Xisheng

Xisheng Province
Province of the Democratic Republic of Daxia
Flag
Province	Daxia
Capital	Pinghai
Official languages	Daxian
Ethnic groups	Daxian Ixa'Takan Chimor Rusani Ajaw Nuun Varshani
Government
• Governor	Qin Gang
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	302,462,686,466
• Per capita	18,744
Gini (2030)	49.8 high
HDI (2030)	0.840 very high
Currency	Lire (LIR)
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Driving side	right

Xisheng, officially Xisheng Province is an overseas province of the Democratic Republic of Daxia located in northern Crona. Early Daxian explorers arrived in the Nysdra in the early 1600's, with an imperial punitive expedition wresting possession of the island of Cao from pirates in 1606. More violent confrontations with then native Cronan kingdomgs in today's Quetzenkel and New Harren funneled exploration further east.

The fort of Pinghai was founded in 1623 in a coastal region only loosely controlled by the empire of Ixa'Taka. The following centuries saw an on and off colonization effort that nonetheless spread Daxian presence over the eastern Nysdra coastline. Daxian colonial officials routinely meddled in Ixa'Takan and Chimoche affairs by funding internal dissension, providing mercenaries to rival powers and active campaigns of economic sabotage such as the damming of important rivers to disrupt crop production. The Ixa'Takan Empire and Chimoche kingdom were overtaken by the 1860's and reduced first to vassal states and later turned into administratively subordinate enclaves.

Successive Daxian regimes have worked extensively to rebalance the demographic makeup of Xisheng away from native Cronans, even so Daxians only constitute around 17% of the total population. Furthermore Cronan peoples are confined to enclosed administrative units with various degrees of autonomy such as Chimoche and Ixa'Taka, outside of these quasi states Daxian culture is ascendant. Xisheng is the most militarized province on Daxia, given its location surrounded by Urcean possesions and the only recently defanged Varshan.

History

Classic period

Carved funerary lid of the tomb of the Umatz Tlipoca VI known as the Peacemaker.

Xisheng is inhabited by many groups but most of them point to a common ancestor originating from what is now central Varshan. The various Ixa'Takan peoples who lived in the eastern shore of the Nysdra have done so since at least the late 800's BCE, after displacing local Venua groups under the guidance of their proto-monarch, Tlipoca. The ancient Ixa'Takans appear to have upheld a system where they were ruled by an absolute monarch known as the Umatz. According to the Chokma stele, construction of the great city of Rixis begun in 875BCE on the orders of the 6th Umatz, a ruler only named as Enetzin and known to be of the line of Tlipoca. It is this ruler that seemingly set down the base of a state, the social order and military that would be needed for imperial growth. The city of Rixis is believed to have risen in the following centuries to establish its primacy and expanded its territorial control by building sister cities. In time, cities such as Mezro and Tolon grew in importance and wealth and served as regional bases for further growth. These other cities were never ruled directly by the Umatz but by lesser kings anointed in Rixis, not quite puppet rulers but neither fully autonomous. Their loyalty was often secured through royal marriages, sacred oaths to the gods of Ixa'Taka and the military might of the Umatz, often times they were also blood relatives of the Umatz such as royal cousins and nephews. The result was that Ixa'Taka created something that resembled an empire in outward appearance, but was in truth was a brittle construct and its longevity depended in great measure on the talent and charismatic rule of successive Umatz. An important challenge of the classic period was recurrent the Kimor struggle for independence. Kimor was one of the earliest colonies of Rixis and had grown over the years into a very powerful city, its nobles did not see themselves as subservient to Rixis and they chafed at even the slightest notions of foreign control.

In 1112 the supposed puppet ruler of Kimor, king Shagur I led a first schism that would eventually end with the Chimor declaring themselves a separate people. This schism was fueled by the murder of Shagur's son on the orders of the king of Mezro and the Umatz of Rixis siding with him. The cause of the murder is suspected to have been a dispute over a woman's attention. Taking advantage of the kings grief, the nobles of Kimor egged him on to declare the city's independence from Ixa'Taka. The dispute led to a break-up of Ixa'Taka's quasi unified domain as some cities sided with Kimor instead of with their overlord in Rixis. Kimor expelled the Umatz's tax collectors and marched to war against Mezro, which called on Ixa'Taka for aid. Gaining entry to Mezro by treachery, the army of Kimor rampaged through the city. Shagur ordered the captured king of Mezro to have his hands and feet tied up, then he was thrown off from the steps of the great pyramid of the city. When he reached the bottom and was discovered to still be alive, he was carried back up before being flung down a second time. By the time relief arrived from Rixis, the city was completely looted and heavily depopulated. Kimor's army was laying siege to Tolon when it was overtaken by the army of Tlipoca VI who along with Tolon's defenders soundly defeated the attackers. After a short siege, Kimor opened its gates and surrendered and Shagur was forced to abdicate but otherwise the Ixa'Takans did not feel the need for harsh retribution. A regent was appointed to rule over Kimor and the city was now considered to be part of the Umatz's domain proper. In 1156 the regent of Kimor was overthrown and killed in a popular uprising, the nobles of the city raised a supposed son of Shagur as Shagur II although historians believe the man to have had no royal blood and to simply be a convenient figurehead. The second Kimor War lasted for much longer than the first as Shagur II successfully went on the offensive, capturing many cities loyal to Rixis and replacing their kings with new nobles. Tlipoca VI was by this time an exhausted old man and his sons squabbled between themselves often. Effective control of Ixa'Takan forces was bestowed on Hakkar, the chief priest of the Blood God.

Hakkar enacted a bloody campaign that saw hundreds of people in recaptured cities sacrificed to the Blood God while not being able to deliver a knockout blow to the army of Kimor who studiously avoided open battle. Hakkar sacked Kimor a second time, threw down its walls and managed to scatter much of its population but Shagur II retook it the next year. Hakkar's penchant for sacrifice of civilians made Ixa'Taka unpopular in cities that had formerly been loyal and the nobles he had put in place to rule them were thrown out in 1165. Tolon, Chokma and Atil joined the rebellion of Kimor and their combined army defeated and killed Hakkar in 1167. The defeat of this army convinced the elderly Tlipoca VI to agree to a treaty that released Kimor from its bonds to Ixa'Taka. The other cities that had joined Kimor did not push for full independence but agreed to be ruled by their own elected kings, paying tribute to Rixis. This treaty put the Ixa'Takan Kimor problem to rest and allowed it to focus on other affairs, but it also turned that city into a future rival. The Kimor would rename themselves as the Chimor people to display their uniqueness as a separate people.

Varshani Potentate

Jade mask worn by third Varshani Potentate, Fanmalidor Shaggath Iltukso who reinstated blood sacrifices at the Fane of Buruso

The schism in the Ixa'Takan empire did not go unnoticed by Varshan, only a few years later it started incursions into the former's southernmost territories as far as the Mountains of the Sun. At first these territorial intrusions involved only a few hundred men at any one time and were either ignored or thrown back easily enough. By the 1200's Varshan began to openly attack the Ajaw settlements that paid tribute to Ixa'Taka during its Hunts, prompting harsher responses. An army commanded by a nephew of the Umatz Janab I pushed the invaders out and then invaded north Varshan for five months before being annihilated in battle by the Zurg's royal army. The following century would see a pattern of territorial encroachment by Varshan and temporary alliances by Chimoche and Ixa'Taka to push back on these advances. By 1230 all the lands south of the Mountains of the Sun had been lost to Varshan and in 1245 the Ixa'Takans sealed a marriage alliance with the Zurg whereby they became a tributary state and adopted Arzalism. By abandoning their wartime alliance with Chimoche they also got to achieve a historical revenge against them for their multiple rebellions, Ixa'Takan troops played an important role in the Varshani subjugation of Chimoche.

The Varshan Zurgs decided to appoint high caste noblemen from Anzo as potentates over both Chimoche and Ixa'Taka to oversee their kings, observe that Arzalism was practiced and tribute delivered on time. This period of history is known as the Varshani Potentate and it is characterized by local historians as unusually harsh, bleak and tyrannical. The potentates were often fanatically religious and looked down on the locals as both impure inferiors and lacking zeal in their Arzalist devotions. A great deal of resources was poured into building new temples and the Blood Fane of Buruso was said to glow red at night due to all the blood shed on its steps on the orders of the Potentates. The seeds of rebellion against the Potentate came in 1581 when the 13th Potentate, Kangar Dun Talmoc, ordered the destruction of the temples of the local deity Tlaloc, a local god of rain and bountiful weather worshipped as an aspect of the Arzalist Rain God. The forceful destruction of his shrines incensed both the commoners and nobles of Ixa'Taka and Chimoche. A low level revolt with sporadic murders of Varshani soldiers and the harassment of Arzalist priests began as a result of this action. This morphed into a full fledged uprising when the Potentate Kangar Dun Talmoc and several Anzo dignataries were attacked and killed by an angry mob in the central plaza of Rixis, an event possibly organized by the Ixa'Takan Umatz himself.

The following conflict was named in the annals of Varshan as the War of Serrated Teeth, a bitter conflict that raged for decades and is an example of a preindustrial population engaging in something reminiscent of total war. The priesthoods of the Old Gods of Ixa'Taka and Chimoche whipped their peoples into a religious fervor to expel the occupiers and destroy the Potentate. The animosity against Varshan was so great that soon the Potentate and his apparatus had to flee the great cities of the region and head south, too many of the officials and priests employed by the Potentate were being targeted and murdered by regular people who then simply melted back into the population. Kangar Dun Talmoc's successor, the 14th Potentate Razagal Zun Malat immediately requested the support of the Zurg to put down the popular rebellion. Underestimating the seriousness of the situation and with favorable omens of victory from the priesthood, only a small Varshani army was sent forth. Harassed all the way through their march in the Ajaw region, the Varshanis were ambushed and destroyed by an Ixa'Takan army shortly after crossing the Mountains of the Sun; the dead were decapitated and their skulls piled up in grisly towers as a grim warning. The War of Serrated Teeth continued for thirty years throughout various phases and intensity, at one point Varshan had reconquered most of the territory until civil strife and plague back in the interior forced them to withdraw; it was never able to fully restore the Potentate before the arrival of Daxia.

Arrival of Daxia

Daxian cavalry marching through the gates of Rixis during the War of Serrated Teeth. The distorted faces are typical of Qian artwork of the period.

In 1609 the first explorers from Daxia arrived in the shores of western Ixa'Taka during a period in which Varshani presence had been pushed back south. After securing their foothold on the island of Cao and clearing it of pirates, the Daxians sailed eastwards and came in contact with Quetzenkel and Varshan. The latter were particularly unwelcoming of the strange looking, yellowish dignitaries and ordered them to leave. On Ixa'Taka however they were gladly received with honors as a possibly ally against Varshan, against who the War of Serrated Teeth still raged. The Ixa'Takans were eager for an alliance for word of the defeat of the pirate lords of Cao were welcome news all around the Nysdra. The Daxians required land for some small settlements and gold trinkets of some value before agreeing to getting involved. Daxian requirements were vaguely worded on purpose, the definition of the word 'some' would be stretched as necessary to filch the Ixa'Takans of as much as possible. The Pinghai Compact obliged Daxia to aid Ixa'Taka and to a lesser extent Chimoche in their struggle to retain their independence from Varshan in exchange for the aforementioned boons. The compact did not specify what form Daxian aid would take, the locals possibly expected immediate dispatchment of Daxian troops, the Qian were planning no such thing and instead transported guns and offered to train the forces of the Umatz in their use. The use of firearms was a turning point in the War of Serrated Teeth, forcing back a Varshan that lacked similar technology. In the last year of the war, the Daxians participated actively in the field of battle with its cavalry. The horse was unknown in Varshan's domains and they frightened its warriors, cavalry charges were used to great effect. The War of Serrated Teeth ended with Varshan retreating from all traditional Chimor and Ixa'Takan lands and stopping its slave Hunts but there never was a peace treaty concluded between the sides.

While the war was drawing down Daxia turned back to its new holdings in the Shengoi peninsula where it constructed the fort city of Pinghai as the first of many spots deemed desirable for settlement. Over the next decades the Daxians would rapidly expand through the peninsula, creating new settlements and bringing in larger waves of settlers. In 1645 the Daxian settlements were organized into the Pinghai Department and Wen Rong was appointed as the first Governor General. Wei Rong was highly disdainful of the Chimoche and Ixa'Takans and endeavored to secure more agricultural land at their expense. The Chimor under king Falcao IV fought back at these attempts, starting the first Qian-Chimor War. The Chimor achieved some early tactical victories but the arrival of reinforcements from Cao turned the war against them and they were forced to negotiate, having to surrender all Chimor territory up to the Urgall Depression and thus losing the access to the Nysdra Sea they had previously possessed. Following the war, the Daxians began using tactics meant to sow division among the nobility of Chimoche. They bribed several important noble families and bankrolled the overthrow of Falcao IV and his replacement by his uncle, Tamazro. Tamazro was not accepted by the cities of eastern Chimoche and a civil war over the throne went on for twelve years until Tamazro's death and the enthronement of Falcao IV's son, Tizroc III, who was a minor at the time. The constant infighting and a tactical alliance between Daxia and Ixa'Taka led to the Second Qian-Chimor War in 1712, Chimoche was soundly defeated and most of its territory was occupied by Daxia as a buffer zone. King Tizroc V and the royal clan were interned in Pinghai, this would be known as the Captivity of Weeping Sores. The Chimoche royal bloodline would continue to exist under Daxian tutelage for almost 300 years until the creation of the Chimoche Autonomy, the release of Tizroc V's descendants and their reappointment to rulership.

19th century depiction of the captivity of King Tizroc V in Daxia with his family. The 300 year captivity of the Chimor royalty is called the Captivity of Weeping Sores

In 1645 the Qian dynasty began enacting a reorganization of its Cronan holdings by creating the Pinghai Department covering modern Xisheng as a separate territorial unit from Cao, court bureaucrats reasoned that in this way the Chimor identity could be more easily diluted and suppressed under the rule of the well oiled and fully staffed administration of coastal Daxian settlers. The viceroy in Cao, a certain Shu Ao resolutely refused to cede control of Xisheng to the newly appointed governor Wen Rong, arguing that the territory was not secure enough to rule itself. He detained Wen Rong's ship while it was in transit from Cao and arrested Rong and his entourage, this was the start of what is known as the Two Hats Incident named so because of Shu Ao's ambition to wear both the hat of Viceroy of Cao and the hat of Governor General of the Pinghai department. While imprisoned Wei Rong managed to have his writ of appointment and a plea for help smuggled to Xisheng. Wei Rong's missive was received by the commanding officers of Xisheng's territorial forces, some of said officers argued that an expedition had to be launched to free the new governor while others were against as they felt Shu Ao was still their superior. In the end the deliberations resulted in a copy of Wei Rong's missive being sent to the mainland, asking for clarification and instructions on who should the garrison obey. While letters were exchanged by long sea voyage, Shu Ao also busied himself by contacting his allies in court, trying to have them revert the appointment of Wei Rong. After eight full months finally the Qian court resolved to uphold its own decision and commanded the Xisheng forces to depose Shu Ao, which was done bloodlessly as Ao's Cao troops surrendered without fighting. Never again were the two territories joined together again to prevent an overmighty local ruler from straying into autonomy. Xisheng's caste system first emerged in this period, proposed to the imperial court by settler elites although they were already implementing highly discriminatory policies unofficially.

The Model Colony

The former Pyramid of the Sun of Rixis, the top of which was deconstructed and replaced by the Qian administrators with a Daxian style structure known as the Palace of High Munificence and used as the seat of the Governor-General.

The 18th century brought great prosperity to Xisheng, nestled safely on the edge of the Nysdra Sea as it was and protected by Cao's presence to the west. The South Seas Trading Company and its local branch, the Xisheng Trading Company began investing heavily in the territory as a strategy to diversify their investments in light of the Daxian Polynesian Wars that were still raging in the southern oceans and Australis. The settler elites(精英) and the Xisheng Trading Company began together the acquisition of vast tracts of land further inland of historic proportions, the development of said territories made easier and cheaper by the inexhaustible pool of manpower in the form of Chimor and Ixa'Takan peasantry. The caricature of the wealthy Xisheng Daxian landowner being feted by a hundred Cronans comes from this period when there were around four hundred natives per single Daxian. The territorial expansion of the colony was paused during this period as the Central Bureau of Expansion considered that moving further east into Nanzitolclatl territory would risk increasing the native population to uncontrollable numbers and a direct border with the Coscivian colonies further east was not desirable. Thus the decision was made that Nanzitolclatl would remain a buffer entity for at least seventy years while the territorial consolidation of the Pinghai Department continued. During this period the position of Viceroy was reverted to Governor-General and lobbying began to take place, mostly by the settler elite, to introduce limits on how long one individual could serve in the position. Previous Viceroys remained in office for as long as they could politically maneuver to keep the confidence of the central bureaucracy, starting in 1728 the Qian decreed that henceforth there would be an upper limit of fifteen years for anyone serving as Governor-General of Xisheng. Later still this period was reduced to ten years and eight years by the late 1880's.

From 1750 to 1830 approximately fifty new towns were founded on the territory, important cities such as the port of Yuzhen in the Bay of Honghai, Tuzicheng and Luwei on Chimor territory, Goumao and Chouma southeast by the Ajaw lands and Hewen as a garrison town northeast of Rixis. Rixis itself was completely transformed from the former capital of Ixa'Taka into a center of Qian power, the majority of its original population was pushed outside the city boundaries and later pushed even further into outlying villages to farm there and work the new mines and plantations. The Pinghai Department at this time also became one of the main 'tributaries' that fed the vast stream of slaves that were sent into the Southern slave trade. Slavery became a mainstay of the economy of coastal Xisheng until limitations were put in place, too many native men of working age were being sold away and shortages of labor were affecting the profitability of many local enterprises. The extension of formal slavery to Xisheng carried out serious consequences for the colony in the form of slave revolts. The excessive cruelty of the settler slavers erupted in rebellions in 1812, 1835, 1875 and a last great slave uprising in 1892.

Autonomy under the Army of Conquest

The military requirements of the campaigns of the Qian dynasty in Australis and internal revolts in the mainland necessitated by 1770 the gradual withdrawal and redeployment of regular Qian forces from Xisheng. To maintain a sufficiently strong force of deterrence in the colony, the Qian bureaucracy empowered the Governor-General, the local elites and the Xisheng Trading Company to recruit and equip its own military formations. Ostensibly under the authority of the Ministry of War, in practice these private armies were obedient only to whoever armed and paid them. After a period of tension and skirmishes, a realignment of the interests of local actors led to a process of centralization that coalesced all disparate armies into a single entity dubbed the Army of Conquest. By the 1850's the power of the Army of Conquest began to outpace the capacity of the factions that created it to maintain their control over it. The military authority of successive Governor-Generals crumbled away as they only had direct control over at most two thousand troops, the Army of Conquest numbered some 30,000 at this point. The impetus to construct the Great Arsenal allowed the army to build its own arms factories and foundries in Xisheng to equip its forces, becoming an entirely self sufficient native military force. With private financial support, the Army of Conquest founded the Xisheng Military College to train its own officer cadres independently from the Qian army. This institution recruited from all the layers of settler society regardless of class and instructed them in the army's political goals of territorial expansion, strategic autonomy from the mainland and local hegemony over civilian authorities. The most famous alumni of this institution was Hong Huanxiong who eventually rose to the highest rank attainable in the army, that of Great Marshal.

Hong Huanxiong, Great Marshal of the Army of Conquest in the early 20th century.

In 1891 Hong secured the governorship of Xisheng in exchange for a payment of two million silver coins to the Grand Vizier and a notarized promise not to seek more autonomy, thus finally combining the nominal supreme political authority of the Governor-General and the military power of the Great Marshal of the Army of Conquest, he also ignored the eight year limit for serving as governor. Hong's authority was now so great that he began enacting a program to disempower the Xisheng Trading Company by seizing many of the critical assets it had built or acquired for decades, including railways, factories and ports; in this way Hong began securing the productive and economic base for himself and was no longer beholden to the approval of the plutocrats. The sudden and forceful loss of its vast holdings in Xisheng led the South Seas Trading Company into a downward spiral that forced it to divest itself of other assets in order to raise funds to survive, one such asset was the Harmonious Flotilla Invincible which it could no longer afford to operate autonomously; the fleet was sold to the Qian navy at a significant loss. By 1905 Huanxiong was interested in expanding his territory to northern Varshan, specifically the land inhabited by the sedentary Ajaw people. Nominally subordinate to the emperor in Daxia, Hong telegraphed the mainland to 'request permission' for his plans, a mere formality in his eyes. The answer that came back in the name of Emperor Zhishun not only denied his request but also rebuked him for engaging in unsanctioned adventurism, insufficient deference to the imperial court and for expelling imperial auditors. In fury Hong delayed returning a response for six months and began making serious preparations to create his own dynasty and secede from Qian control (albeit nominal at this point). Given their vastly modernized armed forces, the Qian were in no mood to negotiate with their unruly vassal and were confident of defeating him and retaking Xisheng by force. Hong began making preparations to crown himself as the emperor of the new Shan dynasty, made overtures to Varshan to create an anti Qian alliance and began planning an operation to take over Cao to prevent any naval movement towards Xisheng. The march to war was interrupted with the sudden death of Huanxiong to stomach cancer and a struggle to succeed him among the top ranks of the Army of Conquest.

The internecine conflict lasted until 1909 when general Pan Zexian sidelined his rivals for control and reestablished contact with Qian officials. What followed was a period where Zexian began walking back some of the most extreme autonomist policies of his predecessor and nurtured back ties with the mainland, including welcoming back imperial civil officials. Pan Zexian was received in Mirzak and formally appointed as Governor-General in 1911. Zexian did not walk back however the economic and military domination of Xisheng by his army which would continue to function as a state within a state for the next 50 years and neither would his successors let their grip slip of the two highest offices in the province. Zexian maintained the territorial status quo, at times propping up Nanzitolclatl as a buffer with Kiravian colonial territory; he also established working contacts with the Malan-Zar clan of north Varshan to help him manage the Ajaw raiders. The outbreak of the Second Great War brought a degree of economic deprivation as Urcean naval forces managed to severe communication between Xisheng and the mainland in the later stages of the war. The Army of Conquest prepared itself for naval invasion that never came about, spending a great deal of resources on fortifications that served no ultimate purpose. The economic plantation system employed locally rapidly decayed during and immediately after the war due to the temporary severing from its main market, the Daxian mainland. This in turn led to an economic decline of the province's economy and a hole in the budget that the top brass was unable to fill without the assistance of the central bank. Using the threat of withholding critical funds and closing of the mainland markets to tighten the screws on the Army of Conquest, coupled with heavy losses during the March into the mountains campaign, the post-Qian government managed to finally get the army back into a position of subordination by 1962.

The Deluge

The early 21st century saw increased international tension and armed conflict all over north and central Crona, a period known as the Deluge. Daxia for its part saw the chaotic situation to advance its interests and settle some territorial ambitions. Agreeing during negotiations in Touxian on a memorandum of understanding with the Kiravian Federacy in 2010, that secretly divided the territory between Xisheng and Mid-Atrassic Crona. The agreement formalized the future control of Daxia over the entirety of the Ixa'Takan rump and moreover apportioned western Nanzitolclatl and formalized the western half of the capital city of Rigo for Daxian control under the Rigo Joint Security Area. Within weeks of the agreement, Daxian border forces began making incursions under the premise of protecting ethnic Chimor from being oppressed on the other side of the border. Ixa'Taka's monarch, King Cacama protested these violations before the League of Nations to no avail, Daxia even contrived to secure a mandate from the Security Council to 'secure' these territories. In any case a full fledge military attack was well underway while these proceedings were taking place, Chimor irregular forces moved in small numbers into western Ixa'Taka followed shortly after by a strong mechanized Daxian assault that overwhelmed Ixa'Takan static defenses at numerous points of the frontline and caused a mass rout among Ixa'Takan forces. Ixa'Takan remants regrouped at the capital of Rixis which soon came itself under aerial attack; mass use of glide bombs rendered all of the capitals defenses into debris within two weeks. As the Daxian armored thrust pushed north and south of the city, the risk of encirclement became a coming certainty. King Cacama got in touch with the Daxian High Command and requested an armistice, which was granted. The statelet of Ixa'Taka was thereafter under strict military occupation while its dismantling was carried out; the monarchy was abolished, the remains of its defense forces were demobilized and its independence snuffed out. Only in 2015 would it regain a semblance of self rule with the passing and implementation of the Law on Autonomies, however instead of King Cacama a new ruler was installed over Ixa'Taka, an outsider with no local ties named Gurban Mamedow would act as a strongman closely monitored by the Daxians. There are certain theories that Ixa'Taka and the other Autonomies currently function as laboratories for new ways of politically organizing the many Cronan peoples under Daxian rule.

Daxian army tank during a skirmish in north Varshan

Nanzitolclatl for its part was subject to its own tribulations during this period. The government of Mirek Alaganek was under attack by Kiravia's 45th Army corps, fighting on behalf of the Chappaquiddick Peace Council and its drive for independence. Alaganek's forces were demoralized and losing ground quickly in the face of Kiravian technological superiority. Tragically for Nanzitolclatl the past assurances of Daxia that it would not involve itself in affairs east of Ixa'Taka were shelved in favor of the full implementation of he Touxian Agreement. The following attack on Nanzitolclatl's western flank proved catastrophic for its strategic position, as the bulk of its combat worthy units were in the east of the country. The rapid Daxian advance towards Rigo from the west soon turned the military situation untenable for the government as it simply lacked the reserves or logistics to mount a proper defense against the surprise attack. Under pressure by two militarily superior foes, the regime of Mirek Alaganek began dissolving, the leader himself attempting to escape hidden inside of a fridge before his capture. The collapse and debellation of Nanzitolclatl was propagandized as a great victory for the international order, the elimination of a vain and cruel regime with a very narrow band of ethnic support. With multiple Security Council resolutions in hand, Daxia and Kiravia proceeded to carve out the territory between them, Daxia's half being absorbed into Xisheng and the Kiravian half eventually evolving into the Mid-Atrassic_States.

The start of hostilities between Daxia and Varshan can be pointed to a border delimitation dispute between both nations following the fall of Nanzitolclatl. Both nations began a policy of aggressive military build-up and posturing on the disputed border of Xisheng and north Varshan, including several clashes that resulted in deaths from the two sides. Daxian forces began the hasty construction of a set of four strong defensive lines, collectively known as the Chen Line; the fortification was considered too resilient to even countenance an attempt by Varshan's forces to breach it. As Urcea and its dependencies were dragged into a shooting war with Varshan, forcing the latter to withdraw numerous units from the Xisheng frontier region, the Daxian political leadership committed to an opportunistic attack of its own to settle the border issue by force, as had happened with Nanzitolclatl. Even with the shift in resources to Cetsencalia, Daxian forces were still numerically inferior to their Varshani counterparts. A large portion of Daxian strength in Crona represented in the main body of the Army of Conquest was still engaged north in a simmering conflict with the Alpachnee Confederation. Daxian High Command believed its air assets on hand, partial element of surprise and the qualitative edge of its forces would be enough to nullify the Varshani advantage in numbers. On May 25, 2021, Daxian artillery alongside drones began an intensive bombardment of Varshani positions south of the Amox river. By May 29, Daxian forces had constructed several pontoon bridges and were crossing over the Amox into Varshan proper. Pushing back light counter-attacks, a mechanized thrust aided by irregular detachments and drone sorties, secured several bridgeheads allowing Daxian forces to continue pouring forth. Initially unable to hold back the Daxian advance, Varshan's Northern zone commander Shai Malan-Zar adopted a strategy of defense in depth, quickly ordering his forces to fall back to prepared defensive lines north of Shimrra, further out of range of Daxian artillery. As Varshan's own invasion of Cetsencalia found increased battlefield gains, Varshan command saw fit to transfer back significant forces to the fighting on Xisheng, where the Daxian offensive was bogged down 35 km north of the city of Shimrra. The sudden influx of battle hardened reinforcements saw the reversal of the limited Daxian gains within two months, forcing them back to the Amox river, and then forcing them to conduct a hasty fighting retreat back across it. These setbacks forced field marshal Bort Borg to finally recall the bulk of the Army of Conquest from the north in order to salvage the worsening situation and stabilize the front. With local superiority Varshan forces successfully crossed the Amox after several abortive and costly landing attempts and began capturing several towns and strongpoints south of the Chen Line while Daxian retreated to avoid being destroyed in pitched battle by overwhelming numbers.

Within a month the Daxian army fought to hold and then abandoned the towns of Khaw, Hong Guo, Mian, Baiga, Shul, Cheshen, Waguo, Chongzi and Anqi alongside most of the first line of defense. Daxian forces repositioned alongside the Wajj-Chan-Sagnu defensive axis to try and prevent a breakthrough. Varshan conducted pinning attacks on the towns of Wajj and Sagnu while pushing towards the transport hub of Gatua. This attack marked the high point of Varshan's offensive inside Xisheng and was the furthest it managed to advance into Daxian territory. The initial Varshani attempt to capture the centrally located town of Gatua saw them overrun the defenders and take almost 80% of the city, leaving the Daxians only in control of the northern industrial district and the airport. A higher tempo of drone sorties and the first massive use of chemical weapons in the war managed to stop the city from falling completely. Deployed by the Army of Conquest through rockets, chlorine gas attacks led to thousands of Varshani soldiers suffocating in the southernmost districts of the city. Brutal urban combat raged for two months as both sides fought over every street, sewer and ruined building. Most of the ethnic Daxians had been previously evacuated, but the Cronan inhabitants were left to fend for themselves during the battle, resulting in thousands of casualties at the hands of both armies. Continued chemical attacks, missile attacks on supply depots and the grinding of their forces by artillery pushed the Varshani command to retreat from the city and order their forces south to preserve its battle worthiness. The heavy losses incurred in Gatua brought the Varshani counteroffensive to a halt, as depleted units were forced to abandon their positions and be removed from the front to be replenished and refitted.

Government

Executive

The Governor of Xisheng is the executive official with the broadest authority in the running of the province. The governor is personally appointed by the Chancellor, the only informal requirements for the office is to have a registered domicile in Xisheng for at least a period of ten years and valid membership in the PDD. The governor runs the province in accordance with Daxia's Basic Law and local legislation, he can veto the latter if it contravenes the Basic Law. The governor does not have direct authority over the Autonomies, on this he serves as more of a liaison with mainland ministries from which the Autonomies receive their funding. While Autonomies have internal security forces, in case of a serious emergency or threat to public order, the governor is authorized and expected to intervene with the forces under his purview to regain control the situation.

Legislative

Main chamber of Xisheng's Colonial Senate

The Colonial Senate is the unicameral legislature of Xisheng, a successor body to the deliberative Settler Commission that existed under the Qian administration. The Colonial Senate is composed of fifty six members, elected to terms of five years; there is no established limit on the number of terms that members can serve which has historically resulted in a Senate that is filled with members of a few select political dynasties. The Colonial Senate is not nearly as toothless as mainland legislative bodies, it has the power set spending priorities and modify budgets for Xisheng's administrative departments and has specialized organs to carry out audits.

Use of its auditing power has led to clashes with several governors, in 1999 the Colonial Senate building was besieged by police at the direction of then Governor Wang Ruchi in a bid to stop the Audit Board from convening to review the government's accounts; the governor was eventually ordered by the Ministry of Interior to lift the police blockade. While the governor is named by the central authorities, the senate has at times toyed with codifying for itself the power to remove governors; invariably it has backed down from confrontation with the center but the issue pops up semi regularly during political campaigning.

Autonomies

Historically the segregation of ethnic Daxians from the conquered groups living on Xisheng was something that happened organically and not as a result of a top down dictate from local governments. Certain degree of intermixing was even tolerated as a way to promote social harmony and foster supporters of Daxia from people of mixed background. The PDD put a stop to this status quo immediately upon taking power, clamping down on race mixing and beginning a policy of urban isolation of minorities by driving them into delineated pockets to live in. In 2015 the Law on Autonomies was passed by the legislature, this law provided for the creation of quasi autonomous administrative regions within Xisheng for certain ethnic groups known as Autonomies. There are currently only two existing designated Autonomies, the Chimor Autonomy and the Ixa'Taka Autonomy, homeland of the Chimor and Ixa'Taka ethnic groups respectively.

The areas covering these two autonomies were originally subdivided into regular districts. The law provided for the carrying out of special census to ascertain the specific ethnic demographics of districts with high numbers of Chimor and Ixa'Takan inhabitants and authorized their merging together to form the Autonomies. People in these special administrative zones do not possess Daxian citizenship, only a form of reduced citizenship. They have a small tax burden, may not vote in elections outside the Autonomies, are exempt from military service outside Crona, may not intermarry outside their group, etc. The Autonomies have their own semi-sovereign governments and are allowed various traditional trappings of statehood such as its own flag and symbols, control of its budget and within certain constraints; police forces and a defense force of its own. Autonomies have minimal budgets allocated by the Ministry of Finance, instead they have control of their own natural resources and discretionary powers to gather revenue from them in addition to separate taxation systems.

Politics

While the primacy of the Party of Daxian Democrats has never been in question in the region, local interests have traditionally been strong enough that the politics of Xisheng are more dynamic than those of mainland Daxia. The local PDD structures are dominated by competing interest groups; elections in the state have competition between different candidate slates all running under the PDD. The special interest groupings with influence and positions within the party in Xisheng are broadly as follows:

• Association of Daxian Mobilized Committees- The Association is a body that has its origins on groups of self defense by Daxian settlers during the Qian colonization, previously known as the Association of Daxian Settlers on Xisheng. Its members usually had basic weapons training to defend their communities from native Cronan attacks and also served as auxiliaries for Qian regular troops during conflict. After the Qian era and the start of the regional political primacy by the Army of Conquest, the association was allowed to keep their weapons provided they helped with the suppression of dissidents. The association achieved an official recognition of their armed role in with the introduction of the Law on Special State Formations in 1959; it renamed the association and gave it a legal basis for existing as an armed body under state supervision. This status was accepted by the new PDD governments in exchange for increased surveillance of the association and the integration of its leadership cadres into the Party. The practical result from this is by the late 2010's the party structure in Xisheng has itself been colonized as more association members become card carrying party members. The association's influence is felt in various local party organs that are of importance in crafting policy, they are especially active in curtailing the sovereign powers awarded to the autonomy zones of Chimoche and Ixa'Taka. They have also been pushing internally for central government permission to settle parts of the Zanoma Regional Administration, territory that is officially part of Varshan.
• Coordinating Council of Fig Producers- The Coordinating Council of Fig Producers (CCFP) is one of the leading private enterprise groupings of Xisheng, pulling together the largest fig producers of the state, as such it holds a great degree of economic influence. As part of the Party's consolidation of power, economic groups like the CCFP were invited to add their input on economic matters; they were also invited to discreetly fund party activities in exchange for government contracts. Through strategic donations and establishing personal relations with people in key bureaucratic positions the CCFP has achieved a chokehold on the province's economic and tax policy bodies. It is their influence that has been blocking the entrance of fruit imports from the Zanoma Regional Administration as council figures argue they would unfairly disadvantage local producers. The CCFP is only occasionally aligned with the Association of Daxian Mobilized Committees, the latter represents many small agricultural cooperatives as opposed to the council being a representative of the interests of large, industry-leading companies.
• Anti Varshan League- The Anti Varshan League (AVL) is a grassroots, non-profit lobbying group. They consider Varshan to be a dangerous entity that cannot be allowed to exist, their main objective is its partition into a dozen smaller nations. The AVL is one of the main supporters of the establishment of the Zanoma Regional Administration, they see the autonomous region as a future model region for the dismemberment of Varshan. Accordingly the Anti Varshan League constantly tries to pressure the Xisheng administration to strengthen the capabilities and budgetary resources available to Zanoma while also maintaining a strong and paternal Daxian influence over it. The AVL also opposes all efforts by the League of Nations and other occupying powers at rehabilitating and normalizing the reestablishment of an independent Varshan.

Society

Demographics

Ethncity according to the official census (2030)

  Daxian (16.8%)

  Rusani (5.2%)

  Chimor (23.4%)

  Ixa'Takan (25.2%)

  Nuun (11.8%)

  Ajaw (12.6%)

  Varshani (5%)

Xisheng is home to many local ethnicities whose ranges of habitation have fluctuated over time; their locations affected by various Daxian policies designed to acquire richer and more geographically advantageous land for settlement and limit their material prosperity. The Ixa'Takan people dominated most of present northwestern Xisheng before the arrival of Daxia forced them inland. Their population of some four million currently reside near exclusively within the borders of the Ixa'Taka Autonomy and have been granted limited forms of autonomy to conduct their affairs. Following them in numbers are the Chimor people who inhabit the region of Chimoche which abuts Mid-Atrassic Crona. At a population of 3.7 million people they are the second most numerous indigenous people on the region. The Ajaw, Nuun and Varshani peoples are more recent additions, the Ajaw falling under Daxian domination in the 20th century after the March into the mountains and the Nuun and Varshani being added after the territories they lived in were cut off from Varshan and attached to Xisheng at the end of the Deluge. There are plans to carve an autonomous region for the Nuun and transplant all the remaining Varshanis inside it so the Nuun majority keeps them in check.

Xisheng has never been as widely and intensively settled as Cao was. Daxians constitute a mere sixteen percent and are outnumbered by Cronan ethnicities by a proportion of 4 to 1, yet have the majority of the land. Daxians mostly live on the coast and in fortified cities dotted across geographically advantegous locations such as hilltops.

Daxian policies towards Cronans

• Land Seizures and property expropriations- The Daxian state routinely strips non-Daxian residents of both their land and any properties they build. The common argument used for these actions is that Cronans either have no proof of ownership, consistently fail to to pay land and property taxes or never had rights to the land they inhabit in the first place e.g. they built on land owned by the State.
• Fertility cap - To address the current demographic disadvantage of ethnic Daxians, authorities have come up with a number of solutions and schemes to disadvantage and dispossess Cronans and permanently stunt their demographic growth. Native Cronan (e.g. Ixa'Takan, Chimor, Ajaw, Varshan, Nuun) families are required to acquire a special child permit that both entitles and limits them to having one child only. Violation of this regulation carries a lengthy jail sentence for the parents and the destruction of any additional children. In cases where the birth of two or more children is outside the parents hands(such as the case of twins and so on), the extra child is taken away by the authorities and placed in foster care.
• Ghettos - Non-Daxians may not constitute over 15% of the population of any settlement with the status of 'City'. This percentage of a city's population is confined to live in separate, walled off neighborhoods or ghettos. People living in the ghettos require valid work permits issued by their employer in order to leave and must return to the ghetto before 12pm or be arrested if caught outside. Ghettos are provided with rationed utilities and consumer goods of inferior quality. This policy does not apply to all native settlements or within the Chimoche and Ixa'Taka autonomies.
• Caste system - The government of Xisheng has rolled out a system of racial categories to determine the social and legal standing of the inhabitants of the province. This caste system is best represented by a pyramid with Daxians at the very top with full rights and special protections and following them in descending order are Rusani, Chimor, Ixa'Takan, Ajaw, Nuun and Varshani. In the case of relations between a Daxian and someone of a lower ethnicity that result in a child being born, the Daxian parent has the option of paying a significant fine to have the child registered as fully Daxian or leave it with the non-Daxian parent to be registered with his or her ethnicity; regardless of the choice the non-Daxian parent is subject to arrest. Children of mixed Cronan descent are entitled to be registered with the caste of the father.

Culture

Daxian settlers in Xisheng

Daxian influence on the local cultures of Xisheng has been significant. The modern use of the Daxian language among the Ixa'Takan, Chimor, Ajaw and Nuun groups has become widespread, in detriment of their original native languages. Language proficiency in their native language stands at 26% for the Nuun, 31% for Ajaw's, 44% for Ixa'Takans and 69% for the Chimor. The use of Daxian naming conventions has also increased sharply, with many non-Daxians using Daxian personal names. All local dialects make use of loanwords from the Daxian language to various degrees, and the reverse is also true; certain local terms being used informally even though the practice is discouraged by education authorities. Notably the Chimoche monarchy has adopted a more proactive policy to protect and promote the Chimor language, devoting a greater share of the autonomous monies at its disposal to enlarge language courses. The smaller Ajaw and Nuun groups have gone the opposite direction, placing a greater emphasis in self-assimilation with the Daxian people to protect themselves from larger groups, Varshanis especially. Religious-wise Xisheng is one of the least religious regions in the entire country as far as mainstream faiths are counted, its remoteness not lending itself to missionary work from either Christianity or Islam. On the other hand there are significant numbers of adherents to local religions, the main ones being M'acunism, Solar Arzalism and the Ixa'Takan Old Gods; these religions continue to thrive under the umbrella of the Autonomies even if they cannot be practiced elsewhere.

Local Daxian cuisine has become a bit of a fusion cuisine as it has incorporated many ingredients from the local traditions. Among the many ingredients that are common to Xisheng's traditional Daxian food are the avocado, figs, the choko gourd, starchy corms, various types of extremely spicy chili peppers and the Chimole apricots. Xisheng's dishes tend to be both spicier and sweeter than similar food in the mainland.

Economy

Dried Xisheng figs in a market

The economy of Xisheng was primarily geared towards labor intensive agricultural production for much of the 20th century, with a particular focus on the production of figs. The fig production sector was developed and dominated by the Xisheng Trading Company, a subsidiary of the South Seas Trading Company Up to 65% of Xisheng's cultivable land was earmarked for fig tree plantations employing tens of thousands of Cronan indentured laborers under very harsh conditions. A souring of commercial relations with Varshan's Zurgs and financial losses elsewhere caused the company to divest itself from the fig business, causing a near collapse of Xisheng's provincial economy. Only around 15% of fig plantations survived long enough to modernize themselves and start diversifying their fig products into items such as jams, fig pastries, dried figs and various medicinal presentations and laxatives. These producers now control the biggest share in this sector and are boosting exports with the reopening of the Varshan market, especially into the Zanoma Regional Administration. Corn is also a crop commonly grown in Xisheng, first having been introduced during the period of Varshan domination; Xisheng produced 1.3 million bushels of corn during 2030. The native peoples of Xisheng have grown and consumed corn for thousands of years; a staple of their diet is a type of very thin flat bread made from corn called a tortilla.

Important gold deposits have been known and exploited since the time of the early Ixa'Takan settlement; new discoveries and modern technologies have made Xisheng region into one of the biggest gold producers in the world, amounting to some 30% of the region's total exports. Gold mines operate under a 60/40 revenue sharing agreement between the government and private mining companies. Xisheng produces on average ninety five tonnes of gold on an annual basis, forty of which are extracted from the open air Chicxulub mine. Another growing sector that is a big earner of foreign exchange currency is the home appliances sector, a number of companies have established plants in the province mass producing affordable smart tv's, microwaves, toasters, refrigerators, stoves and juicers. These appliance companies rely on the cheapness of the labor in Xisheng and government subsidies to offer competitive pricing. The Daxian armed forces are also a driver in economic activity as the region is the most militarized in the country, the provision of services to military bases are economic lifelines for many smaller towns and companies.