Hashuru

Hashuru refers both to a geographical and a cultural region within the Empire, lying in its central and southern regions. A vast area with a mainly subtropical climate, Hashuru is the home of the Hashurukasane and their culture.

Water
The core feature of Hashuru, and the cradle of the Hashuruilé culture and civilisation, is the broad plain which surrounds the middle stretch of the Ansarién river - the largest of the Empire's rivers, surpassing even the Meidorién in volume. The Hashurukasane call the river Torakhmis, which simply means 'the Great Water'.

After flowing out from the Gékhal Plain and through several mountain gorges, the Ansarién first flows in a wide southward arc, gathering water from many major tributaries flowing north from the Teak Mountains. It then meets a point, near the geographical centre of Hashuru, where the rivers Rakhdumis and Komekhmis meet before running into it; this low-lying area forms a long, narrow lake known as Lake Murandova. From Murandova, the Ansarién describes an even wider arc towards the north and then east, approaching the Cloud Mountains to its north and then running parallel to them, towards the east, until it flows into Lake Condova. The area described by these two arcs in the river makes up the central region of Hashuru. This area, besides being well-watered and highly conducive to intensive agriculture, is also centrally located and relatively open in terms of terrain.

After leaving Condova, the Ansarién turns southwards, in a wide belt of marshland and thick forests bordered on the west by low hills, before flowing into Lake Thukdova. This area is known as the Great Marsh of the Nine Rivers, and is generally seen as the dividing line between Hashuru and Ansa to its east.

Most of the rivers within Hashuru flow into the Ansarién, and many of them are major rivers in their own right. The heartland of the polity that grew into the State of Hashuru arose along the waters of the Kiramis river, a major left tributary; another major river is the Urekhmis, which flows from the mountains in northwestern Hashuru.



Rock
While a large river system forms the core of Hashuru, its borders are often delimited by mountain ranges. On the north, three mountain ranges form a nearly continuous barrier between Hashuru and the Empire. On the east are the Cloud Mountains, as well as the Chive Mountains; while on the west stand the Elm Mountains. Between the two ranges is the Red Plain, also known as the Plain of Nivabésa (by the Tarakasane) or the Plain of Bakhtomar (by the Hashurukasane). As its name suggests, the Red Plain was one of the most contested lands in the days when the State of Hashuru was a powerful contender for leadership of he Empire.

The Elm Mountains, besides forming a north-south barrier, also demarcates roughly the east-west line between Hashuru and Gékhal; in this region, however, it is much lower and fades into a borderland of hills and thick woods, meaning that Hashuru is considerably more open on its west than its east.

The other major mountain range is in the southeast and south, though it is at a great distance from the core of Hashuru, and indeed tends not to be considered part of Hashuru at all. These are the Teak Mountains, which are covered on both sides by swathes of rainforests from which flow many of the major right tributaries of the Ansarién.

Climate
Most of Hashuru lies within the subtropical climate belt, characterised by long, humid and rainy summers, with relatively short, cool and dry winters.

The rainy season, which often begins in mid-spring, mostly opens with light showers, and then moves into intense but short-lived thunderstorms. The early summer, however, is when rain is at its most intense; fronts of warm, wet air from the tropical seas are funnelled in from the southeast, where they meet the Elm, Cloud, and Red Serpent Mountains and shed their rain. The resulting thunderstorms can be accompanied by high winds, and sometimes last for days; the waters in turn swell the Ansarién, resulting in spectacular and often devastating flooding. These storms come against a backdrop of intense sun and heat, a hallmark of southern weather.

In comparison to this tumult, the autumn and winter are relatively mild. The winter can be buffered by strong, dry northern winds, especially in the central regions of Hashuru; the eastern regions are shielded from this by the Cloud Mountains. Snow is virtually unheard of; indeed, the experience of frost and snow is often used to denote foreignness and especially the lands of the Tarakasane.

Traditional Subdivisions
Main Article: Subdivisions of the State of Hashuru

Main Article: Divisions of Hashuru in the Lein Dynasty

The traditional basis for distinguishing between the Hashurukasane tribes, from their earliest known writings, has been the different river basins over which they ruled; many of the rivers which run through Hashuru, with the exception of the Ansarién itself, bear the same names as the tribes did, though it is unclear if demonyms determined toponyms or the other way round.

In the early period of the State of Hashuru, the traditional political divisions divided most of the kingdom into five major portions, most of which were in turn subject to subinfeudation. The exception to this was the King's domain in the northern portion of the state, centred around the Red Plain and the southern hills of the Cloud Mountains. Throughout most of the state's existence, this was both the most important economic region, and militarily the most dangerous and important frontier.

These five regions were:
 * Kondumarit: Literally meaning 'Cities of Elms', this is the northwestern portion of Hashuru, reaching from the western part of the Red Plain to the cities and settlements along the southeastern slopes of the Elm Mountains.
 * Halemiset: Literally 'five rivers', this is the central portion of Hashuru; it is bounded on the south by the Ansarién, and named after the five major left tributaries of the Ansarién which flow through the King's domain and Kondumarit.
 * Misenbukhe: Literally 'River's Tail', this is the southwestern portion of Hashuru, following the Ansarién westwards along the Elm Mountains to the lands of the Gékhal, and the land of Kimul on the southwest.
 * Ushamuran: Literally 'Southern Confluence' in this case, this is the vast, sparsely inhabited southern portion of Hashuru. It is named after the confluence of rivers - the Rakhdumis, Komekhmis and Ansarién - which form Lake Murandova, but its borders stretch beyond even their watersheds, including settlements in the forests of the Teak Mountains.
 * Condovalen: Literally 'of Condova]], this is the eastern portion of the realm, containing Lake Condova and the lands to its north and south.

The King's Domain was also known, in many references and daily life, as Kalshahisakh, literally 'Mountain and Plain' - a reference to the Red Plain, as well as the slopes of the Cloud Mountains.

Economy
The size of Hashuru means that it encompasses a wide range of natural resources, though the economy - as with most places in the Empire - is still based on agrarian activity.

Agriculture
The fertile and well-watered plain that defines Hashuru's central region is one of its key resources, and the economic foundations of the Hashurukasane. The chief crop throughout the region is wet rice, which forms the dietary staple of the south.

Rice grown in Hashuru is also a valuable trade and tribute commodity; during the reign of Sora, under whom the area underwent rehabilitation after more than a century of intermittent conflict, thousands of tons of southern rice was shipped by land and river routes northwards, to feed the people in Meiron and other major northern cities.