Along with Acirma, Aztara is one of the two islands in the far western corner of the Southern Alliance. Together, the two are more properly described as a single island with a massive, misty canyon a little over two Kio across dividing them known as the Agraeran Divide. However, due to the different governing systems, varied environments, and because of old traditions, the two are counted as two different and independent islands.
Aztara is found to the north of its sister, and is slightly larger than it. In turn, Acirma is slightly larger than Yheyn to the south. Unlike its sister, which is still a highly volanic locale, Aztara is quite calm, with only a single line of volcanic islands covering some ten percent and going along the western coast, which is mostly pointless locations anyways. The island also has a good amount of flatland, but it only stretches a few Kio inland near the chasm, with the distance becoming lower as it stretches east and then turns north.
Most of Aztara is covered instead with a huge, steaming jungle filled with numerous vicious and highly dangerous Rahi that all too often venture from the jungles and wander into Matoran villages, sneaking into houses during the middle of the night and pulling villagers out of their own homes.
For that reason, Aztara is not a place many people would like to live. It is the least populated island in the alliance, having less than twenty thousand inhabitants, all living in walled off, coastal villages to protect themselves from the beasts of the night. There are also only two Toa teams from the Council and Order (one of each) across the entire island to protect them from its many threats, and not many city guards besides them for support. Most of these guards are, in fact, garrisoned soldiers from the Southern Alliance.
Of course, that's not the limit of Toa. Aztara is notorious for being home to rogue Toa, who flee into the jungles and risk the Rahi rather than trying to deal with the Council or Order. In past incidents, some of these Toa have even gathered tribal groups of Matoran who hide out in the jungle to them and served as god figures for a time, and one incident recalls a Toa of Plant Life using a Mask of Rahi Control eventually mentally eroding enough to believe himself an actual god, and using his Rahi and tribal armies to lay siege to the coastal towns, killing hundreds within a matter of days before he was killed with an arrow and the tribes and beasts disbanded
Aztara, much like its sister to the south, has a high population of Le-, and Ga-Matoran, though the Ta-Matoran are replaced with Matoran of Plant Life. The diversity here is much lower, as is the population of other species, with few wishing to live here unless they absolutely have to. Thus, a number of these port cities are also havens to criminals, and the stereotypical Steltian crime lord is not an unknown sight.
The leaders of the island are the Mayors of each small city, with the largest originally having the Grand Mayor. However, he has now taken the name of Governor. He, like the Governor of Wulfath, rarely home on the island, instead preferring to spend time on Everok whenever possible to get away from Aztara's many problems.