Kingdom of Huaka
Huaka (Who-Wok-Ah) is a military with a state attached. It is a point of resistance, an eternal rebellion as much as it is a kingdom of its own. It is the most radical form of anti-imperial sentiment on Loanua, a military order devoted entirely to the removal of all foreigners and foreign influence from the island of Loanua. It is the Meako state and the most violent form of Red Weniko given shape.
While many are quick to point out the irony of an anti-foreign resistance movement adopting foreign centralized power structures, the Kingdom of Huaka has little patience for such discussions. Their monarchs are groomed to believe that they decide what is and is not Loanuan- and if centralized military rulership over forced sedentary agricultural labor is necessary to keep the island safe, then it is Loanuan enough.
And to be fair to Huaka, their approach has been fairly successful. While unable to match the larger foreign armies in size, their disciplined and capable army has served as a great rallying point for the many Loanuan tribal groups and they have been able to fuse traditional Loanuan warfare and foreign-style warfare very successfully. What has not been successful is Huaka's diplomacy and reputation - they are shunned by much of the lunar pantheon and they have alienated much of the island.
Recently, the new Selkie overlords have been trying to take advantage of Huaka's isolation diplomatically. After decades of trying to militarily crush the rogue kingdom, they have spent the last twenty years trading and wooing the Huakan royalty. The selkies have now offered them a killer deal: dominion over half the island if the Huakans just pay tribute and make peace. While the queen has rejected this deal repeatedly in the past, some voices for "peace" have begun to emerge. While it seems unlikely that the Army of Red will ever willingly bow to a foreign power, many wonder where the future of Huaka lies.
Structure
Much of Huaka's state is run by military bureaucrats. Local communities retain their own community chiefs that do most of the low-level state management. Positions of power are often reserved for humans of Loanuan descent, typically also Meako.
- The Monarch rules with absolute authority
- Field Marshals manage military administration, training, and campaigns
- March Captains are a class of officers that manage the civilian population and report directly to the monarch
History
The Hatrana and Red Weniko
Originally, the Hatrana group lived on this land as a loose federation of semi-nomadic tribes. The Hatrana were not particularly different than most Loanuan tribal groups, and existed here contentedly until the 1100s ME. But, starting in the mid-late 1100s, pirates, raiders, poachers, and slavers began haunting the Hatrana's shores, driving many tribes inland. As the Hatrana retreated inland, it was all they could do to hold together as the Hatranan tribes and fleeing tribes of outsiders clashed in the hills and forests. In the 1380s a large wave of Northern and Southeastern clans arrived, having fled colonial persecution for their attacks on foreign missionaries. These tribes came in peace, and offered to help drive out the foreign raiders in exchange for a new place to live. This became the "New Blue Army", named after their religious "new blue" group.
The wars against the outsiders were long and difficult- no matter how many pirate lairs were destroyed, new ones always arrived. A more permanent solution finally presented itself with the arrival of Miza "Saltskin". Saltskin was a Pangolin pirate of some infamy. She had fled the main lands of Garadel to Loanua after personally offending (via kidnapping) the Hierophant of the Zihari Holy League and sinking a ship full of important trading princes in the ensuing failed negotiations. Seeking a place to settle down with her new magical loot, Miza had arrived to prey on the local pirates and raiders as a privateer and was not unfriendly to the local Loanuans of the West. Miza wanted total independence and a corner of the world to herself, and eyed the failing outpost on the Southwestern island of Kamalea to found her own personal pirate lair. In 1459, she and the New Blue priests met at Lonotha to hash out an agreement: she would bring the raiders to heel and destroy the imperial outpost at Kamalea and would receive a monopoly on trade with the New Blue priesthood. Miza would retain the land of the Kamalea outpost for her and her crew, and the two groups would be military allies. From 1459 to 1464, this campaign saw the brutal destruction of pirate and imperialist alike, culminating in a failed imperial land campaign in the Southwest. When the colonies not only agreed to cease all activity in the Southwest but also agreed to pay tribute, the New Blues won their grand victory.
From the seized Kamalea outpost, Miza built the pirate republic of Kamalea (which would select a lifetime "pirate king" by election of the most respected Kamalean pirate captain), and the Kamalean republic inherited her special trade deal with the New Blue alliance. The trading opportunities proved more lucrative than the raiding opportunities, and the alliance with Kamalea held strong. Even better, the pirates thrived on the stolen loot from the Southeastern kingdoms and rogue pirates- creating a strong tradition of military cooperation. Kamalea's trade and loot provided the New Blue Alliance with better weaponry, luxury goods, and maps of invader outposts. From 1464 to 1472, the New Blues flourished, with several trading ports cropping up along the coastline (including the largest port-settlement of Huaka to this day, Hanatha). Tribes returned to the previously dangerous coastal areas, and their populations soared. But in the 1470s, some of the alliance began to worry that the New Blue Alliance would disintegrate and the push to remove foreigners would lose inertia. In 1472, a grand meeting of Southwestern tribes saw the birth of Red Weniko. Unlike New Blue, this would be a permanent, sustained war against outsiders. Even if the enemy wasn't attacking, the alliance swore to continue their war across the island. Groups of warriors began traveling across the island, to wherever outsiders had colonized, to organize the local tribes in a grand counter-invasion. The wave of conflicts that arose from this policy put fear in the heart of colonizers- but also made the Red Alliance a lot of enemies. This included other Loanuan tribes, who either failed to receive promised support from the Red Alliance or were unwilling to finish off enemy trading settlements. From 1472 to 1550, these on-and-off wars raged. But by the 1560s, the other tribes had largely entered into peace agreements and the Red Alliance was unwilling and unable to move alone. And so, the alliance began to dissolve into tribal groups again, and a status quo set in.
Toako and the Scarlet Invasion
From the 1560s through the 1600s, the Red Alliance largely fell apart. Red Weniko and its raids continued, but the Southwest simply did not have the kind of cohesion it did during the late 1400s. The Notheastern tribes blocked continued raiding there, and the Southeastern kingdoms had fortified the mountains and kept within their lands, so the only profitable raiding lands that remained were in the Far North. So while red war parties would do their occasional attacks on Northern lands, by the 1650s all the Northern realms that remained were heavily fortified and supported by Loanuan tribal allies. By 1699, the only raiders left were fighting for personal glory rather than any kind of pressing ideological drive.
In 1700, the remaining colonial kingdoms were swept into a new kingdom of Loanua by outside invaders, and the Southwest was flung into panic. When the invading fleet arrived in the Southwest to attack Kamalea in 1705, the Red Alliance gathered to meet them. While the fleet waited in the harbor and made camp before their planned invasion, the Red forces led a massive ambush- capturing dozens of ships and driving the remaining fleet into the jaws of a waiting piratical ambush. The Southwest remilitarized, but there was no sense of urgency- they had proven that these new outsiders were no great threat. But that was only the vanguard party. In 1740, the main group arrived. These new invaders, known as the "Nonikar" were disorganized but immense in number. They spilled across the island, carving the valleys into their own personal fiefdoms. The Red Alliance, while thankfully remilitarized, was not enough to protect the Southwest.
In 1741 one of these Nonikar warlords, a dryad named Ulo Kikirek, arrived with his army and clan to seize some of Loanua for himself. His invasion was sudden and unexpected and he seized a stretch of modern-day Huaka, near the trading post of Hanatha. Strangely, Ulo had no intention of remaining loyal to the Norinar queen and sought to crown himself leader of the Red Alliance- what he called "the Scarlet Kingdom of Ogineth", which would unite the Southwest under his own banner. His disorienting rhetoric, willingness to fight other Nonikar invaders, and cooperation with local treaties swayed enough of the Red Alliance that Ulo's wild dream soon appeared to be becoming a reality. But in late 1742, it was becoming clear that his promises of integrating were only words and that he was more focused on trying to threaten and cajol the locals into forming his own personal army.
In early 1743, a group of disenchanted young Meako arrived in Ulo's hall. They appeared friendly and were from his vassal-tribes, but they had chosen the night well. Ulo was bold to a fault and had sent his own personal retinue out to bring in a rogue Hatranan tribe- and when several of his guards were drunk and distracted, the Meako turned against him. Ulo and his family were hunted for sport in their own hall, and a mob of young Loanuans stormed the blood-soaked fort to pillage and seize back what was theirs. The leader of the assassins rallied to crowd around him, and he led them to capture the main Nonikar war party. They were offered a chance to flee or join the war party as adopted equals. Those who fled were killed not long after. Ulo's little fief was completely destroyed, but its resources and manpower were preserved and weaponized.
The organizer of all this was a young talented Meako named Toako. Charismatic, perceptive, strong, and ruthless, Toako used his new power to bring the Red Alliance together as one force. This became known as the Scarlet Invasion as it swept Eastward like a hurricane. Toako was not a traditionalist by any means, but had his own revolutionary vision that inspired and energized his youthful base. They embraced terror as a weapon, gleefully drinking from skull-cups and boasting of their atrocities to terrify their enemies. They had none of their predecessor's compunctions against fighting other Loanuan tribes, but took revenge on priests and leaders of those tribes that had blocked the ancient Red Alliance. The Scarlet Invasion was an ideology as well as a military force, and happily took in Loanuans and exiles from across the island. They did their best to press those tribes whose leadership they killed into the invasion, and many disenfranchised young warriors joined voluntarily (though many more defected at the first opportunity). In 1750, the Scarlet Invasion finally broke through the main Nonikar force and into the Southeastern kingdoms, killing as many adults as possible and taking any colonist children to be raised by the tribes. This invasion was ultimately driven out in 1751 by the Nonikar's Empress Oneva herself, and Toako was terribly injured. The failure of the Southeastern campaign to actually end the imperialist threat highlighted many of Toako's worries: the Scarlet Invasion struggled to hold land and was beginning to encounter serious supply problems. And while the early campaigns had been more organized than their Nonikar enemies, this was changing quickly. If Toako was to attack a second time, he knew he would lose. An army needed more than rage- it needed food, ammunition, and planning. And so in 1751, Toako declared a ceasefire and turned back Westward with his great number of loot and captives.
Great State of Huaka
While the rest of the island continued convulsing in the religious wars and chaos Toako unleashed, the Scarlet Invasion settled in the Southwest to try and build a more permanent military apparatus. The seized captives and great military labor pool were used to build seven great fortresses, armed with the finest weaponry and built with the aid of the best foreign architects money could provide. Toako and his lieutenants began focusing on creating a larger, more varied military that would be better equipped for taking on enemy fortifications. To supply this great effort, the former Nonikar and Eastern captives were given contained tracts of land that they could farm or mine on. These "helots" would be allowed to keep their foreign ways, but could not fight or have weapons, and would be perpetually kept in a lowered social class.
This state dominated the Southwest from 1751 through 1815. Even after Toako's death, it sustained itself on periodic raids and conflict with the Southeast. It extracted tribute, blocked expansion, and generally proved to be a force of Loanuan opposition. It launched a proper invasion again in 1808 as the Nonikar kingdom collapsed, and this new model of Loanuan army proved devastatingly effective- it was a perfect blend of domestic and foreign technology and strategy. But as the Huakan army got bogged down in the internal wars of the collapsing East, the army became tired and strained. It still struggled to properly project power into the East in a lasting way, and feuds between commanding officers threatened to devolve into its own civil war.
This moment of weakness came at a bad time as yet another massive invasion hit the island in 1815. The new invaders were far more organized and focused than the last, and came with a sweeping naval invasion of the Southwest. The seven fortresses came under siege, the helots rose up, and the heartlands of Huaka were occupied. The armies retreated inland, abandoning the East coast. The Huakan army and the invaders fought a brutal war across the Southwest, forcing the invaders to retreat in 1816. For the next four years, Huaka and the invaders (the Linoran Archduchy of Loanua) fought tooth and nail, before the invaders finally agreed to a white peace in 1820.
From 1820 to 1950, the Huakan state turned inwards. It kept to itself, focused on obedience and order, and avoided picking fights with the invaders until the time was right. In 1950, Huaka even performed what some now call "the great betrayal" - it signed a secret agreement with the Archduke of Loanua to support their claim to independence. Instead of invading the East, Huaka kept to itself from 1950 to 1960, only attacking Linoran forces sent to subjugate the rogue colony. The failure to act provoked internal unrest, and in 1958 a faction within the military launched a failed coup. Civil war sparked in the West. When the selkie invasion began in 1960, it sought to exploit Huaka's civil war just as it had those of Whalena and Akitha- and selkie-bought mercenaries landed in force in 1962 to bring the Southwest to heel. The ensuing war, just like the invasion of 1815, was brutal. In 1968, the last selkie allies were pushed out of the Southwest, and a ceasefire was called in 1969. But selkie pressure kept up on the kingdom through 1990, and minor expeditions continually harassed Huaka for over twenty years. They also destroyed Huaka's eternal ally: the republic of Kamalea, which had supplied the Southwest for centuries. Now Huaka was truly surrounded and isolated.
Collapse of the West
It was only when the selkies were least involved that the Great State of Huaka finally collapsed. While the kingdom slowly relaxed as the selkie expeditions grew less common in the late 1970s, the war-time queen Katua II tried to rally revolutionary spirit in perhaps the worst possible way. She had noticed how helots and other foreign-culture disenfranchised groups tended to support outside invaders- and stirred her people not only against them, but against all "foreign influence". Non-humans, less-obedient tribes, and humans of foreign ancestry were targeted, sometimes killed. Katua began pressing Loanuan tribes that "failed to contribute" into helotry and forced labor in order to fund the ballooning military. In 1980, rebellions in the South and North broke away from Huaka, and Katua was assassinated by her own bodyguards not long after. Selkie interference made a civil war too dangerous to wage, and her replacement simply let the kingdom drift into 3. But the Southern tribes had always been the more populous ones, and so Huaka retreated into its core.
While Huaka is not the great island power it was pre-1980, it has kept the military fanaticism alive. Of the three successor-kingdoms to Great Huaka, modern Huaka is the closest to what it was- helots doing manual labor, military cult, and all.Demography and Population
70,000 humanoids live in Huaka. 85% are Human, 6% are Hybrids, 5% are Pearl Pangolin , 4% are Dryads.
45,000 of these live in the sedentary West, and 25,000 live in the mostly-tribal East.
Territories
Most of Huaka is temperate forest with a few mountains in the East, where it keeps large numbers of Meako eagles.
Military
Huaka's military is a highly professional force drilled in both survival hit-and-run tactics and massed formation-based warfare. Their focus is the mass production of Meakos most famous of which are the Sun-Riders, an elite group of eagle-riders talented with bow and spell. To back up this elite cavalry, Huaka trains talented skirmishers and hand-to-hand infantry. Traditional tribal warriors are intended to enhance and surround this professional force and act as a screen.
Adding to this is a wide variety of spell support. Paladins of Emesh known as the Red Brigade form some of the hardest-hitting axe-and-hammer infantry on the island. A small handful of Druids, Bards, and Sorcerers also serve to Red Army (and offer some of the highest positions a foreigner can hold).
Religion
Huaka is the most Red Weniko of Red Weniko- foreign gods and religions are banned among non-helots. Those who are honored guests may practice whatever religion they wish, but such guests are rare since the Pirate Republic of Kamalea fell.
Huaka's version of Weniko is generally that inherited from the ancient Hatrana, but heavily modified for a less-pastoral lifestyle. A lot of worship has been taken from local gods and legends and given to Toako the Red, who is believed to command an army of ghosts and be able to possess brave soldiers in times of need. The regional festival is the autumnal Tuwara (the day of lightning), celebrating Toako's visit and blessing by the powerful thunder-eagle Tuwinio. On this day, great parades and festivals occur in honor of those who died fighting foreign invasion, and the dead are believed to wander at night (it is ceremonial to run around that night and throw beans in the four cardinal directions, to distract the ghosts and make them tire themselves picking up and counting the beans).
Foreign Relations
Huaka has long been valued as a defender of traditional Loanua, but its ability to actually do diplomacy has always been limited by its commitment to eternal war. Its appeal to disillusioned tribal youth also makes tribal elders from other parts of the island wary of its influence.
Agriculture & Industry
Life is built around supplying the military apparatus here; while some in the East keep the old ways of subsistence migration, the West is alive with farming, mining, smelting, tanning, and crafting. This is overwhelmingly agricultural work and living and largely done on-demand rather than for currency.
The majority of the work done is by Helots: tribeless or disgraced people who are tied to the land. They are expected to meet certain quotas of production or face food confiscations in a regime of starvation and terror. The helots are not expected to produce much beyond raw resources.
Those resources are then given to the paid middling class of the citizen-tribes for processing and production. The citizen-tribes are given food subsidies and generally live in decent conditions. Their tribes support them and prevent any of their members from falling into absolute poverty. Some farm, some do leathercrafting, some work as architects- its a very mixed bag of low-level farming and manufacturing.
Trade & Transport
Trade is heavily regulated by the military as to prevent foreign contamination, but a small merchant class does exist among the citizen-tribes. The trading sphere is fairly small here, as trading partners are severely limited and the role of merchant is often stigmatized.
Education
Military children are taken from their families at age 7 to be taught literacy, basic mathematics, and discipline in large military academies.
For the rest of the population, all education comes from the tribe. In the East, where tribes are the basis for everyday life, this system holds firm. In the West, it often favors certain families above others and leaves less "important" children uneducated outside of basic trade skills.
Our Island Will Be Free
Founding Date
1980
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Alternative Names
Hatranara
Demonym
Huakan
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Palace economy
Currency
Huakan obsidian eagles; Garadek Gold Moons, Silver Suns, Copper Stars
Major Exports
Lumber, salt
Major Imports
Steel, tar, textiles
Judicial Body
The Officers' Tribunal
Official State Religion
Location
Official Languages
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