Difference between pages "Class 1 weapons" and "Youkai Nation"

Revision as of 21:23, 1 July 2023

The Youkai Nation (妖怪国, youkai-kuni) is a major faction in the Mazes. The Youkai Nation claims a number of towns, intersections, and roads as their exclusive territory, separate from the rest of the world and what they refer to as "human interference". The territory claimed encompasses all of the Northeastern Zone, plus the towns of Aosaidan (NZ) and Masatomo (EZ). In total, the Youkai Nation controls 7 towns and 2 intersections.

Organization

Monochrome symbol of the Youkai Nation

As a faction, the term Youkai Nation largely refers to its armed forces, called Activist cells. The exact amount of fighters and cells at the Youkai Nation's disposal is not known but is estimated to be between 1500 and 2000 operatives.

Two named cells are known to the public:

• Task Force "Mind's Eye" (作戦部隊 「心眼」, sakusen butai 「shingan」): Activist cell located in Yurai, acting as the command cell; effectively in control of the entire faction. Exact size is unknown, but known members include Satoshi Sangi (faction leader), Daiki Haraguchi, Sayu Tawara, and Yuriko Hirota (trusted lieutenants).
• Task Force "Divine Edge" (作戦部隊 「神刃」, sakusen butai 「kamijin」): Activist cell located in Mippei Yosai, acting as the local Town Security, known to operate a business or establishment called the Training Center (講習会場, koushuukaiba), where new activist fighters are recruited and trained.

Purpose

Officially, the role of activist fighters is to fulfill the job of the Military but only and specifically within their claimed territory; keeping the UA routes between their towns and intersections free of monsters and other critters. In this regard, they act as a defense force.

The Maze Military and Maze Police officially do not recognize the legitimacy of the Youkai Nation. The Police's official stance is passive, considering that towns controlled by the Youkai Nation are under the control of an "independent organization," and therefore not entitled to receive police coverage.

The Military's stance, however, is a more aggressive one; they view the Youkai Nation's existence as illegitimate and a threat to the Mazes at large, and considers the destruction of the Nation one of their primary objectives.

History

See also: History of the Mazes

Although the concept of youkai independence from the rest of the world is as old as youkai history in the Mazes, the Youkai Nation as it is known today is a recent creation by hardline pro-independence activist Satoshi Sangi.

Early days

According to Sangi himself, the idea of the Youkai Nation was born in his mind as soon as he became politically aware, during his teenage years. Although he believed in the unity and the solidarity of youkai people, he also believed that the communities with a youkai majority were fractured and disorganized; these organizational differences were, to him, the reason why youkai continued to suffer from "human influence and dependence". In his view, which came to be referred to as youkai independentism, the only way for youkai to be truly free as a people is to establish a self-sufficient, autonomous territory, which could function even if all of the other towns in the world fell. This idea formed the basis behind the Youkai Nation.

In E7-450, Sangi ran for Yurai mayoral elections, running on a campaign promising the strengthening of all youkai-controlled territories as one unified bloc, exposing his goal. The campaign was wildly successful, earning him 77% of the votes and handily defeating his opponents. Shortly after his election, Sangi immediately appointed his close friends, Daiki Haraguchi, Sayu Tawara, and Yuriko Hirota, to various positions of importance within the town. Tawara became Yurai's Town Security Chief, Haraguchi was appointed leader of the kamiyama, Yurai's large office complex, and Hirota was in charge of public relations, often appearing and speaking in Sangi's name whenever he wasn't making announcements of his own. Together, these four friends formed the Youkai Nation's first cell, which later became known as Task Force "Mind's Eye".

Within a few years, Yurai began forming plans to transform the town into the capital of a future nation. Over the years that followed, he unified the mayors of the other youkai-majority communities behind him, effectively rallying them under the cause of the Youkai Nation. Riding on the success of his political campaign and his popular, hardline, independentist views, the formation of an early Youkai Nation was relatively painless; Sangi's word soon became the authority in every youkai community. Initially, he was referred to as the Mayor of mayors, but he eventually adopted the simple title of leader. Other cells soon formed, though all remained loyal to Sangi's cell and all major decisions must go through him first.

To guarantee the independence of the Youkai Nation, and be more than just an organized community of communities, Sangi stressed the importance of forming a single, organized armed force. To this end, Takuma Hiruma (male tengu), the mayor of Mippei Yosai, proposed the creation of a dedicated combat training facility, where recruits could be trained to become the Youkai Nation's soldiers. The facility became known as simply the Training Center (講習会場, koushuukaiba), opening officially in E7-451. The existence of the Training Center remained a secret for several years, allowing the Youkai Nation to train their first soldiers without interference.

Public reveal and Operation Needle Poke

Three years later in E7-454, Sangi decided that the world needed to know about his intentions. In a famous televised announcement, on the Day of the New Year, Sangi officially declared the establishment of the Youkai Nation as a territory encompassing all towns, intersections, and roads within the Northeastern Zone, as well as the towns of Aosaidan and Masatomo, respectively in the Northern and Eastern Zones.

The televised announcement officially declared the purpose and intention behind the Youkai Nation, before warning that any challenges to the independence of the Youkai Nation will be treated as an act of war. This statement, intended to be interpreted as a means to announce the existence of a youkai defense force, was instead itself treated as an act of war by the Maze Military. Within six months, the Military mobilized all of their forces, and the next year in E7-455, launched a strike at Yurai, in what became known as Operation Needle Poke.

Initially successful, the military's progress soon came to a halt; the town's power was cut, and activist fighter reinforcements, pouring through from neighboring towns, appeared with NVGs and weaponlights to repel the forces from behind and retake the town, forcing the human soldiers to retreat to one half of the town, while youkai activists held the other.

A panicked radio call informed Captain Donahue, the Military commanding officer leading the assault, that the expected reinforcements from the other companies were unexpectedly routed by swarms of enemies and that roughly 400 activists are coming to the aid of Yurai. Faced with an impossible situation, Captain Donahue refused to order a retreat, relinquished leadership to one of his lieutenants, and committed suicide. The new commanding officer, Lieutenant Halder, quickly retreated alongside his surviving forces without casualties.

With the failure of Operation Needle Poke, activist fighters got their first taste of combat, and were able to dramatically retake their new capital city; these events confirmed that the Youkai Nation was here to stay.

Operation Blood Banner

In E7-456, a settling caravan largely composed of humans and halflings attempted to settle a new town in the Northeastern Zone. Upon reaching the area, they were stopped by a group of activist fighters. The exact details of the situation are disputed, but 83 out of the 100 people within the settling party were gunned down by the activists, their caravan looted down to the last bag and article of clothing, and their naked bodies left to rot in the UA.

The Youkai Nation claimed that the settling party was not innocent and planned to settle a Military-aligned town within their territory. The Military disputed the claims, responding that the settlers were not at all affiliated with them and that this event proves the Youkai Nation are bloodthirsty terrorists with no legitimate claims.

Operation Red Temple

By E7-531, the Maze Military had seen three different leaders from the Phasma family, which was referred to as the Phasma dynasty. All continued their hardline anti-youkai policy, frequently punctuated with small, sporadic insurrections into the Northeastern Zone. Task Force "Mind's Eye" began planning Operation Red Temple, to eliminate then-current Maze Military leader, Colonel Morgan Phasma, alongside his son, Captain Gerald Phasma of the Fourth Company. Sangi believed that breaking the Phasma dynasty would force changes within the Maze Military and pressure them to select a more moderate leader.

With the aid of human mercenaries providing intelligence to the cell, the activists split into two teams, one for each target, the intended plan was for each team to assassinate their targets at the same time.

Captain Gerald Phasma was assassinated in Ovis City, inside of the convenience store. His body was found alongside that of the shop manager, both of which were shot in the head with a powerful, suppressed firearm. The perpetrators were described as a male kappa and a female oni. They were later revealed to be respectively Daiki Haraguchi and Sayu Tawara in person.

Colonel Morgan Phasma was lured out of Fort Cutlass and into Neo Khazrun through a telephone scam. Once the Colonel was at the intended location, the plan was to assassinate him and use the crowd to escape before being noticed. However, the activist fighters were spotted by the Colonel's security detail, and the assassination plot turned into a very brief gun battle in the middle of the town's social square center. The Colonel sustained eight gunshot wounds, and the panic caused the Town Security to open fire on both the youkai assassins (which later turned out to be Satoshi Sangi himself, alongside his third trusted lieutenant, Yuriko Hirota.) Although the Town Security officers failed to hit the Colonel, the brief confusion allowed the youkai activists to flee, and the Colonel to bleed out and die of his wounds.

The Weil era

Unfortunately for the Youkai Nation, the act did not provide the expected results. In E7-531, a new Colonel was selected: Donald Weil, who not only continued the Military's hardline anti-youkai policy but in fact strengthened it, declaring it to be the Military's mission to stop the Youkai Nation, starting what became known as the Weil era of Military leadership. Weil described the faction as a threat to the safety of the Mazes. However, rather than retaliate with a large military operation and a direct strike against their most well-defended town, Weil instead ordered groups of military units to patrol in the Northern, Eastern and Central Zones to attack and harass caravans, travelers, and other traveling parties coming to and from the youkai territory, intending to hurt the Nation's economy and force them into effective isolation.

The Weil era was successful; for over fifty years, the Youkai Nation was systematically harassed in one form or another, whenever their military or civilian members tried to leave their territory. This resulted in the increased development of methods to ensure self-sufficiency, with various new facilities and industries opening in youkai towns.

With the death of Colonel Weil in E7-581 and his replacement by a more moderate leader (Colonel Lembo), the harassment and isolation campaigns ended, and youkai territories were able to resume trading with the rest of the world; though it left a profound mark on the Nation and is said to have influenced Satoshi Sangi to push for complete autarky.

Today

Between E7-581 and until the rise of Thomas Wight, the Youkai Nation grew and prospered, unhindered by the Military who had returned to its original focus of UA patrolling and monster hunting. The size of the Nation's armed branch grew. Although exact numbers were never revealed, it was estimated that at the end of the Weil era, the Nation had approximately 300 activist fighters at its disposal, reaching anywhere between 1500 and 2000 fighters as of today.

With the rise of Colonel Wight, the Military returned to a hardline anti-youkai stance. The effects of the Great Military Reform and the formation of the new Phantom Forces were greeted with anxiety on the youkai side of the world, and these fears were confirmed when the Weil-era harassment campaigns were also reactivated. Time will tell whether these new tensions will lead to a full-scale war between the two factions, and which of the two will strike the other first.

See also

Occupations:

• Activist fighter
• Activist squadleader

Towns:

• Major: Yurai, Mippei Yosai
• Other: Aosaidan, Echizen, Kazama, Kijirou, Masatomo, Intersection 02, Intersection 03