Tira Vella

This article is about the island, for the sovereign state, see Tira Vella   Tira Vella is a large island surrounded by many small islands traditionally considered to be grouped with the landmass. Despite not being physically connected, it is considered the southwest third of Oecumene due to its historic and cultural ties to the region.   The island is one of the most geographically and ecologically diverse regions of Geshkata. Physically, it can be broken down into seven major geographic areas. The northern coast, commonly referred to as the Gold Coast, is a temperate region with a Mediterranean climate. It is also by far the most populated and densely populated area of Tira Vella. To the north of the main island, south of Sossis, is the Gyaros archipelago, a collection of islands tradionally grouped in with the Gold Coast for their cultural and geographic ties. The eastern coast of the main island, called the Southlands, is dominated by a humid subtropical climate and expansive marshlands in the far south fed by the rivers of the Central Plateau, a high mountainous region. The northwest of the island is an enigmatic area isolated from the rest of the island by mountains and desert called the Grey. The region is mountainous, volcanic, and semi-arid. It is host to a great deal of unique flora and fauna. The northern fringes of the Grey are flat plains consisting of black sand beaches and obsidian called the Glass Sea. The smallest region of Tira Vella is the Toloen Desert separating the Gold Coast from the Grey. The southwest region is the Unilangan Highlands, a bare, hilly region with a temperate oceanic climate historically unpopulated by humans, but populated by arps.   The Tratian drift carries warm waters to southeast Tira Vella, giving Notachora its warm, wet subtropical climate, while the waters that pass through the Gyaros strait are relatively more dry as the northern split of the Tratian drift cools off the east coast of the Bay of Uzholch, giving the Gold Coast, the Gyaros islands, and southwestern Dvekmenia a Mediterranean climate. The Anti-Veedal current carries cold polar water down the west coast of Tira Vella, giving rise to the cooler and especially drier climates in the west of the island (the Grey and Arpia).  

Habitation

Tira Vella has a long archaeological record of diverse non-human habitation. Native to the island are the arps of the southeast. Historically the Central Plateau into the Toloen and the Grey was inhabited by an enigmatic Saurian race called the Kaschehane. There are some who believe the Kaschehane still survive in small, isolated communities in the Central Plateau, but there is no evidence for this, and they are likely extinct. According to Agian legend, the Glass Sea was once inhabited by very tall and thin wandering creatures made of coagulated blackglass called ctezinēkouroi, but this is generally thought of as mythical.   It's unknown who the first humans on the island were or when the arrived, but the record dates the absolute latest point of human habitation to the 6^th century BCA, but it's likely the date is far earlier. Karanesians, likely from Stele Island, arrived in the Gold Coast and Gyaros islands around the 5^th century BCA. The Arxians, probably coming from around the same area as the Karanesians, arrived in the eastern Gold Coast in the 4^th to 3^rd century BCA, likely driven by widespread famine induced by changing climatic conditions. Some Tira Vellan tribes migrated from the Grey through the Toloen into Heprous around the same time or shortly after. Over the next centuries, the Karanesians were either killed or assimilated into the ascendent Arxian and Tira Vellan societies.   In modern times, the island is inhabited mostly by Tira Vellans along the northern and eastern coasts, including the Grey. Arps still inhabit the southwestern highlands of the island, and the central regions of the island remain largely uninhabited.