Kotaka
| |
| Motto: For the purity of the homeland | |
| National Anthem: Aria Aeronautica | |
| Region | Sudeki |
|---|---|
| Capital | Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Official Language(s) | Japanese, English, Kotaku |
| Government | Democratic Monarchy |
| - Head Of State | Princess Konoko Kawasaki |
| - Prime Minister | Letitia Koizumi |
| - Foreign Ministry (Diplomacy, War, Intel) | Selene Rutherford |
| - Interior Ministry | Charles Winston |
| - Economy Ministry | William Johnston |
| Area | |
| - Total | 84,889 sq mi (219,887 km²) |
| - % water | 3,25 |
| Population | 265 million, growing |
| Currency | Jade Circle (JDC)
|
| Timezone | -7 |
| - Summer (DST) | -6 |
| Internet TLD | .ktk |
| Calling code | +919
|
| ISO Code | KOTA
|
| NS Sunset XML | |
The nation of Kotaka (Japanese for Falcon) is a tiny nation once in Taijitu and now residing in Sudeki. It is based off Japanese otaku culture and it is growwing rapidly. It is dedicated to renaturing the land.
Contents
Histroy
The Republic of Kotaka was founded in the irradiated wastelands of the Middle West left by the Nuclear Holocaust during Alternative World War 2. It is one of the small and independant Communties of the group of communities commonly referred to as the Independant Midwest, buffer states between Aurono and German North America, better known as Hatomia, in the eastern USA. Originally, it was founded by settlers of both american and japanese descent who arrived from Aurono, but also other communities in the area, to return the wastelands to nature. The nation lies in what is Utah today, and its capital is Salt Lake City. The unique geographic situation of the city helped the people to survive the nuclear outfall pretty unharmed: The Wasatch Range on one side, blocking most winds carrying radioactive outfall, and the Salt Lake on the other, cleaning the air (though it has become more of an acid lake since). However, there was another faction in the endless wasteland: The Crysalis People. After the nuclear holocaust, american scientist Doctor Kerr and japanese scientist Doctor Hasegawa had fled from Aurono, which was still an Imperial Japanese Military Protectorate at the time, to the deserts, were they did research to find a way to protect humans from the deadly radiation. What they found was the Crysalis – a cluster of cells from an hyper-evolved clone of a person, that could be implanted and "when the host body experiences stress or harm, it grows to replace or reinforce the damaged systems". Few people were augmented that way, but those that were soon became the strongest creatures in the wastes, being able to wander for days without having to rest, drink foul water and breath irradiated air. But upon the final stage of their evolution, when the Crysalis had replaced all of their bodies systems, their final form would be an expression of their true nature. Many mutated into awful monsters, because it needed great spiritual power to control the symbiote. Native americans used shaman techniques to use their powers for the benefit of the nature, and thus, the Merfolk and Birdfolk were created. Historically, Kotaka was founded by Princess Nausicaae. At first, the nation was still competing with the Crysalis symbiotes to survive the outfall. But peace was soon made and the Crysalis-bearers were incorporated into the population of Kotaka.
Under the rule of Nausicaae, Kotaka was able to refertilize many of the abandoned areas. She lived for a very long time and died at the age of almost 120.
The monarchy continued, and the rule of PRincess Nausicaae was followed by the rule of Princess Sheeta. Then followed the reing of Empress Mika.
The Founding, 1964
The territory that used to be Kotaka was the former state of Utah. It was attacked and destroyed, but not occupied, when the Japanese invaded the west coast. During the the 1950's, both the German Empire and Imperial Japan used nuclear weapons on the American Midwest to purge what was claimed to be remainders of organized US forces in possession of at least one nuclear bomb. The midwest was turned into a radioactive dustbowl and Utah suffered from major damage through radioactive fallout, though the Wasatch Range, as detalied below in the section on geography, kept the nation from total devastation.
In the 1960's, about at the same time when Eastasia had been officially proclaimed, remaining human populations and Symbiotes formed the nation of Kotaka.
1970's - 1980's
1990's – 2000's
Climate
The most prominent meteorological phenomenon in Kotaka is the Kamikaze. This is totally unrelated to japanese military strategies – "Kami" are the gods of the japanese Shinto faith, and "kaze" means "wind", so the term means about "Wind of The Gods". The "Wind of The Gods" is the constant airstream that blows from the Western Seaboard, is caught along the Wasatch Range and canalized through the "Valley of The Wind", in which Salt Lake City lies, thus keeping the city and the whole nation protected from the outfall in the Independant Midwest beyond the Rocky Mountains, which would otherwise constantly drift eastwards, destroying Kotaka and force its people back into a nomadic society like American Freedom Fighters' communities. To the present day, the Kamikaze has blown every single day in the nation's history, and should it one day stop to blow, the results would be catastrophic for Kotaka.
Culture
Kotaka is based hevily on Japanese culture. It is a colorful country that is tolerant towards foreign culture. Just like Japan, Kotaka is in love with all kinds of technilogical achievements. From a very young age onwards, the children of Kotaka learn to fly with personal gliders, called "Mehve".
Before the government of Kotaka became a consitutional monarchy, it became a tradition of the various royalties of the nation to build public bathing houses all over the cuntry to buy the approval of the people. Therefore, visiting such a public bathing house remained a popular free time activity to Kotakians after the change of government, and both young and old enjoy a visit in these facilities, which is especially relaxing in the cold winter time, when you can take a hot bath outside, surrounded by heaps of snow.
The people of Kotaka can be divided in three diferent main speicies: Humans, Aquatic Elves and Winged Elves. Humans live in most of the nation except for the rough mountin areas in the west of the nation, were only few human settlers decided to built their towns. Aquatic Elves, which are also called Merfolk, are elves that live under the blue seas that have been created by purifying the waters of Salt Lake. They can breath water just as easy as any seaborn speicies and live in freindship with Kotakan humans. They can have skin colors ranging from normal human colors to blue and green and their hair is often dark green. They have gills and can surivive outside the water for a very limited time only without aid, because they cannot breathe air. Winged Elves, or Faeri, or Birdfolk, are a third species. They live in the mountainous regions, that are hard to travel. Winged Elves are a species of winged humanoids, that can fly and thus travel with ease to any location in Kotaka. The Birdfolk gave Kotaku its name, because when the first human settlers set foot on the nation, they saw in the sky several Winged Elves, and, seeing them against the sunlight, mistook them for very large falcons. So the nation was called Kotaka, which means Falcon. The Merfolk and Birdfolk are both types of Crysalis People who originated from Native Americans. Many othe Non-Humans can be found as well, such as Catgirls or Foxgirls, but these three are by far the largest groups. Today, the species are not so seperated anymore, and members of any species can be found anywere in Kotaka.
The preferred method of transportation in Kotaka are airships. Major airship routes connect the various mountain cities which are difficult to reach on land, as well as the settlements on the plains, and also connect the nation to Aurono in the west, where they use Aurono's only airship haven in the capital city of Aurona. The largest airship companies are Ohka Airlines, Kotaka Wings and Sakura AirLift, but they are not too large, since Kotaka is a small nation. However, rumours have been heared that airship routes are to be established to places as far as Xanadou, considering the recent alliance of the two regions Sudeki and Xanadou. In fact, airships and the feeling attached to the theme are loved so much that the everyday clothing people in Kotaka wear is heavily influenced by the appearance of aircrew uniforms and pilot clothing.
Besides the airships, there is also a large railway system, large parts of which are underground, connecting the various cities, especially in the mountains,were this train tunnels are also used by Kotaka's sprawling mine industry that has perforated most parts of the mountain range in its search for scarce raw materials.
If you take a job in Kotaka, you are most likely to end up working with wind, or machines. Many people work in the airship industry or are airship crew. Others work in the Water Plants, which process the water of the Salt Lake so it can be used for Kotaka's public bathin houses and the multiple other places water is needed.
Government
Although Kotaka is a monarchy, the king or queen are always democratically elected for a lifetime, making the nation the second nation to be mentioned to feature democratically elected monarchs (the other one being Gwenstefani). This is similar to many tribal communities, were the community picks a leader. Since Kotaka evolved from a neo-tribal society in the wastes, this political situation is only logical. Still, it is common for the offspring of a current leader to receive much public support in the election run for the next leader. Upon the death or incapacitation of the king or queen, the community gathers and holds free and open elections. The monarch, once in power, has almost absolute power. He only asnwers to the nation's constitution and his own ethics. He can elect and fire ministers. Usually, the people of Kotaka make the right choice, and their leader is unopressive and gives the people a lot of freedom both in their personal lives and the economy.
Geography & Nature
Salt Lake City
The official capital of the Miyazaki Aeronautic Democratic Kingdom of Kotaka. Salt Lake City was a large city before the Nuclear Holocaust, and the unique geographic sitatuion of the city kept it inhabitable even after most of the land around it had become an infertile wasteland. The larger area in which the city lies, from the Salt Lake in the west to the wasteland east of the Wasatch Range, is reffered to as "Kaze no Tani", literally "Valley of The Wind", to refer to the winds which blow from the Western Seabord, are redirected by the Wasatch Range to blow through this valley and ultimately keep Salt Lake City safe from the nuclear fallout and radiation east of the Wasatch Range and the Rocky Mountains. Further east, the Rockies block winds blowing radiation from the east. In the center of the the construction site of the Utah Olympic Park, which had been intended for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the mysterious 0 has been sealed in, frozen to 0° kelvin, underneath a plate made of lead , weighting several tons, and reading "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Latin: Faster, Higher Stronger), the Olympic motto.
Salt Lake
The water of the lake is processed and fills the many bathing houses of Kotaka. Some also use salt water, which is said to be very healthy. The more precious drinking water however is pumped up from extremely deep wells and underground water caverns.
Great Salt Lake
A dried-up salt lake that was much larger than the Salt Lake left today. The strange monster Abadon lives here. The area is home to several other species of mutants and monsters as well: Leftys, Rightys, Vysages, Mesmerizes, Malboros, Hexadragons, Caterchipillars, Glacial Eyes, Gaylas and Bite Bugs all live here, but most frightening is certainly Abadon. A very creepy place that most people don't travel to, except for archeologists and hunters. Public transport is relatively safe over the region, because it relies on airship shuttle services rather than ground transport. A huge submergable missile launch platform is left to rust in the center of this area. It was a military installation in earler days, before the US collapsed.
Kaze no Venice
(Main Article: Wind's Venice)
Literally translated, means "Venice of The Wind", a large floating island colony and the pride of Kotaka's airship-wrights. At times, up to 25,000 people live on Wind's Venice, mostly tourists, and 5,000 live there constantly. Wind's Venice received its name because it floats in the clouds like Venice in the water (although it doesn't need support pillars to connect it to the ground anymore, these were only needed during contruction). The city is built incorporating many stylistic elemenst from ancient cultures, such as Greek, Chinese, Roman, Egyptian, Baylonian and Indian, but has also been influenced by Native American and of course Japanese cultural elements.
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range is Kotaka's eastern territory. Few cities are located here, mostly mining towns. Airship routes connect the mountain area with Salt Lake City and the western parts of Aurono. Mines and subterranean shelters from the time of Wold War 2 and the influenza pandemia are located here and are incorporated into the mining industry, which is a dominant industrail sector, and the towns. Also, Kotaka's airship industry is located here, were airships have a far lesser distance to cross when returning from the stratosphere to the airship docks. The mountain range is essential for the Kamikaze to form, thus ensuring Kotaka is protected from the outfall to the east. The mountains are the territory of the Faeri tribe, a tribe of Crysalis People. The climate in this area is unique: While in the mountains, it can be so cold snow can form, it is still very mild in lower regions, so you can enjoy snowfall and sunshine at once, like the girl on the picture, who wears nothing but a thin dress. Earthqakes and storms are a big threat to the Kotakan cities in the mountains. While hefty storms force the population to retreat into underground shelters inside the mountain ranges, earthquakes put a risk to the massive mountain compounds themselves.
International Relations
Kotaka is firmly allied with Aurono, forming a core part of the regional diplomatic network. However, controversy arose when Kotaka, like many others, opposed Aurono's Nuclear Weapins Project. But relation improved again under the reign of Princess Momoko Aurelia Hanasaki, who abandoned the project. Today, Princess Mika of Kotaka and Princess Momoko of Aurono are close friends, despite their difference in age. Kotaka was once a member of the region Independant Midwest, but left the region to align itself with Aurono when disputes arose about the terrorist attacks carried out by The Militiamen of American Freedom Fighters against Aurono.
