Norasht Frontier Berm
The Norasht Frontier Berm is a defensive structure built by the Military of the Suren Confederacy in the period commencing from 1709 AN onwards. The structure was begun to curb Bassarid infiltration of the Suren Confederacy from the occupied portions of Norasht Province.
Owing to shortages of heavy engineering equipment, with such as was available being prioritised for the construction of the Pan-Euran Highway and Trans-Euran Railway, much of the building work on the berm was done manually utilising corvéee labour.
Those persons impressed into service in the construction of the berm included Zeedic prisoners of war enslaved at the end of the Third Euran War as well as inhabitants of the Green taken captive during razzias into the ungoverned portions of the continent. Because the Suren wished to established hereditary families of kuls to garrison the frontier, those who were conscripted to build the berm would receive a female slave to start a family with.
Travelling to the construction sites was itself a dangerous journey on which many of those dispatched would perish. The waterless Zjandarian steppe would become littered with the bleached bones of those marched northwards from the railheads of the Trans-Euran Railway, whilst vultures, wild dogs, and jackals would tail the columns waiting for stragglers to fall behind who could then be rushed upon in order to overwhelm and devour them.
That the work gangs had been marched into the contaminated interior ahead of the completion of the roads and railways upon which they would rely for supplies, meant that there would be a chronic shortage of food, medicines, and construction materials, which would have to be sent via merchant caravans commissioned for the purpose. The harsh working climate instituted by the Grand Commissariat of Eura and Corum in charge of building the berm, combined with the primitive living conditions and inadequate rations provided in the assigned cantonments, led to a high mortality rate among the kuls.
Description
Physically, the berm is a 2 m high wall of rammed earth and mudbrick retaining structures, which rides for 1,668 km along the ridge-lines and salient topographical features in the frontier region between Bandar-e Zinjibar in the west and a point parallel to Veyelon Monastery in the east. Spaced out over every 5 km are big, small and medium bases, with approximately a troop of 40 men at each observation post and groups of 10 soldiers spaced out over the distance as well. About 4 km behind each major post there is a rapid reaction post, which includes backing mobile forces (Snatch Land Rovers, camel cavalry, etc). A series of 333 overlapping fixed ES-27 Froyalan Synthetic Aperture / Moving Target Indication (SAR/MTI) radars are also positioned throughout the berm, attached to the observation posts. The radars are estimated to have a range of between 60 and 80 km into the Bassarid controlled territory, and are generally utilised to direct light attack aircraft and artillery onto detected Bassarid forces on the contact line. Information from the radar is processed by a forward-based commander, who contacts the hierarchy of the Nivardom Banner Command in order to plan and coordinate a response.
Garrison
Responsibility for garrisoning the Norasht Frontier Berm fell to the 509th Army of Trans-Euran Command, this formation being primarily staffed and led by Surenid officers. Accordingly the manning requirement for the observation and rapid reaction posts was met by the Active Reserve of the Popular Levy in the provinces of Norasht and Zjand Bassari, with the positions in-between being held by kuls assigned a given spot as their duty location to defend and maintain.
The major kul cantonments, numbering 43 in total, became significant settlements around which the kuls and their families were obligated to settle down and farm small plots of land. Because of the lingering contamination of the soil, these farms failed on balance to achieve self-sufficiency, obliging the kuls to continue to rely upon government rations.
