Mejika Isles

The Mejika Isles are the bridge between Garadel and Larazel. They are a chain of 15 islands- 4 large and 11 small- that bridge the shallow sea and serve as the primary conduit of trade and movement between the two worlds. They are mercantile centers, of course, but also fraught with religious division and conflict from an old legacy of exploitation. In the shallow seas surround the Mejika, great and powerful Octoperson polities rule. In times of peace, they are purveyors of trade, but when they fight the resulting disturbance can cause trade issues across the Western Hemisphere.

Geography

There are 15 recognized islands and many tiny islands that make up the Mejika, but the Big Four are those most noteworthy at this time. The Southernmost island of Airka is also the smallest of the Big Four. It lies 12 miles off the coast of Alaran, and is 96 miles long and 20 miles wide. Small islands surround its coastline. Its eastern coast is swept by soft, cool winds and is semi-arid. It has grassy plains and lightly-distributed vegetation, and has more mild weather. The Western coast is densely forested and more humid, and has more intense weather in the spring and summer. 24 miles from the island periphery of Airka is the largest of the Big Four: Argena. Argena is 130 miles wide and 81 miles long, with a mountainous heartland of dormant volcanoes. It is a rocky, but fertile landscape of lush forests and arable valleys. 6 miles North of Argena is Zoska. Zoska is 87 miles long and 50 miles wide. The most humid and forested of all, Zoska quite abundant in food and freshwater. 85 miles North of Zoska is the most isolated of the four, Iniska. It is 131 miles long and 51 miles wide. Iniska is isolated both by its distance from the others and its tumultuous currents, which sweep around the island in a grand circle. Its West is typically semi-arid chaparral, but is pummeled by periodic monsoon deluges; the East is typically quite forested, but can have droughts while the other have pours. Iniska is 14 miles from Vizukel, the coast of continental Larazel.

Fauna & Flora

The Mejika once had unique fauna- giant tortoises and unusual white-and-black foxes, the records say. Birds of unusual color and call for every island. But few remain of them, after so many centuries of hunters, pillagers, and invasive species. Most notable of what remains are the coral reefs, which thrive in the shallow sea surrounding the Mejika.

History

Early Land History

Before even the Architects, Larazek migrating peoples populated the Mejikas via boat, crossing into modern-day Garadel. Pre-existing peoples, a mixture of other hominids and a separate migratory group that crossed the land route through Sonev, welcomed these newcomers and intermingled aggressively. Additional migratory groups would also go on to migrate into continental Larazel- leaving the Mejikan cultures as the last "pure" vestige of that first Larazek culture group. In effect, they were left with many cultural traits familiar to the inhabitants of both Larazel and Garadel- something that would prove most conductive to trade and exchange. And that trade happened early! When the Architects first made their great changes, the Mejikans saw Prisms appear from the South and Dryads from the North, and welcomed these groups as twin forces of nature: cold stone and warm earth (with humans born of lukewarm clay), both originating in the primordial magma of the Gods. The arrival of Aquatic Races was also taken in stride. Priest-merchants stood as the primary mediators of all these groups, and a separate class of mercantile boat-nomads formed around them. As the Architects reigned, the Mejikans lived in peace- adopting agriculture in some areas, but never fully committing to sedentary hierarchical living. Around 200 years after the Architects passed, cities and kingdoms as we know them began to rise: both from attempts to imitate Sonevan and Garadek forms of urban life and from ambitious sea nomad attempts to extract production from local land-based groups. These states were initially fluid and decentralized relationships of trade and tribute, but slowly crystallized as trade wealth grew and the semi-egalitarianism of the early Mejikas gave way to extreme wealth inequality. By 1000 ME, the Mejikas were entirely sliced and diced into sedentary states with formal power structures. For a brief time, this was actually bad for trade- the new power structures all sought to maximize profit at the cost of the trade network. Communities across the isles suffered. Merchants and coastal towns alike turned away from their princes and oligarchs to a group known as the "Merry Travelers" - a smuggler's guild and thieves guild that had bought out or out-competed the rest. When the many kingdoms tried to drive out these smugglers, the smugglers radicalized- growing more violent and ambitious with every victory. To mediate and end this crisis, local states turned to the rising Religious Guilds: those of Zihari, Hadina, and Pratasam, for which the Mejikas had previously been a neutral space. But that neutrality was over: the holy wars of trade and profit had begun.

The Seas Boil

As the Mejikas were jealously fought over by the three Guild-Faiths, the undersea world churned. The reef-cities of the shallow sea had grown immensely over the last 1000 years, though they had mostly turned inwards rather than outwards. The shallow sea's surrounding depths had meant that massive squiddle, cuttlefolk, and shark migrations and invasions would sweep in from every direction, and the octopeople had responded by building fortifications and walls around their reefs. They had always had fairly good relations with certain trading groups, going so far as to make warning towers that rose from the depths to alert sailors of the nearby reefs. The Trade Wars changed all that- elite spellcasters traded magic items to the reef-cities and squiddle-federations in exchange for trade convoy protection. And so, some groups rose sharply above the others. These groups struggled to achieve lasting power, but slowly began turning outwards: and began embracing the technology of the Eastern aquatic peoples. Voiceboxes, chemical weapons, engines of war. The old coral oligarchs were sent tumbling down and warrior-monarchs rose in their place. Undersea imperialism was born. In 1180 one enterprising Reef, known to Octofolk as Usomo and surfacegoers as Krizafa, was able to enslave, loot, and conquer enough to construct a grand enterprise: the Voice Factory. A massive voicebox manufacturing plant, a mechanical marvel of ridiculous expense. Usomo became the go-to producer of voiceboxes and the ultimate mediators of land-sea relations. And so their wealth multiplied. They began building out into the barrens of the shallow sea, to solidify their control over territory (territorial control is a very land-based idea alien to most aquatic governments). In 1300, Greater Usomo crowned itself Izmenet: Empire of All Seas. It stretched ever outwards, conquering vast distances. In the late 1400s, they even began the impossible: a massive invasion of the land world. The infamous Kirikiza (a title meaning "beach emperor", the octoperson's name was Lurbulari), warlord of land and sea, conquered the Northern Mejikas, the Southern Seas, and Larazek land in their massive mechanical Star-metal alloy powered armor. In the 1600s, this all came crashing down- the empire was unsustainable.

Modern History

The Trade Wars are not eternal, but they do still flair up: last time was the Dragon Wars of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Much has changed on the islands- regimes, religions, and cultures have changed and transformed. Empires have risen and fallen. The Mejika isles are now heavily intermixed with outside factions: Zesheko isolationists, large Selkie enclaves, the Garadek Healing Church. Underwater, spiciness continues: large fragments of the Izmenet Empire remain active, and many small territorial states have arisen underwater in their image. Swarms of displaced Sonevan octopeople and squiddles have also joined the fray, bringing their own technologies and Elemeer religion with them.