Ürhökk

Ürhökk, or Eurruch, was a city within the Hýyo-Wýðúr collection of cities, and among the first non-Wëbëlupian settlements to emerge. It lay to the east of Óvarhën and was likely founded by citizens from that city, along with others from Kal-Haðü and Lómóhüd, during the initial settlement wave of the Hýyó-Wýðúr between 25025 and 25021 AYM. Later, it flourished as a major stop along the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr trade route.

However, in political temperament, Ürhökk diverged sharply from the rest of the Hýyó-Wýðúr, especially the Wëbëlupian cities. This ideological distance was a chief reason why the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr never extended west of Ürhökk. Ürhökkians did not consider themselves “Wýðúrian,” but aligned instead with the culturally mixed, cosmopolitan ethos of the trading route.

History

Founding and Involvement in the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr

Ürhökk represents the most prominent of the cities that were formed during the Hýyó-Wýðúr's formative period of 25025-21 AYM. This saw the culturally mixed populations in the five Wëbëlupian Cities (Güðün, Lómóhüd, Vërðïm, Kal-Haðü, Óvarhën) shift dramatically as each migrated to be with those that had similar cultural and political outlooks. This was followed by a gradual fossilization of these groups, as the proto-cities formed cohesive authoritative governments called Öšdúu, which generally favored a severe stace of isolationism. Both of these transitional stages created populations that found no solace in any of the cities, and so desired to escape these five cities in favor of creating a separate settlement. This would be the rationle behind the founding of Ürhökk, which was around 200 kilometers to the east of Óvarhën and Kal-Haðü.

By 25020 AYM, the citizens of Ürhökk had risen to around 1,200 (for reference, the five Wëbëlupian Cities together had around 20,000). In the years that followed, they became unnaturally communal, with no city walls, military, or government. In essence, it was the polar opposite of the strict closed nature of the Öšdúu, and this factor, combined with their location in the east, allowed them easy access to the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr when it was completed in 25003 AYM. It is also their less-than-beneficial relationship with the Öšdúu that caused the trading route to halt at Ürhökk, never really permeating the heart of the Hýyó-Wýðúr except in the similarly-isolated Óvarhën to the northwest.

Ýmor-Lhrúuŋðarr

The Ýmor-Lhrúuŋðarr (25003 to 24955 AYM) was the golden age of the Palïŋ-Lhrúuŋðarr, and the period in which the city of Ürhökk flourished the most. Being situated in the Amoŋot Desert, several rudimentary mines were set up to harvest the desert rock beneath their feet, which would be used for bartering in return for a wide variety of resources, including but not limited to, Yoži-Volën, Tdëtap, and the soils of the Plains. The Ürhökkians were also influenced to a large degree by the artistic style of the Lhrúuŋðians, which took advantage of the large amounts of resources at their disposal to create similarly-diverse structures. That tradition was followed to a limited extent within Ürhökk itself, although the inability of Yoži-Volën to grow in the desert rock itself did greatly limit what kinds of materials could be used in certain parts of buildings.

Because of the lack of walls, the city grew tremendously during the Ýmor-Lhrúuŋðarr, much more so than the confined Öšdúu. This was in part due to the ballooning of the population, as merchants and travelers alike came to live within the city, as was the norm in any settlement of the trading route. Due to the city having been substantially developed prior to the introduction of the trading route, these merchants generally built and lived in their own houses that formed several concentric rings around the entire city, leaving the interior of the city to the native inhabitants.

After the Ýmor-Lhrúuŋðarr

The First Harýšian War of 24955 AYM between Lrhúuŋðarr and their far eastern neighbors the Žötó-Harýš greatly damaged the trading route's reputation, and althought the conflict itself took place far away from the heart of the trading route, all parts of it were nevertheless affected. Almost at once, merchants began departing to return back to their own cities, and although limited trading did occur between Ürhökk and the Vanýst-Lhrúuŋðarr, this too eventually died out around 24940 AYM. With their main source of income and sustenance taken away, the Ürhökkians turned to their own devices, namely the mines established earlier, and greatly enlarged them such that they could sustain the still-burgeoning population.