Sabnaki

Sabnaki, officially the Dominion of the Sabnaki, is a country in Cusinaut. It is neighbored by the Algosh Republic, Ashkenang, and Iriquona.

The Sabnak people trace their ancestry to some of the earliest prehistoric settlers in Cusinaut from Alshar, with some of the oldest archaeological sites on the subcontinent appearing within Sabnaki territory. A cohesive Sabnak culture began to emerge with the advent and spread of writing during the early medieval period, with a unified Sabnak political emerging by the 1400s. Sabnak writing and language differentiates sharply from that of the rest of Cusinaut, whose writing and language is inspired by cross-Nysdra cultural exchange with Varshan and other places; accordingly, the Sabnak developed a sense of social isolation from the rest of the subcontinent. As an isolationist society, the Sabnak people fought to keep their borders closed to both their neighbors and the Occident, resulting in a series of brutal wars with the Algosh people and later Northern Confederation. In the 19th century, the pre-modern Sabnak confederated state was reformed into a centralized state. The Sabnak people voluntarily receded from isolation and joined the League of Nations in the 1950s. After the fall of the Northern Confederation, the Sabnak people resumed their centuries-long skirmishing with Algoquona, the new Algosh state. Within this context, the Sabnak found new allies in the Occident. Throughout the 2010s, the Sabnak state began a rapid period of military and infrastructure modernization while importing Occidental government advisors and cultural materials. It participated in the Final War of the Deluge, fighting against Algoquona and receiving territory at the conclusion of the war. Foreign investment has led Sabnaki to possess one of the world's fastest growing economies. The economic growth has largely outpaced social and political reform, leading to significant domestic political unrest since 2010.

Sabnaki is a member of the League of Nations.

Etymology
Sabnaki is unusual among nation-states, as its name is usually rendered as the plural of Sabnak peoples, "Sabnaki", based on the name of the state. While the full name of the state is "Dominion of the Sabnaki", i.e. state belonging to the Sabnak people, the state has no traditional or commonly accepted geographical associated with it. Over the course of the 20th century, "Sabnaki" came to be used in Occidental scholarship and cultural references as a geographical proper noun, and this usage has been increasingly accepted by the Sabnak state itself in diplomatic correspondence. In some Levantine countries and in Caphiria, the Dominion is referred to simply as "Sabnacia".

Prehistory to medieval period
Human history in Sabnaki can be traced back to the earliest archaeological evidence of human arrival in Cusinaut from Alshar, with rudimentary fishing implements found from about 20,000 BC.

Sabnak culture emerges
The distinguishing event in the history of the Sabnaki occurred over the course of the years 450 and 950 AD, when a writing system began to emerge from the peoples living around modern Tsaile. Most historians believe that the Sabnak alphabet began as a rudimentary tally system on small wooden blocks used for trade. Accordingly, most scholars believe the Sabnak Alphabet emerged as a commercial shorthand that later found use in political and artistic settings. The first archaeological evidence of literature among the proto-Sabnak dates to around 950 AD; it details the life and times of a man called Menla, the ancestor of the author. Scholarly consensus indicates that the Menla Saga was a long-standing oral tradition among his tribe that had been recorded using what was previously commercial language, and most scholars believe the very earliest form of Sabnak literature was simple codification and recording of long-extant oral traditions. By around 1050 AD, significant political and social interaction occurred via written record. The advent of writing and literature allowed the tribal peoples of modern Sabnaki to relate with eachother in ways not previously possible, building a sense of closeness and commonality between them. The availability of written family sagas allowed their proliferation and widespread adoption. By 1150 AD, most of the peoples living in modern Sabnaki shared the same written language, a shared literary history, and a growing sense of similarity between themselves not shared by other neighboring peoples. Consequently, an identifiable "Sabnak culture" emerged by around 1200 AD out of the various proto-Sabnak peoples.

While the Sabnak were not unique among the peoples of Cusinaut in developing writing, most linguists and historians agree they are the only people in Cusinaut to have independently developed writing, given that most other Cusinaut language alphabets borrow significantly from the common tradition of Varshan and the North Songun civilization that filtered north through the Nysdra. This unique literary style contributed later to the sense of alienness that Sabnak people felt from their Cusinautic neighbors, an alienation that would eventually result in the establishment of an isolationist society.

Economy
The economy of Sabnaki was traditionally based on subsistence agriculture, with a few actors in the economy growing on very large estates for export; these cash crops represented the majority of Sabnaki's trade revenue. Since the dawn of the 21st century, however, the construction sector has been the largest part of the Sabnak economy as major infrastructure continues to be built across the nation. These large projects, connecting villages and cities with modern highways and railways, were first funded with foreign aid but since 2025 have increasingly had private and domestic government capital funding construction. With construction has come new retail and real estate sectors, as cities have grown steadily since 2002 requiring homes and consumer goods. As the economy has shifted from rural agriculture to urban life, the GDP has doubled in approximately 20 years, with its 2030 GDP PC of $17,296 dwarfing many of its neighbors. The economic transformation has largely disrupted the traditional "big planter" class as the government has repossessed parts of the massive estates once common throughout the country, decreasing overall cash crop exports as the agricultural sector has declined. The discovery of major uranium reserves in the Cusinaut interior has also led to the creation of a major mining sector.

The Sabnak economy is mostly deregulated in order to encourage continued economic prosperity.