Phansi Uhlanga

The Democratic People's Republic of Phansi Uhlanga Riphabliki ra Vanhu ra Xiyeningi ra Phansi Uhlanga
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  "Freedom! Socialism! Unity!"
Anthem: "The Internationale"
Capital	Ngondabuala
Largest city	Diqasa
Official languages	Uhlangan
Ethnic groups	38% Bakonji 19% Iqozi 14% BaKhoeli 9% Tshamba 6% ǂBūkhokwe 9.61% N!twe 4% Coyotl .39% Nahuas
Demonym(s)	Uhlangan
Government	Unitary one-party socialist state and military junta
• Supreme Commander	Njiba Impisi
• Premier of the Communist Party of Phansi Uhlanga	Kasanda Lukumwenu
Legislature	Supreme People's Indaba
Formation
• Heron Empire collapses	March 4 1900
• Democratic People's Republic of Iqozi founded	October 6 1964
• Cuhonhico annexed	September 11 1971
• Current name and constitution adopted	April 20 1974
Area
• Total	568,576 km2 (219,528 sq mi)
• Water (%)	3.5%
Population
• January 2015 estimate	65,069,420
• Density	114.32/km2 (296.1/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2015 estimate
• Total	$780,833,040,000
• Per capita	$12,000 (???)
Gini (2015)	23.4 low
HDI (2015)	0.764 high (???)
Currency	Labor Credit (LC)
Time zone	UTC+1 (???)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (not observed)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+420
Internet TLD	.pu

Phansi Uhlanga, formally known as the People's Socialist Republic of Phansi Uhlanga, is a country in central Malaio bordered by Pulacan to the east and the Ozeros sea to the north. The southeastern third of the nation is dominated by the Mpuya Nzasi mountains, the tips of which are high enough as to bear snow throughout the year. In the north of the country rolling foothills give way to the low-lying Matobe basin, which extends to the coast. Two thirds of the nation is covered by the Nyeleti rainforest, except in the dryer and flatter west, made up mostly of expansive savanna.

The region of Phansi Uhlanga has been inhabited since time immemorial. Its indigenous peoples, the ǂBūkhokwe and N!twe, are among the oldest living ethnic groups in the world, having inhabited the region since time immemorial. The Bakhoeli would come to dominate the region as part of the early Komontu expansion during the iron age, going on to form complex polities that survived even into the age of colonialism. While “Bakhoeli” is the unifying identity of its peoples, it is made up of numerous ethno-linguistic subgroups, historically divided between the wetter, more mountainous east and the hotter, flatter interior. Alongside the Bakhoeli are the Bakonji, who split from the BaKhoeli to form the Kingdom of Konji during the Bronze Age. The Iqozi, another Komontu people, would arrive in successive waves between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, settling in the region's western-central agricultural heartland.

In the modern day Phansi Uhlanga is a single party Wernerist state with a centrally planned command economy in which the means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms. Most services, such as healthcare, education, housing, and food production, are subsidized or state-operated. The economy is dominated by heavy industry and intensive manufacturing with a focus on exports, especially of rare earth elements, chemicals, and machinery. Despite this however agriculture remains a major sector of the economy, with beef and its byproducts especially representing its major industry. Phansi Uhlanga follows “Sesole Pele”, a "military first" policy which prioritizes the Revolutionary People’s Front in state affairs and the allocation of resources.

History

Prehistory

What is now modern day Phansi Uhlanga is believed by many researchers to be a critical location for the development of human evolution. It contains many sites such as the kwAbomba caves which demonstrate that it was inhabited by Australopithecines since at least 2.5 million years ago. In 2015, researchers discovered the remains of a previously unknown species of Homo near onOmuthikuku, named Homo Nyeleti. These sites contain extensive examples of multiple early hominid species inhabiting the region across a period of millions of years. Modern human settlement began roughly 125,000 years ago during the middle stone age as evidenced by the Nkowabuswa tools site, among the earliest discovered in the region.

ǂBūkhokwe and the N!Twa pygmies

The indigenous ǂBūkhokwe people are largely descended from these anatomically modern humans, representing some of the earliest peoples on earth. The settlement of central western Phansi Uhlanga by the ǂBūkhokwe corresponds to the earliest separation of the extant Homo sapiens populations altogether, associated in genetic science with what is described in scientific terms as matrilinear haplogroup L0 (mtDNA) and patrilinear haplogroup A (Y-DNA), originating in a northwestern area of central western Phansi Uhlanga. ǂBūkhokwe were traditionally semi-nomadic, moving seasonally within certain defined areas based on the availability of resources such as water, game animals, and edible plants. Modern ǂBūkhokwe and those directly descended from them (such as the BaKhoeli) occupied the northern highlands throughout the western savanna and may have formed a ǂBūkhokwean continuum from the Great Eastern Escarpment to the rolling grasslands of the far southwest.

Rural ǂBūkhokweans starting a fire using traditional methods.

Genetic study of the N!Twa pygmies has suggested a lineage derived from the middle stone age peopling of Central Malaio, with a separation time from the same or similar Subscipian Malaioan dating back to around 125,000 years ago. The Malaioan pygmies’ uniparental markers display the most ancient divergence from other human groups among anatomically modern humans, second only to those displayed among some ǂBūkhokwe populations. Mitochondrial haplogroup L1c is strongly associated with western N!Twa pygmies, known as the “Ogomo !Twa”, whereas mitochondrial haplogroups L2a and L0a are prevalent among the eastern Ba!lTwa. Studies conducted in 2010 suggest two unique, late Pleistocene divergences from other human populations approximately 90,000 years ago, and a split between eastern and western pygmy groups about 20,000 years ago.

The N’Twa are renowned for their short stature, with males standing under 152.4 centimeters tall and women under 145 centimeters. Due to their traditional diets, highly deficient in both protein and iodine, as well the thick rainforest canopies restricting access to sunlight and thus vitamin D, the pygmy population has on average skeletal mass near the lowest periphery of the spectrum among anatomically modern humans. While the ǂBūkhokwe populated the entirety of western Phansi Uhlanga, the N’Twa traditionally inhabited the dense Nyeleti rainforest of the central Matobe basin and eastern highlands, where they form a large portion of the population to this day. Also unlike the ǂBūkhokwe, the N’Twa peopling of central and eastern Phansi Uhlanga coincides with the early proto-komontu expansion of the middle to late stone age, from which they are presumed to have distinctly separated from more than 60,000 years ago. Those early proto-komontu hunter gatherers who did not become the pygmies would go on to be absorbed into the later Komontu Expansion.

N!Twa boys pose for a picture (1904).

Komontu Expansion

Linguistic, archeological and genetic evidence indicates that during the course of the Komontu Expansion, "independent waves of migration of Central Scipian Komontuntu-speakers into Malaio occurred." Where komontu was adopted via language shift of existing populations, prior Subscipian Malaioan languages were spoken, probably from ǂBūkhokwe language families that are now lost, except as substrate influences of local komonto languages (such as click sounds). It seems likely that the expansion of the Komontu-speaking peoples from their core region in central western Scipia-Malaio began in the mid to late stone age, with these proto-komontus assimilating and displacing the indigenous hunter-gatherers across most of the region by approximately 5000 BCE.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the migrating early komontu peoples possessed agricultural knowledge not familiar to the local indigenous populations, as evidenced by the presence of primitive farming tools found in late neolithic sites in northwestern Phansi Uhlanga. Of particular note is the presence of tools related to the cordoning of cattle, suggesting the introduction of beasts of burden beyond the goat by komontus during this period. Introduction of certain crops from the eastern Ozeros region, such as true plantains, yams and other crops, the most important of which being the banana, is believed to have occurred alongside this expansion. The banana and other crops allowed for more intensive cultivation in the tropical regions of Malaio, this was most notable in the Nsemoyakepela Rift Valley region, an area with excellent soil, that saw many cities and states form, their populations being fed largely on such crops.

Lutuntulaka

Lutuntulaka (approx. 3000 BCE - 1200 BCE) was a bronze age civilization and important city-state in predynastic Uhlangan history. Its name is derived from the progenitor of the Ogomo and Bakonji languages and is believed to have meant “place where the horn-flowers bloom”, referring to the yellow trumpet flowers which would become a key symbol of later Konjilese identity. The kingdom was the first organized polity in Phansi Uhlanga and would go on to become the basis on which the Kingdom of Konji was founded in the 1st century BCE. The city-state ruled a territory incorporating the city itself and much of the greater Nsemoyakepela Rift Valley. The people around which the settlement formed has been dubbed the “Elephant’s Kraal” culture, which is known to have comprised elements of proto-komontu and semi-settled ǂBūkhokwe peoples.

This “EK” culture probably derived from the ancestors of the ǂBūkhokwe and Bakonji peoples. They were likely attracted to the area because it provided mixed agricultural possibilities, namely a broad, grassy hill overlooking a fertile floodplain which sat amid the junction of the Uhlanga river’s numerous tributaries. This allowed for the cultivation of water intensive food crops such as sorghum and rice, which provided a surplus of food needed to sustain an increasing population. The area was also very desirable elephant country, providing access to valuable beasts of burden and ivory. The control of the gold and ivory trade greatly increased the political power of the EK culture. By 2600 BCE, the population of the EK culture had centralized into the formalized city-state of Lutuntulaka. The Great Stone Kraal of Lutuntulaka was constructed during this period. Surviving inscriptions upon its ruined perimeter are believed to depict the proto-glyphs that would go on to become the written Konjilese language during the classical period.

Sites believed to have been covered graves or perhaps tombs of venerated rulers have been excavated from the ruins of Lutuntulaka dated to the bronze age period. Genealogical testing has revealed that at least some of its early leadership was likely ǂBūkhokwe in origin, providing evidence to claims of a broader ǂBūkhokwean assimilation into proto-komontu culture as part of the wider adoption of agriculture in the region. Lutuntulakan culture is thought by archaeologists to be the first class-based social system in Phansi Uhlanga; that is, its leaders were separated from and higher in rank than its inhabitants. Rulership was likely based in the tradition of priest-kings and is believed to represent "the earliest evidence for sacred leadership in the region".

The multitude of well preserved burial sites and the quality and variation of the artifacts within suggest that its ruling class lived on a series of hilltops overlooking a network of less permanent settlements on the floodplain below. District leaders occupied hilltops of lesser height branching out from the tallest in the center of the settlement, on which sat the Elephant’s Kraal. The king’s kraal itself was made up of large walls of uncut stone fitted together. The growth in population at Lutuntulaka led to full-time specialists in ceramics, specifically pottery. Gold objects were uncovered in elite burials on the royal hill, including a very large rhino which archaeologists believed was venerated as an idol of worship.

Gold itemps excavated from the Elephant's Kraal site.

Surviving example of Lutuntulaka's stone walls.

Lutuntulaka’s decline was precipitated by the rise in water levels associated with soil erosion in the central Matobe basin. Intensive agriculture and the clearing of forests for farmland led to the effective expansion of the floodplain by removing the root system which soaked up excess rainwater, leading to increasingly destructive flooding. Large rice paddies proved fertile ground for the tsetse fly, which is believed to have seen its territory swell across much of the area at that time. This is believed to have contributed to outbreaks of sleeping sickness and yellow fever, which alongside broader changes in climate affecting agricultural output gradually saw the decline of the city’s population. By 1200 BCE, effective political control had retreated from the broader Nsemo valley to the perimeter of the city itself and within just a hundred years of that would be abandoned except for ritual purposes by the local population. This would not change until the classical period, in which it would be refounded as new city of M’Banza-Konji.

Bronze Age Collapse and the Three Pearls Era

The period encapsulating the collapse of Lutuntulaka but before the foundation of Konji has been traditionally described by historians as the “Late Bronze Age collase”. It was characterized by mass migration of komontu peoples into the region, environmental change and the widespread abandonment of the cities that had developed in the previous centuries. The collapse was fast acting, sudden and widespread across the greater area, bringing a sharp economic and cultural decline to the Nsemo rift valley and the greater Uhlangan river civilizations. Scholars have proposed multiple competing theories on the causes of the bronze age collapse in ancient Phansi Uhlanga, from ecological devastation wrought from the eruption of Mount Shanga, to agricultural devastation brought on by soil exhaustion, and even political chaos as a result of the komontu migration. Today however the consensus is a synthesis of these positions, in which intensive cropping and deforestation gradually contributed to soil exhaustion and erosion, turning into almost universal agricultural failure as a result of worsening floods and the eruption of Mount Shanga. This in turn led to the abandonment of Lutuntulaka’s outerlying settlements and eventually the city itself, whose populations resettled among the migratory ǂBūkhokwe and komontu peoples.

The era following the collapse of Lutuntulaka saw widespread strife across the greater region of ancient Phansi Uhlanga. Previously, scholars believed that the collapse involved the widespread depopulation of the area as the local population abandoned intensive agriculture to intermix with the nomadic komontus. However, research done since 1971 has instead suggested that after the first century post-collapse, life had returned much to normal for the area, with the direct ancestors of the Konji, Ogomo and Anachakide peoples largely resettling into subsistence farming and village life. Archaeological digs in the area of the western-central Nyeleti rainforest has revealed complex iron and bronze tools as well as the remnants of ancient smelting sites, suggesting that advancements in general knowledge continued on even as settled agriculture steeply declined. By approximately 1000 BCE, new political entities had begun to form around the ruins of former Lutuntulaka, with other significant populations at Ekifwe along the Mbandabombo river and Tshiswaka at the foot of the eastern mountains. The latter would eventually become the capital of the Tshiminina, a prominent kingdom of the Tshamba people.

19th century woodcut depiction of slaves entering the Ekifwe inner gates

Ekifwe

The Kingdom of Ekifwe (“Kimfumu ya enEkifwe”) was a historical polity in southeastern Phansi Uhlanga during the era of classical antiquity. Ekifwe was a conglomeration of several komontu-speaking peoples who would eventually go on to become the Ogomo. It began as a loose confederation of several tribal groups settled upon the hilly grasslands north of the Mpuya Nzasi with no real authority. These groups initially met at what is believed to have originally been the site of a temple or shrine that formed a neutral ground upon which to conduct trade or diplomacy. By 950 BCE this grew into a permanent trading settlement utilizing shells from the Olivella nana river snail, which breeds exclusively on the island of Mubuyambongo in the Mbandabombo river. A powerful thalassocracy at its height, Ekifwe controlled a small network of settlements at strategic points such as river mouths and islands that allowed it to exert significant control over trade in the area. Taxes particularly on the trade of slaves, raffia cloth and copper allowed Ekifwe to grow fabulously wealthy, allowing the city-state to hold many of the settlements near it in vassalage.

enEkifwe cloth fragment (5th century BCE

Bronze bust of Bokulaka Chukwumereije (7th century BCE)

Ekifwe was ruled by a king known as the bokulaka, who extracted taxes from the kingdom’s subordinate settlements (known as bwala) to fund projects in and around the city itself. The king was elected for life by and responsible to a council of the royal court composed of representatives from all the enEkifwe subgroups, who were represented equally before the king by their elites. The kingdom had an unwritten constitution, elected political offices, separation of political powers, a judicial system with courts and juries, a police force, a military, taxation, a significant public goods provision and socially supporting movements. The enEkifwe were renowned by the later Konjilese for the significant works of art and architecture produced by them, including the Disapu ya Kembo (lit. “Epic of the Sower”), an epic poem dated to approximately 770 BCE, the stone walls of the bokulaka's palace, and their raffia embroidered textiles, lacquered sculptures and beaded hats. Inscriptions upon ruins located at the site of the former city and on artifacts dating back to the time period reveal a continuation of the development of written language in ancient Phansi Uhlanga, as many of the almost hieroglyphic symbols presented clearly originate in or were influenced by Lutuntulaka.

The military of Ekifwe was small but well equipped with iron weapons and shields, dominated by a navy composed of many hundreds of riverboats ranging from dugout canoes to larger craft. The vast bulk of forces however were auxiliaries and mercenaries recruited primarily from the kingdom’s vassals and neighbors, who thanks to the bokulaka’s deep coffers were almost always plentiful. The enEkifwe maintained amiable relations, frequently via political marriage, with the rulers of various subordinate polities, most notably the direct ancestors of the Kikonji. These leaders would in turn provide their respective contingent of forces, sometimes even leading them in battle. Regardless, Ekifwe leveraged its vast wealth and hegemony to help fill the ranks of its military beyond what its own population could support. This allowed it to wage war against and subjugate much of the region, including an extensive series of wars with its rival city-state of Tshiswaka and by the 5th century BCE Konji. These wars would bankrupt the royal treasury over time, causing a general period of decline between during the 6th centuries and 5th centuries BCE. The latter would culminate in a violent and abrupt end to the age of an independent Ekifwe, absorbed into Konji as a series of smaller provinces some time between 450 and 442 BCE.

Tshiwaka

Royal stool of the muLopwe carved from stone (7th century BCE)

The Kingdom of Tshiwaka (“kiLopwe xa Tshiwaka”), later Tshiminina, was a polity that arose in the foothills of Mount Shanga, in what is today northeastern Phansi Uhlanga during the iron age and the era of classical antiquity. Archaeological research shows that the greater Mount Shanga region had been occupied continuously since at least the late stone age, with the city of Tshiwaka’s founding dating to the mid Lutuntulaka era. In the 10th century BCE, the region was occupied by iron-working farmers. Over the centuries, the people of the region learned to use nets, harpoons, make dugout canoes, and clear canals through swamps. They had also begun to intensively cultivate millet, which was important foodstuff; they began trading the grain with the inhabitants of the Nyeleti rainforest, who used it to supplement their mineral-starved diets.

By the 9th century BCE, fishing people lived on lakeshores and along rivers, worked iron, and traded palm oil. By the 8th century BCE, the Tshishamba of the city and its surrounding countryside had diversified their economy, combining fishing, farming and metal-working. Metal-workers relied on traders to bring them copper and charcoal needed for smelting. Traders exported salt and iron items, and imported glass beads and cowry shells from the island of Mubuyambongo. The people of the region were organized into numerous successful farming and trading communities, which had begun to merge into larger, more centralized ones; largely in response to intrusions of more organized polities, chiefly the enEkifwe.

These Tshishamba communities were consolidated into the unified kingdom of Tshiminina under muLopwe Mukinayi I Babanya some time in the 770s BCE. His niece and immediate successor, Bambi I Babanya, expanded the empire over the western banks of the Majambu river, while later successors would bring to heel the entirety of the Ngungashanga. At its peak, the state had about a million people paying tribute to its royal family. This allowed the city of Tshiwaka to blossom into its position as the second of the Three Brilliant Pearls, or the three preeminent cities of ancient Phansi Uhlanga. Tshiminina's success was due in large part to its virtual monopoly on trade items such as salt, grain, iron ore and copper. This allowed them to continue their dominance in much of ancient eastern Phansi Uhlanga. Control over the trade of palm oil and later copper would serve as the basis for numerous wars between Tshiminina and Ekifwe, especially as the Tshishamba gradually exerted control over the entirety of the Ngungashanga and much of the eastern Mpuya Nzasi mountains.

Ceremonial staff used during the coronation of a new muLopwe (6th century BCE)

Administration of the law handled by the king, known as the muLopwe, with the assistance of a court of nobles known as Bamfumus. The kings reigned over their subjects through clan leaders known as Balopwe. The diverse populations of the Tshamba and their vassals were linked by the Bambudye, a secret society that kept the memory of the Tshamba alive and taught throughout the realm. The Mbudye oral religious tradition states that all of the rulers of Tshiminina traced their lineage to a single primordial ancestor in Tshibuyi, a mythical sorcerer credited with giving the secret of fire and metalworking to the Tshamba peoples.The Bambudye were official "men of memory" responsible for maintaining the oral histories associated with kings, their villages and the customs of the land.

Tshishamba society was highly stratocratic, with its kings and nobility tantamount to generals and an aristocratic officer class. Its population was broken up between free citizens, free non-citizen local civilians of the kingdom, and non-citizen slaves. Military service was lifelong and mandatory for all males to become citizens of the kingdom. All social institutions focused on the maximization of military proficiency through military training and physical development. Tshishamba soldiers were widely considered to be among the best in battle among Uhlangan armies as a result, renowned for their fortitude, organization and skill with, among other things, the three braided sling. However, its authoritarian social systems broke down as Ekifwe came to dominate the copper trade, culminating in successive slave rebellions that crippled local military power. This ultimately left Tshiminina powerless to resist Konji, who would overrun the entirety of the kingdom’s western territories.

Refounding of Lutuntulaka

By the 6th century BCE much of the ǂBūkhokwe and N!twe populations in central and eastern Phansi Uhlanga had been assimilated or driven from the area, with much of their number being pushed east into what is today Pulacan. Other N!twe instead went north and settled among the komontu peoples there, forming an intricate confederation of what would go on to be the Ogomo and Ogomo Twe pygmies respectively. Still more went west into the heart of the Nyeleti, where isolation amid rough terrain in the deep jungles provided a natural defense against enEkifwe-led komontu expansion. The ǂBūkhokwe would become displaced even further, eventually becoming nomads upon the vast western savannas where they would take up domestication of the quagga horse from the thin bands of komontu settlers there. These great expanses beyond the vaguely defined borders of Ekifwe lacked any resemblence of central authority, instead existing under a series of interconnected semi-settled pygmy and komontu villages whose handicrafts and agricultural goods carried between settlements by the nomadic ǂBūkhokwe.

Geography

The Uhlanga river and its numerous tributaries dominate the national landscape.

Phansi Uhlanga is located in central Malaio, bordered to the east by Pulacan and to the north by the Ozeros sea. The country lies south of the equator. At 568,576 square kilometers, it is the x largest nation in Malaio and the x largest nation in the world. Due to its location, Phansi Uhlanga receives very high precipitation, up to 2,000 millimeters (80 in) in certain areas. This sustains the Mfinda ya Nyeleti (generally shortened to Nyeleti) rainforest, which contains most of the country’s biodiversity. The country can be broken up roughly into three bioregions: the Matobe Basin, the eastern highlands, and the western savannas. Each of these three bioregions are separated by belts of hilly grasslands. Elevation is low in the northeast, gradually rising towards the western interior, while rainfall and forest coverage generally follow an opposite trend.

Matobe Basin

The dense Nyeleti rainforest covers much of the country.

The lush Nyeleti rainforest covers the entirety of the low-lying Matope basin, which slopes northeastward to the sea. This basin in turn gives way abruptly to expansive plateaus surrounding it on three sides, the fourth abruptly dropping off at the Kibaka ya Banzambi escarpment facing out towards the Ozeros sea. Upon these plateaus are dense grasslands and savannas to the west, highvelds and mountainous terraces to the northwest, and the glaciated Mpuya Nzasi mountain range to the far south and east bordering Pulacan . The latter is broken up by a layered transistory mosaic of forest and savanna. The Uhlanga river, from which the nation takes its name, cuts through nearly the entire area and produces an intense tropical climate that covers almost two thirds of the region. It and its tributaries form an important part of the country’s economy and transportation systems, with major tributaries including the X, X, X, X, X and X rivers.

The core region of the country is the low-lying Matobe Basin. With a territory of x square kilometers, it constitutes a little under a third of the total landmass. Much of the area within the basin is swampland, with belts of forest and grassland ringing it to the south, west and east. It is covered by the Nyeleti rainforest, which contains much of the country’s most renowned biodiversity. This marshy, bowl-shaped depression however is only sparsely populated by humans due to its unsuitability for agriculture. The Matobe is bisected by the Uhlanga river with the third north of the river generally having the lowest elevation in the country. Whereas to the south, low grasslands are broken up by dense gallery forests hugging the Uhlanga river’s extensive tributary network.

Eastern highlands

The peaks of the Mpuya Nzasi mountains remain snowcapped throughout the year.

In the far east, the Mpuya Nzasi mountain range again rises, with the coastal area in that region marked by numerous sheer cliffs. This region is called Ngungashanga, named for Mount Shanga, one of the highest peaks in the country. Ngungashanga is the only portion of Phansi Uhlanga not connected to the greater Uhlanga river system, fed instead by the Nzadiyashanga and Mengayabakala rivers respectively. These rivers originate in the Djebe mountains of neighboring Pulacan. Ngungashanga has on average a much higher elevation than most of the rest of the country. However, Mount Shanga itself is only the third highest such peak in Phansi Uhlanga.

The area’s climate is cooler than in much of the rest of the country thanks to this elevation. However, it also receives considerable rainfall throughout the year and, during the country’s rainy seasons, is subject to flooding in the region’s tight valleys. These valleys contain the bulk of that region’s arable land, owing to the very young volcanic soil which washes down into the valleys from the mountains around them. Mount Shanga itself contains an active volcano which last erupted in 2004, killing several dozen people and prompting the government evacuation of over a hundred thousand more. Ngungashanga is known for its above average amount of seismic activity. This has been an ongoing issue for Uhlangan attempts to better connect the region to the broader nation.

In the far south of the country is the western half of the Mpuya Nsazi, separated from the basin above it by a thick belt of hilly grassland snaking all along the rim of the mountain range. Here, tracing a path along the rivers are deep rift valleys. The south of the country was until the communist era heavily forested, becoming increasingly cleared in following decades for lumber. This portion of Phansi Uhlanga is particularly rich in minerals, with expansive deposits of cadmium, cobalt, copper, platinums, industrial & gem quality diamonds, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, and coal. The mining sector dominates the economy in the south as a result of this.

Between the two halves of the mountain range is the great Nsemoyakepela Rift Valley. Both deep and wide, it holds the best agricultural lands in all of eastern Phansi Uhlanga. The Nsemo, as it is colloquially known, is protected from monsoon rains by the eastern Mpuya Nsazi mountains, which also supplies its soil with volcanic ash and pumice. The latter is the source of the Nsemo’s rich andisol soils, which supports intensive cropping including the growing of rice and many fruits. Thousands of years ago, in the wake of the ice age, this region and the greater Matobe were significantly higher in elevation, the belt of fertile land greatly expanded as a result. However, much of the outer Nsemo has been eroded by the washing away of former glacial waters, sinking much of it into the greater basin. Still, the Nsemo valley remains important to this day.

Western savanas

Due to their extreme elevation, the Botala highlands receive semi-regular snowfalls during winter.

The northwest of the country is dominated by the Lithaba Botala mountain range, which forms a high alpine basalt plateau up to 3,400 m (11,200 ft) in height. This region, often called just the Botala, has a much cooler climate than other regions at the same latitude owing to this extremely high elevation. The Botala can itself be divided into regions of highlands and lowlands. The former, composed of terraced plateaus interspersed with snow capped mountain peaks being concentrated in the north and west, while the hilly lowlands in the south and east follow the X and X rivers. In the highlands, temperatures can reach as low as −18 °C and snowfall is common throughout the winters. The tallest mountain peaks even see snow all year round. The lowlands, where temperatures drop to only −7 °C see snow much less frequently owing to the lower elevation. The elevation also greatly affects precipitation, with 500 mm of rainfall annually in one area to 1200 mm in another.

Directly to the south of the Botala lowlands and the Uhlanga river is the eNyangeni Rift Valley, among the most ancient geological regions of the country and home to the most agriculturally productive lands in the whole of Phansi Uhlanga. The eNyangeni holds the highest soil quality in the country, with over 90% composed of leptosols, nitisols, vertisols, cambisols, luvisols, and fluvisols. The eNyangeni therefore has been the cradle of precolonial civilization in the region, home to many of the oldest stone age sites to be discovered. As early as 1500 BCE, rice was extensively cultivated throughout the valley and sorghum as early as 8000 BCE. Even today, the eNyangeni is one of the most heavily populated regions in Phansi Uhlanga and is home to Diqasa, by far its largest city.

The far western third of the country is known as the iYenkanyezi (lit “Land of the star”) and is composed primarily of tropical savanna. Lush gallery forests lining the multitude of navigable rivers criss-crossing the area intersperse the otherwise endless sprawl of rolling grassland. Virtually every inch of the iYenkanyezi is arable, contributing to this slice of land being the most populous in the whole of Phansi Uhlanga. Much of the interior rests on a highveld split in half by the far western edge of the Uhlanga river and contains numerous lakes. The highveld terrain is generally devoid of mountains, instead consisting of rolling plains occasionally broken up by the odd protruding stony ridge. The southern portion of the iYenkanyezi is generally drier than the northern half.

Politics & Government

Organization

The governmental structure of Phansi Uhlanga maintains dual power between the civilian and military administations, with the latter having ultimate authority over the former. This is best represented by the constitution of 1971, which defines the Revolutionary People's Front as the “armed vanguard of the people’s revolution” and the government as a revolutionary and socialist state "guided in its building and activities only by the universally applicable and immortal Wernerism-Ulwazism as applied to the nation’s unique material circumstances according to Abe Inqaba Thought". The Communist Party of Phansi Uhlanga is the only legal political organization has an estimated membership of seventeen million. It dominates every aspect of political life and the economy within the nation.

The constitution of the DPRPU defines Wernerism-Ulwazism and Abe Inqaba Thought as the “guiding ideology and belief of the Uhlangan state and people” and guarantees its citizens a host of rights, including the right to a fair trial, housing, sustenance, employment, education, healthcare, and freedom of speech, with exclusions for “hateful, derogatory or politically offensive actions meant to attack national unity”. It was adopted in 1971, replacing the constitution of Democratic Iqozi and formally codifying the modern commune system in Phansi Uhlanga. This was part of a greater program of political reform that lasted throughout the late twentieth century. Other changes involved the formalization of national military governance under a system of Front Commands, which continues on to the modern day. Despite this however, the constitution and government of the Democratic People’s Republic remains committed to advancing Uhlangan socialism, with a stated goal of “achieving a moderately prosperous and serene socialist state by 2030” and “communism by the century’s end”.

Military rule in Phansi Uhlanga is ideologically codified in the form of “Sesole Pele”, a "military first" policy which prioritizes the Revolutionary People’s Front in state affairs and the allocation of resources. This is part of an overarching ideological program within Njiba Impisi Thought known as “Abe Inqaba”, which encourages “military and economic self-sufficiency wherever possible”.

The head of state and government is the Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary People’s Front, who has the power to oversee the administration of all national law as well passing his own in the form of executive orders. The Supreme Commander is constitutionally defined as the senior most officer in the military, having wide ranging and ultimate authority over virtually all matters of state. Chief among the Supreme Commander’s responsibilities is the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, members to the Central Committee and generals to leadership of the nation’s Front Commands, or military districts. The office of Supreme Commander is a lifetime position and is theoretically elected by collective decision from among the group of Front Commanders. However, General Njiba Impisi has held the position since its inception in 1971.

The Supreme People’s Indaba is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People’s Republic. The constitution identifies the SPI as the source from which all offices and institutions derive official legitimacy. It consists of one deputy from each People’s Commune within Phansi Uhlanga, as well as reserved seats for minority and indigenous groups, and the military. Deputies are elected to five year terms without term limits. It meets twice a year to discuss matters of state for a period of one week, totalling two weeks in session per year. Because the DPRPU is a constitutionally mandated one party state, all members of the SPI are also members of the Communist Party.

The SPI serves to debate, enact, repeal and amend legislation affecting the whole of Phansi Uhlanga. It has the power to alter the constitution with a two thirds vote, to amend, permanently enact or repeal temporary legislation passed by the Central Committee while the SPI is not in session, to establish the basic principles of the nation’s foreign and domestic policy, determine and amend state budgets, and to provide input on and enact the nation’s Five Year Plans. Additionally, the SPI nominates the membership of the Central Committee, elects all members of the Cabinet, and establishes and disestablishes various governing committees and agencies. The President of the Supreme People’s Indaba serves as its speaker, with his powers including casting a tie breaking vote and the calling and closing of SPI legislative sessions.

The Central Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly is the highest civilian organ of state power within Phansi Uhlanga while the Supreme People’s Indaba is not in session, as defined by the constitution. Its major role is to act as supervisor of the Cabinet and the nation’s governmental institutions as a whole. The Central Committee monitors all activities by all governmental offices to ensure total political and legal compliance. It additionally also acts as the first line of response for issues encountered with the national Five Year Plans and appoints all political officers of the General Political Bureau to the Revolutionary People’s Front.

Not only does it deliberate on all matters related to foreign policy, defense, national economic policy and domestic security, the Central Committee also directly abrogates all decisions of state organs that are considered to run counter to the directives of the SPI. Members of the Central Committee are nominated by the SPI and confirmed by the Supreme Commander. There are typically nine to fifteen members of the Central Committee, including the Supreme Commander and all Front Commanders. Central Committee members serve five year terms.

The Cabinet of Phansi Uhlanga is, per the constitution, the administrative body and general state-management organ in the civilian government. The Cabinet is responsible for implementing the state's economic and civil policies. However, it does not have responsibility for issues pertaining to national security or defense, these being under the direct jurisdiction of the Supreme Commander and the various Front Commands. Members of the Cabinet are elected by the Supreme People’s Indaba for a five year term without term limits, automatically renewed.

The Cabinet has the power to adopt legally binding measures to execute state policy , amend and implement economic regulations, guide the work of all Cabinet subordinate commissions, bureaus and ministries, draft the Five Year Plans for the national economy, compile the national budget and adopt measures to implement it, perform inspections and control work to ensure total compliance with state economic directives and to ensure accuracy of reporting data, abolish decisions and directions by state economic organ, which run counter to the directions made by its members, and adopt and enact measures regarding the monetary and banking system of Phansi Uhlanga.

The Supreme Court is the highest organ of the judiciary. Its justices are appointed to the Court by the Supreme Commander for five year terms without term limits, and can be recalled at any time by a two thirds vote of the SPI. The Supreme Court serves as the highest appellate court in the Union, though in certain legal cases, such as crimes against the state, it is the court of first instance. Decisions made by the Supreme Court cannot be challenged or appealed except by further directives of the Court or by executive order of the Supreme Commander. It has specific chambers for civil, criminal and political crimes. The Court is staffed by a Chief Justice and twelve judges. Its chief role is to determine the constitutionality of laws and to protect the rights of the individual against actions taken by the state. It also supervises all lower courts in the country, including all trials and proceedings, and oversees the appointment and training of judges.

A Front is an individual military district and the largest peacetime unit of the Revolutionary People’s Front. It is constitutionally defined as “the smallest contiguous region capable of maintaining continuity-of-government during wartime”, consisting of any number of communes and typically includes one or more industrial or agricultural centers. Each Front is tasked with overseeing local laws passed by the Communist Parties of the communes and has the authority to intercede or overrule local civil authority on matters deemed important to national defense. A Front Command directs general military affairs within a Front, chief among these conscription of military personnel, as well over most heavy industry in the form of Special Economic Zones. A Front Commander is a position held until life or retirement and is appointed by the Supreme Commander.

The People’s Commune is the basic Uhlangan administrative unit. A People’s Commune is usually a rural township or city, or a part of a larger metropolitan area, comprising one or more economic firms and its constituent populations. A People’s Commune is typically made up of the workers of one or several Work Brigades, including support services such as clinics, schools, and grocery stores. A People’s Commune numbers up to one hundred thousand. Each commune’s branch of the Communist Party elects officials to the communal People’s Indaba for a five year term without limits. The People’s Indaba in turn makes all laws governing its commune and appoints deputies to various bureaucratic committees and commissions.

Society

Religion

Mvembakieleka

Mvembakieleka (“the universal truth”), also known as Mvembaism, is a collective name for the traditional folk religions of the greater Uhlanga river peoples. Due to the highly centralized and developed position of the Konji Kingdom, its rulers were able to influence the religious practices of many ethnic groups and polities along the Uhlanga and beyond. As a result, many unrelated groups such as the Bakhoeli and Tshamba have incorporated elements of Konji spirituality into their own faiths. Mvembaism is based on a complex animistic system and a pantheon of spirits. Its principle creator god is Nzambi Kelenakati, the sovereign master, and his female counterpart, Nzambi Fyoti, the hidden goddess. While these deities are highly important to the religion, ancestor veneration is the core principle.

There is no central ecclesiastical authority in Mvembaism, resulting in considerable regional variation in aspects of the faith. However, beliefs such as the existence of gods, spirits and tutelary deities, ancestor worship, veneration of the dead, use of magic and the existence of an afterlife remain consistent, even if individual names and details do not. The Mukanda ya Nzyunga (“Book of the Cycle”), Mukanda ya Diki (“Book of the Egg”) and the Mukanda ya Lugangu Yonso (“Book of All Creation”) are considered to be core religious texts of Mvenbaism, covering its creation myth, afterlife and the function of magic. There are at least thirteen additional texts however these are not universally accepted by all adherents, instead being focused on a specific group or tied to an individual location. The most famous of these is the Disapu ya Kembo (“Parable of the Sower”) dating to the immediate pre-enEkifwe era, which contributed heavily to Bakonji mythology. Mvembaism takes heavily from the oral traditions and religious practices of the ǂBūkhokwe and N!Twe peoples who predate the arrival of the komontus in the region.

Creation myth

Iron idol depicting a Bampeve Nsanza with its arms toward the sky, believed to be calling for rain. (760 BCE)

The Bakonji believe that in the beginning, there was only a single particle or egg, both infinitely dense and infinitely small: the four collar bones were fused, dividing the egg into air, earth, fire, and water, establishing also the four cardinal directions. This egg was Nzambi, the supreme creator god yet undivided into male and female aspects. Within this cosmic egg was the material and the structure of the universe, and the 266 signs that embraced the essence of all things. This seed as a result of an undefined impulse began to spin until the momentum broke open the walls of the egg, which the Bakonji have traditionally likened to the thin membrane which sits atop the brain. From this rupture sprang forth the primordial spark of the universe, known as kalûnga. Kalûnga became a great force of energy and unleashed heated elements across space, forming the universe with the sun, stars, planets, the twin gods and so on. Due to this, kalûnga is seen as the origin of life and a force of motion.

Artistic depiction of the Black Moon over the earth.

The force of the kalûnga expanded the singularity at the point of the ruptured egg to form an expansive void, known as mbûngi. This great heat changed the contents of mbûngi so that as the fires cooled it created the earth. The earth then became a green planet as it went through the four stages of the cycle, known as towa. The first stage is the emergence of the fire. The second stage is the red stage where the planet is still burning and has not formed. The third stage is the grey stage where the planet is cooling, but has not produced life. These planets are naked, dry, and covered with dust. The final stage is the green stage when the planet is fully mature because it breathes and carries life. Mvembaists traditionally hold that this cycle is eternal, repeating, and exists for all celestial bodies whose position in the cycle is dictated by spiritual currents.

The twin gods, Kelenakati and Fyoti, each began to speak words of creation into the unformed and burning matter of the void, creating the Bampeve Nsanza, seven water spirits possessing physical aspects of fish and man. They then took these beings and placed them within moons of black and white stone, hurling them into the void in all cardinal directions. One such pair of twinned moons struck the red earth, the black moon embedding itself into the earth to become the Mpuya Nsasi mountains and the white moon above in heaven. The black moon then cracked open, spilling out fertile black soil and a great sea of water. The white moon then cracked open, releasing the Bampeve who divided into many individuals and settled in the virgin waters of earth, mingling with the nascent life and becoming the ancestors to the Bakonji.

Konji cosmogram

Economy

Organization

Phansi Uhlanga maintains one of the world’s only centrally planned economies, with most of the means of production operated by the state and most of the labor force employed in state firms. A system of Five Year Plans was first organized and implemented by the State Planning Commission in 1971 with the goal of achieving industrialization and a high level of self-sufficiency. The heavy industrial sector dominates the Phansi Uhlangan economy to this day, particularly the chemical, mining, steel, defense and construction industries. Since the early 2000’s, Phansi Uhlanga has expanded light industry at the expense of unproductive and outdated heavy firms.

The first Five Year Plan was passed by the 1st Communist Party Indaba of Democratic Iqozi shortly after the proclamation of the People’s Republic. The system of five year plans facilitated rapid industrialization and economic development despite semi-frequent aerial bombardment by neighboring Cuhonhico, then the self-declared last remaining province of the Heron Empire not in active rebellion. The first eight five year plans focused entirely on the development of heavy industry and the mechanization of firms, seeing subsequently massive spikes in output in the mining, steel, machine toolmaking and agriculture. Particular focus was placed on the production of military equipment to the exclusion of virtually all consumer goods.

The seventh five year plan was disrupted by the 3rd Uhlangan Civil War, during which intense fighting across much of the region’s most productive lands, as well as mass biochemical attacks on civilian centers, cratered both industrial and agriculture outputs for years. The eighth was the first five year plan after the annexation of Cuhonhico and the formal declaration of Phansi Uhlanga in 1971. The discovery of significant bitumen deposits in the Ndhawu ya Ndzhope region of southern-central Iqozi in 1966 provided a much needed fuel for the government’s industrialization effort and has since its discovery been administered directly by the military as a Special Economic Zone.

The Integrated Information Network for Socialist Economic Planning (Netiweke ya Mahungu leyi Hlanganisiweke ya Vupulani bya Ikhonomi ya Vusoxalisi) is the nationwide computer network of Phansi Uhlanga and a distributed decision support system which serves to aid in the management of the socialist planned economy. Work on IINSEP began in 1964 under the Central Statistical Bureau in Democratic Iqozi. At this time there were no more than a dozen or so computers in all of the country, the smallest of which filled an entire room. Instead, the government procured from abroad and then distributed hundreds of punch card readers and telex machines to the largest firms across Phansi Uhlanga.

Further orders for expansion were placed in 1965, however, all progress on IINSEP was halted by the 3rd Uhlangan Civil War. After the war in 1972 work began immediately to expand the project to all major firms under its current organization. The IIN incorporates a threefold system of economic planning: Netkhom, Minonkhom, and Vaayelo.

Netkhom

Netkhom (Netiweke ya tiKhompyuta, lit “Computer Network”), often called the “Uhlangan extranet”, is the computer infrastructure of IINSEP. It began as a network of mechanical computers and telex machines which served to connect state planners at all levels with the necessary economic data to make detailed adjustments to the general economic program. Previously, all levels of information were tabulated by hand using an immense number of individual calculation methods. Individual firms under individual ministries had direct access to only what information they themselves calculated or had access to, and communication between these firms and ministries involved a web of bureaucratic navigation. This was both manpower intensive and rife with human error.

Netkhom represented a simplification of the planning system on numerous fronts. Firstly, it created a unification of all information networks under the Central Statistical Bureau. Secondly, it created a free flowing stream of economic data that could, in various levels of detail, be updated daily or even hourly. This data could be accessed by every firm connected to the network, which in turn allowed said firm to make decisions accurately and quickly in response to market trends and evolving needs. Thirdly, it gave the State Planning Committee an informed idea of the state of the national economy that did not depend as thoroughly on reports through successive layers of individual agencies.

The bottommost level of organization involved the establishment of twenty thousand small data centers in important economic firms across the country. These centers existed to monitor and collect primary information of the day-to-day performance of economic firms. This included labor attendance and participation, input of material resources, output of goods, wages, bonuses, and so on. Next were hundreds of very large computer centers in mid-sized and large cities, which store long term this collected data for the purposes of coordinating regional level economic functions. At the very top is the central node facility located within the Central Statistical Bureau headquarters in Ngondabuala, which provides the national government with real time, highly detailed economic information for the purposes of streamlining broad economic planning and facilitating minute and immediate changes to plans in relation to external stimuli.

Netkhom saw rapid expansion and modernization throughout the 1980s and ‘90s until by the turn of the millennium, computerized nodes existed in every economic firm across every economic sector. Civilian access to Netkhom began in 1997 alongside this rapid expansion as part of the worldwide revolution in personal computing.

Minonkhom

Minonkhom (Minongonoko ya tiKhompyuta, “Computer Software") refers to the specialized, proprietary software used in both analysis of the colossal reams of economic data IINSEP gathers as well as the complicated economic simulators used to aid in planning. The Minonkhom system is adopted universally across all firms for easy incorporation into IINSEP, giving every firm down the least developed collective farm detailed information on market trends, pricing, constituent resource value, and so on. These simulated models allow Uhlangan economic planners to predict and plan for emergencies, both theoretically and ongoing, and theorize with some manner of reason how certain adjustments to economic policy may affect the system at large.

Vaayelo

Vaayelo (Vuyelo bya Vaaki, “Public Feedback”) comprises the myriad programs undertaken to deliver public opinion, especially regarding economic products and political issues, to the government. In relation to Netkhom, this takes the form of anonymous online focus groups, review boards, and even a system for petitioning government officials to specific action. These feedback systems first manifested as “algedonic meters” or early warning public opinion meters in “a representative sample” of Uhlangan homes that allowed citizens to transmit their pleasure or displeasure with televised political speeches to the government or television studio in real time based on a sliding scale.

These algedonic meters were used to provide individual feedback during television segments on a wide range of products from consumer goods to entertainment. However, Vaayelo was chiefly used as a means of improving industrial efficiency. The draconian quota system used by the government often incentivized the managers of underperforming or overleveraged firms to lie as a means of avoiding career repercussions. Furthermore, managers and workers alike often lacked sufficient means of reporting shortfalls, quality issues, or irregularities safely and securely.

Vaayelo was designed from the ground up to provide the government with purely anonymized data that weighs only the averages of these inputs. This allowed the consumer and the worker to provide much needed information directly to the state in such a way as to properly focus the government’s focus on areas of democratically perceived social importance. Simultaneously, by keeping this information entirely anonymous, even data that might be unwanted or embarrassing to the state could be provided in a manner that did not threaten its political or ideological legitimacy.

Culture

Uhlangan culture is influenced by being a melting pot of distinct regional cultures, primarily Iqozi, Konjilese, Tshamba, and Nahua, though the latter has declined precipitously since 1971. Indigenous Malaioan culture was heavily suppressed during colonial rule by the Nahua supremacist Cuhonhicah, who came to colonize most of what is today eastern Phansi Uhlanga. Reading and writing in native languages was forbidden in favor of Nahua, while indigenous arts and faiths were shunned for the monotheistic Nahua faith and colonial arts. In the aftermath of the Third Uhlangan Civil War, this repression was ended, and the new communist government started a universal literacy program, offered free education to all and established rigorous programs for indigenous arts, sports, and intellectual pursuits.

Cuisine

33% of land in Phansi Uhlanga is cultivated for agricultural use, allowing for a plentiful variety in foodstuffs. These include maize, rice, cassava, sweet potato, yam, taro, plantain, tomato, pumpkin and varieties of peas and nuts. The national dish of the Democratic Republic is moambe pork, which consists of roasted pork braised in palm nut which is mashed and extracted from the fruit of Malaioan palm oil trees. The pork and sauce are paired with onion, garlic, chili, and fresh tomato and served over rice. Ingredients like peanuts, pork, and yams are popular within many cuisines in Phansi Uhlanga. Coffee and palm oil remain Phansi Uhlanga’s most important agricultural exports. Luku, a dish of pounded meal formed into balls, is the most common side dish across all of Phansi Uhlanga. Pork, beef and fish represent the three primary sources of traditional protein in the couuntry. However, insects such as grasshoppers and mealworms are also popular in the central Naledi jungles.

Vinuyawumpa

The wumpa is a fruit of the Uhlangan mangrove from which the wine is derived.

Vinuyawumpa (lit. “wine of the wumpa”) is a traditional Ogomo wine made from the distilled wumpa, a stone fruit which grows on mangrove thickets in the swamplands of Ogomongo. The wumpa fruit, which resembles a mango in appearance, is noted for its gritty texture and a taste similar to apricots. The beverage is usually a vibrant yellow color and has an alcoholic content of between five and nine percent. Since 1971, vinuyawumpa has been extremely popular across Phansi Uhlanga and is now considered a national drink.

uBhiya Wamabele

Wamabele has been described as somewhat like a beer porridge.

uBhiya Wamabele is an Iqozi alcoholic beverage made from fermented maize and sorghum. The beer has a low alcoholic content, generally no higher than three percent, and is noted as being both heavy and sour. It has an opaque appearance and a gritty consistency from the maize, and is seen by Uhlangans traditionally as both alcohol and food. It is the most popular alcoholic drink in Phansi Uhlanga owing to that and its low cost, the result of its brewing process. The fermented mash is only partially strained and thus retains a considerable percentage of solid matter, which contains numerous vitamins not otherwise available to the grain heavy indigenous diets of the Iqozi.

Sports

The most popular sports in Phansi Uhlanga are cricket, wrestling and baseball. Cricket has been a popular sport in the region since it was first introduced during the Iqozi Migration of the late eighteenth century. Baseball has a comparatively more recent history, promoted as an alternative after 1971 to the many stick-and-ball games introduced by the Cuhonhicah, it has in recent years become increasingly dominant among Uhlangan youth. Wrestling holds an ancient and storied place within Uhlangan history, with the Konjilese possessing a pedigree in the sport going back thousands of years. These three sports receive extensive support from the government and with programs to develop and scout talent all the way down to the elementary school level. Due to this investnment, Phansi Uhlanga has produced many talented sportsmen.