Yamatai

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**Yamatai**, officially the **Greater Galactic Empire of Yamatai** (大邪馬台銀河帝国, *Dai yamatai ginga teikoku*), also known as **The Empire of the Rising Suns**, is a spacefaring human nation located in the Galactic Southwest, in largely the same region as Tiandi.

Yamatai controls 73 known star systems, including 12 heavily inhabited star systems and around 61 uninhabitable star systems, though more may exist within Imperial Space. Yamatai controls a total of 131 planetary bodies and 572 large moons, with an as-of-yet unknown number of dwarf planets and even more small moons and natural satellites. Only 10 planets and 2 moons are considered environmentally inhabitable, though numerous settlements exist on uninhabitable bodies as well as in space stations. Yamatai has a large population of 200 to 250 billion humans. There is also a small population of around 3 billion Nekarkodon on the planet of Mutsu, but these are not considered citizens of Yamatai.

The planet of Yamatai was one of the first interstellar colonies of the ancient Tiandian nation of Akitsukuni, and was one of the oldest human colonies in the galaxy. Following the collapse of Tiandi, the Akitsukunese monarchy and government was evacuated to Yamatai and the rule of all five Akitsukunese colonies was defaulted to the Yamataian government. However, the former Akitsukunese colonies soon rebelled and fell into infighting. At the same time, numerous seed ships were also launched from Yamatai to increase their own power. The fighting ended when Yamatai emerged as the victor, subjugating the other four Akitsukunese colonies under their control. Using seed ships, the Yamataians expanded over a period of three centuries, though also practised isolationism in this period. After reaching its current size, the expansion of Yamatai was halted to focus on internal growth and the nation opened up to the galaxy for commerce.

Amongst human nations, Yamatai is a major economic, political and military power. In addition to being one of the oldest human nations, Yamatai operates one of the largest military forces amongst the human civilisations. Technology-wise, Yamatai is highly developed, though often opts for traditional technologies and techniques. Due to internal policies, bio-engineered modification of humans is banned, and non-medical cybernetics are heavily regulated. Amongst human nations, Yamatai is strong in the fields of computing, robotics, materials engineering, starship construction and space engineering. Yamatai is known to be xenophobic towards non-humans.

## History

### Akitsukunese colony

Yamatai was established as the first Akitsukunese colony in 2075. When contact with Tiandi was lost

### Great Silence and First War of Unification

*See also: First War of Yamataian Unification*

Immediately following the Great Silence in 2150, the Akitsukunese colonies were thrown into turmoil as central government was removed overnight. Across the colonies, Akitsukunese Imperial Government representatives lost power and popular uprisings occurred. After three months, the colony of Niigata would be the first to self-declare independence from Akitsukuni, followed by Hirasaka. Both colonies would sever contact with the other loyalist colonies.

The Great Silence was declared over by the Yamataian colonial government one year after it occurred, following great but fruitless investigation that culminated in the recovery of a corrupted information lifeboat that informed of Tiandi's loss. Princess Kameko, the representative of the Akitsukunese Imperial House in the colonies, gave a public statement that Akitsukuni and Tiandi no longer existed and that all colonies were now independent of Akitsukuni, calling for the establishment of a new Empire of Yamatai to maintain order. Aomori and Ashihara promptly declared independence and cut ties with Yamatai. Kameko was crowned as the first Empress of Yamatai. No tangible action to extend the Empire of Yamatai beyond Yamatai itself were made.

For seven years, Yamatai and Kanagawa maintained a close relationship, culminating in the 2159 Treaty of Natsumi that merged Kanagawa with Yamatai, combining resources in hopes of eventually retaking the other colonies. Following this, Aomori established the first interstellar-international trade with the Empire, but remained diplomatically and politically distant. As it was one of the first Akitsukunese colonies as well, Niigata was pressured by Yamatai to join the Empire but rejected all advances.

Imperial spies discovered the existence of a union between Ashihara and Aomori in 2165, concurrent with the sudden ending of trade between Aomori and the Empire. The sudden creation of the unexpected Mizuho colony by Hirasaka in 2167 also unnerved the Imperial leadership. Imperial defence representatives warned that this union could possibly threaten the burgeoning Empire. The prevailing belief was that Yamatai had a duty as the official successor to Akitsukuni to reunite the separate colonies. A military build-up was initiated that peaked in 2173 with the establishment of an official Imperial Military with offensive capabilities to recapture the colonies.

At the same time, Niigata had also increased defence expenditure but was unable to match the growth of the Empire. The Ashihara-Aomori Union, however, was growing exponentially in strength, establishing long-distance trade and developmental aid with Niigata. Threatened by the Empire's military strengthening, in 2175 Niigata officially joined the Ashihara-Aomori Union, now calling itself the Celestial Union. The Empire of Yamatai then declared war on the Celestial Union in late 2175, officially beginning the First War of Yamataian Unification.

It was only a year after the official declaration of war that any fighting actually commenced, given that both sides were highly inexperienced with inter-system combat. Most space combat experience was from records of orbital skirmishes in the latter part of the 21st century on Tiandi, with the idea of planetary invasion completely unknown at the time. Nevertheless, the Empire launched a large-scale interstellar assault, the first of its kind, against Niigata. The fighting consisted primarily of a low-intensity conflict that took place over fourteen months, with space combat vehicles, weapons and tactics exponentially improving through necessary experimentation.

The Empire launched the first planetary invasion in Yamataian history in mid-2178, attacking Niigata City directly. After eight months of conventional ground fighting that both sides were already knowledgeable in, Niigata's leaders surrendered to Yamatai in early 2179, finally placing the three former core colonies under Imperial Yamataian control. These planets would go on to be known as the Core Worlds.

Imperial attention was then returned to the other two members of the Celestial Union, which had also been observing the space combat and had developed space combat fleets and technologies similar to the Imperial forces. A large-scale spying program was deployed by the Union to steal more technology from the Empire, and for five years from 2178 a low-intensity space conflict took place throughout the uninhabitable systems between the Empire and the Union for control over the automated faster-than-light waypoints. What the Union did not expect, however, was for the Empire to deploy their own cartographic expeditions to establish new faster-than-light routes that bypassed the Union lines, allowing the Empire's forces to flank the Union's perimeter and ending the stalemate in 2183.

Equipped with practical skills from the planetary invasion of Niigata four years prior, the Empire launched a similar but highly improved assault on Aomori, taking the planet in just six months and creating new innovations such as planetary bombardment and the use of clean nuclear weapons. A concurrent attack on Ashigara largely failed, with ground forces unable to capture the major settlements, until Ashigara surrendered two weeks after Aomori. This ended the Celestial Union and placed five planets under the control of Imperial Yamatai by the end of 2184.

Open rebellions broke out on the occupied planets, forcing the Empire to deploy its forces to quell these rebellions and handle the transition in governance. The cultural norms of Emperor-worship, particularly in the older generations that still recognised the Bamboo Throne, aided in the transition as Empress Kameko was accepted by large amounts of the occupied peoples. However, the need to maintain social stability meant that the planned campaign to retake Hirasaka would not be possible. The Imperial public was also increasingly war-weary, this interstellar war being longer than any war they had experienced prior, being over fifteen years longand leading to millions of casualties.

Hirasaka's as-of-yet untouched and growing military force also gave it a bargaining chip in 2185 when trade was opened between the Empire and Hirasaka. In return for trading rights and peace, Hirasaka and its colony Mizuho would be recognised as an independent state from Yamatai, though Hirasaka would recognise the Yamataian Empress as the true successor of the Bamboo Throne.

### Second Expansion

*See also: Second War of Yamataian Unification*

## Government and politics

Yamatai is a federal constitutional monarchy and representative democracy where the hereditary monarch, an Emperor or Empress, holds significant political power and influence. Power is normally held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Yamatai and other elected members of the Teikoku Gikai, while sovereignty is vested in the Yamatai people themselves. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches.

In the Yamatai federal system, citizens are usually subject to three to four levels of government; federal, planetary, provincial and local, though some provinces omit local government. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.

Yamatai's legislative organ is the Teikoku Gikai (帝国議会), a bicameral parliament.

The Prime Minister of Yamatai is the head of government and is appointed by the Emperor after being designated by the Gikai from among its members. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet, and he appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State. Although the Prime Minister is formally appointed by the Empress, the Heian Constitution explicitly requires the Empress to appoint whoever is designated by the Gikai, one of the few limits to the Empress' power.

## Military

*See also*: Yamatai Imperial Military

The Imperial Military is a large force

    consisting of around two billion troops across two main branches, the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy. The commander-in-chief of the military is nominally the Empress, but in practice command usually falls to the Shogun, the War Minister and the Chief of Staff High Council, in that order. The Imperial Military is often engaged fighting the Nekarkodon Collective or suppressing rebellions.

Atypically, the command structure of the Imperial Military is almost completely separated from the civilian government, with the only main link being the War Minister and the War Ministry. Requests for military action from the civilian government and the Prime Minister of Yamatai are relayed to the Shogun from the War Ministry, which is also responsible for coordinating the receipt of government funding. The Shogun is the overall head of all military actions and orders the Chiefs of Staffs of the various Imperial Military branches to carry out actions. The Imperial Military also maintains its own factories and a limited internal economy based on selling surplus supplies and equipment to soldiers.

    The Teikoku Gikai maintains the right to enact conscription during extremely dire times. During peacetime, the Imperial military's numbers are maintained through voluntary service, as well as troops pledged to the Empire by planetary and provincial governments from their Self-Defence Forces. Citizens are by law allowed to choose between joining the Imperial military or their home province's Self-Defence Force or home planet's Self-Defence Fleet.

Technology-wise, the Imperial military operates tried-and-tested weapons and technology such as chemical-propelled bullets, lasers and nuclear weapons. While far from highly advanced compared to other galactic civilisations, some of the equipment used by the Imperial military is considered cutting-edge within the Empire itself. The Imperial Military uses a wide array of mechs due to Yamatai's heavy investment in the technology.

## Imperial Space

### Inhabitable systems

Yamataian planets are primarily named after the geographical location the initial settlers landed on, and the capital city often shares its name with the planet.

At the height of its colonial empire, Akitsukuni had established the colonies of the Core Worlds and the Outer Core, as well as Hirasaka. Mizuho would be an independent establishment by the Hirasaka colony. The Frontier Worlds are the worlds that were colonised after the Wars of Unification ended, with all but Atsuta and Suwa (the newest, being barely 120 years old) having reached a reasonable level of development.

#### Core Worlds

The three **Core Worlds** are the planets in the very centre of the Yamatai-led Empire. Consisting of the capital Yamatai and its immediate neighbours, these worlds are the most highly developed and are generally the most wealthy. Historically, these worlds were the first colonies of Akitsukuni, and were also the first worlds to join Yamatai to form the Empire, though in Niigata's case they were forced to capitulate in Yamatai's first taste of interstellar warfare.

* Yamatai
* Kanagawa (Spirit River)
* Niigata (New Lagoon)

#### Outer Core

Within the **Outer Core** lie the planet Ashihara and the moon Aomori, with these two systems in the galactic north of the Core Worlds. The Outer Core also consists of numerous uninhabitable systems in a rough ring around the Core Worlds except for the Galactic East, some of which are also settled by minor orbital stations and the like. The inhabited worlds of Aomori and Ashihara were also colonies of Akitsukuni, but were not as well-developed when the Great Silence occurred. Later, during the War of Unification, they initially resisted assimilation but eventually surrendered, being the third and fourth to join the burgeoning Empire.

* Aomori (Blue Forest)
* Ashihara (Reed Bed)

#### Second Expanse

The **Second Expanse** refers to the section of space that the inhabitable planets of Hirasaka and Mizuho lie within, on the Galactic East of the Core Worlds. Though technically within the ring of the Outer Core, the Second Expanse protrudes from the Ring. The reasons for the existence of this subdivision is largely political, with Hirasaka and Mizuho having been the most resistant to Imperial domination, only joining the Empire after the Second War of Unification over a hundred years after the establishment of the Empire. While over four centuries have passed since their assimilation, pockets of rebel activity still continue on these planets within certain troublesome provinces.

* Hirasaka (Flat Hill)
* Mizuho (Ears of Grain)

#### First Frontier

The **First Frontier** is an arc-shaped expanse extending from the Galactic North of Ashihara, clockwise around the Outer Core and the Second Expanse to the Galactic South-west of Niigata. This region represents the first colonies of the Empire following its Unification under Yamatai, including the planets of Nemuro and Teshio and the moon of Hidaka. Colonisation of this period ended in the 2500s when expansion beyond the Empire's borders was halted in favour of internal growth and combating the Nekarkodon on Teshio.

* Hidaka (Sun High)
* Nemuro (Root Chamber) (So named due to the massive trees in which colonists have made their homes in some regions)
* Teshio (Heaven Salt)

#### New Frontier

The **New Frontier** is generally understood as the region of space that "closes the gap" between the two arms of the First Frontier, allowing the Frontiers to enclose the inner regions. This region includes the new colonies of Atsuta and Suwa, the newest colonies of the Empire at 120 and 108 years old respectively.

* Atsuta
* Suwa

### Biodiversity

One of the more notable animals in Yamatai is the Komodo Rhino, a large, horned reptile-like mammal native to Yamatai. Due to its resilience, brute strength, high adaptability and ease of care, the Komodo Rhino has been artificially spread throughout the Empire as a pack and utility animal, even replacing vehicles in inaccessible regions. The Komodo Rhina is also used by the Imperial Army as a cavalry or pack animal in some specialised units. The Komodo Rhino is also used for food, producing milk and meat. It is one of the major exports of Yamatai, and can be found throughout the galaxy as a result.

## Economy

Yamatai operates a fully-contained internal economy that works on two levels, planetary and national.

Typically, provinces on Yamataian planets trade with each other much in the same manner as separate nation states, often with full freedom to carry out protectionism, impose trade barriers or even form trade blocs as desired with little interference from the central government. Localised corporations and Zaibatsu *ultracorporations* share resources and develop provinces throughout the Empire with freedom to trade with or operate off-world sources like mining of uninhabited systems. Interplanetary trade and transportation is highly privatised as well.

The government only interferes through monitoring the nationwide economic situation, issuing orders and economic growth instructions for individual planets every five years. When economic collapse is imminent in any province, the government may intervene as well, or order the removal of trade barriers. Interplanetary trade may also be forced by the government if it is lacking in any region.

### Science and technology

To ensure the purity of the Human form, any form of non-medical modification of the Human body is banned in the Empire. This means that cybernetics are only available for true medical emergencies, and bioengineering of Humans is theorised but not practised. If Humans are modified, they lose their pure form and will be eventually descend into a downward slope of continuous modification, until they become unrecognisable to the Gods. This will prevent Humanity from attaining their Divine Destiny. It is only with strict discipline that the Humans of the Empire avoid attempting to "improve" upon their own bodies, and continue to work with what has been gifted to them by the Gods.

## Religion

*Main article: Imperial Shrine*

The state religion is known as the Imperial Shrine. The Imperial Shrine borrows heavily from suprareligious Shinto practices of old Yashima, and is itself not officially considered a religion in the traditional sense. While the majority of the Imperial Shrine Gods are non-corporeal, the Empress of Yamatai is the main corporeal religious figure, the prime patriotic and divine figure amongst the mortals due to Her direct lineage to the Sun and Universe Goddess, Amaterasu. This is a historical fact, and questioning this fact or the existence of the Gods is akin to committing blasphemy in the Empire. Reverence for the Empress and obligatory ritualistic visits to local shrines, as well as the regular rituals carried out within and outside of such shrines, are central aspects of the Imperial Shrine religion. It is possible to forego the rituals but still worship the Empress and the Gods, but it is highly recommended to strictly maintain the traditional rituals of respect and worship. Places of worship are simply known as Imperial Shrines.

    One of the most important aspects of the Imperial Shrine religion is the belief in the Divine Destiny of Humanity, promised by the Gods through the Heaven-prescribed teachings of the Empress and the Supreme Miko, the head of the Imperial Shrine. As taught by the Imperial Shrine, the Divine Destiny of Humanity is to attain total dominance over the Galaxy, ensuring that all Humans collectively believe in the Gods and the divinity of the Empress, and all of Izanami's mistakes (non-Humans) are eradicated or dominated. Once this is achieved, the Gods will be fully pleased with their children, and balance will be achieved in the cosmic forces. It is to achieve this goal that the Empire began and carries out the Divine Mission.

Other minor religions do exist within Yamatai, though these are usually confined to single provinces or planets. All efforts are made to convert such individuals to the one true belief system, lest they grow too large and displease the Gods.