History of the Land

The Land is an island country set in the southeastern region of the Pacific Ocean. Historically utilized as an illegal trading port for pirates and outlaws, the nation is now a melting pot of populace and has various imported cultures and customs.

The Land is comprised of five major city-states who oversee laws and regulations over their citizens. There is no true central head of the country's government, one of the special features the Land possesses compared to other nations.

As of the present the Land is self-sustaining and has no major conflicts with outside countries. The Land is not affiliated with any international organizations.

For a more in-depth look at superhero culture, please see the History of Superheroes in the Land.

Prehistoric History

The Land has been officially inhabited by humans for approximately six centuries, with the Penumbra Volcanic Arc believed to have contributed to the growth of the land over 62 million years ago. The arc cut its way primarily through modern day Apopka Lights and stretched as far as the tip of present-day Republic of Randwell, regular eruptions providing a grand expansion that welcomed a swathe of wildlife, both floral and fauna, to its isolated and fertile lands. Little of the Penumbra arc remains, the remaining peak near the southwestern region of Apopka Lights now known as Mount Penumbra, one of the tallest mountains of the Eclipse Range.

The Land is surrounded by what once was a thriving coral reef, hailed officially as The Ringed Reef that held the genesis of the fish and oceanic life that sustained The Land’s waters. After the Flare The Ringed Reef has yet to fully recover, especially with the major damage suffered by it along the edge of New Chiti.

First Inhabitants

The Land was initially used for around 90 years as a global hideaway for pirates, soon becoming an illegal trading port for outlaws to congregate. As people began to settle thanks to the bounties of the land, the benefits of supplying entertainment to those coming to port, and some folks being unable to return where they came from, diverse groups of villages began to form in respective areas. These areas were initially controlled by certain pirate groups, but it’s widely believed global interference gradually dwindled the amount of pirates utilizing The Land as a hideaway, and those remaining settled down to become the initial leaders of The Land’s budding population.

The populace that served under the Ring of Foes are acknowledged as the official "First Citizens" of the Land, as they began establishing settlements and worked to farm and secure territory under their captains. The area previously known as Little Milan (a now completely submerged region of New Chiti) is considered by historians as the first village established in the Land. It was under the control of Lady Cleaver, a pirate known for her love of hard labor and beheading. Both traits can still be seen in New Chiti at present times.

Etymology

The language spoken by most Landians is simply called 'Landian'. The language borrows from a wide variety of others, a result of the melting pot that created the populace. Most Landians speak a second or third language as a result, one additional mandatory for all city-state higher education facilities. One unique feature of Landian that is rarely displayed outside of text in other similar languages is the verbal ability to describe images through unique inflections in speech, primarily in the way modern day “emoticons” can be used to expand expression in text. The roots are a hold-over from previous pirate usage of verbal code to keep deals secretive among clustered company. Eventually the general populace picked up on the common phrases and symbols and those became ingrained into standard usage. Traces of pirate dialect can also be seen in the modern day currency used, with paper and coin denoted as "dubs" and "bloons" respectively.

Swash Era

Known as the buccaneering era to the rest of the world, the late 1400's to mid 1500's embodied the height of pirates' use of the Land. The isolated location as well as the generally temperate climate and (by established nations) uncharted waters brought thousands swashbucklers to call the Land refuge in the midst of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Though true global combat of pirates only wiped them out in the 1830's, it is believed the peak of the Land's use by active pirates dwindled quickly with the gradual construction of depots led by retired but infamous buccaneers. These few, known as the Ring of Foes, began seeing the archipelago as an easy way to retain a personal wealth without needing to directly clash with any outside forces. El Vencedor, a pirate notorious for his manner of standing off with opposing forces with minimal weaponry used, regulated the entrance of others into their waters, a commission needing to be paid before individuals could cross. Despite the fee, the guarantee of quality supplies offered by those who visited made the venture a sustainable one for the Ring of Foes to continue this practice.

Near the turn of the 16th century the Ring of Foes began to squabble over minor things, allegedly no longer fulfilled with peaceful lives on the island. It took ten years for the Foes to gradually remove themselves from power to pursue more life on the waters, while those who were left behind were made to fend for themselves.

It is unknown why no other pirates returned to claim the area as theirs, though is debated that the global opposition of buccaneering had finally found the routes to the Land and utilized them to capture any looking to cross through them.

1530 - 1655

Exploratory Era

The Ring of Foes allowed for a generous populous to form in the southwestern and southeastern sections of the Land, around the regions of Cytopia and Apopka Lights. A crude method of communication, agreements between villages, and remaining deals set in progress from the Foes were the foundational blocks of the villages continuing to develop.

Adapting to independence included exploring and officially mapping the Land. 1532 was the first year that the designation "The Land" was documented in official use by explorer Xiang Qi of the southwestern villages (modern day Cytopia's coastline). Some major exploratory expeditions featured mappings of the chains of islands off the coast of the Land, a majority of the uncharted woods and inner regions of the Land hugging waterways, and Penumbra Arc's remaining volcanoes which were documented to be semi-active until the early 17th century. For citizens near the Apopka Lights region the mapping efforts would serve as the point of discovery for gold deposits deep in the inactive mountainous regions of Eclipse Range, a metal that would be utilized as the first non-foreign form of physical currency for the First Inhabitants.

An especially important expedition was made to map the potential for any method of tunneling that could bypass Eclipse Range to reach the southeastern area more quickly. At the time the current trip would take around 5 days with a crew that could climb mountains and 10 for trips that needed to navigate the perimeter of the Arc. Performed by Jackson 🌬🌊🌘 (current emoticon approximation of his last name's depiction) and a team of 9 others, their labor would not be truly recognized until the beginning of the industrialization efforts some 45 years after their mapping had been completed.

Exploration ventures were arduous and took up a good quantity of resources, so after getting a general approximation of the regions the First Inhabitants had to work with efforts were replaced with discussions of how to utilize the areas now known to them. This would leave certain regions unexplored until the 18th century's need of information for the impending railway system.

Formation Era

Most villages had to already resort to self-maintenance before the dissolution of the Ring of Foes, thus negotiations and fellowship was commonplace within prosperous neighboring areas. Plundering and attacks were also common for a time for villages more eager to acknowledge their previous roots.

Many villages of the past were absorbed into the city-states that exist today under various means, not all recorded. Some villages still exist today as towns just outside the perimeter of city-states but still following under their closest cities' laws.

███████(New Chiti's designation up until the Flare) and Apopka Lights were the first to receive both social and official designations as cities prior to the city-state designation's first official use in 1645. Their respective business and entertainment structures attracted many individuals from smaller villages, eventually allowing those areas to expand and merge with nearby towns naturally. While Apopka Lights established their living situations with no regard to any sort of zoning, ███████'s local culture found benefit in maintaining a structured living region completely separate from their working areas. These expansions required both cities to begin seeking resources outside of their existing territories, leading to Cytopia/Draywood's impending formation in direct contrast to the attempt.

Following the expeditions fame the logging community forming the Cytopia/Draywood area began to expand once people initiated attempts to claim and sell more of the natural resources located there than allowed. Efforts were regularly halted or indefinitely postponed thanks to existing residents of the southwestern villages contesting the abuse of their land or attacking those who came near. Elaine Macroft, am early local psychologist and self-declared 'environmental guardian', wrote what is still considered the Land's longest dissertation denouncing the two cities' citizens' efforts in deforestation and simultaneous theft of her village's resources. Simultaneous to this incident Cybil Anthony Macroft began a trek alongside a group of armed citizens to ███████ and Apopka to demonstrate more responsible uses of the respective cities' existing resources. Cybil was noted to have read the entirety of Elaine's writings multiple times through the course of her journey.

Bonded by their attachment to the villages and their deep involvement in their homestead's affairs Cybil and Elaine proceeded to become romantically and politically intertwined as the village's joint leaders. They remained united for 20 years, contributing to the impressive development of their village and its defenses before their personal desires for the growth of their home became too conflicting to remain together, and thus divided their shared property and their village into the beginnings of Cytopia and Draywood.

Randwell's development occurred primarily after Apopka Lights' developments encouraged migration from other smaller cities closer to the mountains. The area was lucrative to farmers for the especially rich land and waterways. A cluster of farmers built homesteads and made a small community swelling in supplies and foodstuffs that had very loose communal regulations amongst themselves. Only when a neighboring community to the northwest challenged them for their land did the pre-Randwellians first experience their first conquest and absorption of another town into their ranks. This would appear as a mere demonstration of strength initially, and their persistence of this pattern would only begin again in the 1980's.

With these events however the main establishments of the city-states fell into place and set the path toward further improvements in The Land's eventual construction of roads and rails toward the most populous parts of the island.

1655 - 1904

Industrialization Era

In 1655 merely half a year after their separation from Draywood Cytopia began tearing down and utilizing the landscape under their control, creating the foundations of laboratories and the much smaller rendition of what would become Cybil University. Apopka became a quick ally and trades of lumber for metals and coal became a regular practice among them, allowing Cytopia faster capabilities (as fast as the 10 day trips around the mountains would allow) to create, invent, and pursue the "perfect utilization of the earth for the benefit of people and nature alike" Cybil desired, in notably very slight contrast to Elaine's previous declaration of Draywood's intent to "maintain a strong and tranquil balance between the earth, its creatures and humanity".

The steady growth of the budding city-states meant a need for new homes, factories, and roads, and by this time in The Land's history the need was beginning to have a negative and serious effect on inter-city business structure.

Though rudimentary routes had long been carved around the mountains to transport people and goods the desire for something more official that was able to more quickly carry individuals and goods was a long discussed issue, especially among what historians designate The Big Three (Cytopia, ███████, and Apopka Lights) at the time.

Jacomo Bonaro was the head of ███████'s city planning committee and the initial proposer of the impending roadway project, suggesting the connection of the Big Three and some more significant villages and towns along the way. Jacomo wrote letters to Cytopia wishing to invite Cybil herself into handling the logistics of the project, recalling the advancements ███████ made to their factories with her initial visit. With Cybil's acceptance a month later and additional connections from Apopka Light's construction circuit the project began its initial stages and eventual completion 2 years later.

The road was designed to have a one-way toll included that would run for the next ten years, a stunt that would permit costs of construction to remain at a minimum and provide regular repayment to the suppliers within ███████ and Apopka Lights at a reasonable rate.

Immediate use of the road paid it off in double the time, allowing more routes to be developed with the residual funds. Carriages became cultural staples, horses becoming the most prominent method of transportation across the island nation excluding Cytopia, thanks to Draywood's refusal to deliver said horses due to 'fear of abuse'. This inadvertently allowed the first rudimentary self-driven carriages to be created long before cars would take a hold in other parts of the globe.

Natural Era

Various cultural and technological advancements thrived off of the connection provided by the road, especially at the beginning of the 19th century. Cytopia's educational system quickly became renowned across the Land, soon needing to regularly rebuild the building to fit the amount of people interested in their curriculum before beginning to adapt the concept of limited admissions.

Draywood lacked many of the technological advancements of its other cities, focusing instead on music and art, ecological awareness and maintenance, and the pursuit of happiness for its people. Upon hearing of Cybil University Draywood established Draywood Academy in response, gradually becoming the top fine arts academy in the Land.

███████'s ability to connect with pre-Randwellian farmers made the culinary arts blossom with an array of new dishes, and ███████ and Randwell become known for their cuisine and quality produce respectively.

Apopka Lights benefitted from the eventual import of cameras and film, spreading photography to the rest of the Land and honing a distinct efficiency for early motion pictures. Being an entertainment hub already meant that this allowed the prospect of broad distribution to enter Apopkan minds as another source of entertainment revenue, though the new roads kept it from any prominent attempts at pursuing for some time. The photographs produced in this time period are considered prized for the information they provided on culture, dress, and artifacts of the time.

Industrialization Era 2: Trains and Planes Edition

It took over a decade of planning (a few years added after the passing of Cybil in the late 1800's) to begin the construction of the first routes for the train station. Delegates from every city met in Apopka Lights' to discuss the plotting of safe passage through the interior of the mountains, which had been thoroughly extracted of most valuable ore at that point. This is considered the first official mass collaboration between all major regions of the Land.

Having worked jointly on the roads in the past, roles and tasks fell easily into place. Apopkan and Cytopian delegations focused on the safe detonation of Mount Umbra, another prominent mountain in the Eclipse Range, and it took to 1915 for the train system to be fully realized. The National Train Line completed its first route July 25th, and the day is now a minor holiday known as The Grand Connection.

Planes and various models also came into existence toward the turn of the century, though their commercial use was limited and not utilized by most of the populace in the face of the new train system. Modern plane use is even more limited outside of commercial imports, though still very regularly maintained.

1993 - 2018

The Unknown/Lost Year (1990)

There is little information about what occurred in the year 1990. Investigations in 2003-2005 could find no evidence as to what caused the mass memory gap or evidence for the later established theories. There were no recognizable health differences in the populace and construction, media, and financial processes all managed to maintain their progress or in the case of construction be completed with no recollection. In 2010 centuries old technology was found that is believed to possess a brief series of logs from the time. They are almost completely inaccessible and are still being decoded by LIRC data extractionists and analysts to this day.

Wars

While various skirmishes have been recorded between villages and budding nations, there has been no national war involving all of the city-states up to the present. The Republic of Randwell famously chose to participate in World War 3 in exchange for currently unconfirmed financial and militaristic benefits.