Akawhk

Akawhk
Mascyllary overseas territory
Commonwealth of Akawhk Gemeinstaat Akohk (Hesurian) Este Emvnicetv Akcohkv (Pintachee)
From top, left to right: Downtown Marthasbucht CBD, a cable car on Steigstraße with Loremey Island in the background, Aspengarten residences, Alwinienchausee with a visible pylon of the Bay Bridge, Alexandra Gate Bridge, Cape Weimud Space Center
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Geeint in Blut und Schwur" "United in Blood and Oath"
Loation of Akawhk in Mascylla
Sovereign state	Mascylla
Mascyllary annexation	31 August 1799
Devolution	4 June 1939
Current constitution	12 April 1996
Capital and largest city	Marthasbucht
Official languages	Hesurian · Pintachee
Ethnic groups (2017)	44.1% Pintachee 42.8% White 5.5% Multiracial 3.2% Chelageyan 4.2% Other
Demonym(s)	Akawhkian
Government	Devolved parliamentary dependency under a constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Dorothea I
• Governor	Ruprecht Kvuyk
Legislature	Legislative Council
Area
• Total	1,015 km2 (392 sq mi)
• Water (%)	4.0
Population
• 2016 estimate	2,086,221
• Density	2,103.0/km2 (5,446.7/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2016 estimate
• Total	$113.5 billion
• Per capita	$54,414
GDP (nominal)	2016 estimate
• Total	$102.9 billion
• Per capita	$49,316
HDI (2018)	0.904 very high
Currency	Akawhkian Karning
Date format	DD/MM/YYYY
Driving side	right
Calling code	+383
Website	akawhk.gov.ma

Akawhk (Pintachee for 'Crane Bight'; abbreviated AK), officially the Commonwealth of Akawhk (Pintachee: Este Emvnicetv Akcohkv; Hesurian: Gemeinstaat Akokh), is an overseas territory of the Crowned Republic of Mascylla located in the Greater Alvines archipelago of Alvinia in the Godrican Sea, and approximately 70.1 km (43.5 mi) south of Socapatoy, the capital city of Ochoccola. With a population of 2,086,221 inhabitants in 2016 and a land area of 1,015 km² (391.9 sq mi), it is both the largest Mascyllary overseas territory by size and population. Akawhk is simultaneously the name of the urgan agglomeration and the archipelago on which it lies, encompassing 37 islands and situated in the Godrican Sea between Ochoccola, Chelagey and Edwardia; the de facto capital and "largest city" on Akawhk is Marthasbucht with 839,710 inhabitants in 2018.

The archipelago was originally inhabited by indigenous Pintachee tribes, who were displaced and gradually assimilated by colonialists of the Købmandslaug and subsequently Dalland, having landed at Akawhk in 1524, before it was acquired by the First Cuthish Empire in 1601. The colonial holding that grew out of it was frequently contested by Berean powers, ultimately captured by Mascylla during the Cuthish Revolutionary War in 1799 and having ruled it since then, with brief periods of Cuthish military and civil administration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The abolition of slavery, shared insular regionalism and acceptance and merging of Akawhk's diverse demographics culminated in a distinctive identity preserved today and shared by Cuthish, Hesurian, indigenous and Caphtoran alike. Following the almost complete destruction of the city by the 1909 earthquake and subsequent fire, it was newly rebuilt and became the focal point of significant Alvinian immigration. Since the end of the Mascyllary colonial empire in the 1990s, Akawhk's political status in the future has consistently been an issue of intense debate.

Akawhk as a political body is a self-governing devolved dependancy under the constitutional monarchy of Mascylla with its own constitution, locally elected democratic government and complete autonomy of interior policy, while Mascylla is responsible for its enacting of state law, integration to a common market, foreign relations and defense. Due to its geographical proximity and history, Akawhk features a culture uniquly merging Ochoccola's and Mascylla's, and its two official languages are Hesurian and Pintachee, and while the former is predominant, 91% of the population are able to speak Pintachee fluently. Its strategic location and abundant supply of trade goods are main drivers of the economy of Akawhk, with the largest sectors being maufacturing, offshore insurance, tourism and shipping trade; its economic development made Akawhk historically Alvinia's most highly developed area and featured its highest life expectancy and GDP per capita despite severe income inequality, which makes it an attractive destination for, often illegal, migration and human trafficking mainly originating from Ochoccola.

History

Historical affiliations

Kingdom of Dalland 1524–1601
First Cuthish Empire 1601–1733
Kingdom of Norden 1733–1740
First Cuthish Empire 1740–1799
Mascyllary Kingdom 1799–1910
Second Cuthish Empire 1910–1913
Mascyllary Kingdom 1913–1923
Mascylla 1923–present

Prehistory and Pintachee

Current archeological evidence suggests human habitation in and around Akawhk and its surrounding islands since at least 1,200 B.C., though the discovery of traces of earlier settlement such as middens at Point Leyffen near Philippsburg potentially shifts the date of human arrival on the shores of the island back to 1,500 B.C. The ancestors of the indigenous Pintachee people, who were living on Akawhk and the south-western portion of Godrica at the time of Berean arrival and contact, were in all likelihood Mavronesian tribes who migrated to Alvinia by sailing over the Iremic Ocean some 8,000 years ago.

The Pintachee were organized into multiple tribes throughout their history as Akawhk was inhabited by the Cinoean and Sanoian people, the latter of which were spread as far north as modern-day Digalua in Chelagey along the Godrica coast.

Dalish and Cuthish colony

The first Berean to assert a territorial claim on Akawhk and its adjacent areas was Wesley Middelton who landed at Middelton Grove near Marthasbucht Bay in August of 1506 as part of his second expedition in the Alvinian archipelago, and claimed the island of Akawhk as well as the surrounding archipelago for then-Emperor Alvin I as the Isles of the Saint Godwhin. Despite this, and because of the larger significance of imperial Cuthish colonization efforts in Ochoccola, the Cuthish made no further attempt at consolidating their claim. In April 1524, the crew of the Schwalbe von Pereuth captained by guilded merchant Heinrich Rohnemann lowered their anchor in the Marthasbucht Bay, the first Berean naval presence on the island, and subsequently claimed it for the Købmandslaug under the name Ny Rødby (New Rødby); a Dalish fur trading station and small settlement of some 140 individuals was founded at Rotfell Square.

Cuthish Akawhk, previously Ny Rødby, as seen from the Alexandra Gate facing west in c. 1700

The colony of New Rødby was centered on a small strip of flat land between the coarse and hilly terrain of the Marthasbucht Peninsula that would later be known as Annental. In 1543, a temporary wooden stockade was erected around the settlement for protection against occasional native Pintachee raids and skirmishes, and construction on a citadel on Loremey Island was started. However, Købmandslaug and subsequent royal Dalish control would prove to be short-lived as the fledging albeit small settlement under Johann Kristiaan was unable to muster any resistance against Cuthish troops under the command of Colonel Clyde Quainshead, and surrendered to a seizure of the colony in June 1601. The Cuthish promptly assured the Dalish settlers to remain in the colony and allow religious freedoms, while the construction of the citadel was resumed and finished in 1660, and the colony renamed to Akawhk, in recognition of the Pintachee term for the Marthasbucht Bay.

Contracted epidemics such as the yellow fever and repeated, oftentimes violent, encounters with the Berean population caused a gradual decline of the Cinoe and Sanoia population sizes by the 18th century, dropping to below 10,000 by 1710; nevertheless, the non-Berean population of Akawhk still outnumbered the new settlers.

Even though coastal fog was a common issue when navigating Akawhk's waters, Cuthland recognized the strategic and economic importance of the archipelago due to its deep and sheltered natural harbour and expanded the colony as a vital and advantageous port for trade as part of the Cuthish colony of Ochoccola throughout the 18th century. It was a major center of slavery because of the economic methods utilized by the former Købmandslaug colonizers, and the demand for slave labour for port work. The topography of Akawhk did not allow for the large-scale cultivation of plantations or the sufficient supply of the growing island population with food. During King George's War of the the War of the Cuthish Succession, attempts by the Nordic were made to take control over Akawhk through the Battles of Loremey Citadel in November 1730 and July 1733, the former of which seeing the repulsed bombardment of the citadel installation by multiple Nordic ships of the line led by the Jutehataren. In 1733, Nordic captain Herluf Bragge seized the colony with success and rechristened it to Kristiansborg on the behest of then-King Kristian IV; pursuant of the 1740 Treaty of Nyhavn, Norden returned Akawhk back to the Cuthish Empire.

With the onset of the Cuthish Revolution in 1795, the colony became a destination of refuge for enlightened and liberal thinkers after the events of Bloody Monday, and for monarchists and other political dissidents during the Republican Terror in Cuthland from 1797 to 1801. On 31 August 1799, during the Cuthish Revolutionary War, the Mascyllary first-rate warship Lauenburg captained by Eduard Lukas von Heidelhoff captured Marthasbucht, which was then known as Akawhk. The largest city on the island as well as the bay were named after Sophia Martha of Marlburg-Gränich-Freida, royal consort to then-Crown Prince Lukas Augustus, and the assumption of control was affirmed through the Treaty of Swithtun in 1801 which concluded the Revolutionary War in Berea.

Mascyllary colony

Mascyllary rule was officially initiated with the raising of the Mascyllary flag and a 21-gun salute from the anchored ships in the harbor on 4 January 1800, and after the ratification process by King Lukas I was completed, established as a crown colony under Governor Karl von Leblichsrode. The wealth accumulated from the rapidly developing port led to the establishment of multiple enterprises and corporations, including Bunde Bank Group and Saskow & Hain, and precipitated a dramatic increase in immigrant labourers from Alvinia and rapid urbanisation; the population of Akawhk grew from 18,000 in 1800 to some 350,000 by 1880. The sociodemographic transformation of the colony coincided with the abolition enactment throughout the Mascyllary colonial empire in 1840, granting the children of born enslaved mothers their freedom as freedmen, even though they were oblieged to indentured servitude until age 24.

The latter half of the 19th century witnessed the rapid commercial and residential development of the city of Marthasbucht in particular, ascending to a status as a colonial and international center of trade, going to and from Alvinia at large. In 1866, the first operable undersea cable for commercial telegraph communications was laid from Rosgar, Falland to Marthasbucht on Akawhk, connecting Berea with Alvinia, and in June of 1889, the first purpose-built ocean liner and cruise ship Prinzessin Charlotte made her maiden voyage from Flussmund to Marthasbucht over the Agric Ocean. Additionally, Agrica Park, the first landscape park in a Mascyllary city, was established through financial efforts and lobbying by the island's fledging aristocracy of entrepreneurs.

The Mascyllary Alwiniengeschwader fleet anchoring in Marthasbucht Bay after the Great War Cuthish occupation of the island, January 1914

Ruins of the Marthasbucht Governor's Hall in the wake of the 1909 Akawhk earthquake and fire

Construction of the Alexandra Gate Bridge suspension bridge, in 1929

Panorama of Marthasbucht in 1866 facing south, with the busy trade port of Akawhk in the distance

On October 28, 1909, an extraordinarly large earthquake devastated Akawhk with its epicenter near the city of Luisenstadt. The initial quake, paired with the ignition of burst natural gas pipes and the ensuing conflegration in central Marthasbucht, destroyed more than 21,000 houses and caused some 906 deaths. Relief efforts by the Mascyllary Navy and an Army contingent of 9,000 troops, as well as reconstruction efforts were immediately launched. By 1910, the crown colony adopted the Neuer Kommissarratsplan (New Commissioners Board Plan), rebuilding Marthasbucht with a city street grid plan from the ground up, and expanding it to the confines of the Marthasbucht Peninsula in its entirety. Then, on December 20, 1910, with the beginning of the Great War, Cuthish warships effectively destroyed Mascyllary air and naval power on Alvinia in one attack during the Battle of Akawhk, and conducted a successful naval landing operation a day later. By January 30, organised defense under Mascyllary commander Major General Ernst Michaelis had retreated and was reduced to pockets of resistance in the island's far western and southern hillsides. Governor Lukas Georg von Speyn formally surrendered on the recommendation of Michaelis on February 6. The island was militarily occupied by the Cuthish Empire until 1913 when Mascylla formed a naval task force spearheaded by the dreadnought MSS Kronprinz to regain control over Akawhk and the Cuthish voluntarily abandoned it in response.

Speyn returned to his position as governor in September of 1914 and ill-fatedly pursued the resuming of the New Commissioners Board Plan despite the strenuous war effort in Berea. Following the Great War, and in response to the deflating economic recession experienced shortly before the 1923 Mascyllary Revolution, the city attempted to stimulate employment growth by sufficiently rebuilding Marthasbucht and supplementing the enterprise with two large infrastructure projects, namely the Alexandra Gate Bridge and Marthasbucht-Kolepak Bridge (or colloquially the Bay Bridge), throughout the 1920s and 1930s; this led to a second wave of increasing immigration from Alvinia and Berea. The Alexandra Gate leading out of Marthasbucht Bay was named after queen consort Princess Alexandra of Tudonia in 1919. The archipelago also became a vital military hub due to its forward position in Alvinia and continuous presence since the Great War, manifesting into the construction of the Tsultya shipyards, the Naval Base Akawhk and Fort Michaelis, and the establishment of the Mascyllary Agric Command in 1931.

Overseas territory and modernity

Felix Soannqaha (1944–2017) was the first elected Premier of Akawhk, first part-Pintachee senior official, and the most prominent political figure for the island throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.

Internal self-governance was repeatedly brought up as a glaring question, particularly in the wake of the Mascyllary Revolution and the signation of the Fleicher Accord in 1929. Ultimately, on June 4, 1939, Akawhk received its own constitutional instrument which was ratified by Governor Theodor von Weiszäcker, personally believing that widening the political franchise to include the local populace would be necessary to sustainably bind Akawhk to Mascylla. Even though the political nature of the quasi-colony remained ambiguous, operating in the gray area of a proper crown colony and dominion, increasing calls for independence were overwhelmingly rejected by a 1946 referendum.

Akawhk experienced a newfound economic boom for its advantageous position in Alvinia, political security and more autonomous and therefore lenient economic policy in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1965, the Cape Weimud Space Center was established as the Space Race between Mascylla, Cuthland and Dulebia began to take shape. All of the MAOA's human spaceflight missions have been launched from Mascylla's primary spaceport, including the Pionier, Sigma, Haller Base, and Raumfähre programs.

Akawhk soon developed into a major global offshore financial center, though the tourism and shipping industries retained their position as integral components of Akawhk's increasingly service-based economy. Suburban neighbourhoods such as Davidshöh or Paradiesgarten grew rapidly with a 1967 public housing estate plan, while downtown Marthasbucht became the center of the new Financial District and expansive high-rise Lonasbekanization. Nevertheless, political dissatisfaction pertaining the notion for Akawhk's independence continued to accumulate, and turned violent with the 1974 Candle Riots following the death of 17-year old Maik Schwarz-Aqehanna in Akawhk royal police custody, leaving 14 dead and 297 wounded, and the assassination of Governor Dietrich von Harlinghausen in 1980. In April of 1994, the territorial waters surrounding Akawhk became the focal point of the Akawhk Crisis, a tense naval standoff between Cuthland and Mascylla during the nearby Ochoccola War. Due to the archipelago's proximity to the coast of then-Cuthish occupied Ochoccola, its significance as the base of operations for the 2nd Carrier Group and entire Mascyllary Alvinian military forces, and the arrival of SLBM-equipped nuclear submarines in the Alvinian Sea, the Akawhk public quickly panicked in fear of a potential military invasion in what is called the "Marthasbucht Missile Scare". Governor Kurt von der Blücher attempted to keep panic buying and peace demonstrations-turned riots at bay, mobilizing police and military forces until the crisis ended on 5 May. In the aftermath, Akawhk became the permanent and first Mascyllary forward-deployed harbour for the 2nd Carrier Group in 1995, despite public protest.

By 1996 and with the formal dissolution of the Mascyllary colonial empire, Akawhk's constitution was amended on April 12 to re-organize the colony into an overseas territory of Mascylla, internally autonomous and with then-King Lukas III as head of state. The first publically elected head of government and first Pintachee senior official, Felix Soannqaha, was sworn in as Premier-in-Council of Akawhk in the presence of the newly created Legislative Council and Governor Matthias Gerst in May of 1996. Since, political and economic efforts have been undertaken throughout the late 1990s and early 21st century to battle the prevailent homelessness and income inequality of the island, including the improvement of job opportunities, the gentrification of poorer neighbourhoods and make-shift encampments, and the attraction of innovative start-up and high-tech companies in the early 2010s.

Geography and environment

Geology

Overview map of Akawhk, with neighbourhood boundaries and selected points of interest

Aerial view of the Marthasbucht Peninsula in 2012, with Kolepak and Schönbach in the distance

The Akawhk archipelago is situated in the Middelton Volcanic Arc, a metamorphic complex of largely dormant volcanoes of Miocene origin that stretches from southern Ochoccola southeastward to Edwardia. Historical volcanism and tectonic activity is attributed to the ongoing processes of the Alvinian Subduction Zone (ASZ), at which the oceanic crust of the Pamiran Plate is forced to subduct beneath the Agric and Alvinian Plates of thin continental crust and the Alvinian Arc quasi mountain range is formed; this subduction is responsible for the tectonically recent and new formation of the Alvinian continent at large.

The archipelago itself is the product of a continuous sequence of shield volcano creations in the Middelton Volcanic Arc, and subsequent caldera collapses over the span of approximately 16 million years. The cyclic evolution of Akawhk is understood to take place in distinctive steps: first, the existing activity forces magma to accumulate and create small conical volcanoes on the surface, thus precipitating the large-scale creation of magma chambers; this feedback loop allows the magma in the growing chamber to change geochemically to more silicic compositions, and therefore destabilize the cone to collapse onto itself. Erosion and other geological factors have contributed to the smoothing and shallowing of the main island's rim around the caldera, which has been filled with water and transformed into a deep natural harbour. However, the outer slopes of the former volcano still remain in the form of the Northern (Nördlicher Wald) and Southern Forest (Südlicher Wald) local hillsides which dominate the island's topography in the northwest and south respectively; the highest elevated peak of the archipelago, the Ludwigsberg (287 m; 942 ft), is located in the Southern Forest. The islands situated within the caldera, such as Loremey, Nyrodby and Dolbaer are also of volcanic origin due to relatively recent submarine eruptions, but failed to remain intact before these smaller volcanoes could construct cones. Due to the number of historical eruptions of Akawhk, the island is composed of various layers of lava and other eruptive products ranging from basalt to ignimbrite and even rhyolite.

Climate

Fog from the Godrican Sea entering through the Alexandra Gate into Marthasbucht Bay, with the Marthasbucht skyline visible (2008)

The entirety of Akawhk experiences a humid subtropical climate (Cfa as Köppen climate classification), with hot and particularly humid summers, and mild winters. However, the weather is strongly affected by the waters of the Godrican Sea and Akawhk Strait surrounding the entire archipelago, thus moderating overall temperature change over the seasons and reducing seasonal variation throughout the year. The increase in elevation on Akawhk contributes little to the change in the degree of the subtropical climate, as the highest peak only exceeds 280 meters (933 ft).

Multiple weather phenomena of note occure on Akawhk, mostly in the summer and early autumn. While Akawhk is among the most frequent sites of tornadoes in Alvinia, the small land area, rugged terrain, and oceanic climate rarely allow them to exceed EF1 severity. Hurricanes originating from the Agric Ocean pose a more significant natural hazard, and Akawhk can be affected by hurricanes that strike Edwardia to the east; however, direkt strikes have rarely occured in the 20th and 21st centuries, and those which do traverse the Godric Sea usually weaken over Edwardia and attenuate into strong heavy-precipitation tropical storms, or narrowly pass the Akawhk coastline. The establishment of summer low-pressure zones in the Ochoccolan interior also draw in winds and moist air from the Godrican Sea High Area high-pressure zone through the Alexandra Gate, creating the characteristic dense swaths of coastal fog that dominate Akawhk's weather in early August to late October.

Politics

Akawhk Governor's Hall in 1920 Beaux-Arts style, seat of the Premier and their government, as well as the Legislative Council and Senate

Akawhk is organized as an overseas territory of the Crowned Republic of Mascylla and a self-governing devolved dependancy with its own constitution. The executive is formally comprised of the institution of the monarchy of Mascylla, its power currently vested in Dorothea I since 2005, and the representative and exercising office of the Governor of Akawhk, currently Ruprecht Kvuyk since 2014. The Governor exercises the monarch's will through their appointment by the monarch on the advice of the Government of Mascylla, and since 1996, the Premier of Akawhk as the effective head of government in the Governor's capacity is publically elected by the eligible population. The internal and autonomous legislation of the island was delegated to the Parliament of Akawhk amid its foundation in 1800, before the unicameral legislature was reformed into the bicameral Legislative Council and Senate of Akawhk in 1996; universal suffrage has been introduced in 1939. While Akawhk retains complete autonomy for interior policy, Mascylla's responsibilities lie in its enacting of state law and the Constitution of Mascylla, integration into a common market and access to Mascyllary citizenship, dictating foreign policy, and providing defense.