Voronezh (duchy)

Part of the Grand Duchy of Moscovy, the Duchy of Voronezh was organized in recent history as a bulwark against incursions by cossacks and Turks, each of whom have used the Don Valley as a means to attack into the grand duchy's heartland. For this purpose, the citadel in Voronezh has been built as a fortress that occupies the top of a hill three hundred feet above the river. The region is a critical communications link with Tsaritsyn and Saratov in the east.

The duchy has a total area of 62 hexes, with a density of 408 persons per hex, making the region thinly populated. It is bordered on the south by The Don Cossacks and the Sanjak of Cumana (Donbass); on the west by Kursk and Orel; on the north by Tula and Tambov; on the east by the Jagatai Empire (Uvaria & Volkstan); and on the southeast by Tsaritsyn. It has a population of 26,316.

History

An original settlement founded on the site of Voronezh in the 12th century. Part of the Kiyevan Rus, this was destroyed by the Mongols in the 1240s, during which time many of the regions inhabitants were scattered or killed. The region became occupied by orcish herders and hunting tribes until Theodora of Tula conquered the upper Don in 1569, reversing Russia's defeat by the Ottoman Sokulla Mehmet the year before. Voronezh would be refounded in 1585 and the territory declared a duchy by the Russian oligarchy in 1601. Settlement would rise in the 1620s and 30s as the region became stabilized.

Following a series of skirmishes between Voronezh and the orcs of Volkstan, a ninety-mile length of the Khoper River was occupied by Russians and the small station of Borisoglebsk founded in 1646. Since, it has rapidly become an important caravan gathering in the summers, where the population swells to nearly that of Voronezh.

Population

Production

There are two market cities within the duchy: Voronezh and Borisoglebsk.

Voronezh is a river port on the Voronezh River above its outflow into the Don River. It trades principally with Pereslavl-Ryazan on the Oka River to the north, with Borisoglebsk on the east and down the course of the Don River to the transshipment point at Kremenskaya in Tsaritsyn. The river port at Korotoyak enables connections with Kursk, Cumana and Kiyev in the west.

References for local goods in Voronezh are as follows:

Borisoglebsk trades with both the Jagatai Empire and down river to Kremenskaya on the Don River. Most other trade passes through Voronezh on the west.

References for local goods in Borisoglebsk are as follows:

See sheet map D 04 - Don & Volga Rivers.

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