Gorabo

The Caliphate of Gorabo الغرافه خلافة
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "ما اوى شيء الى شيء ازين من حلم الى علم" "No two things have been combined better than knowledge and patience"
Anthem: "قَسَمًا" "We Pledge"
Capital and	Al-Zohrah
Official languages	Arabic
Ethnic groups (2015)	92% Arab, 4% Mehrani, 3% Kuhnat Alsahra, 1% Other
Religion (2015)	95% Muslim (all sects), 4% Christian, 1% Other
Demonym(s)	Goraboese
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Caliph	Abu Bakr VI
• Prime Minister	Muhammad Safar
Legislature	Chamber of Popular Representatives
• Upper house	House of Advisors
• Lower house	House of Delegates
Population
• 2020 estimate	120,938,102
• 2015 census	119,017,673
HDI	0.880 very high
Time zone	UTC-3
Driving side	left
Internet TLD	.gb

Gorabo (Arabic: الغرافه), officially the Caliphate of Gorabo (Arabic: الغرافه خلافة) is a country on the continent of Thrismari on the planet Anteria.

Etymology

The English name for Gorabo is derived from the Arabic name of Gorabo, al-Gharafa, which was in turn derived from a portmentaeu between the two rivers of Gorabo, the Ghassan, and the Aravah (in Arabic known as tha Arafa). This theory is widely agreed upon by the vast majority of etymological and archaeological experts. Archaeological evidence and old writing that has been preserved and identified shows that al-Gharafah was used as a name for the unified region of the two rivers. This name in some writings appears to be used to describe the lands of all of the two rivers, going as far to their sources in modern-day Mehrava.

History

Pre-Unification History

Early tribal peoples migrated to the Ghassan river valley and Aravah river valley around the 10th millennium BCE. By around 6000 BCE, a Neolithic culture took root in the Aravah and Ghassan river valleys around the same time. Predynastic cultures started to evolve independently along both the Ghassan and Aravah. Evidence of trade between the small states along the Ghassan and Aravah is present from this time, indicating that despite (at this point) being culturally distant and separated by desert, they still maintained contact with each other, such as pottery, obsidian, and various writings towards the 4th millennium BCE. The two areas began to have more syncretism in regards to culture and language. Despite this, differences still remained by the end of the 4th millennium BCE, such as the adoption of hieroglyphic-based writing systems among many of the disunited Ghassan River cultures, while the Nabataean script (a precursor to the modern Arabic script) was used in the cultures along the Aravah. In both civilizations, wet clay was used as a writing surface with a reed stylus being used as the writing utensil. It is unclear which found this method first, but it became commonplace in both river valleys via trade. Political unity would come to the Aravah first around c. 3150 BCE under the king Dilmun. The Ghassan cultures remained politically distinct and no states emerged to unify the Ghassan cultures until around c. 3000 BCE.

Spirituality played a key role in the early history of Gorabo. For much of history up till that time, the cultures of the Ghassan and Aravah were completely pagan in their beliefs and practices. Both regions had cultures which adopted animist principles, with certain natural objects like rivers, mounds, or lakes having spiritual meaning. These would vary depending on location, which created a wide variety of pagan beliefs in both river valleys. These variety of pagan beliefs were handled differently in both river valleys. As the smaller cultures vied for domination over their river valleys, they would either apporach the differing pagan traditions with tolerance or open hostility. Both approaches were used among the smaller cultures, but the approach of tolerance would prove to be the more successful one when Dilmun unified the Aravah valley. While the policies of tolerance may explain the stability of the unified Aravah kingdom and the reason local populations were willing to be a part of Dilmun's kingdom, this does not explain all of the reasons why the Aravah valley united before the Ghassan valley. While tolerant and expansionist cultures existed in the Ghassan river valley, they were unable to unify the Ghassan river valley for another 150 or so years for a variety of reasons; technological and scientific development was viewed as a more primary focus among kingdoms in the Aravah valley compared to the Ghassan valley; increased urbanization in the Aravah valley also allowed for administration and influence to come about easier for Dilmun and his kingdom in the Aravah compared to the small states in the Ghassan; to this day, the Ghassan river valley remains less urbanized and based more around pastoral farming and subsistence agriculture.

Along the Aravah, the new unified kingdom was organized in the structure of an absolute monarchy. Dilmun justified his rule by the idea that the spirits had ordained him to be the ruler of his domain due to his qualities of patience, piety, and dignity, according to writings from this time and educated assumptions by modern historians. This concept was termed the "Writ of the Spirits" in the modern day. His government structure, thusly, centered around the king as the absolute ruler of the kingdom. Below him was a central advisor, almost like a prime minister today. However, the power this advisor held depended on the ruler; more capable and politically savvy rulers would often diminish the importance of this advisor figure, while more incompetent rulers would result in their respective advisor concentrating power among themselves. Below this was the bureaucracy, made up of all the people who would carry out the laws and demands the government laid out in the nation. Writings from the early 3rd millennium BCE suggest examinations may have been held for this position, but that they were largely only open to the landowning gentry. Regional governors and town mayors existed as local leaders for these bureaucrats who would report to the king what had been taking place in their respective subdivisions. Scribes were also employed by the governments, but they were considered independent from the bureaucracy. The military was also under the supreme command of the king, who could fire at will any commanders below him. This form of government would be adopted by most unified Goraboese states, with not many exceptions. Writings suggest this system was adopted in the Ghassan river valley not too long after it was put into place along the Aravah river valley.

Land ownership--as a result of the belief that the king had a divine right to rule in both the Ghassan and Aravah kingdoms--was organized into somewhat of a feudal system, although with power being much less centralized than it would be under truly feudal systems that would come to exist in later centuries. The king was thought to be the owner of all land within his kingdom; particularly obedient or trusted military commanders would be leased large amounts of land across the kingdom. The various levels of the bureaucracy would still enforce the laws and demands (such as infrastructre projects) of the king on these military landowners and the military landowners would still have to obey them, but the military landowners had the right to keep a fixed minimum amount of revenue in grains and other commodities (if they were present on the land) per year. This posed a problem during years of drought or heavy flooding, in which famines would flare up. As a result, famine became a common occurrence in the kingdoms. The responsibilities of the military landowner would be three-fold: firstly, to obey the will of the king and thus the bureaucracy; secondly, collect a minimum amount of taxes in the form of grain, livestock, etcetera from the land to be paid towards the king (the remainder of the commodities that didn't go to the landowner or the king in taxes would go to the peasants themselves); thirdly, the military commander had to recruit the males between ages 18-30 who worked on his land to serve as part of the regiments he commanded. This system allowed for the massive state machinery and bureaucracy to stay adequately financed, kept the landowners satiated and loyal to the king, and kept the peasantry in check. Trade was done via bartering for other commodities.

As centuries passed, new dynasties rose and fell in both kingdoms but they had the same governance structure. Widespread trade between them led to increasing cultural syncretism; evidence from between 2600-2400 BCE sees the Nabataean script be adopted by the scribes of the unified Ghassan kingdom. Likewise, vernacular from the Ghassan region went to the Aravah kingdom. While the two kingdoms had historically good relations, the city of Qurayya and the mouth of the two rivers around Jiddana became a more and more frequent point of dispute. While trade occurred across the smaller desert between the two rivers, the area of Qurayya was the only area which sat between the two, and was the largest trading center between the two kingdoms. The kingdom which controlled the area could grow fabulously wealthy, and so disputes and wars started to become more frequent. During this era of syncretism, some leaders started calling for the annexation of the other kingdom on both sides in order to fully unite the area (this era also sees the first usage of "al-Gharafah" for this increasingly interconnected region). As specialization became more widespread and the desire for exploration became higher in both kingdoms, the Aravah king Thamud c. 2380 BCE, the first of the eponymous Thamud dynasty, launched a large military campaign against the Ghassan state. This corresponds with archaeological uncoverings of wheeled siege ladders and other siege based equipment, suggesting the first instances of siege warfare. The Aravah kingdom, with the upper hand, started to take advantage of the divisions within the military and promised land to more unruly commanders and bureaucrats who refused to follow the will of the rather incompetent king. While most commanders ignored this, some started to supply grains and commodities and troops to the Aravah kingdom. Eventually, they overran the largely agrarian settlements of the Ghassan and took over the smaller cities of the Ghassan with relative ease, overwhelming the Ghassan state and unifying the historic region of "al-Gharafah" within around 5 years.

Ancient Unified History

With this unification, Thamud and his agents set out assimilating the Ghassanids into the Aravah culture. This was primarily done to the upper landowning classes, and other upper class workers such as craftsmen and scribes. Elites were expected to learn the proto-Arabic language that had existed, wear clothing characteristic of the Aravah, and generally assimilate their manners within those of the Aravah river valley elite. This process impacted the upper classes strongest, and slowly the Arab culture became a symbol of status and of high class, encouraging free people further down the social hierarchy to assimiliate within this culture. While some syncretism still managed to take place, it was much more of the Arab language and culture of the time supplanting the Ghassanid language and culture. Among the peasant population in bondage, this attempt at cultural assimilation had little to no effect; the Ghassanid language and whatever distinct mannerisms that had been distilled on the bonded populace remained in place among almost all of the peasant class, except those bonded people who served as servants or domestic workers. Around this time, evidence of the roots of a system of chattel slavery can be found, with advertisements of slave auctions being identified and translated. Outside of these societal and cultural changes, progress was being made in scientific and technological areas.

Throughout the past near millennium of complex civilizations, advancements in agriculture had been made such as the first irrigation networks, using canals and ditches to harvest the annual floods of the Aravah (and later Ghassan); the ox-drawn plow and sickle had also been invented, making harvesting crops easier and increasing yields. Advancements in medical sciences had also been made; ancient Goraboese society was tolerant of human dissection among those who were of lower classes, and these peasants would (against their will) be key to understanding human anatomy for ancient Goraboese physicians, who would write many books and manuscripts on the body and anatomy. They were among the first to consider trepanation harmful as it would crush the skull and lead to damage of the brain. Detailed manuscripts about the cardiovascular system, for example, which stipulated that the heart was the center of all blood, as well as other fluids (humors) such as vomit and urine and had detailed descriptions on the location and function of blood vessels and even lymphatic vessels have been recovered and translated. Despite what was for the time large leaps in medical science, they still believed that prayer was a key part of treatment of illness, priests were asked to function as medical professionals, they would hold on to the theory of 4 humors (bodily fluids) for millennia, and would often prescribe remedies that would be considered today as odd for things such as birth control. Literary traditions such as poetry also became somewhat common, paintings of the royal court, king, advisor, and nobility became common, and more. Great structures such as pyramids for burials of the royalty were built, being considered among some of the paramount architectural and engineering achievements of human civilization at the time. The scientists, philosophers, architects, engineers, blacksmiths, artisans, handicraftsmen, and other skilled laborers and intellectuals were a part of the state apparatus as well, and were paid by the taxes in the revenue generated by state (or military) land and public works with them. Paved roads sprung up linking the towns and cities to the farms, among the first in the world. Due to this relative advancement and isolation, the Goraboese region was commonly believed to be the center of the world and above all other areas. While this would breed an isolationist mentality that would express itself profoundly in later centuries, this certainly didn't prevent interaction with outsiders.

Around c. 1550 BCE, trade with new markets was sought after by the Goraboese kingdom. The Mehrani-Qash and Xewexetan tribes were their immediate eastern neighbors, and a trading connection sprung up quickly.