Republic of Atupan

Atupan is a great forested stretch of coastline, ranging hundreds of miles from jungle in the South to more temperate forest in the North, enclosed by a massive mountain range. The coastline is peppered with bays, islands, and inlets where boats from across the Suneka sail about carrying cloth, metals, spices, coffee, and sugar. The welcoming ports are decorated with colorful art and the people wear fun, unusual fashion. For many who visit here, there is an inherent mystique. Among Sunekans, Atupan is often said to be a county built over the mouth of the Underworld and prone to innate magic and mystery. As visitors pass by decorations carved in the shape of skulls or are courted into a tourist's inn by mask-wearing theatrical peddlers, that notion is likely to be reinforced. 
Many Atuperan workers, who spend their days picking cocoa beans or threshing rice or working in textile mills, find all of those touristy first impressions to be shallow and somewhat insulting. That said, there is a flair for the dramatic that is normalized here and many people have a more mystical and profound relationship with the Sunekan spirits than in many other Sunekan republics. There is something magical here, something just out of reach in the humid forest air - perhaps it is in the old stone ruins of this most-ancient Sunekan republic, or perhaps it is in the underground shrines where masked priests breath in hallucinogenic smoke. Perhaps there is something magical in the town plazas when people come together wearing skull masks and formalwear to celebrate the good memories of those who are dead, dancing and drinking chocolate in their honor.
There are many pieces to Atupan that stretch out beyond easy explanation: eccentric politics, interesting cuisine, an odd relationship with historic empire, a government that is at once uniquely democratic and engaged in repressive purges of "deviants", and intense regional differences. 

Structure

Atupan is a Federal Sunekan Republic, where the priesthood coordinates community voting for elected officials in both executive functions and a government assembly. Unlike more centralized Sunekan Republics, Atupan gives significant authority to the eleven provincial governments - who each have their own elected governor and assemblies. Atupan has a clearly defined constitution that outlines the full powers and responsibilities of all parties in explicit written text.
Atupan's supreme executive is the Tlakra - who holds substantial power and has their own branch of the military (the "Crownguard") under their sole control. The Tlakra is elected in a national election every 12 years, with extremely long terms as compared to the 4-year terms of the governors and assemblypeople. A Tlakra can only serve one term, there are no re-elections. Tlakras cannot make their own laws, but can issue short-term executive edicts; their primary job is to handle the execution of the legislature's laws, by selecting bureaucrats and issuing orders of enforcement.
The bicameral Twin Atupan Assemblies handle nationwide laws, with any law having to pass both assemblies to come into effect. The first Assembly, the Grand Assembly, operates on a basis of population - each province can elect a number of representatives determined based on the last decade's census. Grand Assembly members are directly elected by voters in the provinces. The second Assembly, the Tall Assembly, is a much smaller council of twenty-two representatives, two chosen by each province's government. All Assembly positions have four-year terms, typically staggered so there are elections every two years.
While the federal government may be legally supreme, provincial governments are given authority on most issues. Governors are popularly elected and manage the province's Volunteer Corps, budget, and bureaucracy, while the provincial assemblies handle regional lawmaking. Most of these provincial assemblies have only one body, elected popularly, but there is some substantial variation between provinces.
Atupan is interesting in its system of "Masked Elections": elections where many people traditionally wore blank white paper or cloth masks and many still do, and where there is an expectation of anonymous voting free from outside influence. This has evolved into what is basically a secret ballot system, or a voting system where approved community members vote in ways that obscure how they voted (such as a paper ballot in a secure space) and where ballot-counters are legally bound not to disclose who voted in which way. Not all voting is done secretly, and there are issues with providing secret ballots in underfunded rural precints, but lawsuits have won additional funding and protections for some communities by appealing to this right in court. Masked Elections curiously also tend to involve parties after - election days are basically their own bonus holiday in Atupan.

People in Power

Political parties exist in Atupan, but these parties hold very little formal power and largely represent broad ideological positions and coalitions. Two main parties exist, both from an older political era: the Centralists (Oxulol in local language) - who want a strong central government, formalized social classes, and a large army - and the Federalists (or Tlalelol) - who want stronger local governments, more emphasis on universal rights for Sunekans, and a weaker standing army. The cities are also home to a variety of smaller and more ideologically specific parties, which are increasingly popular and energetic, such as the Rationalists (technocrats), the Popularists (worker's party), the Liberationists (free trade semi-libertarians), Unitarialists (imperialists), and the Memorialists (hyper-traditionalists).
The current Tlakra is a Centralist named Keskobo Sepoyototzin who was elected in 2002 as a 'strong' candidate who would improve and bolster the central bureaucracies. Keskobo, an old Dryad with military and civic administrative experience, did live up to many of their promises - particularly in education. Keskobo has built a federal apparatus for educational funding and consistency, has massively expanded Atupan's higher education, and has launched a successful pro-literacy campaign in the less developed parts of the country. While the Centralists as a party are often skeptical of social mobility, Keskobo has steered the party towards expanding social programs that have benefitted the poor as well as the rich. For this reason, the Tlakra is more popular than the rest of their party.
While it can be tempting to stop there, it is important to mention that Keskobo has been very controversial in areas of foreign policy and military policy. It was Keskobo who oversaw the Atuperan invasion of the Southwestern parts of the Republic of Matayan in 2010 - and then granted much of that territory to the Ghosts (the military spies), who used that land to grow their power, funds, and influences without oversight. In exchange, the Ghosts worked to disrupt and detain certain political enemies of Keskobo in the late 2010s; creating a growing sense of political repression and censorship. While the Ghosts have only kidnapped a few people, these "arrests" have triggered a series of smaller-scale purges targeting "deviants" and "subversives" in Atuperan towns and cities. At the same time, Keskobo's relationship with new industries and technologies is quite bad (ironic for someone so good at starting schools) and there have been recent boondoggles involving fraudulent industrial schemes and massively failed projects that the Federalists and their allies have latched onto.
The federal assembly is pretty firmly split, with the Centralists in control of the Grand Assembly by a narrow margin and the Federalists in control of the Tall Assembly. Small factions and independents play a large role in both ruling coalitions, making for a lot of by-issue flexibility on individual laws.
Overseeing the enforcement of the Constitution is the State Priest or Azilezten. The current Azilezten is a Prism named Atobaxa Sancalaca. Atobaxa is an excellent coordinator within the priesthood, who keeps the cults well balanced and supported, but is not particularly interested in any kind of broad popularity or public support. Not exactly popular in the press or particularly politically active.
In 2018 ME, Tlakra Keskobo's reign will be over and a new national election will be on. Whether the Centralists will continue pursuing their paternalist expansionism or whether the Federalists will strike back has yet to be seen.

Culture

Flamboyance and Mysticism

Atupan may be a Sunekan republic devoted to the great mono-culture, but it wears that culture with pride and a sense of fashionable excess. Atuperan fashion, which ranges from the blingy to the macabre, is considered both odd and desirable across the continent. Atupan mixes makeup with outright facepaint, loves the odd shoulder-cape or light scarf, and generally enjoys eye-catching accessories. It isn't a total free-for-all of individual expression, of course. There are several specific fashionable styles: currently, the culture is split between a kind of "hyper goth" and "colorful excess" as the hip styles.
Atuparen theatricality is a bit of a streotype, but it isn't entirely unfounded. While they aren't the fainting dandies Tuzekans would make you think they are, they are a little more expressive than in other parts of the Suneka. It is all still within broader Sunekan norms, but in some ways Atupan's status as one of the founding republics lets it get away with things that a more recently-converted land could not. Atuperans have their fashions, their spicier foods, their weird masks, their religious and public theater, and their fondness for loudly aligning themselves with odd and specific ideologies.
A key element of Atupan's particular style is the mask. Atuperan masks are technically everywhere in the Suneka - used by priests in specific ceremonies but most commonly by the Keepers of Olkum, who carry painted fox masks that they wear while in official capacities. Masks are usually a very niche religious object, though; in Atupan, masks are a key element of religion, politics, and culture. Atuperan masks, inspired by The Masked One to a certain extent many centuries ago, represent the fundamental equality of all living things, the power of roles and the ability of people to assume roles, and the ways that people shed their individuality to become something more transcendent. Masks are traditionally worn when distributing community resources, serving food communally, and while voting in Atupan: this creates both a barrier for the mask-wearer to express themselves without judgement and for them to be insulated from potential social rewards for how they give or vote. Masks are also key to many Atuperan traditional religious ceremonies, serving as a way to allow the divine to manifest physically. Atuperan spirituality has traditionally been more direct, physical, and mystical than for other Sunekans - there has always been an emphasis on mystery cult and hidden sacred spaces.
Other Sunekans often depict Atuperans as wearing masks all the time - most stereotypically the Zoxim or death mask, a skull or corpse like mask worn during the new year festival of Umzil. There is a fascination by other Sunekans with Atupan's macabre aesthetics and the Zoxim's mix of cartoonish fun and macabre is catchy and appealing. In reality, Atuperan masks are definitely not day-wear, nor can you wear any of them at any event - they are for specific times and places. Still, some Atuperans in more trade-oriented communities have started to lean into this image out of both a sense of fun and to appeal to foreign tourists and visitors. Most other Atuperans see this as selling out and condemn the practice (sometimes a bit overdramatically for such a small niche practice).
Some people mistake Atupan's flamboyance and individual expression for some kind of laxness in Sunekan religion and power. This is a fatal mistake; Atupan is ruthless in its pursuit of deviants. Some do manage to carve out places of their own in Atupan, particularly in the cities, but these are groups in the minority.

Daily Life

Atupan has your classic Sunekan food: tortilla wraps, flatbread wraps, empanada-dumplings, rice balls with fillings, fajitas, and fried wraps, with beans, rice, cheese, and other fillings (often aiming to both human and dryad culinary audiences). Why so much food-inside-of-food? Sunekan food prides itself on its ability to have something for everyone, with as little visual difference as possible. It may seem odd to foreign prisms to have their minerals wrapped in a thin flatbread and put in a sauce, but to Sunekans it is a constant visual reinforcement of shared community and connection through food. Atuperan food keeps all of that, but adds an element of spice to it. Atupan's affinity for peppers is well known - and indeed, Atuperan stuffed peppers are a classic street food. Adding chili peppers and chocolate to unique sauces (what one might call moles) is a common regional specialty. Along with mole sauces (which originated in the South but have spread to the North), Atupan is also well known for its guacamole (which began in the North and spread South). 
While the rise of tea culture and tea farming in the Republic of Akatlan has led to many Sunekan cities turning towards tea houses, the Atuperan estate-house or town is known for its drinking chocolate - sweet, spicy, bitter, or otherwise. Old Atuperan drinking-plazas, small plazas (more like patio spaces with nice plants at the edges) which served chocolate to esteemed community members returning from war or after completing some local good deed, have become more commercial but remain social places in cities, towns, and rural administrative centers. Akatlani tea and Otekan coffee have been embraced by these plaza-shops, but they often try and find ways to add a touch of spice or sweetness - with more popular results with the coffee. Smoking (tobacco and cannibas) has also become popular in these plazas. 
Atuperan art is everywhere. The Suneka encourages music as part of work and community life, and Atupan tends to believe that all art enhances this harmony and further infuses the landscape with intent and purpose.

History

The Oldest Days (Pre-428 ME)

North Atupan was one of the first urban sites on the Sunekan continent, along with the Gwalan Republic and Republic of Tuzek. That was many thousands of years ago, in the hazy history of the early bronze age - perhaps 5000 DE. In those ancient days, numerous cities rose and fell with little trace. Climate change, storms, plague, and political upheaval struck down ancient kings and communes but Atupan as a whole endured. Those primordial monarchs were largely ceremonial figures with little actual power and those ancient cities often served as major ritual sites that many groups would seasonally migrate to. The ceremonial kings of Atupan were associated with water control and the afterlife, and were buried in great tombs overlooking the canals and reservoirs that represented their power. Very-early Atupan was unlike the more communalistic cities of Tuzek and Gwalan; it would take until the 600s DE for Atuparen cities to begin to adopt proto-Sunekan elements. But, over time, oligarchical elements began to take root in these early cities parallel to the ceremonial monarchs. Even these early states were very limited in scope and represented only a small minority of the total inhabitants. It also took until the 600s DE for territorially powerful city-centered states to really project power across most of Atupan; a process that seemed to be tied into that 'Sunekanization'. It is worth noting that this early proto-Suneka was more of a toolkit of ideas and systems rather than the religion or culture of modern Suneka.
Atupan, with its hilly environment and marshy coastline, did not see the massive Divine-Era population boom that the lakes to the Northwest saw. It would take centuries of slow and steady growth, and the arrival of new crops from around the world, to really see Atupan explode into the populated realm it is now. The first signs of Atupan's ascent were the repeated discoveries of silver, copper, and Moonstone in the Northern hills in the early Modern Era. The Cult of Olkum, which handled all secrets from the underground and was popular among all species, became famous across the continent as bearers of refined Moonstone - which was considered more valuable than gold and even used in high-value coinage. This metal boom led to a surge in metallurgy in the local Prism population (that had been rising for years) as well as foreign trade.
One monarch in particular was associated with this prosperity: the ancient King Nelixo, who ruled in the early 300s ME. Nelixo invited a group of Stildanian refugees to his city of Yezato and built them a district in the city to live according to their ways. In exchange Nelixo asked the Stildanian leader, a Kobold named Yuloatzen (by Sunekan accounts), to design a series of trading halls that to attract merchants from around the world. Outposts were established for merchants connecting all the way to Stildane and deep into the Adira Mountains; travelling Solars were also hosted annually, and had incorporated Atupan into their regular migrations. All of this trade brought wealth, but it also brought new crops. Haru himself even sent an agent to help people plant wet rice in the wetlands. Wealth and food meant more labor, which allowed for better terrace farms and irrigation systems, which in turn meant even more productivity. The city of Yezato emerged at the forefront of all this, and its neighbors soon fought for their share of the wealth. Nelixo's heir, Quiqual, rallied the forces of Yezato and fought a series of terrible wars. In 428, Quiqual was crowned Ceremonial King of the First Kingdom of Atupan.

Atupan the Spiritual (428 - 610)

The first Kingdom of Atupan might be called a parliamentary republic; kings played a martial and religious role but depended on administration by elected officials. Quiqual supposedly left behind a series of divinely inspired democratic laws derived from knowledge he learned from the dead in sacred caverns. This became known as the Mazayinta - the Sunekan word for a state Constitution. According to legendary histories, Quiqual's sons violated their father's constitution in the pursuit of their own political power and tore the kingdom apart in doing so. They contested local elections and then dissolved the democratic elements entirely to claim the throne by blood. As the brothers were dividing the kingdom into a terrible civil war in 480 ME, the priests of Olkum organized to restore elections and arrest the feuding brothers. The Constitution was rewritten and restored, with monarchs chosen from the royal family by a powerful elected assembly. While technically semi-monarchical, this became known as the First Atuperan Republic. And the priests who intervened eventually became the Keepers of Olkum.
For a century, the Republic of Atupan stood strong as a center of wealth, power, and cultural sophistication: it enjoyed a brief golden age as the peoples of Gwalan and Tuzek fell to civil war. But the rise of the terrible conqueror-assassin Amati sent Atupan tumbling into chaos. The realm was reunited by Yezok the Lawgiver and his army of ghosts in 550 ME and Atupan became an essential part of the Great Spiritual Empire. Many of Atupan's local interpretations and legal concepts would be adopted by Yezok (though in a very different mindset and context while the ideas of a Constitution and ballot-making were not instantly embraced as parts of the Suneka of the late 500s, these ideas would be preserved in Yezok's writings and would later be re-interpreted and re-integrated into Sunekan politics.
The old government of Atupan, which exiled by Amati's terror, formed their own state in exile in the Southern hills. This was a common practice for deposed Atuperan governments; fallen ceremonial kings had long been ritually exiled South to live in a sacred compound known as Nokwizeso, where they would periodically be given gifts in exchange for non-political generational exile. Amati turned Nokwizeso into a prison and nearly slaughtered the exiles, but the Ghost-Emperor restored their status and allowed the old government to take full possession of the town.
The Ghost-Emperor had a fondness for Atupan as a nostalgic beacon of cultural sophistication, and under the Spiritual Empire the cities and lands of Atupan grew wealthy and productive. Even at his worst, Yezok was kind to this realm. The governors of Atupan saw their power wildly expand, as Yezok granted them total power over the coast - almost all of the land currently controlled by Atupan. The Southlands were brutally culturally suppressed and assimilated, which families and villages broken apart at the end of a blade and scattered for assimilation abroad. But even these Southern lands were invested in and some found happiness under this regime there. Yezok's ghost-madness eventually led to his exorcism in 605 ME, which led to a brief power struggle between local officials. A group of politicians most closely associated with the ghostly elites, known as the Graveloyal (the 'Mozanetlek'), ultimately seized control of new Atupan - though the power struggle left many other factions with their own armies and greater autonomy.

Graveloyal Period (610 - 720)

The Graveloyal were politicians who sympathized with Yezok when he was at his most extreme and unhinged, and they continued both his crusade to extinguish all other cultures and his penchant for military expansion. Atupan rattled their sabres even at the other Sunekan imperial successors, demanding that the Spiritual Empire continue regardless of the Exorcisms. The Governate of Tuzek, who inherited Yezok's seat of power, fully agreed and used their greater wealth, popularity, and arms to crown themselves the primary successors to Yezok - the Sacred Assembly, the council that acted as the new imperial government, would be in Tuzek, not Atupan. Atupan's elites, who wanted full reunification with themselves in a prominent position, quietly plotted against Tuzek even as they publicly announced their eternal unity.
At first, the Atuperan elites kept their plots diplomatic and focused on securing a dominant position in the empire economically and politically. It took until 718 ME for Atupan to foolishly attempt military action against Tuzek. This invasion was supported by a faction within Tuzek, with the goal of seizing parts of Mezcoco as an autonomous neutral province and relocating the Spiritual Assembly there. At first, the plan went well: The forces of Tuzek split, the Gwalan Republic was close to joining, and even the Northern Guardians of Hokzin were getting involved. Unfortunately for the Graveloyal, Atupan had its own divisions that the leaders of Tuzek could exploit. Specifically, the Tuzekan army armed and recruited dissenters from the South. Most notable of these dissenters were the exiles of Nokwizeso, who were facing dissolution by the Graveloyal government and had their own martial traditions. Tapilutzin, captain of the palatial guard of Nokwizeso, took particular initiative in dashing Atupan's plans: before even the full army of Tuzek arrived, they struck swiftly at the Atuperan core and killed a prominent general. Atupan's army splintered in a crisis of leadership; Tuzekan loyalists were given time to crush their rebels, and soon the entire alliance was collapsing. The conflict that followed was brief but decisive. The Graveloyal were ousted from power in Atupan and replaced with a more concilliatory faction. The Nokwizeso Exiles were given further autonomy and protections, and Tapilutzin's band became a prominent mercenary company known as the Exiles Eternal (Tarazochuipa) that served for years in the Sunekan heartlands. While the Tarazochuilpa of ancient days is gone now, modern Atupan continues to have an autonomous Nokwizeso and an elite mercenary band that calls themselves the Tarazochuipa (going so far as to link themselves to Nokwizeso).

Atupan the Elector (720 - 1050)

Atupan became far more moderate, decentralized, and stable after the crisis of 718 was resolved. From 720 to 950 ME, Atupan's history is relatively slow: factional disputes, economic downturns, famines, local rebellions, political reforms, and border skirmishes occured, but the state was more or less stable and continuous. The most important conflict of these centuries was the Sunekanization and "settlement" of the Southern provinces. In 605 ME, there were sixteen semi-autonomous town-based areas of control established by the Spiritual Empire South of Gularan (one of them being Nokwizeso). By 800 ME, Atupan had fully integrated the Northern stretch of warm forest (Kukelato), while seven semi-autonomous coastal governates ruled the rest of the Southern coast - and three castle-towns loosely controlled the hilly interior. This process was peaceful, inevitable, or quiet, but was a sustained series of campaigns built on forced population redistribution, intensive infrastructure construction, coercive military campaigning, and relentless power struggles. The rise of provincial power after the Crisis of 718 led to local governors holding great power in these Southern provinces. And this process was incomplete; in the deepest hilly interior, Atupan's power was often very light even in 950.
Starting in 950 ME, Atupan's efforts were diverted away from the consolidation of the Southlands. Bubonic (and then Mageplague-derivative) epidemics swept through the cities, The Asuna Heresy began to rise in pockets across Atupan, and tensions rose with Tuzek and Gwalan. In 1035 ME, the entire Imperial Elector system crumbled and the Suneka spiralled into open civil war after Tuzek invaded Gwalan. Wars led to further wars, and conflict between the great Sunekan states occurred in terrible bursts from 1035 to 1050. In 1050 ME, Atupan signed a treaty with Tuzek dividing the Gwalan Valley between them (with a nominally independent Gwalan republic at the center) and giving Matayan to Atupan.

Doves, Hawks, and Foxes (1050 - 1400)

The Elector Wars awakened an imperial appetite in Atupan's government and led to the rise of military actors in Atupan's "republican" system. They conquered bits of Kiwa (which would later be lost to a group of mountain tribes), pushed across the hills into Noxitagra, and centralized the Southern coast by force. Generals competed in politics through conquest and raiding of foreign lands. In the 1096, General Matuvin Guyelyo seized control of the republic and began to pursue an impossible ambition: full conquest of all the other former elector states. When Tuzek was busy fighting off nomadic invasions in 1101, Guyelyo launched an invasion into Tuzek with the aim of conquering the entire realm. The war was terrible and ended with only relatively minor concessions to Atupan in Mezcoco. Guyelyo then worked to seize total control of Gwalan and launched a second invasion of Tuzek; war dragged on for the full decade of 1101 to 1110, when Guyelyo was overthrown.
Military rulers continued to start petty wars that drained Atupan's coffers for the following decades, until a group of priests and mining cliques backed their own faction's ascent to power in 1168 ME. After a hawk-faction counter-coup in 1172, the dove faction very dramatically re-took power the following year. This began the reign of Mazimetlentzin the Fox-Emperor, a commander with a flair for the dramatic and with a fondness for wearing a mask in the style of Olkum Cultists. The Fox-Emperor and their successors reigned from 1172 to 1248, and focused their efforts on expanding infrastructure, education, and mining. This regime was known for its close association with Sunekan monastic orders, which Atupan helped reform; it also improved relations with fellow Sunekan republics. This isn't to say that all was peaceful - hardly so. In 1189 ME, a rogue army from the Republic of Akatlan invaded Atupan's Northern reaches, breaking the republic's control over Matayan. Fighting against the rogue Akatlani continued for two more years and fighting against numerous local warlords and upstarts continued for nine years after that. The Fox Emperor retreated to Atupan's core lands and focused on stabilizing Matayan under a new provisional government. These Northern wars were seen as humiliating failures in Atupan's military establishment, even as the country's internal re-investment ultimately improved the republic's economy.
In 1248, when the successor to the Fox Emperor handed power to their own heir, the hawks launched their long-awaited coup. They quickly turned to try and reclaim old territory: capturing Southern Gwalan, contesting the new dynasty in Kiwa for control over the crumbling realm of Matayan. This brief hawk restoration ended in hubris after it attempted to invade Tuzek for control over Mezcoco in 1267. After that brief but decisive war, a new centrist regime took power that held onto the Northern annexed territories but also held a more concilliatory stance towards the other Sunekan republics. By 1300, Atupan had stabilized. Though there was a rather terrible civil war from 1341 to 1344 that led to Atupan losing many of their Northern holdings, the republic held together - and after the civil war, even began to prosper.

The Heartlands Crisis (1400 to 1500)

From 1344 to 1420, Atupan prioritized stability and friendly relationships with other major Sunekan powers. The Southlands became more developed and incorporated into the Atuperan whole, Atupan's cities grew rich from trade with the growing Eastern and Southern Sunekans, and the republic's leadership became more and more consolidated in the hands of merchants and landlords. Atuperan warriors and merchants grew rich participating in Sunekan expansion abroad, and even raided distant heathen cities to bring back ships full of ill-gotten loot. Decades of overseas militarism eventually tracked back home and fueled a growing rivalry with Tuzek over control of the great Sunekan holy orders. This arms race between the two of the greatest Sunekan republics not only collapsed vital alliances but led to corruption and factionalism within the Holy Orders - particularly the Guardians of Hokzin, who had been drifting into armed factionalism for centuries already. Both conflicts ignited in an entangled mess of political crises: the Heartlands Crisis, as it is now known. The Heartlands Crisis threw the whole of the Suneka into brutal infighting, not just between republics but even within the great Holy Orders. These wars mixed religion, politics, and identity together into a potent concoction that led to unusual brutality and violations of what were once the rules of Sunekan war. The primary Atuperan theater of this conflict was the Great Mezcoco War between their government and Tuzek, but the infighting spread to local cults and regional governors as well. The main war with Tuzek ended in 1449, with the capture of Mezcoco by Atupan. Atupan failed to hold onto their conquered lands, and by 1461 had lost most of them to a new ruler known as Commander Ikito. While Atupan failed to fully conquer much of Tuzek, they still made substantial gains and emerged as the pre-eminent Sunekan power.

During the Heartlands Crisis, Tuzek was not the only target of Atuperan aggression: the Republic of Zitepec also saw their Tlakra captured in an Atuperan expedition tied into the Cult infighting. While Atupan had hoped to conquer all of Zitepec or at least subjugate it, the Oteka Republic to the South sent their own forces to participate in the expedition and counterbalance Atupan's expansion. The two republics were left with equal influence over Zitepec as allies - a frustrating turn of events, but not an open act of hostility between the two republics. That closeness was limited to Oteka's more conservative government, and Atupan began to try and assert power more unilaterally in the South after Oteka's government began to radically change in 1488. As Tuzek became less vulnerable to Atuperan aggression, the Republic's ambitions turned Southward - encouraged by exiled Otekan conservatives who fed the Tlakra's dream of being the champion of Sunekan expansion.
In 1495, Atupan's military went rogue for a second time. Commander Timiyantzin Huedzenyesh, a rising military star in Atupan who was as much a con-artist as a commander, built their own faction within Atupan's army and government seeking to re-ignite the imperial dreams of the mid-1400s and had advocated for an invasion of Oteka for years. When the Atuperan regional council (a body of local land-administrators that approved of major executive decisions) voted against the invasion and convinced the Tlakra against further expansion, Timiyantzin rallied the war council for an illegal invasion of Oteka - framed as an emergency peacekeeping action to remove a heathen occupier that drew on a very specific interpretation of standing orders. What began as a coup turned into an invasion, Timiyantzin crowned themselves Tlakra of Oteka, and a constitutional crisis divided Atupan's government. This crisis began to escalate into a full civil war, which was only prevented by an intervention from the Sunekan Holy Orders. They mediated an agreement that led to Oteka's absorption into the new Empire of Atupan (along with Mezcoco) as a semi-autonomous republics. While this prevented war, it opened Oteka to Timiyantzin's looting and created a deep factional divide within Atupan's politics that would last for centuries.

The Empire of Atupan (1500 - 1729)

Atupan's extensive empire building peaked in 1600, when Atupan directly ruled Mezcoco, Oteka, and parts of Gwalan and Matayan, while also dominating Zitepec and Tuzek. Atupan had consolidated their control over Tuzek in 1530, and spent the next eighty years flexing their muscles as the true inheritors of the Spiritual Empire. The factional struggle introduced by Timiyantzin would continue to fester over these years, developing into a three-party system in which each party had its own military and land base. Already by 1590, the empire was barely holding itself together. In 1605, a terrible civil war broke out between these factions, which raged for ten years before it was resolved. Populist rebels rose up against the Atuperan elite class in the outer territories even as factions based in those territories marched forces into coastal center. The empire miraculously held together, but radically decentralized - rebels in the outer provinces were given major reforms and granted autonomy, and regional populists were even given lands to undermine domestic partisans based there.
After 1610, the Empire experienced a 'resurgence' economically, even as the empire began to decentralize and power diffused. This decentralization may have been bad for the long-term authority of Atupan as a Suneka-spanning empire, but it did play a role in their economic golden age of the 1600s: the central authorities subdizied local industry and enabled economic cooperation, particularly in the realms of mining and textiles. Greater Atupan formed a relationship with greater Tuzek, processing the cotton, wool, and flax produced there into cloth for distribution across the Suneka. Together, with the Republic of Matayan's newly founded international financial coordinators, Atupan became part of the economic glue holding the greater Suneka together. In time, these systems would grow far beyond Atupan or the power of its government.
In the 1700s, Atupan's political hierarchy came crashing down with great fanfare. The empire nearly collapsed in the early 1700s, when a group of Mezcocoan elites joined a failed factional coup and the Tlakra was assassinated. The civil war was briefly delayed by General Teokali Gusuinotzin - a charismatic and pious warrior who believed that it was their holy duty to unite the Empire through mutual war against foreign evils. Teokali brought the empire together for one last hurrah: twin campaigns Southward, to spread the Suneka across all of the tropical South and into distant Ukaram. These were known as the Duskvoyages - marketed in the language of myth and legend and built on a near-delusional faith in Sunekan unity. The Duskvoyages did briefly stir a moment of unity, but Teokali increasingly moved themselves and their inner circle abroad. When Teokali and their fleet vanished in 1720, Atupan quickly fell into a succession crisis that became a civil war. From 1721 to 1729, Atupan's empire convulsed in violence and fell entirely apart. While Atupan was left in pieces, the Duskvoyages did pave the way for Sunekan expansion in the South and the Expedition of 1750 to Ukaram.

The Fragmented Period (1730 - 1900)

Following the collapsed of the Atuperan Empire, the lands that are now considered Atupan were split into two pieces: a Northern state called Carasca and a Southern state called Nusawa. Carasca was controlled by a strong central bureaucracy, with strongly segmented social classes, a strong state relationship with mercenaries, and a well-funded and politically powerful military. Nusawa, meanwhile, was a little less centralized and was far more plutocratic, with politicians closely tied to leading merchant associations and shipping groups. After some bickering between them, the two republics began to accept the status quo rather than seek reunification - until Carasca was suddenly invaded by the Quikuzan warlord Eltizen in the 1790s. Elitzen shattered the republic's main forces, but was killed in the process - leaving behind a power vacuum that Nusawa rushed to fill. Carasca became a vassal of Nusawa, united under the Atuparen Union.
Nusawa soon faced its own crisis. In 1834, an ambitious merchant-politician by the name of Tospilo Zixiltotzin triggered a legal crisis by forcing through constitutional revisions - revisions that would undo term limits and grant them sweeping powers. Tospilo triggered a brief bout of civil political conflict and was nearly ousted from the throne, but was rescued by a notorious shipping administrator known as Gracious Momiso. Gracious Momiso, a corrupt character of with many connections across the coastal Suneka, played a critical role in returning Tospilo to power through skill and luck - but held that debt over the new Tlakra. While Tospilo's new constitution was intended to centralize power through an expanded executive, Tospilo was effectively used as a puppet to gut the government and grant vast powers to the wealthiest cliques (including outside groups like Momiso's). Even after Tospilo's death in 1865, Nusawa was left in a state that could be best described as a kind of business feudalism. The following Tlakra worked to try and reverse this trend by turning towards Carasca for assistance - reversing some of the power dynamics of the vassalage.
This complex and uncertain Carasca-Nusawa relationship turned to a full and sudden unification after the Empire of Calazen launched a massive invasion of the Sunekan heartlands under their infamous emperor Esam the Great in 1870. The Carascan government took a leading role in war coordination and retained that role even after they were forced to retreat fully into Nusawan territory. This government essentially became an organ within Nusawa's own government - and by the end of the war, the new elected Tlakra of Nusawa was the commander-Tlakra of Carasca as well. During the Northern counteroffensive, Nusawa-Carasca declared it was now Atupan revived; all difference between them was formally erased.

Modern Politics (After 1900)

In 1900, Calazen was fully driven from the Suneka and Atupan had reclaimed the Northern territories. The resulting status quo was full of extreme legal contradictions - those inherited from the dominant Nusawan system and those introduced by making the Carascan army an official organ of Atuperan government. From 1890 to 1930, Atupan struggled with these political contradictions and complications. Two general political factions formed: Centralists (who wanted a strong central government, formalized social classes, and a large army) and Federalists (who wanted stronger local governments, more emphasis on universal rights for Sunekans, and a weaker standing army). These two groups clashed in politics, minor local revolts, and in broader culture. After a brief civil war in 1929, the 1930 Atuperan Constitutional Compromise reunified the country. It created the system as it currently stands today, ironed out many of the blatant legal contradictions, and built a robust political system. The two political factions remained present, but slowly de-escalated their violence over the next seventy years. Atupan had a reputation for political violence and instability for some decades after 1929, but by 1980 they were considered fairly stable compared to their neighbors. In 1969, Atupan even mobilized to expand its influence, sending troops to counter-balance those of the Republic of Zitepec in the Oteka Republic and beginning a decades-long struggle for economic and diplomatic influence with a Sunekan republic of some power. Atupan managed to not only do this bloodlessly, but with substantial economic gain in favorable trade agreements and minimal costs. The Otekan standoff in many ways represented a rallying of Atuperan identity and spirit, as both centralists and federalists cooperated against what they perceived as foreign bullying.
In many ways, the 1960s and 1970s were an "era of good feelings" in which explicit partisanship sharply declined in favor of unity and psuedo-nationalism. Since 1980, Centralists and Federalists have diverged in matters of foreign policy. Centralists have harbored dreams of expansion and larger coalition-building, while Federalists have argued for light-touch support for merchants instead. The old "era of good feelings" was in many ways an overcompensation by both party leaders reacting against fears of political violence and instability; once those fears were gone, the legitimate policy differences between them led to a gradual re-polarization. Unlike somewhere like the Republic of Kiwa, though, these political parties don't have much formal institutional power and largely represent broad policy alliances. Most politicians since the era of good feelings are locally-oriented first and foremost, serving the economic interest of their own power base in ways that often mean fluttering between party positions. A handful of vocal and influential politicians are consistent and ideologically-focused - these politicians being those who actually compose the main parties - but local partisanship has declined since 1950 and most voters seem disinterested.
Interestingly, party politics has made a comeback since 1990, but not in a way that has benefitted Centralist or Federalist leaders. Political newspapers have exploded in number and influence since the 90s, but many of these newspapers have advocated for new parties entirely. A legion of small, numerically irrelevant political parties have emered in Atupan's cities and have courted much of the more politically-engaged urbanites. The old two parties have been forced to fall back to mainstream elite establishments and the more politically-disengaged countryside, a process that has ironically made them less ideological and more practical in focus. Foreign policy has been the main dividing line between these two, and an area where the two older parties have found success in coalition-building among the many small parties and ideologies. The Centralists have very controversially marched the country into getting involved in the civil war in Republic of Matayan since 2008, while also opening semi-legal military bases in the Oteka Republic that have drawn Atupan into their political deterioration. These conflicts have not only led to military buildups, but have threatened to provoke even larger conflicts: the Centralists seem to be building a coalition against the Republic of Tuzek even while they probe the defenses of their greatest ally in that conflict (Zitepec ). Atupan's occupation of Southwest Matayan has created a land and financial base for the Atuperan military-spies, called the Ghosts, to conduct extralegal military and spy operations without government oversight, risking greater conflict.

Demography and Population

12 million humanoids live in Atupan. 6 million of those people are in the Northern provinces of Tatavalzi, Namiaswa, and Kunatepan; 2 million live in the Gularan peninsula; 4 million live in the South. 
Of these humanoids, 25% are Dryads, 25% are Humans, 20% Prisms, 20% are Hybrids, and 10% are Other.

Territories

Atupan is 1057 miles long North-South, ranging from 28 miles wide in the far South to 138 miles across at the widest. Atupan is shelted from the rest of the Sunekan heartlands by the long Ozitapza mountain range. The country is split between eleven provinces:

1. Tatavalzi is a large province composed of 3 valleys, with a very dense population and rich farmland. The region is covered in warm, humid forests, and numerous lakes and streams. The region has many sizable towns and a robust textile industry. The military holds great sway over local administration and politics. 
2. Kunatepan is a hilly and mountainous region, connected by a series of mountain valleys. The region has many mines, quarries, and terrace farms.
3. Namiaswa is a wet forested region of islands, bays, lakes, creeks, and swamps. Infrastructure projects have allowed for a booming population and semi-industrial economy. 
4. Gularan is home of Atupan's capital and much of the country's bureaucracy. Gularan has many small bays and inlets, which host a number of trading communities. 
5. Guhuezi is a region of semi-tropical forests, with much of the non-coastal land being relatively hilly and uneven. The coast is densely populated, with large smelters processing ore from the interior provinces.
6. Surizeno is a wealthy trading bay and rich farming province that has recently turned towards sugar production. 
7. Nirsanon is a region of many inlets and cliffs, and rocky forests and hills. This province is not particularly wealthy and has less-fertile soil and fewer useful ports. 
8. Toyonochen is a province centered around the bayside flatlands, which are a wealthy center of trade and production. The surrounding landscape is fairly hilly, with long snaking valleys. This region is known for their misty roads which are very well-maintained and connect the tropical hills to their centers of industry.
9. Nextla is a mountainous region is a single large plateau and its center which looms over surrounding valleys. This central nexus is the beating heart of Nexla, which oversees the numerous mines.
10. Unechen is a tropical stretch of land historically controlled by the Oteka Republic. It is known for its merchant elites and political dissent. Currently, the military is also quite a strong presence here, to better reach into Oteka. 
11. Tepyado is a mountainous province and the historically deviant province, that the state has long worked to project power into. The region has immense wealth inequality, and all wealth seems concentrated in the veins of power and extraction that dominate the land. The army is associated with social mobility here and has a significant presence. 

Military

Atupan's army is split into three distinct branches, each with its own leadership, goals, and tactics:

• The Volunteer Regiments, who are raised by provincial governors and associated community elites. Very popular with the Federalist/Tlolelol party, with a number of institutional ties. The Volunteer regiments are known for their democratic structures, which can make for high morale but also can undermine discipline and logistical effectiveness. Some Volunteer Corps have started also hiring mercenaries, which is extremely controversial.
• The Central Army, who are raised, funded, and operated by the federal government. The Central Army has a strict hierarchy but is relatively small in number, as all funding and actions must be approved by the federal legislature - and there is substantial opposition to a large central standing army during peacetime. The Centralists/Oxulol generally support the expansion of the Central Army, while the Federalists/Tlolelol work to shrink it.
• The Crownguard, who are forces directly controlled by the Tlakra independent of the legislature. The Royal Guard is composed of both local forces and mercenaries, and attracts adventurers and elite mercenaries from across the continent. These are the elite executive forces, intended to quickly react to external threats 

Each of these three groups operates as its own entities - allowing for incredible flexibility, especially for small-scale operations, but creating considerable weakness in the event of a large-scale conflict. There is one group that has tendrils in all three branches: the Ghosts, or the federal military spies. The Ghosts are formally part of the Crownguard, but have authority within the Central Army and connections to certain politically-aligned Volunteer corps. The Ghosts have expanded a great deal in their power since 2009, when they were able to capture territory in the Republic of Matayan for their own independent recruitment and funding.
Atupan generally invests a great deal in a mix of infantry and artillery, with a doctrine of "offensive defense" at its core. Atupan has long valued the power of defensive positions and fortifications, even in projecting power: Atuperan officers consider war in terms of leapfrogging between fortifications and bolstering those fortifications to better prevent raids or movement beyond them. To this end, the key tools are heavy infantry, light infantry, archers and marksmen, and artillery - with cavalry mostly for raiding and scouting. The Central Army lives by this doctrine and is very heavily invested in fortifications and fortification-cracking artillery. The Crownguard, meanwhile, have incorporated a wide range of strategic doctrines and viewpoints thanks to their active recruitment from mercenaries and foreigners. Similarly, the Crownguard tend to be wildcards in their weaponry and specialties.
Traditional Atuperan fighting has often focused on swords, maces, and axes - with a wide variety of light sidearm axes, from throwing axes to axes for snagging shields. Atuperan hooked maces can also look quite intimidating. Atuperan sword-breaker flails, short flails designed to catch and break bladed weapons, are also a local martial tradition. 
Given the prominence of mercenaries in contemporary Atupan, it is worth noting the number of warriors from the Republic of Kiwa who work in the country - who bring their own style of high-mobility aggression. The Ghosts have also recruited a number of warriors from the Republic of Matayan, bringing in classic Matain pikemen. Truly Atupan has a little bit of everything, if only it could function as a unitary whole.
As a final note: While not traditionally part of the military, Atupan does also maintain a number of Moonstone-encased mummies of ancient warriors, who it is said will be inhabited by loyal ghosts to defend the country in its time of need. While it is unknown how many of these actually have ready ghosts, at least some of these mummies did animate to fight against the Empire of Calazen a century ago, so at least some of them can work during emergencies.

Religion

Atupan is a very Sunekan country, with very little in the way of religious minorities or deviant local traditions. Oddly, the confident homogeneity of Atupan makes for the appearance of religious toleration: non-Sunekan individuals (especially mercenaries) are perfectly tolerated as long as they don't preach or try and buy land without converting. North-Atupan was occupied by heathens some century ago, but the occupation was weak enough in its control that there were relatively few converts to the foreign religion. The few Nediran temples built have been converted into Sunekan cult sites; some of the foreign art and architecture have been preserved to gleefully highlight Sunekan victory. Witch hunts and heretical purges in Atupan are rare, though government crackdowns on individual "deviant" groups drawn to or formed in Atupan are fairly common - especially under the current government. These crackdowns are less extreme than in other Sunekan countries, and tend to give "slaps on the wrist" in terms of re-assignment rather than extreme punishment for genuine heretics. Still, they are violent and serve to layer fear into some of the Suneka's most artistically vibrant urban centers.
Atuparen religious devotion is fairly diverse; Atupan is known for its love for pagaentry and theater, and this extends most visibly into their style of religion. While some priests have condemned this tendency as heretical and deviant, Atupan is such an ancient Sunekan power with such old traditions that these criticisms have held little sway over policy or culture. Atupan seems to enjoy collecting cults from other parts of the Suneka, giving them small temples and encouraging their rituals and costumes. These include:

• The Mysteries of Chiun-Masri, a healing cult from the Gwalan Republic known for its bardic magic
• The Keepers of Yama-Armata, a cult from the Republic of Tuzek that tends to the waters and purifies lakes.
• the Moquan Mysteries, another cult from the Gwalan Republic that mix metallurgy, alchemy, chemistry, and mysticism
• The Monks of Meskenem, a cult from the Oteka Republic that feverishly studies astronomy, physics, and mathematics as the foundations of sacred harmony, often tying these things to the sea
• The Mysteries of Noskelato, a local cult to Atupan who live underground, tend to the sacred mummies of the ancient dead, and keep ancient histories and relics.

These cults have very limited political power and are usually expected to provide some kind of public service for their support. Many of these cults have adjusted to advertise and provide entertainment during market fairs and local holidays, leading to a sense by some (especially in the original homes of these cults) that they have become inauthentic, circus-like, and sometimes even tourist-oriented.
The Sunekan Holy Orders are much more politically, socially, and economically powerful, particularly the Keepers of Olkum and the Order of Tetzin. These holy orders tend to also reflect ancient Atuperan religion: many of them occupy underground temples, a classic component of pre-Sunekan religion here.
The New Year holiday of Umzil in December (on the winter solstice) is a huge event here in Atupan and a time when the country enjoys some particularly high tourism and lots of public entertainment. Atuperan people dress in costume, often wearing Death Masks (macabre skull-like or corpse-like masks that many foreigners associate with Atupan now) and other macabre death-related clothes - not intended to frighten, but with a mix of familiarity and grim cheekiness. People often wear pale face paint and sell skulls made of sugar. Dead loved ones are remembered and their legacies are celebrated. When foreign Sunekan priests critique Atupan, they usually point here; what they miss is that limited deviancy of Atupan's performances actually reinforces their membership in orthodox Sunekan religion when it isn't a festival or election.
Another notable holiday in Atupan is Tlasotin, the winter crop harvest festival in April. The Volunteer Regiments really get into this holiday, leading the civilian militias in their festivities and putting on special costumes (differing regiment by regiment). This is also a big worker's day, when workshop and smelter workers come together in the big cities to march, dance, and reaffirm their positions of social power as symbolic worker-warriors. Many of these groups organize the smashing of monstrous paper effigies in ritual battles against chaos. This tradition is so popular in recent years that some communities have brought out miniature versions filled with treats for special events - the first Piñatas of this world.

Foreign Relations

Atupan's current leadership has pushed Atupan further and further into a growing international situation: a rivalry with the Republic of Tuzek, a tense alliance with the Republic of Zitepec, imperial expansion into the Republic of Matayan, political inteference in the Oteka Republic. 
Generally, Atupan has been building relationships to its South and North to try and protect itself and further its influence. It has built a financial-political relationship with the Republic of Kiwa, it is building an alliance with the Gwalan Republic, and despite competition with Zitepec it remains a close ally. Atupan has two main avenues for intended expansion: Westward into Mezcoco and along the coasts. Mezcoco is the more obvious of the two targets - not only does Atupan have historic claims there, but Mezcoco's cotton surplus fuels Atupan's economic prosperity and industrial growth. Tuzek, a rising military and economic star, stands in the way. 
The Centralists advocate for a head-on challenge to Tuzek with a large and unified military - while Federalists advocate for soft power in Mezcoco and for turning towards overseas sources for cotton and other trade goods.

Agriculture & Industry

Atupan, like most premodern countries, is predominantly agricultural. Across the coastline and in the valleys and terrace farms, Atuperans grow maize, rice, soybeans, beans, quinoa, and sorghum. Sugarcane and cocoa is grown in the South, while tomatoes and avocadoes are grown in volume in the North. In the interior, bananas, potatoes, gourds, and beans are common. The interior also has a large mining industry: iron, copper, gold, zinc, salt, and gemstones are all mined from the Ozitapsa mountains. Atupan's Moonstone deposits are some of the largest in the world - one of eight massive deposits worldwide that are well-recognized for both moonstone quality and quantity. It has been theorized that Atupan's moonstone deposits are actually the source of the country's early spirituality, particularly their relationship to the early Keepers of Olkum - as the metal has many historic associations with death, the afterlife, and renewal.
Atupan's largest industry by-volume is textiles: Atupan buys large volumes of wool and cotton from the interior for processing into cloth. The very idea of weaving cloth in a different place than the original cotton or wool is produced is a fairly modern innovation driven by both historical imperial systems of resource redistribution and Atupan's last century of major innovations in proto-industrial weaving.
Following textiles is smelting: Atupan's port towns and lake towns eagerly process metal ore from the interior into tools, weapons, and ingots for export.

Trade & Transport

For much of the Suneka, monetary exchange and free market commerce is reserved for non-essential goods and services, and usually divided between two markets: the 'little economy' of small peddlers and farmers between each other, and the 'big economy' of wealthy elites. Production of goods is handled by the Department of Abundance, which appoints Crafts Committees and Merchant Associations to provinces to handle craft production, transport, and sale.
Atupan is unusual in how it structures trade and production: rather than a single Department of Abundance, each Province has its own Department, many of which are quite decentralized. The federal government instead has a Council of Plenty, a small group devoted to coordinating these smaller departments and sectors. What might be called "free market" enterprise is more common in Atupan then elsewhere: merchants have immense freedoms and far more is gambled on the "big economy" than in other republics. This has led to disaster for some communities and crafts, but has allowed others to prosper internationally. 
Generally, Atupan has a close cooperative relationship with two other countries to manage their extensive overseas trade network: the Republic of Kiwa and Oteka Republic. Atupan negotiates the deals and handles much of the shipping, Kiwa handles security, and Oteka often handles the contacts and storage.

Education

A robust education system is firmly entrenched here, beginning from early childhood and potentially continuing through adulthood. Primary schooling through one's childhood and teenage years is mandatory, and these schools are often the center of the local community. Provincial governments play a large role in deciding local educational quality and the focus of local schools, though the federal government has played a larger role in support, funding, and curriculum since 2002. Secondary schools teach specialized skills in the major cities, particularly in the capital city of Yezokal.

Harmony of our Ancestors, Harmony of our Children

Founding Date

1930

Type

Geopolitical, Republic

Demonym

Atuperan

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Federation

Economic System

Mixed economy

Currency

Sunekan Currency: Golden Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Cloth, lumber, steel, Moonstone

Major Imports

Tea, gunpowder, spices, salt

Official State Religion

Suneka

Location

Suneka (place)

Official Languages

• High Sunekan

Neighboring Nations

• Gwalan Republic
• Matain Sacred Lion Army
• Oteka Republic
• Republic of Matayan
• Republic of Zitepec

Related Ethnicities

• High Sunekan Culture

Related Historical Events

• 1772 ME
  Eltizen's Quiku Invasions
• 1605 ME
  Atuperan Populist War
• 1522 ME
  Partition of Tuzek
• 1495 ME
  Atuperan Conquest of Oteka
• 1440 ME
  The Great Mezcoco War
• 1173 ME
  Mazimetlentzin the Fox-Emperor in Atupan
• 1148 ME
  Siril's Wars
• 1101 ME
  Guyelo's Wars
• 718 ME
  Atupan's Failed Reunification War
• 480 ME
  Olkumite Priests Save Atupan
• 428 ME
  Quiqual Unites Atupan
• 300 ME
  Rise of King Nelixo in Atupan