Rodoka
Rodoka is a province of the Acronian Empire located off the southwestern coast of Novaris, directly east of the country of Meagharia.
Province of Rodoka Taerís Rodoka (Acronian) Rodoka provints (Rodokan) | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Location of Rodoka (dark green) | |
| Capital and largest city | Lantaž |
| Official languages | Acronian Rodokan |
| Ethnic groups (2017) | Elven 80% Human (Native Rodokan) 17% Other 3% |
| Demonym(s) | Rodokan |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• King | Mital II |
• Prime Minister | Žarís Nevran Alandar |
• First Councillor | Nodri Lekara Zanišek |
| Legislature | Legislative Council |
| Establishment | |
• Settled by Native Rodokans | cir. 900 - 1000 CE |
• Settled by Acronians | 1620 CE |
• Treaty of Sinajärv | May 9th, 1634 CE |
• Became Province | August 19th, 2020 CE |
| Area | |
• Total | 51,082 km2 (19,723 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 5,000,000 |
| Currency | Acronian Našdat (ACN) |
| Time zone | West Acronis Time (UTC -9) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +422 |
| Internet TLD | .ac |
History
While some scant evidence of prehistorical habitation has been found on Rodoka, it is widely accepted that the island was uninhabited when the Rodokan people reached it some time between 900 CE and 1000 CE. It is uncertain, and a matter of some academic dispute, from whence the Rodokans came. Oral tradition among the Rodokans gives the name Vaimsaar, meaning "Island of Ghosts," to the island now occupied by Meagharia, indicating they had some familiarity with it. There are some words in the Rodokan language that share marked similarities with words in the Asendavian language, indicating a possible shared origin with Asendavians. The Rodokans are known to have been a very ocean-oriented culture and are believed to have been somewhat nomadic before they settled on the island of Rodoka. However, other scholars have noted the similarity of the name "Rodoka" to "Rhodos," the island to the immediate east of Rodoka belonging to Lapinumbia. As such, origins related to Lapinumbians, Norvians, and even Impelanzans have been suggested. The etymology of the name "Rodoka" is unknown.
There were some 400,000 Rodokans living on the island, many of them in the city of the same name located on the southern coast of the island, when explorers from Acronis arrived in the year 1620. First contact is recorded as having been markedly friendly. By that time, the Rodokan people had established a government of some twenty loosely-confederated tribes whose chiefs acknowledged an elected High Chief as their leader. Acronians agreed to settle in open land and traded with the Rodokans. Both cultures shared a great spiritual and economic significance for the ocean, which was an early point of bonding for the two groups. While Akronists could not eat the meat of land animals, both could share in seafood, and both hunted whales and used whale oil products. As Rodoka has a drier climate than mainland Acronis, with a distinct dry season, the exchange of different crops and agricultural products was an early bonding point between the cultures. Acronian rum, distilled from sugarcane, became very popular among the Rodokans, as they did not produce any distilled liquor. The Rodokans gave the Acronians the name "ruumkandja," meaning "rum-bearers." The first and largest Acronian settlement was Lantaž, meaning "paradise," that was settled on the coast approximately 1 Acronian monai (1.053 km) to the east of the Rodokan's largest settlement, also named Rodoka.
Relations between Acronians and Native Rodokans remained cordial in the first years of Acronian settlement, but markedly declined in the year 1632. That year, an Akronist Temple was opened in the city of Rodoka after having been under construction since the Akronists first arrived. During the consecration ceremony, the High Chief at that time, Jürjo, is said to have brought a dead lamb to the Temple and offered it to the Acronians to eat - apparently intended as a joke. The bringing of a dead animal killed for sustenance into a temple was a grave desecration, which was made worse when blood and eventually the body of the lamb itself fell to the floor of the Temple. This event would cause an irreversible desecration of the building, and the Holy Ambassador representing the Matron at the service actually collapsed and died upon the lamb falling to the floor. The High Priestess of Rodoka, Ilara Nevran Lendreaž, ordered that High Chief Jürjo be killed to atone for the desecration. This would lead to a war between the Acronians and the Rodokans.
The war lasted from 1632 until 1634. Of the twenty Rodokan tribes that were independent at the time of the war, fifteen of them surrendered to the Acronians over the course of the war. However, in 1634, a significant fire broke out in the city of Lantaž (which had since expanded to subsume the city of Rodoka), burning down at least a third of the city and causing an estimated 10,000-20,000 deaths. The fire was started by the Milofites, a religious movement of people that journeyed to Novaris by boat after having been exiled from Durdneel (in what is now Sokala). The Milofites had been insulted by what they viewed as a grave heresy by the Acronians: women serving as clergy. On the day of the fire, Acronian guards killed Milofite leader Conor Foley. Some Milofites escaped the Acronians and fled to the island of Vaimsaar, navigated there by a Rodokan man named Shiimeon who would become known to the Milofites as Sherman. The island would later be known as Milofia, and then Meagharia. After the fire, the Acronian military position was somewhat weakened, and there was great loss of life for both Acronian and Rodokan residents of the city. Ilara Nevran Lendreaž, serving as both High Priestess and Governor of Rodoka, presented the remaining five chiefs with a peace agreement that would see them become subjects of the King of Acronian Empire but grant them reserved land and the right to govern their own affairs inside their territory. The five chiefs signed the agreement, known as the Treaty of Sinajärv. To this day, the King of the Acronian Empire also holds the title "High Chief of the Tribes of Rodoka."
Government
Prior to 2020, Rodoka held the status of an Extraterritorial Civil Jurisdiction, similar to government of Metrati Anar. An elected Rodokan Assembly acted as an advisory body and proposed legislation to an Administrator appointed by the Prime Minister, who held the power of veto. Rodoka was represented by two members of the Diet (informally, one for the Acronian community and one for the Native Rodokans) and had no representation in the Senate. After the passage of the Rodoka Act (2020) in January of 2020 and the subsequent passage of a referendum that August, Rodoka became a fully-fledged province of the Acronian Empire. The Rodokan Assembly expanded in membership from 20 to 150 and became the Legislative Council of Rodoka, a body that appoints a cabinet led by a First Councillor. Additionally, Rodoka became eligible for 42 seats in the Diet and 15 in the Senate. Rodoka is the fourth-largest province by population and by land area.
Rodokan Native Tribal Administration
The reserved land for Native Rodokans is governed by a body known as the Rodokan Native Tribal Administration, which is composed of representatives from what are known as the Five Sovereign Tribes, the tribes who signed the Treaty of Sinajärv. While the King of Acronis holds the title of "High Chief," the Administration elects from among its membership a Presiding Chief, who along with a Tribal Council is the executive of the Administration. The Administration largely holds the same authority in governance over its territory as a province would, and this was the case even before Rodoka itself became a province, as the powers of the Administration are laid out in the Treaty of Sinajärv. The Treaty can only be amended by mutual agreement of the Administration and the Acronian civil government. The Administration governs all public land within the reservation, regulates businesses, construction, and infrastructure, and can set a local income tax and a local VAT on goods and services. The national Acronian VAT is not charged inside the reservation, but the national income tax is - except it is reduced by the income tax rate charged by the Administration, so that Native Rodokans pay the same total income tax rate as other Acronians do.
Economy
The Rodokan economy traditionally centered on agriculture, primarily in farming and in seafood. Both are still prevalent in Rodoka today. Major crops grown on Rodoka include grains such as sorghum, millet, and barley; legumes such as beans, chickpeas and cowpeas; and tubers such as yams and cassava. Tobacco was historically grown on Rodoka, but with very little Acronian demand for the product, the Rodokan tobacco industry largely ceased by the turn of the 21st century. Beer has a long history on Rodoka and the beer industry is among the larger industries on the island, especially in tribal areas where its consumption was legal for significantly longer. Additionally in tribal areas, cattle ranching and meat production are common. Significant commercial fishing and whaling activities still take place in Rodokan waters today.
There is some manufacturing and mining on Rodoka, although both of these sectors are smaller than elsewhere in Acronis. Tourism is also a major part of the Rodokan economy, especially during the dry season that is approximately half the year. Prior to 2020, there was also some oil drilling in Rodokan waters. However, oil extraction is politically unpopular, and the Petroleum Extraction Ban Act of 1954 has banned oil drilling in Acronis proper. While Extraterritorial Civil Jurisdictions were exempt from the law, as a province, the law has now taken effect in Rodoka and requires all petroleum extraction be shut down. Oil refineries in Rodoka will remain open, and waters off the reservation are eligible for oil wells if the Tribal Administration approves it.
Two industries strictly differ between tribal areas and non-tribal areas: gambling and the sale of alcohol. Gambling is illegal everywhere in Acronis except in tribal areas and the sale of wine and spirits outside of bars has been illegal in Rodoka since 1936. Prior to 1936, the sale of all alcohol was illegal in Rodoka, according to an Edict issued by High Priestess Ilara Nevran Lendreaž in 1632. There are several casinos in the reservation, especially in the tribal capital of Sinajärv, the largest city in northern Rodoka. In addition to wine, beer and distilled liquors such as vodka are also made in the tribal areas.