Kuptii Archipelago
The islands and peninsula on which the Kuptii Refuge sits.
Geography
The Western Wychlands are made up of four islands of carrying size, and a peninsula that stretches off from the Dead Ones Mesa which, while not a geographic part of the archipelago, is still included in any discussion of the region. To the west of the island chain is the Lurur Ocean, far across which lies the western continent of Maingye. To the east is Kujit Bay, after which is the Larani Mesa. The peninsula's geography becomes more habitable the further one is from the entrance to the Mesa, opening from the mouth of a branch of the Lol Osh to a terracotta plain. It has proven surprisingly fertile, leading to the only large-scale agriculture in the region, in the form of irrigated farming on the plain,m and terrace farming up the side of the cliffs. The windstorms that plague the Mesa are nonexistent here, blocked by a pair of mountains called the Gates. As such, urbanization reach up the cliffs and onto the plateaus.
The four islands, in contrast, all have tropical environments, though all with slight variations. From north to south, they are Aesko Nye, Awcy Nye, Apeskii Nye, and Anyo Nye. The first and northernmost of the four, Aesko Nye, is a crescent island, with a volcano growing out of the center of its western opening bay. The volcano has never erupted, at least as long as the Larani have been on the islands, however the native population claim it has erupted in the past, and has only refrained from doing so due to their rituals. Anytime the ruling Lati attempt to stop their rituals and suppress the native culture, they face large scale rioting and revolts. It is far easier for them to allow the natives to continue their practices. The rest of Aesko Nye is fairly flat, with a few hills and a great deal of tropical foliage. Small lakes dot the islands, providing the main source of drinking water. The island sits between the furthermost reaches of the Kuptiian Peninsula and the mainland Mesa, so it sees few of the large-scale storms and hurricanes that plague the rest of the Archipelago.
Awcy Nye is made up of several small mountains, whose bases rose far enough out of the water to create the island habited today. It is the least populated of the islands and peninsula, with sparse villages scattered along the mountain edges and on the beaches. The largest settlement is on the flat peak of the tallest, where an approximation of a university rests. A few Lati-sponsored mining operations have been active on the island, often adding to native unrest. Today they are inactive, but one can still explore the caves. Bandits and pirates have taken to hiding inside, along with whatever monster escapes or is let loose from the "university" above.
Apeskii Nye is made up of one large mountain. Some ancient calamity removed most of the top, leaving the surface of the island largely flat, rising gradually the closer one gets to the center. The lowest point of the island is sea level, but that is near exclusively the beaches that exist along the perimeter. Most of these are flanked on one side by the water, and on the other by the rising cliffs that support the islands flat and habited top. Unlike the Kuptii Archipelago, there are few cliff cities, with the only two that exist forming around the largest paths down to the beach. The cliff sides are dotted with caves and coves that provide great shelter for pirates and the like. Every square meter of the island, be it vertical or horizontal, is covered in plant life.
The last island, Anyo Nye, is fairly low. Like the rest, it is drenched in lush tropical plantlife but unlike the rest, has no mountains or high points. It has a large cove on its eastern side, nestling a large port. Anyo Nye has the most foreign influence of any of the islands, acting as a major trade hub and stopping point in journeys across the Lurur Ocean. It has recently seen an infestation of plantlife from the Everlasting Jungle, so the flora is a mix of Kuptii native plants such as koa and banana trees and flora native to the Ever-Jungle such as rubber trees and passion flowers.
The four islands, in contrast, all have tropical environments, though all with slight variations. From north to south, they are Aesko Nye, Awcy Nye, Apeskii Nye, and Anyo Nye. The first and northernmost of the four, Aesko Nye, is a crescent island, with a volcano growing out of the center of its western opening bay. The volcano has never erupted, at least as long as the Larani have been on the islands, however the native population claim it has erupted in the past, and has only refrained from doing so due to their rituals. Anytime the ruling Lati attempt to stop their rituals and suppress the native culture, they face large scale rioting and revolts. It is far easier for them to allow the natives to continue their practices. The rest of Aesko Nye is fairly flat, with a few hills and a great deal of tropical foliage. Small lakes dot the islands, providing the main source of drinking water. The island sits between the furthermost reaches of the Kuptiian Peninsula and the mainland Mesa, so it sees few of the large-scale storms and hurricanes that plague the rest of the Archipelago.
Awcy Nye is made up of several small mountains, whose bases rose far enough out of the water to create the island habited today. It is the least populated of the islands and peninsula, with sparse villages scattered along the mountain edges and on the beaches. The largest settlement is on the flat peak of the tallest, where an approximation of a university rests. A few Lati-sponsored mining operations have been active on the island, often adding to native unrest. Today they are inactive, but one can still explore the caves. Bandits and pirates have taken to hiding inside, along with whatever monster escapes or is let loose from the "university" above.
Apeskii Nye is made up of one large mountain. Some ancient calamity removed most of the top, leaving the surface of the island largely flat, rising gradually the closer one gets to the center. The lowest point of the island is sea level, but that is near exclusively the beaches that exist along the perimeter. Most of these are flanked on one side by the water, and on the other by the rising cliffs that support the islands flat and habited top. Unlike the Kuptii Archipelago, there are few cliff cities, with the only two that exist forming around the largest paths down to the beach. The cliff sides are dotted with caves and coves that provide great shelter for pirates and the like. Every square meter of the island, be it vertical or horizontal, is covered in plant life.
The last island, Anyo Nye, is fairly low. Like the rest, it is drenched in lush tropical plantlife but unlike the rest, has no mountains or high points. It has a large cove on its eastern side, nestling a large port. Anyo Nye has the most foreign influence of any of the islands, acting as a major trade hub and stopping point in journeys across the Lurur Ocean. It has recently seen an infestation of plantlife from the Everlasting Jungle, so the flora is a mix of Kuptii native plants such as koa and banana trees and flora native to the Ever-Jungle such as rubber trees and passion flowers.
Ecosystem
The Wychlands enjoy a tropical climate, with the warm ocean breeze coming from the Lurur Ocean year round making seasonal cycles in the traditional sense functionally irrelevant. This, mixing with the hot air that acts as the last remnant of Mesa Windstorms, allows for the Wychlands' climate to remain extremely consistent. The flora and fauna are unique to the Kuptii Archipelago, with the only examples of it outside the island chain being in the Kuptii peninsula, where breadroot is grown in large quantities. The ecosystem reacts with extreme hostility to non-native forces, pushing any invasive species out within months of its arrival. The only example of an invasive species finding anything close to success has been on Anyo Nye, where plants from the Ever-Jungle could benefit from the same dynamics that allow the native plants to flourish. Even then, there is still a conflict, as according to the natives, the island spirit senses the invaders and tries to expel them.
Localized Phenomena
The closest thing the Kuptii Archipelago has to seasons are hurricanes. When the Mesa experiences its strongest windstorms, hurricanes come from the Lurur Ocean, pushed along by the warm breeze build-up, before they arrive and tear through the islands. Any lasting architecture has been built specifically to withstand the hurricanes and has led to cultural traditions such as never having windows or doors on the western side of a building, or the setting sun, associated with the west, being an ill-omen. The hurricanes will last throughout the month of Sheng Shang, before, in their weakened states, they will be pushed back by the remnants of the strongest windstorms of the Dead Ones Mesa, dispelling the hurricanes. After the hurricanes are gone, most of the plantlife flourishes, leaving Ci Eng and Jog Paiar as the closest thing the Archipelago has to a harvest season.
Natural Resources
The island's mountains are extremely mineral rich, though much of it has remained untapped due to native opposition to any sort of mining. The native flora also produces some unique foods that are exported to the nearby coastal settlements, and then up the Mesa rivers with the help of mages who can preserve the food. Fishing is the archipelago's biggest industry, and it is largely done for subsistence. Otherwise, there are the farming operations of the peninsula or the small ocean vegetables some grow with underwater farming, but most of this, similar to fishing, is subsistance farming.
History
The Kuptii Archipelago has been one of the Empire of Laran's most diverse kingdoms since centuries before Mul-Zamain. When the Makassi who settled the Dead Ones Mesa moved further west, they found that a tribe of Humans had already settled the four islands. How they got there from the Desert of the First Humans without leaving any remnant of themselves in the Everlasting Jungle, Mesa, or the Desert of the Saviour, is a mystery, especially when their closest cultural and blood relatives are the Uaang Zhuole, on the other side of the Desert of the First Humans. This has led some to theorize that their origins differ from the Humans, that they are a different species with a different origin. Their native religion reinforces this, but most disagree. Either way, they had inhabited the islands for millennia before the Makassi arrived, bringing their empire, somewhere around 3500 DS.
When they arrived, the Larani did as the Larani usually did and tried to stamp out the native culture and kill all the inhabitants, either through cultural assimilation or the more direct form of genocide. Furious resistance from the natives, and a Lati conquerer willing to negotiate, resulted in the establishment of what the Larani call the Kingdom of Qea Lwbwd, more commonly known today as Kuptii Refuge, especially by the natives. The Kingdom remained a relatively peaceful place, its backwater nature keeping it out of the minds of most conquerors, so it saw little in terms of foreign invasion (foreign as is other Larani/Lati). The ruling house had a standing policy of staying out of any and every Larani civil war.
Any conflict the region saw, outside of the mistake of one idiot prince, was internal. Anytime the ruling Lati or Larani did too much that violated the native rituals or their rights, a peasant uprising would follow. In most of Laran, this would be easily quashed by the ruling Lati, but due to the geography seemingly bending to the will of the natives, and the economy being built on their backs, conciliated was the usual outcome. Lati Houses will often use these uprisings as a way to take power, and some Lati provoke them to take total control of the island. That method is exactly how the current House Shura took the title of Olash, or King in Uurdu Ladi. The king is known as the Saw P'aw in Kuptii.
The next major event in the islands history was the large influx of refugees coming from Xixuegui from around 5050 DS to the fall of the empire. This was part of the larger Xixuegui Refugee Influx, and the Archipelago became notable for its relative acceptance of the refugees, in great contrast to much of the rest of Laran. While the transition wasn't bloodless, the Wyches and commoners of Xixuegui were integrated, though not assimilated, into the Kuptii Refuge.
When they arrived, the Larani did as the Larani usually did and tried to stamp out the native culture and kill all the inhabitants, either through cultural assimilation or the more direct form of genocide. Furious resistance from the natives, and a Lati conquerer willing to negotiate, resulted in the establishment of what the Larani call the Kingdom of Qea Lwbwd, more commonly known today as Kuptii Refuge, especially by the natives. The Kingdom remained a relatively peaceful place, its backwater nature keeping it out of the minds of most conquerors, so it saw little in terms of foreign invasion (foreign as is other Larani/Lati). The ruling house had a standing policy of staying out of any and every Larani civil war.
Any conflict the region saw, outside of the mistake of one idiot prince, was internal. Anytime the ruling Lati or Larani did too much that violated the native rituals or their rights, a peasant uprising would follow. In most of Laran, this would be easily quashed by the ruling Lati, but due to the geography seemingly bending to the will of the natives, and the economy being built on their backs, conciliated was the usual outcome. Lati Houses will often use these uprisings as a way to take power, and some Lati provoke them to take total control of the island. That method is exactly how the current House Shura took the title of Olash, or King in Uurdu Ladi. The king is known as the Saw P'aw in Kuptii.
The next major event in the islands history was the large influx of refugees coming from Xixuegui from around 5050 DS to the fall of the empire. This was part of the larger Xixuegui Refugee Influx, and the Archipelago became notable for its relative acceptance of the refugees, in great contrast to much of the rest of Laran. While the transition wasn't bloodless, the Wyches and commoners of Xixuegui were integrated, though not assimilated, into the Kuptii Refuge.
Maps
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Kuptii Archipelago
Alternative Name(s)
Kuptiian Archipelago ; Isles of the Larani Wyches ; Western Wychlands ;
Type
Archipelago
Included Organizations
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
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