Stenza: Difference between revisions

|national_languages = {{unbulleted list|Stenzan|Corummese|}}

* 23.2% Corummese

Stenza was originally populated by several [[Polynesian]] tribes. These tribes were spread all along the island, living off the land and occasionally fighting each other for more land, a unified government did not however exist. This situation persisted until [[Corumm]] discovered and colonized the island in 1671. The following colonial era saw Stenzan society develop from its tribal roots into a more modern puppet state, ending in a brief period of semi-self governance during the early 20th century. A bloody [[Stenzan War of Independence|war]] between Stenzan freedom fighters and the Corumm-aligned government followed between 1919 and 1921, resulting in a Corummese retreat from the Island. An internal [[struggle for power]] followed Stenzan Independence, ending with the rise to power of the [[Stenzan People's Party]]. The party had total control over the nation from 1923 until 2022, with the country being largely isolated from the rest of the world. This changed when the [[Stenzan revolution]] removed the Party from power and paved the way for the Republic to form.

Although most official accounts on Stenzan pre-colonial history were destroyed during the era of [[Corumm|Corummese]] occupation, it is known that modern day Stenza consisted of a collection of tribes before the colonizers arrived. These tribes were known to have one of either two main government types, a council of elders (Fono a Toeaina) or a single chief (Sili) with absolute power. Tribal territory usually did not extend beyond the tribe's own settlement, though the size of the settlement could vary from a couple of huts around a plantation to something more reminiscent of a city.

The colonization of Stenza almost started by accident, when a Corummese vessel captained by [[Xi Haifong]] suffered a major scurvy outbreak and decided to deviate off its course to find land. The land they found turned out to be Stenza, and upon returning home the crew reported of their findings. The land they had discovered was deemed interesting enough for another expedition, and within two years a Corummese community had been found in the [[cape of hope]] on the northwestern part of the island, named after the fact it brought hope to the ill sailors who discovered it. The Corummese called this city Xīwàng (Hope), but is now known as the regional capital Faamoemoe (Hope).

Corummese exploration beyond the initial settlement at Xīwàng was met with curiosity and then hostility from the local tribes, who did not trust the foreign settlers. A seven decade long push into the country followed, and by 1671 the whole island was under Corummese control, with the native population being subjected to the choice of compliance or death. It is estimated that up to half the native population died during this period.

Over the course of the next 100 years the island was transformed into a rather modern mining colony, Stenzan's vast supply of metals such as Nickel and Iron being exploited by the Corummese colonizers. The local population was forced to follow Corummese culture and by 1887 the nation was a Corummese puppet state headed by a Stenzan governor named Noa Zhu. Although seemingly self-governing, Zhu was nothing more than a Corummese puppet while the nation was still ruled with a tight grip by those back in Corumm.

The next three decades were not per se bad for the Stenzan population, who enjoyed all the technological and social developments the Corummese brought to them while their land was still being exploited. Regardless of this progress, the native population was still treated as a second rate class to the Corummese colonizers, who enjoyed considerable wealth based on the labor of the Stenzans.

Things changed rapidly for the Corummese puppet state in 1919, when a young Stenzan officer in the colonial army named [[Li Xhipong]] shot his Corummese commanding Colonel and revolted with his mostly native company. Other Stenzan units within the colonial army followed suit, and soon the Corummese and government loyal Stenzan forces were facing a well organized army of ~10,000 Stenzan soldiers who had defected from the colonial army. (The Colonial army at the time was made up of segregated Corrumese and Stenzan forces, with Corummese senior officers leading the Stenzan units at the field level.) This military force, called the [[Stenzan War of Independence|Free Stenzan Army]], retreated into the hills and fought the Corummese forces through asymmetric warfare, raiding military caches and arming willing civilians as they went. By the time the first regular Corummese reinforcements arrived, the Free Stenzan Army counted nearly 30,000.

A bloody war was fought over the next two years, with Corummese colonial and regular forces trying to flush out the growing independence fighters. As the war carried on, more and more Stenzans saw their opportunity to turn on their colonial overlords and public unrest became the norm, with Corrumese colonizers retreating away from their holdings to hide in cities under tight Corummese control. The war was bloody for both parties, with many Stenzan irregulars dying at the hands of more organized Corrumese units.

The war was eventually decided in the [[Battle of Xīwàng]], when Stenzan irregular and regular forces massed overwhelmed Corummese defenses during a civil uprising among the workers inside the city. Corummese naval vessels, two freighters and a destroyer unloading supplies in the port, were captured by the attacking forces and a lot of the Corummese elite hiding in the city were captured and murdered in a [[widely filmed event]]. The fall of the Corummese capital on Stenza cut the Corummese army off from its supply chain, and after failing to retake the city on two different occasions the Corummese forces surrendered on the 2nd of August, 1921. This date was later to be known as the [[Day of Stenzan Independence.]] Stenzan independence was followed by a long month period that saw the defeated Corummese leave the island along with the majority of the colonizers, a period known in Stenzan history books as the [[exile of the humiliated.]]

All was not well for the Stenzans after chasing out the Corummese, for the celebrations of their independence were short lived. The young Lieutenant who had caused the independence movement, Li Xhipong, was hailed by many as a national hero and was to be the first leader of a free Stenza, if it were not for the rapid rise of the far left leaning Stenzan People's Party and their assassination of Xhipong. Over the next seven months, Stenzans who backed the Party and various groups who did not fought over the rule of the island, with the Party eventually coming out on top in April 1923 through the cunning military leadership of [[Hemi Hidao]]. Hidao would end up being the first chairman of the Stenzan People's Party and the leader of the country, which became known as the '''Stenzan People's Collective'''.

Hidao's rise to power was followed by six years of civil unrest called the [[pacification]], this period was characterized by the party's consolidation of power throughout the country, the swift and public assassinations of anyone who doubted the Party and its ways, and the total isolation from any foreign influence by expelling all foreigners, aside from re-educated Corummese who had elected to stay after the war. Between the start of the Independence war and the end of the pacification in 1929 an estimated 35% of the Stenzan population died. By 1928 the Party's control over Stenza was firm and it could shift its focus from establishing dominance to ruling the nation. Plans were drafted to industrialize the next decade and half was spent catching up to the other nations of the world. By 1943 Stenza was an industrialized nation in its own right, most of its citizens having jobs although pay was low across the board.

The standard of living was not bad however, with the low pay being balanced out by a low cost of living. Stenzans enjoyed a relatively free society on the social level, being barred only by the major barriers that were a lack of contact with the rest of the world and a totalitarian regime that took care of anyone who disagreed with it. For Stenzans that had no desire to leave the country or doubt the party, life was well enough. By 1953 it became clear to Party officials that the initial ideology of total isolation did not pay off, Stenza was sitting on mined metals that it had no use for while lacking materials it could not locally produce and falling behind on modern technological advancements. A Stenzan party was sent to Corumm and by December of that year the [[Treaty of Zanshu]] was signed by representatives of both countries. The treaty marked the start of a strictly controlled Corummese-Stenzan trade relationship, with Stenzan metals and resources being traded for Corummese resources, medicine, technology and weaponry. Most of the imported items would later end up reverse engineered to lay a base for Stenzan spin-off products, spring boarding Stenzan technological knowledge on various fields by decades within the span of mere years.  

By 1964 Stenza was entered what is commonly known as its golden era. Its industry and knowledge base had expanded to the degree where it was able to sustain itself if need be, although it still depended on Corummese trade for new international developments and other rare resources. Stenzan universities were producing the first generation of Stenzan professionals taught entirely by Stenzan professors, and both civil liberties and relative wealth grew within the boundaries of the Party's isolationism. The Stenzan military had grown well equipped with both Corummese weapons and their reverse engineered copies, with a relatively modern blue water Navy capable of protecting Stenza's borders and even projecting Stenzan naval power across the globe, which is something it never did.

This short boom lasted until 1992, when the [[Party of Corummese Democrats]] rose to power in Corumm and suspended the trade agreement between both countries as part of a general stance taken against foreigners. The loss of its only trade partner robbed the Stenzan economy of its only foreign connection, and for the next five years the standard of living for Stenzan citizens plummeted. It was not until 1997 that Stenza and Corumm reached a new, albeit watered down trade agreement with Corumm, incorporated as an addendum to the treaty. The return of trade with Corumm stabiilzed the Stenzan economy, although it never fully grew as it did decades before. This situation would persist until 2022, with the cost of living for Stenzans growing quicker than the GDP per capita. These last two decades of the Party's regime were characterized by bursts of violent actions taken against those considered enemies of the state, unfinished construction programs and repeated to modernize the military's equipment in large enough numbers.

Stenza's culture draws a lot from two distinct sources: Its Polynesian nature as an island state, and the influence Corumm has had on its culture during the colonial era. As an effect of this, Stenzans frequently have Polynesian given names and Corummese surnames, or vice versa. Emphasis has been placed on Stenza's Polynesian heritage over the last few years however, with Stenza aiming to characterize itself as a center of Polynesian culture.