Adhogodun

The Adhogodun is a region of Tersten located in the Federal Province of Nevada. It is concentrated in the southern Pearlstone Mountains, and is dominated by the various Tajkhent communities that were forcibly relocated to this region by the Tersten State. Previously assumed to be an empty and desolate highland area that serves as the source of the Stone River, the Tajkhent instead discovered the Kammikayyaq, an underground highway of caves and tunnels connecting numerous ancient Sar'ket settlements deep within the Pearlstone Mountains.
This has allowed the Tajkhent to expand into these abandoned mountain cities, organising expeditions into the unexplored depths, and attracting a great deal of human attention. From across Tersten, people travel to venture into unexplored caves in search of adventure and treasure. It is this fact that makes the Adhogodun such an attractive prospect for both Tersteners and off-worlders, as rumours and stories continue to spread beyond the Nevadan borders.
The Adhogodun is governed by the Mehkstandun, the council of Tajkhent schools that are spread across the area. As Tajkhent society is comprised of organised schools of thought that serve as clan/communities, each school is most influential in whatever city its people call home, whether on the surface of the Adhogokand and Askiapaat, or deep within the Kamiikayyaq and Kantuyaan.

Adhogokand

The Adhogokand is the central highlands of the Adhogodun, populated by the Tajkhent that were forcibly relocated here during the era of the Tersten State. It is a land of high, impassible mountains, glaciers, and home to the Stone River, fed by the ice both here in the Adhogokand and from the many caves surrounding it. The Stone River is a major waterway in Nevada, and its mountain lakes are well industrialised. The water treatment plants of Holkrodun were established by the Tersten State, and were the sight of fierce battles for independence during the Great Revolution.
Further down the river lies the Mehkstandun's capital, Duladu. It is the biggest Tajkhent city on the planet, and while the Tajkhent are not a unified people, it is easy to forget this while exploring the grand city, constructed in traditional Tajkhent designs, round buildings with high, ornate roofs, plenty of tea shops with an attached wrestling club. Many humans need to be reminded not to accidentally wander into a Tajkhenti designated sparring zone. Perhaps the grandest building in Duladu are the Halls of Illumination, the largest stadium on Tersten and even the entire Lordanian Cluster. Hundreds of thousands of Tajkhent gather here every five years to watch or participate in their greatest sport, Chessboxing. To the Tajkhent, it is the perfect symbol of their philosophical thought and wrestling prowess, with a statue to the human that introduced them to the sport located just ouside the stadium.
Beyond Duladu lies the fortress of Namsekhran, which closes off the mountain pass into the Adhogodun. When the Great Gate of Namsekhran closes, only water passes through its walls, turning the Stone River into a waterfall. The local Tajkhent have prided themselves on its impregnability. The only time anyone has tried to siege their gate was during the Interregnum, when lightly armed outlaws and bandits - who would never pierce the gate in a million years - tried to crack it, only to be resoundly defeated again and again. But against a capable army, with air travel? Then the gate would be nothing but a tourist attraction, and that is how the situation remains to this day, with the Tajkhent and the Republic of Tersten on friendly terms. The Great Gate is closed weekly, dazzling visitors with boat trips under the waterfalls. A mighty parade is held every other month to celebrate the indominable protection it offers, and the hope that their claims are never actually put to the test. After all, those beautiful gates are not gilded and adorned with jewels for defensive purposes.

Kantuyaan

The Kantuyaan is an exposed plateau region at the height of the Pearlstone Mountains, surrounded on all sides by its impregnable glaciers and icy mountains. The land here is dry, frigid, and has proven to be a death trap for many unprepared humans. The harsh conditions are tolerated by the Tajkhenti, who live among the snow-covered pines that cling to life in this isolated vale. At the furthest ends of the Kantuyaan are several cave structures, connected to the greater Sar'ket structures, and potentially thousands of miles deep. This close to the ice, many of the caves and tunnels are either frozen over, completely submerged, or contain dangerously lethal gaps in the ice that threaten to drop victims thousands of feet into the abyss. It is speculated that a connection over the Pearlstone Mountains may be found here, bringing both sides together. However, given the animosity between the Tajkhenti clans and the Institute-backed High Hell Republic, the discovery of a tunnel between the two may lead to conflict.

The Harsh Lands of the Kantuyaan

Askiapaat

Askiapaat is a lowlying region deep within the Pearlstone Mountains. While it has been known about since the first complete maps of Tersten, it had always been assumed it was completely inaccessible, and nothing of value. However, after the arrival of the Tajkhenti, and their exploration of the Sar'ket tunnels, it has become clear that Askia served a far greater purpose to the Sar'ket than previously assumed. It is now believed that Askiapaat was the provider of a great deal of food for the various settlements deep in the mountains. Evidence of farms are widespread, with the land showing telltale signs of significant fertilizer use. This land has very clearly been terraformed to allow for hyper fertility.
Unfortunately, ninety thousand years of disrepair makes this land worse than most places on Tersten. It has been isolated since the Sar'ket disappeared. The soil will need tending to, cleansing, and reseeding. Destroyed dams and ruined bridges have blocked rivers, turning farmland into floodland. In other places, vast forests now cover former cities, time having reduced even the mightiest of structures to nothing more than a foundations. But what time may destroy. the Tajkhent will rebuild, as even now they prepare to repopulate and recolonise this abandoned land.
Following the reoccupation of Askia, the two largest nations surrounding it, the República de Nevada and the Lawless Regional Government have sent resources and manpower into occupying their part of it, with the Nevadan owned Askia Company and the Lawless sponsored Askian Republic esablished in their own little corners, connected via rediscovered tunnels.

Kamiikayyaq

The Kamiikayyaq is a series of caves located west of the Adhogokand. They are a maze of tunnels and networks that connect various ancient Sar'ket outposts and setttlements on this side of the mountains. Not much is known about the greater Sar'ket community on Tersten, but what has been roughly established is that at some point during their final years on Tersten, a separatist group of Sar'ket hid themselves away in a hastily constructed network of tunnels and hideouts, where they established towns, outposts, and military camps. They named this place the Kamiikayyaq, with its name being reused again in he modern age. Whatever brought about the end of the Sar'ket did so universally, and these people disappear from the historical record at the same time as all the rest, in the midst of their rebellion, with stories of explorers discovering ten thousand year old homes, plates still ready for a meal. While they were a separatist group, they were by no means small, and estimates at their population, which is now expected to be around a million, continues to increase with the discovery of more and more settlements deep in the mountains.
Connecting the Sar'ket settlements, most of which are in exceptional condition, are the networks of caves and tunnels that connected them. Most, if not all have suffered significant collapse or tectonic shift, rendering them a confusing and often extremely dangerous collection of deep crevasses, loose boulders, and perhaps more worrying of all, hostile life. However, while these passageways are all but ruined, they were still connected using highly advanced construction and mining techniques that have allowed many of them to be restored by the Tajkhenti. Still, only the caves that have been explored and truly marked as safe can be considered occupied by the Tajkhent, who estimate only a tenth of the Kamiikayyaq has been fully explored, and even less of it declared safe from what lurks in the dark.

One of many tunnels in the Kamiikayyaq

Beyond the typical bugs, bears, or wolves that call caves their homes, these ancient structures are also occupied by creatures native to Tersten but with little link to outside life. Whether the product of thousands of years of isolation, or as some wild drunks speculate - the product of Sar'ket engineering, these creatures are usually aggressive, territorial, and violent. From short, piercing crab-like creatures, to hulking monsters that disguise themselves as stalagmites. There are tales of jellyfish-like communal clans that live in the icy cold depths of the massive underground lakes that hold much of the glacial meltwaters that feed the Stone River. There are even wild, completely unsubstantiated rumours of dragon-like beasts capable of freezing a man with their icy breath, or ethereal beauties that lure unsuspecting adventurers into the deep to be devoured by their real form. There are even legends of intelligent, short cave dwelling humanoids lurking deep in the mountains. Of course, wherever there is the unknown, there are legends that form around them. If the monsters were not real, the Tajkhenti would create them, for it is these stories that attract people willing to investigate them.
Finding entrances to the tunnels, as well as their connecting passageways have been extremely difficult, as the tens of thousands of years since their disappearance has seen the complete collapse of various support structures, with nature reclaiming the underground land. Many of these tunnels have been completely unexplored, with only the main artery of the Kamiikayyaq restored to working use. It stretches as far as the Pong Nam highlands, where an entrance north of the Great South Basin has been discovered and fortified by the Tajkhent clans. From here, expeditions into the unexplored depths are charted, with the city of Angorkandun, established in a reoccupied Sar'ket settlement becoming a melting pot of cowfolk from all over Tersten, each looking for fame and wealth. The Tajkhenti, who are more interested in recolonising and occupying these tunnels are more than happy to let humans die in the dark for every little inch.
The ancient ruin of Kutikayyaq was once connected via a series of passageways that connected to an elevated terrace above the Pearlstone Mountains. It predates the Kamiikayyaq by several hundred years. It is a fortified, walled city built into the mountains, with a connection to the Kamiikayyaq located deep in the ruin's interior. It was first discovered in 81 PC by the Morley Gang, who pierced its ancient gate before being destroyed, either by the Tersten Army, or as some people claim - whatever lurked within. After this, the terrace was severely damaged, preventing access to Kutikayyaq by land. The ruin is officially owned by the Republic of Tersten, but they have turned it over to a joint Human-Tajkhent research group known as Tadskotuul. Under the leadership of the Tadskotuul, Kutikayyaq has become a scientific hub, rivalling the High Hell Republic on the other side of the Pearlstones.