Chol'um
Chol’um is the southernmost and most populous province of the Kalmasan Samraj on Kalmasa. It occupies most of the Dakshina peninsula and is bordered in the east by New Eshkar and in the northwest by @don. The north is bordered by the southern foothills of the Rirha Mountains.
Chol’um is the breadbasket of Kalmasa. The Dakshina peninsula, with its rolling plains, plentiful rains and rich soil provides much of the agricultural goods that supply the Kalmasan military forces. Its largest city is Mianej, on the southern tip of the peninsula.
The province was the second raj to be established in the pre-imperial period of the Eshtem expansion. Unlike the regions taken to create New Eshkar, Chol’um had a well established system of government. It was a close knit network of Chol'ul city-states, much like the region of Utanar from which the Eshtem had come.
The Eshtem conquered Chol’um with the aid of northern Chol'ul tribes and southern Apoxtec tribes, tributaries of the major city states to the south that had grievances with their rulers. They were taxed hard and were forced to fight in the frequent minor civil wars the Chol'ul nobility, who were mostly of Apoxtec origin, engaged in, in addition to becoming sacrifices if they ended up on the losing side.
Supplied with Eshtem steel and promises of land and rights, these peasants, many of them veterans, made it possible for the Eshtem forces, led by Lord Behnam bas Lajanem, to succeed. Many of the Chol'ul nobility were given over to the commoners for justice. Others fled as refugees by north into what remained of the kingdom of Apoxtlan in northeastern Kalmasa.
Following the directives of Gheran bas Arbiram, rajan of New Eshkar and High Priest of Evran, Lord Lajanem followed through with the promises made to the Calmaxtec forces who had fought with him, awarding land as well as positions of local authority. To the present, Chol’um is the most culturally and ethnically mixed of the Kalmasan provinces.
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