Maloka

The Republic of Maloka, formerly the Malokan Council State, is a Fanerian protectorate in northern Crona. It borders Aeonara, the Levantine Ocean, and the Mera Bay by sea, as well as Ashkenang by land to the east. Internally, it is organized as a unitary representative republic with its capital in Kimiornee, which oversees a territory of over xxx square miles and nearly six million people. Historically, Maloka's people and history have been defined by its separation from much of the subcontinent by the Mera Bay, which insulated them from some ancient migrations and made them a fishing people, as well as making them a desirable target for conquerors aiming to dominate the fur trade in northern Cusinaut such as the Northern Confederation and the Algosh Hierarchy, resulting in their lacking an independent state until the 2020s as part of the outcome of the Peninsular War.

Geography
Maloka is largely coastal, being largely composed of the Malho peninsula with a coast stretching up into and along the mainland to the Boral Zone. Its northern coast is rugged and frozen, and its southern areas are cold and snow well into summer. The peninsula itself is mostly flats or rolling hills; the region is only marginal for farming quality and natural resources are poorly exploited. Its inland stretches are sparsely inhabited tundra. Most of its population lives along the inner coastline of the bay it rests on, the Mera, as storm weather on the coast is infrequent but savage; icebreaking and transport to the southern tip of the peninsula is critical for the country. The Kilmer River forms its primary watershed in the inner Mera Bay, with smaller creeks and rivers draining water along the peninsular region.

Economy
Maloka is a developing nation with a fairly small GDP, and relies heavily on Faneria for funding its military and political process. Fishing and subsistence farming, along with imports, feed the nation, and its few exports largely consist of meagre iron yields and canned goods. Trade is reliant on the city of Mharnsgate, at the southern tip the peninsula, which is currently under a 99-year lease to Faneria. Shipping further into the bay normally requires icebreakers except in summer.

Parties
The three major political parties of Maloka are the Red Suns, White Suns, and Forward Path. The Forward Path is a reactionary party focused on advancing the aims of the disparate northern enclaves, shoreward communities, and tribal factions; the Red Sun is a conservative reformist faction aimed at centralization of the state along Occidental lines; the White Sun is the liberal faction (comparable to Occidental centrists) and focuses on government reform specifically along Cananachan lines as well as social reform reflective of Occidental enlightenment and modernism. The Red Sun and White Sun have consistently formed coalition governments throughout the country's history.

Voting in Maloka is limited to citizens; the Forward Path has been pushing for a switch to landed voting but is unsuccessful. Due to the country's moderate cohesion, its elections tend to be difficult and filled with low turnouts and a relatively small voting pool compared to the total adult population.

Government
Maloka's government is comprised of a unicameral legislature of 33 people, called the People's Council, which is lead by a Chief Minister elected by a direct first-past-the-post vote. Terms are capped at six terms of four years each; this extends to judges, ministers, and the executive as well. Previously, the People's Council was both the legislative and executive organ of government; as of 2029, an executive branch in the form of a Directorate was formed as part of legal reforms intended to finalize the formation of government independent of Fhainnin military advisement.

Maloka's government has a variety of ministries that operate at the beck and call of the Directorate, while the Chief Minister exercises great powers in budgetary decisions and the country's Triad Court is assigned a judge each by the Director, Chief Minister, and a popular vote in the People's Council.

Maloka does not exercise rights as a nation in regards to bilateral relations with other states, but instead operates a diplomatic ministry that works in conjunction with the Fhainnin Foreign Affairs Bureau. In theory, this limits their ability to conduct diplomacy; in practice, it is more a check to ensure Malokan relations do not counteract Fanerian aims.

The primary Ministries of the Malokan government are the Ministries of War, Trade, Security, Records, Development, and Finance.

Administration
Maloka is divided into thirteen provinces, three of which are semiautonomous as part of the Rianee Cooperative Reserve. Each non-autonomous province elects three delegates to the People's Council, one of which is approved by the peoples' council to simultaneously serve as governor of their province. Each semiautonomous province appoints one delegate, and is permitted to operate under local tribal law and is not regulated by the central government in regards to hunting and fishing rights within their territory.

South Osweyan, the southernmost province, is partially leased to the government of Faneria until 2123. while Maloka also agreed to sell the Tohatacan Strip to Faneria in 2025 in exchange for a military aid package of a frigate, several fighter aircraft, and repair and sustainment aid, which Faneria gifted to Ashkenang to allow it access to the sea.

Demographics
Education is highly stratified, with the Algosh population being 85% literate, the Malki being 64% literate, and the Rianee being 4% literate. The majority of the Rianee population lives in the tundra and northern coastal regions, and are by far the poorest, with some never receiving regular contact with the south and only nominally being under Malokan control. The Algosh population has, since the war of liberation, become a pariah caste, sticking to their own communities to avoid backlash - typically consolidating towards the lease city of Mharnsgate, which is legally a safe haven - a reality usually enforced by Fhainnin troops, though violence does occasionally occur. The Algosh, despite their previous affluence, are politically a non-entity, while the Rianee communities in the southern regions are small enough to be safely ignored and generally are only supported by the White Suns out of deference to their imported ideals.

The largest city in Maloka is Kimiornee, which is home to a population of 1.42 million people. The next largest cities, Losha and Tutelo, hold 1.18 and half a million, respectively, making the Kilmer watershed and its urban zones the core of the country with around two-thirds of the population residing there. These communities are some of the oldest permanent settlements in the country, but remained a smaller proportion of the population until 2011, after the area was annexed by the Algoquonan Heirarchy and a program of forced urbanization was enacted to help modernize the area.

Fhainnin Occupation and Protectorate
Maloka faces considerable challenges with infrastructure, education, and public health, particularly north of the Kilmer River Basin and on the exterior coast of the Malokan Peninsula. Its military and bureaucracy are heavily dependent of Fhainnin foreign aid, and the government's primary concern has been establishing effective taxation, services, and information systems, as well as formally creating a registry of citizens to fix the issue of more than twenty percent of the population being undocumented as citizens of any country. While basic food and water availability has been met, these services are often privatized, and the government is not yet capable of regulating racketeering without external support.

Malki
Malki culture is heavily based in familial and clan ties; most Malki families live in multigenerational compounds that are grouped into blocks rather than Occedental-style housing divisions. Their people are stratified by a somewhat more educated and developed urban class and a much poorer small community class, and many still live in cottage industry towns, forgotten by the urban core around the Kilmer River. Their diets heavily feature shellfish and fish, though potatoes have also become a staple crop. Malki art glorifies triangle patterns, as their ancient cloth weaves used series of colored triangles as a primitive writing system.

Ashkenauk
Ashkenauks are a considerable minority in Maloka, but are a large minority in some of the border regions with Ashkenang. Ashkenauk culture is a unique branch-off of the more common continental M'acunism, and their tribal faiths burn their offerings in addition to other parts of the sacrifices made.

Rianee
The Rianee people are largely hunter-gatherers, and have a preindustrial culture with a heavy emphasis on subsistence hunting and fishing. Many of them visit temporary living sites throughout the north and Polar Zone, and furs and handcrafts still feature heavily in their garb. In modern times, they have acquired a small number of firearms and manufactured goods in addition to traditional spears and clubs, and have adapted well to using modern trappings while maintaining distance from urban society. The few static Rianee communities are relatively stable albeit poor, and Rianee are often found in shanty towns throughout north and central Maloka. Historically, the Malki pushed the Rianee north from the peninsula, wiping most of them out. The Northern Confederation, during its tenure, had little concern for their status considering their small population size, while the Hierarchy employed many as pathfinders and enforcers against the Malki majority.

Algosh
The Algosh homeland is on the opposite side of Cusinaut from Maloka, but controlled a vast swathe of territory, including Maluka, under the now-defunct Algoquonan Hierarchy. During the occupation, ALgosh settlers became a dominant social class in the major cities, and after the liberation of Maloka, suffered from pogroms, asset siezures, and forced deportations. Many of these were combatted by Fhainnin troops during the Final War of the Deluge, but the Algosh remain a hated minority in Maloka. As a result, many have voluntarily emigrated to the Algosh Republic or to the city of Mharnsgate, which is governed by Faneria.

National Liberation Army
Maloka's Army consists of four brigades modelled in a roughly Occidental style, with three motorized infantry brigades and a Pathfinders Brigade, the latter of which is in theory special forces but acts in a mountaineering and border patrol capacity. The majority of its equipment is surplus Occidental equipment, and training is handled by a small core of local officers aided by Fanerian advisors. Most of the initial equipment was mixed, with captured Algosh arms, local small arms, and Fhainnin gifts being seen side by side, but as reorganizations have gone on the Army has gradually approached uniformity, with the oldest armaments being passed down to garrison units and later decommissioned or sold off in batches to Sabnaki or other petty states to help pay for better equipment. The NLA only possesses a half-dozen tanks, although its primary armored vehicle, the Bataís, is an excellent rough terrain vehicle (for a tracked system) and is decently effective against most of the local Cronan threats the NLA would reasonably be expected to fight.

Originally, the National Liberation Army consisted of a large variety of militia forces and political extremist groups; after the Peninsular War, an internal winnowing was undertaken to refine the military into a considerably smaller and more manageable force aimed at national defense and maintaining internal order. The focus of military doctrine is purely defensive, and as such relies on simpler, tried-and-true methods rather than complex maneuver.

National Liberation Navy
The Malokan Navy is a green-water force which consists of six major surface craft (one older frigate, two icebreakers, and three heavy patrol craft) and two dozen-odd patrol boats; its frigate is a mine warfare-oriented design of Fanerian origin and its corvettes are Fanerian surplus. The Navy also operates Maloka's fleet of fourteen aircraft (two trainers, four scout planes, and eight last-gen fighter craft). Its primary role is coastal and air defense, and it operates the country's major naval base in Kimiornee and uses Mharnsgate as a second port due to the Fanerian base there.

In 2026, Maloka sold four of its then eighteen fighters to Ashkenang to pay for a maintenance and training program on its other aircraft..