Name of Nation:
Akumori

Species:
Almost entirely Oni, with a number of stronger members of the other, smaller, weaker races.

[hider=Species]
Oni:
The Oni are a race of large, muscular creatures that tend to resemble the demons of other nations mythology. Their height tends to range between seven and nine feet, but this along with their musculature has the unfortunate side effect of requiring an almost ridiculous amount of food, and even with a stomach almost perfectly designed to squeeze every last drop of nutrients from their food, most oni still need to consume somewhere around 8000 calories every day. There are two subtypes of oni, the red-skinned Ikazuchi Oni and the blue-skinned Shinatsuhiko Oni. There are very few physical differences between these subtypes, with the only variation outside of skin colour being that Shinatsuhiko Oni only have one horn in the center of their forehead, while Ikazuchi Oni have two.
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[hider=Culture and Society]
Culture and Society:
Oni culture can be a rather polarising subject amongst other races. On the one hand, their bluntness social situations, tendency to launch into spontaneous brawls and seeming complete lack of restraint cause many of the more reserved nations to look down on the race as little more than barbaric idiots. However, while this is not necessarily completely untrue, those who are willing to look past these attributes can see that Oni culture is surprisingly deep.

Oni society is built around the concept of clans, which encompasses everything from a single bloodline to the country itself. The first clan is the Dokei Ichizoku, the extended family, which tends to attract the most loyalty from any given oni. These clans are led by the Clan Head, usually the oldest and most experienced member of the clan, although unfortunately this does not always mean the wisest. After that comes the Taku Ichizoku, the town or village an oni lives in. While generally not as close as a Dokei, members of a Taku are still extremely close, often forming lifelong friendships. It isn’t rare for every inhabitant of a town to know each other after all, so it is only natural that they would come to see each other as just another, larger extended family. These are led by a council of the clan heads, with one of them being elected into the role of elder by the others. Thankfully, elders do tend to be some of the wisest members of the race, having experienced enough to have developed at the very least a mild sense of restraint in their general lives, and serve on their own council as advisors to the Enma, the oni king. Then there is the third clan, the Hifu Ichizoku, whether you are an Ikazuchi or Shinatsuhiko Oni. While these clans held a lot more importance in the past, they have slowly faded out as the race has grown more and more. These days, it only tends to come up during the Festival of the Sky, where the council of elders elect a single representative from the Ikazuchi and Shinatsuhiko as candidates to take the throne. These candidates then duel in the plaza of the sky temple, the fortress the Enma rules from, and the winner becomes the new Enma, mirroring the original legend of the brothers Fujin and Raijin. However, as the duel rarely actually ends in death, and the loser is still considered an exceptionally talented member of the oni race, they are traditionally chosen to serve as the Enma’s right hand and closest advisor, and it is common for the pair to form a lifelong friendship and rivalry that transcends any other. This leads into the fourth clan, the Daizen Ichizoku, which encompasses the whole of the Oni nation. As mentioned before, this is led by the Enma, who rules the nation as an autocrat with the aid of the council of elders. After the Dokei, the Daizen Ichizoku tends to have the most loyalty from each individual, as the attributes elders look for to be elected as a candidate tend to be perfectly in line with the will of the rest of the race as a whole.

In addition to the four clans, oni involved in the military or hunting units tend to form an unofficial fifth one, known as the Hagane Ichizoku. This encapsulates the bonds formed between those who fight together, and is often a close contender even for the Dokei.

A large part of Oni culture is formed around combat, and it is considered a perfectly acceptable, if not outright expected, way to solve disagreements. It isn’t rare to walk into an Akumori inn or tavern and see at least four pairs of brawling oni, if not the entire patronage hurling punches and kicks. If one can’t find a brawl to watch or take part in, the oni also regularly hold tournaments or competitions, sometimes specifically to create an excuse to fight if they can’t find any other. That being said, many oni prefer to fight strong opponents, which can be difficult to find considering their immense size. However, one of the larger focuses of the Akumori government is the Hunters Guild, which not only allows members to placate this urge, but also aids in providing additional materials for the craftsman, and enough food to help the population not starve to death.

Despite their general brash, boorish behaviour in social situations, oni can actually show remarkable displays of precision and delicacy when the task calls for it. This is especially clear in two of the most common oni pastimes outside of fighting, craftsmanship and cooking. Oni craftsmanship, which mostly stemmed from weapon and armour smithing, is actually fairly well known for its intricacies and attention to detail. During the creation of weapons and armour, the utmost care is put into creating ensuring they are both visually impressive and practical to use, and the use of both magically enhanced metals and strong monster materials contribute to a distinct style. 

The other core tenant of Oni culture is cooking, which has evolved naturally over time thanks to the extremely high dietary requirements of the giant creatures. Over the last few centuries, culinary arts have exploded in Akumori, with a constantly evolving cuisine utilising ingredients from the many species of monster in the Akumori mountains and surrounding forests. While many recipes are made to be appropriate for any race, the oni themselves tend to prefer extremely spicy foods, with some of the most spicy dishes presenting actual physical danger if consumed by races with weaker constitutions. These meals are almost always accompanied by extremely strong alcohol, often also brewed by the oni themselves, although they will accept imported alcohol too if they have nothing else.

In terms of religion, Oni do not strictly worship gods, instead revering their ancestors as the progenitors of oni culture. These are the brothers, Fujin and Raijin, and their father, Enma. In oni legends, Enma was the chief of a small band of Akuma, the race that would eventually become the oni, and settled in the mountains that would become their home many thousands of years ago. When he died, his sons both hoped to show the other that they would make a better successor to their father through actions and ideas that would eventually lay the groundwork for most of the modern oni culture. However, after ten years of competition, the pair eventually decided that they would settle things once and for all with a duel. This battle lasted for three whole days, as the pair proved to be almost completely equal. However, in the end, the graceful Fujin emerged victorious, having barely beaten out the sharper, more jagged movements of his brother. From then on, he ruled with the same talent and compassion as his father had, with Raijin as his faithful second in command. Eventually, these two would become known as the fathers of the entire oni race, with Fujin’s children eventually becoming the Shinatsuhiko Oni, and Raijin’s becoming the Ikazuchi. Unfortunately, after a great period of prosperity for the village, these two clans would eventually become so different that it led to a great schism, which would in turn lead to the nation dissolving into warring tribes, barely holding on to the fragments of their ancient culture. However, the legend of Fujin and Raijin was used to great effect during the reunification period, their friendship and brotherly bonds becoming a potent symbol for the oni to rally behind, and eventually cementing their positions as the closest things to patron deities of the entire race.

Finally, as can be seen by almost everyone who travels through Akumori, the oni have a long history of festivals and events. These can either be nationwide festivals organised by the government, or unofficial festivals, that rarely spread outside of a single village. The two most famous of the oni festivals are the Festival of the Sky, which takes place when the nations previous Enma either dies or steps down, and is used to determine the next Enma, and the Festival of the Nine Days, which represents the events leading to the creation of the previous festival and founding of the Hunters Guild. This takes place during the same nine days every year, with great feasts held in every guild hall for the public, usually consisting of dishes made from particularly dangerous monsters. If the Festival of the Sky should happen to fall within the time frame of the Festival of Nine Days, it is considered a very good omen, confirming that the Enma elected from it will be a truly great ruler.
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[hider=History]
History:
Year 5997: Founding and Rise of Akumori Village
The village of Akumori is founded, carved into the rocks by a clan of Akuma led by the great chief Enma and his sons Fujin and Raijin after travelling from distant, long forgotten lands. The village grows in prosperity, hidden from the world within the mountains.

Year 5984: Death of Enma
Enma dies is killed while driving away the great serpent Orochi, leading to the competition between Raijin and Fujin to prove themselves more worthy of succeeding their father. During the following ten years, the first ancient iteration of the hunters guild is founded by Fujin, while the secrets of oni craftsmanship and working of magic into metal are discovered by Raijin.

Year 5974: Duel of the Sky
Fujin and Raijin realise that all their accomplishments are invariably on par with each other, and decide to simply settle the matter with one final duel. After a great battle spanning three entire days, Fujin finally manages to best his brother. He takes his place as leader of Akumori, while Raijin becomes his second in command.

Year 5840: The Great Schism
After over a century of relative peace, tensions begin to form between the Ikazuchi Oni descended from Raijin and the Shinatsuhiko Oni descended from Fujin, whose forms are now quite different from each other and more similar to the forms seen today. Although the sparks that finally ignited the conflict have been lost to time, a violent schism finally occurs between the two clans, and the resulting civil war leaves the once unified village shattered, the surviving oni regressing into tribes in the surrounding mountains and forests. The village itself is abandoned, and eventually lost to time.

Year 5840 - 1760: Warring Tribes Period
For over four thousand years, the oni exist in the form of countless small tribes and clans, the relationships between which being tense at the best of times. Tribal warfare is common, memories of Akumori, Enma, Fujin and Raijin exist are remembered in the form of stories and mythology, and the techniques and knowledge from the village exist only in fragments, scattered between the tribes and passed down from generation to generation, slowly being rebuilt over itself over the centuries. 

Year 1760: Rediscovery of Akumori
After millennia of existing as feuding tribes, a small clan of oni rediscover the ruins of Akumori after fleeing into the mountains to escape a rival clan. The young clan head, Shuten Doji, decides to claim the ancient stone village as their new refuge, unaware of the true nature of the ruins. Eventually after settling in, the clan slowly begins to rediscover the ancient knowledge of the original inhabitants, and slowly connect the dots between these discoveries and their ancient legends. After confirming their home to be the ancient village, Shuten Doji uses the villages rediscovery as a symbol to rally behind, greatly increasing his own prestige among the other clans and embarking on a campaign to reunite the clans.

Year 1758 - Year 1724: Reunification Period
Over the next thirty-four years, Shuten Doji travels the land, slowly building his retinue and gaining the trust of the other tribes through clever gifting of portions of the ancient techniques of Akumori and good old fashioned wrestling. While this works for many tribes, others are not so simple to convince, and numerous tribes react violently to the attempts at integration. However, with greater numbers, superior technology and advanced military techniques on their side, Akumori makes short work of the vast majority of these clans. Only a few clans, such as the Mashiga Clan, pose any true obstacle to Doji’s armies, managing to hold them off for a full two years through the uncharacteristic use of guerilla warfare. However, by the year 1724, Akumori is officially recognized as a single, reunified nation, covering both the vast Akumori mountains and vast stretches of the surrounding forests to the east and south. Shuten Doji takes his place as chief of the united oni clans, and over the course of his life, he forms the clan system, establishes the council of elders, and has his forgemasters travel the country to teach their craft in the newly built villages and towns. By the time of his death, many believe him to be the greatest leader of the oni since Enma himself, and eventually as he is likened to the ancient ruler more and more often, the name eventually becomes synonymous with the leadership of Akumori as a whole.

Year 1683: The Reign of Nine Days
Using information left from Old Akumori, the granddaughter of Shuten Doji, Shuten Ibuki, re-establishes the hunters guild. More interested in hunting monsters with her fledgeling organization than taking the throne, she spends the nine days after her father’s retirement cooperating with the council of elders to plan a festival where a new successor can be found, leading to the creation of the Festival of the Sky. After the festival is over, Ibuki hands leadership of Akumori to Oshutoru Kotaro of the Shinatsuhiko, victor of the festival, and took her place as the first guildmaster of the hunters guild.

Year 1501: Igarashi Raiga ascends the throne
After the previous Enma steps down, Igarashi Raiga of the Ikazuchi defeats Togashi Dozen of the Shinatsuhiko in the Festival of the Sky and becomes the next Enma of Akumori. Formerly the head of the hunters guild branch in his home village of Tsukino, he was known as an extremely capable hunter. As the Enma however, while Raiga is noted to have done fairly well, there is very little to make him stand out amongst his predecessors so far. 
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Territorial Claims:

Economy:

Army:

Navy:

Traits:

Foreign Relations:

Rolls:
Land Area: 14
Land Fertility: 14
Development: 16
Land Power: 20 
Naval Power: 1
Economy: 9
Magical Reserves: 14
Magical Sophistication: 13

Other: