Huoxia

Huoxia is a country located in northern Alshar. It borders Oyashima to the east, Kloistan to the southwest, and Zuolihi and Kagoyama to the south. Its name derives from the Huotan Strip, a large, semiarid coastal region separated by the from the larger Tangsha (sometimes aenglicized as Tanxia) Desert by the Tai She Hills. Its capital is the coastal city of Nuran, which is also the largest city by size and population, and it has a total population of roughly 44 million people.

Since 1968, Huoxia has been considered by the League of Nations to be an authoritarian state, with varying periods of liberalization and crackdowns related to the often complex family dynamics that have a controlling interest in the economy, politics, and military of the country. Regardless, Huoxia has remained a coherent, albeit corrupt, country through several recent civil conflicts as well as repelling an invasion in 2000-2004 by the State of Zuolihi.

Burgundian Colonial Era
Visiting Burgundine traders eventually gained special rights and personal docks in Sailghi Iju, with the nearby cities of Nuran and Changsi growing both from immigration to the area and the economic opportunities brought by foreign technology. Nevertheless, the policies of appeasing Occidental traders created a great deal of resentment in the region.

Sailghi Rebellion
In 1893, militants attacked the Burgundine Quarter of Sailghi, beginning a military insurrection by the ethnic Menzhou majority. Tsu Weigia, an ostensibly loyalist officer, later defected to the rebel troops and brought much of the Tiauska community with him, overtaking the anti-occidental factions within the rebellion and turning the Sailghi Rebellion into a war of nationalism.

Post-Eternal Empire Era
Tsu Weigia served as the first President of Huoxia, beginning a period of economic expansion and population growth that ballooned the local influence of the Huotan Strip from a colonial fringe to a burgeoning state in its own right rivalling the neighboring Oyashima. During this period, he abandoned his Burgundine allies in favor of Kiravian traders in order to espace the debts he had incurred in creating his state, the civil service was expanded to adequately cover the core of the country, and border conflicts with the Kloi Empire in the west were resolved in the 1896 Treaty of Tanxi. Huoxia did not participate in the First Great War, and after the Restarkist and Cananachist revolutions in the Occident, Huoxia began a period of transition to a similar model of radical republicanism. However, Tsu died in 1908, leaving Huoxia in the hands of his personal cronies and staff.

Changsi Period
After Tsu's death, the legislature voted to move its center of operations fron Nuran to Changsi, both for its distance from the country's borders and to take advantage of its rapid growth compared to the historic capital, Sailghi Iju. During this transitional period, the government altered its constitution, changing its judicial branch from a council of three members to a single judge elected by the legislature directly. This gave the legislature considerable power over the government, allowing it to freely dictate policy without presidential interference. While Huoxia continued industrializing, its old guard of idealists and liberals were winnowed away by age and elections.

The Second Great War also passed Huoxia by, with the organization of a Huoxian Free Regiment serving abroad with the Capetian resistance being the only contribution the country made to the conflict.

Postwar Period
Amendments to the constitution favoring legislators' personal fortunes and interests exponentially degraded the power of the other branches of government throughout the 1940s and 1950s, with a new party, the Party for Huoxia, officially becoming the primary opposition to the People's Representation Organization in 1960. While the PfH was a blatant puppet of the Basun family, a powerful banking and mining clan, it found a large support base in the middle class and the fringes of society left behind by the Assembly. The PfH eventually gained the presidency in 1968, causing the legislature to force through a quickly-written amendment to the constitution making the President an official elected by the legislature itself, the same as the Chief Justice. However, the Assembly elections of 1970 saw the PfH beat the PRO by a single representative, allowing the simple majority rule the Assembly had altered the constitution to create for itself to backfire spectacularly. In a single month, the Chief Justice and First Minister both became Basuns, joining the President in total rule with a plurality in the Assembly. The PfN immediately redrafted the constitution to ban opposition parties outside of the unpopular PRO, which remained strong enough to present a serious challenge in a civil war. The Basuns quietly bought off much of the military command staff, heading off a coup attempt by PRO-aligned officers, and both renamed the legislature the National Body and replaced the position of Chief Justice with the 'People's Mouth', a largely honorary position appointed by the President.

Yuhuru Rebellion
''Yuhuru Hawa rebelled along with Republican Front (supported in small part by Faneria and possibly Cape) in 1978, crushed by Basun government and inland Yuhuru states turned into territories in 1982. Fhainnin (or capetian?) ambassador executed, ended(?) indirect Capetian-Fhainnin efforts to convert Huoxia to similar style of government''

1998-99 Huoxian Civil War between Basun and Tsaka families

Modern Era
In May 2000, the Daizu, a cult based out of neighboring Zuolihi, organized and launched a religious crusade into south-central Huoxia, cutting off rail access to the Tsaka Hawa's inland coal mining enterprises and demanding recognition of their faith in the Huoxian constitution as a protected religious group and a representative in the National Body. In response, Huoxian military assets descended on the region, turning central Huoxia into a warzone as the cult brought in weapons systems and older rockets taken from Zuolihin stockpiles. The Huoxian military was extremely successful in the early stage, wiping out several thousand militants out of an estimated thirty thousand. Hurch communities in the area were highly polarized, with some converting to Daizuism and adopting a radical sect of it, leading to an immediate and brutal crackdown in the area to prevent the spread of the militant religion.

Huoxian forces crossed the ______ River in July, passing into Zuolihi and taking territory up to fourty miles inland. In response, the Zuolihin government, which had done little to stop the Daizu and had several suspected sect members within its cabinet, declared war on Huoxia and invaded in the east in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Huoxian army and quickly take Nuran. The Yu 1 Air Brigade proved instrumental in the conflict, taking moderate losses and scattering the larger but disorganized and unprepared Zuolihin National Army while the spearhead elements of the remaining Red and Purple Banners rushed back to stabilize the frontline. After several months of fighting, the ZNA retreated across the _____ and agreed, without the permission of their government, to end the war, beginning their own civil conflict.

Fighting in the far west continued, as with food from the east stopping during the war, starvation wracked western primarily Hurch areas of the country. While not entirely intentional, it is considered by some countries to be a genocide by the Huoxian government, and up to 200,000 persons were killed by hunger during the Zuo-Huo War. This lead to a crisis with terrorist activity from Hurch militants, and in 2004, the Yellow Party won national elections in a surprise victory, installing Cigu Jangmu as president. President Worekko Tsaka refused to abdicate, and instead ordered the National Body stormed, initiating the Jangmu War. Fighting primarily took place in Nuran itself for the first three months between the Red Banner Division and the legitimate government's Purple Banner Division, with the Jangmu Hawa retreating to the west piecemeal afterwards with the tacit support of the Tsaka's rival family, the Ciangiya. The Ciangiya continued funneling information and small caches of supplies to the Jangmu and Hurch rebels through the Tangsha Desert until regular patrolling by the Red Banner Division made travel extremely dangerous. In March 2005, the White and Green Banner Divisions broke through rebel roadblocks, circumventing the track-breaker teams the militants used to prevent rail resupply and taking the city of Tanxi, leveling much of it in retaliatory actions against stiff local resistance. The Jangmu clan surrendered with terms that severely limited their power afterwards, with the country's lone military shipyard being transferred to the Mahalr Hawa along with a number of other assets being broken up or redistributed to Worekko's loyalists. In mid-2006, organized Hurch resistance was suppressed enough that the conflict ended in a victory declared by the Tsaka government.

After the Jangmu War, repression against Hurch peopels intensified, with the Tsakas also curtailing the political power of the Ciangiya where possible and expanding their personal army, subordinating the air forces to the Red Banner in 2008. The only family to escape these curtailments entirely were the Mahalr, who saw their previously moderate holdings expand into a major house, adding shipbuilding, additional arms and supplies manufacturing, and resource extraction businesses to their belongings, as well as transferring administrative authority of the city of Changsi to them directly - a privilege previously only held by the Ciangiya and the Tsaka.

Deserts
Tanxia Desert/Tangsha -

Coastline

 * Tai She Hills
 * Changsi - second largest and center of Mahalr family, rebuilt on slightly different spots after Tanxi Rebellion, CAZ
 * Tanxi - innermost city from coast, named for Tanxia Desert, def not a CAZ
 * Yurkur - smaller city, CAZ
 * Nuran - capital and largest city
 * Ulut - smaller city, CAZ
 * Sailghi Iju - major port, CAZ

Ethnicities
The major ethnic groups of Huoxia are the Tiauska, Hurch, and Menzhou. All three are interrelated, with Hurchu being the predominant language and the Menzhou being the most populous group. The Tiauska are the second most populous group, and are largely intermingles with southerly peoples. The Hurch, despite being the original ethnicity of both the Menzhou and Tiauska, are by far the smallest, with about three and a half million members largely living inland in the desert and arid regions of the country.

Huoxia's government has pursued a policy of discrimination against the Hurch since the 2004-2006 Jangmu War, in which the Hurch supported the Jangmu family opposing the sitting government. This is largely considered an intensification of the previous revocation of statehood of these same areas in 1982, but with the addition of laws pressuring the Hurch to marry into Tiauska and Menzhou families through business licensing and random 'loyalty exams'. The Army Border Police have also been accused of abuses against Hurch civilians in the name of pacifying rebel groups from 2004-2018, after which point no acts of terror in relation to Hurch independence have been noted following the relaxation of the most repressive bolicies and the expansion of Border Police numbers.

Wealth and Health
Wealth inequality in Huoxia is a significant challenge, as while purchasing power locally allows for a growing middle class, the Huoxian _____ carries very poorly internationally. Most trade is done abroad in resources and precious materials, while banking is largely done in foreign currencies by the oligarchs and to a degree by the central government. The lower class accounts for roughly 70% of the population, with another 28% making up the middle class.

Public healthcare is restricted to government workers and military personnel as an incentive, and a number of semi-dependable clinics and private care systems exist, with Doron Health, a corporation with an oligopoly on native medical instrument production, being a major provider in cities and more generally the coast in spite of its low quality of service. Healthcare is much poorer in the west, with much of the hospital work there done by foreign charities and trainers.

The government does maintain civic sewage and utilities, while areas outside the cities are left to private enterprises, especially the Tsaka Hawa's own energy companies, which subsidize the benefits given to cities. Quality of life is considerably higher in Nuran and the City Administrative Zones of Sailghi Iju and Changsi than elsewhere, as well as along the ______ River on the southern border due to higher population counts and railways leading west.

Religion

 * christians, most protestant, about 2-3m, George the Burgundine (better name needed?) as patron saint; light persecution by state
 * common religion is Tugula, tengri-shamanist type faith with some inserted confucian elements, about 20m practicioners
 * Daizu cult - war/death cult with adopted aspects from Revelations Christianity, Shoka Asahara, other extreme sects; about 1/4m followers estimated at most but disproportionate effect from radicalism

Politics
The politics of Huoxia are largely dominated by the Six Families (Great Families, or Hawa), an informal alliance of the largest cliques in the country. One of these Families, the Tsaka, is effectively a dynastic family leading the 'Reds' Party, while the opposing 'Yellows' are composed of a collection of opposing oligarchs who regardless typically work with the Reds due to business and social intermixing.

Huoxia's government was a well-coordinated and functioning republic from its breaking with the Eternal Empire in 1875 until the 1950s, after which the government saw a rapid increase in corruption and a series of amendments to its constitution which concentrated power heavily into the Head of State. While technically still a republic, it is highly thassalocratic and dynastic in nature, with the last two presidents having been father and son. Because of these amendments, a brief civil war took place from 2004-2006 after the election of a Yellow government under the much weaker Jangmu family, supported by the Tsaka's major rival, the Ciangiya. The civil war, while a Tsaka victory, did not lead to the dissolution of the Jangmu, but instead lead to their few military contracts and industry being sold to the Tsaka-aligned Mahalr Hawa.

National Government
Huoxia's government is split into three branches, with a single-chamber legislature called the National Body (or National Embodiment depending on translation) composed of exactly one hundred members. Appointments and election to the National Body are an eclectic mix of local elections, position assignments, and hereditary positions; of the hundred members, sixty-eight are elected and forty of those are elected by the people in elections of wildly varying complexity and trustworthiness.

The executive branch and judicial branches are each headed by a single member, with the President being an incredibly strong position with the power to unilaterally veto Body decisions, write laws, and levy taxes without legislative input. The President is both Head of State and Government and leads Body proceedings in normal circumstances, and is elected from within the party with a majority of seats. The judicial branch's leader, the People's Mouth, has the ability to veto Presidential decisions and put them before the Body for a vote as well as managing lower judges, but is appointed by the President. The legislature is lead by a First Minister who also heads the cabinet and acts and an aide to the President. Since 1968, the President, People's Mouth, and First Minister have all been from the Red Party.

Local Government
Huoxia is broken into seven States, one Province, three Territories, and two City Administrative Zones. States elect local leaders and members to the National Body, the Province contains the capital and is administrated directly but retains the right to elect Body members, the CAZs are assigned governors (typically along traditional family lines) and elect Body members, and the Territories have appointed military governors and no representation. The Territories were States prior to 1982, at which point the end of the Yuhuru Rebellion destroyed the only major Hurch Hawa in the country.

Political Parties
Huoxia has two legal political parties: the Party for Huoxia (Reds) and the People's Representation Organization (Yellows). The political ideals of each are nearly identical except in which oligarchs support them, with both being nationalist, militaristic, protectionist, and to an extent xenophobic in rhetoric but not in practice. The PRO in particular has claimed itself at times to be a Bairdist, Socialist, Pro-Occidental, Pro-Varshani, Islamic, Jewish, Internationalist, and Bannochist party at various times to various foreign groups to attempt to gain support. Of the two, the Party for Huoxia has been the primary party since 2006 and held 61% of the Body as of 2025. The PfH is largely a hereditary party run by the Tsaka Family, who have held power since 1999 after taking party leadership from the destroyed Basun Family.

Oligarchs
The economy of Huoxia is inextricably linked with its political status, with the oligarchs largely drawing from the Six Families (or Hawa) with the exception of a few bright entrepreneurs and businessmen. These newcomers often end up adopted into a Family, and as a result create large conglomerates that dominate the majority of the economy. The most notable are:
 * Thousand Embers, a silica and glassware manufacturing, coal mining, and energy production conglomerate run by the ruling Tsaka Family;
 * Changsi Industry, a parts and machine manufacturing corporation and defense manufacturer owned by Cuyen Ciangiya;
 * Doron Health, a chemicals, medical manufacturing, and processed food conglomerate run by the Doron family;
 * Mahalr Steelworks, a defense manufacturing company owned by the Mahalr family;
 * Sainho a livestock and agricultural conglomerate run by the Tankai and Ciangiya families;
 * Jangmu Jotska, a fishing company owned by Ceng Jangmu.

Internal Police
In addition to a civil police service, Huoxia's government maintains two paramilitary organization under the umprella of the Huozian Armed Forces - the Eyemben, a militia and street-level enforcement organization, and the Yasa, the internal intelligence service of the country. The Yasa are singularly responsible for foreign and domestic intelligence, and generally oversee political prosecutions within Huoxia as well as being involved with a number of internationally-condemned activities such as extrajudicial killings, deportations, chargeless detainments, torture, and more.

Economy
The Huoxian economy is somewhat diverse, but its export market primarily consists of glass and silica products, coal, and manufactured parts, along with a textile industry which forms a large part of the market available to smaller, independent families. The country imports a large amount of grain to supplement local food production through a state-controlled dole, as well as high-grade oil, cobalt, agricultural and manufacturing machinery, and media. Huoxia is often approached as a movie shot destination by film studios, and Nuran Airport serves as a major connection point for airlines not allowed to land in Danehong as well as for cargo transit across the Ocean of Cathay.

Economic troubles from the wars of the 2000's largely impacted minority communities and the lower echelons of the elite, leaving the small but growing middle class in relative island of stability. State programs centered on bolstering political support for the Red Party have proven somewhat effective at growing local economies, although the pace of growth is outstripped by the growth of oligarchic businesses, as truly independent ownership is difficult without international sales and contacts.

Military
The Huoxian Armed forces are broken down into four branches: the Falimben, or 'The Gathered', a revolutionary guard organization with control over the major naval and aerospace assets of the country personally loyal to the President; the Eyemben, or 'The Mass', a volunteer militia and internal security force; the Kūwaran, the actual Army of Huoxia; and the Yasa, the country's primary intelligence service.

The Huoxian Armed Forces are partially capable of supplying themselves with armaments, with the notable exception of cutting-edge technologies and naval elements such as ships and complex electronics. Some of this was supplied by Varshan from 2005-2012, with much of the remaining area filled by Daxian and a few Occidental manufacturers. Since 2012, Huoxia has attempted with minimal success to create indigenous next-generation fighters and tanks. The military operated 34 last and current-gen fighter craft as of 2022, as well as 76 obsolete and trainer craft and approximately eighty to a hundred twenty helicopters. The navy operates sixteen vessels, fifteen of which are corvettes or missile boat craft and only one of which can be classed as a destroyer.

Falimben
The Falimben Guard are personally loyal to the Tsa Hawa, and are entrusted with the best equipment, as well as the large naval assets and air forces/advanced air defenses and chemical weapons stocks of Huoxia. It operates a number of modern and near-modern systems, and is approximately three-quarters the size of the regular Army by manpower; Guard members receive more pay, considerably more prestige, and are generally allowed to harass members of the Army and general public. The Falimben is the force most often directly employed to suppress the regular local uprisings in the country's interior, as it generally does not recruit Hurch members despite claiming to allow volunteers of any origin.

Kūwaran
The Army of Huoxia is a majority-conscript force which maintains a stock of last-generation equipment and fielding several operational units called Banners, organized by color. Banners are roughly analogous to large occidental regiments or brigades, and are trained to fight symmetrically against foreign invaders. The Army has been the least politically involved of the branches of the Armed Forces since 1999, and is almost universally of secondary importance to the Guard due to legal restrictions on its use internally. It is the only branch of the Huoxian Armed Forces which swears loyalty to the Republic itself and not the President.

Corruption is a significant issue in the Army, as it is largely inferior in pay, prestige, political standing, and is not regularly exercised. The Guard has increasingly taken over the duties normally relegated to the Army, leaving it hollowed-out of quality personnel and mainly extant as a first line of defense to absorb initial attacks by foreign powers, with the Eyemben being equipped to mobilize large numbers of civilians and either provide a large force quickly or supplement rapid expansion of the Eyemben ground units.

Paramilitary Forces
The Eyemben and Yasa protect the Huoxian state's internal stability and political elites, but both play a role in national defense as well. On several occasions, Eyemben volunteers and previously conscripts have been used as auxilliary forces to the regular Army and Falimben Guard, used for distraction attacks, asymmetrical fighting forces, and occupational units. The Yasa fulfils the role of a Joint Staff organization during wartime, directly managing concerted operations between the three field forces Huoxia maintains.