The third major surviving faction is known as the Iron Masters, though they refer to themselves as the Sons of Ne-Issan. According to their legends, the Iron Masters fled the destruction of their homeland of Nippon in vast floating cities that drifted into Antarctic waters and then up into the Atlantic, eventually landing on the Eastern Seaboard of the former United States. They founded a country known as the Shogunate of Ne-Issan, stretching from Nova Scotia to South Carolina and inland as far as the Great Lakes and Appalachian Mountains. The Iron Masters have developed gunpowder and great steam-powered ships, but custom, religion and political decree forbids them from developing technology based on the 'Dark Light' (electricity). Due to the growing threat of the Amtrak Federation, some Iron Masters believe that without embracing the Dark Light, their nation stands little chance against the Federation's superior technology and will be destroyed, but official policy is to maintain the edict.