Azhara

Azhara (Elyrian:, Azhara, , officially the Urban Region of Azhara, is a region and the de facto capital city of Ichoria.

The modern-day Urban Region has its origins in the previous Urban Authority of Azhara, the governing body of the Azhara metropolitan area established with the administrative reforms of 1541. The urban authority existed within the wider region of Great Azhara, making up one third of its population and around one sixth of its area. Over the following decades, however, the trend for, , and combined to make Azhara one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Its spread far outside the boundaries of the Urban Authority, particularly south of the Ydos estuary, strengthening the demographic hold of the city over regional politics.

The 60s and 70s saw a continuous arm-wrestle between Governor and Prefect, coupled with growing protest by citizens from the region's rural fringe over what they termed a "tyranny-by-majority" of the urban areas. The issue came to a vote in 1579, in a region-wide referendum that passed by a wide margin. Two years later, in 1581, Great Azhara was partitioned into the modern-day Urban Region of Azhara, descended from the prior Urban Authority with roughly expanded borders, and the Region of Outer Azhara.