Ikatlan
Ikatlan is a region in the Northeast of the Sunekan heartlands, bordering the great valley of Sikrek in the Adira Mountains. It is a rich region, insulated from the political struggles of the rest of the world by the mountains that ring its borders. The Tanarat River runs down from the tall mountains in the North, connecting Ikatlan to the lake lands of Gwalan in the South and the Prism kingdoms in the North.
Ikatlan is thoroughly Sunekan , though it has a long history of deviancy and regionalism. Some traces of that maverick path remain on the fringes of the region, in the great maze of caves and mountain passes that make up the edge of the Adiran mountains. While elements of this deviant tradition once permeated Ikatlani societies, the terrible wars that so recently ravaged the land and the century and a half of occupation by Sunekan holy orders has stamped out most of these from the mainstream.
Six Sunekan republics currently occupy the valley of Ikatlan:
- Ikala, the wealthiest and most powerful of the six, which holds much of the riverlands and is home to the great merchant houses of the region
- Ayeto , a mostly agrarian republic with large open plains and still-undeveloped hills
- Erulan, a land of hills and swampland known for its mines and quarries, as well as merchant caravans into neighboring Akatlan
- Halazi, a republic that exists essentially as a city-state compromise between the great powers; relatively urban but also wildly volatile
- Kapental, a republic in the mountains that is devoted to international trade; quite well developed from that trade, but also incredibly militarized and increasingly a theocratic military police state
- Otopan , a poor and hilly republic of small mountain valleys primarily composed of shepherds
Geography
The valley of Ikatlan is 350 miles long and 180 miles across and bordered on all sides by mountains or hills. In the North are the impenetrable Adiran Mountains; in the East are the Tlado mountains, which stand at around 6400 feet above sea level; in the West are the Itzanu mountains, which are 5000 feet above sea level with a number of large mountain passes; in the South are the Yutara mountains, which stand around 2000-4000 feet above sea level. At the heart of the valley is the Tanarat river, which is 540 miles long and ends in lake Seritabo in the South.
Ikatlan is a naturally rather dry valley, but is dotted with springs and ponds connected to a large aquifer underneath it. The mountains are rich with granite and tin, the valleys are fairly arable if in need of irrigation, and the riverlands are quite abundant.
History
Ikatlan has been a Sunekan land since the early Divine Era. When the gods left this planet, four great kingdoms dominated the region, though most of the population was largely outside their direct governance. Over time, this evolved into an intricate network of tiny republics. These, like most of the Sunekan heartlands, surrendered to the Great Sunekan Empire in the 500s. When the empire withdrew direct governance, Ikatlan was left as one great republic (though the Southern valley was given to the province of Gwalan). The great republic held together for some time, but it began to decay from political corruption and factionalism.
During these centuries of relative isolation, Ikatlan had slowly developed a distrust in the rest of the Suneka. It had begun to borrow minor traditions from the nearby mountain tribes it traded with, and its priests balked at the attempts to bring their customs back into the fold. From this boiling sea of discontent came the Asuna heresy- a mixture of nihilistic philosophy, looser ways of living, and Sunekan occult traditions. The Asuna movement was not truly united, but spilled over as a way of divergent cult. The movement attracted heretical scholars and mystics from across the Suneka, and with little resistance the largest sect of these movements (The School of Drifting Purpose) was able to seize control of the republic. The republic was consequently invaded from the South and cut into four pieces once again.
For much of the rest of Ikatlan's history, it has been a den of heresy and deviance. Perhaps the least deviant of the creatures were those left behind by the Suneka, in fact: Southern Ikatlan is home to The Fire Clans of catkind, who fight to bring their version of the Sunekan religion to all cats.
Internal disputes over heresy and trade were the norm from 1000 to 1800, as cats and humanoids alike fight one another in the name of religion. But the cycle heresy and normalcy was broken by outside invasion in the 1800s, as Ikatlan was the first hit by the Empire of Calazen's grand invasion of Suneka, and the staging ground for its invasion of the Sunekan heartlands. The war has left deep marks on the region, and even after the Calazan troops withdrew in 1900 the scars are are deep. Old ruined villages and towns, mass unmarked graves, old ruined military installations built and abandoned by the invaders. The memories of brutal warfare combined with the constant fear of renewed invasion has cultivated a culture of xenophobia here. Neighbors have turned on one another if they perceive signs of foreign influence of heresy, and the Suneka has finally seized absolute control over most of Ikatlan. The fringes (and the poorer fringes most of all) continue to harbor traces of cult activity, but the days of rebellious Ikatlan seem to be over.
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