Umi no Tani

The Republic of Umi no Tani commonly called Umi no Tani, is a liberal democracy in the Northeast of the Exalted Lands. It is bordered on the south by Darath and by the east by Gotham. Umi no Tani covers 121,406 square kilometers and has an estimated population of 20 million. Umi no Tani comprises of 3 states; Mamalena Canopy, Riaka, and Silicon Garden.

Umi no Tani is a relatively new island that prides itself on its national unity and diversity. The nation hosts a wide array of mutant and humans descended from henchmen and native islanders. Despite nuclear fallout, Umi no Tani has some of the most pristine environments in the Exalted Lands, making it a central hub for tourism.

Etymology
Umi no Tani means "Valley by the Sea" in Japanese. It's named after it's landmark Nautilus Bay, which was the expansive Nautilus Valley until 1961.

The standard way to refer to a citizen of Umi no Tani is as a "Tanian."

The Age of Man 0 A.D. - 1500 A.D.
The fertile and stunning island of Umi no Tani first attracted homo sapiens 2000 years ago, where immigrants arrived on the Western coasts. They soon sprung up small isolated communities.

Their civilizations subsisted on the bountiful fruits and fish found on the island, and created small havens to call home in the shores between the lush forest canopies and the sparking beaches. A relative form of piece settled in for the next 1500 years, with only small skirmishes between villages occurring.

The Age of Bain 1500 A.D. - 1800 A.D.
In the 1500's the first colonists from the main continent reached the island, and were quickly driven out by the combined effort of all the villages. But soon after the villages began to skirmish again, causing them to splinter and left them open to more predatory colonists who took over the island periodically for the next 300 years. After the villages once again banded together to remove the invaders, they were finally free for 40 years, until a new form of empire emerged.

The Age of Moreau 1800 A.D. - 1961 A.D.
At first these new invaders appeared to be displaced and exiled immigrants with a strong devotion to science. They kept to themselves on the small rocky archipelagos or settling down near the precipices of the few active volcanoes on the island. But as more arrived, their true colors became clear, they were rogue and mad scientists seeking a new land for lairs, frustrated by how suffocating the packed island of Darath had become. Each scientist brought with them hapless henchmen to aid them in experiments, a few also Darathian ex-patriats but mostly Gothamites seeking money and following their cursed ancestors footsteps.

With mad scientists came their enemies, heroes from the mainland who had little regard for the "savage" terrorized locals or the exotic wildlife. With their "Western" heroics, they'd sweep in and destroy the lairs of the rogue scientists, along with whole villages,in their single minded schemes to save their sidekicks, lovers, and countries.

After each villain's defeat, henchmen would find themselves displaced from their work and no way to get back home, and often mutated and deformed by their former employers, so they settled on the island. At first they were social pariahs, chased from villages and forced into solitary lives in the forests. But with the constant terror from heroes and villains alike, the villagers and nomadic mutants were forced into an alliance to protect their lives and homes.

The Age of the Nautilus 1961 A.D. - Present
This shaky alliance was solidified on the night of September 2, 1961; now known as "The Triumph of Nautilus Valley". Nautilus Valley housed the most modernized village on the island, almost modern enough to be called a small city. On that fateful eve, a legion of rogue scientists met for battle against a society of adventurers in the city. All the villagers and mutants fled the valley, to avoid being crushed by buildings or evaporated by rogue laser beams. A large group of these allies climbed to the top of the valley and discovered the empty lair of the leader of the rogue scientists, and in it- a self destruct button rigged to create a large explosion on one of his many weapons. The group banded together, the mutants moving the heavy weapon, and the villagers guiding them to a valley wall next to the ocean. There they exploded the wall, unleashing a torrent of ocean water that flooded Nautilus Valley and drowned villains and adventurers alike, creating modern day Nautilus Bay.

The rebellion was truly born that night, and the unified forces spread out and eradicated all the mad scientists that plagued their island and freed their caged experiments and henchmen for the next 10 years. They declared a period of isolation, in order to recoup from the horrors the rest of the world willfully ignored. In this isolation, they built a society based on unity and democracy, vowing to never again let their peoples be separated or corrupted.

The Present 214 Year of Our Emperor
Now, leaving their years of isolation, they find themselves one of the last bastions of civilization and nature after the Age of Darath and the fallout of the nuclear wars. They have opened their land up and are ready to help lead the next generation of the world.

Geography
The island was formed by underwater volcanic activity over millennia caused by tectonic plates meeting directly below the island. The island is slowly growing from lava produced by the islands multitude of active volcanoes that dot the island. Nautilus Valley (now Nautilus Bay) is a caldera formed by an imploded stratovolcano that was then flooded by human activity and is the lowest point on the island at 2,000 feet below sealevel. The largest volcano, Mt. Doomsday, rises above the area at 12,000 feet above sea level, and is still active. The coastline is filled with lush white sand beaches created by tsunamis depositing deep sea sand. Black sand beaches are just as common, created by lava flows meeting the ocean. Silicon is often scattered through the black sand, making them glitter and shine. Green sand beaches are rare and are created by crystals formed by a long dormant cinder cone. Caves and lava tubes streak the island and are extremely common, some cave systems are large enough to house large cities in them. The caves are often connected by long meandering passageways, many of which are now flooded.

Climate
The island has a warm tropical climate. The middle of the island is characterized by warm rainfall throughout the year while the coasts tend to be more arid. Tsunamis occur periodically, caused by the shifting of tectonic plates. It is, without a doubt, the most inviting climate in the Exalted Lands.

Environment
Umi no Tani is characterized by rich soil fertilized with volcanic ash that creates the lush green landscape of the island. Warm weather plants, especially fruits are abundant on the island. Land next to dead volcanoes are especially fertile, with deposits of lava removed from them by rogue scientists while making lairs. Hills and flooded plateaus are home to a variety of rices. The warm waters are home to vast corral wreaths that attract a wide array of sea life. Deep trenches along the island that lead into Nautilus Bay are home to kraken and other deep water creatures.

Religion
Religion is little discussed in the nation. As 83% of the population were created through biological modification and 16% of the population was literally created by humans, the notion of gods and creation myths are scoffed at or found to be too philosophically challenging a la "my creator's creator" The popular religion is Buddhism, most notably followed for it's nontheistic beliefs. A few other remarkable religions include native polytheistic native Umi no Tanian religions and Christianity. Cults are frowned upon in Tanian society, as charismatic cult leaders were part of the rogue scientist that colonized the island. A few cults exist in obscurity including a robotic cult that regards mad scientists as gods.

Race
The Tori: Avem Sapien: 16% These bird people posses flight due to their wings, have sharp talons for fingers, and have an intrinsic alcohol resistance. They are covered with feathers, but their faces and palms of hands are bare and show remarkably human skin.

The Iʻa: Piscis Sapien: 16% These fish people are split into two different groups. The Reverse Mermaids and Scaled People can only breathe underwater but powerful jaws and sharp teeth, along with a keen sense of smell and an agile quickness. The Reverse Mermaids have the head and torso of a fish, but the lower half of a human, but still remain a sapient and intelligent species. The mermaids can breathe above water and below, have excellent singing voices, and are as quick as their counterparts. They look almost identical to western mythological mermaids.

The Kulitin: Insectum Sapien: 15% The Beetle & Butterfly People posses flight from their delicate wings and a great quickness. They have a variety of phenotypes and can display their bug DNA in many ways. The Ground Bug People have protective carapaces. They look the least humanoid, but underneath their carapaces they have almost identical biology to a human. The Arachnid People are venomous, move quickly on their 8 legs, and can produce small quantities of silk. As arachnids, they cannot interbreed with any other bug people.

The Saka: Felese Sapien: 7% The catfolk have keen senses of sight, smelling, and hearing along with sharp claws and teeth. They vary in phenotype, from humans with cat ears and tails, to sapient large cats.

The Robot: Mechanica Sapien: 16% The robots run on many different interchangeable power sources and possess many inherent weapons. Robots can appear as they wish, from human identical androids to living tanks. New robot AI's and chassis cannot be developed, as the mad science that created them have been lost to the ages. Any "new" robots are merely copies of the same AI's and chassis.

Supersoldiers: Miles Homo Sapien: 5% Supersoldiers are strong, fast, and hearty. They are indistinguishable from humans physiologically and can interbreed.

The Butiki: Lacerta Sapien: 8% The Lizard people have a keen sense of smell, tough scaled skin, and claws. Strangely enough, were created separately from the Lechites.

The Human: Homo Sapien: 17% The humans have high intelligence and tenacity, along with a driving survivor instinct. Most humans are descended from Native Islanders, a few are from Gotham, and only a small portion can trace their ancestry to Darath.

Government
Umi no Tani is a liberal representative republic. It is divided into 3 houses of legislation and has one primary leader who unites the houses and is the representative in international affairs. There are 3 states, each one with an elected premier to oversee the accounting and every day matters.

The Tanian government is run with complete transparency, every document and detail are listed in an easily accessible online database. This practice has drawn criticism for lack of security, but proponents of the practice say it discourages corruption and makes it more convenient for citizens to see what their government is doing.

Heads of Departments are elected routinely every few year, while other civil servants are merely hired as regular employees.

Houses
The Direct Representation House of Legislation Online is composed of every voting age citizen, where laws can be proposed and voted upon for the upper houses to review. It is held entirely online in order to accommodate every citizen. This house ensures every citizen has a say in government and holds elected representatives in the upper houses accountable. The Representatives of Sapient Affairs has 90 representatives, 30 from each state. It is responsible for reviewing and refining bills from the lower house and to directly address the needs of their constituents. The Post-Modern Elected House of Legislation is the final say on all bills passed in the houses, unless a multi-house summit is called into order. It is the smallest house, with 5 representatives from each state, with a total of 15 representatives. It rarely vetoes bills and was established to prevent "tyranny by the majority".

Foreign Relations
The nation can be described as "internationalist" and is highly committed to developing alongside other nations. It has a strict pacifism policy, refusing to engage in any form of military combat unless a direct threat to citizens develops. It has mostly neutral relations with the rest of the nations in the Exalted Lands, as it has just emerged from a long period of isolationism. Relations with Darath have been tense affairs, due to their mutual past colonial events, but seems to be making a turn around with Umi no Tani sending food to Darath during it's famine. Gotham and Umi no Tani have a much more amicable relationship but not much has developed with it in the past few years.

Military
Umi no Tani does not have a military presence. Military forces are regarded as imperialistic and prone to aggressive colonialism so any form of military force is highly distrusted. A citizen's militia does exist, being formed after Umi no Tani opened its borders to the world. It is little armed, but since many Tanians are born with biological weapons it is of little concern. Any guns used by the militia are worthless, as Tanians are renowned for having "the aim of a stormtrooper".

Economy
The nation's economy is based mostly entirely in tourism, with tourism accounting for 78.3% of Umi no Tani's GDP. Individually, the nation accounts for 5.37%% of the Exalted Lands GDP and provides 23.2% of the world's tourism. The rest of the economy is mostly found in food trade, energy production, healthcare, and artisinal electronics.

Despite having the 7th lowest GDP in the Exalted Lands, Umi no Tani is notable for having the richest citizens in general(excluding Ekei Exo, where the wealth of the nation is solely with the Overseer), with the average GDP per capita being at 199,450.00 enules.

Infrastructure
Umi no Tani's infrastructure highlights it's unique blend of environment and modern technology. Due the variety of mutant citizens, accommodations are incorporated into almost every part of the nation. In cities along the coast and major waterways, most streets are massive canals that flow freely from natural sources. These canals are lined below and above water with homes and businesses. In mountainous and cliff laden areas, entire cities are burrowed into the landscape, creating large cavernous communities.

Energy
The energy sector is one of the most important aspects of the Tanian livelihood. Clean energy is exclusively used on the island. Buildings exposed to sunlight are dressed with solar panels to use the most out the daylight hours. Coastal shores and hill tops are filled with wind turbines implemented to have minimal impact on the ecology. Thermal vents from underwater hotspots are utilized for geothermal energy and waste excess food is converted into biofuels. ""