Koto
From Almeopedia
| Koto | |
| Native: | Koto |
| Verdurian: | Koto |
| Characteristics | |
| Capital: | Koto |
| Government: | Despotate |
| Language: | Verdurian |
| Relative prosperity: | 79 |
| % Pagan: | 65 |
| % Eleďe: | 31 |
| % Irreanism: | 4 |
| < KOTO |
Koto [ˈqo to] is an island in the Mišicama ocean, 80 km north of the Ismaîn coast, and 100 km east of the Floran archipelago. The island is about 100 km long north to south. Its capital is Cuni.
Etymology: Meť. Koto ‘snail’, Keb. Kodu, Caď., Ver. Koto.
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Ancient history
In ancient times iliu lived on the island; they left behind various ruins, notably at Iliupër. Around -200 it was settled by Meťaiun refugees from the Eastern conquest of Eretald. At first independent, it passed back and forth between Leziunea and Newor as one kingdom or the other was stronger. Even in these early times its main export was silk; Koto has always produced the finest silk, both because of the careful (and jealously guarded) methods of the islanders, and because of the superior quality of the local silkflies.
Cayenas took over the island and the silk trade in the 900s, and both passed to Caďinas when the Caďinorians took over Cayenas in 1079. It was briefly independent during the Caďinorian civil war (1607), but was reconquered by Ilďaneas in 1695 as preparation for his invasion of Kebri.
Kebri took advantage of another Caďinorian civil war in the 2180s to take control of the island. The Kebreni divided the island into small estates each governed by a linna or lord; the towns of Cuni and Cretlel were run by their burghers. Kebreni linna were infamous for their hard ways; when the Kebreni monarchy was strong Koto was firmly held, otherwise not, but within the estates the linna wielded absolute power.
The Kebreni instituted the production of wine on Koto, and to this day the island’s wines are of excellent quality.
Modern times
When Érenat rebelled and the Kebreni dismissed king Harre in favor of a new Muk dynasty, the Koto linna declared their loyalty to the Źem dynasty (2959)— though they did not go so far as to find any member of the Źem to rule them. Kebri was in no mood for another war, and acquiesced, only to occupy the island again during their war with Érenat in 3021. They named a prince (of the Muk dynasty), Sobeu, to rule the island.
In 3045, however, Estdorot of Verduria was preparing for war with Dhekhnam, and this included a naval buildup and more attention paid to maritime affairs. Kebri was having another squabble with Érenat, and since Érenat was his ally, Estdorot viewed this as tantamount to cooperation with the Dhekhnami. He landed troops at Cuni and declared that the prince (then Śengur, son of Sobeu) was independent. Kebri grumbling backed off.
Verduria declined in the 3100s, after the Prežeons, and Kebri became the predominant sea power; it did not formally reoccupy Koto, but it was understood that the island was a dependency, and the Kebreni used Cuni and Tencer as bases. The Kebreni denied the use of Koto ports to the Verdurians after the first Verdurian wars, but the neutrality of the island was reaffirmed after the second war (3271).
In 3285 the Verdurian admiral Petro Erakilo demanded the use of Cuni as a staging point for the invasion of Kebri; when prince Źirtur refused, Erakilo occupied the island. Mëranac 1e, as part of a program of shifting resources from the Verdurian Navy to the army, allowed the prince to regain sovereignty in 3303.
The despotate
By the 3400s the real power in the country was not the princes but their chiefs of staff, who started out simply running the prince’s estate of Kótocaln, and ended up running the government; they served as commanders of the island’s militia and served as regents when the prince was young— and somehow the princes of Koto tended to die young. When prince Mirium died so prematurely that he had no heir, in 3452, his chief of staff, Meifar, simply seized power as duisec (Leader).
Meifar’s son Lorum succeeded him as despot, and has not relaxed his hold on power. At the same time, it should be said that Koto is a small, relaxed place where most people don’t care too much that their duisec spends a little too much time drilling his militia or that the linna don’t get to meet in a senate.
Koto is so small that it has never bothered to establish a mint; it indifferently uses Verdurian, Floran, and Kebreni coins.
Language
Koto’s history is reflected in its three-tiered demographics: essentially Meťaiun on the bottom, Caďinorians in the middle, and Kebreni on top. As late as 2800 each of these still spoke separate languages. The Kebreni insisted that kodur nizgu ‘Koto language’ was a debased form of their own language, which proved their right to rule and yet ought to be replaced with standard Kebreni. Kodur was already in decline, however, increasingly replaced by Verdurian. As an added complication, there were a fair number of settlers from Ismahi who spoke Ismaîn.
The upper class tried manfully to stick to Kebreni as their language, and to this day it’s the official language of government and the courts, though it has no more native speakers. Local Kebreni was highly influenced by Kodur in accent and vocabulary, and is of interest in the reconstruction of Meťaiun. Many residents still do learn Kebreni, but from Kebreni sailors and merchants, not from fellow islanders.
The local Verdurian is in turn heavily influenced by all these languages: Kodur, Kebreni, and Ismaîn. Ironically, the distinctive vocabulary of Kodur and Koto Kebreni is most alive in Verdurian borrowings.
Notable residents
- Petro Erakilo spent a miserable winter here as a sailor, and later conquered the island for Verduria
- Mŕiʐe Lavretes and Gesom Abolineron, painters, lived here for some years
- Meicom Brundan, an author of satirical novels as well as an extensively researched guide to the vineyards
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Categories: Eretald | Nations | Islands
