Charnea

Republic of Charnea ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⴰ ⵏ ⵞⴰⵔⵏⴻⴰ Ajamhurya n Charnea
Flag Seal
Capital and largest city	Agnannet
Official languages	None
Recognised national languages	Tamashek (de facto)
Recognised regional languages	Randeshret Tamahaq Tawellemmet Darja
Ethnic groups (2024)	62.9% Tenerians  ∟51.8% Kel Aɣrem  ∟11.1% Kel Ajama 15.4% Deshrians 13.8% Gharibs 3.6% Zarma 2.1% Tebu 1.2% Chamals 1.0% Other
Demonym(s)	Charnean
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• Amizar	Khyar Aziouel
Legislature	Agraw Itkar
Foundation
• Fall of Tamazgha	250
• Ihemodian Wars	1360-1410
• Awakar Confederation	1519-1910
• Charnean Revolution	10 October 1910
• Muttay Ajamhuryin	7 June 2023
Area
• Total Area	2,130,656 km2 (822,651 sq mi)
• Water (%)	0.0084%
Population
• 2022 estimate	27,023,983
• 2020 census	26,995,572
• Density	12.68/km2 (32.8/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	$599 billion
• Per capita	$22,179.45
Gini	44.4 medium
HDI	0.801 very high
Currency	Azref Aga
Date format	mm.dd.yyyy
Driving side	right

Charnea, officially the Republic of Charnea (Tamashek: ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⴰ ⵏ ⵞⴰⵔⵏⴻⴰ, Ajamhurya n Charnea), is a landlocked country in central Scipia bordered to the north by Talahara, Tyreseia, and Alanahr, to the east by Kembesa and M'biruna, and to the south by Itayana and the Makgato Federation. Referred to as the Heart of the Ninva, Charnea sits at the crossroads of the Scipian continent between the Periclean, Ozerosi, and Ooreqapi nations. The country is predominantly made up of flat arid and semi-arid plains interrupted by the Arwa, Agala and Adjer mountains. The population of 27 million has a 70% urbanization rate and is concentrated in urbanized corridors connected to each other by an extensive rail network spanning the desert. Agnannet is the largest city in Charnea and serves as its capital and central railway hub, gaining the status of a global city because of its importance to the central Scipian region.

Pre-historic Charnea is known to have been on the earliest regions inhabited by anatomically modern humans and would go on to play host to some of the world's first urban civilizations emerging from the Agricultural Revolution of the al-Kija basin. The Bronze age would see the gradual westward spread of the Kijite civilizations, of which Deshret is the preeminent example, bringing urbanism, organized agriculture and metallurgical sciences to the region. The classical Kel civilization embodied by the Tamazghan Confederation would later emerge from the regions west of the Adjer mountains, incorporating Kijite influences and expanding across much of the Scipian interior and parts of the Rubric Coast of the Periclean sea. The end of the Tamazghan era in late antiquity saw the splintering of the Kel peoples into disparate nations, including the ancestors of the modern-day Tenerians. The Tenerian conqueror Ihemod Imekkusa would briefly reunite the Kel peoples under one state during the short-lived apogee of the Ihemodian Empire which dominated the Scipian continent for much of the 14th and 15th centuries. The Ihemodian rump state known as the Awakar Confederation continued the legacy of the Tenerian empire after its decline and would go on to serve as the foundation for the modern Charnean state that would emerge in the early 20th century.

Over the course of the 20th century, Charnea underwent a rapid transformation from a hermit state to a regional power in Scipia thanks to an enormous economic and demographic transformation. Charnea has experienced a roughly 1200% increase in its population in the years since 1900, during which time it rapidly modernized its economy from artisanal production and nomadic pastoralism to one based on a manufacturing sector exporting electronics and metal products as well as a significant share of the world's plastics. The country's economic transformation was largely catalyzed by its mineral wealth and exports of oil and natural gas, peaking in the 1950s before being overtaken by the growth of heavy industry and the corresponding rise in domestic demands for energy and mineral resources. The Charnean economic model can most accurately be described as a form of Developmentalist state capitalism and is characterized by its high degree of centralized control and consolidation under an oligopoly of the powerful Charnean Combines, massive vertically integrated business groups that are themselves subject to the influence and direction of the Charnean state and its industrial planning organs. The economy is limited by the pressures of severe resource scarcity in many areas of the Ninva desert as well as the effects of regional conflicts both internal and external to Charnea, yet it remains largely successful in sustaining a standard of living on par with the wealthy Periclean nations to the majority of citizens.

Etymology

The exact origins and meaning of the name of Charnea is heavily in dispute. The prevailing theory is that the modern Charna as it is rendered in Tamashek is a corruption of the Deshrian word Shasramt meaning "traveling people" referring to the ancestors of the Tenerians who reverted to a nomadic pastoral lifestyle following the collapse of Tamazgha in the 3rd century. Shasramt was likely adopted as a term for the lands and peoples of the central Ninva desert some time after the rise of the Ihemodian Empire. The Tenerian endonym for the land is simply Tenere meaning "desert", referring to the arid landscape of the Ninva desert. However, this term is generally applied only to the historically Tenerian region of the western Ninva. The Ninva east of the Adjer mountains instead bears the Hatherian name of Zahra which has the same meaning as Tenere.

Government

The government of Charnea is a unitary parliamentary republic under a system of limited franchise. The supreme authority of the Charnean state is the Agraw Itkar (Paramount Assembly) in accordance with the principles of parliamentary sovereignty laid out in the November Protocol, a document which serves as the legal framework for the Republic together with the original Azut Declarations. The chief executive is the Amizar, a combined head of state and government elected from within the legislature and accountable to it. Continuing the tradition of past Charnean regimes, there is no independent judiciary. Instead, the judicial system is overseen by the Agraw which doubles as a supreme court, wielding ultimate legal and constitutional power.

Under the Charnean system, the right to political participation is earned through national service, the definition of which is established by the November Protocol to include civil servants, public workers and the employees of state-owned corporations as well as military service. Franchise is earned after a certain number of years served, varying depending on the service. Two years of military service grants franchise, compared to five years in the Civil Guard or seven years in civilian service. Under the November Protocol, military veterans and civilian recipients of Certificates of Merit would be granted franchise retroactively on the basis of prior service, while in all other cases the perior of service for the purposes of earning a franchise would only be counted beginning on the 14th of November 2023. Certificates of Merit are documents granting special franchise issued by the central Election Council, requiring an appeal by one who already has their franchise. Earning a franchise confers both the right to vote together with the right to stand for election and cannot be revoked once issued, even as punishment for a crime.

The Deputies of the Agraw are elected through a unique system known as the Voting Corps. The many organs of the National Service are subdivided into Voting Corps delineated by the Election Council, and earning once's franchise through service in a given Corps establishes a membership to the Corps. Rather than a geographically defined electoral district, these Corps are the basis of Charnean parliamentary elections. This method for the organization of elections is a holdover from the brief period of the Republic's foundation as a military republic in which its democracy was based on an electorate of the active military who may be widely dispersed and move great distances regularly as their postings and living conditions change. The primary function of the Electoral Council in this system is to allocate seats in the Agraw to each Corps of the electorate. Each Corps then elects candidates to the Agraw through a multiwinner approval voting methodology. The system of Voting Corps is only used for the national parliamentary elections while local elections utilize a first-past-the-post voting system with eligibility based on residency rather than Corps.

Military

Main article: Charnean Army

Kel Ajama servicemembers of the Charnean Army mobile infantry

The military forces of Charnea are consolidated under the Charnean Army, better known by the acronym of its Tamashek name as the Iɤrudan Charnan Ajhanan (lit. "Combined Charnean Army") or ICA. The ICA encompasses all of the land and air-based military capabilities of the landlocked nation, and is internally subdivided into the Central Army which represents the main ground combat arms of the ICA, the Border Guards which serve as a security force for desert patrols in peacetime and rear area security in wartime, as well as the Army Air Service which acts as the air combat and support unit. The Charnean Army has been historically reliant on the manpower and expertise provided by the nomadic peoples of Charnea, the descendants of the Tenerians who retained the ancestral ways of the desert people, today known as the Kel Ajama. During the era of the modernization of Charnea in the early 20th century, the then nascent Kel Ajama subculture represented a source of manpower which were already well adapted to travel and land navigation in the open and inhospitable landscape of the Ninva, and who could be paid less than their city-dwelling counterparts due to their consistently lower standard of living. Over the decades, this became and entrenched reality of the military which would deeply influence the character of the organization.

The modern Charnean Army is organized in response to the geographic and material realities of the nation. In order to overcome the immense distances and uniquely inhospitable conditions of the landscape, the ICA has become a highly vehicular force relying on a large inventory of aircraft and wheeled land vehicles to equip its long range mobile forces. Many such formations forgo heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery in order to achieve the range and mobility required to operate effectively in the wide open and hostile environment of the desert which lends itself to scattered, sporadic, low intensity engagements. As a result, the Charnean Army relies heavily on its air arm to deliver heavy firepower, as well as the nationwide rail network which sustains the extensive logistical support system which keeps the Army in operational working order.

Geography

The territory of Charnea comprises 2,130,656 square kilometres (822,651 sq mi) of land, making it the largest country in Scipia by land area. Charnea is far larger in its longitudinal expanse than its dimensions in latitude, with its far western tip at the border with Talahara being 3,160 kilometers west of its furthest eastern border section abutting Happara. This entire territory is considered part of the Ninva, the continental desert spanning most of central Scipia of which Charnean territory makes up more than half of its total expanse. More than 90% of the country is classified as arid desert with small portions of the southwest periphery falling under a semi-desert climate classification. The vast majority of this desert expanse has no permanent surface water, with the totality of the surface water in Charnea amounting to 0.0084% of the country's total surface area or roughly 179 square kilometers. Nearly all of this surface water can be found in the Great Oasis in Deshret province as well as parts of Al-Kira river which marks parts of the far eastern border.

Economy

The structure of the Charnean economy follows a highly interventionist model in which the state or more commonly state-affiliated entities take on a major role in directing development. This system of Developmentalism, which has been described as a form of state capitalist, placed great economic power and financial resources in the hands of the state and state-affiliated companies controlled by members of the politically connected great clans of Charnean society. The Developmentalist approach proved to be effective through the first half of the 20th century, successfully transitioning Charnea from a purely extractive economy to a fully industrialized one with significant contributions from the manufacturing sector. During this period, Charnea saw dramatic increases in the urbanization, life expectancy, rates of literacy and education, as well as median incomes and standards of living which have risen to the level of near-parity with the more developed world. However, in its later years the high degree of consolidation and concentration of wealth within the Charnean economy as a result of the Developmentalist model has caused a variety of issues, namely a condition of industrial overspecialization, a lack of diversification, a stagnation of median incomes, and a plethora of social issues stemming from high wealth inequality, all of which has contributed to a slowdown in economic growth. These conditions have largely remained unchanged and in some cases deteriorated further through the upheaval of the Muttay Ajamhuryin, which had the additional effect of shaking investor confidence in the Charnean economy, despite the Republic's efforts to break up the conglomerates and decrease the level of consolidation of the major businesses in Charnea. Escaping the current era of stagnation and safeguarding the advances in standards of living is the self-declared first priority of the Republic's government, and represents a major political imperative.

Mining

Nagamina gold mine in near-eastern Charnea

Resource extraction and processing represents roughly 40% of Charnea's total economic activity and is a highly developed sector of the economy. Mining was the catalyst which kicked off the industrialization of Charnea's desert society, providing the financial impetus for the expansion of the nationwide railway network which was critical to the later stages of urbanization and industrialization and largely enabled the development of the modern Charnean state. By far the most lucrative type of extraction in Charnea is gold mining, which accounts for one fifth (20%) of the national GDP. Gold mining has a long history in Charnea, being one of the main economic activities of the medieval Charnean states and by far the most important export of pre-modern Charnea, dwarfing the value of the dye and salt trade. Today, the largest mine in Charnea is the Nagamina open-pit mine in the western reaches of Adjer province, which was originally a copper mine in which gold was extracted as a byproduct. Some 22,500 kilograms of gold have been extracted from Nagamina to date, alongside nearly 100,000 metric tons of copper ores as well as 100 kilograms of silver, making it one of the largest known mineral deposits in Scipia. Other important gold mines in Charnea include the Mother-and-Son mine and the Karukwar mine, both located in the southern Agala region of Charnea. These are quartz reef deposits which are mined through a system of underground tunnels, in contrast to the open-pit system of the Nagamina mine. All of these gold mines, however, use the same widely accepted processing techniques to extract pure gold from the ores taken out of the earth. These processing techniques are the subject of major controversy as they threaten the local water tables with cyanide and mercury contamination, making the highly lucrative extraction business a threat to the security of the water supply and a highly divisive matter in the national water politics debate.

The mineral wealth of Charnea is concentrated in the Adjer range stretching across Gangara, Ouedmaqqor and the eponymous Adjer province, which forms the bulk of the Adjer-Tenere igneous province. The entire region is home to a variety of important ores bearing a wealth of industrial metals including gold, iron and copper. In recent years, exploration of the region's geological formations has revealed deposits of Laurite, a mineral ore containing ruthenium, osmium, and iridium, which are rare elements highly sought after in the electronics industry, in addition to some amounts of iron and rhodium. Extraction of Laurite in the Harakez valley some 140 kilometers south of Azut began in 2020. The economic potential of Laurite extraction is mostly untapped and represents a potentially lucrative new horizon for the future expansion of the Charnean mining sector.

Tamse refinery in Agnannet, COPEC's largest petrochemical plant

Petroleum extraction makes up another significant component of the Charnean mineral wealth. There are two main oil producing regions in the country, located in the far east and the far western regions of the country. The eastern fields, located in the provinces of Saadia, Hatheria and Zahra, have far larger proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas. However, the eastern regions have suffered from long standing political instability, economic underdevelopment and were the main active front of the Ninvite War some decades past. The destruction of extraction and refining infrastructure by war along with the continuing instability in the region and the threat of the Azdarin Liberation Front has greatly limited and curtailed investment in oil and gas extraction in the region. Conversely, the western fields located mainly in Azalay province are far better explored and have much more infrastructure in place, making them much more economically valuable despite having only a fraction of the reserves of the eastern fields. Oil extraction and processing in Charnea has been nationalized since 1945, consolidated as part of the state-owned energy giant COPEC. Despite the size of the petro-industry in Charnea, the export of oil and gas only accounts for 3% of GDP and less than half of COPEC's yearly earnings. The majority of the oil and gas extracted by COPEC are destined for domestic use primarily as refined petrochemical products needed by many industrial firms in the massive plastics industry in Charnea, as well as the Charnean energy market. 80% of all electricity in Charnea is generated in gas-fired power plants with an additional 16% being generated in power plants burning heavy oil. Both of these fuel types are supplied almost exclusively by COPEC, and the generation plants are themselves owned by a COPEC subsidiary.

Manufacturing

Main production hall of the Aghzu plastics factory, equipped with advanced computerized custom molding equipment

The secondary sector of the Charnean economy is highly consolidated, with more than three quarters of all economic activity within the manufacturing industries being consolidated within just three major conglomerates. These are Ishar, Plexico and Akundar, together known as the "big three". Plexico, an enormous plastics industry corporation, is by far the largest of the big three. It serves as one of the main suppliers of basic as well as complex plastic products on a global scale, accounting for the majority of Charnean exports of plastic products which in total account for some 17% of the national GDP. Plexico's plastic products range from highly complex and heavily engineered medical grade items to cheap mass produced industrial components such as plastic pipes. The company is also one of the largest contributors to the worldwide supply of the plastics industry's most basic material, the pre-production plastic pellets which serve as the main input of all plastic products. Of the big three, Plexico is the most politically connected with an especially close business relationship with COPEC as its main supplier of key petrochemicals for the production of plastic materials. Plexico wields outsized political influence thanks to its status as the largest company in Charnea by revenue and one of the country's largest employers. Plexico grew to this immense size through the constant financial support and legal acquiescence of the Charnean government which invested heavily in growing the domestic plastics industry in the 1960s and and 70s, capitalizing on the incredibly low cost of the petrochemicals in the domestic market needed as inputs for the industry as well as the effects of the demographic dividend which Charnea was experiencing in those decades. The main campuses of Plexico's plastics empire are Aghzu factory located in Agnannet, Aszar in Ekelhoc and the Thalsa facility in Tezzat, all of which are found in close proximity to COPEC refineries and chemical plants which supply these factories with their raw materials. Plexico's monopoly on the Charnean plastics industry stems from its access to the financial rescources of the Charnean state and its international backers, which have allowed it to dominate the market in which other firms struggle to surpass the high financial and technological barriers of entry.

Besides plastics manufacturing which is highly consolidated under Plexico, the Charnean manufacturing sector also includes the production of of vehicles and transportation-related goods, metal products such as copper wire, and other low-complexity consumer grade products which fall under the category of light industry. These sectors are largely consolidated into the Akundar-Ishar duopoly, with neither conglomerate holding or seeking an outright monopoly over any one sector while both entities are subject to economic interdependence as part of a wider industrial oligopoly. Akundar is the main producer of rolling stock through its Agnannet-based subsidiary Akundar Transportation, while Ishar holds a greater degree of market presence among rail operators, giving both companies a great deal of control over the all-important Charnean railway network and the industries which support its infrastructure. The Ahuriri Corporation represents an outside power in the transport-manufacturing industry in Charnea, as an Onekawan firm which has expanded operations of its aircraft manufacturing industry into Charnea in recent years. This move, as well as the investment in the vehicular manufacturing and industrial sectors in general, has been indirectly subsidized by the Charnean defense industry which itself is almost entirely propped up by lucrative contracts awarded by the Charnean Army. Domestic Charnean defense industry firms such as Eruere Enterprises and the Akayon Corporation benefit greatly from the supporting network of industry of the big three as well as the smaller firms.

Agriculture

Main article: Agriculture in Charnea

Agricultural field in the Charnean desert, protected from the wind and sand by a windbreak of palms

As a desert nation, Charnea faces significant challenges in the development of its agriculture and domestic food production. Charnea has extremely low overall rainfall, with most of the nation's water supply coming from groundwater aquifers which are tightly regulated by the Charnean government due to the political and strategic considerations surrounding the extremely sensitive, scarce and crucial resource. In addition, Charnean farmers battle the often terrible physical and chemical characteristics and low fertility of the desert soil. These factors act to hinder the process of cultivation and food production in the desert. Nevertheless, Charnean farmers have persisted despite the adversity and have perfected methods of agriculture specifically adapted to the arid conditions through the millennia of human habitation in the region. Domestic cereal production is centered around the cultivation of millet, barley and flax, especially the native cultivars of these crops which are uniquely hardy and drought resistant making them far better adapted to the conditions than foreign staples such as wheat and rice. Production of mesquite flour from the invasive and widespread honey mesquite tree is common in many parts of the Tenere region of the desert, where it was introduced by Mutulese traders centuries ago. Other arboreal cultivations include date palms for fruit production as well as mastic and gum acacia which produce aromatic resin in high demand both locally and internationally.

The specificities of Charnean agriculture have a significant effect on the diet of the local people, distinguishing their cuisine from that of related Amaziɣ and comparable desert-dwelling peoples such as the Gharibs. For example, Talaharan couscous made from wheat semolina differs noticeably in flavor and consistency from its Charnean equivalent which is made from pearl millet. The Charnean diet and its associated food industries are also highly influenced by the Tenerian traditions of animal husbandry, particularly the herding of camels. This activity has been industrialized and intensified over the last century, although it retains at its core many of the practices of the nomadic ancestors of the modern Tenerians. Camels are widely raised by large family owned enterprises across Charnea for their meat, hide and especially their milk. Charnea is the largest producer of camel milk in the world, with a near totality of this industry's output aimed at the large domestic market for the milk itself as well as the yoghurt that can be made from it.

Charnea is a major importer of foodstuffs and agricultural products, and has been so consistently since the 1940s when urbanization and population growth propelled the demand for food beyond what the Charnean agricultural sector could supply. All Charnean production of foodstuffs through crop cultivation and animal husbandry today accounts for less than half of the total food supply in the country and less than 10% of all economic activity by value, with major imports of non-perishable canned goods, cereal grains, legumes and processed foods accounting for a large portion of the national food supply in Charnea. The cost to import these items by rail from neighboring nations contributes to the inflation of food prices in Charnea, an important political issue for the Charnean government and a source of public unrest in the country. The Charnean state has engaged in a policy of stockpiling reserves of non-perishable and shelf-stable food products in government run warehouses in order to mitigate the economic and political fallout of any serious trade disruption which could send food prices skyrocketing.

Tourism

The Thirteen Heaven Casino

The development of the Charnean tertiary sectors has been based primarily on the tourism industry. From the lavish palaces of the Imperial era to the pre-Imperial ancient monuments of the Tenerian and Deshrian civilizations, Charnea has a great many historically significant and impressive sites which have been converted into tourist attractions, most often by the local communities which rely on the income collected from visitors to sustain themselves. Many enterprises have been established in the rural regions of the country to organize tours aimed at foreign visitors, with the natural beauty of the Charnean desert landscape as the main selling point. As with the historical attractions, these are mainly operated by local families to gain a higher level of income that would otherwise be possible in the native region. These sub-sectors of the tourism industry have been the hardest hit by the dips in tourist travel to Charnea that has come as a result of the country's recent political instability.

By contrast, major hospitality firms operating in the great cities have been only marginally affected thanks to their devoted clientele of foreign visitors. These establishments capitalize on Charnea's legal gambling and prostitution as well as its permissive drug laws to attract visitors, especially from more restrictive parts of the world, to patronize their large casino-resorts. The majority of these hospitality industry establishments can be found in Agnannet and Tanitnet in commercial districts which have a high density of businesses catering specifically to a clientele of foreign visitors. These districts, known in Charnea as Talyat districts, are well known for their safety with the local law enforcement and at times even the local branch of the Charnean Alxalat syndicate paying special attention to the safety of foreign visitors from all forms of crime and even petty harassment. Tourism is a relatively non-consolidated industry, making it somewhat unique in the landscape of the Charnean economy, with very few establishments being part of any sort of wider company or chain. The Ishar Consortium is the only major Charnean corporation to have entered into the tourism industry, operatingtwo casino-resorts in Tanitnet and one in Agnannet. For the most part, the tourism industry in Charnea is dominated by small-scale entrepreneurship driven by individual owner-operators or in some cases family-ownership.

Demographics

Religion

Religion in Charnea
Religion			Percent
Ashni Addin			71%
Coptic Nazarism			8%
Judaism			2%
Timal Ibaran			12%
Other			2%

Occupying the central position of the Scipian continent at the confluence of its ancient trade routes, Charnea is and has always been a religiously diverse place. Temples of the ancient Deshrian religion are among the oldest surviving manmade structuctures in Charnea, and indeed the entire world. A large number of Deshrians today follow the Coptic sect of Nazarism originating in Tyreseia. An older Abrahamic faith, Judaism first appeared in the lands of Charnea some time during the reign of Queen Kaharna in the 5th century BCE, in the form of exiles fleeing the land today known as Yisrael. According to surviving jewish texts from this era, the exiles were welcomed by the Amazigh Queen and granted refuge in the desert cities of old Tamazgha. These Charnean jews would, over the ensuing millenia, the community could become concentrated in the central Charnean regions of Achra and the White Desert. The modern population of these Charnean Jews, termed Kel Udayen in the local dialect, is over 1 million. A comparatively much more recent religious introduction but one no less relevant than its ancient counterparts was the first appearance of the White Path, a Mutulese religion propagated in Charnea by a semi-mythical figure known as the Desert Oracle in the 17th century. The White Path, or Timal Ibaran as it is known in Tamashek, experienced a rapid increase in popularity, secretly encouraged by the rulers of the Awakari Empire, today becoming the second largest religion in Charnea and fostering close cultural ties to otherwise distant Mutul. The final, largest and newest Charnean religion is Ashni Addin, the "Blood Doctrine", seeing its origin in the early 18th century as a syncretic religious movement of White Pilgrim Tenerians. Ashniism combines cosmological, philosophical and theological aspects primarily of the White path and Neterism, but also influences of Ashkan Judaism and Azdarin and even ancient Tenerian folk religion. It grew extremely quickly amongst the Ajamite and Aɣremite populations in Charnea, rapidly becoming the majority religion by the end of the 18th and begining of the 19th centuries and retaining this title to the present day, having even converted portions of the Gharib and Deshrian populace from their traditional ethnic religions. This Charnean interpretation of the White Path is by far the majority of the Sakbeists in the country, while the remaining adherents of the more orthodox Mutli version are termed Shaddijnen or "Puritans" and are mainly found among the more militaristic of the Kel Ajama.