Republic of Otopan

Otopan is the rough edge of Ikatlan, a rugged and rocky land that is often ignored by the rest of the Suneka. Its government is infamously corrupt, and its current Tlakra is a violent demagogue; its resources are hogged by wealthy outsiders with little care for the land or its people; and its people are divided between dissatisfied and scared Sunekan newcomers and a large population of shepherds and isolated smallfarmers. 
The land may be harsh and the realm corrupt, but the hills and moors of Otopan have their charm. From arid shrubland to forested valleys to creeping swamps, the land is a shepherd's paradise and an easy place to hide out in peace and quiet. The ancient people of this land were quite prone to hiding (as are the current residents of the hinterlands), and those who search the land closely can find their ancient forts and castle hideouts. Some of these refuges are still in use today; one has even been taken over and rennovated by the Guardians of Hokzin for their own use. Others watch silently over ruined towns laid waste by war.

Structure

The Republic is led by the Tlakra, who is elected every fifteen years. Beneath the Tlakra is the National Priest or Aziletzen, who manages the priesthood. And beneath these are the Otopen Congresses: five local legislatures that manage law for the five municipalities. Votes are used to represent land. Only landed communities can vote in government elections, and their votes are skewed to represent the number of legally owned parcels they hold. 
The current Tlakra is Kalin Evetzin - a Vesper of great charisma and guile rumored to have once adventured across and beyond the Suneka. Kalin is a sly rogue, whose charm is only matched by their fiery (frequently violent) zeal. They rule with a heavy hand when it comes to religious matters, particularly when it comes to poor communities (they seem to have conveniently missed near all elite corruption). The Aziletzen is Yokborin Evetzin, a shy and deeply isolated priest who seems to prefer theology and library-tending to practice.

History

Pre-Republic

Otopan has always been a borderlands between the Adira Mountains and Ikatlan. The Suneka was not a strong here as the surrounding lands, but for many centuries this was an advantage rather than a problem: Otopan thrived from the 600s to 1000s ME as one of the entrances to the trade route to the distant Empire of Calazen. But, when the great Republic of Ikatlan fell to heresy and civil war in 1048, Otopan's loose and syncretic attitude made it a target of suspicion and violence. In 1080, as a response to this violence, the local villages and mountain tribes allied together in a loose federation that lasted for centuries. 
The federation of Otopan focused on survival over local dominance: the people learned to move quickly between temporary settlements, and built fortresses for refuge in the Adiras. From the South, periodic surges of anti-heretical violence would target Otopan as a religious enemy. From the North, periodic waves of chaos and violence from the displaced Adiran mountain tribes would target Otopan as a commercial enemy. Otopan's fortunes rose and fell very rapidly, and this prevented any kind of permanent governmental or social structure from forming. 
Things began to get worse after the 1500s. After 1580, trade had stabilized along the river route to the West and merchants stopped using the mountain passes of the Federation of Otopan. The mountain tribes began withdrawing. And while attacks from the North also stopped, the Sunekan hardliners in the South had mustered into an unstoppable alliance. In 1855, the Federation formally shattered as the mountain tribes left their Southern neighbors to their fate. 

Modern History

And then the Empire of Calazen attacked. The people of Otopan cheered and welcomed the invaders as liberators. But Calazen did not value their loyalty, and abandoned the people of Otopan for collaborators in wealthier and 'more important' regions. The Calazan army began forcing the people of Otopan to settle in newly built towns for proper taxation - just as the Sunekans had before. In fact, many of Otopan's prior oppressors were directly co-opted into the new Calazan regime. When the local mountain tribes rose in rebellion, Otopan joined them and dreamed of renewing their federation. 
All throughout the Calazan occupation, this coalition of Otopan, mountain tribes, and Asuna heretics fluctuated between working with Calazen and fighting them. When Calazan officers left them to their business, they helped the Empire; when Calazan officers tried to extract taxes or change their ways of life, they fought. When the united Sunekan forces marched in, the heretical coalition helped chase the imperials away - leaving a very strange situation for the newly priestly overseers. In exchange for their support, the Sunekan invaders allowed the heretics to evacuate into the mountains and promised the mountain tribes their independence - but the people of Otopan didn't really fit any category. They simply had to either flee to the mountains and join the mountain tribes completely or surrender to the new Sunekan order. 
In 1901, the Sunekan occupiers divided Ikatlan into five republics, with Otopan being one of them. The priests scrambled the population (or those they could catch) and imported new people into Calazen-made towns. The occupiers decided that Otopan was to be a center of mining and herding - but never quite invested enough in the region to make that happen. From 1901 to 1935, the overseers placed foreign administrators and priests in charge of Otopan to run the "republic" as a bureaucratic theocracy while the people "learned the process of democracy". Even after 1935, these administrators didn't really leave power. The overseers that had rebuilt parts of Otopan left themselves in control of most of the land and infrastructure, and passed their political offices to their friends and family. 
Otopan has continued rebuilding since 1935, but most of the money has been concentrated around the strongholds of a few major cliques. The rest of the country has been left behind - if it isn't tied to a big-name clique or if it doesn't turn a profit, it has been left to rot.

Demography and Population

Around 600,000 humanoids live in Otopan. 30% are Human, 30% are Dryad, 20% are Prism, and 20% are Other.

Territories

Otopan is 123 miles by 103 miles across. It is dominated by rocky hills, which get higher, drier, and more jagged the further East or North one gets. The West is humid and has several large forested valleys, as well as a number of swamps and moors.

Military

Otopan's army includes local militias, a Republican Guard, the Guardians of Hokzin, and a new group known as 'The Lion's Claws'. The local militias are fairly standard. The Otopen Republican Guard is a small standing army composed of musketeers, spearmen, and halberdiers. The Guardians of Hokzin are an outside holy order, dedicated to protecting the Suneka, and who man several fortresses in Otopan. The Lions Claws are somewhere between all of these: they are a group of militia that are loyal to the Tlakra, that receive weapons, training, and stipends (some from the government budget, some from the Tlakra's personal funds). In essence, they are a religious paramilitary group that serves the faction currently in power, and they have spent the last decade training and pursuing those accused of witchcraft and heresy. The Lions Claws are a mixture of skirmishers, spearmen, halberdiers, and crossbowmen.

Religion

Otopan is legally very Sunekan - the custom is considered mandatory here unless you are a merchant who was purchased an exemption (essentially, a license to be non-Sunekan). The strictness of these laws has intensified in the last few decades. The courts are all Sunekan and voting rolls are managed by the upper echelons of the priesthood. The Aziletzen, or National Priest, holds immense legislative and judicial power. 
These laws paint a picture of Otopan as a strict, orthodox nation of Sunekan devout. This is far from the truth. The major government strongholds are very Sunekan, but the hinterlands? The hinterlands are Sunekan in a much older and more flexible way. Petty gods and household gods are common, some communities blend elements of Nedira ritual and theology with their Suneka, and the Asuna heresy runs wild. The gods and rituals of the neighboring mountain tribes are also common here - Gods such as Orzum the Earth-Maker, Alazta the Smith-Mother, and Eshri the Rain-Bringer co-exist alongside the traditional pantheistic animism of the Suneka. 
The Sunekan authorities outside of Otopan care little for this deviance - the heresy is troublesome but rare, and the deviance is considered tolerable for a border-region. The republican government do not feel the same way - to them, the deviance is a mark of shame and embarrassment, and is synonymous with the semi-nomadism that makes governing the hinterlands a pain.

Foreign Relations

The Republic of Otopan is on friendly terms with the surrounding Sunekan republics. For the most part, it ignores the surrounding mountain tribes - and has peace agreements with the major Elibedo groups (to the North) and Tepelu groups (to the East).

Agriculture & Industry

Otopan has a system: several larger settlements in the West do the manufacturing, while the East produces raw resources across a network of small towns and villages. The West produces pottery, tools, and textiles, handles commerce, and is the center of educated work; the East farms, shepherds, and mines. 
The East's centers of productions are a handful of estate farms and mines that sit on the small patches of arable land and abundant freshwater found in the East. These estate farms produce cotton and food crops such as wheat or maize. The mines are predominantly for marble and iron, and tend to be much more lucrative. The estate farms do serve an important purpose, though: to be collection centers for small farms and herders across the region. A multitude of small wheat farms, Giant Lobster herders (in swamps), and sheep herders mill across the hinterlands. These hinterlands farmers and shepherds can be semi-nomadic, as land rights here are rather fluid, but they are generally tied to either estate farms or townships that they visit annually.

Trade & Transport

All legal trade is done in the Western settlements, and it is overwhelmingly between Sunekans. Merchant communes handle all trade here, and are coordinated by the Departments of Abundance (the bureaucratic front for the land-holding cliques). There is plenty of illegal trade that occurs along the Eastern and Northern borders, much to the chagrin of the government. Many towns also trade with each other independently of the central government.

Education

Schools are the anchors that keep the hinterlands towns viable. The schools, which provide eight years of free education for all Sunekan residents, are really what many of the towns are based around. The hinterlands populace is detached from the land, the government, and the physical town buildings (many of which were built by outsiders, for outsiders), but the people have relationships with the schools. The schools also often serve as food distribution centers, and have attached poorhouses - sometimes even armories, courthouses, and jails!

"Persist and Triumph"

Founding Date

1901

Type

Geopolitical, Republic

Demonym

Otopen

Leader Title

Tlakra

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Unitary state

Currency

Sunekan Currency: Golden Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Marble, Prism-feed, iron, wool, textiles

Major Imports

Manufactured goods, luxury items

Official State Religion

Suneka

Location

Ikatlan

Official Languages

• High Sunekan

Controlled Territories

• Tapatlan

Neighboring Nations

• Ayeto Republic