Suza

The Realm of Suza
Subdivision type:	Realm of The Hexarchy
Capital:	Suza
Population:
Largest Cities:	Ectabana; Astrakhan
Local Leadership Title:	Artevar (lit. high king)
Local Government:	Marzban Council (lit. "Council of Leaders")
Current leader:	Ardeshir II
Local language:	Suzan, Eridian, Arumaic, Common Tongue
Local Religion:	folk religions

Suza is a region of The Hexarchy. Located north of the Red River, the area is a vast, flat plateau characterized by its near-featureless and seemingly endless grasslands. It is the massive breadbasket of the country's eastern side, in rivalry with Eridu's western regions to the south of the aforementioned River. The population in Suza is extremely sparse outside of the hilly cities in the center of the region, and the large, rapidly-growing population concentrations along the Red River and White Sea to the east of the territory.

Due to its featurelessness, about the only inhabitants of the region outside of its metropolises are the farmers in this vast plain, and the giant sauropods that walk the vast plains. The land is populated by sparse groves of deciduous trees of truly epic size, which anchors the soil and allows the grass to grow unimpeded by the monsoon rains that arrive after every harvest season. While almost universally docile, the giant sauropods still pose dangers to ignorant passers-by who ignore their passage. The massive fauna are generally tolerated, as their manure is known to greatly increase the soil's fertilization, generally providing a greater advantage than their damage caused by trampling crops, ruining fences, or even (very rarely) damaging small dwellings on accident in an attempt to reach the very sparse but massive deciduous trees' canopies for food. The sauropods are sometimes domesticated, although their massive size reduces their use to transportation, which is more efficiently carried out by other means if not overland between the featureless terrain between Suza's quickly growing cities.

Location

Suza is located between the Red Sea, the Red River, the White River, and the White Sea (formerly known as Lake Tulsa). The capital, also named Suza, is located near the north end of its controlled territory on a large hilly area in the region's center.

Geography & Ecology

Suza is a vast plateau region of eastern The Hexarchy, located north of the Red River and extending between the White Sea and the continental interior. The region consists of two areas: the "River Region" (the most densely populated) and the interior region, the latter of which holds the vast bulk of Suza's territory. These regions are abruptly divided by massive cliffs (up to 1500 meters high in the south) atop which are massive deciduous forests that serve as sauropod breeding grounds. These factors make access from the river to the sheer cliffs of the plateau infamously difficult, and few major thoroughfares connect the region's nearly-featureless interior -- and only do so where there are a notable lack of trees.

Geographically, the interior region is defined by immense open grasslands and an extraordinary lack of major natural features across much of its territory. Outside of several isolated hill systems, river corridors, and scattered elevated ridges, the Suzan landscape consists of seemingly endless plateau plains interrupted only occasionally by a small hillock, and horizons broken only by distant forests, migrating herds, and seasonal storm fronts. The only interruptions are the sauropods themselves and the occasional "mega-spruce" forests they inhabit for parts of the year. Combined with the sauropods' disregard of pavement, this extreme geographic uniformity has historically made navigation, administration, and permanent infrastructure development difficult far from the major population corridors, contributing to Suza’s longstanding reputation as one of the most geographically isolating regions of the mainland Hexarchy.

Despite its apparent emptiness, Suza is among the most agriculturally productive regions in the Hexarchy and serves as one of the primary breadbaskets of the eastern territories alongside the fertile western lands of nearby Eridu. Seasonal monsoon rains and nutrient-rich plateau soils support immense grain production, particularly near the Red River basin and the eastern coastal settlements bordering the White Sea. Large deciduous forests also exist in specific regions throughout the plateau, especially near river systems, less elevated terrain (where seasonal rainfall tends to pool), and deep aquifers beneath the endless grasslands. Although relatively sparse and widely separated from one another, these groves contain some of the largest living organisms on Micras, with gigantic trees towering above the surrounding plains and anchoring much of the plateau’s fragile soil system. Their extensive root systems reach deep into underground water reserves, allowing the forests to tolerate the unpredictable rainfall patterns, while simultaneously stabilizing the surrounding environment. They also act as landmarks for travelers (all of whom are forbidden from approaching the forests to avoid angering the normally human-tolerant fauna at their extreme peril).

The ecology of Suza is dominated by immense migratory megafauna that have shaped the plateau for millennia. Giant herbivorous sauropods traverse the grasslands in vast herds, moving seasonally between the great forest groves, river systems, and breeding grounds scattered across the region. These vast creatures lack any natural predators from their juvenile years, after which they are no longer prey to Micras's conventional predators due to their sheer size. The few saurid predators in the region otherwise posing an active threat to humans are well-contained, and these predators solely prey upon stray livestock in the endless plains and small sauropods, having learned to avoid direct human contact. Their numbers remain extremely small due to direct confrontations from angered sauropod herds and human tribes, but they still fill an important ecological niche in preventing sauropod overpopulation. The deciduous forests themselves, while limited in size (compared to their sauropod inhabitants) serve as breeding grounds and nurseries of a sort, where younger sauropods mature before joining the larger migratory herds that roam the plains.

The sauropods are generally docile, and mostly tolerate human presence outside of their breeding grounds. On the open plains, they are similarly tolerant of most moving nomads due to long periods of amicable contact, being intelligent enough to recognize specific groups of humans. However, the creatures remain capable of inflicting severe damage to settlements, irrigation systems, roads, and agricultural infrastructure simply through their immense size and migratory behavior. Enraged sauropod herds are also an extreme threat even to medium-sized settlements, especially if human activity encroaches either on their breeding grounds, normal grazing areas, or their usual migratory routes. Owing to this and the featureless terrain, small settlements on the plain are possible on the occasional rocky hill area or cliffside, but cannot grow larger without its constrained agricultural area becoming a major problem for both the sauropods and the humans living on their ancestral ground.

Overall, Suzan civilization developed around coexistence with the sauropods, rather than domination either by eradication or domestication. These megafauna are considered sacred, with attempts at poaching invariably met with extreme action from authorities. While bandit encampments are rare (usually trampled by enraged sauropod herds before long), the Suzan people have a historic intolerance for those who fail to obey its laws regarding these creatures. In short, settlements historically concentrated around large urban centers, river corridors, and naturally defensible terrain capable of enduring the environmental pressures of the plateau. Outside of the major river systems, permanent roads remain rare due to the immense costs of maintenance across such featureless terrain and the continual disruption caused by both seasonal weather and megafaunal migration consistently trampling and breaking apart both pavement and rail track stock. As a result, much of Suza remains agriculturally productive yet sparsely settled, with isolated agricultural communities and major urban centers separated by vast expanses of open grassland shaped more by ecology than by direct human control. The economy is thus agrarian-based. Mining and other extractive industry in the region is limited to the river regions owing to these factors.