Iron Country

> *"They ask why we stay within,*
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>

> *but have they ever asked*
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>

> *whythey must go out?"*
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>

Nestled between the Rice Country to the East, the Waterfall Country to the West, and the Empire of Akino to the South, the Iron country is an isolationist, militarized state. Those that travel there return with tales of a government with an iron fist, a populace almost brainwashed in their ways, and the feeling that they were followed from the moment they crossed the border.

## History

The Iron Country began as a small group of like-minded clans coming together to claim a mineral rich land as their own, the prospects of wealth and power arising from the deep veins of iron ore beneath the land setting them together on the path that would lead to the founding of the Iron Country as it is known today. Quietly and quickly, these clans unified into the Okio Clan, and over time, spread across the country they had claimed. It's uncertain at what point the Iron Country became a Military Dictatorship but almost entirely thanks to this change, the Iron Country has been in a position of military advantage against larger adversaries since its inception.

### A Violent Past

The Iron Country has existed through trying and hard times much like many of the other smaller and larger countries surrounding it. The only difference between the Iron Country and it's smaller neighbors is that it has managed to maintain its sovereignty through a combination of natural and artificial defenses and impressive displays of military might and strategy.

In the years before the Great War, and following the Unification of the Earth Country, the Iron Country found itself and its neighbors the target of the imposing newly unified country. Eager to prove itself in the view of the world the Earth country set out on its conquest of the Waterfall Country which fell swiftly in the face of its larger foe. Not wanting to take the time to regroup and recuperate its forces after the fall of the Waterfall Country, the Earth Countries armies continued their march East toward the Iron Country, only to be met by the far smaller Iron Country forces just ten kilometers West of the city of Tourano.

Vastly outnumbered, the Iron Country forces managed to hold their ground against the Earth Country forces. Tales say that each Iron Country man that fought that day slew five Earth Country soldiers before the battle was over. When the dust of battle had settled, the Earth Country forces, undisciplined, newly stood up, and not entirely sure what they were fighting for, were in full rout. The battle is known today as the First Battle of the Tourano Steppes, and the date itself is considered of huge importance to the nation.

The second largest trial of the Iron Country would come with the invasion of the Lightning country in 422 AD. Forces of the larger Eastern Country landed on the Northeaster coast of the Iron Country, dangerously close to the coastal city of Yama. The Lightning Country forces, no stranger to warfare, managed to mask their landing in the cover of night and for the following three days, slowly marched their host toward Yama. They remained undetected until the morning they showed up at the walls of Yama. Caught off guard by the sudden arrival of a Lightning Country host of nearly fifteen thousand, Yama closed its gates, trapping many of its peasants that make up the city guard on the wrong side of the walls, this however was not before they could send out three messengers to inform the capital that they were at war.

The siege of Yama would last nearly two months. The defenders holding out long past their reserve of food and fresh water, even managing to strike out and create smaller defenses around the city itself to further delay the Lightning Host. The battle that decided the outcome of the invasion would be fought on a warm summer day, at one of the defensive outposts the Iron Country defenders had managed to erect. The Lightning country commander, growing tired of the siege of such a sparsely defended city sent a bulk of his shock cavalry units and men-at-arms to assault a strategically located defensive outpost. The battle that raged there would see the entire garrison of the outpost fall, but not before they had inflicted near triple their own casualties on the attackers.

His host now severely lacking in cavalry due to the losses sustained, and his foot soldiers wounded and tired, the Lightning Commander decided that the invasion had failed shortly after learning of the Iron Country army marching for the rear of his lines. With the siege lifted and the Lightning Country host in retreat, the Iron County claimed yet another stunning victory against a numerically superior foe, further cementing their position as a force to be reckoned with despite their size.

## Military

A Military Dictatorship, the military of the Iron Country is the largest and most well funded aspect of the country due to both the need for the ruler to remain in power, and their historical relationship with their surrounding larger neighbors.

A highly trained, well equipped, and highly disciplined force, the Iron Country military boasts a powerful army for its size, being the largest single employer of its people beside mining and agriculture with a standing professionally trained army of just over 40,000 men.

The second largest military branch of the Iron Country is that of its Shinobi Corps. Unique when compared to other countries Shinobi Corps, the Iron Country boasts; on the surface; very few Shinobi at all. In official documentation only a token force of Shinobi exist, most of which are stationed at border crossings and border towns to watch for dissidents or suspicious people entering or exiting the country. On the true records, the Shinobi force of the Iron Country is a third of the size of its professional army and acts in an almost exclusively interior policing role. Keeping an eye and an ear on citizens of its own state, the Shinobi Corps is known to show up only when they decide they must, abduct entire families in the dead of night, and the very next day a new family is living in the house as if nothing had ever happened. A Secret Police force to keep a watch over the populace, remove any that speak ill of the state, and maintain order through absolute fear.

### Known Units

31st Special Missions Brigade "The Watchers" - Among one of the largest single units in the Iron Country military, the 31st Special Brigade consists of soldiers made out of veterans of other units much like the Royal Iron 51st with the same requirements. The unit itself has been trained heavily in mountain warfare, cold weather warfare, and the operation of special weapons. The 31st is the unit stationed at the fortress known as Abaddon's Gate and the first line of defense against the possible incursion of the Akinian Empire.

Royal Iron 51st Brigade (Reinforced) - Elite Royal Guard unit of the Iron Country. Composed entirely of veterans with greater than 10 years of experience in other units or soldiers that have particularly distinguished themselves as experienced fighters. 7,000 strong.

11th Light Scout Company - Reported by defectors as one of the units that patrols the Iron-Rice Border, specifically making good use of tracking and bow to catch and kill defectors and smugglers alike.

2nd Heavy Infantry Regiment - "Bruisers" - Among one of the many units stationed along the Iron Curtain, this unit is specifically stationed at Fort Apylon, a Fortress located on the wall itself.

8th Heavy Infantry Regiment - "The Easy Eight"- Another unit stationed along the Iron Curtain. Based out of an outpost in the wall and close to the town of Kenbushi located on the Waterfall side of the wall.

18th Shock Cavalry Battalion - "Stampede" - One of the few known Cavalry units of the Iron, often spotted along the border of the Rice and Iron Country, patrolling the vast expanse of open land on the Iron side of the border

727th Signals and Intelligence Company - Little is known of this unit, though much can be inferred from it's name. It is assumed that it is not the only unit focused around the gathering of information or propagation of such.

22nd Combat Engineer Battalion - Specializing in the laying, destruction, and avoidance of defenses and obstacles, 22nd CEB traces its origins back to the ragtag defenders of Yama.

3rd Assault Battalion (Mixed) - The third in a group of five mixed Assault Battalions, consisting of smaller organic units of separately specialized units. Contains but is not limited to cavalry, heavy infantry, combat engineers, signals troopers, skirmishers, light infantry etc.

## Demographics

### Population

A population just shy of 400,000, the Iron Country is small in comparison to some of its larger neighbors. Most peasants are unable to read, not because the Iron Country is unable to fund the teaching for it, but because a populace that can not read is easier to control. The population is barred from possessing weapons, with the State going as far as to keep track of all farming tools possessed by the population and keeping all mining tools under lock and key at armed guard stations before any such places of work.

### Language

The Iron Country speaks only Taika. Any other forms of language that have been brought into the nation by immigrants have been completely wiped out, for fear that if too many learn the language they will be able to plot and plan behind the Governments back without them knowing.

### Religion

Religion is outlawed in the Iron Country for it breeds free will and creativity the Government does not need to maintain its rule. Any found to be worshiping in secret are quickly carted off by Shinobi forces to never be seen again.

## Government

A unique outlier among the nations of the Western continent. The Iron Countries governmental system is a Military Dictatorship with the head of the State, Okio Ushio, controlling the entire country through the threat of force and the fear that comes with having an imposing and historically undefeated military at their back. Information is highly controlled by the State, weaponry is only allowed to be possessed by soldiers, Shinobi, and those given special permission by Okio Ushio himself. Imports and exports are thoroughly checked before they are allowed passage in either direction for any contraband such as undeclared letters or papers, religious items, weapons, or stowaways attempting to flee the country. Those that enter must provide official documentation as to why they are entering and are submitted to a deceptively quick but highly efficient questioning by Shinobi in soldiers clothing to garner their true reason for entering the country.

## Locations

Within the Iron Country are a few major cities and defensive structures. Much of the wealth of the country is put forth into military spending to better defend itself from invaders and equip its troops.

### Abaddon's Gate

The Iron Countries Southern border with the Akinian Empire consists of a mountain range that stretches for the entire length and into the neighboring countries of the Waterfall and Rice Countries before tapering off known as the Michi Mountain Range. The only way between the two countries through this imposing mountain range is known as Michi's Pass, and nestled in the tight confines of the pass on the Iron Country side of the border is a place called by outsiders as Abaddon's Gate.

Abaddon's Gate is a fortress built into the side of the very pass it guards and garrisoned by 5,000 of the Iron Countries very best. Reaching high into the mountain it controls an impressive view of the only avenue of approach to the fortress and skulks over the pass itself as a monstrous and imposing presence. Only recently completed, Abaddon's Gate was a direct response to the end of the Great War which saw the Fire Country to its South rise in power, and with its increase in power so too did the Iron Country recognize the ambition that would one day show its wretched face to the North. They vowed they'd be prepared.

Rumor has it that Abaddon's Gate is yet unfinished, and a monumental construction project is still being undertaken in the open land at the foot of the fortress to the border with the Empire. Although what exactly the Iron Country is up to is unsure, one thing is easy to see, they are digging a very large hole.

### Cibola's Wall

The Iron Countries greatest threat stands to the West. Although the Waterfall Country is no real threat to the Iron Country, the fact that it remains a tributary state to the Earth Country makes it the defacto armistice line between the two countries for the war they never signed a true peace deal over. In light of this, the Iron Country has for generations been building and upgrading one of the most monumental projects in the entire world.

A massive wall, spanning from the Southwestern edge of the Iron Countries border with the Waterfall Country all the way to the Northern edge stopping a few hundred meters into the Asiu Bay officially known as "Cibola's Wall" but unofficially dubbed as the "Iron Curtain" by those who live on either side of the wall.

The wall itself is some ten meters high on average, with large towers that reach up to 15 meters in places. Spaced along the wall in strategic locations are small forts, garrisoned by a few hundred soldiers to maintain the more remote areas. In the more important areas, the ones that the Earth Country is most likely to advance through, larger fortresses exist with one to two thousand men present at each. Seven such fortresses exist, and around each of them small cities have cropped up to take advantage of the soldiers income and provide other amenities.

### The Iron Fortresses

To the East, along the Iron Countries border with the Rice Country lay many large and dense forests and a small protrusion of the Michi Mountain range to the South of the border.The forests are all but impassable by large hosts; barring that they cut a way through the forests themselves. These forests and the end of the Michi Mountain range have left the Iron Country with a fairly defensible border with the smaller Rice Country. Nevertheless, the Iron Country has erected several sizable castles at key passages into the country.

For the most part, these fortresses act as central entry points into the nation where vetting and searches are done and as central locations for forces to move out into the Iron Country to suppress dissidents, their secondary function is to guard against any invasion through the Rice Country, although the current Government does not believe it likely and has recently cut down on the manning at several of these fortress, dubbed "The Iron Fortresses".

The fortresses possess small towns and villages around them and oversee some of the most fertile farming land in the area. Even with all this, the Rice Country border is the hardest to control, as many small and unmarked footpaths exists where smugglers risk everything to sneak objects, and even people in or out of the country itself.

### Okukotan the Iron Capital

The capital of the Iron Country is the largest city within the country itself. The city itself isn't necessarily the most beautiful or progressive of cities, but what it lacks in looks it makes up for in its defensive capabilities. The wall of the city is just as tall as that of Cibola's Wall and has has over thirty defensive towers across it. The defenders of the city are among the most loyal of the Iron Countries military and composed entirely of veteran Iron Country soldiers. This unit, the Iron 51st, is the royal guard unit of the Iron country and the sworn protectors of Okukotan and the Okio Dynasty.