Kiritsu

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Kiritsu (officially the Dawn Kingdom of Kiritsu) is a floating continent in a pocket dimension. Although once part of the Earth, the existence of powerful magic and the rise of technology from other nations led to the Kingdom withdrawing from the world, existing in isolation on a floating continent.

Many of the names here have been translated into English from Kiritsi, the national language. The original Kiritsi names can be seen in brackets and italics next to the original word

Geography

Kiritsu is a floating continent about the size of the United States in a pocket dimension, floating around 20 miles above an endless ocean. The region consists of sweeping fields, mostly given over to farming and food production. Around 40% of the population live in small rural towns dotted around the continent, living off farming and delivering goods to the capital city, Kerro. Lakes of incorruptibly pure water are also dotted around the area, which is where most of the continent gets it water from.

Kerro

Over 60% of the population live in Kerro, the capital city. The city is a mix of rural Japanese architecture, with slanted tile roofs and arches, and the layout of old European cities like Paris, with many small alleys eventually leading to one or two main roads. This main roads are a mix of restaurants and shops, with occasional houses for wealthy merchants. The houses for most of the other inhabitants can be accessed through backalleys. At the northernmost point of Kerro and Kiritsu itself is the Tower of Hope, and above it the artificial sun known as the Hawklight.

The Tower of Hope (Velna Nou Hira) is the tallest building in Kiritsu, visible from one end of Kerro to the other. Standing around 45 feet tall, it is where the monarchy and parliament reside (see government bellow). It is a pure white building, with a large red disk on the front of it around 30 feet up, with black protrusions raising up to the Hawklight.

The Hawklight (Hekneriah) is the greatest achievement of the mages of Kerro, being an artificial sun that bathes Kiritsu in light. Over time, the pure white flames freeze into dark blue crystal, leading to the creation of an artificial moon and heralding the night. Eventually, the crystals dissolve back into flames and the cycle begins anew. Day in Kiritsu is from 7am till 7pm, and the rest of the time Kiritsu is covered under the blanket of night. Due to an error in the magic used to create the Hawklight, while dusk does not exist, dawn is two hours long (from 7 till 9). The mages thought this error was actually pretty neat and it resulted in Kiritsu taking up the mantle of the Dawn Kingdom. Compasses also use the Hawklight as North as there is no North Pole in this pocket dimension. Standing under the Hawklight makes compasses act similarly to how they would when standing on the North Pole.

History

As Part of the Earth (1200s-1700s)

Originally, Kiritsu was one of many kingdoms in the eastern world, being one of the largest of the time period. The country was built after a rebellion in another country by a great warrior, Kedar Kerro, who led a band of fighters who claimed to be mages, wielding power akin to magic. Their exploits led to the toppling of the tyrannical Paraclesian Empire, currently the largest empire in the world at that time, in that region and the creation of the country of Kiritsu. Although it originally had to be a warlike nation to fend of constant attacks by it’s new enemies, the empire eventually settled in the 1300s and was accepted as its own state.

Kedar Kerro led a large number of the major exploits of Kiritsu when it was first made and was seen as a hero to many. The mages were also seen in the same way. However, in truth they were greedy and power hungry. Kedar establishes himself as the king of Kiritsu, and the mages formed the Soul of Kiritsu to train more in their ways, giving all of them complete control over the people of this new country. They continued their wars against other countries even when there was no reason to, using the fury the people of this new country possessed from being oppressed by the Paraclease for so long.

Kedar died before the 1300s came about. What he hadn’t anticipated when he came to the throne, however, was that his son would be nothing like him. Ascending when he was 27, Vandor Kerro was a down-to-Earth king, preferring peace talks over brute force, and was well liked by his people for most of his reign. He also coined the term “Words will beat any sword”, a phrase used by many successors and the Word of Kiritsu. However, he was also exceptionally naive, especially when it came to the massive political problems the constant wars of Kiritsu’s first age had caused. The Soul of Kiritsu disliked him for this reason, and intended to assassinate him by putting a mind control spell on his younger sister, Valena, and framing her for his death. Valena’s servants caught wind of this plan and informed her of the Soul’s intentions. This led to the wily Valena using herself as bait to catch the Soul in the act, willingly submitting to the mind control while her servants hid, watching the mage who was sent perform his work. The servants than restrained Valena before she could leave the room and informed the king.

What followed was the discovery of a series of scandals within the Soul of Kiritsu, who had been manipulating Kiritsu for years, controlling the government through mind control and bribes, and had been sowing public distrust in Vandor in order to take over Kiritsu for themselves and also for the country to invade Chun-Nan, which had barely been an independent nation for a year. Despite calls for them to be executed by the public and Valena herself, Vandor instead replaced the Soul’s leadership with mages who were loyal to him and started enrolling more mages from the public, with the old leadership exiled. Public opinion was split between whether it was good or bad that no blood had been spilled. To them, the answer soon became clear as Dark Gaia monsters summoned by the rogue mages launched attacks on Kiritsu, leading to a bloody battle that lasted days. Although Kiritsu won, Vandor was forced out of the monarchy and Valena took over as the first queen of Kiritsu.

Although Kiritsu went through other tumultuous times, none of these times were on the scale of Vandor’s reign, and opinion of his reign still splits historians and Kiritsi today. Kiritsu slowly started to expand and became a prominent power until the rise of technology began to take over the world.

The Exodus (1700s)

The Kiritsi had been able to keep their kingdom sustained for a long time, being a major player in the eastern world, with some of the more warmongering monarchs trying to push west but eventually failing. This rule had been sustained through something other kingdoms did not possess: magic. The Soul of Kiritsu employed powerful mages, training them from birth, and at least one mage was deployed in each major battle, rarely not pulling their weight in Kiritsu’s conquests and defenses. However, that started to change when technology started to improve.

Kiritsu’s old oppressors, the Paracleasian Empire, still existed but were a shadow of their former selves, having been dissolved and reformed multiple times and was at the mercy of western politics. However, soon for no clear, reports came in that they were chewing through one nation after the next, and were at the borders of Kiritsu. The Kirtsi army met them on the battlefield, supported by 3 mages due to precautions taken from the then-king Valnear. This was when they discovered why the Paraclease had been so feared: they had developed firearms and explosives. The army was caught off guard by a hail of bullets and cannonfire, one of the mages being shot dead in the initial barrage. This did a huge amount of damage to moral and the army was quickly routed. One of the other mages was killed in the onslaught. It was near total defeat for the Kiritsi.

However, the last of the mages, a low-ranking mage called Zereth, escaped to a nearby village badly wounded, muttering something about “metal crossbows” and “iron ballistas”. Although they weren’t able to fix bullet wounds well due to having never seen them before, the villagers helped get the mage back on her feet and gave her a horse to leave to the capital. Zereth managed to outrun the Paraclease army, whose forces were occupied by counterattacks from other nearby countries, and arrived to warn Valnear of the coming storm. While many laughed off Zereth’s tale due to her low rank and the impossibility of three mages being defeated so quickly, Valnear believed her. He believed that the new weapons of the Paraclease were the only explanation for how they’d torn through the east so quickly. The solution Valnear offered was to develop similar technology, but many of the mages stated that they couldn’t develop such technology so quickly, and suggested they find another method instead. It should be noted that the Kiritsi haven’t technologically advanced past this stage of technology since they left the world, and that they did possess the technology to develop (albeit very rudimentary) firearms.

Soon, the Soul of Kiritsu invented a way to escape destruction: creating their own artificial dimension where Kiritsu could reign forever: no need for wars, political games with other countries, and no fear of destruction or technology. Although some, Zereth included, thought the plan was impossible, the Soul proved them wrong. Valnear was the first non-Soul member to enter this world, which contained nothing except the floating continent, the ocean, and the Hawklight, and he greatly approved of the Soul’s work.

Soon, the evacuation began, with villages and even the entire capital city being dismantled to move into the new dimension. The only portal rested at the centre of the capital city. The Kiritsi Army continued to fight the Paraclease, and although losing their casualties were improving as they got used to fighting gun-users. Winning was not a concern, however, and it was decided that those who died before escaping to the new dimension would be remembered with a statue, although what of was undecided. As the Paraclease closed in on the capital city, they discovered that most of it was missing. The only buildings left standing were made of rotting wood and the king’s castle, built by Kedar Kerro in Kiritsu’s first age. Valnear said he would have no need for it in a world where there was no war.

The evacuation was nearly complete when the Paraclease neared the portal. The army fought desperately to defend it, with Zereth among them. Soon, the Praclease were pushed back and the army began to retreat, but before Zereth could enter, she was shot in the leg. The portal closed right before her eyes as Kiritsu went into hiding for 300 years.

No Kiritsi knew what happened to Zereth after that. However, 3 days after the exodus was complete a seer who was a member of the Soul of Kiritsu stated he had a vision of her. He told them that Zereth fought a guerilla war with the Praclease in the king’s old castle, fighting for three days without sleeping, eating and drinking from the dead Paraclease soldier’s rations. Eventually, she was struck down, but only after covering the castle in the bodies of Paraclease soldiers. Although the Kiritsi had no way to prove this to be true, the story still gripped the public imagination, and the statue in honour of the fallen soldiers was decided to be of Zereth, and it still stands in Kiritsu today.

Historians on Earth see the Kiritsu exodus as an anomaly: an entire country that simply got up and left. Most historians also don’t believe the Kiritsu mages used magic, believing it to be power genes. Other historians argue that a congregation of people with power genes has never been seen until the modern day, and the cause of that increase (especially with the suspicious timing of Sonic the Hedgehog) is still not known. Interestingly enough, there aren’t any records detailing Zereth’s last stand. There are, however, Paracleasian tales of a devil sent by the Kiritsi gods to smite them for destroying their nation.

Government and Organisation

Word of Kiritsu

Main article: Word of Kiritsu

Trivia

• Kiritsu takes influences from eastern feudral countries like Japan and Korea. It was also influenced by the country of Torna in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Kerro especially is based on Auresco.
• The idea for Kiritsu came about when the creator of this article misread the “Word of Kiritsu” as “World of Kiritsu”, something the creator didn’t realise until after 30 minutes of worldbuilding.