Cao

Cao, officially the Cao Special Federal District is a territory owned by Corumm that sits near the entrance to the Sea of Nysdra in northern Crona. It consists solely of the island of Cao and its adjacent territorial waters. Its capital and the largest population center is the city of Kogorun. The island's population is approximately 1.2 million inhabitants. The island's command of the gateway to the Nysdra make it a highly strategic location and an important economic hub for all of north Crona. It also serves as the base for the Corummese navy's Nysdra squadron.

Pre-Corummese era
The island of Cao was originally inhabited by a separate polity called the Axolotl who called the island, Uxma. The Axolotl were closely related with the Mixcala tribe which would later wholly join the Northern Confederation on the mainland, the cause for the separation is not a topic well explored by historians. The Axolotl repelled several Mixcalan attempts at reintegration through force and as a result of these attacks became involved in piracy as retaliation. Raiding the Mixcala and their neighbouring tribes as well as the coasts of Quetzenkel, the Axolotl became a regular plague upon local trade, with plunder becoming a mainstay of the local economy. Several attempts at quashing them in the early 1500's succeeded in temporarily curbing their activities. The Axolotl raids also seemed to have a religious component to them as a certain proportion of a captured crew would always be taken to be used in distorted M'acunism's rituals. Records show that Uxma was ruled by a 'High Celebrant' for extended periods through history, standing even over the council of pirate captains.

Settlement era
Corummese exploration in the late 1500's brought them to the gates of the Nysdra and Uxma. In 1504 the ship Shin's Pleasure carrying Zhong dynasty officials on an official embassy to the Quetzenkel chieftains, was set upon by Uxma pirates. The boarding attempt was repelled with heavy casualties on both sides and Shin's Pleasure left the area and headed back west. News of the attack left a powerful impression back at the Zhong court and a punitive expedition was dispatched. Consisting of ten ships armed with cannons and with close to twelve-hundred men, it was the largest naval show of force by the Corummese that moved so far north. A numerically superior pirate force was defeated by the Corummese at the Battle of the Straits before moving on to attack Uxma itself.