East Keizon Mountains

The East Keizon Mountains are the longest mountain range on the continent of Tikaj. They start at the point where the borders of Keizorna, Tsor and Tsubow meet, and stretch northeast all along the eastern border of Keizorna, before veering east a short way along the Hongmark-Rupendu border.   The mountains were only named as such upon the formation of the country of Keizorna. Before that, over a dozen different countries bordered them on that side, and they were largely known as the Capitollo Mountains. (They were also called the Tsu Mountains by the people of Tsubow, and the West Mountains by Hongmark.) The first Regent of Keizorna renamed them, but the new name was only used within Keizorna until the formation of the Keizon Empire a thousand years later. Hongmark and Tsubow accepted the name of East Keizon Mountains when the two countries respectively became territories of the Empire, and it caught on elsewhere in the continent. Rupendu alone still calls them the Capitollo Mountains.   The mountain range is often erroneously said to split in the north. This is due to another mountain range, in the middle of which lies the Abyss of Rupen, almost adjoining the East Keizon Mountains, but the two ranges are separate geographically and officially. The people who live in the Abyss of Rupen get very offended when their country is missaid to lie within the East Keizon Mountains. This is down to more than pride or accuracy, since the Abyss of Rupen is a conflict territory of the Empire, with Rupendu and the Empire at war within their borders and the people desperate to regain their independence.   Like the West Keizon Mountains, the East Keizon Mountains are home to a number of different minority people groups who are oppressed by the Keizon Empire. The largest is the Tsan people, who live in the mountains both side of the official Keizorna-Tsubow border. Unlike most, they make their homes in the caves and caverns that the mountains are famous for, rather than building villages.