Eskeocha

The Independent Frontier of Eskeocha
Flag
Motto: "Beauty is as abundant as you make it."
Coat of Arms File:EskeochaCoA.png
Capital	Cranarie
Largest	Abasol
Official languages	Neranian, Eskeok
Recognised national languages	English, Spanish
Demonym(s)	Eskeochan
Government	Independent Confederated Republic
• Frontier Captain	Milo Yuskwag
• Eskeocha Tribe Leader	Huren Okonowanok
• Frontier Lieutenant	Arden Cosk
Establishment
• Neranian and Colonization	1902
• Abandonment by Nerany	1964
• Formation of Statehood	1965
Population
• 2015 estimate	1,100,000
Currency	Chipre (CHP)
Date format	mm.dd.yyyy
Driving side	right
Calling code	+199
Internet TLD	.esk

The Independent Frontier of Eskeocha is a large country composed of sixteen boroughs, located on the eastern end of the continent of Avistava in Anteria. The state was formed by remaining settlers from the nation Nerany, originally as a colony of the nation, to develop trade of fish, furs, and gold in the region. The territory began its transition into nationhood in 1965 when, during a series of challenging international events for the parent country, it both chose to release the territory to the control of the settlers. Later that year, pioneers and leaders from larger settlements united and agreed to form a new nation, officially declaring the land to be the nation of Eskeocha the next year in 1965, named after the Eskeocha tribe who originally inhabited the land.

Etymology

The name Eskeocha originates from the first nation tribe that inhabited the land before the arrival of settlers. When the nation was founded, leaders chose to name the country after the tribe as a show of respect to the people who originally inhabited the land. The Eskeocha tribe took its name from their language Eskeok. In Eskeok, the word Eskeocha means "land we survived," as Eskeok means survive and cah means land.

Demographics

Language

There are two central languages used across Eskeocha. The vast majority of citizens speak Neranian, the language of the former parent nation. Eskok, the official language of the Eskeocha tribe, is considered an official language alongside Neranian, although only approximately 35% of citizens speak the language. Most citizens of Eskeocha do not speak more than the two languages, although many frontier leaders and travelers will speak a third or fourth language such as English, Spanish, or Galee.

Cranarie, the capital of Eskeocha, and Abasol, the largest city by population, have small populations of speakers of other, lesser known Anterian languages.

People

The ethnic makeup of Eskeocha consists almost entirely of Neranian and Eskeocha Tribe background. This is attributed to the intense landscape, making the nation less appealing to people other than settlers and natives. Tokoway, located on the southern end of the Cranarie passage, has a small population of natives from other backgrounds, although this is partly because the city is much easer to access than most other cities in the nation.

History

Native Tribes

Before the arrival of settlers and traders in the Eastern Avistava region, the land was inhabited solely by the Eskeocha tribe, a group of natives who lived in pockets around the region's passage, the mountains, and the temperate rainforest. Due to the terrain being difficult to navigate in many locations, the tribe developed small settlements that acted like cities. These cities would interact infrequently, although they would navigate their way to each other just often enough to trade, communicate, celebrate, and continue to share a single culture.

In navigating to other settlements, members of the tribe would canoe through the passage, take passages between the mountains, or traverse the rivers of the rainforest. Due to the abundance of northern wolves, bears, and other animals at the time, crossing the rainforest by land was considered instant death to the tribe. They lived in this style for hundreds of years, not really advancing or developing in modern technology due to the limited access to outside resources and to each other.

Arrival of the First Settlers

In the year 1633, the first foreign settlers arrived in Eskeocha. These were small groups from different nations around Anteria, no nation being particularly more noticeable than the last. They would build small villages around the passage and the coast, often of around 50 settlers to a village. One particularly prominent settler whose national origin is still unknown named Ander Cranariea, named the passage the Cranarie Passage after himself. The name picked up, and is the official name of the passage to this day.

The settlers of the region interacted relatively frequently with the members of the Eskeocha tribe. This encouraged both the settlers to learn Eskeok, the local language, and for tribe members to learn outside languages such as Neranian. The two groups were generally kind to each other, as the mountainous and difficult to traverse land gave them more reason to work together than apart. This cultural behavior developed and fostered relationships and appreciations over time, such as for local art and wildlife. This continued for as long as the two groups lived in this style with limited help from this outside world.

Nerany Reaches Eskeocha

In March of 1902, a Neranian settler named Ralen Marajas came across a cavern full of gold near the present day town of Mastikan. He returned to the village to share the news of his discovery with a select group of friends, and by April of that year, settlers from around the region heard they might be sitting on land of enormous value. Over the course of the spring and summer, mining camps popped up all over the region, and in a few places, gold was actually found. Word spread faster when it was discovered this was happening all over, and a few months later, large groups of settlers and explorers from Nerany were flooding to the area in hopes of finding gold. In September of that year, the nation began sponsoring expeditions and settlers in hopes of becoming richer and in hopes of profiting off of the extensive territory.

The land was declared a territory by the nation in July of 1903. The settlers of the region, with help from legislative approval, began developing a market in which fish, furs, and smaller amounts of gold could be traded. This market was not very successful, although the nation maintained control over the land in hopes that trade would pick up and they would strike it big.

International Crises and the Formation of the Nation

In the 1960s, Nerany was involved in a series of challenges and international affairs that put a strain on their involvement with Eskeocha. The land was not gaining them any profits - there were periods in which they were losing money supporting the settlers of the territory - and the nation needed to focus on other events. One significant event of the time was the Isoldino Crisis which led to the formation of the Western Atracia League of Defense in 1964. Due to events of the era, Nerany decided it was no longer sensible to hold on to the Avistavan Territory, and in February of 1964, they released the land to the settlers of the region.

The settlers managed to survive on their own quite successfully over the year, but separation from each other made land disputes and trading somewhat of a challenge. In late 1964, leaders from the settlements and the tribe gathered together and agreed on the formation of a new nation, a confederacy of regions that would work together to thrive in the land. By April of 1965, the group had come up with an agreement and drafted a loose constitution of confederacy, officially recognizing the land as a new nation. They called this land Eskeocha, after the tribe that had first lived in the land. They continue to live as one nation, extremely large, yet miniscule in population.

Culture

Arts

The arts in Eskeocha is a very singular style, often repeated by most of the artists from the nation. While famous singers, writers, and actors, among others, have come from Eskeocha, while very few, the main form of art in the nation is visual.

Eskeochan art uses colors that can be made from natural resources in the land. This has led to an overwhelming use of red, green, brown, and orange in most visual art, although from time to time purple and blue are known to be used. Most of the art forms in which this can be seen are hide paintings, pieces in which animal hide was used as the canvas, large murals on slabs of rock on the sides of mountains, and most significantly, totem poles. Totems, a symbol of worship in the Eskeocha tribe, is considered a holy form of art, and a pole is only considered a totem if it is blessed by a local tribal leader in a ceremony called a potlach.

Tourists who visit from around the world will stop in smaller principalities to see local totems.

Sports Entertainment

Due to the very small population, professional sports are rarely ever played in Eskeocha, although several secondary schools and universities do have teams in sports such as baseball, football, and basketball, as well as ice hockey. These teams, due to the rough terrain of the nation to navigate, have to fly to many of the other cities they play, often up to three hours just to get to the game. On a professional level, the extent of Eskeocha's sports are their Olympic downhill skiing, cross country skiing, and curling teams. Eskeocha formed a hockey team once in the late 1980s, but the team, while qualifying for the Olympics, was eliminated almost immediately in the elimination rounds. The nation did not send a team to the following Olympics.

On television, Eskeochan citizens can watch sports from Nerany and Wolfgalia. Neranian soccer and Wolfgalian Baseball are the most popular sports programs on Eskeochan television.

Clothing and Accessories

Eskeochan clothing is very representative of the nation's environment and weather. In the warmer months, the typical clothing styles consist of sweaters and flannels alongside jeans, leggings, or other long pants options. Footwear will often be sandals in the principalities and boots outside of the built up cities. Due to the weather, fashion is not often considered in Eskeocha, leading to some choices that citizens of other nations deem questionable when they visit. In the colder months, thick, down coats and wool caps (often with buttons to attach them around the chin) will replace the sweaters and flannel. As well, citizens will wear long underwear with whatever bottoms they choose for their exterior. Hiking and snow boots are often the sole shoe choice in the winter, even to more formal events that generally ask for suits.

While it is not definite, Eskeocha credits itself with the invention of the frontier cap, a hat very similar to the cowboy hat, with the key differences being it is made out of dried animal skin, often that of a deer or a caribou, and that it comes with small pockets around the brim for storing emergency bullets and other items of the sort.

Other Information

International Trade

Eskeocha has learned to be relatively self sufficient in regards to resources, although it does rely in trade for more significant matters such as technology and medical equipment. It primarily exports fish, fur, and small amounts of gold, for which it generally receives everything else, provided it can not be found in Eskeocha. Eskeocha is not a major player in world trade, owing to its small population and environment which makes it hard to successfully export from all locations.

Foreign Relationships

Eskeocha holds positive relations with many nations in which it is associated, although the number of nations in that category is very few. As a minor player in world affairs, its central interactions are limited to Nerany, some nations in northwestern Atracia and nations in Avistava. With those nation, Eskeocha considers itself to be on good terms.

Festivities

Date	Name	Working day
January 1st	New Year's Day	No
April 4th	National Day	No
August 16th	Grand Potlach	No
September 28th	Day of Lights	Yes
December 26th - 29th	Evenings of the Totems	No