Inner Huria (/ɪnɘr hɘri:a/ (Aeillan: /oikɪakí: tʃu:ria/))
Οικιακή Χούρια
Inner Huria, formerly a part of Huria proper, but that has long since been seized and incorporated into what is now considered traditionally Aeillan land, is the arid, grassy land that marks the final boundary between Aeilla, and the vast seas of grass and sand that make up the interior of the Galisean continent. It is mostly unsettled but seen as vitally important by the Aeillan states that maintain a territory in the region.
Inner Huria possesses a comparatively small population of a little over a million people calling the lands of Inner Huria home. There are many small towns and villages scattered throughout the grassy region, but few large cities exist in Inner Huria. The region is known primarily as the best ground specifically for grazing in Aeilla.
The realm of Inner Huria was one of the earliest conquests made by modern Aeillan civilization, having been secured by the city-states of the northern Ilos as colonies in the early Forging Period. Repeated attempts by the indigenous Huri peoples to retake their land were made but ended largely in failure. Inner Huria was completely sealed against attack from the North with the construction of the Great Wall in the later Imperial.
Geography
The lands of Inner Huria are artificially bounded by the constructions of humans, with its southern extreme marked by the Transoria, it's east by the Indric Mountains, and the course of Rivers Tyros and Iskend, its west by the mountains at the border of the Nabari Plateau. Its northern extreme used to blend into Huria proper but has since been marked by the Great Wall, which sits at the boundaries of modern Inner Huria and the lands of the Terruk-Mal.
Though it is of relatively high elevation, the lands of Inner Huria are almost entirely flat, with only a few small, and gently rolling hills to break up the sea of grass. The only major ridgeline within the region lies as the northern borderlands, and into the Nabari Plateau. It was at this ridgeline that the Great Wall was constructed.
The soils of Inner Huria are reasonably fertile though not exceptionally so, and the lands are relatively dry since the Menaulatolia and Transoria serve to capture most of the precipitation coming off of the Yulan Ocean. As a result, the land is relatively lightly plowed, and instead, agriculture is dominated by the raising of herd animals.
Ecosystem
The lands of Inner Huria are dominated by a single major ecosystem. That of the temperate, warm summer, grassland. This particular type of ecosystem makes up the overwhelming majority of the region and the entirety of the wild terrestrial ecosystem. Some small streams, particularly in the east exist that can support proper ecosystems, and small percentages of the natural land have been plowed over to grow crops. In the winter, when precipitation is more common, the lands bloom, turning the dry-looking grassland into pleasant meadows.
Ecosystem Cycles
Much like the rest of Aeilla, the lands of Inner Huria possess a two-season exosystemic cycle. The first of these is a warm, nearly completely dry summer. During the summer, there is virtually no precipitation to speak of. The winters conversely are cool, rarely reaching about 17 degrees during the daytime, and relatively wet with what little rains that made it past the Transoria falling here.
Fauna & Flora
The realm of Inner Huria is most famous for its wide variety of grasses and flowering plants, those which can survive the generally dry climate being by far the most dominant life in the region. Many of these species of wild grass are staples of the diets of the local grazing animals. Of the various forms of plant life, the most famous is the White Poppy, which is often incorporated in the feed of young animals to make them reach maturity faster.
Animal life generally favors grazers and aerial animals with Aeillan cattle living in large numbers in both captivity and the wild here. Aurochs especially have come to dominate the landscape. Wild horses too, roam in large herds, forming the basis of most of Aeilla's wild stock, and indeed thanks to trade from Terruk-Mal this includes even the Akhhal Terruk. While wolves and coyotes hunt for large herbivores in Inner Huria, and big cats once prowled before they were exterminated by humans over the course of the Imperial Period, its is mainly aerial predators that dominate the carnivorous echelons with giant eagles being the "top dog" of the food chain.
Natural Resources
Aside from ample grazing lands, Inner Huria has a relative dearth of exploitable resources. The soil is not especially good for farming, and mineral wealth is quite poor, with only a flammable black goo existing in any quantities. Even most buildings in the area must be constructed of sod and grass, or otherwise import stone and wood from elsewhere.
History
Inner Huria has for a long time been, presumably held by the nomadic peoples of the central continent as part of their grazing ranges. The first written descriptions of the land come from the Yulan-Tai, who described the region as a sea of grass and mentioned in passing fleeting interactions with the locals, mostly trading with them or abducting slaves to feed the Yulan-Tai Empire during its expansionary phases. It remained relatively untamed during this time with neither the mountain peoples nor the Yulan-Tai seeking to set up permanently in the region.
Inner Huria was eventually placed into settled hands when Ilsoi colonists coming from Carnak, and Apepsos, settled the western parts of the territory and Tyroi colonists settled the lands near Recton and Thenei. These colonists would for hundreds of years face constant raids made by Huri peoples looking to take back their ancestral lands. This would escalate into war, when the Late Ilosi Republic would attempt to pacify Inner Huria in the 1st Huri War, which saw the Republic seizing not only Inner Huria but Huria proper as well in order to pacify the Huri peoples. Despite this land seizure, the region would see periodic conflict until the Late Imperial, when the Great Wall was constructed and most of the Huri peoples, those who had not been assimilated into Aeillan culture were expelled north of the wall.
The region of Inner Huria was more or less peaceful in the last days of the Empire, being virtually untouched even during the height of the Feloran Invasionary period and seeing only minimal military action during the Succession Wars. As a result, the population of the region grew steadily throughout the post-Imperial period, though it would never reach the same heights of population that the coreward realms of Aeilla would.
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