Taikoo

Taikoo 臺庫 Taiku
Flag
Capital	Taikoo
Official languages	Hata
Government	Respublic
Establishment
• Foundation	306
• Current polity	1404
• Recognition by the Lestria Directives	1959
Area
• Total	4,904 km2 (1,893 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	1,200,000

Taikoo (Hata: taiku) is a city-state located in the northern Bintang desert in western Lestria, within the region of Naia. It is enclosed entirely by the Lestrian Neutral Zone. Located at a junction of the Kagish river, the polity actually consists of several districts and towns surrounding what was originally a ritual centre, though they have effectively merged into a conurbation; altogether they are home to around 1.2 million residents.

Taikoo was an important Naian trading city since ancient times, being putatively founded in 306, while its current government claims continuity with an agreement reached by the area's residents in approximately 1404. During the Colonisation of Lestria by Messeno-Joriscian powers that began in the 19th century, it particularly capitalised on becoming a transport hub for foreign interests. At the Congress of Kethpor it was granted formal recognition as a state in the Lestria Directives (unlike its neighbouring zeephen states, which fell under the blanket of the LNZ), and, with the placement of the Joint Lestrian Commission's headquarters in the city, it became a widely acknowledged neutral ground for the resolution of disputes in the area. Despite both this status and its self-declared neutrality, it remained entangled with the intrigue of both colonial and local conflicts, and, during the 1994 West Lestrian War, it became the site of a large battle that embroiled much of the city.