# The Kotan Empire Before the second war, The Kota Family's fleets of slow moving, but heavily armed sky barges, and floating cities patrolled the edges of the worlds oceans and mountain peaks. After the war, Kota took power thanks to their unchallenged air superiority and have since ruled the lands as an ever expanding empire. # History #### Recent History After ending the second Great War, the Kota family moved away from their Mercenary society and established themselves as a regimented Empire, finishing construction their third flying city and began work on a fourth. Settlements were built near ore deposits and a great many mines were opened. With the hope of continued peace, Kota began building rapport with some of the other families, most notably Magrina and Laguerre, who paid handsomely for their exported materials. Laguerre relations were quick to solidify. Laguerre's need for materials was enormous and their own efforts were unable to keep up with the demand. In addition, Kota's air barges and oxygen equipment allowed them to land on mountain peaks inaccessible to others, and dig into previously untouched ore veins. When they realized the opportunity, Laguerre quickly approached Kota and worked for a mutually beneficial operation. Magrina also approached Kota, but were significantly more hesitant. It took nearly a decade but eventually Kota ships were a semi-regular sight in Magrina skies. The desert made travel difficult for most, but the Kota barges sailed above it without effort. While interested in Kota ores and other mined resourced, Magrina's main interest was in Kota's technology and in exchange they offered their own advancements in making air vehicles more lightweight. Today the Kota Empire remains Magrina's biggest supply line to the world outside the desert. --- Of course, Kota's achievements did not go unpunished. Their haste to ally themselves with Laguerre economically drew the immediate ire of the Maret family, especially considering their betrayal during the war. Unwilling to start another war with Kota, Maret settled for charging exorbitant prices whenever they traded with the family, and creating heavy restrictions of Kota's operations in Maret airspace. This was felt throughout Kota as they had regularly relied on many of the Maret engine designs for their own vehicles and had to balance the cost of creating their own with the now exponential cost of buying anything from Maret. In addition to this, tensions grew between other families and Kota for having nearly exclusive access to the Magrina. Many Kota merchants had Magrina products brought back across the mountains, but it was nearly always bought up immediately and of course prices continued to soar. To top it all off, much of Kota's focus was on their flying cities, especially the building of their fourth, and many of the Kota settlements which were peppered across the coast line and mountain ranges were left to their own devices, resulting in many confrontations with the Enoka and Lenui. These conflicts often grew violent and only after would Kota step in to chastise their citizens, pay reparations and then turn a blind eye once again. Ultimately, unless a settlement stopped producing, the Kota left it alone. After several years of Kota flying their barges and cities where they needed, the other families began to put restrictions on their territory and airspace, requiring Kota ships to send flight paths in advance. While some couldn't truly do anything should Kota cross their lines without allowance, Kota agreed to the terms for the sake of peace and cooperation. --- As division grew over time between the families again, Kotan barges began to become more and more of a familiar sight. The Empire often acted as peace officers and a neutral party for dealing with family skirmishes. All of that changed with The Incursion. Alongside the other families, The Kotan Empire banded together against this new threat. But when the tension began to be too much, Kota began approaching allies about joining under their banner. Laguerre was the first to agree to be absorbed into the Empire, followed by Magrina, but the rest of the families refused, believing this to be a blatant grab for power. After demonic forces began appearing across the world, Kota changed its tactics. It declared all lands to be under the protection and control of the Kotan Empire. The threat of demonic forces was too great now to allow any family to continue operating on its own. This declaration was not without conflict of course, but ultimately there was very little the Families at large could do to combat this new threat. In addition, many agreed with the declaration, and by the time the dust settled, Kota's Empire held sway over the world. Kota made good on their promise: any sign of demonic forces would be swiftly set upon by the Empire, and in recent years fewer and fewer appearences have been reported. Over time, many that originally were unhappy with the Empire began to accept it as a way of life. # Kota Flying Cities In the middle of the first great war, something unheard of entered the fight. The Kota had always been known for their expertise creating semi-armoured, short range flying machines which were devastating to families without reasonable air support. They were held back by the short flight times and the requirement for the vehicles to be fueled regularly, and for this the other families thanked their lucky stars. All that changed when Vein was discovered. Kota were one of the first to make widespread use of the metal, and a mere two years after its discovery did the first Flying City reveal itself. A monstrosity of technology with thousands living on board, powering millions of Veins throughout the city, day to day life powering the engines that keep it aloft. From the city, barges were created to carry hundreds of planes across great distances to attack targets directly that were once completely inaccessible. It was this Kota expansion that caused the Maret family to kick themselves into gear and get their Walkers up to a matching power. Kota's vision grew and near the end of the war they completed a second Flying City which terrorized the coast and Enoka while the first flew across the land from target to target. Now that the wars are over, Kota has four Flying Cities that patrol the skies of their lands and traverse though the lands of other Families, acting like mobile trade and community hubs for all. # The Social Ladder Kota living functions primarily on a social equity system dedicated to making sure every individual has what they need to live day to day. Food, water, and infrastructure are provided at no cost to the individual, and in return individuals fill various roles within society to uphold and maintain everyone's way of living. Reputation, at times, can be more valuable than money, encouraging individuals to excel in their positions in order to achieve notoriety and accolades from their peers. Indeed, Kota has no need for money outside of Federal trade through Family Businesses, and mayors and governors dedicate their days to ensuring the needs of their people are always met. The reality of this way of living is a far cry from what is written down on paper. Those working in the mines in land settlements and factories and bowls of the Flying Cities are subject to daily dangers, the lack of currency has caused some outside the Family to declare that Kota have enslaved their own people, and the wealth gap between grows by the day. Despite this, Kota continues to thrive, touting their way of life as the pinnacle of human achievement. *"The needs of the people are met, what more could they want?" ~ Emperor Galen Kota*