Dzhuvenestan

Most Serene Republic of Dzhuvenestan 𐭣𐭬𐭤𐭡𐭫𐭠 𐭠𐭮𐭬𐭠𐭭𐭠 𐭰𐭩𐭡𐭡𐭮𐭭𐭧𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭭 (Dzhuven) Jmhwra Asmana Djewwhnhstan
Flag Greater coat of arms
Motto: Heta dawiya dinyayê Until the end of the world
Anthem: "Ey, Dzhuvenî!" "Hey, Dzhuven!"
Azagartian Standard
Capital	Arvemshahr
Official languages	Dzhuven
Recognised national languages	Alcaenian, Southern Dzhuven, Qozar
Recognised regional languages	Balecian, Halysian
Ethnic groups (2020)	X% Dhzuven X% Gerki X% Qozari X% Hellene X% Balecian X% other
Religion	Yazdânism (official religion)
Demonym(s)	Dzhuven, Dzhuvenestani, Dzhuveni
Government	Unitary directorial noble republic under a de facto military dictatorship
• President	Afran Zomorodi
• Magubadi	Iosip Lomidze
Legislature	Magistan
Establishment
• Collapse of Azagartian Empire	X C.E.
• Mesogeian Takeover	1638
• Independence from Mesogeia	1802
• Overthrow of Anax Constantine II	1892
• Zomorodi's Coup	1991
Population
• 2022 estimate	47,004,212
GDP (nominal)	2020 estimate
• Total	$452,411,780,163
• Per capita	$9,624.92
Currency	Dzhuveni Toman (₮) (DZT)
Time zone	UTC+3 (Dzhuvenestan Standard Time)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (CE)
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.dz

Dzhuvenestan, formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Dzhuvenestan (Dzhuven: 𐭣𐭬𐭤𐭡𐭫𐭠 𐭠𐭮𐭬𐭠𐭭𐭠 𐭰𐭩𐭡𐭡𐭮𐭭𐭧𐭮𐭲𐭠𐭭, Jmhwra Asmana Djewwhnhstan) and also known as Dzhuveneia, is a sovereign state in western Ochran. It borders the Sovereignty of Halys to the west and southwest, the Azagartian Sea to the north and Zilung Chen to the east. Dzhuvenestan's 47 million people occupy Y square kilometers of land; denser groups huddle the southern coast and inland river valleys, while sparser bands of population reside in the central highlands and northern mountain ranges.

The area's first unique identity began developing in early antiquity, surrounding a pre-Yazdani Hellenic myth where the pantheon of deities struck down the beast Thalatta in a cataclysmic war. The X Mountains in the north of the country were identified as the region where its body was sealed away by the gods. Later romantic versions of the myth state that Thalatta's tongue was sliced out over the central highlands and richened the earth with rivers of saliva and blood. The Kardo-Belisarian root word for tongue, dn̥ǵʰwéh₂sˀ, has been identified as a potential origin point for the name of the fertile river valleys of central Dzhuvenestan, and later the whole country. This foundational myth has remained in the public consciousness even following the establishment of the later Yazdâni mythos as state religion.

The first peoples to originate in Dzhuvenestan were the ancestors of the modern-day Balecian peoples, rising from nomadic life to sedentary city-states by around the 3rd millennium BCE. They were joined by the Azagartian peoples, which dominated the region for centuries. The region, formerly the Azagartian heartland, became a battleground of empires as first the Latin Empire and later the Empire of the East battled it out with the Azagartian Empire. Gradually, the Azagartian empire disintegrated and the tribes of modern-day Dzhuvenestan began forming a separate tribal, religious, and ethnic identity from the Aerionese in modern-day Mesogeia, with a distinct split finalized in around the first century CE. With inclusion in the wider Azagartian world came the peopling of Hellenic settlements along the southern coast throughout Antiquity; these later formed the power base of the Mesogeian dynasties seeking to secure control over Dzhuvenestan. In ancient times, the area was known to the Mesogeians as Balecia (Alcaenian: Βάχλο), and was administered largely as a frontier march. There, it remained one of the burgeoning empire's most fruitful sources ethnic trouble. During the time of the Bayarid conquests in the X century, a group of Turkic peoples later known as the Qavars came to settle in Dzhuvenestan.

In the mid-17th century, the balance of power in the region was shaken by an ascendant Mesogeia, which recruited some Dzhuveni domains into a war that saw the former gain control of the region. The Mesogeians exacted a heavy toll on the region, with the production of agriculture exponentially increased as the emperors sought to create an Ochranian "breadbasket"; the mountains were stripped of their natural resources. There was sudden political pressure from increased extraction, along with the enforced spread of the Apostolic Church, co-official use of the Alcaenian language, and swift promotion of local Balecian and foreign Alcaenian fringe figures as client rulers or nobles. A system of nobility and serfdom developed in Dzhuvenestan, with some nobles created out of old, local tribal families while others were transplants from the Imperial motherland. The region was shaped by Mesogeian policies heavily as a result of the imperial desires to control the heartland of the Azagartian Empire, from which they claimed to have inherited the right to rule. By the time of the Thirty Years’ War (1770-1802), the Dzhuveni provinces had developed a reputation for lawlessness and disorder as the eastern fringe of the empire. It was there that an equally troublesome and reckless royal, Prince Michalis, was stationed. Feeling slighted by his remote posting, and confident that he could turn the tides of the war in Mesogeia's favor, Michalis rallied his troops to win back power. Though successful in large-scale ambushes such as at the Battle of Arvemshahr in 1797, Michalis' campaign instead solidified his reputation as a disloyal traitor, burning his bridges with the Imperial Family. The renegade royal continued his campaign to great success, wielding his smaller force in guerrilla tactics against a numerically-superior but beleaguered Mesogeian army. Following the famous (and perhaps apocryphal) hailing of "Caesar; nay, Imperator!" by his troops in 1800, he crowned himself Anax Michalis I, Prince of the Dzhuvens and shortly after signed the Treaty of Pharapoli, which established Dzhuvenestan's independence.

Michalis largely made a poor ruler, and delved into psychosis as he tried increasingly desperate measures to keep the nation unified. Successive and more tame Anases were unable to right the course, and by the late 19th century, many of the remaining nobles realized that the Dzhuveni monarchs were pushing for nearly the same thing as the Mesogeian Exarchs before them: autocratic centralization, with the ancient rights and privileges of the nobility systematically stripped away to make room for the all-consuming State. Many nobles began scheming to overthrow the monarch and lead the nation for themselves, often appropriating ideas of Belisarian liberalism and ideas of plutocracy to suit their own ends of maintaining liberty for the upper classes. Eventually, a group of army officers dramatically overthrew the final monarch, Anax Constantine II, in October of 1864 as he was en route to his coronation. The nation descended into anarchy as a brutal, decade-long civil war ravaged the country. Finally, the nobles proved victorious; Constantine was hanged via show trial and the rest of the royal family, led by his son fled into exile in Mesogeia, where they groveled and pleaded to be allowed in. The ensuing Grand Republic of Dzhuveneia harnessed the nationalist and Romanticist movements of late-19th-century Belisaria and mixed them with local ideals to create a constructed sort of national identity apart from Mesogeian or Alcaenian influences. A new religion, Yazdanism, was “reconstructed” from numerous indigenous traditions separate from local Sarpeticism and Yen groups, with a heaping spoonful of Romantic pseudohistory. The new regime spun itself as the true expression of these new national ideals of freedom from tyranny and protecting its way of life. A new constitution enshrined the rights of the aristocracy; many positions of old nobility and ancient tribal allegiances were fused together in a near-anachronistic fashion to simply government. Also created was a powerful Senate, which in effect ruled the nation (though a Council of Ministers, complete with two first-among-equals Minister-Presidents, at least nominally headed the executive branch). This political framework largely remains to this day, though it was most severely altered in 1984 following a series of riots, student protests, and internal disturbance amid an economic crisis that threatened to topple the noble system. A counter-coup by army officers in 1991 brought Air Force general Afran Zomorodi to power as an unelected military dictator, a position which he holds to this day.

Today, Dzhuvenestan exists under the continued authoritarian rule of military strongman Afran Zomorodi. The twin pillars of the Yazdâni priesthood and the military regime stifle civil liberties, and the existing low-lying ethnic insurgency against the central government has stifled most development progress in the past decade. Repressed ethnic and religious minorities, long sidelined under the Dzhuveni nation-state, clamor for autonomy or even independence. Continued border conflict with neighbor and enemy Halys continually threatens to boil over into war. Internationally, the nation finds itself a member of the Forum of Nations.

Demographics

Ethnic Groups

Ethnic Composition in Dzhuvenestan (rough estimate)
Ethnic group			Percent
Dzhuven			39%
Gerki			21%
Qavari			13%
Hellene			9%
Balecian			8%
!Tibetan			5%
Other groups			5%

Religion

Yazdânism is the official state religion of Dzhuvenestan. Though the practitioners of the nation's numerous minority faiths are meant to be provided protection under the law, they often face persecution and widespread discrimination. Non-Yazdâni, for example, are effectively barred from the military and most government jobs. In regions with separatist conflict, villages dominated by non-Yazdâni faiths are often targeted for military actions, surveillance, and even destruction at a far higher rate than Yazdâni villages. Yazdânism is considered by many in power as an essential pillar of Dzhuven national identity, and to question the religion thus marks the nonbeliever as close to treason. Though non-Yazdâni citizens make up a minority of the Dzhuven population, they make up the majority of refugees in nearby nations such as X and Mesogeia.

Based on estimates extrapolated from the 1990, 2000 and 2010 Censuses, a comfortable majority of Dzhuvens practice Yazdânism.