Kikori

**Kikori** is a federal republic located at the eastern shore of Rifandi. It is known for its culture of horse and zebra-riders.

## Flag and symbols

Kikori's flag is green and white, with a zebra at the middle over seven stars.

## History

Kikori was one of the first nations to domesticate the zebra, having learned to raise and ride on horses from Zarijana and the kingdoms of the north, such as Matfen and Kuneb. This allowed the ancient Kikorians (then known as Runchinovians or Thangicu) to become a powerful kingdom during the Sixth Age.

During the Seventh Age, Kikori was divided into two nations, Pangara (in the north) and Maukega (in the south). Both realms put aside their rivalry to fight the vampires. The Naudolori knights of the west discovered ways to weaken the vampires, using flammable arrows and nets to burn vampiric legions. To celebrate the defeat of the vampires, the peoples of Kuneb, Pangara, Naudolore, and their allies hosted the biggest chariot race of their time, hosting 106 contestants and champions.

During the Eighth Age, it became a seafaring power. After its forces defeated the Aspuruk aliens, it was one of two nations on the continent (the other being Yawanda) that utilised and harnessed the aliens' technology to advance its society. When Yawanda became an empire that attempted to subjugate its neighbours, Kikori's queen, Njeri III, sent her forces to aid her allies to the north of Yawanda. To honour her and her allies' triumph over Yawanda's aggression, Kikori became a matriarchy where queens are preferred over kings as successors. It replaced Yawanda as one of the five core members of the Ecumene, an alliance of powerful civilisations dedicated to protecting the planet from alien invasion.

During the Tenth Age, Kikori was ruled by several tyrants who sent armies to raid nearby lands to acquire slaves. This tyranny was defeated after 46 years.

During the Sixteenth Age, Kikori became a haven to many Ardeschens, who were traders, sportspeople, artists, and intellectuals. Many of them were opponents to the tyrannical empires of their homeland; for that reason, the Ardeschen Empire sent several expeditions to punish and kill them, but they ended in failure.

Modern Kikori is a republic.

During the 19th century AT, Kikori fended off an attack by an army of Celestials. They intended to establish a new capital at Kikori's savannas and plunder the troves of Shatamaya, but they were defeated.

## Geography

Much of Kikori consists of grassland, with some mountain ranges at the northwest. Some of its highest mountains have snow and ice.

* Ngedona (capital)
* Rapitewa - a seaport
* Pangani
* Mzani - a riverside trading town
* Menutha - the City of Cinnamon
	+ The former capital of Kikori during the Eighth Age.
* Zibari
* Untuku - City of Night
* Kunroko - Gate of Dawn
* Andukanyita - a city of universities
* Mwakithion - the greatest amphitheatre in the world
* Munronthikena - Lion's Laugh, the second greatest chariot racecourse in the world
* Aestilon, Besche, Chaarest, Daeril, and Esnara - the five Ardeschen cities in the north
* Shatamaya - Starflower City, a spaceport known for its gardens. It is also home to a trove of Celestial artifacts.
* Tunerinma - Red Peak, a Burrow-City at the western edge, near the border to Yawanda's highlands.
* Eron'thoko - Whitegate City, a city at the east
* Iron'thoko - Blackgate City, a city at the west. Founded by Olodoshan merchants.
* Raithingo - Goldwalls, a metropolis at the southwest.
* Puralena - an archipelago along the eastern shores. Ideal for fishing, sunbathing, jogging, diving, and jetskiing.

## Government

Kikori is a federal republic governed by a President and a Prime Minister.

## Military

In older times, Kikori's warriors rode on horses, zebras, and chariots and wagons pulled by those equines. They also had their own cataphracts and knights.

Modern Kikori's armed forces use synthetic armour and plasma shots, like their ancestors during the Eighth Age.

## Economy

Kikori's economy is mostly built with agriculture (wheat, rice, maize, fruit, cattle), tourism, and mining.

Kikori is known for its minerals, such as spinel gems, which it gave as gifts to its allies at Pju and Vozolaz far in the east.

## Culture

Kikori is mostly known for its equestrian culture, where many of its people know how to ride on a horse or zebra. There are many hippodromes located all over Kikori, and many boys and men (and some girls and women) aspire to be riders and champions.

Kikorin cuisine involves maize, rice, or beans mixed with vegetables and meat (chicken, gazelle, pork, boar, fish, or beef). Horse and zebra meat are banned in Kikori.

In archaic Kikorin times, leaders of towns and villages, known as governors, were either elected by the locals or appointed by the king or his representatives. They were usually chosen from a royal academy, which may even be a wing of a small school for the elder students of a village. For nomadic groups, the "governor" had no authority over the elders' councils, but he or she was the councils' messenger and delegate to the king. This resulted in an ancient form of democracy, and the nomadic tribes are the most democratic of all Kikorins.

### Calendar

The Kikorin calendar is a lunisolar calendar that begins in March. Their new year, the new year festival for the whole republic, is celebrated somewhere from February 24 to March 9: for example, in 1985 AT, the Kikorin New Year was at March 7, Grand Njahin Day (Day of First Black Beans). The new year is the start of the first of four seasons, the first being Mbura ya Njahin (Season of Great Rain).

On Grand Njahin Day, people decorate their houses with blue and white banners, representing rain clouds. In some streets, paper lanterns are raised. Families host dinners, and some towns have one great feast for everyone and every guest to celebrate the new year. The eastern towns host their own chariot and ship races to usher in the new year.

Years are dated either by regnal eras (like the northern kingdoms) or by generations of initiated boys who became men. Usually, the generation reckoning was often used, and it became the standard for years in the modern republic alongside the Bujanski dating. For example, 1986 AT was known as Kariraon 12.

### Kikorin language

Kikorin has thirty-nine dialects, with the poetic speech of Menutha being the standard form of the language.

During the Eighth Age, Kikorin was written in a syllabary.

Modern Kikorin is also written in a syllabary, but with different symbols. It is a tonal language with long vowels.

Classical Kikorin: Indiń muńnjaranda. (I am a nobleman.)

Modern Kikorin: Nden mon'njaranda. (I am a nobleman.)

* bonri - silver
* gakarakon - purple
* gayariki - pink
* giin'tinri - brown
* gonaduri - light brown
* kinbuu, kimonhon - grey
* mbiron'iron - blue
* mon'iron, iron - black
* mon'tune - red
* mweron - white
* ngoikoni - yellow
* nyaaru - light blue
* nyeni, runyeni - green
* omwenon - orange
* rai - gold

### Other languages

Olodoshani is mostly used in western Kikori and eastern Yawanda, and it has ninety dialects. It is different from Kikorin as it is related to the languages of Kuneb.

## Demographics

The Olodoshan people, descendants of the noble Naudolori, live at the west of the country. They retain their nomadic traditions, and their cultural attire consists of red and blue robes. Many of them are cattle herders, while some Olodoshani built towns of their own. The western Olodoshani towns are trade cities and guardians of trade routes, hosting farms, inns, and some markets, stadiums, and gold mines. The eastern Olodoshani towns have forges, more markets, and academies.

Other peoples in Kikori include the Embu, Aale, and Ngare of the south; Mudiri, Mirid, and Midir of the northeast; Kavidho and Rho of the western lakes; the Nyalafana, Vefana, Imbwa, Amakhwara, Kamparansa, and Luwangara of the north (who are related to the Kikorins). By Kikorin law, all of them are recognised as equals and fellow natives, so they enjoy some privileges alongside the Olodoshani and the Kikorins.

Five large cities in the north are mostly inhabited by ethnic Ardeschens. These Ardeschens were descendants of traders, sportspeople and horse owners, musicians and composers, and intellectuals who migrated there during the Sixteenth Age. They also opposed the Ardeschen empires and attempted to sabotage their campaigns.

## Religion

Kikori is one of several nations that are mostly monotheist, although there are minorities of polytheists, Sandharmins (Hindus, located at the eastern shores), Atenists, Mazdajasnis, and atheists. Their only god in the Kikorin religion is Ngai, the creator.

Some Kikorins have converted to the Ardeschen religion, venerating its solar gods.

The holiest site in the Kikorin religion is the southerly peak of Mount Kinyarina, considered as the throne or domain of Lord Ngai.

Three trees are considered holy in the Kikorin faith: mun'kon'yon (sycamores), mun'gumo (figs), and mun'tamaiyon (olives, sacred to women). The fig tree was used in the Eighth Age as a symbol of national unity and cooperation between Kikori's peoples.

The Olodoshan religion is also monotheistic, having only the deity Engkai as the creator and the Lord of Rain.

## Diplomatic relations

### Yawanda

In spite of the historical conflicts between both nations, Kikori and Yawanda are now allies. Both nations exchange resources and technology.

### Ardesch

Although the two countries had uneasy relations due to the history of each others' tyrannies, they nonetheless remained in good terms. The Ardeschens are attracted to the local Kikorins' horse races and handicrafts, and in turn the Kikorins admired the local Ardeschens' horse riding and classical music.

### Umbirab

Both nations are stalwart allies since the later Green Years when it was founded. Through their connections, trade across Kikori's regions was rebuilt, helping them emerge from the ruin of the Ontemazei War.

### Vozolaz/Azgo

Both countries worked together to study Celestial artifacts, after Kikori successfully defeated a Celestial invasion.

### Rukania

Since ancient times, both nations enjoyed good relations as trading partners across a vast ocean, hubs of a busy trade route along Zarijana.

## Trivia

* Kikori was based on the Kikuyu people, the city-state of Opar, and the medieval ports of Kenya and Tanzania. The author also added zebra cavalry, chariots, knights, and iron to make Kikori look more appealing.
	+ The Olodoshani people of the west were based on the Maasai people.
	+ Menutha and Rapitewa were based on the Greco-Roman names of two settlements in Tanzania, Menouthias and Rhapta. Here, Menutha became a royal capital, the capital of the Kikorin civilisation during the Eighth Age.
* In Kikorin, the vowels ĩ and ũ are pronounced as en/in and on/un.
* The author added the Ardeschen minority in Kikori to "compensate" for the presence of Rifandians in Ardesch: if there are foreigners in Ardesch, he thought that there should also be foreigners in the foreigners' homeland of Kikori, to make it "fair".

## See also

* Ragise - another nation known for its horse-riders