Dezevau
Republic of Dezevau Dezevauboga | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Location of Dezevau on Kylaris in dark green | |
| Capital | Bazadavo |
| Largest | Naimhegebizo |
| Official languages | Ziba |
| Recognised regional languages | Estmerish, Gaullican, Kexri, Kunak, Pelangi, Ziba |
| Ethnic groups (2020) | |
| Religion (2020) |
|
| Demonym(s) | Dezevauni |
| Government | Federal democratic parliamentary constitutional republic |
| Legislature | Congress of Twenties |
| Formation | |
• Saint Bermude's Company holdings consolidated into the State of Désébau | 1889 |
• End of Gaullican control, formation of Republic of Dezevau | 1935 |
| Area | |
• | 1,834,685 km2 (708,376 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 130 million |
• 2020 census | 129,899,450 |
| GDP (PPP) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | €2.715 trillion |
• Per capita | €20,899 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate |
• Total | €1.584 trillion |
• Per capita | €12,194 |
| Gini (2020) | 24.4 low |
| HDI (2020) |  0.818very high |
| Currency | Gaongemi (GAO) |
| Time zone | DST |
| Date format | CE yyyy-mm-dd |
| Driving side | right |
| Internet TLD | .de |
Dezevau (Ziba: [dəzəb̪au]), officially the Republic of Dezevau (Ziba: dezevauboga [dəzəb̪aubɒga]), is a country on the west coast of the continent of Coius, with a population of around 129 million and an area around 1,800,000 square kilometres. It has the Jong-Jong Sea to its south and the Berhujan Sea to its east, with substantial land borders with xxx, Cavunia, Zorasan and Mabifia going clockwise from the south. Its capital is Bazadavo.
Dezevau was one of the world's cradles of civilisation, with agriculture being independently developed in its river valleys, and city-states and petty kingdoms forming around the beginning of the Common Era. The religion Badi, its followers still the largest religious group in Dezevau today, formed around this time and spread throughout the region. For much of antiquity and the medieval era, Dezevau was influential as the most urban, populous and mercantile group of polities in its region. The city-state was the dominant mode of organisation despite invasions out of modern Mabifia and Cavunia until the early modern era, when Euclean colonies and the Aguda Empire managed to consolidate many of them. Estmere, at Crescent Island, was the first colonial power to have a territorial presence in Dezevau. Gaullica managed to unite the region under its rule by xxxx, operating through Saint Bermude's Company until 1889; the company was nationalised, and the puppet regime of Désébau ruled through the Bureau for Southeast Coius, which implemented an unpopular, extractive, centralised rule. Despite Entente successes in Coius in the Great War, they lost the war overall, and the Communist Party of Dezevau became the sovereign government. The party had links to Swetania, adopting its model of council communism and decolonising (including the transfer of Mount Palmerston and Crescent Island to Dezevau in the 1970s from Estmere). The Cultural Revolution, around the same time, majorly changed and revamped Dezevauni culture, and entrenched the present day decentralised communist system.
The country is a federal parliamentary democratic republic operating with council communism. The country is considered to be middle income, with a nominal GDP per capita of about €11 thousand and a total nominal GDP of about €1.4 trillion. It is located on the periphery of Bahia, being to the region's core's south, but is more commonly considered part of Southeast Coius. Dezevau is generally considered a middle power or an emerging power. The dominant ethnic group are Dezevauni, who comprise around 85% of the country's population, and the national language, Ziba, is the associated language of this ethnic group. However, significant minorities exist, notably including around 6% of the population who are Pelangi.
Dezevau is one of the more developed countries in its region, as well as among the more populous, though it has one of the lowest fertility rates in its region also. Its historical cultural, religious and commercial influence are notable, which have aided its commercial, cultural and political links in the region of Southeast Coius, despite disputes originating from human rights issues. It is among the world leaders in some areas of science, including geochemistry, soil science and scientific philosophy.
Etymology
Dezevau is a Ziba word made up of the root vau, meaning land or country, and deze, a prefix meaning twenty. However, in Ziba, twenty is used not only as a precise numeral, but also to stand in for when the number of something is many but not necessarily specifically enumerable. Dezevau might be therefore translated a something along the lines of "land of many", referring to the many related city-states of the geographical region in the medieval era when the term originated. In the modern day, the Congress of Twenties is the usual Estmerish translation for the federal legislature of the country, with members being elected from states whose boundaries and identities are largely descended from those medieval city-states.
History
Prehistory
Agriculture was independently developed in central Dezevau around eight millennia ago with the cultivation of taro and bananas in and around Bigiamhe Swamp. Pottery emerged relatively late, around three millennia ago, and ironworking shortly thereafter, ample evidence coming from the Buazajini cluster of archaeological sites in Vadimhunga, where bog iron was processed.
The first cities emerged on the riverbanks, it is suspected many being continuously inhabited from the first millennium BCE to the present day, but this being difficult to confirm owing to geological and climactic conditions. By the turn of the era, city-states and petty kingdoms were emerging across modern Dezevau, in particular in the Buiganhingi, Bugunho and Doboadane basins, with the Proto-Dezevauni region essentially a wide belt from the Bay of Lights to Binhame Inlet.
Antiquity
Agricultural expansion took place, with ethnic Dezevauni bringing distinctive agriculture up to the limits of the river basins and rainforest bioregion, and encountering the !mab and !cavunia. The Ziba writing system originated around this time, strongly influenced by the system of ancient Djedet. Trade and colonisation burgeoned, with culture and agriculture spreading to Brumah and networks across the region seeing goods from as far as Xiaodong make their way into the archaeological record. Some of the city-states and petty kingdoms fought wars against each other, generally with little success. However, one of the first battles in recorded Dezevauni history is the First Battle of Bugunho Lake, dating from this period.
Medieval
The city-state became the dominant method of organisation in Dezevau, even with the emergence of hourege in Bahia and empires to the south, this development in large part attributed to the natural geographic characteristics which made defence easy and extensive control difficult, though attempts at large-scale conquests did occur. The region's involvement with the trade between Bahia and southeast Coius brought wealth and ideas in. Some cities were invaded in this period, but typically the invaders integrated into the ruling elite. Badi became more formalised at this time, having its roots in traditional Dezevauni religious custom. Contact had been made with Euclean explorers around the time of founding of the Aguda Empire.
Colonial
An Estmerish presence on Crescent Island was followed by the establishment of a Gaullican one in the same region with Euclean traders increasingly engaging in Dezevauni markets. The Binhame Coast became the centre of Euclean presence in Dezevau. The Aguda Empire benefitted from this, cooperating with Euclean powers and purchasing weapons and training, establishing the first land empire to hold most of the region. However, later on it fought against Gaullican corporate interests and lost; Gaullica became the dominant power in the region, outcompeting Estmere and the remaining disunited city-states. Estmere retained Mount Palmerston as a military and resupply outpost, while Crescent Island along with part of the mainland were part of Gaullica proper, as Saint-Bermude.
In 1889 the Bureau for Southeast Coius was given effectively complete control over governance in Dezevau, nationalising corporate interests under a centralised body designed to maximise Gaullican economic extraction from their colony. The area at this time was defined by being the Buiganhingi, Bugunho, Gigiduange and Doboadane basins, the borders in the north being the Bahian uplands and Gurani ranges, in the south the Cavunian plateau. Known as Désébau in Gaullican, the State of Dezevau was technically independent but a Gaullican puppet in practice. Bureau rule brought considerable upheaval, as well as industrialisation to Dezevau, and saw the breakdown of traditional cooperation between the Dezevauni managerial class and Gaullican colonisers; the Social Liberation Party of Dezevau, later to become the Communist Party of Dezevau, was founded in 1901. Bureau rule lasted until the Great War.
Great War
Martial law accompanied the war effort. Dezevauni troops performed well for the Entente, fighting alongside many Bahians, and conscription was introduced, albeit at a smaller scale than was common in Euclea. Mount Palmerston was occupied by Gaullican-led forces early in the war. However, the Entente lost the war overall, and Estmere received the Gaullican surrender in Mount Palmerston and Saint-Bermude while Communist forces received it within the borders of the State. The peace treaty saw Crescent Island become Estmerish because of their historical claims on it, but mainland Saint-Bermude was joined to the new Republic of Dezevau, which had come into being by 1935.
Postwar
States sent delegates to the Congress of Twenties, generally along the lines of councillor organisation favoured by the Communists. The newly convened Congress of Twenties was mostly non-partisan, but substantially sympathetic to the Communists. National symbols were established along with the basic instruments of state. One of the earliest actions taken was the reestablishment of traditional cooperative land ownership, as opposed to the more stratified, freehold, cash-crop centric system preferred under the Bureau.
At first, most politicians tended to be non-partisan, and relatively moderate policies were put in place, including liberalisation which spurred growth early on. The development of novel Communist approaches to policy problems became stronger later on, aided by an approving populace and institutional momentum, in particular consultation with the international socialist movement. The government, despite its ideological commitment to council communism, often tended to be centralist in its style of governance, resulting in human rights issues at times, but fairly rapid growth, particularly in industry.
Cultural Revolution
With globalisation, industrialisation and internationalisation, the traditionally communitarian social order, in particular the Badi religion, underwent great upheaval. The Communist Party sought to catch the public mood, and called a Cultural Revolution. During this time, Dezevau's demography saw it shifting from high to moderate fertility, resulting in a relative glut of teenagers and young adults for a time, which likely boosted the popularity of renovative ideologies. In some areas and sectors, the economy was liberalised, while in others it became more socialised; overall, however, the effect was decentralising. New, local groups sprung up, generally with internationalist ideals, in some areas supplanting the older political order. Mass rallies and self-conscious changes to ways of life occurred, such as older, more formal greetings falling out of usage. In some areas, at times, violence occurred, with people, objects or places seen to represent reaction beaten, removed or destroyed. Despite the rise of alternative power structures, however, the regime did not fall, but rather kept in step with the revolutionaries throughout, until the period ended. Generally, political structures were able to adapt to the revolution, and it in many ways set up the political reality of contemporary Dezevau, with high levels of direct-democratic engagement, localised and socialistic economic policies being the political centre, and a broadly fairly plural society with consideration for both economic and social equality (e.g. women, LGBTQ+, ethnic). However, most of the more radical changes proposed or partly achieved in this period were rolled back.
Contemporary
The Communist Party splintered at the end of the Cultural Revolution, with various, generally leftist parties being in power, usually in coalition. While economic growth stalled during parts of the revolution, a spike occurred at the end, and it has been steady year-on-year since that time. Dezevau is now considered newly industrialised, and a multiparty democracy.
Geography
Dezevau is over 1.8 million square kilometres of land, with a population of nearly 130 million, making it moderately sized, and among the more densely populated countries in the world. Anticlockwise from the north, it borders by land Mabifia, Zorasan, Cavunia and xx, while to the east is the Berhujan Sea and to the south the Jong-Jong Sea; Brumah separates the two. Dezevau is typically considered part of Southeast Coius, and to the south of Bahia; however, biologically and geophysically, it is arguably closer to Bahia.
Geology
Dezevau is geologically complex, being covered in failed rifts, intraplate faults, escarpments and igneous intrusions. The western part of the country rises to meet Lake Bakhtegan and the Cavunian Plateau, joining a spur of the South Coian Montane Complex; large areas of pseudokarst dominate this area, which are part of the Buiganhingi Craton, similar in extent to the catchment area of the eponymous river system. The Greater Bedangi Range in the southeast of the country are formed from the youngest of a series of terranes to make contact with the Coian continent; the centre-east of the Dezevauni landmass are primarily older, much more eroded terrane. To the north, the Mabifia topography is not related these terrane complexes, and is generally of a higher elevation and older age. Mining is fairly rich as a result of the geological complexity, with a wide variety of minerals across the centre and western areas, ranging from clay to quartz to tin to gold.
Climate
Dezevau is primarily covered in the tropical rainforest biome, owing to its location on the equator with considerable exposure to rain-bearing tropical easterlies; it has consistently high temperatures and rainfall all year round. The southeast and centre-west are the wettest parts of the country, owing to the elevation of the Greater Bedangi Range and the elevated plains before Lake Bakhtegan. However, to the northwest the Gudhani Range blocks rainfall, the northwest extremity of the country being subtropical or even arid, while the southwestern extremity experiences a similar effect, albeit less pronounced, with the Cavunian Plateau. Furthermore, microclimates occur throughout the country in areas of rain shadow, owing to local landforms.
Hydrology
Hydrology is very important to Dezevau, as a traditionally highly riverine society. Large rivers flow across the bulk of the Dezevauni landmass, with the Buiganhingi River draining the Cavunian Plateau and Lake Bakhtegan into the Bay of Lights in the west, the Bugunho River System to the southeast draining similarly, and then the Gigiduange to the east and the Doboadane to the northeast draining into the Berhujan Sea to the east. There is a great deal of artificial canals and redirections of the rivers, which are often very large owing to the high rainfall in the region; this has changed the natural hydrology, often for transportation or agricultural purposes.
Biodiversity
Dezevau has a very high level of biodiversity owing to its tropical rainforest, which as a rule is a terrestrial biome with high biodiversity. However, being connected by land to other countries' tropical rainforests, many species in Dezevau are not endemic to it. The country does however have an unusually high number of domesticated species which are native to it, with many cultivars being found only under Dezevauni cultivation. Biodiversity is threatened by habitat loss, which is occurring both as a result of expanding built-up areas (primarily resulting from urbanisation), and the intensification of agriculture, in particularly modern industrial versions which may use fertilisers, non-native crops and monocultures.
Politics
Dezevau's political framework is that of a council republic. The eighteen states have equal status as federal entities, the electorates of each electing members to the unicameral federal legislature, the Congress of Twenties, in proportion to their population. Individual states also have their own constitutions and elected legislatures, which are constrained only by the federal constitution and capacities stemming from it. While electoral systems vary from state to state, they characteristically considered to be free and fair, with universal suffrage; the Congress of Twenties uses party-list proportional representation with a single transferrable vote. Party politics in Dezevau tends to be a multiparty affair, with governments almost always being coalitions.
The legislatures tend to be limited in power, and in a sense serve to guide public debate rather than to conclude it with legislation. Much decisionmaking occurs through direct democracy, often at both the state and federal levels, but also frequently exercised through local councils which may exist for sub-state divisions, or which may be convened of stakeholders for particular subject matters. These are not prescribed by the federal constitution, but often are by state constitutions, or often even exist outside of constitutions. Constitutions are distinguished by the fact that they cannot be modified except by plebiscite, and at the federal level, with a majority of states, not only voters.
The federal division of powers, as given in the constitution, assigns the administration of some matters to the states; these include intrastate transportation, lower education, utilities, housing, culture, most of the secondary and tertiary economic sectors, and their own political systems. In turn, the federal government has powers including those relating to the military, interstate transportation, most of the primary and quaternary economic sectors, higher education, borders and the federal political system.
Additionally, the constitution mandates that certain goods and services must be provided in certain ways; these provisions essentially mean that it is impossible to legally have a non-socialist economy in Dezevau while they stand. They refer to matters such as transportation, education, healthcare, housing, emergency services, water and electricity. The section relating to food has been altered from time to time. In practice, governments tend not to have platforms which violate these laws in the first place, as it is difficult to amend the constitution.
The current government is x blah blah
Law
The legal system of Dezevau uses a mixed common and civil law system, largely inherited from Gaullica but influenced by Estmere, Swetania, and indigenous law, which was historically often taken as merely customary to the other systems despite its unique characteristics. International evaluations of the rule of law tend to place Dezevau as above average. Dezevau is unusual for what has been termed constitutional socialism, insofar as the judiciary enforces the tenets of the economic system on a multiparty democracy.
Military
Dezevau's military is divided into an army, a navy, an air force and a special force. Historically, it has been loyal to the civilian government, and avoided becoming involved in politics. The army is the largest by personnel, with around fifty divisions. The air force is meanwhile smaller, but tends to have modern equipment. The navy is fairly small, with limited bluewater ability; much of their capacity is in fact brownwater, owing to Dezevau's riverine characteristics. The special force conducts special operations and such, and is small in sized and limited to very specific applications.
Foreign relations
Dezevau's status as a communist state in some sense defines its foreign relations. It has close relations with other states which are led by members of the IntCon, but is also generally friendly with its neighbours such as Zorasan, and otherwise in the Southeast Coian and Bahian regions. At time there has been discord with Brumah, a capitalist country, stemming from historical boundaries and continuing over the status of certain islands and the Pelangi people, who are closest ethnically to Brumhese and speak a similar language. Generally, Dezevau maintains reasonable bilateral links with the postcolonial nations of Coius, but additionally has broadly normalised relations, including with capitalist Euclean countries such as those in the Euclean Community.
Administrative divisions
Dezevau has eighteen states, including the capital state; each is given this status in the federal constitution, which requires a popular vote in most states as well as overall votes to be modified. Smaller subdivisions, or districts, are typically the smallest and directly beneath the state level. They often have participatory councils and guaranteed status under state constitutions. States tend to be several million large, with one or a few languages which have equal status within it (depending on users in that state), with hundreds of districts.
Economy
Dezevau is a newly industrialised country of middle income. Its economy is run along council communist lines, with economic decisions often made by councils or a multitude of democratically elected representatives whose concern is often not profit. These characteristics have produced relatively slow but steady growth, with high levels of economic stability, and low levels of wealth inequality. Its exposure to and response to international market events tends to be slower than average. The main currency is the Gaongemi, but it is not a true currency, with limitations to its fungibility, use as a medium of exchange and function as a store of value. Market mechanisms are more present in the field of consumer goods than in others which tend to be state-run, such as electricity or arms.
Demographics
Dezevau is a relatively young country, and it has a population of about 129 million, most of whom are ethnically Dezevauni and speak Ziba natively. It is generally considered to be undergoing the effects of a demographic dividend. Much of the demographic information about Dezevau comes from its quintennial census, which has a high level of public trust according to a wide variety of sources. The growth rate averages 1%-2%, primarily from the effects of natural change, with a fairly low rate of emigration that outpaces an even lower rate of immigration.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity in the Dezevauni 2020 Census
People in Dezevau are asked to self-identify their ethnicity in censuses. An increasing number of people, however, choose not to. The number of people identifying as multiethnic has increased steadily in recent years, which studies suggest are not as much because of a real increase in multiethnicity as much as mainly previously Dezevauni identifying people reconsidering family history; the census in Dezevau uses a fairly broad definition of multiethnic. The proportion of multiethnic people is however increasing in absolute terms. Overall, though, the dominant group is by far Dezevauni.
Language
| Percentage of speakers of regional languages across Dezevau |
|---|
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Ziba
Gaullican
Estmerish
Brumhese-Pelangi
Kexri
Kunak
Ndjarendie
Other
|
| Data is from the 2020 census. Darker shade indicates native language, lighter non-native. |
The national language of Dezevau is Ziba, which is historically spoken by the Dezevauni people. Some Ziba dialects have been considered to be separate languages by some, on both political and linguistic grounds, but the result of standardised education and interconnection across the country has been to bring the varieties closer together, such that there are very few dialects which are not fairly easily intelligible with each other. Ziba is spoken as a first language by most ethnic Dezevauni, and as a first language by many citizens of Dezevau who are not ethnically Dezevauni; it is spoken as a second language by almost all the rest.
The second most spoken language is Gaullican, in part a legacy of Gaullican colonisation, but also because of the language's globalised usage. It is widely taught in schools as the most useful language to have both in the world and in the region, while it is an official language of the Binhame Coast state, along with Ziba and Estmerish; it is the most used language there, with almost all who are not first language speakers (a substantial proportion in itself) being second language speakers.
Estmerish follows a similar pattern to Gaullican, in that it was introduced by Estmerish colonialism and continues to be learnt today, only on a much lesser scale. It is widely had as both a first and second language in Binhame Coast, where it is also an official language.
Pelangi, Kexri, Kunak and Ndjarendie are all spoken primarily by ethnic minorities, namely the Pelangi, Gurani, Kunak and Ndjarendie. These languages are not learnt as much as Estmerish or Gaullican, but they are still learnt, both for communicating with these communities but also because of their use in neighbouring countries; Pelangi is mutually intelligible with Brumhese which is the main language of Brumah, Kexri is used in Zorasan, Kunak is the main language of Cavunia, and Ndjarendie a major language in Mabifia.
Religion
According to the 2020 census, the largest group in religious terms in Dezevau are the irreligious. The largest religion by followers is Badi. Notable minorities of Satyism, Irfan and Solarian Catholicism exist.