Inari

Inari is a planet orbiting around the star Gliese 570 A.

Characteristics
Inari is near Earth-sized, at 95% of its mass, and orbits around a dim K-type star at 50% of the distance from Earth to the Sun. It is the closest of three planets in its solar system, and the second largest.

Inari has a thick, Earth-like atmosphere and an extreme axial tilt, resulting in exaggerated seasons, which coupled with recieving slightly less energy from its star than Earth, makes it mostly a cool world covered in grasslands and forests of dark, pine-like trees. The surface is dominated by the the three mountainous continents of Uzume, Izanagi, and Fūjin, and accompanying minor islands and subcontinents.

The planet is at least a billion years older than Earth, and thus has a matured biosphere. Though some strange anomalies have been found, there is no visible indication of any intelligent species ever having existed on Inari. Most plant life is analogous to Earth's coniferous species, though darker in order to absorb more light from the planet's dim parent star.

Inari has a single moon, Tsukiyomi, whose highly tilted orbit and and gravitational stressing maintain Inari's axial tilt and volcanic activity respectively.

Etymology
Inari is named for the Japanese god/goddess of rice and fertility, reflecting the planet's extremely fertile soil and the original settlers' Japanese heritage. Tsukiyomi, similarly, is named for the Japanese god of the moon.

Discovery
Inari was discovered by the JEEPS (Japanese Extrasolar Earthlike Planet Survey) satellite in 2041, when the craft directly observed the planet, along with the other two worlds in the system. Inari was notably the first "Earth-twin" extrasolar planet to be extensively studied by telescopic observations.

Inari's discovery was noted as one of the chief causes of the "Seven Weeks' War" in the Summer of 2041, which in the end resulted in a successful Japanese claim of absolute sovereignty over the world and any future colonization efforts.

Colonization
Only Japan and the United States successfully sent craft to the world. The Japanese colony ship, the JAXA Amaterasu, launched on the first of March 2071, was the first to reach it. The Amaterasu was one of the most complex craft ever devised relative to its time period, and was capable at travelling at a striking half of the speed of light (re-defining the HFTL engine standard in its wake), reaching the world 38 years later on 8 July 2109. The United States planned a formal mission launch in 2162, which would never materialize as the Solar Anomalies of 2151 ravaged the Earth and instead forced the launch of MCG Shelter 63 to the

Gliese 570 system. Shelter 63, equipped with a much faster H+QFTL engine, landed 28 years later, in 2179.

Civilization
Saitama, the first settlement on Inari, was founded on the southeast coast of Uzume where the JAXA ship had crash-landed. Over time, the ship was disassembled and eventually reassembled as a large tower that is now a striking landmark and icon of Human civilization on Inari. Saitama itself began as a small town with a population of 6,203, and had grown to a population of 401,302 by the arrival of Shelter 63 in 2179. For most of the early 22nd century, the Human populations of Inari were concentrated in the small, but very advanced cities of Saitama and Nirasaki, until settlement began to expand across Uzume in 2157.

The government established on Inari was nearly identical to that of 21st century Japan, as per guidelines given to the mission's participants. This government would be lasting, and the original Japanese successor state would eventually become the modern superstate of Uzume. Shelter 63 also established a successor state based on the United States government, but it was quickly annexed by the growing Uzume in 2201, who adopted some of their practices later on.

By 2213, Uzume's largest cities were in place, and steadily amassing, eventually resulting in crowding and overpopulation of such small space, and as a solution, the fledgling nation began colonizing Fūjin, and small sections of Izanagi.

Fūjin quickly became a populous subordinate of Uzume, and eventually revolted against their masters, resulting in withdrawal of Uzume forces in 2257. Izanagi would also grow and secede; becoming a mostly war-torn land of bickering city states until reformation during the 24th century unified many of the states, and brought temporary peace to the continent.

For most of Inari's human history, both Fūjin and Izanagi were locked in a bloody cycle of war and reformation, as the divided peoples fought and bickered until six Fūjin micronations merged in 2438 and began their attempt to unify the rest of the continent. They would eventually succeed by 2450 and move on to propose the foundation of a world state. After many years of careful diplomacy and negotiation, along with partial conquest of Izanagi, Inari unified under a world confederacy, and each continent became its own superstate.

Modern Inari is governed by a world state headquartered in a small administrative district in the center of the city of Saitama, Uzume. While the world state is considered the central governing agency, it is mostly a confederacy, while the three superstates maintain most of their sovereignty. Many propose that the superstates themselves should be abolished, as they rely on essentially the same governmental principles and only exist as a statement of pure nationalism.

Post-World State (Today)
The foundation of the world state did all but bring peace to Inari, merely adding yet another enemy to the unending cultural conflicts and land struggles. Few of Izanagi's micronations accepted their loss of sovereignty, with these claims only strengthening their morale and struggle against their enemy states and the World State itself. Uzume and Fūjin are mostly clean of rebellion, except for the constant protest and demands for independence from the descendants of the MCG Shelters whose successor states were annexed by the Uzumi empire in the 2200s. Resistance is particuarly strong in Uzume, where the area surrounding the landing sites of Shelters 63, 88, and 161 are unofficially claimed to be independent entities, causing conflict verging on civil war.