Üngedsän

The **Üngedsän** (Yonkastic for "high plain") is an endorheic basin high in the mountains of southern Gimp Island. It is the only such basin on the island and is so isolated that the native inhabitants of the basin speak their own Gimpic language, known as Ungedsian (Yonkastic: Üngamäthon, Ungedsian: Mathengkong). Furthermore, the native Ungedsians (Yonkastic: Üngedsalithke, Ungedsian: Yon) are fiercely independent and only acceded to the Yonkage when they were cajoled into doing so by Yonkastic military forces. The region is sparsely populated and operates as an autonomous region within the Yonkage.

## Geography

The Üngedsän occupies an area of roughly 40 square miles high in the mountains that form the border between the Yonkage and Kawanda. Surrounded by mountains averaging 12,000 feet above sea level, the plateau itself stands at an elevation of around 8,500 feet and is walled in by sheer cliffs. The only pass into the basin is a treacherous route leading up into the mountains from the head of Lake Kälüsteweth at the head of the Käl river valley.

## Climate

The topography of the Yonkage funnels all water vapor rising from the Pacific into the river valleys, where it rains down on mountain slopes and passes into lakes and rivers on the western side of the mountains. As it lies behind those mountains, the Üngedsän is extremely arid and inhospitable, with less than 30 millimeters of rain in an average year. Floods do occur and precipitate ephemeral ponds, but this is rare and happens once or twice in any given decade.

Temperatures in the Üngedsän are moderated by altitude and rarely exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit or dip below 30 degrees. Cloud cover is largely absent throughout the year and the University of Kelänsen maintains the only observatory in the Yonkage on the eastern rim to take advantage of the absence of significant light pollution.

## Ecology

The Üngedsän is the only true desert on Gimp Island and as a result has very high levels of endemism. Over 80% of its species are found nowhere else in the world and another 10% are only found elsewhere on Gimp Island. Important species include a few species of cacti, a shrimp that lives in ephemeral ponds, and a subspecies of the kit fox.

## Human Presence

The Üngedsän is home to a permanent population of around a hundred people, all of them native speakers of Ungedsian and very few of them so much as conversational in Yonkastic. They live as hunter-gatherers in small family groups with some elements of agriculture, mainly comprised of engineering the environment such that more cacti, their main food source, are present.

The environment of the Üngedsän confers physiological advantages on the Ungedsians, especially with regards to endurance. The average Ungedsian is also adapted to lower intakes of food and water than other Gimp Islanders.

# History

Owing to its oxygen-poor atmosphere, aridity, and inaccessibility, the Üngedsän never supported agriculture of any kind, much less permanent towns or cities. Despite this, the region has been continuously inhabited for more than two thousand years and hosted a flourishing hunter-gatherer culture until it was conquered by the Kingdom of Üthelküch in the early sixteenth century. At that point it was placed under the direct control of the king in Kelänsen and exploited for its salt reserves, a fate that it was consigned to until the Kingdom collapsed in the late seventeenth century.

The occupying European powers were content to occupy the Yonkage proper and ignored the Üngedsän. A conference of chiefs held in 1705 agreed on a writing system for the Ungedsian language that was based on the Latin alphabet. The conference also set up a capital city in the center of the Üngedsän, although the city, known as Gādengkong (Ungedsian for "Mountain City"), was more a perennial collection of tents than a permanent settlement. The newly-established Ungedsian Confederacy was recognized by the occupying powers and existed for the next 250 years.

After the Yonkage won its independence, its attention immediately turned to the Ungedsän, which had done nothing to aid the revolutionaries and occupied a key position on the Yonkage-Kawanda border. The Fourth Congress consequently passed a unanimous resolution to annex the region and the Ungedsian Confederacy acceded to the Yonkage on June 17, 1952 after its leaders were held at gunpoint by Yonkastic military forces.

Soon after the area was annexed and placed under the direct control of Congress, an organized resistance sprung up and began attacking government forces. After multiple failed counterinsurgency campaigns, Congress granted autonomy to the Üngedsän in 1989, a status it maintains to this day.

# Politics

The Üngedsän Autonomous Region has a single voting representative in Congress that was apportioned in perpetuity to the region as part of the 1989 agreement. The region is not included in the districting system and is not a part of any constituency.

The Yonkastic government is obligated to provide food and healthcare to the Ungedsians when they request it, which has not happened so far. In general, the national government leaves the Ungedsians to their own devices, provided that they allow the government to use their territory for research and defense purposes.

The Üngedsän's Congressional representative has been an independent for the last five election cycles and generally abstains on most domestic resolutions. Over 80% of the region's population is content with being a part of the Yonkage, while most of the rest would prefer to be independent.