The Zarloc Mountains

The Zarloc Mountains
File:Zarloc Mountains.jpg View of highest peaks within the range
Geographical Information
Location:	The United Tszamoorian Empire The Ring of Fire
Geographical Features:	Glaciers
Significant Resources:	Freshwater reserves (frozen) Gold Iron Coal Trees (lumbar)
Dangers:	Exposure Rock slides Altitude Sickness Fires Snow Blindness Falls Avalanches Ice Storms Starvation
Notable Wildlife:	Golden Eagles Appenzell Goat Various Cryptids
Civilization
Colonized By:	Ursland
Notable Settlements:	Wilbur Crest Tahom Valley Xzenz
Inhabitants:	Human Orc (workers) Dwarf (workers)
Common Languages:	Common Various indigenous
Population:	25,000

Located on the West to Northwest facing mountain range of Tszamoore, the Zarloc Mountains are host to the highest mountain peaks in the region. 85% of this range lies above the timberline and is primarily rich in gold deposits.

Geography

The Zarloc Mountains are host to some of the highest peaks found in North-Western Veth, especially those upon the Northern Peninsula. The highest peak, Mount Zah, is 26,000 ft in elevation.

Habitable conditions are all mostly found under the timberline, which makes up only 25% of the land within the mountains. Of that, arable land only makes up 1% of the total land within the Zarloc Mountains, which again is only in use seasonally. Numerous mountain passes and remote basins can be found throughout the range.

Glaciers and Lakes

Much of the mountain range above 15,000 feet retains glacial ice year-round, accumulating it faster than fallen snow melts. As summer approaches, conditions will warm enough in the higher elevations to begin to melt the glacial ice into a vast collection of river networks that travel down ravines and stream-cut troughs that have formed through erosion. These river networks eventually trickle down into the other territories of the Empire, such as The Great Bat Tree Bowl as well as into The Sawtooth Territories and the Timberland Province. It is these omniscient glacial deposits that feed and irrigate all of the immediate areas surrounding the choke of Veth.

Onyx Lake

Main Article: Onyx Lake

The Onyx Lake, also known as "The Lake of the Dead," is a Soda Lake that is high in salinity to the point where it never freezes. Because of this, there is a unique blend of lifeforms that exist within the small lake due to its high alkalinity. The lake remains a geographical phenomenon due to the fact that it lies within a salt-laden bowl surrounded by bedrock that apparently does not affect plant growth in the surrounding area. It remains inexplicable as to how the salt basin formed on the mountain side.

History

Early prospecting efforts and promising gains of mineral rich-ore laden with gold led to many inhabitants of Ursland to relocate to the mountainous region. Word spread rapidly, leading to a Gold Rush that easily outweighed a potential future in agriculture for residents of The Great Bat Tree Bowl. The initial migration was sizable and just cause for a de facto system of government to be established in Wilbur Crest. Satellite cities that appeared within the mountains also formed local governments that oversaw mining operations as well as the isolated societies that settled.

Initial Government

The initial government formed from locals and settlers within Wilbur Crest as well as its satellite cities was based on a system of Confederate Rule that took mining operations and security into a unified set of principles ratified in a treaty of independence. The connected cities and territories therein laid claim to vast swaths of land that new settlers would essentially be required to purchase in order to own. Only land owners could participate in government, thus stymieing any fears that a vast migration could turn over control of the mountains to Ursland. As such, Wilbur Crest and its satellite cities became a Timocracy for a brief period before wealth from gold deposits quickly shifted politics towards a Plutocracy.

Imperial Involvement and Build-up to Invasion

File:Tszamooreflag.jpg The Flag of the Tszamoorian Army

A steady stream of reports from the mountains that Wilbur Crest was becoming a vast and growing entity due to gold-wealth had become cause for Ursland's rulers to turn their sights away from The Southlands bordering Zul Kiras. With a military established and already equipped for war with United Clans, King Taltian Kurleiser had his general redraft invasion plans.

Calvary forces were converted to unmounted units and the whole of the Tszamoorian Military were restructured and retrained for Mountain Warfare.

Midnight Moon

Ahead of invasion efforts, however, two Headsmen units deployed covertly with assassination orders for all of Wilbur Crest's military and governing rulers. A military operation coordinated and dubbed, "Midnight Moon," was this exact draft of orders.

The plan took two weeks of reconnaissance missions, some of which required members of the Headsmen to infiltrate and blend in with the civilian population of Wilbur Crest. The soldiers were tasked with identifying all of the major leaders, both civilian and military, and plotting their assassinations in a coordinated manner. The two units then converged and executed a series of attacks in one night designed to kill all of Wilbur Crest's central leadership. All of the targets except for the leader of the border guard were killed within their homes.

Military Invasion

The night of the "Midnight Moon" operation, infantry units began to mobilize in its invasion efforts that aimed to take Wilbur Crest and its satellite cities. The invasion efforts were stalled, however, when an ice storm set back troop movement and offered the armed citizens of Wilbur Crest to disburse into defensive positions throughout the higher elevations of the range. Booby traps were set all over the city of Wilbur Crest and dynamite was placed to knock out inroads and trigger avalanches that would crush and thwart the invading forces as they attempted to ascend to the city.

The struggle delayed and harassed the invading front, but counter-insurgency action on behalf of the Headsmen would run off the remaining saboteurs. Three weeks into the initial invasion efforts, the Tszamoorian Military would make landing at Wilbur Crest, quickly taking the city under its control.

Ground operations then spilled over into the surrounding satellite cities, which were taken with initial resistance, but at minimal casualties.

Installation of a New Government

The Military quickly installed a new ruling Governor in Wilbur Crest that would remain loyal to Ursland's policies. The population was rapidly humbled through occupation as well as increased security and resources brought in to aid mining operations. Transition of power and the subsequent occupation saw little resistance for decades and living conditions improved under the Empire. Additionally, those that profited locally from gold mining were targeted for assassination prior to the initial invasion, thus most of the remaining population saw little change in wealth distribution.

Dirth Kurleiser's Rule

Under King Dirth Kurleiser, the costs of maintaining such an expansive military that was being stretched thin were becoming a growing concern. To combat the financial burden, the King imposed high tariffs on mineral exports as well as agricultural imports into the Zarloc Mountains. An already strained society of people grew even more impatient with Urlsand through the taxation and a resistance movement began to emerge. Small-scale sabotage of mining operations as well as of The Imperial Highway was cause for the Tszamoorian Military to clamp down harder and restrict freedom of movement.

The Coup of Heights

Main Article: The Coup of Heights

As the resistance built more and more momentum with military clamp-downs and exhaustive taxation, the Headsmen unit native to Wilbur Crest, The Shadowmen, were lured into taking part in a plot to overthrow King Dirth Kurleiser and restore negotiations with Ursland towards independence for the Zarloc Mountains.

The Coup, however, dubbed "The Coup of Heights," was disastrous and failed in any of its objectives. The Shadowmen were seized and summarily executed along with resistance members who took part.