Skarmia

Federation of Skarmia Fidiratziënet Ieskarmiket Federatsiya Skarmii
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Chétlé, takoket tlimkat nadud (Skarmic) Vpered, svetloye budushcheye zhdet (Beleroskovi) "Forward, a brighter future awaits"
Anthem: Eskar fáñe Ën Devyat' Vmeste "Nine are One"
Capital and largest city	Zalsoker
Official languages	Skarmic Beleroskovi
Ethnic groups (2011)	45.7% Skarmic 34.6% Beleroskovis 11.3% Zhincans 6.5% Ossotians 1.9% others
Demonym(s)	Skarmian
Government	Decentralised unitary semi-presidential republic alongside a hierarchical tribal federation
• Federal President	Borislav Voronin
• Prime Minister	Lakoch Repinin
• Hierarch	Kenah-Nonsa Kekatlimiket
• Speaker	Ludmilla Fedorova
• Chief Justice	Niis Renipacin
• Right Hand to the Hierarch	Tilatl-Nonsa Samátlimiket
Legislature	Federal Assembly
Establishment
• Formation of the Southwestern Krai	c.1500
• Red Constitution	1905
• Independence from the UCSS	1999
Population
• 2021 estimate	4,980,000
• 2011 census	4,852,866
Currency	Skarmian ruble
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy

Skarmia (/ˈskɑːrˌmiə/; Skarmic: Eskarmik, IPA: [esˈkäɾˌmik]; Beleroskovi: Skarmiya, IPA: [skɐrˈmijə]), officially the Federation of Skarmia (Skarmic: Fidiratziënet Ieskarmiket, IPA: [fiθiˈɾät͡siənˌet iesˈkäɾmikˌet]; Beleroskovi: Federatsiya Skarmii, IPA: [fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə skɐrˈmiɪ]), is a country located in southwestern Ausiana on the planet Iearth, bordered to the west by Zhinca and to the east by Ossotia and an exclave of Beleroskov, as well as possessing a coastline on the Beleroskov Sea. The country has a population of roughly 5.1 million. Skarmia is a decentralised unitary semi-presidential republic, though a hierarchical tribal federation exists alongside the republican government in a form of limited plurinationalism, and the majority of these tribes are operated as some form of monarchy. Zalsoker is the capital and largest city of the country, with the wider city region containing roughly a quarter of the country's population.

The Skarmic people have inhabited the region since before records began, and had maintained a fairly strict tribal hierarchy for centuries, with the number and exact position of tribes changing slightly throughout their history. As the Beleroskovi Empire expanded into modern-day Skarmia, most of the Skarmic tribes swore fealty to the Empire. The territory was under the jurisdiction of the Southwestern Krai for much of its history imperial history. After revolution came to the Empire, Skarmia gained limited autonomy, before eventually having its own bloodless revolution, finally joining the United Communist and Socialist States. It existed as the Skarmian Socialist Republic until 1999, when it voted to secede from the UCSS.

Skarmia is a developing country, with most of its GDP being generated by its natural resource industries, including oil and iron ore, and an established manufacturing industry, most prominently farming tools and automobiles. Observers categorise Skarmia as a hybrid regime, with a fairly authritarian government, some political corruption and infrequent though generally fair elections. Skarmia has also been described as a dominant-party state, with the ruling Social Party of Skarmia, which emerged from the socialist movement in the Socialist Republic, having won a majority or plurality in all of Skarmia's elections since its independence.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Skarmia

The name "Skarmia" is a fairly recent invention, with the first recorded usage of its predecessor term being the in the Skarmic nationalist treatise Eskar fáñe Ën, released in 1856, which described a nation for ethnic Skarmic people as Eskarmik, from the Skarmic words eskar, meaning 'nine', and mik, meaning 'nation', thus roughly translating to "nation of nine". The term was adopted into Beleroskovi as Skarmik, which has since become the term used to refer to the native Skarmic people (as opposed to all residents of the nation). With the Red March of Peace and the transition to a nominally independent Socialist Republic, the ruling party suggested that the name of the republic ought to be inclusive of all, while acknowledging geography and history. Thus, the neutral term Skarmii (often translated into English as "Skarmian") was adopted to refer to all residents of the region. Through a process of backformation, upon the end of the Socialist Republic, the short-form name of the state in Beleroskovi became Skarmiya, with Eskarmik still being the Skarmic term for the state, and with the transliteration of "Skarmia" being the predominant English term.

In Imperial Beleroskov, the Skarmic people were known as Satöjir in their own language, and sometimes as Satoii in Beleroskovi, being from the Skarmic words satöm, meaning customs of a culture, and jir, meaning 'the same', thus meaning something akin to "those of the same customs". The native term for a Skarmic homeland was Satöjirmik, though this term had an unclear definition - to some, it could mean any one of the Skarmic tribes, while to others, it meant all of them together. The term Satöjirmik still has limited contemporaneous usage by Skarmic nationalists.

For much of its history under Imperial Beleroskov, the land now comprising Skarmia was known as the Southwestern Krai, or in Beleroskovi, Yugo-Zapadnyy Kray. The Ossotians and Zhincans both also had their own names for Skarmia, both during this time and beyond.

History

Main article: History of Skarmia

Early history and first nations

Main article: History of the Satöjirmik

Beleroskovi Skarmia

Main article: Southwestern Krai

Socialist Skarmia

Renalás-Ghá ruled over Socialist Skarmia from his rise in 1905, and then for 17 years until his death.

Main article: Skarmian Socialist Republic

Following the commencement of communist revolution in Beleroskov and the redirection of imperial resources towards fighting the rebels, the Southwestern Krai experienced a brief period of autonomy known as the Zalsoker Autonomy. The local Skarmic nobility took over the reigns of power in the region. However, similarly discontented workers planned their own revolution within Skarmia. The ruling nobility was conflicted - on the one hand, adopting a socialist system was a move they did not want to take, but on the other hand, should the imperial government in Beleroskov fall, socialist policies would allow for close relations with Beleroskov yet again, and a possible retention of most of their land and wealth. However, the planning of revolution and the shrinking counterrevolution were both undercut when a peaceful movement led by the Ronekçemik tribal leader Renalás-Ghá, aiming to bring about socialist policies in the region by peaceful means, staged a rally in Zalsoker, attracting almost 300,000 people. This showing of public support led to a peaceful transition of power from the autonomous government to a socialist system. The so-called Red Constitution also laid the groundwork for the sharing of power between the central government and the tribal hierarchy, and while various small-scale land and property siezures occurred, for the most part tribal land was left to the old tribal nobility. Renalás-Ghá was selected as the first leader, or Kekatl, of Socialist Skarmia, and in 1909, only a few years after the foundation of the United Communist and Socialist States, Skarmia's government voted unilaterally to join with the new union.

The rule of Renalás-Ghá was seen as somewhat of a light touch by many of the tribal leaders in Skarmia. As a tribal leader himself, Renalás-Ghá did not see the dismantling of the tribal hierarchy as an important step in achieving communism, as other communist states might. A motto often employed by Skarmic communists in this era was "there is equality, and there is honour - preserve both and achieve enlightenment". Renalás-Ghá's particular strain of communism may be termed 'tribal communalism' rather than a particularly heavy-handed communism, and while some disconnect existed between the government in Koyevka and that in Zalsoker, for the most part a spirit of mutual respect was maintained. Renalás-Ghá reserved the right, according to most politicians of the Socialist Republic, to select his successor, and so he selected Qakinik-Wa, a fellow tribesman of the Ronekçemik. Renalás and Qakinik's relationship was a common motif in 1910s-era Skarmian propaganda, as Qakinik-Wa more fully embodied the ideal of the tribal labourer that Renalás-Ghá, as the third son of a Nonsa, could not. Renalás-Ghá's health began to decline, Qakinik-Wa began to take on further responsibility, to the point where, by 1921, the younger man de facto controlled the government. Renalás-Ghá was privately declared incapable in early 1923, dying on the 29th August of the same year, at which point Qakinik-Wa took over the role of Kekatl. However, the government in Koyevka resented Qakinik-Wa even more than they did Renalás-Ghá. While Renalás-Ghá's approach was to reconcile tribal leadership and socialist progress, Qakinik-Wa's policies focused a lot more on securing the power of the tribes. Over the 1920s, a concerted effort by Beleroskovi politicians, both inside and outside of Skarmia, gradually chipped away at the power of the Kekatl, until in 1929, tensions between the government and the Kekatl came to a head in a swift coup, in which Qakinik-Wa was officially deposed and placed under house arrest, before being forced into retirement in 1942.

The role of Head of State was officially placed in the hands of the Prime Minister for a few years, until a constitutional amendment passed by the legislature allowed for a Head of State selected by the party leadership over Skarmia. In 1933, the first Chairman of the Skarmian Presidium was selected - a party functionary and former office clerk by the name of Grigori Kovalev. Skarmia began its first major industrialisation program under Kovalev's rule, seeing much of the western lowlands of the country, which had prominent oil reserves, become industrial land, and the beginning phases of a manufacturing industry were undertaken, with an automobile plant built in Zalsoker.

Skarmia, alongside other members of the UCSS, participated in the World War from 1950 to 1954 on the allied side. The atmosphere in Skarmia was very much one of deference to Beleroskov's international aims rather than forging ahead and achieving Skarmian aims. Skarmian-built land vehicles, such as the RG-15/M utility vehicle and the PT-15 tank, were used by Beleroskovi and Skarmian armed forces in the course of the war.

Ossotia War and the dissolution of the UCSS

Main articles: Skarmia in the Ossotia War and Siege of Skarmia

Rising tensions between Beleroskov and the UCSS general governments and Ossotia led to the declaration of independence of the latter in 1982. Beleroskov was well-placed to send troops of its own into the breakaway state, but with Skarmia occupying the opposite border and all but surrounding the country on the other side, the Skarmian government aimed to do their bit to quell the rebellious tendencies and bring Ossotia back in-line. The war, which lasted more than a year, saw heavy fighting in Ossotia itself, and a small amount of spillover into Skarmia itself, limited to Pochi Oblasc, specifically the Töertepin salient. Atrocities committed by either side remain hot points of contention in relations between Skarmia and Ossotia.

The loss of Ossotia from the UCSS was a great financial hit to Skarmia, financially, culturally and politically. On the financial side, most of Skarmia's connections to Beleroskov and the remainder of the UCSS were road and rail connections, owing to Skarmia's reliance upon her automobile industry. Other than a meagre connection to a new Beleroskovi exclave on the Skarmian border, Skarmia was now completely cut off from the UCSS by road. Early attempts at strengthening the sea connections were met with minimal success, as Skarmia's main port in Zalsoker, which was iced-over for much of the winter, did not have the infrastructure to deal with increased traffic flow. Beyond that, attempts to begin an air corridor over the Beleroskovi Sea and upgrade necessary air infrastructure, while beneficial for Skarmia's aviation industry and laying the groundwork for the friendly aircraft registration regulations that Skarmia maintains to this day, could not meet the increased demand placed upon them by the loss of Ossotia's land connections. The period from 1985 to 1993 is known as the Siege of Skarmia, and saw widespread financial hardship, a loss of investment from the central UCSS government and increased reliance upon homegrown industry and agriculture, as opposed to waiting for Beleroskovi resources and investment that simply could not meet the demand. Skarmia's membership to the UCSS became all but severed, with Skarmia remaining a member-state in name only, leading to many politicians even in Beleroskov-friendly Skarmia wondering if there was any point remaining in the union at all.

Independence

Main article: Skarmian Tiger

1999 saw increased calls for independence across the entire UCSS, and Skarmia was no exception to this. On 2 March, the Skarmian Socialist Assembly voted to secede from the UCSS, though the vote was by no means unanimous, with a large faction of loyalists remaining strong in the conviction that remaining, even if only in name, was the moral choice to uphold. On 17 March, Skarmia, alongside all other former member-states, seceded from the union and Skarmia became a fully independent country for the first time in its history, opting to become a federation of her four Oblasci to bring her more in-line with other nearby federal states.

After independence, much of the state apparatus was stripped away to better streamline the country. One of the popular proposed changes made after the Siege of Skarmia was an increase in private business opportunities and the establishment of social democracy. In the coming months, the former Skarmian Socialist Assembly, now reformed into the Skarmian Federal Assembly, voted on almost every fundamental government pillar, including healthcare, state owned businesses and even road networks, and deciding on whether to maintain state control or delegate to private businesses. The result was a hybridised system with a bit of state control maintained, but a system which was nevertheless friendly to new businesses.

Investment into Skarmia's economy by businesses was almost instant, with opportunities for Skarmian people increasing quickly as a result. Corporate tax rates were lowered, foreign investment into Skarmia's now far more friendly aviation industry meant an uptick in trade, industrial subsidies encouraged international conglomerates to set up offices in Skarmia and investment into science and technology education by the newly founded Skarmian Scientific Foundation meant that universities and technology schools began to produce skilled workers in tertiary industries.

Over the 2000s, the ideal of federalism began to make way for the current Skarmian system of decentralised unitarism, with Skarmia yet maintaining federalism in name only, but in practice, the constitution of the nation superseded the constitutions of the oblasci. Oblasc-level government responsibilities included collecting census data, operating elections for the Federal Assembly and upkeeping oblasc parklands. The lowering of responsibilities for the oblasci paved the way for higher municipalism and the primacy of municipal, city, town, village and selsavit (regional) councils in Skarmia, thus also allowing for certain settlements to set their own preferences for business friendliness.

In 2012, the Skarmian Tiger and its period of unrecedented growth began to slow - not a complete recession, but initiated by a loss of competitiveness in real estate and finance, the growth rate declined to a plateau. Very few new businesses are beginning in Skarmia, and while older businesses remain strong, there has been lessened interest in furthering investment over the past 10 years.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Skarmia and List of cities and towns in Skarmia by population

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Skarmia

The Skarmic people do not fit into any of the main ethnolinguistic categories of Ausiana. The Skarmic language is a language isolate (or depending on how other Skarmic dialects are categorised, an isolate branch). The present-day Skarmic people show great influence from neighbouring ethnic groups, including Beleroskovis, who comprise the second-largest ethnic group of Skarmia, Zhincans and Ossotians, though maintains many features of culture and identity stemming from the aboriginal inhabitants of the region.

The population of Skarmia counted at 4,852,866 in the 2011 census, with estimates from more recently presenting an increase of up to 130,000 in the ten years since the census was taken, indicating a steady population increase. According to the census, ethnic Skarmic people comprise around 45.7% of the total population, forming a plurality in the nation, with the second largest group being Beleroskovis at 34.6%, and the third largest group being a local population of Zhincans at 11.3%. The only other large population group in Skarmia are the Ossotian population at 6.5%, with the remaining 1.9% comprising mostly individuals from other former UCSS states, including many groups of Central Ausianans, as well as very low numbers of immigrants from other, non-UCSS states.

The most widespread language when counting both first- and second-language speakers within Skarmia is Beleroskovi, all together spoken fluently by approximately 96.4% of the population, and serves as a form of lingua franca for communication within much of the former UCSS. The next-largest language by total speakers is Skarmic. Polls have recorded that 99.6% have "some knowledge" of Skarmic, yet it is estimated that it is regularly spoken by 90.8% of the population, and spoken at home by 79.3% of the population. Government linguistic education is officially bilingual, with national education resources provided in both major languages as part of the standard curriculum, and 94% of schools offering "some classes" in both languages, and schools which do not offer education in both being ineligible for government funding. Politicians, to be eligible to run for government, must possess a certain level of literacy in both Skarmic and Beleroskovi, with language tests prescribed by the state to ascertain this.