Xassa: Wayward Beast

Industry & Trade

There is no official road from Xassa to the capital of Wyauso, nor to its neighbor city of Yattau. The route is straightforward to understand and travel; you simply cross the flat terrain of the Tat'ra in whatever direction the destination city is. The fact remains that the people of Xassa had no desire to interact with their neighbors to the north. The lack of desire was mutual. Those who needed to procure goods and services from elsewhere could travel along the coastline via ship to Yattau, though those occurrences were not frequent.

In fact, it's a small mystery how the Xassans manage to survive. The fishing population, the minimal wildlife in the Tat'ra, and the poor soil don't seem to add up to feed Xassa's sizable population. Most of the people are malnourished, sure, but they still maintain active lives. Perhaps it's simply the will of the Xassans that supports the city for so long.

History

If you asked the residents of Xassa, they'll tell you that the city had been there for ages and ages. The Tuhrau arrived one day to claim the city as their own, and the citizens just went along with the notion. If you ask the other Tuhrau, Xassa came from one of the Yukuric tribes of old who settled on the continent. The tribe was weak, or perhaps downright weird, and so pushed itself out of Tuhrau society. It wandered down the coastline through the Tat'ra just to find a place to live. Whatever the origin was, Xassa had always been markedly different from the other Tuhran cities: culturally, economically, and politically.

When a political movement lights up in Wyauso, Xassa is almost certain to ignore it. The grand centralization and militarization policies of Tuhra never reached Xassa. Xassa was the largest city to decline Rarei's Call for aid when those policies eventually failed the nation. The residents were under the impression that war would never come to them if they had nothing to do with it.

This assumption would be sharply countered by a large Wlitowai force barrelling through Tuhra's underbelly. The autonomy Xassa enjoyed was ended in a day, and the residents became doubly stubborn now that an external government was applying pressure on them for the first time. Wlitowa found them just as annoying as Tuhra did, right up to the point where a Wlitowai king ordered Xassa to be razed to the ground. None of Xassa's Tuhrau neighbors were there to mourn the city's loss.

Geography

Xassa is pressed from the east by the vast wastelands of the Tat'ra and held at bay by the Teretan Sea. Xassa largely stands upon tall cliffs, but a very narrow, rather steep incline provides access to the sea. The ground is not fertile, but rain and seeds from the west provide some manner of life, more than could be found in the Tat'ra.

Population

730 (Metropolitan Area: 7400)

Inhabitant Demonym

Xassan

Location under

Tat'ra: South Tuhra Plains

Ruling/Owning Rank

Gerai'aru: Garrison Command