Sarcanza

Sarcanza is a province of The Golden Throne. Its population in M.C. 2031 was 460 million, according to that year's census record. It formally entered the imperial federation at the moment of its founding in M.C. 2004 and has remained so since, despite a suppressed revolt during the War of Golden Succession. Since the war's conclusion, Sarcanza has become part of a growing commercial port infrastructure connected to Macabea, dominating mercantile trade in central Greater Dienstad.

Government

The provincial government of Sarcanza is composed of three branches: executive and legislative, as well as a judicial branch subordinate to the imperial justice system.

The executive branch is led by that Althatul, a three-member council responsible for signing legislation into law. The Althatul also holds authority over the Sarcanzan Iilmanjadeen, a paramilitary law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over unincorporated provincial territory and the capital city of Marsa Bruth. Each member of the Althatul holds a six-year term and cannot be reelected. Elections are held every two years, each election focused on replacing one seat. The Althatul as a body holds veto and line-veto rights.

The Maja Alshajal (People's Council) and Mutamar Aldijar form the legislative branch. The Maja Alshajal is composed of thirty-four elected representatives known as Bayalis, whilethe Mutamar Aldijar is made up of eighteen Shayk. Only the Mutamar Aldijar holds the authority to overturn legislative vetos with a two-thirds majority vote. Both chambers can propose legislation and all proposals must first pass the Maja Alshajal, with a majority vote, before being voted on in the Mutamar Aldijar for passage to the Althatul.

History

Kríerstat Epok

Sidi Rezegh occupied the various tribes and cities that made up the stretch of land east of this republic and north of the Zarbian mountains in 1914. Administration of the territory as a single entity officially ended with the dissolution of the First Empire in 1898 and governance devolved down to dozens of small councils, city governments, and hill tribes. The occupation was initially opposed by indigenous rebels under the command of Kalif Thaamir bal-Ghanem, a priest of Alii Orbana from the vibrant fishing town of Thadmuk. Under bal-Ghanem, Sarcanzan militants known as Iilmanjadeen (Army of Faith) waged an ongoing and initially successful guerrilla war against overstretched Rezeghian occupation forces. The Rezeghian army eventually snuffed bal-Ghanem's forces out of the coastal zones and into the hills, culminating with the Wadijh operation of 1926 that permanently broke bal-Ghanem influence over the populous areas of the territory. Although sporadic fighting and ongoing terrorist attacks continued into the 1970s, the war against Rezeghian occupation of Sarcanza officially ended in 1927 with the signing of the Treaty of Erbibayr.

Administration of Sarcanza peacefully transitioned to the Kingdom of Dienstad in 1974, when the city of Sidi Rezegh was occupied by the Dienstadi Ejermakt. In 1979, a revolt broke out in response to the arrest and execution of Kalif Wisaam gyl-Mannan, a renown priest of Fatuuma and loud advocate for Sarcanzan independence under indigenous rule. In response to terrorist attacks in Macabea, Sidi Rezegh, and other cities of the kingdom, Dienstad surged its forces in the territory from an initial garrison of just 4,000 soldiers in 1979 to a peak force of 200,000 soldiers in 1984. By 1989, Dienstadi military forces had reduced down to 40,000, and the 'Rebellion of gyl-Mannan' ended in 1994 with the Treaty of Habafal.

By the new millenium, parts of Sarcanza had undergone tremendous change. Cities like the administrative capital of Marsa Bruth, as well as a number of urbanities along the coast, atracted colonists from Dienstad, Weigar, and Sidi Rezegh, as well as retired military personnel awarded land allotments at the 'wild' margins of the kingdom.

Large parts of the interior remained underdeveloped and although taxes were collected, the hill tribes continued to exist largely outside of the direct influence of either the royal government in Macabea or the territorial authority in Marsa Bruth. In exchange for peace, this arrangement was tolerated.

Twenty-First Century

The Treaty of Habafal held until 2016 and ended with the outbreak of the War of Golden Succession. The transition of royal to imperial government went largely unnoticed in Sarcanza, despite the nominally momentous change of status from mere territory to full-fledge core provence of the empire. Although the elevation in administrative status certainly came welcome to the large minority of western colonists, it did not alter the status quo among the hill tribes. These remained effectively autonomous.

Large pastoral, the hill communities owned large flocks of sheep, along with goats and pigs. The only cash crop that grows in the hills is poppy and this plant began to spread in the 1920s, reaching colossal proportions by the early 2000s. Sarcanza became, and remains, one of the most significant exporters of raw opium in central Greater Dienstad. Its product soon flowed through the factories of the coastal cities, turning it into refined opium, heroin, and codeine, where it was sold to the distributors in the burdgeoning cities of Dienstad, Weigar, and Beda Fromm. Despite concerns from the other provinces, this drug trade remains largely unmolested, although closely regulated, to this day.

Although living standards did improve somewhat in the mountanous and arid interior of Sarcanza, the economy of the coastal townships boomed in the mid- and late 2000s. Marsa Bruth grew from around 17,000 inhabitants in 1930, to 260,000 in 1950, 490,000 in 1990, and 570,000 in 2000. By the outbreak of the rebellion in 2016, Marsa Bruth had 710,000 inhabitants. Other towns and cities experienced a similar, although perhaps not quite as dramatic, pace of growth.

Rebellion, MC 2016–22

The divergence in the pace of growth between the coastal and rural communities provoked resentment. And while the coastal population had grown significantly, so did that of the mountain tribes. With the outbreak of the Weigari rebellion and Heinrik's challenge to the throne, the Iilmanjadeen was mustered by decree of Kalif Hudhaifa bal-Nagi, a priest of Alii Orbana. Because the Ejermacht had stripped its various garrisons across the empire to reinforce the defense of Fedala against the early war Weigari offensive on the imperial capital, when the Iilmanjadeen launched its large offensives against the administrative cities of Marsa Bruth and Prokhorovka in mid-2016, these were underdefended and fell easily.

After the Havenic invasion of Ruska a few weeks later, the central governments capacity to put down the Sarcanzan revolt was effectively neutralized. Fighting continued throughout the province, but the bulk of the armed forces were fighting in the central and southern fronts. A series of amphibious raids on rebel fortifications along the coast between MC 2016–17, culminating with the Siege of Pir-Sar in September MC 2017, led to the eventual reoccupation of Marsa Bruth in February 2018. Prokhorovka was retaken in April, Falluppur and Gal Miroh in July, and Kamyazd in October.

By spring MC 2019, coastal Sarcanza was firmly in imperial control and over the next three years a series of military offensives in the hills methodically reduced the Iilmanjadeen's presence, driving it further into the mountains and eventually into Zarbia.

The Treaty of Pir-Sar, signed in MC 2022, officially renewed Sarcanza's status as a core province of the empire. Fighting in the upper hills continued until 2027, after the annexation of Zarbia into the Golden Throne and the eradication of rebel safehavens in that country.