Seneca Islands
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Military Rectory of the Seneca Islands | |
|---|---|
Overseas territory of Urcea | |
 Enuzha'Thaan | |
 Flag | |
| Location of Seneca Islands (green) in western Crona (gray). Other dependencies of Urcea and NSTA members are depicted in light green. | |
| Operation Jonah | 2022 |
| Cathedral City | Enuzha'Thaan |
| Government | |
| • Military Rector | Lec. Pri. Aedan Frantone |
| Population (2034) | |
| • Total | 8,581,966 |
The Seneca Islands are an overseas possession of Urcea. Seized as part of Operation Jonah in the Final War of the Deluge, the islands were previously part of Varshan. The islands have long been known as a center of shipbuilding in Crona and a major trade port for Varshan and the central Cronan region. Unique among the former territories of Varshan, the Senecas have an extensive history of Audonian influence and specifically influence from the peoples of ancient and medieval Oyashima. Subject to the rule of the exiled Hō-Rikkyō, the islands flourished between the 8th and 10th century before being incorporated into Zurgite Varshan. During the Final War of the Deluge, the islands were the site of the second use of atomic weapons in warfare, the atomic bombing of Zakan Rot, which caused massive economic and demographic damage to the islands and also had profound impacts on the identity and sense of Varshanity of residents of the island.
Etymology
The origin of the word Seneca, and its original Varshani language root Se'neka'an'tuuzhen, are unclear in the historical record. The traditional Varshani historical interpretation was that the name was the name of the original tribal people of the Islands, but no reference to this name exists prior to the conquest of the island by Anzo in the 3rd century BC. Some Kiravian scholars have theorized the name to simply mean "further islands" or "further land" in a depreciated regional dialect of Varshani due to its similarity to the word Ze'nu'ka'zathan, the word for "outer territory" in mainstream Varshani language.
Geography
The Seneca Islands are comprised of the two "main islands" - East and West Seneca - as well as dozens of smaller islands in the chain, almost all of which are uninhabited and uninhabitable, mostly including rocky outcroppings. Sitting approximately halfway between the Tropic of Cancer and Boreal Circle, the Seneca Islands enjoy a temperate, woodlands climate that made it an ideal center of fishing and maritime activities, including shipbuilding, during the age of sail. The coasts facing the north and west of the islands are extremely windswept, making them largely unsuitable for construction of ports or beaches, and are largely characterized by harsh cliff faces overlooking rough seas. The south and eastern coasts of the islands, however, see largely calm seas and gently slope into the sea forming beaches and useful harbors. A majority of the population of the islands are clustered in cities on the eastern shores. The only major harbor outside of this region is Zakan Rot, which sits in a large natural harbor on the north-eastern corner of West Seneca and sits across from East Seneca to the northeast. The oceanic "Straits of Mel'ana'tuuzhen" separate the two islands and provide the natural harbor of Zakan Rot a strategic location for trade.
The two main islands are largely similar to one another in climate and are both characterized by hilly and mountanous topography. West Seneca is approximately twice the size of East Seneca. West Seneca has the larger population, but East Seneca is more densely populated both due to the natural size difference but also due to less wartime devastation. Accordingly, East Seneca is significantly more urbanized whereas West Seneca has a greater agricultural sector, but West Seneca also features more major ports and shipbuilding facilities. Zakan Rot, on the northeastern tip of West Seneca, was the largest city on the islands prior to its atomic bombing. Enuzha'Thaan, on the southeastern tip of West Seneca, is now the largest city and serves as the center of political life on the islands.
History
The history of the Seneca Islands is long, dating back to the earliest human settlement of northwestern Crona. Like other parts of Varshan, the Senecas have a significant issue with sources; records and narratives relating to the period in which the Senecas were part of Varshan are opaque, sometimes intentionally so. Unlike other parts of Varshan, however, the Senecas had a several hundred year period in which they were ruled by arrivals from Audonia who kept relatively strong records which survive today. The rest of the Senecas' history has to be parsed from contradictory and confusing Varshani records which account for dark time as well as what archaeological evidence suggest. The museum of Senecan history, which included a large number of non-digitzed records and artifacts, was almost completely destroyed in the atomic bombing of the 2020s, requiring contemporary historians to examine secondary sources which often include journal entries vaguely describing now lost materials.
Prehistory
The popular origin story of the people of the Seneca Islands is recounted in the so-called "Saga of the Senecas" (first translated in Occidental languages in 2004). In this story, purported to have occurred ten thousand years ago, a group of fishermen and their wives departed for a "great hunt" of a massive whale, with the fishermen in the lead group of boats and the women (sometimes translated as families) in the second group of boats. The massive whale outsmarted the fishermen, though, and in a storm the whale destroyed the sails of both groups of boats, stranding the fleets off the coast. The story then states that Makuahine took pity on the group of sailors and their families and erected islands around the groups of both boats, with the fishermen's boats becoming West Seneca and the family boats becoming East Seneca.
The archaeological record suggests the Seneca Islands have been continuously populated since the 6000s BC, although mostly by transient groups. Scholars believe the ancestors of the modern residents of the island arrived in approximately 1500 BC. The "Saga" says that these fishermen came from the "far islands", i.e. Oyashima, and scholars believe this part of the story may be true. The residents established rudimentary city-states by the 700s BC.
Hō-Rikkyō period
During the year 712 AD, an order of Shugendō yamabushi, or "Mountain Warriors/Monks" were exiled from Oyashima, and eventually sailed to Seneca in the year 718 AD, with the story of their voyage being heavily embellished across the ages, eventually becoming known as the "Second Saga". The yamabushiwere well received by the native chieftains of the Senecas who had no known contact with Buddhism prior to the arrival of the order. In particular, the chieftain of the city Hōshonen, named Shikama, took great interest in the order and personally took it upon himself to host the yamabushi in Hōshonen. Interest in Shugendō very quickly spread among the populace, and eventually Shikama declared worship of the Buddha and Fudō Myōō to be the state religion. In addition, he undertook several military ventures against the other city states of Seneca, eventually uniting the islands by the year 739 AD. However, Shikama passed away soon after, and notably named the order, which had begun to call itself Hō-Rikkyō by this point, as the custodians of the islands and its sacred mountains. Their rule was not contested, and a monastic state based in the Seneca Islands developed.
The Hō-Rikkyō served as the de facto rulers of Seneca from 740 AD to 1061 AD, before they were conquered by Anzo. The state power was held by the yamabushi, who served as the military force of the island. The mystics established a hierarchy based upon spiritual communion with the sacred mountains, with initiation into the order being determined by a council of influential yamabushi. Taxes were collected from either rice, wheat, salt or barley, as the order viewed itself as the supreme custodians of the land, and all the human inhabitants as lessees. Although Hōshonen was the largest and primary trade city, the monastery of Gō-Shukakkyō served as the center of government, being the primary residence and holy site of the Hō-Rikkyō. The mystics played an extensive role in the everyday life of the people, providing exorcism, calling upon spirits for fertility rites, leading monthly sacrifice to the mountains and providing weekly fire ceremonies in the homes of commoners. Although there was no attempt to record history, the notes of the yamabushi who provided these services has allowed scholars to reconstruct the life and history of the order.
By 852 AD, contact with Oyashima was reestablished, and Seneca served as the primary conduit for trade between Alshar and Crona. However, between the year 889 AD and 910 AD, there was a rash of prayers fir safety and victory in war, and an account from Oyashima noting that the city of Hōshonen was beset by pirates indicates that the islands were in a state of intermittent war with Cronan pirates. However, by 911 AD, these prayer notes cease, indicating that the yamabushi were successful in repelling these pirates. Records from mainland Crona indicate that contact between Seneca and the mainland increased following this period, with several styles written in Senecan Oyashimine language being uncovered in the mainland, as well as a large influx of Cronan jade being imported by Oyashima. However, eventually the mainland was subjugated by Anzo who eventually set its sights on the Hō-Rikkyō
Conquest by Anzo
The 11th century sources are generally scarce but attest to, along with some archaeological evidence, the decline of the Hō-Rikkyō and extended conflict with the nascent mainland empire of Zurgite Varshan. Varshani records and stories attest to the naval superiority of the Hō-Rikkyō as well as their ability to continually procure mainland mercenaries to fight for them, indicating that the Hō-Rikkyō were likely still wealthy as the Crona-Audonia trade facilitator. Almost nothing is known of the final conquest of the Senecas by Anzo, but modern scholars have suggested that the members of the Hō-Rikkyō order were incorporated into the early version of the Varshani caste system given the types of names in 12th and 13th century records of the Senecas' warrior castes that eventually appear to have died out. A minority of scholars have claimed significant Buddhist influence on the emergent Orthodox Arzalist faith as evidence for the survival of the members of the Hō-Rikkyō, but these claims are extremely contentious and not held by a majority of Varshanologists. Worth noting is that chronological problems exists for the traditional narrative of the incorporation of the Senecas into Varshan due to the Žuqul problem and controversy about medieval Anzo, which has invited alternative theories that the Hō-Rikkyō were fighting off the rising city-state of Anzo, rather than a monolithic continental empire, with the conflict largely occurring as between two equal powers. This theory has been used as a possibility to explain the length by which the Senecas held out in a supposed long war between the Hō-Rikkyō and Anzo.
From its conquest and incorporation into Varshan, the Senecas appear to have become a largely irrelevant backwater for the next several centuries. Little is attested of the place beyond the occasional visit to Anzo by a Senecan, and archaeology suggests most Audonia-Crona trade that once came through the Senecas ceased.
Golden age of Cronan shipbuilding
Aster's expedition greatly altered the course of history in central Crona, inaugurating the Žuqulid Revolution and the Hunts which gradually diminished the previously powerful North Songun civilization. As Zurgite Varshan grew increasingly hostile and militant, efforts to create a large naval force became paramount in what was previously a predominantly land-based power. Paranoia about Occidentals arriving unannounced on Crona's shores, as had happened with Paul Aster, led to a transformation of the previously backwater Senecas into a massive hub of shipbuilding between about 1450 and 1650. Significant numbers of slaves were imported to the islands to begin constructing a series of drydocks and ports while substantially deforesting the islands during that period. As a result, Varshan transformed into the premier naval power in Crona, a status it would retain until the Orixtal Crusade in the 17th century. The Senecas constructed large number of both war and trade ships, greatly enriching the still-predominantly Audonian-descended higher castes of the islands. This enrichening had the practical effect of ensuring interest in Hō-Rikkyō descended art and cultural mores, with Audonian-inspired artists receiving significant patronage during this time.
Decline and resurgence
The destruction of the Varshani navy during the Orixtal Crusade and subsequent end of the Chazxin dynasty in 1702 inaugurated a precipitous decline in further interest in maintaining Varshani naval power. Most of the islands' shipbuilding slaves were sent back to the mainland by 1715 to focus on rebuilding Anzo and other projects. The port infrastructure sat unused and began to rot as many priests and other high-caste individuals began to desert the islands. By 1750, the Senecas had returned to their position as a relative backwater.
Varshan around the period of the First Great War sought to modernize and gain access to Occidental technology, weapons, and techniques of warfare, but had relatively little to offer as a closed state. At the turn of the 20th century, it was decided to open the Seneca Islands generally - and Zakan Rot specifically - as the sole port through which Occidental traders could import and export goods in and out of Varshan. The opening had the effect of turning Zakan Rot into a world trade city nearly overnight; the small, sleepy port city of 10,000 in 1895 became a booming economic center of 250,000 by 1930 at the dawn of the Second Great War. Until the 1970s, the islands remained an important western commercial outlet, during which time the islands were once again closed to outside trade, but some other Cronan countries were permitted to trade there until the islands became a miltary hub in the 21st century.
21st century defense plan
With the outbreak of the War of the Northern Confederation, the government of Varshan began a rapid rearmament and defense construction project in addition to a reevaluation of its military doctrines. As part of this rearmament effort, the shipbuilding industry in the Seneca Islands received a massive influx of government funding in order to help construct a navy which could sufficiently defend the Varshani mainland. Foreign experts became a common sight in the Senecas, ranging from individuals clandestinely brought in by Ardmore, Veltorine exiles, or persons victim of the enslaved relative scam. Static defenses were also constructed on the islands in addition to a large-scale purchase of anti-shipping missiles which were stationed on the islands. The defense activity significantly improved the local economy and improved living conditions across every caste, but also resulted in a large influx of slaves and construction of slave camps across the island. The local economy became increasingly reliant on large-scale shipbuilding efforts and slave labor. By the time of the Final War of the Deluge, the islands were one of the top destinations of slaves captured in the Invasion of Cetsencalia.
Final War of the Deluge and Conquest by Urcea
As envisioned the previous decade by Varshani military planners, the Seneca Islands became a prime target of Occidental forces during the Final War of the Deluge. As the islands could threaten sea lane access to the Nysdra and provided a convenient point of invasion into the interior of Varshan, the islands became a strategic priority for Urcea. Planning began in June 2021 for an operation to take the islands.
Following a series of naval victories by the UR Navy and the Royal Navy, the Urcean Royal Marine Corps landed and established a beachhead on the islands on 30 December 2021, beginning Operation Jonah. The operation was focused first on securing West Seneca, which was largely pacified by 24 February 2022. Following the fall of the island, the Anzo regime detonated an atomic bomb in the city of Zakan Rot, causing massive economic and demographic disruption throughout the island. The bombing killed more than 120,000 and injured another 200,000 or more. Military operations were put on hold as West Seneca was severely devastated. A multinational relief effort began to help survivors as the Royal and Imperial Army was unable to accommodate the large numbers of hospitalized and severely wounded. Relief and reconstruction efforts continued for several years. The bombing caused permanent economic disruption to the island due to the loss of both victims and refugees in addition to the extensive physical damage. The bombing had the effect of alienating the residents of the Seneca Islands from the Varshani cause and identity. Reconstruction and resettlement of downtown Zakan Rot began in mid-2023, but the prospect of the city becoming a major harbor in the 2020s was ruled out by Urcean and local officials.
Following the recovery period, the armed forces of Urcea renewed the offensive. The Royal Marine Corps made landfall on East Seneca on 25 March 2022. During the campaign, a local insurgency grew in order to prevent another atomic bombing by retreating Varshani forces. After a month of fighting and subsequent negotiations with the insurgents, Urcea took full control of the island on 24 April 2022. Following the successful invasion of both islands, the Senecas became the launch point for Operation Broken Chains, a series of anti-slavery raids and probe attacks on the Varshani mainland. In the summer of 2023, the islands were the launch point for Operation Alterator, the successful Urcean invasion of southwestern mainland Varshan.
On 19 May 2022, Urcea established a military rectory over the island, which signaled its intention for the islands to become part of Urcea's overseas territorial integrity. Claims of sovereignty over the island were recognized immediately by Kiravia and Daxia, but the integration was condemned by Ardmore and others. In the final peace treaty following the Final War of the Deluge, Urcean control over the islands was confirmed.
The islands lost a significant portion of their population during the conflict both due to the atomic bombing and general impact of war as well as by the depopulation of the warrior castes on the islands. Many of the high-warrior caste individuals were arrested or deported by local officials, and many of the regular warrior castes and their families simply abandoned the island after the war as the island no longer had any role in the defensive perimeter of Varshan. Beginning in May 2024, the Government of Urcea began to consider plans to relocate liberated slaves to the island in order to repopulate Zakan Rot and its surrounding regions, but this plan was met with fierce resistance by local officials. Instead, a plan was put forward to settle veterans already taking part in the occupation as well as NSTA-origin veterans and citizens, the latter provision done in order to "maintain the Cronan cultural and ethnic identity of the islands" according to one prominent Insular Councilman.
Integration into Urcea
After the end of the Final War of the Deluge, the Seneca Islands became the center of significant de-Arzalization efforts. The territory also became the administrative headquarters of Urcea's Temporary Military Rectory for Central Crona, the Urcean sector of occupied Varshan. In 2024, a new democratic local government system was put in place.
Significant efforts to remediate the economic and demographic catastrophe caused by the bombing consumed most public administrative efforts in the years after the war, including a worldwide aid and development program. As Nysdra-region and Varshani agriculture began to rebound in the late 2020s, Urcea offered a limited time economic incentive to the residents of the islands, allowing them to exchange Ratzas for Talers at a 10-to-1 exchange, far more generous than the 70-to-1 exchanged pre-war and the 500-to-1 exchanged post war. This cash infusion, combined with improving economic climate elsewhere, began a Seneca rebound. The significant remilitarization of the island and reconstruction of port infrastructure in support of the Royal Navy allowed the urban economy to resume its pre-war function, albeit on a much smaller scale. By 2034, the islands had recovered to roughly 60% of their pre-war territorial domestic product.
The rise of Enuzha'Thaan inaugurated the further decline of Zakan Rot. Though the city had been cleared of rubble and debris with its port and streets rebuilt, interest in continuing major economic activity in the city evaporated. The relocation of economic and political activity to Enuzha'Thaan inaugurated a period of mass exodus of remaining firms from the city. Zakan Rot, in the 2030s, is lightly populated with squatting becoming a serious issue. The Military Rectory has considered appropriating the city en masse in order to facilitate refugee and veteran resettlement, though the proposal has received only passing consideration by the current island local government.
Government
The Seneca Islands are organized as a military rectory of Urcea. On May 19, 2022, the military rectory was established following Operation Jonah and humanitarian recovery that occurred after the Atomic bombing of Zakan Rot. Martin St. Clair, as overall commander of WES-COM, was appointed Military Rector, but he immediately invested oversight and authority to the Interim Administration for the Seneca Islands while retaining nominal authority as Military Rector. In January 2024, with the end of the war in sight, the Rector decreed the dissolution of the IASI to replace it with a permanent Military Rectory governing body, which held elections in February 2024. Martin St. Clair was replaced by Lec. Pri. Aedan Frantone as Military Rector in early 2027, with Frantone soon replacing St. Clair as commander of WES-COM following the latter's retirement.
Interim Administration for the Seneca Islands
The Interim Administration for the Seneca Islands (IASI) was created as the day-to-day administration of the islands during the Final War of the Deluge. Although Martin St. Clair retained the title of military rector, his role was envisioned as a largely removed head-of-state role for the functioning of the government. Instead, the IASI was lead by the Insular Governing Board (IGB) which consisted of fifteen members and had quasi-legislative authority provided its decisions did not interrupt the prosecution of the war. The IGB was comprised of four Prafáti of the occupying Royal and Imperial Army, four civilian officials appointed by the Urcean Ministry of State, two representatives of the then-newly formed Dockworkers' Trade Guild, two representatives of the similarly newly constituted Fishermen's Trade Guild, one representative from the temporarily organized East Seneca Citizens Militia which surrendered the island to Urcean forces, the former Mayor of Zakan Rot, and a representative of the Catholic Church responsible for overseeing missionary activities on the islands. The IGB met on a weekly basis and its primary task was to establish a temporary code of laws for the islands based on its pre-conquest laws, when permissible, and various laws and legal traditions of Urcea when the original laws were not permissible. Following the completion of this interim law code in September 2022, the Board met less frequently but provided for the necessities of day-to-day administration. The IGB also established the necessary governing commissions of the islands. In January 2024, it voted to dissolve itself and provide for elections to the Insular Councils in February 2024 in accordance with the decisions of the Government of Urcea and Lec. Pri. St. Clair.
The practical executive administration of the island under the IASI fell to five bodies known as Commissions, which were lead by Commissioners appointed by the IGB. The five commissions were: the Commission on Agriculture and Sea Produce, which was responsible for regulating and encouraging the food production of the islands as well as habitat protection; the Commission on Law Enforcement, responsible for keeping order in addition to the occupying soldiers; the Commission for Insular Recovery, which was the primary body overseeing the local cleanup efforts of the atomic bombing as well as coordinating with international response efforts; the Commission for Health and Development, which was responsible for administering the island's hospitals and schools, both of which the Commission was responsible for upgrading to Occidental standards, and; the Commission for Local Mediation, which was responsible for hearing and resolving disputes between the local population and the occupying forces.
Military Rectory government
In January 2024 it was announced the IASI would be dissolved and replaced with a new four person governing council. The new administration's council would feature the Military Rector or his designee, a civilian designee of the Urcean Ministry of State, and two representatives elected by each of the new Insular Councils. The Insular Councils were established by the IASI under the direction of Martin St. Clair in January 2024 and serve as democratically elected legislative bodies for each of the two islands. Elections were held in February 2024 and the Councils took their places, with local then-collaborators winning majorities in both councils. The four person governing council will serve as the legislative body for the island for the remainder of its time as a military rectory. Unlike the IASI, the new governing council has the ability to levy taxes.
Under the new Military Rectory government, the Military Rector assumes a more direct role as chief executive in addition to his or her role on the governing council. However, the role's powers can be delegated due to the wide area of command held by current rector Aedan Frantone. The Executive branch of the new government retains the five commissions established by the IASI as its basis of administration.
Economy
The economy of the Seneca Islands is considered to be developing. Prior to the Final War of the Deluge, the Senecas were among the most prosperous parts of Varshan, with a modern shipbuilding sector serving as the impetus for a large urban service sector and adjacent industries. However, the normal effects of war - disruption of trade and economic activity, bombing, military needs outstripping civilian market needs - combined with the atomic bombing of Zakan Rot led to the complete implosion of the Senecas economy between 2020 and 2024. Virtually all productive service sector firms closed after the bombing, either due to significant loss of assets or because of lack of customers. Between 2022 and 2024, most large scale economic activity virtually ceased during the occupation, and most economic interactions took the form of barter exchanges. In 2022 and every year thereafter until about 2032, the Seneca Islands were the largest recipient of Urcean aid per capita of any location in the world, as most food as well as finished goods needed to be imported to the islands until 2026. The economic conditions (as well as the bombing-related public health effects) precipitated a massive outmigration of refugees to New Harren and abroad, easing the need for aid somewhat but collapsing the availability of local labor. Economic reconstruction efforts, combined with cash infusions from currency exchange, also eased the economic crisis. By 2034, the islands had recovered to roughly 60% of their pre-war territorial domestic product.
The bombing of Zakan Rot had the effect of completely reorienting the economic center of the islands. Zakan Rot sits on the strait between the two Senecas and, necessarily, sat at the center of the islands' transportation networks. Its bombing, however, led to Enuzha'Thaan (at the southeastern tip of West Seneca) becoming the major economic hub in the vacuum producted by the bombing. The placement of the Urcean administrative headquarters at Enuzha'Thaan accelerated its meteoric rise within Seneca economic life. This reorientation necessitated major reconstruction of the road and rail networks to accomodate additional traffic to and from the city, creating a micro improvement economy-style development phase in West Seneca between 2027 and 2031. Enuzha'Thaan has now fully supplanted Zakan Rot as the economic heart of the Seneca Islands, and most major investors have abandoned Zakan Rot for Enuzha'Thaan.
Special Outer-Nysdra Exclusionary Trade Agreement
In 2030, a trade agreement was signed with Burgundie and approved by the Nysdra Sea Treaty Association (NSTA) relating to trade between the Senecas and Iles Evangeline. The agreement authorizes Burgundie, through the Iles Evangeline, to import an unlimited number of goods into the Seneca Islands, which is normally subject to the trade restrictions established by NSTA. The agreement established the Burgoignesc North Levantine Trading Company (BNLTC) as an intermediary firm based in the Seneca Islands that would handle importing of goods for further sale into the NSTA exclusion zone. The amount of goods imported in the exclusion zone through the Senecas is subject to an annual valuation cap (AVC) determined by formula under the terms of the agreement. The AVC is equal to 1/50th of the total annual value of goods imported to the Nysdra every year by Urcea, further modified every year by an index number which calculates the cumulative domestic growth of manufacturing of NSTA participants. This formula is intended to allow for Burgoignesc commerce to flow into the region while ensuring domestic economic capability is not damaged by the trade. Within the Nysdra, the agreement is intended to increase consumer variety, drive down the costs of goods (to a limited degree), and to further drive the development of domestic competitors.
Society and demography
Senecan culture is undergoing what has been described as a massive culture shock in the wake of the Atomic bombing of Zakan Rot specifically and Final War of the Deluge generally. Historically, the Senecas were viewed to be a relatively culturally exotic portion of Varshan but fundamentally part of Varshan's overall cultural sphere, including widespread adoption of Arzalism and acceptance of the caste system. Those areas where it diverged, and where Senecans always viewed themselves as somewhat apart from Anzo, was its Audonian cultural heritage, which manifested in different art and daily social mores from the rest of Varshan, including things such as meal times and basic conversational expressions.
The atomic bombing of the islands by Zurgite Varshan immediately created a sense of abandonment and disillusionment with the peoples of the islands, who have faced significant physical, economic, and psychological effects from the bombing. The most obvious example of this disillusionment came to the fore in the ready participation of many of the island's residents in the new Urcean-led government, but also in the form of some volunteers even being willing to serve in a military capacity in the very last stages of the war. Scholars have noted that there may be a survivorship bias involved, as the most ardently pro-Anzo, pro-Arzalist portions of the islands' population were likely conscripted into the Zurgite military and killed during the war or otherwise fled the advance of Occidental forces to the mainland. If this model is true, it would mean that latent anti-Anzo sentiment was always present in some significant portion of the population rather than created almost overnight, but significant debate and study continues to surround these issues.
In 2034, the population of the Seneca Islands was 8,581,966. This represents a significant decline from the islands' pre-war population of 11,502,593 as recorded in 2021. The Final War of the Deluge generally and particularly the atomic bombing of Zakan Rot inaugurated a massive wave of people leaving the islands as refugees, particularly to New Harren and elsewhere in the Nysdra. Prior to the Final War of the Deluge and abolition of the Caste system, the Seneca Islands were notable within Varshani society for possessing the highest percentage of both kinds of warrior castes per capita due to the significant naval militarization in the early 2010s. Although it did not possess the highest percentage per capita, the islands were among the leaders during the period of enslaved persons per capita as well in order to support the shipbuilding industry.
Rikkyō calligraphy
One of the most well-known cultural artifacts of Seneca society is the so-called "Rikkyō calligraphy", a type of both writing and art which was developed as a synthesis of Oyashiman and Varshani writing styles following the incorporation of the islands into Varshan. This style, which descends from the Hō-Rikkyō period, includes text characters from both languages as well as rich colors and imagery typically used in Varshan. The style became refined and standardized by about 1600 AD, after which time it became extremely fashionable in the court in Anzo. Documents in this style became known outside Varshan in the 1800s but only became widely available in the Occident, both originals and reproductions, after about 1920. The style was originally maintained by temple stenographers in and around Zakan Rot in a closely-guarded and passed-on methodology, but it has since been copied and reproduced by many artists both Cronan and international. Today, this style of calligraphy commonly appears in Levantia and elsewhere as a generalized stand-in for the "exotic nature" of central Crona and Varshani society. Since the Final War of the Deluge, the islands have become the site of niche tourism of artists and others seeking to obtain and commission true originals of this style, and many pieces are created and sold for export, playing an important role in the transition of the islands to its post-Varshan economic position within Urcea.