Lhairûn

Lhairûn (pronounced /laɪˈruːn/) is an island in the Bright Ocean populated by summoned creatures that have escaped or (less frequently) been freed from their servitude. The island has a tropical climate, and is covered by a remarkable diversity of biomes considering its relatively small size. As of seventy years ago, Lhairûn is considered an independent nation by most foreign governments.

Geography

The island of Lhairûn is shaped something like an S with pointed ends, or two crescents joined end to end and pointing in opposite directions. The northeast side of the island is, on the average, of slightly higher elevation than the southwestern, and includes the highest of the island's mountains, including the volcano Azlar. The mountains are largely surrounded by forest and jungle, although there are some brushlands to the west.

The southwestern part of the island does have some hills and forest, but is largely covered with grassland and savanna. It also has large expanses of wet swamp, especially around the inside of the crescent. A few spots mostly on this part of the island contain alien terrains found nowhere else on Curcalen and made up of organisms presumably from other planes. Given that the kinds of plants and wildlife found there are rarely if ever summoned, and that even if it were it wouldn't be able to come to the island on its own, the exact origins of these areas remains uncertain.

Across the center of the island is a strip of desert, broken by the river Jalca that carries a thin strip of green on each side.

History

Since prehistoric times, Lhairû has had a small indigenous human population. Isolated from other cultures, the native Lhairunians had little contact with or influence from the outside world. This persisted until probably about six hundred years ago, when apparently a summoned tocoira named Assobio escaped from its master and fled to the island. Assobio gradually attracted others in similar circumstances to the locale, and they forged a slowly growing community there, at times even helping other summoned creatures to escape.

Inhabitants

Nowadays, Lhairûn is inhabited almost entirely by otherplanar creatures that escaped or were freed from summoned servitude. The fate of the island's former human inhabitants is unknown, although some evidence suggests that they were sent to the home planes of some of the summoned creatures in retaliation for their being brought to Curcalen. A few humans do live on the island, but are subservient to the summoned creatures.

Government

Lhairûn operates by a tribal system, the seventeen tribes of the island each having a different leadership structure and controlling internal matters and all of them in matters concerning interaction between tribes and/or the island as a whole deferring to a Triumviry elected biannually by majority vote of the leaders of the individual tribes. The current Triumviry consists of a x'xaya named Sru, a pai named Rudder, and a noru named Serenity.