Ṭisutra

From Almeopedia

The city of Ṭisutra [ˈʈi su tɽa], located in Barmund on the coast of the Skourene Sea, was a second-rank city of the ancient Skourenes, always overshadowed (and for most of its history ruled) by the larger city of Peligi. However, under its modern name Čisra, it has become the premier city of the Uṭandal.

Etymology: Old Skourene ‘temple of the hand’, Uṭandal Čisra; Tžuro Čisča, Ṭeôši Ṭûsutrô.

Early history

It was founded as a colony of Miligenḍi in the early 200s. Epuneka of Imuṭeli captured it in 295, but he was forced to return it in 299, when he lost the larger war. When Peligi rebelled against Miligenḍi in 595, it took Ṭisutra with it.

Peligi was a thorn in the side of Kuḷiŋibor, as it refused to join the Mudric Confederacy When Axunai conquered southern Mnau, Kuḷiŋibor blamed the Peligir and declared war against them. They conquered Ṭisutra (1022) but were unable to take Peligi itself. Peligi retook the city in 1190.

The Tžuro occupation

Ṭisutra was the site of the culminating battle of the Tžuro invasion, in 1711. The enormous Tžuro army, perhaps 100,000 strong, camped on the the flat ground near the city; the Skourene army commanded by the Peligir dictator Krolakurilim waited in the hills 3 km away; each was unwilling to engage the other on their preferred terrain. More or less to pass the time, the Tžuro besieged Ṭisutra. When it seemed that the siege engines and miners were about to break into the city, the Ṭisutranda— fearful of losing their city almost under the noses of Krolakurilim's 50,000 troops nearby— executed a sortie to attack them. Ṭisutranda from the army rushed to help them. Rather than allow them to be massacred, Krolakurilim moved his army to attack the Tžuro... the disarray and rush adding to his already formidable disadvantage in numbers and terrain. In hours the Skourene force was cut to bits, and Ṭisutra was lost. Peligi itself fell in 1714.

As Ṭisutra was their first conquest in Barmund, the Tžuro made it their seat of administration for the southern region, while Peligi never recovered from its sack. Unlike the cities of Skouras proper, the southern littoral never adopted either Jippirasti nor the Tžuro language; when the Kurundasti Tej weakened in the 2200s and lost the Namal, Ṭisutra was able to establish its independence.

See also

• Historical Atlas of Skouras
• For the further history of the city and its empire see Čisra
• An Old Skourene tale about a greedy Ṭisutran merchant