Tsabo

United Tsaborite Principalities Μιατσ’αλ Τσ’αβοραν ᾽Ισχανυτ’υννερ (Tsaborite) Miats’yal Ts’aboryan Ishkhanutyun
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Να ἀσχατυμ ἐ μερ μιjοτσ’ο! Na ashkhatum e mer mijatov! (Anglish: "He works through us!")
Anthem: Σρβερι Κογμιτσ’ Τρορατς ῾Ογ Srberi Koghmits’ Trorvats Hogh (Anglish: "Soil Trodden By Saints")
Capital and	Hypropan
Official languages	Tsaborite
Ethnic groups (2020)	94% Tsaborite 2% Sapherian 2% other Tarandaran 2% other Parthenian
Religion	Southern Orthodox Christianity (Aszdorpan Patriarchate)
Demonym(s)	Tsaborite
Government	Bimarical Parliamentary Democracy
• President	Bishop Dasmaniam
• Vice President	Lev Val Pypar
Legislature	National Parliament
• Upper house	National Council
• Lower house	Premier Assemblies
Establishment
• Aszdor adopts Christianity	210 AD
• First occupation (Ibn Al Caliphate)	1111 AD
• Second occupation (Yerezhan Empire)	14th - 16th centuries
• First declaration of independence	1896
• Tsaborite War of Independence	1943-1945
• Independent Tsaborite Republic	1945
• United Principalities of Tsabo	TBD
Population
• 2020 estimate	10.1 million
Gini	4.0 low
HDI (2020)	0.839 very high
Currency	Tsaborand (T̶) (TSR)
Driving side	left
Calling code	303
Internet TLD	.tbo

Tsabo, officially the United Tsaborite Principalities (Tsaborite: Μιατσ’αλ Τσ’αβοραν ᾽Ισχανυτ’υννερ; romanized: Miats’yal Ts’aboryan Ishkhanutyun) is a country in Eastern Tarandra, located on the west coast of the Sofian sea. Tsabo is bordered by Yerezhan -and the contested region of Ruata- to the north east, Buraydah to the north and Kaviristan to the south. Tsabo covers a territory of [TBC] and is the [TBC]th largest nation in Tarandra. Its capital city is Hypropan, the nation’s largest city; other major cities include the port of Soda, the industrial centres of Aratoht and Surbnikolios, and the nation’s religious centre Aszdorpan.

The earliest societies to inhabit the lands of modern-day Tsabo were perhaps those of the Neolithic Quartz Pit culture. Items belongong to the Quartz Pit have been discovered in Tsabo and date to around 5,800 BC. The first independent culturally-proto Tsaborite polities solidified around the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD, centred around the Vaszda and Aryi mountains. 210 AD is marked as the point at which Tsabo adopted Christianity, with Castar I of Aszdor's conversion. The Tsaborite kingdoms and fiefdoms maintained their idnependence thanks to their geography, hindring the spread of Islam and preserving Tsaborite culture and religion.

In the 12th century, southern Tsabo came under the influence of the Ibn Al Caliphate, which occupied three southern Tsaborite principalities for the next four centuries. The Yerezhan Empire, in a series of campaigns from the 14th to 16th centuries, conquered the remaining Tsaborite states. At the turn of the twentieth century, after near fifty years of armed revolt, Tsabo briefly assumed independence during the Great War, with support from the Signatory Powers. Full independence was achieved in 1945 following a war of independence with Yerezhan. The years following independence were characterised by political instability, ending with the installation of Bishop Kyprus of Aratoht as head of government and, five years later, the promulgation of reforms establishing the modern United Principalities of Tsabo.

Tsabo is a developing nation with an upper-middle income economy. Its market economy is based primarily on the mining, tourism, energy and seasonal agricultural sectors. Though stable, the Tsaborite economy remains in a state of recovery in the wake of the 2013 Yerezhan-Tsabo War, and the subsequent loss of the north eastern region of Ruata. The nation’s growing population, ranking 0.80 on the Human Development Index, stands at 10.1 million according to the latest -2020- census statistics.

Etymology

The name Tsabo is commonly understood to derive from the archaic Yerezh ‘טג׳ד’ (tj’ad) meaning ‘peak’ or ‘height’, in reference to the region’s multiple mountain ranges, with suspected textual references appearing in tablet documents dating to the 3rd century BC as well as early Torah scrolls of similar age. A competing theory, largely founded on anecdotal evidence is that the name can be traced to the Sapheredic word ‘τζαμπο’ (tzampo) meaning ‘substantial’ or ‘large’ in reference to anatomy; a term first used to describe proto-Tsaborite tribespeople by Euphemdies, a 1st century BC naturalist and marnier from the coastal city state of Limassos. It is this, more widely dismissed theory that is favoured in domestic education and discussion.

History

Prehistory & Early Antiquity

Fragmented skeletal remains of Homo Neanderthalensis have been recovered from two archeological sites in Tsabo dated to approximately 55,000 years ago. These examples, consisting of at least one semi-complete skull, are recognised as the oldest examples of human activity in the lands of modern Tsabo. Archeological findings support that Homo Sapiens first appeared in the Vaszda range around 49,000 years ago, representing the first known modern human occupation of the region.

The Quartz Pit culture, first recorded by Anglish explorer Sir Francis Cunningham, the Marquis Lyneham, in 1917, arose approximately 7,000 BC and was the cultural locus for several Neolithic proto-societies in the region which successfully harnessed mining and early agriculture. Cultural sites of Quartz Pit and associated cultures can be identified by their eponymous burial practices, which involved the interment of the dead in caves rich in quartz and other precious stones, in what is thought by anthropologists to link to an early star based religious tradition.

The chalcolithic and later bronze age Aszd River cultures are associated with prodigious advances in smithing and the production of riverine and littoral watercraft, opening up trade routes for Tsaborite natural resources with neighbouring cultures and markets. Whilst the most advanced Tsaborite societies of their day, the Aszd River cultures remained tribal in nature; stateless until the arrival of expanding Yerezh and Sapherian borders. Antiquity

Tsaborite lands became marching grounds for the clashes between the 1st Yerezhan Empire (Ismailite, Davedite, Boazite dynasties) and the empires of the Sapherian city states between the 3rd century BC and 1st century AD. Many Tsaborite petty kings and warlords moved their holding from tribal to early feudal domains, offering submission and safe passage through their mountainous territories in exchange for martial aid and financial backing against local adversaries from the imperial powers. These centuries, while foundational for Tsaborite language and cultural development, were turbulent and extremely fractious,with both Sapherian and Yerezh contemporary sources bemoaning the mercurial nature of the ‘mountain lords’ and their ever shifting domestic and foreign political policies.

In 210 AD, Prince Vartan, ostensibly the most powerful of the Tsaborite rulers, converted to the nascent faith of Christianity following his recovery from a year long, seemingly terminal sickness. The prince credited his seemingly miraculous restoration to a visiting Christian evangelist. This conversion, and the subsequent conversion of Vartan’s lands and their vassal states, represents the foundation of the modern Tsaborite identity, and makes the Aszdor valley principality as the first Christian state in Elezia’s history.

Conquest by Yerezhan

In 299 AD, Yerezh general Ari bar Asher led his armies into Tsaborite territories, citing bandit attacks on Jewish travellers in the region, with the express goal of conquest. The ensuing 1st Tjadite War (known as the 1st Jewish War in Tsaborite history) lasted for approximately 8 years, with the invading armies hindered by terrain and logistical hardships, before the Fall of Aratoht and the death of Prince Kevork in May 307 AD. Following the end of conventional hostilities, Tsaborite land was divided into three provinces by imperial bureaucracy: ג'אדלנד מצפון לאסד (romanised.Tj'adlnd Mtspvn Lasd, Anglish.Tjadland North of the Aszd), ג'אדלנד מדרום לאסד (romanised.Tj'adlnd Mdrvm Lasd, Anglish.Tjadland South of the Aszd) and רחוק ג'אדלנד (romanised.Rhvq Tj'adlnd, Anglish.Far Tjadland). Each province was ruled by an imperial governor and, during the initial century of Yerezh rule,the Tsaborite citizens of each enjoyed the freedom to privately, if not publicly, practise Christianity. Despite apparent initial toleration, guerilla warfare and Tsaborite raids on Yerezh military and civilian caravans lead to increasing militarization and persecution in the provinces leading to several revolts and imperial crackdowns, often accompanied by forced conversions, throughout the ensuing four centuries.

The Independent Tsaborite Republic

Since its independence, Tsabo has twice been involved in two further armed conflicts with neighbouring Yerezhan. The 1989 ‘Month War’ saw the near total collapse of all effective Tsaborite military resistance, with Yerezh brigades halting within sight of Hypropan due only to international pressure and the threat of UN intervention. The 2013 Yerezhan-Tsabo war, also known as the Ruata War, however, saw a much stiffer defence from Tsaborite forces, holding key defensive lines and even launching successful counter attacks, pushing the invasion forces back to the natural border of the river Aszd, though at the sacrifice of the now occupied region of Ruata.

Politics

Under the 1951 constitution, Tsabo is officially described as a "bicameral parliamentary republic," with the church and state fused into a composite polity.

Administrative Divisions

Tsabo is divided into six constituent principalities, themselves divided into a further 31 cantons (designated "metropolitan", "industrial", or "agrarian".

Despite the appearance of devolution, Tsabo remains politically, culturally, and economically centralised, with the principalities and cantons possessing only limited and largely ceremonial powers.