Malentina
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Malentina, officially the Presidential Confederacy of Malentina, is a country in southern Crona in the western parts of the North Songun sea. The nation is made up of as a set of three larger islands just of the coast of Istrenya. Beyond it's closest neighbour Malentina also has maritime borders with Kelekona and Arcerion. While Malentina is connected to the rest of the world through the ocean, this is at great risk to the nations sovereignty as the nation is by far the weakest of those bordering the Songun Sea. Especially Arcerion and The Cape both hold immense influence thanks to the Warrington Strait and the Songun Straits forming natural chokepoints when exiting the Songun Sea.
Presidential Confederacy of Malentina | |
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 Flag
 State seal
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Motto: Walaan, wakinee, nikeewolthu. ("Our waters, Our freedoms, until the end of time.") | |
Anthem: Kabun Kabi Hierlini (The Song of three Moons) | |
 Location of Malentina (green) in Crona (gray). | |
| Capital | Salcojina |
| Largest city | Hierkuun |
| Official languages | Maalit Tiiu Qabóri |
| Recognised national languages | Ænglish |
| Ethnic groups |
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| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) | Malentine |
| Government | Confederated Presidential Republic |
• President of the East | Kabeenan Kopp |
• President of the West | Daniel Duke |
• President of the North | Kalamar Liit |
| Legislature | The Trissembly |
| The Senate | |
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| Establishment | |
• First mainland settlers arrive | 756 AD |
• First Colonial Settlements | 1692 AD |
• Self-Governance of Portlunara | 1899 AD |
• The Starlit Revolution | 1933 AD |
• Conference of the New Confederation | 1987 AD |
| Area | |
• Total | Template:Convinfobox/sec2 |
| Population | |
• 2019 estimate | 19,448,971 |
• Density | Template:Convinfobox/sec2 |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $450 billion |
• Per capita | $23,121 |
| Currency | Malentinan Pound (MTP) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +334 |
| Internet TLD | .ml |
Malentina was historically a notable North Songun civilization before their collapse. Although severely hurt by the collapse, Malentina came out of it in better shape than most others, in large part thanks to it's relative security from Varshani Hunts. During the 18th century Malentina became a somewhat important colony for the Ænglish people (Ardmore?) as they settled the mostly unsettled, or some argue abandoned, island of Hileenkop. This would lead to numerous conflicts between the Ænglish settlers and the Maaleen and Tinuud natives known as the Canoe Conflict.
In the modern day Malentina is a somewhat wealthy but still struggling nation in southern Crona. Their economy is mostly built around agricultural products, a mixture of cash crops like tobacco and sugar as well as fishing products like crustaceans and squid. They do suffer from some insurgency issues partially caused by a severly lacking military which still tends to lead to minor international meddling, mainly by Arcerion but more recently also by Tierrador.
Most of the nations struggles are rooted in the demographic conflict between the Ænglish and native populations. Ever since the genocide of the Starlit Revolution Ænglish nations like Arcerion and Alstin have held a particular investment in ensuring the local Neo-Waakabii extremist cells are destroyed post-haste. Because of these foreign interests it has been commonplace for the last 30 years for Malentines to be the target for foreign airstrikes. In recent years, however, Malentina has seen a shift in their approach to local insurgencies. With military assets provided by Tierrador they have started cracking down on terrorist cells on their own, while at the same time distancing themselves from Arcerion. These actions have caused a diplomatic incident surrounding Malentina which risks becoming a flashpoint for a power struggle over who holds influence over Malentina.
Etymology
Malentina is a somewhat modern name taken from the term commonly used in Ænglish to refer to the tribes living on the islands that the nation now encompasses, Malentinu. This term developed from combining the two most common tribe names, the Maaleens and the Tinuuds. The name was a way for the native people to "take back" the lands that ones belonged to them alone from the colonizing Levantine population. There are still a small minority of the Ænglish white population who use the old colonial name of Pertooluna, which is doubly ironic as the name is a butchering of the name of the Cartadanian settlement of Puerto Luna.
Geography
The many islands that the make up the Malentine archipelago are dominated by the three main islands of Tikaandu, Hileenkopp and Wolviikipp, in order of size. These three islands have mostly quite similar features although Tikaandu features by far the most fresh water making it the centre of the Malentine part of what was once the North Songun civilization. One of the most notable features of the island is that the islands are incredibly flat with only short hills cut by shallow valleys. Except for several smaller regions in the northern-most and southern-most parts of the islands. This made the islands ideal for plantation agriculture, before the earth of it's vast plains were eroded by years of exploitation.
Climate
Throughout the islands one can find a quite diverse climate, featuring everything from mangrove swamps, to forest covered plateaus.
Because of economic pressures the vast majority of the island has been reduced to agricultural fields, with only small forests dotting the landscape with a few national parks as the only exceptions. In modern times there have been significant attempt to reverse these changes at least partially, at the very least to an extent which may prevent further destruction of the islands natural ecosystem.
History
Pre History
With the help of a small number of archaeological findings within on the islands it is believed that the cultural history of the malentine peoples date back to around 1600 BC. Very little is known about this period, especially as the islands have both geological and geopolitical reasons causing a severe lack of research into this distant history. Most of what is known about Malentina's early history is connected to the North Songun Civilization, whose records first mention the islands and their peoples as early as 700 BC.
When the traders of the North Songun first encountered the islanders they were noted for their excellent navigation, using well crafted canoes, as well as fishing expertise. What likely drew the traders attention most however would be the wealth mainly displayed through an abundance of pearls. These pearls were one of the first things that the North Songun would start to trade an at latest around 500 BC. The first larger settlements would be established on the islands by 350 BC, slowly melding the tribal native peoples into the larger North Songun civilization. Many records consider Malentina to first really exist as a civilized entity around the 400-200 BC period, although modern scholars largely disagree on the subject.
Songunese Civilization
Although starting of as a group of smaller colonial city-states trading and cooperating with the various island tribes Malentina would grow to be one of the most significant regions of the North Songun, especially at the time when their larger civilization was starting to collapse. Most importantly for modern scholars Malentina sources proved vital in describing events during the collapse, as few scholars of the other regions remained to record these events.
For the period between 400 BC to 100 BC the islands were mostly just trade posts at the edge of the much greater states of the mainland. The main purpose of these trading post would prove to be what drove Malentina to become a well developed region rather than just a series of small cities. Cities along the western coast would serve as the centers of trade between the great cities of the north and the various settlements to the south of the islands. This slow rise would quickly scale up significantly in the 3rd and 4th century AD, as the expansive lands of what is today Tierrador would grow to be much more stable and lucrative to tradesmen.
Perhaps more important than the vast wealth flowing through the island cities during this time was the cultural exchange, as elements of the North Songun would meld with many ideas from the south as well as those of the native tribes, who despite the rise of larger cities still served a vital part in the islands needs. Partly because of their ability to gather certain valuable goods such as pearls but most importantly as warriors the cities could recruit to protect themselves. Mainly from each other. From the North and the south the islands would learn much of administration and statescraft, allowing for much more effective centralization. Such knowledge would introduce a level of stability and prosperity to the cities that by the 6th century they could no longer be thought of as a simple extension of a much greater civilization. They became second only to the heartlands in modern Kelekona and Arcerion. For a time.
All of this would lead to three city states growing to great prominence not just among the islands, but among all of the North Songun. Each controlled large territories along the western coast of the islands, competing over alliances with the various smaller settlements littering the coast.
Large-scale war causes significant devastation, tribal mercenaries rebel and conquer some of the cities, causing a division between the coastal city-states and the traditional natives.
In the end things calm down, leading to new era of prosperity.
New silver age for Malentina, as it is united as one great alliance for the first time in history around the year 1040. A loosely connected league of the seven most powerful cities, representing the seven largest cultural groups of the islands, even including most of the indigenous peoples.
The Collapse
The era of prosperity ends, ironically by slowly making Malentina the center of the North Songun, even if only for a time. Over the course of 200 years, starting near the end of the 13th century, the arrival of the Arzali would drive the mainland states to collapse. During this time the trade flowing across the seas would slowly dwindle, but besides that Malentina would be relatively unaffected by what would prove to be the slow death of an entire civilization.
Although much of the history of the North Songun was lost with the collapse, various important scholars and many other wealthy individuals would flee the mainland for the safety of the islands.
By the early 1500's, the mainland was in ruins and the first attempts at raiding the islands were made by the new Arzali invaders. These proved to mostly be a failure, as the warrior tribes of the islands proved themselves a tough foe. These efforts would cause the islanders to grow much more militarized again, which would prove to be a far more dangerous threat to the seven cities than the invaders.
Era of Isolation
The Arzali were not quick to give up however, numerous raids were attempted over the next century, with only a few proving even partially successful.
At this time the seven cities considered themselves the final North Songun state, although an alternative view also started to grow. The idea that they are rather the successors to the greater Songunese civilization, and that they should reclaim the former heartlands. These efforts are believed to have been lead mainly by those who had fled the very lands they now wished to reconquer.
The many migrants who often referred to the islands as the Haven (transl?) would add to a growing problem on the islands. Although the seven cities depicted themselves as united, they had always been more of a loose collection of alliances than any central power. The pressure to centralize these states, together with the pressure to militarize especially by utilizing the warrior tribes even as these warriors found themselves more and more separate from the cities they fought for, as many new peoples arrived to the islands causing cultural and social unrest. It all reached a boiling point in the early 17th century. An event that would be referred to as the "Crisis of the twelve", which would lead to what one famous scholar of the time would refer to in some of his final writings as "The Fall of the Havens".
Qabóri settlement
Crisis of the Twelve
A series of smaller revolts and notorious cultural clashes would result in the creation of the Great Council around 1616, who would bring forth all of the issues currently being faced by the league and seek solutions through large-scale reforms decided on by the ruling class. This great council would prove a great failure however, as a large series of errors and miscommunications would slowly descend the islands into chaos, slowly escalating towards discriminate violence between different groups.
During the following years various bloody revolts, civil wars and tribal conflict breaks out. These were mainly caused by the quick separation of the traditional tribal natives who included the warrior tribes fighting against the quickly collapsing cities. During this time, one of the most successful Arzali raids against the islands ever attempted crushes any hope for the northern cities to recover. This would ironically enough unite the tribes into a new confederacy, and only a few raids afterwards would return with even the smallest success, leading to the slave raiders mostly ignoring the islands starting around the year 1690.
The final result of this time of trouble was what many consider the final end of the North Songunese civilization, as the people who escaped the heartlands are believed to have died out almost completely and the cities that first connected the island natives to the surrounding civilizations were reduced to a fragment of their former selves. Of the seven cities only two remained anything more than ruins. It is estimated that at least two thirds of the islands population died out in less than 100 years. It is around this time that the islands would see their first settlers on the eastern coast, peoples from a land far distant from theirs. The first cartadanian explorers visited the island in 1689, arriving on the now nearly deserted east coast that had always been the backwater of the island.
Sails and Oars
The timely arrival of a new group of foreign sailors would've been met with exceeding hostility if they had first landed anywhere else among the three islands. But the empty lands they found only had a few small tribes inhabiting them. These tribes were suspicious of the strange foreigners but would slowly be convinced to work with them. These small tribes have very little history that survived to modern day, leaving their exact origin a mystery. A missing piece of history that would likely not matter at all if it wasn't for the 35% of modern Malentine tracing their origins to these tribe, mainly among the Aenglistizo and Costizo population.
For the final 10 years of the 17th century cartadanian settlers would be the first Occidental nation to inhabit the islands, building the first settlement of Salcojina, which mostly served as a trading post. While there is consensus on the native tribes being somewhat hostile at first the historic claims that a very gregarious expedition leader convinced them to quickly build a strong trading relation is somewhat disputed. In Malentina the more commonly held view among both scholars and citizens is that three translators who had been allowed to visit the foreign Occidental lands convinced the various tribes of the vast wealth they may be able to achieve by working with the colonials. Either way the agreements made between the first settlers and the eastern tribes would lead to friendly relations that would last for over a century.
During next few decades before 1750 cartadanian explorers would continue mapping out the islands. They listened to the one grave warning that the eastern tribes had given them and mostly avoided making landings. At least the expeditions that survived did. One of these expeditions would discover a series of vast ruins of what seemed like once was a grand city. Drawn towards the possibility of wealth he would consider ignoring the tribes warning, finally being convinced by his men to survey the city. But as they scouted the coast for a good area to make camp, they discovered that they were not the first to have that very idea. The burnt remains of another ship and a camp laid in ruins would prove a convincing reminder that the warnings from the eastern tribes were not to be taken lightly.
Although the western islands remained hostile several new settlements would be established on the island of Hileenkopp, known by the settlers as "La Isla Hallare". All but one of these settlements would be established by sarpic settlers, the only exception being a single coscovian settlement on the islands northern tip (naming the islands Sáfach). These settlements would bring wealth and power to the eastern tribes, who united into a single confederation to protect themselves from the hostile acts of the Malenti tribes.
A notable shift would start to occur around the year 1750, as many of the people who migrated to the island would not be of sarpic or coscivian origin. Instead the island was quickly developing a large Ænglish community.
Puerto Luna gold rush
A previous small trading post, the town of Puerto Luna would become the centre of the islands development after gold discovered in the surrounding hills. This would push the already notable migration to the island into overdrive, especially among the Ænglish. As a result by 1777 the town of only about 2000 had grown to over 50 000 citizens in less than 20 years, becoming the largest city with an Ænglish majority.
In the 1780s and 1790s Ardmore was starting to gain an interest in expanding into Crona. Although the gold rush had started to normalize at this point the Ardmori crown payed a significant sum to Cartadania as well as the various trading companies who actually owned the settlements to gain control of the island.
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1780-1900 Ænglish are not as good at dealing with the natives as Cartadania. Although they are way better at getting rid of them.
1780-1850 Purchase of colony is almost immediately followed by conflicts between settlers and natives. This quickly ignites into full blown war. Although there are short periods of peace during this time, most of it is made up of various conflicts against the natives. Natives while mostly being on the loosing end don't get crushed in large parts thanks to successfully staying mostly unified against the foreign threat. A lesson learned from the Arzali invasion and Haven's Fall, which at this point is among the most important legends in the Malentinan culture.
1850-1900 Natives and Ænglish make an unease peace, although incidents of violence between the two continued consistently through the period.
20th Century
1900-2000 Colony no more. But violence remains.
1899 Colony is granted self-governance soon followed by independence. Although foreign influence is still strong. Government is mostly focused on the immigrant population, with natives being side-lined and mistreated often.
1933 Natives successfully mount a violent revolution, focused on acts during moonless nights where the revolution gets its name. Despite being outnumbered conflict goes the natives way. Until they very clearly go genocidal on the immigrant population. Specifically targeting full blooded whites over those of mixed heritage, and notably focused on attacking upper class members such as plantation owners and government officials. Even with a swift intervention championed by Arcerion over 70% of the white population of the islands are wiped out in a matter of months. Aftermath would lead to a short period of total occupation soon followed by an international mandate mainly lead by Arcerion and Cartadania.
1987 After 50 years of occupation a new state is created to finally replace the international mandate, once more letting the nation be free. This is however with a very harsh limit to their military capability, or rather military asset ownership. The agreement establishing the new state also allows Arcerion to enforce a demilitarization of the nation.
Modern
2000+
In the early 2000s Malentina violates the Arcerion demilitarization after several incidents of what they consider Arcerion overreach violating Malentinan sovereignty. This has caused somewhat of a cold war to develop between the nations, with the only reason it not breaking into all out war being international intervention.
Malentina has connections with Arcerion, Tierrador, The Cape, Cartadania, Ardmore, Alstin and Vithinja.
Government
The Malentinan government is mainly inspired by the confederate system in Arcerion, despite how it may first appear. While the highest offices differ greatly from Arcerion, it has many functional similarities. The ruling body is separated into four main components: The Senate, the Parliaments, the Internal cabinets and the External cabinet. The most notable differences is the fact that the Malentinan republic is a presidential system, as well as having no single representative for the entire confederation.
Since the Malentinan government in it's current state has only existed for a few decades, as well as the tension between the different cultural groups within the nation, the state suffers from a lack of legitimacy in the eyes of many of it's people. The actions of their predecessors also weaken the nations foreign policy with most of the first-world nations, leading to more closer ties to local neighbors as well as none Levantine nations such as Coruum and Caphiria.
Elections for the position of president as well as lower house positions differ between the three republics. While each presidential vote takes place every seven years they each have their own institutions for carrying out these elections. The lower houses differ greatly, a good example of which is the large differences in elections. Parliamentary elections are carried out every two, five and seven years respectively for the House of Commons, the Gathering of the West and the Northern Assembly respectively.
Executive
Under the Treaty of the New Confederation, Malentina separates it's executive branch into three separate institutions, all of which function somewhat differently. These three presidential offices is usually referred to as the Treaty Triad, and together make up the head of state and government for each of the three confederated republics. They each bring with them a number of cabinet members to help serve the executive roles of external affairs. How the executive actions for the confederacy as a whole such as important trade agreements are to be carried out use a simple majority compromise system, where each of the republics receive one vote and must vote for or against the course of action.
Tradition states that no president may stay after a single term, although there is not law that actually prevents this.
Each of the republics internal offices features it's own domestic departments, taking care of internal affairs for the separately. While each of these have some differences most are very similar thanks to the singular main influence of the Arcerion system.
Legislature
The Legislature in Malentina is split between the upper house of the Senate, and the lower houses of the three republican assemblies, The Gathering of the West, The House of Commons and the Northern Assembly. The lower houses work separately from each other for domestic legislation for the confederate members, but meet up together to form the lower house, usually referred to simply as the Parliament, during a one month in the spring and one month in the autumn to take care of confederate legislation.
The Senate is chosen from important and powerful individuals mainly from the old aristocracy, the not-quite-as-old political families from the revolutionary era as well as academics and businessmen. While the senate was originally created with the idea that they would have great limitations to their powers to propose new laws and resolutions, their influence has slowly grown over time, mainly as a result of presidential actions and corruption. Even though proposals by the senate must pass through the Parliament, it is very common for these proposals to be approved without even being discussed. On the other while at first the proposals from the Parliament were traditionally always approved, they now more often find themselves being rejected by the senate.
The lower houses are simple elected positions, usually through a common party system, each of which has it's own number of seats and domestic responsibilities. This causes difficulties as although the houses have differing number of members under the Treaty of the New Confederation they must each have an equal amount of voting power in the combined lower house. This has caused many issues including the perception of the fairness of parliamentary decisions and the counting of votes.
Local governance
Malentinan municipalities hold a great deal of local power and create even more complications which has allowed the spread of sever corruption in some of these local jurisdictions.
Culture
The culture of Malentina is a complicated intertwining of the various tribes who inhabited the islands before the arrival of the first colonists from the east, the coscivian-sarpic colonists who made the first settlements on the islands, the aenglo-carnish immigrants who had the most cultural footprint, and the mestizo populations who fall somewhere in between them all. Although large parts of these groups have integrated and melded with each other there are still parts of the nation that work to maintain the old traditions of their culture of origin.
One of the most impactful components of Malenti culture, based in ideas from the earliest tribes, is a focus on nightly activities. Almost all holidays in Malentina are celebrated between dusk and dawn. The focus on leisure happening after dark goes far further however. In Malentina it is actually quite typical for sleep to be divided between a longer nightly rest and a shorter daily one, with the most common division being six-to-two hours. This is also supported by most stores and workplaces to close for a few hours around noon, with work being divided between the morning and afternoon. While the previous behaviors vary greatly across the nation and is less common on the eastern coast one thing that is true almost everywhere is a post-dusk nightly meal eaten just before going to bed.
Cuisine
Food in Malentina is heavily focused on a mixture of large variations of fish, crustaceans, large insects and lambs, served with corn cooked in a variety of ways as well as a number of local spices.
Demographics
Malentina is a nation that suffers from a combination of too much cultural, religious and ideological diversity, leading to a nation only loosely held together by the inequality of power between the average citizen and the ruling class. Only through the support of radical elements to maintain a loyal military is the ruling body able to keep the nation together.
Linguistic Demographics
In the modern day Malentina is usually divided into four main groups, mostly based on ethnic origins but which may also be somewhat described by linguistic differences. These are:
- Peoples of mixed origins, like Aenglistizos and Costizos. While most can speak at least aenglish these groups are typically multilingual and may in addition speak any combination of Maalit, Tiuu or local dialects of coscivian and cartadanian.
- Peoples of mainly Occidental origin such, mostly made up of Aenglish. These mostly only speak Aenglish, sometimes in addition to another Occidental language.
- Peoples of native origin who speak Maaleen, who may know Aenglish or some minor native languages.
- Peoples of native origin who speak Tiuu, who usually know Aenglish and some minor native languages..
Self-reported ethnic origin in the Confederacy (2024)
Religious Demographics
Most of Malentina follows some variation of the Carnish Anglican church. Although the largest portion follows traditional Anglicanism, more than half of all anglican followers are part of smaller divergent branches, only one of which, the Anglic-Samuelites, is even close to comparing to the main branch.
Outside of the Anglican followers, the nation is mostly split between the various native beliefs. These beliefs developed mostly separately from the mainland religions because of the isolation of the island tribes. Wakabiism is therefore a group of beliefs and ideas only found on the islands, although it shares many similarities to other animist concepts of the coastal regions surrounding the Malentine Sea.
Wakabiism is split into three main groupings, with some smaller outliers most of which are slowly dying out. These focus on animist worship mainly focus on a few particular ideas. These include ancestral deification, the display of gratitude for both the natural elements such as plants and animals when harvesting them plus the people who harvested them for you, as well as the study and use of the phase of the moon and the position of the stars for use in religious guidance, the tracking of time and holiday ceremonies as well as astrological implications for the destinies of newborn.
The largest of the Wakabii branches is the Neomaalit branch, which is a reformed branch focused on implementing nationalistic and socialist ideas into the old religious ideas. These ideas include more conservative ideas such as the equity of the citizenry of the nation and the heavy taxation and regulation of international entities working within the nation. Some also hold more radical ideas such as the freeing of the nation from it's imperialist ruling class as well as a complete shift towards a fully planned economy. Even though the partaking in this group is still considered treason against the Confederation according to the Treaty that created the modern government, the enforcement of this policy has lost all it's power. At this point there is even political parties with seats in the parliament who not only espouse this position but actively campaign as it's representatives.
The other two main Wakabii branches, the Tinastii and Maalit, both hold much vaguer beliefs and ideas. Today for most of their followers they function more as philosophical guidelines to helping followers live a righteous and good life rather than a strict religious code. One of the few core ideas held among almost all of their followers however is a strong rejection of the Neomaalit as a group of desecrating heretics who actively corrupt the true path of the faithful.
While the Irreligious only make up 1.6% of the Malentinan population, they make up 21% of the top 1% most wealthy individuals. The irreligious demographic used to be closer to 7%, but they were one of the most heavily affected groups by the post-revolution cleansing, leading to the majority of them either fleeing or becoming victims of the crime.
Self-reported religious identity in the Confederacy (2025)
Economy
Malentina as a whole is mainly an agricultural economy with exports focused on sugar, liquor and tobacco. This agricultural sector has moved back and forth between producing enough food for the nation to be self-sustaining.
The nation also maintains a steady mining sector, mainly focused on cheap metals like nickle and zinc. The islands used to produce a good amount of paper products in the 19th and 20th centuries but a combination of deforestation and preservation efforts have almost wiped this sector out completely.
The islands also happen to be a great place to catch large amounts of high value crustaceans as well as other fishing products to a lesser extent.
While the nation still largely relies on hydrocarbons for energy generation thanks to it's very flat geography improved further by the reduction in forested areas the islands are perfect for wind-power turbines. At this point they have successfully implemented enough turbines to make up 17% of their electrical output, with plans laid to double this by the end of 2040.
Military
The Malentinan military is a shadow of it's former self. A nation who ones heavily focused on their ability to project naval power and punch enough above their weight to actually have the ability to contest other nations in their region now only maintains a pretty basic land military force with a complete lack of military tradition and suspected of large-scale corruption.
The only military institution that may deter external invaders is the Lunar Revolutionary Guard, a reservist force built on the old guerilla tactics used by the islands natives since pre-colonial times. They remained the greatest obstacle for international intervening forces, especially League forces from beyond Crona. during the White Death War. By using the islands heavy vegetation as well as tunneling systems as cover, while utilizing a mixture of traps, night-time ambushes and raids on logistics to make the war a living hell for the occupying forces.