Zelkova country


 * "One Blood"

When the golden age of aura came to its end, the lands who focused on preserving its marvel would become the greatest reminders of what the world was once like. The zelkova country is one such land, green all over from the aura running deep through its earths, and characterized by its proud forests all over and its great peaks to the south. "The past glory of the ones who walked this land before must be upheld and pave the way for what is to come": the importance of history has lead to a sentiment of ancestral importance among the culture of the people of the zelkova country, who have proudly revered their roots as one people in the form of tradition for hundreds of years.

=Overview=

Origin
Though the original mythos has been long lost, and things such as names and specifics are unclear, this is the most common abridged version.

It is thought that at the very beginning, the zelkova country was always dark, no matter the time. It was a no man's land, full of monsters. It is said that two beings known as the founders of the zelkova country, often attributed as eikons, saw mankind's blight and were filled with sympathy for the beings that had come about because of the age of creation. Taking responsibility for them and naming them as their children, they sacrificed themselves in a great explosion of aura so that dawn might come again and the lands would become prosperous. When the light faded, there were only traces left of the monsters that plagued the island.

It is these two parents of the zelkova country who gave rise to the importance of history and lineage among its people as their root, regardless of great race or appearance. Since then, their so-called descendants went on to create new lines and branches in the form of countless families, from which more only spread. It is this that lead to their name - the zelkova country, like one of the great zelkova trees that forest their land. The importance of family would become a core value among the people of the zelkova country, but they would always remain united at their great root - one country, one blood.

General history
The zelkova country has historically been made up of countless villages and their respective families. With cultural variance being inevitable, however, there have likewise always been outcasts. Outlaws, troublemakers, and loners are sometimes a product that have been pushed to the wayside by zelkovan culture, and are more common in some villages than others.

Occurrences like this would eventually lead to bandits and mountain thieves. This in turn gave way to warriors, common men who picked up arms to valiantly defend their homes, and so rose the cultural importance of defending one's home. The protection of unsavory things from happening to one's home, village, or country, became so widespread that it eventually resulted in the creation of the shogunate, the old country's leadership made up of these stalwart defenders. It was a military government, similar to some other places in Terra, but it differed in that it was formed to protect, with great emphasis being put on authority coming from ability to defend.

Families
As it is so strongly characterized by families, certain lineages in the zelkova country naturally came to be more prominent than others. These were referred to as the great families, and were often typified by their occupations like many other families.

In recent times, history is not as well recorded, and a lot of families and clans have lost their prestige, with some disappearing entirely. In addition, the fact that a surname is an open identifier has lead to fears of Yue suppression, leading many Zelkovans who still live in the country to drop their surname entirely or adopt pseudonyms.

The following list is non-exhaustive, feel free to add.


 * Shonan clan: Though not all of the shogunate's men came from a family, a large amount of its soldiers were proud to hail from the militaristic Shonan clan based in the south region, primarily in Sodeyama. With a countless amount of branch families, the energetic and prideful Shonan clan was seen as anything from noble warriors which supplied the shogun's armies with healthy men to a clan of uneducated fighters from the mountains. However, in recent times, the Shonan clan was host to chaos like many other families, and much of its numbers would fight and perish during the bloodshed age. Today, only remnants remain, but the legacy of the Shonan clan is carried on in spirit by the Shonan rebellion.


 * The summoner families: Where-ever shrines and temples have been established, it is safe to say the summoners have had some degree of power. Temples, while common all over, are primarily concentrated in the east, with a lesser population existing to the south - so in Amakehata and Sodeyama. They are not so much one great clan as they are an alliance of the summoner families. Commonly weak pacifists, they are easily the most cultured and learned of the great clans, but the worst fighters. High aristocrats and scholars, the summoners encourage lives spent in service and duty, having often lent their powers to villages or the shogunate, or enshrining themselves in deep isolation in their temples.


 * Kanata-Nagi clan: Peaceful fishermen and farmer clans respectively who were once united at the heads by marriage. Kanata's lands were based in the east region with Nagi falling in its territory between Kanata and Sodeyama. The clan leaders, Kanata's of which was known to be a notorious coward, attempted diplomacy with Yue and ended up "peacefully surrendering" their territory, some of which wasn't even really theirs but belonged to distant branch families, creating the province of Kanata. The clans have since diminished to the point where they no longer hold influence, due to the Yue occupation.

=Culture=

Zelkovan people
The term zelkovan people encompasses several distinct subsets of ethnic groups native to the zelkova country, but is generally used to refer to all of its native people in general. Though there are differences from clan line to clan line and from region to region, each equally proud of their minute differences, generally one overarching set of cultural ideals shapes the society.

More than anything, just like the tree their lands are named after, zelkovan people take great pride in their roots. Zelkovans value history almost as much as family, and both have a great deal to do with how connections and relationships are formed in the society. Many descendants have a ledger of their ancestors' chronicles, and old zelkovans especially will not hesitate to tell you in detail which family their family was fighting for during this-and-that civil war six-hundred-years ago, who won, and how. Particularly, those with an unclear or dubious background will have a rough time getting by. On the other hand, those who can clearly trace back their family line might just have hundreds of distant, distant relatives lining up just waiting to be their ally.

Because those with uncertain origins, such as foundlings or the illegitimate, may have a rough time in the society, there are often instances where adoption is common, even at later stages in life. Notably, this can go vice-versa, for people who do not have a legacy. When a name is placed into the family record, it represents an incredibly great honor for the person. For example, a great artisan may put his parentless apprentice on his family record, which may symbolize a number of things. In another instance, a famous zelkovan theatre play (The Tale of Fumei-no-Mi) details the barren main character taking in her deceased husband's illegitimate son after she has been widowed. This classic is extremely popular, and is considered by many to align with the prototypical zelkovan image of the ideal wife.

A fear of the unknown contributes greatly to the mass shunning of foundlings and outcasts. Family is deeply linked to trust and closeness in zelkovan society, and the concept of strangers tends to go over very poorly in most villages. Even young children can be harassed if their legitimacy is perceived to be unclear.

The zelkovan ideal of strength is somewhat unique to the world. Zelkovans have much fighting spirit, but the reason of being strong is different. In classic literature, the most noble warriors are perceived to be those who become strong to defend, and evil as those who become strong in order to kill or defeat. Protection is the most valorous reason for a pursuit of strength in the zelkovan society, and this ideal shaped the former military government (shogunate) for centuries until its disassembly. "The strong is able to make his family feel safe and at ease."

(WIP)

=Bloodshed Age= An age of endless war spurred by the steely onslaught of a young empire would fracture the country to pieces. Such is called the Bloodshed Age, tied with the fall of the proud zelkova country's traditions and land, which under the imperial flag would come to be known as Jiusyu.

Beginning
It was not until the year A.T. 970 when tensions began: aggression from the quickly expanding Yue Empire truly began to rear its head, only twenty years after the empire's founding. With a growing need for resources for its rapidly growing armies and land, the empire took interest in the smaller island's reputation for its aura-rich lands. With unprecedented expertise in the field of aurite technology, it demonstrated a threat of warfare the likes of which the zelkova country had never seen before, with enormous war machines powered by mighty steel engines. The event that marks the beginning of the Bloodshed Age was to be the Fall of the Shogunate thirty years ago.

In the second moon of 977, the shogun was assassinated. Without one leader to unite its defenders, the country's stalwart warriors suddenly found themselves at odds, especially under the looming eastward threat. Personal greed began to leak through the loyalty and unity of the zelkovan people, and at once the country's people were thrown into chaos. Accusations thrown at other clans of having killed the shogun resulted in sudden blood feud death matches. Land disputes started series upon series of skirmishes. The shogunate's armies fell to pieces, resulting in waves of wandering ronin across the land.

Yue occupation
While all of this was happening, Yue Imperial forces had already started to slowly approach from the east, with imperial troops establishing their presence in small village after small village, one by one. Zelkovans, many of which were simple, peaceful people, were told that they were now under governance by the Yue Empire, and anyone who took up arms against their new nation would be subdued - with all of their fates... to be unequivocally unkind.

Not long after the troops followed the war machines. Yue Machina's Arms Frames cut steel silhouettes through the natural stillness of the zelkova country, sending birds scattering with their tremendous footsteps. Able to raze forests to the ground and lay down tracks of their steel rails in moments, they would drop from the sky to take side at the soldiers as vanguards, and threatening anyone who dared to compromise the establishment of their steelyards - from which railways began to spread across the island from the east, intent on building towards the center. And as they did, so did the Yue troops.

Struggles were widespread across the country, with countless lives being trampled underfoot the imperial occupation as it laid claim to the land. Culture was killed. People were lost. Many perished, were subject to "disappearance", or fled the country entirely; with many seeking shelter as refugees on Ossyran ships and shores. Those who peacefully surrendered to Yue Empire and appraised, with those who were deemed not likely to cause problems able to become new citizens of the empire's reach. Today, imperial occupation is widespread and contests many of the ongoing territorial disputes, intent to deliver all of the country under its might.

Establishment of Zhou
As Yue Machina railways were built spanning coast to coast that connected the shores of Jiusyu and Nanyue, the need for a central junction that would branch to all other places arose. Deeming the thick forestry of central Jiusyu unsuitable for this purpose, Yue troops and Arms Frames occupied the center of the island and began to raze the earth flat, resulting in unprecedented destruction - not only in the center but in swaths of land that surrounded it. The series of struggles that arose from its establishment were considered a turning point in the war for Yue, and by the end of it, the depleted forces of Yue's opponents were unable to halt the construction.

From the remains of the island's heart arose the great steelyard that was first known as Zhou Junction, and then came its establishment as the new capital, the imperial city of Zhou, in 982. Built first to the cater to the maintenance of its machina, a sprawling city would follow, rebuilt on the remains by Yue Imperials. For those who were content; or if not content, otherwise able to live within new imperial borders, Zhou was the best chance at normality. Imperial resources fostered an era of relative peace and development within Zhou, powered by flourishing technology and industry, and even people of the zelkova country could live there, so long as they were willing to bend to the laws of the Yue Empire. In a country torn by civil war and foreign occupation, the empire offered numerous benefits such as shelter, the most comprehensive transportation, medical and educational services, etc. Like many other provisional imperial territories, it is governed by a viceroy and their host of bureaucracy and corruption that often comes along, and it is said that the Viceroy of Zhou's men are particularly brutish.

Dawn's Fall
Also known as Amakehata's fall, Dawn's Fall refers to the violent recapture of eastern territory by Yue forces, and for many has become synonymous with an age of suppression of zelkovan culture and tradition. In the establishment of the railroads starting at the east and leading westward, Amakehata, or East Jiusyu, was a hot spot of contention between Yue forces and dissenters, but quickly became subject to Yue occupation. However, in 985, Amakehata was retaken by Shonan forces from the south, the picture of the new rebellion, and endured ephemeral peace as a Shonan territory.

Then came Dawn's Fall in A.T. 996. Yue distracted the southernly Shonan forces with territorial conflicts to the west, in the region of Kanata. This was but a ruse, and their true eye remained on the east, in Amakehata. Yue Imperial agents from Zhou infiltrated Amakehata and stealthily reorganized. In the span of an evening, they took advantage of the reallocated rebel forces and began to wreak havoc, setting many villages, temples, and forts ablaze. The region was shattered, devastated, and as dawn rose, little but ruin remained.


 * In the east after Dawn's Fall, Yue quickly took control of what remained of Amakehata, and established it as Little Yori. With the region's historically strong association with Jiusyuan mysticism such as summoning, Little Yori is characterized by the harshest restrictions upon its people. The old nobles have long fled; and now only the lowest of the low live in Little Yori, where abuse and crime run rampant. Everyone seems to have a gun. The imposition of martial law keeps the criminals in and the outsiders out, and people are unable to make enough money to leave. Gangs seem to go through a constant cycle of rise and fall, but none have amassed enough unified firepower to be taken seriously. Yet.
 * - quoted from Locations - Jiusyu

Shonan Rebellion

 * "Without one leader to unite its defenders, the country's stalwart warriors suddenly found themselves at odds, especially under the looming eastward threat."

After the fall of the shogunate and the imposition of sweeping imperial occupation, the warriors that once made up its armies of proud defenders were at a loss, faced with dwindling numbers and a string of what seemed like endless defeat. But as fate would have it, the remnants of the Shonan clan, admittedly numbering only a couple hundred, joined forces with numbers of these ronin with the aim of forming a fight for independence under the name of the Army of Shonan. They recruited anyone willing to fight for their cause, and fostered a culture of brotherhood. Regardless of what family one hailed from, or even if they had one or not, if they were willing to take up arms for the cause of reclaiming the zelkova country, "your blood is our blood".

In 978, they began fighting territorial disputes and skirmishes against Yue occupation that was starting to spread to the south, and by the following year, they had seen success at taking a number of small territories back. However, the push back from Yue was strong, and the threat they might bring out one of their steel giants loomed.

It is said that in 980, in the valleys between Zhou and Sodeyama, the some 20,000 Shonan warriors faced off against a Yue army numbering 150,000. As one would expect, they suffered crushing defeat. Large swaths of their men were wiped out in the battle, which happened to include their leader. Those who remained were demoralized by the unspeakable grief of loss.

However, one man could not let the bloodshed of their brothers in arms stand. A great warrior took helm in the leader's wake. It is said that with a powerful Blessing that could bring his enemies to their feet with a glance, he rallied the Shonan forces roaring back to life, and with life came indignation. With strategy, time, and organization, the new Shonan Rebellion surged forth to pull off a sweeping victory that had been statistically impossible in an unprecedented feat of power that would come to be named the Shonan Miracle.

Ever since 980, the Shonan rebellion aims to unite the zelkova country and piece its pride together once again, has had as much success claiming land back from imperial occupation as it has had setbacks. Today the Shonan territory consists of small regions in south Jiusyu, such as some parts of Sodeyama.

Civilian opinion on the Shonan forces are often conflicting, and they have been viewed as stirring up trouble as an obstacle to peace under occupation, or even one and the same as the dominant forces that split the country into pieces.