Iootra (EYE oh trah)
the Cut Through the Mountains
Iootra, Iootra Valley, or Iootra Pass, is a vast mountain valley that travels through the heart of the Cutting Mountains, north and south. While the name is used in general for the entire pass through the mountains, it technically only refers to the wide vale lands around Lake Iootra at the passes center. The pass of Iootra is one of the few true passes through the mountains between Novyum in the north and Jerain to the south.
The pass has long been populated by Human settlements since at least the early Valmon Age. The Iootran people of the valley are deeply connected with the Dwarf of the surrounding mountains. That's not to say the Iootran have isolated themselves from the Heartlands and human civilizations. Rather they were largely ignored by the nations that rose and fell there. Iootran would bend the knee to whatever power reigned and then be forgotten by all but the merchants that would travel into the mountains to trade with the dwarves. In which case, the Iootran towns throughout the valley were the place for these travelers.
This status quo has changed in recent years, with the growing threat of the Gonthram privateers raiding the shipping lanes of the Criup Ocean. Iootra has grown as an important pass through the Cutting Mountains to keep the trade between Novyum and Southern Jerain open. The conflicts of the Novyum Civil War has shifted the fighting into the great mountain valley. With the risk to shipping on the Criup, every petty kingdom within reach of Iootra knows that whoever can control the valley will gain access to the wealthy Kingdom of Marras in the south. An edge most cannot pass. A sad twist of fate for the Iootran to be caught in a war that was not their own, that has quieted down in recent years throughout the rest of Novyum.
According to the Dwarves of the mountain, and legends across Novyum, the valley was formed in the early Kephic Age at the height of the dwarven empires power. At the time, if these stories are to be believed, the dwarves' technological knowledge, along with Elf Magic prowess were at a zenith. Working together they were able to rise mountains into the sky. Several of these mountains were cut from the region that is now Iootra, shaping the valley we see today.
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