls, ship repair, and the regulation of passing commerce. Though outwardly neutral, the principality is known to extend quiet patronage to privateers and intermediaries in order to weaken its economic and political rivals, particularly in times of more widespread regional instability.
Qarn al-Mazra’at
Qarn al-Mazra’at (“House of the Farmstead”) is a compact but prosperous island-kingdom distinguished by its intensive cultivation of otherwise inhospitable terrain. Stepped terraces, cistern networks, and carefully managed irrigation channels sustain fields of grain, legumes, and orchard crops along the island’s coasts and interior slopes.
Rule is vested in a hereditary malik, supported by a class of administrators charged with the regulation of water rights and the oversight of agricultural production. The kingdom’s reliability as a source of surplus provisions has secured it a position of quiet importance within the Tuhannen, supplying both merchant fleets and warbands with preserved foodstuffs.
Ronk Quima
Ronk Quima ("Raven's Peak") is one of the largest islands of the Tuhannen. The majority of the island (with the exception of its southernmost peninsula, which is controlled by the Alqimat Hamra) is governed by a conglomeration of merchant guilds, privateer companies, and landed gentry that shares the island's name. As a prominent and instantly-recognizable landmark amongst the archipelago, Ronk Quima has served as the primary location of the sacred Euqda for hundreds of years. The island derives its name from the dormant volcano at its center, the distinctive shape of which reminded the original Gnomish settlers of a Sijmeni raven's beak.
Alqimat Hamra
The Alqimat Hamra ("Red Crest") is a mannish-controlled region of Ronk Quima that maintains a nominal alliance with their northern neighbors whilst quietly preaching a doctrine of mannish supremacy. The Red Crest derives its name from the vast amounts of red soil that can be found throughout the peninsula.
Saarivägi Confederation
The Saarivägi Confederation occupies a chain of dry, wind-beaten islands along the northern reaches of the archipelago. It is not a unified state but a standing maritime coalition of harbour towns and fortified coastal settlements, bound together by mutual defense and long-standing custom. Authority rests in seasonal assemblies of ship-captains and clan elders, convened to resolve disputes, regulate passage, and coordinate naval action.
The Confederation maintains a formidable fleet of shallow-draft vessels adapted to reefs, shoals, and narrow channels. Its economic life centers on fishing, salt-curing, and the escort of merchant convoys through hazardous waters.
Uskur-Tell
Uskur-Tell (“Fortress of the Two Winds”) is a militarized island-state positioned at a narrow maritime corridor where opposing seasonal winds converge. Formerly a colony of Barazár, the island’s steep ridges channel these winds into predictable but forceful currents, rendering passage exceedingly difficult without local knowledge.
The ruling authority, a hereditary warlord styled as Guardian of the Passage, maintains a vast network of signal towers and coastal fortifications. Rather than fielding a large navy, Uskur-Tell exerts control through its forcing of passing vessels to submit to inspection and pay heavy tolls, lest they risk destruction upon the rocks. Its strategic importance has made it a frequent target of foreign intervention (particularly by Barazár, who have mounted numerous attempts to reclaim its former colony), though its geography has thus far ensured its survival.