Iyoka

Iyoka, officially the Republic of Iyoka ( :, 위요겋 드게둏귀요괘굏, Wiyo:’keh Tkëtyohkwiyokweköh), is a sovereign country in eastern Yeongju. It shares land borders with Iyuaschi, Minoaking, Utendawatase, Osage nation, Choctaw nation, Creek nation, Apalachea, Mattawoman, and Choman, and is bounded on the east by the Mulberry Ocean. Spanning over 2 million square kilometers, with a population of nearly 96 million, Iyoka is the eigth-largest country in the world by area, sixteenth-largest by population, and third-largest by population in Yeongju after Yahuimilco and Hachuabsh. Its capital is Anotkayat, but its largest metropolitan area is Kwanipiyak.

Since human arrival 25,000 (? 10,000?) years ago, many cultures have occupied the territory that is now Iyoka. Maize was introduced from Yahuimilco around the fourth or third millenium BCE, leading to the development of a in eastern Yeongju, which powered the development of increasingly large towns and urban centers with hierarchical societies in the XX river valleys. The and  trading networks in central-eastern Yeongju centered on states around Iyoka's western edge, bringing goods from as far away as Yahuimilco and Hachuabsh. Writing, bronze and iron metallurgy, and organized Teotlist religion also arrived via these networks. Ethnic, pushed out of the north, arrived in large numbers in central Iyoka around 800 CE. Between the 500s and 1400s CE, several military leaders of, , and other descent conquered large swaths of the area, establishing the multi-century-long but relatively loose XX, XX, and XX empires, inviting various levels of flourishing in arts, architecture, culture, and literature.

The arrival of gunpowder and other firearms technology in the 1400s from Sinju led to great expansion, development, and centralization in eastern Yeongju. XX Iyokans managed to largely monopolize gun-making in the region, allowing them to quickly expand, defeating rival  on the coast and pushing back the XX  empire to the north. Many closer-in conquered neighbors were subsumed and incorporated into the Iroquois nation itself. The empire reached its peak in the 1600s and 1700s, with a strong and reorganized military, centralized governmental institutions, commercial growth, and a burst in population. The Iyokan government was one of the world's first federal systems, composed of a consensus-based council of the executives of each province, as well as a formal written constitution. The capital was located inland, on a fortified hill near one of Iyoka's many lakes. This period saw the spread of the [something] branch of Teotlism, which substantially incorporated Iroquoian mythology to form a highly divergent form of the religion native to Iyoka.

Early relationships with Sinju in the 1600s had involved trying to negotiate Sinjuan military assistance against Iyoka's enemies -- the Crees to the north, the Yahui empires to the south, and the various frontier tribes who often and repeatedly rebelled against the center. A first diplomatic mission was sent to tour Sinju in 1664. However, in the mid-to-late 1700s, the arrival of a colonially-minded Jeongmi on the shores of Yeongju and a constitutional crisis involving the empire's Council led to a weakened government that was forced to accede to increased Sinjuan trade demands. Following Jeongmian expeditionary forces' invasion of the east coast, the Iyokan government granted Jeongmi (and subsequently other Sinju powers) access to several coastal port territories as concessions. This re-direction of trade, from the historical inland nexuses to the Sinju-focused ports, completely upended the Iyokan economy. In less than a century, several large cities along the coast grew from nothing into equals and rivals of Iyoka's oldest inland centers. Crucially, the population of these new port cities was largely eastern Algonquian. Narragansett-speakers, in particular, gained great economic and cultural capital.

Iyoka declared itself neutral during Eulhae, but nevertheless was invaded by Jeongmian forces to block Apalachea, Yahuimilco, and the Yeongjuan interior from a Hachuabshi advance or Nonyukbeolese invasion in Choman. This occupation contributed to the perception that the old imperial government was weak and illegitimate, and several waves of protests and demonstrations in the post-war period, often taking inspiration from Hachuabsh's and Yahuimilco's revolutions -- some Iroquoian nationalist, some pan-Yeongjuist, some communist, and some ethnic revivalist/separatist -- destabilized the country further. Worried that this upheaval might lead to another revolution, causing eastern Yeongju to fall out of reach of Sinju and enter the orbit of socialist Hachuabsh, newly-powerful Namju decided to organize and support a coup d'état in 1948. The new government, viewed by some historians as a practical puppet of Namju, was friendly to Sinju, avowedly secular, and harshly dictatorial. Intensive privatization, a concept previously alien to Iyoka, in reality meant the transfer of most natural, industrial, and agricultural resources to the control of foreign corporations. Corruption was endemic in the government at all levels. Social and cultural reform provoked immense opposition among the populace, especially in rural areas. However, this period also saw the continued development of Iyokan coastal megacities.

In the 1960s, poor farming seasons and a government drive to imprison major traditionalist/opposition public intellectuals brought Iyoka to its breaking point. Many men joined the paramilitary National Congress, while many women organized parallel local governments and large-scale protests. Hundreds of members of the Sinju-aligned government fled the country, and the National Congress threatened the capital after a brief but bloody offensive by the organization against security forces. The dictator quickly surrendered after this cascade of events, negotiating a nearly unconditional transfer of power to the Congress.

The Congress, reforming itself into a political-party-cum-military-order, renationalized all land and natural resources, promoted traditional beliefs, religion, gender equality, and Iyokan national identity. It also promoted vigorous anti-Sinjuism, labeling the Center as the source of centuries of embarassment, interference, and manipulation of the historically powerful Iyokan nation (itself a somewhat constructed identity, since Iyoka is highly ethnically and linguistically diverse). The post-revolutionary Iyokan government is noted for its ethnic nondiscrimination and openness to diverse cultural traditions, but also its assimiliationism: According to official policy, no ethnic identity is recorded in censuses, and even genetically unrelated minority languages are officially considered to be branches of one "Iyokan" family. While the country has a strong democratic tradition, it also suffers from longtime Congress dominance, occasional interference by the military, and still-endemic corruption. In the years since the revolution, the government has often alternated between democratic and military, and traditionalist and relatively more liberal-progressive rule. Crime is relatively high, though far lower than in many other parts of Yeongju. Today, Iyoka poses a conundrum for Sinjuan thinkers, and has been the subject of much political debate: It is a stable, non-communist, multicultural, egalitarian mostly-democracy that at the same time openly supports and supplies extremist terrorists in the rest of Yeongju and often states its primary goal, "the death of the interfering Sinju imperialists", in grandiose pronouncements on the international stage.

Economically, Iyoka is one of the world's major producers of corn and tobacco, with a strong fishing and aquaculture industry as well. However, it is the recipient of broad international sanctions, which limit its participation in international trade and handicap its economy. Nonetheless, its economic and financial centers have profited from a robust domestic market, with digital infrastructure and technology in particular developed separately from the rest of the world. Iyoka is considered a regional power in central and eastern Yeongju.

Etymology
Iyoka, or Wiyo:’keh in, is of uncertain etymology. However, it possibly derives from the root -iyo- 'to be good' and the external locative suffix -a’keh, meaning approximately 'it is good there'. In the nation's full official name, Tkëtyohkwiyokweköh is a calque of 共和國 'republic', literally translating to 'where there are all the people at peace'.

Iyoka is also known historically and poetically as Tyohnekaweso’, which means 'where there are many waters'.

Sports

 * Lacrosse - tewa’ararö’ ('nettings in it')