The
Kingdom of Orpora is a brutal and militaristic
Octoperson state, built to bring order and efficient production to the great reefs of North
Makal. Since 1917, Orpora has had no enemies truly able to match their military power - but the ceaseless militarism has simultaneously created instability.
In 2016,
Kasmir, the Rot led their dreadful magically-enhanced
Leviathan into Orporan waters to strike towards
Ekraht. Orporan Queen Ungala Orporsblood was excited at the chance to strengthen her unstable government with a grand victory over such a foe: she led an army specialized in Leviathan-hunting against this beast. She didn't understand that this was a vessel of the Apocalypse: her army wounded it, but were under-prepared for its true power. Ungala was killed and the remnants of her army were taken over by an army officer named Rokolo - who had become a
Plague Warlock and essentially swore the army to the Rot's will.
The sudden death of Queen Ungala led to three royal siblings dividing the Kingdom between them. Ungala's chosen heir,
Kalo Orporsblood was co-opted by the Plague Warlocks into serving the Rot and held the capital city of
Farwater Reef.
Mora Orporsblood rebelled with
Longshore Reef as her capital, and Bellimo Orporsblood rebelled with
Warmtide Reef as his capital.
The three siblings waged terrible war for a year, before finally Kalo turned against the
Plague Warlocks and destroyed their forces. Mora swept in with her army, seized the damaged capital, and pressured Bellimo in surrender. The war ended, with
Queen Mora Orporsblood victorious and the capital moved to
Longshore Reef.
The Conflict
Prelude
From 1917 to 2000, Orpora focused on internal matters for the most part. The heirs of Orpor found the empire to be exhausted and unstable, despite the veneer of total control. The surface world would not be easy to subjugate. So, rather than invade it in an impossible war, they used small skirmishes with surface kingdoms as propaganda points and instead extracted tribute. Orpora installed "advisors" in surface states to project soft power and focused their attention on trade stability instead. Outside of one large conflict with the Greater Makal Company in 1973, Orpora has kept their fights small and their marketing big. The exceptions to this are Leviathan hunts - in 1920, 1960, and 1990, the Orporan military has foughr Leviathans for control of the Izekran water-pass and won. These have been Orpora's finest moments, victories over the very seas themselves. They have also led to the creation of surface military auxiliaries, who have proved invaluable in fighting Leviathans and their servants.
The 2000s have seen a decline, though: the military in all its size, grew restless, and intrigue within the officer corps threatened the government's power. Orporan wars have increased in size and decreased in profits. The need to distract officers with wars abroad has led to poor diplomatic decisions, and the kingdom has suffered as a result.
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