Locomotriam - "The Moving Country" (Lo, co - Mo - Tree, Am)
Locomotriam is found at, and draws the limits of, the "human world." The country is actually a giant locomotive that runs around the outer Var Nexa Rails that circle the rim of Var Nexa. While classed as and called "The Moving Country" in terms of scale (populaiton, size, etc) it is closer to a large city.
Made up of two giant steam engines, each requiring 2 rails, and pulling carriages that are large enough to fit across all 4 rails, this train has become the worlds 6th country, in geopolitical terms.
Locomotriam itself is one of the most important locations in the world due to its unique position of being able to travel to all of the other countries. Var Nexa's size means most other trains used to explore it are too small and lack the security to safely carry a crew (and the supplies they'd require) from one country to another.
Locomotriam is able to overcome this due to its size (most space is used to store and carry supplies for its people) and the unique mechanism behind the two engines. While this is unknown to the rest of the world, the engines of Locomotriam use Steam Turbines - as opposed to the typical piston steam engines - which are more energy efficient and effective at high speeds, however are worse at low speeds and are so poor at reversing that the sheer weight of the entire train makes this near impossible.
Because of this, Locomotriam only travels "forwards" in a near continuous loop around the outer Var Nexa Rails, travelling from one country to the next and only stopping once it reaches them. These stops are used to trade with the static countries, which allows Locomotriam to resupply, and travellers to board or disembark the country. This entire journey takes roughly a year to complete.
Demographics
Due to its nature of travelling between the other 5 countries and trading with them, Locomotriam is a cultural mixing place. People from the static countries regularly board the train when it stops with the intention of making a new life, often settling down on it for life (partially because it will travel for at least a year before returning to their home country). This mean demographics are much more mixed than typical countries, as no one culture from the five has been able to become dominant.
The most highly regarded job on Locomotriam are the Engineers. While there are dozens of specific types of Engineer who specialise in certain jobs or areas, they are all vital to quite literally keeping the country running.
Defences
As Locomotriam travels around Var Nexa, it is at high risk of the unpredictable nature of the area, the animals and, most importantly, the Calamities that live within it.
As such, it has strong armour that, over the few hundred years the train has been active, has been refined to ensure the entire train is well protected. In addition, they have developed powerful Railway Weapons - essentailly giant weapons mounted on Railway Wagons towed at various points in the train - designed to ward off dangers, especailly Calamities (though it should be noted these Railway Weapons are unable to actually kill a Calamity, and have rarely been used against one. When they have, fighters (such as Emblem users) are typically depolyed as the primary force, with these weapons to support from range.
Industry & Trade
Locomotriam makes regular stops at each of the 5 static countries on its yearly one way trip around Var Nexa. Subsequently, it trades with each of these in order to resupply (food and water for residents, needed building materials, fuel and water for the Steam Engines) and gain resources exclusive to that area. It then moves to the next one and repeats this process. This unqiue ability means Locomotriam is key for trade between the 5 countries, who won't/can't directly trade with one another, especially those on opposite sides of Var Nexa.
Locomotriam also has the advantage of being able to work with a wider variety of materials, meaning they produce technology not available in the static countries. It regularly trades these to the countries, providing them with some of this technology in trade for goods and materials.
Infrastructure
The scale of Locomotriam and its style (long length) means its infrastructure is specially designed to travel the trains length.
One of the key infrastrutural inventions was the Pneumatic Tube Transport system. These tubes travel the length of the train, though have relay stations where travelling payloads can be either removed from or relayed to later segments of the train depending on their destination. This is used for all indirect communication, as a small item postal service and high speed delivery of goods. They are quite effective, running off gases produced as a by-product of the train (they contain catalysts to remove dangerous material from these).
Within Train Transport - carts (on a pully system - like a funicular train), are used as carriages for people to move about the train. They run along the base of the train, where there are holes that allow access to the rails beneath the train. Using the funicular system, one cart will start at one end of the train carriage, with the other at the opposite where they are connected by cables. They mirror each other in movement, one breaking to move towards the back of Locomotriam's carraige, which pulls the other towards the front. This allows residents of Locomotriam to move from one end of the carriage to another.
Districts
Each carriage on Locomotriam is its own district. While each carriage has simialr segments (see below) they all have their primary purpose (i.e. shopping district, resort, Engineering bay, Military Head Quatersetc.)
Within each carriage in Locomotriam is split into several "boxes" that make up various districts. Each carriage isn't identical, but contain similar elements (i.e. each have a school, shopping area, Pneumatic Tube Relay, etc.)
Assets
Goods - Due to its nature as the "Travelling Country", but stopping at each of the 5 static countries, Locomotriam regularly trades goods with each one it stops at. Since many of these resources are unavilable to the other static countries, Locomotriam's primary assets are the goods it brings to other countries and its unique ability to trade them.
Technology - Locomotriam is the most advanced area technoloically. Its inventor originated from Terminus and created the first steam trains, which they developed into Locomotriam. While there is plenty of debate between if Locomotriam or Terminus is move advanced technologically, getting a resident from both and asking the question ensures an evening of free entertainment, it ultimatly comes down to them being equally advanced in different areas. Locomotriam's advantage is its access to a range of materials from each static country, so have been able to experiment with a wider range of recources (whereas Terminus exceeds Locomotriam in its use of the limited resources they have available.
History
Locomotriam is the youngest country in the world, only being viewed as one in the last few hundred years. However, its existance before it was classed as a country is history spanning.
As the first steam train in existance, and the first to make use of the Var Nexa Rails, the original train is hundreds of years old and was the first to explore any of Var Nexa.
Natural Resources
Locomotriam has little access to natural resources itself, needing to trade with the static countries to obtain them. It does carry certain sections dedicated to farming, however these are subobtimal compared to the static countries and act more as living food and material storages.
Alternative Name(s)
The Moving Country, The World Train
Type
Large city
Inhabitant Demonym
Passengers
Location under
Ruling/Owning Rank
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