The Rise of Oceania
The coasts of Inca, as the former western coast of South America became known, had been one of the first places where human civilization first developed, and in the aftermath of the Xorda Attack and the calamities that followed, the city-states of Inca had been some of the first civilizations to emerge. The population, overwhelmingly Mobian, were sustained by the rich coastal waters, and their numbers grew rapidly after they rediscovered irrigation and terraced farming. They began building cities. They thrived on trade, the settlement linked by merchants who traded in food, cotton, and precious metals. By warfare, diplomacy or economic dominance, some cities grew large and absorbed nearby settlements into their sphere. The various cities of Inca eventually consolidated into some ten city-states. They grew to be rivals, and the internecine wars fought between them increasingly violent and destructive. The conflict between the Mobian majority and the human and overlander minorities only made things worse.
Emiliano Elcano was born in a coastal village, one of the few isolated human-majority settlements in Inca. From an early age his parents saw that he was gifted, and sent him to study in the nearby city of Raiso. He saw how Inca was being torn apart by savage warfare. In Raiso he befriended Sebastian Gray, a kangaroo Mobian of Downundan descent from a merchant's family who shared his desire for peace.
Over the years Elcano, Gray and their allies worked together to bring peace to the region. However, the warlord of Lida, General Montero, was determined to conquer the entire region. He sacked Raiso, and Elcano saw his family killed in the assault. However, instead of being overwhelmed by a desire for revenge, he resolved to work harder for peace, so that no one will have to experience such atrocities again.
Gray was eventually elected Consul in the powerful city-state of Santhiago with the help of Elcano, and from his new position of power oversaw the formation of a confederation with eight other city-states, under the new name of "Oceania". Lida, however, refused to his peace offer. The aged General Montero marched on Santhiago at the head of a massive army, and Gray had no choice but to fight (Elcano refused to accept this, and retired to a mountain retreat, to die shortly after of despair). The Lidan Army was defeated in the ensuing battle, and a humbled General Montero fled back to his home city.
At the urging of his son, and on hearing of the threat from a new powerful expansionist states of the Stuka Domination and the Aryan Seed, Montero agreed to negotiate with Gray. At the meeting, Gray invited Montero to break an arrow, which he did easily; Gray then invited Montero to break a bundle of ten arrows, which he couldn't. In the same way, Gray reasoned, each state is individually weak, but there is strength in unity. Montero agreed to the peace treaty, and retired in favor of his son. And thus the Oceanian Confederation was formed.
