Selengeria

Selengeria (: Selengerlan or Golgazar lit. "First Nation), officially the Empire of Selengeria (: Ikh Narangol Ulus lit. "Great Narangol State"), is a sovereign nation in northeastern Kesh. It is bordered by the Tethys Bay and Tonkina to the north; Beifang to the west; Kodeshia and the Pearl Sea to the south; and Akiteiwa to the east. Selengeria is divided into 24 provinces, 2 special administrative regions, and 2 imperial commanderies and is the 11th largest country in the world covering 1,237,477 square kilometres. It is also the 5th most populous country with a population of 276.5 million. The capital and cultural centre of the empire is Sukhbaatar while the largest city and economic centre is Kharakhorin.

The Amur Valley has been inhabited by hominids for at least 700,000 years with the first archaeological evidence of being dated to 400,000 years ago. Agriculture and animal husbandry later emerged some time in the third millennium BCE among the Shuvgaar and Dungovid cultures, likely brought northward from Kodeshia. The growth and centralisation of these farming communities led to the development of the first settlements and civilisations in Selengeria. Successive kingdoms and empires would rule over the territories of modern Selengeria including the Jing Kingdom, Tang Kingdom, and Kyushu Empire. Starting in the 15th century, however, the pastoral Narangol under the command of Songoson left their foothill homelands and began a rapid conquest of lands around the Khovsgol Sea. Songoson founded Selengeria in 1577 following the defeat of the Zhu Kingdom. A succession crisis in 1632 saw most real political power become concentrated in the hands of the Yeronkhii and Jonon, a system which remained in place until being supplanted by the Imperial Directorate made up of members of the Blue Wheel Banner and the imperial court. The Directorate, despite fierce opposition from anti-reformist aristocracy, took an aggressive approach to modernising and liberalising the nation and and pursuing industrialisation. The dawn of the 20th century was defined by enormous socioeconomic upheaval and growing international tensions resulting in the Selengeria's entry into the disastrous Grand Campaigns. After suffering defeat in the war, Selengeria collapsed and splintered into a period of warring factions and states known as the "Gaigamshig". Khiyat Suudriin, the future dictator of Selengeria, rose to prominence during this time and would go on to lead his Undserkheg forces to victory in the Selengerian Civil War. The Undserkheg began consolidating the remains of the Selengeria into a totalitarian state and embarked on an ambitious programme of restoring pre-war borders and military strength. The return of an aggressive Selengeria alarmed the government's of Akiteiwa and Kodeshia and by 1954 the forced re-integration of the Republic of Toshu brought Akiteiwa and Selengeria into open conflict. The broader Kesh War soon expanded the front to the west with Kodeshia and Beifang declaring war on Selengeria in 1956. The tide of the war began to turn by the summer of 1957 and further devolved with Suudriin's death in 1958. The power vacuum that followed and prospect of a brutal protracted defensive war prompted Tiperyn to drop an atomic bomb on Kodeshia to force a ceasefire.

Etymology
The name "Selengeria" means "Land of the Selenger" in. It is most likely derived from an exonym, Selengel meaning "iron people", given to the early Narangols by the speaking peoples to their north. This entered the language through Zaporizhian traders and was  into the toponymic Selengarskaya. Artemian trade and diplomatic networks carried variations of this term further abroad. references to "Selingarlan" can be found in Ambrosian court documents by 1638 and shortly thereafter written examples of "Selengeria" began to appear in documents. A popular folk etymology claims that Selengeria actually comes from Solongoor ("the rainbow path") which is a euphemism for Ordonism. Selengeria in is known as Ikh Narangol Ulus  meaning literally "Great Narangol State" or "Empire of the Narangol". The origin of the ethnonym "Narangol" remains debated, but linguists and historians broadly accept that it comes from nairen or "sun" and the demonymic suffix -gol. Other theories hypothesise that it may come from a corruption of nairman gal or "eight fires" or from the name of a historic leader. In informal speech, the country is referred to as Manai Ulus ("Our Country"), Golgazar ("Paramount Nation"), or Selengerlan (borrowed from Tipsprek). Numerous other names were used for the Narangol, their traditional homeland, and the empire they established. Many of these names derived from variations of "barbarian" or references to Narangol tactics, such as the terms 茨戎 Ibarashi or "thorn dwellers" and 西戎 Seiju or "western barbarians".

Prehistory
Excavation sites across modern Selengeria indicate that species of early were present in the region as early as two million years ago. Skeletal remains of modern homo sapiens and the tools they crafted begin appearing in the archaeological record between approximately 80,000 and 100,000 years ago at sites such as the Tamsag Caves.

Evidence for neolithic agriculture and permanent settlement have been discovered dating to roughly 10,000 years ago. These sites have produced some of the earliest examples of millet cultivation in East Kesh.

Geography & Environment
Selengeria is the eleventh largest nation in the world, covering 1,237,477 square kilometres of land between latitudes 18° and 54° N, and longitudes 73° and 135° E. A diverse array of climates, biomes, and geographic regions can be found across the country, including numerous rivers and lakes and the East Kesh Rift. To the north, the coastal plains and shoreline of Sargalam Province experience a mild. The Kamarband Mountains and their foothills and valleys form Selengeria's western border and are the source of several major rivers such as the Tesiin and Onon. The enormous East Kesh Rift zone runs northward from the head of the Pearl Sea in two parallel forks and is home to some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. The highlands and plateaus surrounding the rifts, including the grasslands of the Torbroklan, experience a. The heavily populated south of the country is flatter and defined by, dense forests, and a.

Government and Politics
The government of Selengeria, known domestically as Ikhonichin and internationally by the metonym Kharmaivan, is the dictatorial government that has dominated Selengeria since 1927 with the victory of Khiyad Suudrin and the National Front in the Selengerian Civil War. Suudrin assumed supreme executive authority over the country and commandeered the institutions of the imperial government to create a brutal totalitarian regime. His death in 1949 at the height of the Kesh Wars ushered in a period of extreme political turmoil and public unrest that was only quelled through the efforts of Empress Khojilev and foreign intervention by Tiperyn. Successor regimes introduced reforms and supervisory bodies to ensure the stable transfer of power and continuation of Undserkheg rule.

Supporters of Suudrin were called "Undserkheg" during the civil war and the term has remained in use to the present day to refer to members of Selengeria's government. This terminology is inaccurate, however, as Suudrin disbanded and suppressed the National Front in 1936. Formal political parties and political organising outside of government-sanctioned means have been similarly outlawed since 1936.

Monarchy
The monarch of Selengeria, presently Soljinzayaa, is known as a Khaan (literally "king of kings"). The Khaans are believed by Selengerians to be quasi-divine or semi-divine figures due to their religious intercessional role and their descent from the deified founder and first ruler of Selengeria, Songoson. With the rise to power of the Jonons in the 1930s, the monarchy was unofficially stripped of its secular authority and independence. The Khaan and members of the broader Dasanjin dynasty remain culturally and religiously influential but are rarely seen today outside of the walls of the imperial palace.

Jonon
Jonon comes from 親王 or "prince" and was used by the vassal kings of Songoson. It later became a military title for the elevated of the Narangol expeditionary armies. The position historically carried immense risk for a commander and was compared to a death sentence by contemporaries. It eventually grew in prestige however and would even supplant the Khaan during the Nogoongar Revolution. Following the restoration of the Dasanjins to the throne in 18XX, the rank was abolished and civilian administration of the military was introduced. "Jonon" would remain unused as an official title until Suudrin of Khiyad adopted it in 1923.

The Jonon is the head of government and commander in chief of Selengeria's Armed Forces. Jonons are elected for life by the Khuraldai and command a vast totalitarian bureaucracy and administration known as the Kharmaivan. A Jonon is theoretically omnipotent and unquestionable, however, their powers are restrained severely by a combination of political concessions made during a Khuraldai, reforms introduced after the death of Suudrin, and the need to balance political, religious, and private sector interests.

The current Jonon is Ongchijid Khidarga who has ruled Selengeria since her election by the Khuraldai in 2003. She is the first woman and first multiethnic Selengerian to ever hold the office. Her election was one of the lengthiest and most lethal Khuraldais in history and took place during record levels of civil unrest - factors that led international press coverage to label her the "last lotus standing" and to predict that her tenure would be short-lived and destabilising. Unspecified sources within the Kharmaivan later confirmed that internal power struggles were taking place and that Khidarga had already survived two assassination attempts by October of 2004. While the Kharmaivan denies the validity of reports, firefights and explosions in cities across Selengeria in July of 2007 and the disappearance of several major figures are believed to have been part of a massive purge of Khidarga's enemies. Since 2007 Khidarga has continued to consolidate her power and has embraced an identity as one of the world's "Iron Ladies". Her administration has been defined by a reformist agenda, the advent of the digital era, and a thawing of relations with Akiteiwa and Kodeshia.

Zovarga
Selengeria has no written constitution or singular foundational text and is governed instead by Khuraldai "high statutes" and the officially sanctioned and  ideology of Zovarga. Zovarga is considered and is defined by the collective speeches, decrees, and writings of all Jonons and precedents from traditional Narangol culture.

Law
Selengeria has a legal system based on traditional Ordonist values and modern legislation with additional strong influence from the Akitei legal code. Criminal and civil proceedings take place through an wherein a public procurator investigates and prosecutes offences. Cases are handled by the Ministry of Justice and a hierarchy of courts from the prefectural level to the supreme High Court with each successive tier exercising appellate review of the courts below them. Members of the government are overseen by a separate judicial system of special supervisory courts and a government watchdog agency, the Bureau of State Honour. Judges are appointed by the Minister of Justice in consultation with local officials and the leadership of the Imperial Law Association.

The Ministry of Public Safety operates the national police force and most correctional facilities, while the Ministry of Intelligence handles both international and domestic intelligence. The Ministry of Intelligence employs a massive espionage network of secret police, informants, cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, and digital surveillance to control the population and maintain political stability. Selengerians accused of political offences uncovered in the course of state surveillance are prosecuted by special ministerial tribunals, often regardless of clear or established statutory law, and are sentenced to imprisonment in re-education facilities or more brutal forced labour camps.

Foreign Relations and Military
Selengeria has formal diplomatic relations with 67 nations and maintains consulates, or consular services through Tiperish embassies, in an additional 8 nations. Despite the relative peace in the region for the past sixty years, international relations are strained for Selengeria as a result of the Grand Campaigns, Kesh War, and Selengeria's systemic human rights abuses. Numerous countries have issued sanctions, downgraded relations, or severed ties altogether with Selengeria since 1925 including Poja and Kodeshia. Selengeria belongs to the North South Concordant alliance and continues to have close economic, military, and political ties to Tiperyn.

With 1.4 million active troops and an additional 1.7 million reservists, the Armed Forces of the Empire of Selengeria (AFES) are the fourth largest standing military in the world. The AFES consist of the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy, with the Imperial Army taking up the majority of all personnel and expenditures. The AFES nominally owe their allegiance to the Khaan, but in practice are actually commanded by the Jonon and their Ministry of War. According to the Kharmaivan, Selengeria's official military budget for 2019 totalled $75 billion, constituting the world's third-largest military budget. Foreign analysts dispute this total however and point to satellite surveillance and intelligence leaks that suggest additional billions being spent on undisclosed sites, programmes, and personnel.

Administrative Divisions
Selengeria is officially divided into 35 provinces, including the provincial-level municipality of Sukhbaatar. Only 27 of these provinces are actually controlled and administered by Selengeria, however, as the claimed provinces of Ulaanbadrakh, Taragt, Lun, and Taishir are actually controlled by Kodeshia; and Myangad, Ugtaal, Chuluunkhorod, and Tudevtei, are controlled by the border states to the east.

Demographics
The national census of 2018 recorded a total population of 276.5 million, the 5th largest in the world, and an average annual growth rate of 1.24 per cent. It is expected to grow to around 311 million by 2030 and 405 million by 2050. Approximately 22% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 67% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 11% were over 60 years old. Selengeria has an average population density of 153 persons per square kilometre, however, true density is considerably higher as climate and terrain have concentrated two-thirds of all Selengerians into major urban centres along rivers and the coast.

Ethnic Groups and Narangolshig
Selengeria is a diverse country home to numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, however, social identities are fractured and complicated by the effects of war, population transfers, and modern government policy. According to Selengerian Studies scholar, Joinnes var Cizile, Selengeria was transformed by the Undserkheg from "a cosmopolitan multi-national empire ruled by a diverse elite" into "the newly minted ethnostate of the Neo-Narangol". Var Cizile goes on to define "Neo-Narangol" as a "revisionist" ethnicity crafted by Sudriin in his Negbiye Basetgel Edict of 1934. The edict restricted and abolished the traditional system of ethnic distinctions and privileges shaped by the Dasanjin conquests. In their place, Sudriin re-classified Selengerians by their perceived "Narangolshig" or "Narangol-ness" - a status determined by their allegiance to the Khaan and Jonon, ability to speak the Narangol language, adherence to Ordonism, and membership in a legitimate house. Selengerians that meet these criteria are deemed "Narangol" by the government and afforded full citizenship, while Selengerians that do not are relegated to second-class status with fewer rights and privileges afforded to them.

The government does not release desegregated data on ethnicity, linguistics, or religion. Attempts at providing this data for Selengeria rely on estimates and observations from external sources such as foreign intelligence and charitable organisations. The Foreign Ministry of Tiperyn estimates that ethnic Narangol make up only 38% of the population, with the remaining majority of Selengerians belonging to other ethnic and linguistic groups such as the Gankui, Akitei, Yao, Barajids, and Ngan. Three-fourths of the population are estimated to be fluent or conversational in the official language and lingua franca of, however, only 27% of Selengerians speak it as their mother tongue.

Human rights organisations and exile and emigre groups have routinely criticised Selengeria for its treatment of minority Selengerians and the Narangolicisation policy and its impact on minorities. League observers issued a report in 2017 declaring the situation to be "the most systemic and widespread example of cultural genocide and linguistic erasure in the 21st century"

Religion
Ordonism is the official and mandatory state religion of Selengeria. Ordonism is a syncretic polytheistic religion defined by shared deities, philosophies, rituals, cosmological systems, pilgrimage sites, mythology, temple building, religious orders, and Gereld Morgokh or emperor worship. The Ministry of Culture claims that 99.5% of all citizens are strictly Ordonist, however, foreign intelligence agencies have corroborated that the majority of Selengerians still adhere to regional folk religions and only participate in state-orchestrated festivals and rites. Clear data on religious affiliation is difficult to gather due to varying definitions of "religion" and the unorganized, diffusive nature of Ordonism and Selengerian religious traditions. Scholars note that in Selengeria there has been no clear boundary between Ordonism, Confucianism, Daoism, Akitei faith, and local folk religious practice.

Over the millennia, Selengerian civilisation has been influenced by various religious movements. Confucianism, Daoism, and Ordonism have had a significant role in shaping Selengerian culture and history. Selengerian folk religions, which often coexist and intertwine with other traditions, are a diverse number of practices centred on local deities of the environment, ancestors, abstract concepts, and culture heroes, many of whom feature in Selengerian mythology. Among the most popular cults are those of XXXX and many others.

Daoism is the second largest religion in Selengeria with 58 million practitioners (23%). Daoists are among the most severely persecuted and discriminated against minorities in Selengeria and constitute a majority in many of the country's infamous re-education camps. Confucian adherents (12%) are also similarly persecuted for their common co-adherence to Daoism and refusal to conform to Selengerian social structure.

Small minorities of Christians, Muslims, and Jews also live in Selengeria. The Apostolic Church, with 370,000 to 522,000 adherents (0.19%), is the only non-Ordonist religion recognised and permitted in the country in part due to Selengeria's strong ties to Tiperyn.

While atheism is not legal in Selengeria and lack of piety is considered socially taboo, it is estimated that upwards of 1.4 million (0.5%) Selengerians identify as atheist or non-religious.

Urbanisation
Selengeria has urbanised rapidly in recent decades but has, with few exceptions, eschewed more typical trends of dense centralised urbanisation. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 60% in 2019. The majority of this urban population growth occurred in sprawling urban centres in the south with fewer than five-hundred-thousand residents. Fourteen cities have undergone more typical trends however and are home to over one million residents: Kharakhorin, Sukhbaatar, Jaankhoshuu, Sumber, Dalanzadgad, Ingerdolgoi, Amardalai, Khodrogo, Darkhan, Erdenet, Davin, Mandalgovi and Nalaikh. Kharakhorin is Selengeria's most populous city and one of the largest cities on earth while Sukhbaatar, the nation's capital, is the second largest city in the country and the largest by land area. Both cities are two to three times as large as the next largest city, Arvaikheer. Urban planners and population scientists estimate that Selengeria's cities will grow to house over 200 million residents by 2050.