Metamora

Megalopolis of Metamora
Flag
Motto: "Breakneck pace unto daybreak."
Capital and largest city	Metamora
Official languages	Tratorian
Ethnic groups	Humans (100%)
Religion	State-Endorsed Atheism
Government	Technocratic Unitary State
• Chair of the Economy	Sarah Wise
• Chair of the Sciences	Theodore Warren
• Chair of the Deputies	Brandon Kaur
Legislature	The Convocation
Independence  from a forgotten nation
• Grand Revolt	Date Placeholder
Area
• Total	13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	8,280,000
• Density	636.9/km2 (1,649.6/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$264.96 billion
• Per capita	$32,000
Currency	Merit (MRT)

Metamora, officially known as the Megalopolis of Metamora, is a Sparkalian nation housed on the western coast of the continent Pelia. It borders no other nation, being forced to pursue an autarkic and self-contained existence; however, it still contains a link to the outside world through the Cobalt Bay, the endpoint of the Mora River that the nation gets its name from. There are no other effective routes to connect it to other nations due to the Estethan Desert to its southeast, and the heavily wooded lands to its north. Despite the varied climates around it, Metamora itself enjoys a warm and sunny climate.

One of the last entirely sovereign city-states left in Sparkalia, Metamora defends its independence and governmental system jealously. The population of 8.28 million people are governed by a Technocratic Unitary State, established in the wake of the Grand Revolt against a forgotten origin nation. The government operates off of a fully planned economy, with private industry being entirely illegalized. This extreme economic system has produced a gradual but efficient industrialization of the city, with much of the economic development being centered around the Cobalt Bay.

History

Metamora is a relatively young nation, the very city itself only having archived records that date back to (PLACEHOLDER) at the earliest. Its architectural style varies throughout the city, with the oldest construction styles being found a stretch upriver from the existing city. This suggests that, over time, Metamora has moved further away from the river to attach itself to the coastline, which brought increased immigration from nearby towns and started its progress from a simple riverside town to a very large city.

Pre-Revolt City Era

See Also: Brookhaven
The records and history around this time are fuzzy and generally not well understood, as few copies available to the public still remain. Most pieces are considered to either be lost in various undiscovered archives throughout the city or are heavily classified and carefully preserved. What is well-known, however, is that Metamora did not develop organically as a city-state. It was originally a normal city under the control of what scholars call "The Origin State", or what is more popularly known as "The Founders".

Metamora grew sizably within a couple decades after its original establishment on the banks of the Mora River, attracting young locals from the surrounding countryside with the promise of prosperity. Labor was in high demand, and much of that need was satisfied by the people moving downriver towards Metamora. To facilitate this, two main avenues for expansion presented themselves: to grow eastwards and upriver, or westwards towards the bay and Brookhaven. The east provided greater short-term benefits for the city but would encounter a major logistic and construction problem with the floodplains. And besides, it would antagonize and encroach on productive agricultural lands, so the westwards expansion plan was decided on.

Metamora, after integrating Brookhaven, was allegedly given a greater degree of autonomy. From this autonomy the first parallel (albeit, wildly corrupt and inefficient) Metamoran courts system was established. What would follow is a period of increasing ideological, cultural, and social distance from the Founders, causing widespread dissatisfaction and discontent in the extremely politically active and ideologically varied populace. This led to pro-independence movements springing up; alongside socialists, communists, transhumanists, pacifists, ecologists, and essentially the entire political spectrum of the Origin States all gaining some sort of foothold in the city.

Grand Revolt

Main Article: The Grand Revolt
There are several prevailing theories as to what had spurred Metamora from peaceful agitation into violence, but a popular one is that Metamora became one of the largest cities in the Origin State over time. The Origin State had wanted to make Metamora into its capital but cultural and societal differences had developed over years of autonomy and breakneck growth, resulting in strife between the two. Protests broke out over attempts to reduce autonomy and reassert "cultural order" that precipitated into riots, and the riots led to a full-scale revolt when the military became involved.

The many disorganized parties, organizations, and movements of Metamora waged brutal guerilla warfare on the Origin State military, forcing them to consolidate around the old city center. This bought the revolters time to meet in the outskirts, fringes, and slums of the city. They began to cooperate and formed the Provisional Government of Mora (PGM), with the only party allowed in their "council" during the revolt being the Moran United Front (MUF).

The PGM organized and coordinated the Grand Revolt from the southwest of the city overlooking the Cobalt Bay, which would eventually become the seat of the new Metamoran government. The groups were allowed to maintain their own operations, but all of them had to defer to the Provisional Militia. This militia began to take on the armies of the Origin State that were occupying the city, and rallied Morans all over to join them in the battle, be it through civilian sabotage or through taking up arms.

The operations were slow and cautious, expecting that the army would receive reinforcements at any time... But nobody came. The army garrisons were overrun and eventually given orders to withdraw, it was as if the Origin State had just ceased existing or was collapsing inwards upon itself. Whatever the case, the few garrisons that managed to escape never returned, and Mora found itself alone, independent, and devastated from constant urban warfare.

Consolidation

See Also: The Provisional Convention
After the end of the Grand Revolt, the brief reconstruction period did not see a governmental response. Rather, the charge was led by various groups wanting to build grassroots support for their factions. The parallel systems that emerged from this integrated or suffocated less dedicated or cooperative factions, which was worrisome to every faction. There was a fear that the city was preparing to tear itself apart to see which ideology would land on top, which was something no one wanted but many expected. To avoid this outcome, the Provisional Government called a Convention in ((placeholder)) to hash out differences and form a stable government.

In most other places, the chances of such a Convention among such a deeply divided actually succeeding would be a pipe dream. There would be hardliners, camps and combat groups forming, and it would quickly break down, with the slim majority proclaiming itself the "legitimate government" as its nation crumbled right after independence. Not in Metamora. Any group that was able to survive until the Convention had to be cooperative, leading to very few hardliners being sent to the Convention. Even those hardliners were quickly isolated, recalled, and replaced with more compromise-minded members, because compromise was the art of the deal. The Convention progressed swiftly with its votes and debates, only getting deadlocked in a few places.

The Provisional government had its discussions grow slower and slower as it progressed and controversial issues began to be addressed, with the Technocracy Faction being designated to mediate due to its centrist politics at the time, pushing for only a rule by intellctuals. This movement grew in popularity as hardline policy increasingly became the norm, threatening to break the Convention entirely. The Technocrats, along with many of the theorists and strategists from the party, performed a sort of "gentle coup" on what is now known as Peach Day, installing Technocracy-sympathetic academics and officers across the city.

Establishment of the Convocation and the Chairs

A

Politics

A

The Convocation

A

The Chairs

A

Factions

A

Movements

A

Economics

A

Resources

A

Central Planning

A

Culture

A

Old Moran

A

Moran

A

Metamoran

A