Ideas for the /towa/ nation

History

• A nation that has remained remarkarbly predictable compared to other nations throughout the unstable periods both BVT & AVT
• Denizens and goddess are often mocked due to the capital's prejudice orginating from BVT tradition, though opinions are slowly changing
• The (relatively) small nation underwent a trial by fire, schizo raids were frequent and fierce spats between fanbases of genmates were common in the early days of the nation
• Things have calmed down but the followers of the debiru(now known as the family) have changed, adopting a "outshizo the schizos" mentality in devoting their love
• BVT traditions are still evident, such as the busking being forbidden (soundposts being frowned upon) and an irrational distaste for ENs though this has died down in recent years

Environment & Climate (Please refer to other anons for advice,just spitballing)

• Temperature is humid and warm, without rain the heat is unbearable but once it pours it doesn't stop which can lead to flash floods if the drainage system is overwhelmed. Winter seasons are comparatively much more pleasant.
• Majority of the country is similar to Vietnam's crop growing regions, plains with some humps suitable for farming with marshes in the northeast.
  • The food staples crop is rice. Cash crops include sugar cane,pepper and tea leaves.Animal husbandry is common throughout the nation.
• Ocean access in both the southeast and northwest.
  • The southeast is primarily a local fishing hub while the northwest is the preferred trading port due to the warm waters. Natural gas is a potential resource from the southeastern ocean area (Don't think the project is ever gonna be technological advanced enough for natural gas to be relevant but it's something to note down I think)
• Infranstructure is pitiful and the rain season often ruins various local-level attempts to build connections to other villages due to the mud, military engineers are stuck shuffling between fixing various critical trade routes if not tackling hostile wildlife.

Relations to other nations

• General
  Relations to many in the holo continent is apathetic or positive,something diplomats consider a huge success due to the poor reputation their fellow citizens have attained. Small enclaves of purple followers have been established in regions that allow general chuuba discussion including the much viled /#/ lands, although these enclaves mainly monitor for activity mentioning their precious purple girl to correspond back to the mainland relations. Oceanfaring traders often complain that trade is difficult with coastal areas as the locals often regard them with neurotic paranoia.
• /meat/
  Relations are extremely tense, the government has attributed this attitude to trauma from /meat/ raids, the obvious reason of no Towa=no chuubanite which leads to /towa/ turning into a wasteland essentially and a particularly grim story of a hamlet using their hivemind network to locate a missing villager only to get a first hand experience of being /meat/ stock which warped the image of all /meat/heads to be fiends who will joyfully Junko Furuta any captives they can get their hands on(Whether this is true to what happened is debatable,being confronted with meat's gruesome rituals pseudo first hand tends to lead to warped stories and hushed rumors that spread like wildfire). Government attempts to lessen the tension and accept /meat/ (and by extension normal) traders have been stonewalled by the population,forcing complicated third party arrangements to recieve goods. (You can rule out this entire bit if you feel like it, hell have the ryonazoku join up if you feel inclined)
• /morig/
  Prideful BVT attitudes are still dominant and the deadbeats' Goddess hasn't made much headway in terms of being accepted. Still, the military has attempted to be cordinal to hopefully get advice on naval and counter /meat/ activity as well.
• Yonkisei...
  Despite everything during the BVT times that would be considered state sponsored schizo raids today, many across the five nations pine for Yonkisei no Kizuna. Indeed quite a few kenzoku have claimed fellow Yonkisei cults fans to be "brothers". Whether this sense of brotherhood is true idol fan camaraderie or Balkan-esque forced relations to induce assimilation depends on the individual answering

The hivemind elaboration

please note these are all suggestions,none of it is canon yet and the offical /towa/ doc is the Tokoyami Ward, it still needs tweaking to be balanced I know and discussion (if the other kenzoku even accepts any of these suggestion) is neccessary before this can be even be considered to be canon
The experience of being connected to the hivemind is described to others as a hazy one, you're never alone with your thoughts, you're constantly invaded by thoughts of others and everyone swears they can hear the voice of the nation's lady.
Chuubanite has been noted to help isolate individuals from the hivemind, all kenzoku are taught this technique when they need respite from prying eyes.
Mages and other magicks practitioners who concentrate for notable period of time (hours?) and using a good amount of chuubanite are able to locate fellow kenzoku regardless of locations,having kenzoku lend their strength can save on time or energy cost (NOT BOTH),this method can also be done to help transmit messages along the hivemind network at the same energy and time costs.

Culture

The origin point of the gambling problem that /towa/ has is murky, some attribute it to kenzoku betting that their lady will never deliver on her promises, others say that the misuse of chuubanite for privacy led to bad kenzoku trying to hoard and scam others out of their chuubanite. Regardless of the origin story, kenzoku partake in various games of chance including Baccarat, craps, sports betting, ,mahjong and in certain wealthy pubs shooting competitions. Tourists often flock to these pubs, gawking at the spectacle of patrons taking shot at old glasses being flung. If not one for the shooting spectacle, towns often have out-of-the-way boutiques that offer surprisingly good quality outfits that imitate clothing of dear Towa (I think Towa cosplays have been regarded as pretty good,last time I checked the cosplay threads anyway). In the cities it is common to find many galleries containing many many loving depictions of Towa. (please help me theres so too many Towart my daily reps can barely keep up)

Names

Owing to the fact that some of the older kenzoku have fairly generic names (Michael Roland, Ash, Andrew the Towa itasha guy) I propose that kenzoku in the /vtwbg/ follow the same name convention. It's pretty funny as well, having hivemind cultists be called Mike or Andy.

The military

I'm sorry Panon I'm terrible at describing military stuff from the top down

Structure

The actual army is small (around 12,000?) but technological on par with other nations, equipped with muskets. Tactics are still a few steps behind, pike and shot still being the bread and butter formation. Militias are formed from able-bodied individuals who serve for varying terms,most commonly two weeks. Each respective village or town forms their own militia, they can band together to form larger groups if the need arises, the size being decided by the local head of office. Volunteering for extra patrols while frowned upon in general society is viable to ensure you don't starve.

While in event of war the militia would be under control of the governemnt in peacetimes they are entrusted to operate independently, gear and training included. Some of the more well-off towns equip their militia personal with firearms but commonly sighted kit include short swords, daggers, crossbows and some instance of hunters with slings going out on patrol have been spotted as well. The militia handle not only patrols of the area but can also act as a hunting party if game is needed in rural regions, blunderbuss or hand mortars being handed out for these purposes by former artillerymen who've dabbled in making firearms. Policing actions are generally handled by the area's militia as well.

The Army

The army itself is recruited from volunteers, priority being given to experienced militia personal (either several continuous months of patrols or being recommended for couragous actions). Emphasis is placed on discipline, drill and staying calm in the line of combat while following through orders for infantry,officers are taught that playing it safe and controlling the line via the chuubanite enhenced hivemind communication is key to victory.

Attached to squadrons are chaplains, who often act as the liason between command and the frontline when not performing rites or services for morale.

In combat it is noted that the stress and sensory overload due to the hivemind would cause exhausted or newer kenzoku to collapse outright, thus unofficially there have been corps of personal dedicated to transporting these casualties back to safer areas for recovery. These corpsmen are armed more like pirates then infantry, crude pistols haphazard dangling off their belt an easy indication of these escort troopers,fighting doggedly to get their fellow men back to safety with pistol in hand. The actual healing is left to the field hospital, the most advanced medical knowledge the corpsmen know is to stop bleeding by covering it, the key emphasis is to get them to the hospital, not triage.

Theft of artillery pieces for naval usage has left the artillery corp short on firepower and thus they are only used in defensive situations or sieges.

Calvary is small due to low supply of horses, there have been attempts to breed more but they have proven unsuccessful. Due to small numbers the army decided to use calvary as scouts instead of being the hammer of the army.

In theory the combat engineers are responsible for defensive fortifications and to blast the way foward through enemy structures. In reality slow bureaucracy has led the engineer corp of the army to be used as state paid construction work, moving from one pot holed dirt path to the next in an attempt to fix the at times perilous trade routes. Hampering their work are material delays, civilian contractors being uncorporative, a government policy being discussed that suggests the engineers head to army camps to train the infantry to do their job, wild life interfering with the works and even gangs of highwaymen and footpads threatening them, their criminal livelyhood threatened by safer roads.

The Navy

The /towa/ navy is ramshackle, it is more of a commercial fleet with artillery cannons crudely bolted on for protection, escorts are few but are at least properly designed for combat. The notably well-made ships are of /nasfaq/ design, a gift from fellow kenzoku who made it big in the cuthroat region, though there has been a loss of contact and thus they have degraded due to age.

A citizen's solution to a military problem

A gambling ring has been busted recently, amongst the typical marked cards and rigged games something peculiar was confiscated from the errant gambling house, a paper cartridge with 3 pellets of shot loaded in front and a normal musket ball in the rear. Upon interrogation the enterprising owner claims the odd cartridge guaranteed a hit even from an untrained shooter, test fire of the cartridge resulted in no hits and a damaged musket, but the idea struck a chord with a hunter who wishes to make a name for himself in the armed forces,a witness to the investigation. He decided to try his hand at making an improvement on the cartridge,asking militiamen who directed him to the arms development branch of the regional governemnt. An apprentice gunsmith was pitching his latest design of a cavalry flintlock at the time of the hunter's arrival, the two have decided to collaborate, both men noting that the army's previous conflicts have poor accuracy amongst the ranks and that this new invention could be the edge the nation needs to gain an advantage in an ever hostile world