Hežina
From Almeopedia
| Hežina | |
| Native: | Hežina |
| Verdurian: | Hežina |
| Characteristics | |
| Capital: | Sarnáe |
| Government: | Military governorship |
| Language: | Verdurian (Sarsfahe dialect) |
| Relative prosperity: | 25 |
| Population: | 1.0 million |
| % Pagan: | 89 |
| % Eleďe: | 11 |
| % None: | 0 |
| Currency | |
| Gold | eždonde 12 |
| metuy 6 | |
| Silver | ešcenile 1.08 |
| felánt 1/4 | |
| Emur | alat 1/16 |
| HEŽINA > |
Hežina [e ˈʒi na] is a nation in southeastern Eretald. The heart of the country is the fertile triangle between the upper Svetla and the Limeta; to the east are the Ctelm mountains and to the south, grassland.
The area formed a province of the Caďinorian empire, but as it bordered the Barbarian Plain, it spent most of the Dark Years under the thumb of one nomad empire or another.
Around 2900, the barons of the south freed themselves from the Makši. For the Hežinan heartland, this was not so much a war of liberation as a lessened number of nomads who could easily demand tribute... not a huge difference, since the Caizurans who lived in the mountains were no longer held back by the Makši.
In 3120 Dhekhnam pushed the Caizurans out of southwestern Sarnáe; some decades later the Caizurans pushed west, occupying all of Hežina. The nobles decided that their own disunity allowed them to be pushed around, and formed a military compact in the town of Sarnáe in 3289. They slowly pushed the Caizurans east and north, and within a century they had established their authority as far as the mountains, dividing the Caizurans in two. (Those to the south and east are now known as the Kešvareni.)
The military compact remains in force; Hežina can be described as a country with a strong military and no other institutions of central government. The governor (sažuro), commander of the armed forces, is chosen by a commission formed of the chief nobles and the highest serving officers. Melináe was originally part of this compact, but left in 3375 once their territory had been regained.
With the nomadic threat gone, the country has participated in the increasing prosperity of Eretald, based on its easy accessibility by river. However, it's still almost entirely rural; trade largely consists of moving agricultural products, timber from the woods to the southeast, and minerals from Kešvare downriver, in return for manufactured goods. The largest towns are Sarnáe, Ándeviu, and Sarcer.
Hežina has a higher concentration of Eleďi than other southern states; this dates back to ancient Aránicer, which encouraged Arašei settlers so long as they helped fight Munkhâsh. Organizationally the Eleďi fall under the patriarchate of Krasnaya, but their practice remains largely Arašei.
There is a pagan patriarch and seminary in Sarnáe (the Hežinan capital), which is also considered to maintain the patriarchate of Ilzanea, chased out of the Sarnáe (the region) by the Dhekhnami.
Neighbors: Melináe (to N), Lapiri (to NW), Cerei (to W), Kešvareni tribes (to S and E).
Etymology: from Ver. hežan 'guard'; X. Xejina.
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Countries and important regions in or near Eretald: |
