by Kris Kramer
On the Anzarin people…
The Anzarins were easily the most dominant race in the Lore Valley at this time. The Anzarin people settled mostly in two places - the harsh Halaraan Steppes in the southeast corner of the Lore, and on the fertile lands surrounding the Trin Lake in the southwest. It was the Anzarins of the Steppes that had the most influence, though.
These were the Anzarins who ruthlessly mined, purified and sold Mergoran crystals to the rest of the world, at exorbitantly high prices, mind you. The Clerics who ran each of the giant, walled Anzarin cities were wealthy, power-hungry, and corrupt, and spent their days enslaving more and more of their population for the crystal mines or for the ever popular Pits, underground arenas where slaves fought to the death.
The largest of the cities was Tyr, formerly called Eleril during the Trohman Domination. Tyr was built on the banks of the Mirken River, which allowed it an easy trading route to the Kirn and the Himmittes in the northern lowlands. Although each Anzarin city ran itself separately from the others, Tyr was the most populous, most wealthy, and most powerful, by far.