Chakailan
Free State of Chakailan Cha'kail'aanan Nes'thuz'aa | |
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.svg) Flag
 Coat of arms
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Motto: Suvwi'ad go'vad suvwi'an tu'lu ("Light the torch to freedom") | |
 Location of Chakailan (green) in eastern Crona (gray). | |
| Capital and largest city | T'laa'nah |
| Official languages | Hieratic Varshani |
| Demonym(s) | Chakailani |
| Government | Federal semi-presidential republic |
• President | Lursa T'artok (CUF) |
• Chancellor | Barot Lu'kara (CUF) |
| Fire-Lit Hall | |
| Council of Commons | |
| Establishment | |
| 2024 | |
• Basic Charter of Government adopted | 2026 |
| Population | |
• Estimate | 282,401 |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $288,613,822 |
• Per capita | $1,022 |
| Currency | Cronan lira (de facto) |
Chakailan (Hieratic Varshani: Cha'kail'aan), officially the Free State of Chakailan (Hieratic Varshani: Cha'kail'aanan Nes'thuz'aa), is a country in Crona. It is neighbored by Varshan and Mid-Atrassic Crona.
The nation was established by the Treaty of Electorsbourg as an independent nation at the end of the Final War of the Deluge. The territory was part of Varshan prior to the conflict, and its history is inexorably linked to that of Varshan and slavery within Varshan. Prior to its incorporation into Varshan, the land was sparsely populated territory of the people of Telonaticolan, to whom the original tribes of the area were distantly related. However, the local mountain tribes often interacted with runaway slaves, and this area became well known as a slave escape route out of Varshan in the 19th century. A strong local culture between the tribes and slaves was established. Reduction of fugitive slavery became a top Varshani priority and the land was taken along with the other Telonaticolani lands in 1894. The area continued to be a choice area for the Anzo government to enslave and also a location where many slaves unable to work - such as the elderly or crippled - were deposited in the rare cases where they were not exterminated. The area became home to a unique people and culture with global influences due to the reach of Varshani slavery.
Etymology
Chakailan as a term most likely originates from an earlier version of the Telonaticolani language, and most scholars believe it approximately means "bad soil" with reference to the region's generally poor conditions for sedentary farming. References to the region using this name or some variation thereof are first attested to by Levantine traders who interacted with and traveled throughout Telonaticolan during the early 16th century.
Geography
Chakailan occupies a mountainous position east of Varshan and west of Telonaticolan, occupying one of the central mountain ridges that divides north central Crona. Accordingly, the country is primarily comprised of mountains and highlands and has a relatively cool climate with strong winds blowing over much of the country. The mountains form a "V" shape at the southeastern and southwestern border of the country, separating it from the eastern highlands of Varshan. In the middle, a relatively flat but elevated region exists where most human settlement occurs. The nation's climate features relatively sparse flora and fauna beyond that kept by humans for agricultural purposes. Grass, suitable for grazing, covers much of the country, and most of the country is unsuitable for large scale growing.
History
Pre-Varshani history
Little is known about the people and history of the area of modern Chakailan other than it was largely under the influence, but was not directly part of, the North Songun civilization. Genetic testing suggests that its native inhabitants are largely an admixture of the peoples of pre-Anzo population of eastern Varshan with some Telonaticolani ethnic heritage. Much of the history of the region is known by reputation. Both Telonaticolani and Varshani histories make note of the ruggedness of these mountain nomad tribes, with individuals from the area making excellent scouts and guides through the central mountain ranges of Crona. Efforts by the Telonaticolani to pacify and more directly incorporate the region failed in both the 1820s and 1840s, as they were repulsed by means of large and well set ambushes and rudimentary but well located static defenses. The relative separation from Varshan but few passes that existed made it a popular area for slaves to flee from Varshani control, and the accounts of escaped slaves from the period indicate the tribes were receptive to these people and even welcomed some into their tribes. Several Varshani raiding and slave hunting parties entered the region throughout its history, with most being repulsed. As early as 1860, Occidental visitors who traveled to the remote area that would become Chakailan noticed many non-indigienous among them and even one Occidental escaped slave having been incorporated into the local peoples, leading modern scholars to suspect that the unique cultural interchange that formed the modern Chakailani people began well before the Varshani occupation.
Annexation into Varshan
Slaves began exiting Varshan through Chakailan in increased numbers in the late 1800s spurned on by increasing disloyalty to Anzo from Telonaticolan, whose people began to openly welcome escaped slaves and began to settle them throughout the country. In 1891, Varshan invaded Telonaticolan, burned its capital, enslaved most of its army and political leadership, and annexed the teritory of Chakailan and other territories in western Telonaticolan. The tribes of the Chakailan area fought bravely and inflicted significant casualties but were defeated by overwhelming Varshani force. Many of the men and warriors of the tribes were sent into slavery, leaving behind the women and children. Many of the Telonaticolani slaves who were too weak or sick to continue on were left behind by Varshani forces in the care of the Chakailan-area tribes.
Varshani occupation
With the beginning of the Varshani occupation, most of the population of the region were removed from their nomadic way of life and centered in towns and villages which amounted to concentration camps; many contemporary Occidental scholars referred to this practice, which was used across Varshan and not just in Chakailan, as "slave manufacturies." During the occupation, the skill of the local tribes as guides and scouts continued to be valued, and many locals were enslaved for their work in the mountainous regions of Varshan where they would work capably for the Varshani overseers. Around 1910, it became stylish among high Varshani society to relocate their old or disabled slaves to remote parts of the state as a work of mercy and to instill the values of obedience to the young among the "lesser peoples" ruled from Anzo. While a majority of slaves who could no longer work were simply killed or sacrificed according to the tenets of Orthodox Arzalism, a significant number began to be relocated to what would become Chakailan in hopes that the old men might reproduce and create more strong and capable slaves while the disabled might prove to be an example to future slaves. Between 1910 and 1960, when social views shifted back towards predominant sacrifice, more than 75,000 slaves were deposited in what is now Chakailan, creating a massive cultural shift and integration of the mores, traditions, and cultures of those slaves into the native tribal populations. The type of work that the slaves were trained for also generally enhanced the "mountain man" culture and ethic that emerged within the country. In 1980, economic reforms in Varshan ended the grain delivery to the region, leading to the abandonment of the concentration camps and a resumption of nomadic grazing activity for most people, though the Varshani government also sponsored the creation of slave-worked plantations with new hybrid plants created by Occidental experts imported by the Anzo regime. The varieties of mountain agriculture now grown by a majority of the population for subsistence farming began with these imported scientific developments.
With the invasion of Kiravian forces in the Final War of the Deluge, the area was quickly abandoned by the Varshani military as it was beyond the natural defendable borders of the country. Most Varshani overseers simply abandoned their plantations and other enterprises in the country with retreating Varshani forces, and economic devastation swept the countryside as most of the technical experts and managers left overnight. Occupied by Kiravian forces during the war, significant investment was done by the Kiravian government in education and restoration of the productive enterprises of the region. Most Chakailani instead took to the traditional nomadic lifestyle or subsistence farming on the lands of former plantations, which were divided up into lands with title by the occupying Kiravian forces in June 2023. Many refugees, most of them liberated slaves, came to settle in the area as the war progressed, with as many as 10,000 settling in the region. Local leaders began to organize a provisional government under Kiravian occupation in late 2023 and the area was determined by League of Nations Command to be capable of self-governance in March 2024, with its recommendations included in the Electorsbourg peace negotiations that commenced with the end of the war.
Independence
Chakailan was established as an independent state by the Treaty of Electorsbourg with an explicit recognition of the unique culture that emerged in the territory with further expectation of additional slave resettlement in the future. Following its independence, it became geopolitically aligned with both Kiravia and Urcea with significant investments from both countries and the presence of the Urcean DNID and ACED to help social, political, and economic development.
Government
Chakailan is de jure a federal republic under a semi-presidential form of government. The President serves as the head of state with the Chancellor, known informally as the Carrier, serving as the nation's head of government and is independent of the confidence of the Council of Commons, Chakailan's legislative lower house. Chakailan's government is run according to the articles and principles of the Basic Charter of Government which entered into effect in 2026. The Basic Charter takes inspiration from the constitutions of Urcea and Kiravia and as such Chakailan is structured as a fusion of both nations' governments.
Executive
The President is, according to the Basic Charter, both the head of state and chief executive of Chakailan. They are considered to be the chairman of the Fire-Lit Hall, serving both as the presidential cabinet and the upper house of Chakailan's legislature, and thus are responsible for the promulgation of laws passed by the Council of Commons. The President is also the commander-in-chief of the Republican Guard of Chakailan and is responsible for appointing the leadership of the Republican Guard. The President is elected by the Fire-Lit Hall for a six-year term, but may be subject to a confidence motion in the Council of Commons called by the Chancellor at any time.
As a presidential cabinet, the Fire-Lit Hall serves as the primary advisory body to the President and thus each member serves as the head of a government ministry that manages a given sector of the government.
Legislature
The Chancellor is the head of government of Chakailan and although they are the chairman of the Council of Commons and by law are supposed to rely on them, but in recent years have become the nation's de facto leader and have acted independently from the Commons as a result. The Chancellor picks members of the Fire-Lit Hall, who in turn elect the President, thus giving the Chancellor sweeping powers over which legislation can be passed and which gets defeated. The Chancellor is elected by the people of Chakailan by first-past-the-post for a five-year term.
Although its powers have been diminished in recent years, the Council of Commons still retain considerable legislative powers despite that fact, and are able to propose and enforce the promulgation of new legislation if need be. While the President too has this kind of power, they require that the Fire-Lit Hall remains cooperative, but the Commons, on the other hand, has a few powers that it can use to ensure that proposed laws get passed, so much so that the Commons can force the Chancellor to dismiss all members of the Fire-Lit Hall if they fail to implement enough laws proposed by the Commons. The Council of Commons is composed of members elected by regional elections; each member serves a three-year term, and each region is apportioned a given number of seats. Despite changes in population, the Basic Charter of Government has no provision for reapportionment, and despite there being proposals to add such a provision, all proposals have been defeated.
Local government
Chakailan is a federation of four geographic regions and eighteen communes. The communes hold no physical territory, but rather consist solely of people based on a common ancestry, tribe, or other similar associations that has existed before independence. Thus, membership in a commune is an exclusively legal status with one's commune being determined by the commune their mother belonged to according to the Basic Charter. The communes carry a significant amount of self-government, complete with an elected council which hold a limited degree of legislation and mostly use their legislative powers to enact laws pertaining to intra-communal business and transactions as well as communal social norms, but there often exists the occasional law that regulates inter-communal relationships both between communal governments and communal members. Tribal traditionalists have often called for the communes to become empowered, effectively turning Chakailan into a true ethnic federation, but more moderate and progressive political groups have called for a reduction of communal powers or even the dissolution of the communes altogether.
The geographic regions have their own local government structure which are entirely independent from the communal governments. Each region is allotted a given amount of representatives, and each have their own legislatures and judicial systems. Tribal traditionalists see the regions as artificial constructs and have thus called for the dissolution of the regions save for purely geographical purposes. This is in direct contrast to the moderate and progressive groups which wish to phase out the communes in favour of moving away from the quasi-ethnic federalism of the status quo.
Politics
Ever since its establishment, Chakailan has been ruled under a two-party system, meaning that there are only two parties that can realistically achieve and maintain political power. However, the exact ideological positioning of the two parties is not static, with there being numerous factions within both parties that come from all points of the political spectrum. Because of the amount of political factions, they are given simple nicknames such as "left", "right", "reds", "whites", and many more. Officially, the true names of the two parties are the People's Liberation Party (PLP), and the Chakailani Unified Front (CUF). Of the two, the CUF is considered the more dominant party, having ruled Chakailan ever since independence, but the PLP still maintains an effective enough opposition to the CUF for the political system to be relatively evenly balanced between the two groups.
Chakailani Unified Front
The Chakailani Unified Front was formed in 2024 after the Treaty of Electorsbourg was enacted. The CUF is the successor to the rebel forces which have fought against Zurgite rule. Many of the rebel leaders during the Wars of the Deluge would go on to become the leadership of the CUF, with the party taking on the name of the rebel group as a result of its history and dominant political leadership.
The common ideological traits found within the CUF is its members' support for Chakailani nationalism, political pragmatism, and national security. Indeed, many of its members see democracy as a temporary measure and would wish to get rid of it entirely in favour of a one-party totatlitarian regime, but as a condition for receiving aid from the Occident these beliefs have been moderated extensively so as to not risk having international aid to the nation cease entirely. Another significant faction with the CUF are the tribal traditionalists who call for reforming Chakailan into an ethnic federation through the dissolution of the geographical regions as well as the empowerment of the communes; they place great emphasis on localism and wish to preserve the traditional social ties that unite the communes. They see any attempt at modernisation as an extreme threat to the communes as a result.
Because Chakailan was made independent and reconstructed with help from the Occidental powers, the CUF wishes to maintain close ties with Urcea and Kiravia due to the two countries having contributed the most to the independence and development of Chakailan. Because of this kind of foreign policy, the opposition PLP has criticised the CUF for its seemingly hypocritical reliance on foreign powers to maintain their dominant control over the nation as well as overlooking the corruption and very weak labour laws that has emerged as a result of foreign companies taking advantage of the CUF's rather business-friendly policies.
During Chakailan's first legislative election, the CUF's biggest opposition was primarily found amongst centre-left democratic reformist groups which have united with left-wing groups to form the PLP. These moderate groups have since defected from the PLP over concerns of the party becoming more and more radically left-wing, and as a result have started to form an informal alliance with the CUF.
People's Liberation Party
In the aftermath of the Final War of the Deluge in 2024, a small left-wing faction of the CUF splintered off from their former allies over concerns pertaining to the group's establishment embracing a pro-Occidental foreign policy as well as the implementation of a neoliberal economic policy. The leadership of the splinter group knew full well that they would inevitably have to fight for the final liberation of the Chakailani people, one way or another, and that the CUF would side with the interests of foreign capital. The new group was an alliance of Cabaceroist militias and tribal socialists as well as centre-left liberal and democratic reformist groups, and together they formed the People's Liberation Party to serve as the main vehicle for the "true national liberators" of Chakailan. The PLP received just over 30% of the vote in the nation's first election. Although not the worst results for a nascent political group to have, the results were still seen as a complete failure, and for the next five years the PLP would begin to rebrand themselves and embrace a more populistic form of rhetoric in an effort to gain more votes.
This rebranding would greatly concern the liberals and moderate democrats who subsequently defected from the party in 2027, thus leaving the PLP with two main factions. The leading faction of the PLP is the Cabaceroists, who were inspired by the radical left-wing militants who have opposed the Delepasian Estado Social as well as serving as the main socialist opposition against the Pelaxian government during the "Years of Steel". The Cabaceroists call for the unity of progressive forces against what they consider to be the CUF's bourgeois Occidentalist regime. The other main faction of the PLP is the tribal socialists which originally started off as a small Marxist-Livasist faction that called for a proletarian dictatorship under totalitarian rule similar to the views of the more radical members of the CUF. They would quickly rebrand themselves into a left-wing ethnic federalist group, taking in some of the policies called for by the CUF's tribal traditionalist wing and reinterpreting them under a socialist lens. As a result, they have become proponents of an agrarian form of syndicalism and currently call for the empowerment and modernisation of the communes.
Culture
Chakailani culture is an eclectic blend of many different cultural traditions, with local tribal customs forming a cultural baseline on which the traditions of many different groups of former enslaved people from across the world have introduced new traditions and mores. Focus on rough life in the mountains and reemergent nomadic traditions factor strongly within Chakailan's culture. Chakailani identity has become increasingly tied to a fierce sense of personal, familial, and national independence, especially since the nation gained its independence following the Final War of the Deluge.
Cuisine
Much of the cuisine of Chakailan speaks to its history both as an area of slaves as well as that of a rugged mountain people, and due to the types of people left in Chakailan over the ages, it reflects the country's rich and diverse cultural heritage. Two categorizations of food exist in Chakailani cuisine, the first of which is known as "work food" and the second of which is known as "new food". "Work food", as the name suggests, originated from the food given to laborers and slaves, and is nutrient dense; many of these types of foods, originally bland, have received additional ingredients and spices to make them more appetizing. Hardtack is commonly eaten in Chakailan, and in recent decades this has been iterated into cake-like products eaten for supper with fruit-based sweeteners and softer ingredients included. Salt pork stews are also common and have received iterative improvements to flavor in recent decades and especially since independence. "New food", on the other hand, are types of food based on the cuisine and meals familiar to people enslaved and subsequently brought to the region. These meals resemble those of the cuisines of elsewhere and Crona and even abroad, but are made using local ingredients. Lamb meat pies, prepared in such a way that clearly originally followed Levantine beef pies, are commonly eaten in Chakailan, evidencing the use of locally available ingredients to create new Chakailani dishes. "New food", despite the name, can date back hundreds of years.
Symbols
The torch and torches are used in Chakailan as a symbol of liberation, as paths lit by torchlight are associated with the road to freedom from slavery. Accordingly, torch imagery has become closely associated with Chakailani culture and is pictured on the flag and coat of arms of the newly established state and is also alluded to in the state's motto, "Light the torch to freedom."
Demographics
Linguistic Demographics
The majority of residents of Chakailan speak a lower caste variant of Hieratic Varshani, though a handful of native languages which are related to it are spoken by isolated mountain tribes.
Religious Demographics
The Chakailani people have a wide variety of religious beliefs as a result of their historical ties to servitude in Varshan. A plurality of the people are adherents of a folk variety of Solar Arzalism, though scholars believe a separate heliolatristic folk religious tradition may be included within these statistics. The second largest group of people are what can best be described as "folk atheists" - a position with no definitive philosophical or scientific arguments against the existence of a God, but rather a lived experience leading to religious nihilism. Among the relatively small but growing educated classes of Chakailan, an effort to import M'acunism into the country is underway, though some former slaves and mountain tribes are also original adherents of the faith. Catholic missionaries made minor inroads with both the native population and returning slaves during and after the Final War of the Deluge, contributing to a small but notable Christian population in the country. The remaining part of the population - about 15% - adhere to a wide variety of folk mythologies, slave religions, obscure tribal faiths not yet categorized by Occidental sociologists, and other various local traditions.
Economy
Chakailan has a very small economy, and its people are considered among the poorest in the world. The primary sectors are subsistence agriculture and nomadic pastoral herding. The economy of Chakailan is such that its government is not sufficiently strong enough or have enough credit to issue a currency. In the more remote parts of the country, barter is the primary form of exchange, but the government uses Cronan lira as its de facto currency for internal and external transactions, and observers note that the Taler is also accepted in some parts of the country at a 1-to-1 rate with the lira despite the difference in value of these currencies abroad.
Chakailan is very under-urbanized, with a large, central city only presently under construction as a project of the new state - T'laa'nah, which means "liberty", - which also serves as the nation's capital. Few transportation networks or systems allow travel throughout the country, with an in-progress highway and rail network system emanating out of the city of T'laa'nah, which is under construction. T'laa'nah is home to the nation's only airport, which is being upgraded to be able to accommodate international flights. Many of the nation's former Varshani-run village concentration camps have been abandoned or destroyed, with recent government incentives attempting to encourage individuals to abandon the nomadic lifestyle and return to the sites of the villages in an attempt to create a small, but stable urban core to the country.
Due to both the newness of Chakailan as a state as well as the nomadic lifestyle of many of its residents, the state's taxing efforts have been extremely inefficient since its independence. As of the late 2020s, the nation's primary form of state revenue is in the form of foreign aid from Urcea and Kiravia, particularly ACED funds. These funds are being used to support state operations in addition to being used to fund construction of T'laa'nah and its associated infrastructure. Besides state-to-state transactions, foreign investment into the country has been limited, especially due to the lack of urban centers which might provide a good opportunity for growth. Economists anticipate that the state's budget will be largely self-sustaining by the early 2040s.
Military
Chakailan's military only has one branch - the Republican Guard of Chakailan, which serves the basic functions of both an army and an air force. Within the national defense scheme, it is intended that Chakailan's primary main manpower and defensive capabilities be provided by tribal militias and volunteer forces. The RGC is intended to supplement these forces with a relatively small contingent of regular professional soldiers - a single battalion of 524 personnel as of 2029 - as well as air and logistical support along with maintenance and operation of artillery. Accordingly, in addition to its infantry battalion, the RGC maintains four batteries of artillery. The air component of the RGC includes a number of transport vehicles as well as five mixed-role jet fighters.
In terms of military outlook, Chakailan is heavily reliant upon Kiravia to provide for its national defense despite having no formal agreement between the two nations. With Varshan occupied by the League of Nations, many of Chakailan's threats are assumed to be internal or non state-actors, and accordingly the military remains largely garrisoned in and around the emerging city of T'laa'nah.