Nippon Prime

Emblem of Nippon Prime

## Overview

Arguably the only faction to retain a single, national identity from Earth, Nippon Prime is the spacefaring evolution of the nation of Japan from Earth, and is the only faction to traces its formation to pre-Cataclysm history. Nippon Prime originally started as a right wing political party of pre-Cataclysm Japan, regularly calling for the militarization of the country, due to rising tensions with the UKPP (Unified Korean Peninsular Protectorate). The political party had substantial backing from the country's military industrial complex, its robotics and cybernetics industries, and most of all, its space industry.

When the Cataclysm happened, Nippon Prime was already well established in the solar system, with small research colonies dotting the solar system, from the moons of Uranus to the moons of Saturn, to several asteroids. And when key members Japanese leadership, including the prime minister, evacuated Earth, their rocket trying to catch the Japanese skyhook disintegrated after launch in one of the only accidental failures of Nippon Prime's nearly spotless record of perfect launches.

The loss of key elements of the Japanese government vastly increased the political control Nippon Prime had. In the first democratic election after that disaster, Nippon Prime gained control of a majority in the legislature, and installed their own radical prime minister. Over time, playing on fears of human extinction, promising strength and survival, Nippon Prime dissolved the democratic government and implemented a monarchy. They have maintained a strong presence across the solar system ever since.

Nippon Prime has major claims in the Uranus system and the Saturn system, and holds close ties to the USTA, being the primary trading partner to the USTA. They hold a few claims in the inner solar system, but that presence is rather minor compared to other factions there. As the years have passed since the first space war between the USTA and the IR, Nippon Prime has engaged in numerous successful military campaigns across the solar system, slowly subsuming smaller factions either through threat of destruction or through destruction itself.

They are led by the Eternal Empress Kinoshita Asami, who has apparently led Nippon Prime since its days back on Earth, over 200 years ago. It is unclear whether Nippon Prime has developed a method of life extension that is vastly more effective than anything in existence on the market, or if Kinoshita has simply been cloned numerous times and a new Empress is unfrozen and grown to replace the old one every time the last one gets old or dies, or if the Empress is simply an extremely convincing android doppleganger created to replace the real Empress who would have died a long time ago.

## Ship Names

* Amagi
* Nagato
* Kaga
* Fuso
* Kongo
* Kirishima
* Chokai
* Yubari
* Katori
* Jun'yo
* Mikazuki
* Yūgumo
* Mutsuki
* Wakaba
* Yūgure
* Hibiki
* Nara
* Momi
* Sanae
* Ikazuchi
* Yukikaze
* Michishio
* Oyashio
* Sazanami
* Takanami
* Tone
* Chikuma
* Suzuya
* Nojima
* Hosho
* Ryujo
* Hiryu
* Shokaku
* Taiho
* Zuiho
* Chitose
* Chiyoha
* Shikinami
* Karukaya
* Akisame
* Takashio
* Yamazuki
* Yukigumo
* Hae
* Hayaharu
* Matsu
* Nashi
* Wakakusa
* Hayabusa
* Chidori
* Kiji
* Ataka
* Suma
* Shimushu
* Etorofu

### Flagship Names

* Okinawa
* Akagi
* Yamato
* Sakura
* Katsuragi