Kazan
References: FF35:Literal; MapK:Map;
Region/Subregions: South Western Khul ; Sub Swordflow Region ; Kazan
Type: 'Lands, Realms and Regions' : 'Khulian Lands and Regions'
Indexed Under: The letter 'K' and under the category 'Lands, Realms and Regions' and subcategory 'Khulian Lands and Regions'
Dates: c.1527OT unification; although the area had been populated many centuries prior to that.
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Description:
Very little is known of this strange, wild land.
It is situated to the west of Gorak and south of the Swordflow River, in the extreme south west corner of Khul.
The capital city is Sharrabbas, where sits the Throne of Kazan.
The remainder of the land is divided into six tribal regions, each fiercely independent and war like.
Thus it was that Kazan was not a unified country for many centuries until the arrival of Ushun Koja from the east in the early sixteenth century OT.
The Kazanids are renowned for their bravery and their acceptance of any creature or being that can stand up to their hard and, some would say, savage tests.
There have always been rumours of the presence of gold in the greater Ilkhans, the range of mountains to the south of Sharrabbas but no prospector has ever returned with firm evidence.
Kazan has a very strange ritual of succession to the throne.
But the system has meant that every ruler of Kazan has been very brave, strong and quick-witted.
Those parents who chose to nominate their children as heirs to Ushun Koja (or the Select) bring their babies to Sharrabbas where they have to undergo a series of tests.
The parents of those children who pass the test are given money to bring up the infant in the approved manner.
At the age of nine, the child is exiled from Kazan and must roam the lands of Khul, making his or her own way and surviving the rigours of loneliness and fear.
When a ruler dies, the Select are summoned by messengers who travel the countryside, leaving secret symbols in traditional locations.
They must make their way to Kazan, enter the great Mazes and obtain as many of the Clan Medallions as possible.
They then have to reach Sharrabbas, where they must be the first to sit upon the Throne.
The Kazanids are a very secretive people and the mystery of what happens in Sharrabbas has never been revealed.