New Hartrah

New Hartrah is a territory of the eastern continent of Retzayk, claimed as a colonial possession of the Hartheran Union. It is the first successful settlement on the continent in modern history. It was discovered in 1112 ME, with virid jungle being cleared in 1116 in the hopes of creating large spice plantations.

New Hartrah is approximately 5600 km from the coast of Perudd in northeast Hartheraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera

The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr, a journey taking many months in the treacherous open sea.

After the annexation of New Perech, or the Eastern Isles, the Hartheran Navy embarked on a mission of exploration to find the almost mythic eastern continent, Retzayk. Planning a journey of many months, they were surprised to discover it lay only 1800 km from New Perech, less than half the distance between the Eastern Isles and the port of Narill. With ample supplies, the fleet of five ships divided, two going south and two north, while the fifth explored the promontory they first discovered, provisionally named New Harlon.

This exploration was partly for prestige and discover, but was mainly motivated by the search for new sources of valuable spices similar to those found in the Eastern Isles. Though immensely profitable, the Eastern Isles have a limited output which cannot satisfy the vast demand. Various attempts had been made to grow spices in mainland Harthera, but the climate and soil proved inappropriate. Therefore, it was hoped that the eastern continent would provide suitable sites for new spice plantations, enabling expansion of spice production.

An attempt was made to settle colonists on the promontory of New Harlon, since this region was uncluttered by virid vegetation so easy to explore. However, its thin soils and lack of fresh water led to the settlement being abandoned.

The region was chosen after mapping the coastline; a deep-water bay with fresh water, deep soil and virid jungle which is not too thick. Recently the region has been subjected to several missions during the dry season to slash and burn the virid overgrowth, seeding the ashes with ream moss and other green-successional plants.

Alcalond, an island 22 km long and 4 km wide, was entirely razed and seeded, and settled with a small permanent garrison. The colony is supplied with stocks of food from New Perech, but attempts have been made to grow crops in the bare soil.