neighpon [Lore] Kyoma

[Bellosh]

Kyoma - A Symbol of Heritage

 

Kyoma: the shining beacon of Neighonese hegemony over the eastern seas. The capital city of Neighpon enjoys an envious position; residing on one of the few plains in a country known for hilly terrain, cozied next to a natural harbor on Horshu’s western coast. It’s no accident that Kyoma thrives as a mecca of maritime commerce, which has done so for as long as ungulates were capable of sailing the oceans. And thus, the seat of the Neighponese shoguns is one of the biggest nexuses of trade between Equestria and other nations to the West, and all the realms of the East.

 

The history of Kyoma has not always been filled with pleasantness. In the thousands of years that there has been a city on Kyoma Bay’s shores, great calamities have brought it down time and time again. The warring of rival clans, the earthquakes that periodically shake Horshu, the rampages of a humongous Kaiju, the ash flows of Mount Kaminichi’s eruptions; all have leveled most of Kyoma at one point or another. Yet the infamy of the most devastating cataclysm belongs to the massive Viking Caribou assaults a thousand years ago, when the entire city along with the surrounding countryside was burned to ashes. Shortly after that great tragedy, the First Shogun unified Neighpon, vowing that Kyoma would rise anew even more beautiful and filled with nature than the city of old.

 

Successive generations fulfilled that promise. As intended by the First Shogun, Kyoma is best described as a collection of extremely high-density wards, each one entirely surrounded by an extensive greenbelt. In deliberate contrast to the class-segregation present in Long Guo’s capital, the vast green spaces of the Neighponese capital serve primarily as common areas which all citizens can appreciate. Strolling through these parks, an appreciator of the great outdoors will a sea of ornamental cherry trees as well as numerous rock gardens, koi-filled ponds, and shrines. To prevent any undue tarnishment of the greenbelt from roads, there is usually never more than one single, wide avenue connecting a particular ward to an adjacent one.

 

Inside the wards of Kyoma, the buildings are primarily made in Neighpon’s traditional style, with wood typically imported from Polyneighsia. Despite the crowded conditions, the city’s residents go to notorious lengths to keep the streets clean and presentable. Whenever possible, the Neighponese build residential blocks and the occasional specialist school along a greenbelt’s edge for maximum exposure to nature. As throughout much of Horshu, Kyoma’s buildings are infused with magitech enchantments, the most commonplace being those which mitigate harm from earthquakes.

 

Rising from Kyoma’s center is the Palace Castle, where Neighpon’s shoguns reside and perform their administrative duties. It is an immense structure surrounded by gardens and a moat. Essentially 5 minor pagodas linked to a massive 21-story pagoda, the Palace Castle dwarfs every other structure in the capital. Aside from being a seat of power, the complex serves another vital purpose; using immense crystals buried below the surface, the Palace Castle can project a magical forcefield to defend Kyoma from hostile armies and Kaiju. Without the need for a powerful unicorn to keep the shield deployed, the Palace Castle’s forcefield can last virtually indefinitely until the threat’s passed.

 

Other attractions in Kyoma include Harbor Town, the harbor-side ward containing the city’s port facilities, and the district where goods from Polyneighsia and the rest of the world are readily purchasable. Halfway between Port Town and the Palace Castle is the Unification Memorial; the charred remnants of the former Kyoma Castle which has been reappropriated to commemorate the events leading to the founding of Neighpon. West of Port Town is the Neighpon Fleet Academy, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious military university.

 

Kyoma’s most cherished tradition is the Sakura Spring Festival, which is emulated all throughout the rest of Neighpon. Every year, the city’s populace gathers together to facilitate the arrival of spring and the pink blossoms of the local cherry trees. For a week afterward, almost all work comes to a complete standstill while everypony frolics in the all-too brief wonder of the sakura blooms. Once the cherry petals fall, the week of celebration ends with a Blossom Banquet, whereupon the fallen petals are gathered up and served in a joyous feast. The Sakura Spring Festival reminds all Kyoma citizens that despite the inevitable transience of nature, what once was lost inevitably returns anew, just as beautiful as before. 

~Neighpon in Bloom

Dr. Tong Zei