Transturby

Transturby
Autonomous starosty
Country	Rastovid Confederacy
Sphere of influence	Savam
Establishment	1959
Founded by	Congress of Kethpor
Capital	Petropoul
Government
• Starosta	XXXX

The Starosty of Transturby is one of the six autonomous provinces of the Rastovid Confederacy inhabited primarily by non-nomadic ethno-cultural groups, located at the interface between Inner Joriscia and Messenia. Petropoul is the province's capital.

Geography

It is located in the north-westernmost reaches of Inner Joriscia in Translacunia, roughly covering the eastern half of the Turby river basin (the western half is Savamese territory). The Turby empties into Lake Velic to the north-east of the city of Novigrad. The southern boundary of the province straddles the Lescomian Marshes, one of the remaining great wetlands of the eastern coastline of the Great Lakes. Small parts of the western watershed of the Sarantaporos river are also under Transturbian jurisdiction.

Geopolitics

Southern Transturby has historically been a major route between Messenia and the steppe, although smaller than the route that passed from Liski to the western coast of the Great Lakes in Cislacunia. The province was formed in 1959 at the Congress of Kethpor as part of the greater reorganisation of the Steppe. Similarly to its eastern neighbour New Elmiesia, it was a battleground between Savamese and Ceresoran interests for several centuries. Savamese interest in the region has existed since the Benovian War (1391-93), and the region was part of the struggles associated with the Ceresoran-Dordanian Rivalry as what was generally referred to as the "marches of Benovia", changing allegiance several times between Dordanie (later, Savam) and the Ceresoran Empire. Today, and since the Long War, it sits firmly within Savam's sphere of influence.

The region's political organisation also changed many times. Prior to the 1688 Gué-le-Château Treaty southern Transturby was largely directly controlled by the first Principality of Novigrad, while the rest was under the tutelage of the Principality of Benovia; central Transturby was a patchwork of small states, and the upper valley was controlled by the Marquis of Upper Transturby. After Gué-le-Château the Ceresorans remodelled the region and created two counties of Upper and Lower Transturby within the region as part of their sphere. When Benovia shifted into the Dordanian sphere after the Second Benovian War in 1728, the newly-elevated archprincipality annexed a significant part of the County of Lower Transturby, which was downgraded to a viscountcy; the County of Upper Transturby remained untouched.

The 1771 Blessed Conciliation redraw the region again: Benovia shrunk, loosing Novigrad to Ceresora proper, and returned to a neutral state; Lower Transturby was returned to its pre-1728 boundaries and elevated to a Marcher Duchy which ruled over vassals in Lescomia for the benefit of Cavino; finally, Upper Transturby self-elevated to a principality in the vein of those in neighbouring Transvechia. This situation lasted until the end of the Great Verborian War in 1867. Benovia was annexed by Savam and a small new principality was formed in Novigrad. There was some talk for a period about joining Upper Transturby to Transvechia, but this was eventually abandoned, and Transturby was partitioned into three principalities headed by Marcher Princes.

Less than thirty years later, when the Treaty of Ráth vastly reorganised the politics of the Old Sabāmanian Country, Transturby was not particularly affected, as Ceresora had been unable to secure any lasting progress on the ground against the Savamese forces commanded by Valentin d'Hoste-Labarre. Novigrad proper was once again annexed to Ceresora, and Ceresoran interests in Lescomia were consolidated, but Transturby remained largely inside the Savamese orbit, with the main change being that Lower Transturby and Petropoul, which the Ceresorans had occupied during the Embute War, became a client state of Ceresora instead of Savam. The three principalities were fused into the modern Starosty at Kethpor and placed under nominal Rastovid authority with the intent of neutralising them, but in effect, with Ceresora having collapsed completely, they came under immediate Savamese influence (especially as the Savamese army had taken control of Lower Transturby in the early 1950s, against its pledge at the 1944 Feijerpoort non-aggression agreement).

Demographics

As a legacy of this complex history, Transturby today has a diverse ethnic composition, with sabamicised West Secotes, Savamese, and Verborians being the three major ethno-cultural group settled there. West Secotes are considered indigenous to the area and are divided between the Marsh Secotes, mostly found in the south-west, and the Gorans. Historically, Elmiesian people colonised the region under the Neo-Messenian Empire, but most were pushed away by Sabamic migrants; small population remnants are found on the border with New Elmiesia. The legacy of this colonisation can still be seen in the Elmiesian roots of many towns' names in the area (e.g. Petropoul from Petropolis).

Verborians are the descendants from earlier waves of colonisations that occurred initially during the Secote Empire and culminated later in the mid-14^th to 15^th centuries in the aftermath of the Great Plague (some of those made they to the Transvechian state of Val d'Orran through the mountain passes in the upper valley).

From the 16^th century, Dordanie regularly sponsored the establishment of Savamese-populated settlements; such settlements were built in several waves, depending on the fortunes of Dordanian affairs further west. Those settlers formed the basis for the ethnic group called the Mégers, who have evolved into a separate ethnic group like the Kérates, although still recognised as part of the Savamese people. Post-1867 colonisation also saw an increased of Savamese settlers crossing the new border with Savam to settle on the eastern bank of the Turby; those settlers are generally not considered to be Mégers.