Metamora

Megalopolis of Metamora
Flag
Motto: "Unto Daybreak."
Capital and largest city	Metamora
Official languages	Tratar
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 Tratoria
• Grand Revolt	1546 - 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	Metamoran Merit (MRT)

Metamora, officially known as the Megalopolis of Metamora, is a city-state located on the western coast of its home continent. With the vast wilderness surrounding it to its north and south, Metamora pursues an aloof and autarkic existence. It's coastline provides it's connectio to the outside world. Metamora itself enjoys a warm and sunny climate.

One of the few entirely sovereign city-states left, Metamora jealously defends its independence. The population of 8.28 million people are governed by a generally benevolent Technocratic Unitary State, which runs a fully planned economy and has illegalized private industry. This system was established in the wake of the Grand Revolt against the United Duchy of Tratoria, from which it has slowly but steadily recovered and rebuilt to become wealthy for its size.

History

Metamora is a young nation, with Metamoran records dating back to the old Tratorian archives. The architectural style varies throughout the city, old construction upriver weaving smoothly into new-style buildings the closer one gets to the Bay and the coast. This is due to Metamora's expansion downriver and attachment 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

Records that are available to the public about this time are few, with most pieces are considered to either be lost in various undiscovered archives throughout the city or are often classified for "preservation". A good baseline for discovering the prevailing narratives around Metamoran history What is well-known, however, is that Metamora began as a small riverside town, meant to boost commerce and provide a rest stop for traders heading downriver.

Metamora grew sizably within a couple decades after its establishment, using its status as an important trading town to attract locals from the surrounding countryside and trading families with the promise of prosperity. The demand for labor would grow, and much of the supply came from Metamora's expansion downriver towards the Cobalt Bay and the former town of Brookhaven. There were plans to expand Metamora to east as well, but the gain would only be short-term due to logistical issues with the floodplains. The project was scrapped completely when economists theorized that this would also decrease the agricultural output of the region.

Records show that, after integrating Brookhaven, Metamora was granted greater autonomy. The reasoning behind this has severely degraded and is left to speculation. It may have been forced due to the increasing power of the commercial class in the city, or the city's explosive growth merely outpaced efforts to police it. Regardless of the reason, from this autonomy came the first parallel (albeit, wildly corrupt and inefficient) Metamoran courts system. What would follow is a period of increasing ideological, cultural, and social distance from Tratoria, known as the Metamoran Renaissance, which caused discontent among the extremely politicized and ideologically varied populace. Pro-Independence movements sprang up as efforts to suppress free thought backfired; the Renaissance combined with most Tratorian movements (socialists, ecologists, transhumanists, etc.) finding some sort of support in the city would soon lead to physical violence.

Grand Revolt

Tratoria attempted to further integrate the wealthy city to enrich itself, but the Metamorans fiercely defended their autonomy. There was a widespread population of Metamorans that did not even consider themselves Tratorians, rather, a separate identity caused by the Metamoran Renaissance. Historical theorists search for the event that "truly" tipped Metamora over the edge, but there were many abuses that could have been the catalyst. A few popular choices of this are: the commission of a new Ducal palace in Metamora, a judicial Tratorian case ruling Metamoran autonomy illegitimate, and an information leak that suggested Tratoria wanted to make Metamora its capital and reinstate traditional values.

The various militias, parties, and movements of Metamora began to wage a disorganized urban guerrilla warfare against the Tratorian garrisons, pushing them out of the fringes of the city and back towards the old city center. This tactical retreat by the Tratorians to consolidate bought the revolters time to cooperate and form 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 would coordinate the Grand Revolt from the southwest of the city to give them the greatest chance at pushing Tratoria out. This area would later become the seat of the new Metamoran government. It was decided that the groups could maintain their own operations, but they had to communicate and defer to the Provisional Militia. As the army began to march once again, this militia took on the "occupiers" through sabotage and civilian recruitment.

The militias were cautious under the PGM, worrying that the army would receive reinforcements at any time... But nobody came. The garrisons were overrun and eventually given orders to withdraw, with it being discovered later that Tratoria suffered an opportunistic invasion by a foreign nation and was destroyed. The PGM's response was muted, they had greater problems. Metamora found itself alone, devastated from urban warfare, and in an incredibly unstable political situation.

Consolidation

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 provisional convention 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 only for a rule by intellectuals. 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

With the Technocracy Faction having asserted temporary control over the factions of the city, the provisional convention became an echo chamber for legislative debate. There was outrage in some parts of the populace over the one-sidedness and the "poisoning of their movements", so the new technocrats kept old deals and compromises in pursuit of legitimacy. The first two legislative bodies were established and their Chairs appointed in (PLACEHOLDER), but this popular discontent kept rising. In order to nip the growing grassroots movement in the bud before it became a threat, the third Sphere was established, the Sphere of Deputies, to give the members of the non-elite a say in how they are governed.

The reasoning behind this decision was nuanced, but effective. By providing a ground for the citizenry to air their grievances, public opinions could be channeled productively. Issues could receive a greater platform than through petitions or activism, giving the two "upper spheres" more time to focus on calibration and progress. It was even hardly a concession to their authority, since only the two upper Spheres working together could bypass the lower's input on important issues. A victory for the technocrats and the people satisfied, the Metamoran Charter was finalized and ratified in (PLACEHOLDER)

Modern History

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Politics

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Economics

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Culture

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