Zurians of the Ignacian-Zur War

C1 Zurian Half Elf
During the Ignacian-Zur War (3157-3160 a.a.H), after the defeat of the regular Republican Army in a quick four weeks campaign in 3157 a.a.H, the civilians would be key in supporting the guerrilla warfare that remnants of the Republican Army and partisans in the 3 years long campaign, providing supplies and covering them from the Ignacian authorities, and sometimes as well joining the fight. It will be because of this that later in the war, to finally crush the Zurian guerrillas, the Gastronomic Empire Authorities moved forcefully the population, creating internment camps, destroying crops, poisoning wells and pushing the "rebels" to areas without food and water, so starvation will kill them: these ruthless tactics will finally crush the zurian resistence.

C2 Corporal, Zurian Republic Army, Ignacian-Zur War
An Orc corporal of the Zurian Republic Army,  during the opening campaign of the Ignacian-Zur war. Equipped with a military jacket and hat, standard of the Republican Army, this rifleorc use as well civilian pants, footwear and a sash, as a normal zurian army fashion, along with a locally made munition pouches.

The Republican Army, due to the budget problems of Zur was limited to both in size and power, being limited much to their equipment to old colonial weapons from the Independence War, almost 80 years old. However, during the decade of 3150, due to the skirmishes between the Republican Army and Purpurian human militias -equiped and funded by the Gastronomic Empire-, Zur attempted a process of modernization of their army: However, this was too slow and too little to change the odds, when the modern Ignacian army attacked, quickly defeating Zur's underdeveloped military in battle.

By then, Zurian Army, endorsing the ideology of the First Republic of Zur of equallity of all inhabitants, was conformed by all the peoples of Zur -humans, kanovs, orcs, elves, beast-people-. While there wasn't any legal discrimination, most of the Zurian Army career officers where humans due to the easier access to the War Academy, followed by high elves officers, as was required a high scholarity to enter in the War Academy. Normally, the fierce -but uneducated- orcs only reached Non-commisisoned officer ranks.

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An Illustration taken from the book of the book Suadabria: Elven and Colonial armies of Southern Zarhuy (3050-3175 a.a.H), of Ossday Military Publishing serie Elf-at-Arms, by J. Starkloff and A. Wendler, printed in Anglasecuarnia, 3293 a.a.H.

Zur is located in the south of Zarhuy, in the region of Gronkav, limitating to the north to Uneghe, to the northeast to the Zher lake and to the east to Vanilion.

Gronkav, craddle of the orcs, was in Aiers before the Apparition of Humanity an orc territory, where roamed the Gronkav orcs -closely related to the Kaiehm orcs, rather than the antorian giant orcs of the plains-. Their hegemony on the territory will be only disputed during the High Elven imperialism by the high elves, who tried to settle colonies, and long orc-elf wars will be fought, wars that ended during the Age of Invasions with the expulsion of the High Elves -and the settlement of some beast-peoples, pushed from Antor and the Saahdons into this territory.

It will remain a tribal orc territory, until during the Second Coming of Darkness, the Caliphate of the Orange Sun of Blazakhov, to extend the range of their trade routes settled armed trade points and ports in the shores of it, slowly extending their influence to the interior, reaching the Zher Lake, trading with human Buntu, dwarves of the Stiel mountains and elves. Because of the economic interests, to reach these trade routes without paying taxes to the orc tribes, the human Buntu advanced, founding a serie of small kingdoms near the Blazakhovian colonies to trade.

As well, for trading interests, groups of elves and dwarves migrated to the Buntu kingdoms and the Blazakhovian trading posts, at least until the Third War of the Power: then, the orc tribes, supported by the Beast Peoples, rised in arms agains the Orange Sun and the Buntu kingdoms, and while they will be finally defeated and pushed further into the interior, the Cataclysm would mean the end of the Blazakhovian sphere of influence in Gronkav:

And with the dessaparition of the Blazakhovian trade, the Buntu kingdoms will as well decay, which will leave the region open to Aelian colonialism.

The city of Zur was founded as a factory for trade by Purpurian traders at the 3008 a.a.H, existing as well trade centers of other aelian powers, as Degoland and Juanpableiro. However, will be only during the 3030's when the purpurian will advance further inland. When was declared the protectorade of Zur by the Calintropian Empire of the Purpurian at 3048, it was only to formalize in the international comunity the de-facto power held by the purpurians on Zur.

Demography of Zur
In the time of the Calintropian colonial rule of Zur, the population was divided in about 60% human and 40% non-human, and so was at the beginning of the First Zur Republic: but human demographic expansion and arrival of new settlers will change the proportions to up 75% of humans.

The largest human ethnic group where the Buntu, a zarhuycan ethnic group, with other zarhuycan minorities. There where as well the aelian human minorities, the former colonial rulers (calintropian and other aelian, and during the First Republic, a second aelian minority of ignacian), and the kanov, remnants of the Blazakhovian presence. Among the non-humans, the most populous grops where the Gronkav orc tribes. While numerous, they where isolationist and inland, and didn't shared much with the other ethnic groups. Followed the Loranor Beast-People, of the Hanasese and Zuhu. The third largest non-human ethnic group was the wild elves, and finally there where vanili high elves and Stiel dwarves.

Due centuries of a mixed comunity, there where as well numerous population with mixed ancestors, and even many non-humans considered so, had important human heritance.

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