Lusjki

Lusjki, officially the People's Republic of Lusjki (: Republika Popullore e Lusjki), is a  located in the central part of Eastern Artemia with a population of around 2,794,874, and which emerged out of a bloody revolution in 1944. The capital city of Lusjki is Lažacevo with a population near 824,800.

Lusjki was first formed out of the Islamic Luski unifying under the Sarajlic crown as the Kingdom Luski, and unifying with the Christian Illyrians to form the Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjki in 1305. In 1792 Lord Damjanović of the Lusjki side of the Kingdom led a revolt against the ever so stagnant Sarajlics, leading to the Kingdom of Lusiki of which would rule over Lusjki until it was incorporated into the Samot-Seratofian Empire in 1888.

Lusjki is known for its high regional copper export, with copper ore, unrefined copper, and various copper products being vital to the economy. Fish products, various fruits and vegetables, tobacco and tobacco products are other major exports of Lusjki. Lusjki has faced continuous economic hardship through its existence that stills persists today with an extremely high poverty rate.

Due to its extreme authoritarianism, lack of outside trade, and poor leadership Lusjki has suffered from extreme poverty and famines since the Lusjki Civil War.

Etymology
The name Lusjki comes from the revolt of the eastern and Islamic peoples of the area, the Luski, who were led by Lord Damjanović to take control of the Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjikiv and have been the dominant ethnicity since.

Early History
The Illyrian people had lived in modern Lusjki since after the neanderthals presumed to live in the area around 14,500 B.C. with the split into the Illyrian and Luski occuring around 670 B.C. due to religious strife between the Christian Illyrians and the Muslims, who would call themselves the Luski. Additionally, Archeological records have shown that some Proto-Alamite artifacts and sites were discovered in northern Lusjki, leading to the hypothesis that the Alam Civilization migrated from eastern Artemia into modern-day Eastern Samotkhe.

Islam was brought to the peoples of the region by merchants from Kesh who would try and convert as much as possible during their journeys through early Luski history, and Christianity by St. Endrin Mehmeti who was an early Illyrian tribal leader who was converted during his journey to neighboring Samotkhe and spread his views to local tribes and villages around the area.

Each side would split into the Kingdom of Illyria to the west and the Kingdom of Lusiki to the east, each side ruled under their select religion, with their cultures separating and diversifying over time, but sharing many of the same aspects.

Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjki (1305-1692)
By 1305 the Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjikiv had began rapidly reconnecting and expanding trade and relations. The Kingdom of Illyria had been under a large amount of pressure to act fast for their empire was on the brink of collapse. Pirates and anarchy had began to fall upon parts of Illyria due to The Great Illyrian Famine of 1290. Some nobility had also began small revolts. On August 3rd 1305 the Pakt i Madh, or Great Pact had been signed between Rabdyl Frashëri of Illyria and Ammar Sarajlic of Lusjki, this reunited the two kingdoms under the Sarajlic crown.

Kingdom of Luijki (1692-1888)
During the later years of the Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjki many failed campaigns, famines, extreme poverty, corruption, and religious strife had led to a divide in the kingdom. The ruling Sarajlics who had become very stagnant, inactive, and controlled by majority Christian Illyrians and the Damjanovićs who had been forced out of the high courts and were majority Luski-Muslims had began infighting. This infighting would become violent on January 18th 1692 when Lord Platur Damjanovićs and Luski soldiers loyal to the Damjanovićs stormed the Holy Imperial Palace and dethroned the Sarajlics, taking control of the Kingdom and renaming it the Kingdom of Lusiki. At the same time peasants who were disdained with the Illyrians had began blaming Illyrian-Christians for their issue, this resulted in mass killings and migrations.

Annexation into the Samot-Seratofian Empire (1888)
During the Samot Wars of Expansion of the late 1800s Lusjki soon found itself at the doorstep of the ever expanding Samot-Seratofian Empire. Requiring a staging point for naval attacks against Thalaky and expansion of their empire, the Samot-Seratofians would soon target Lusjki. On May 3, 1888 soldiers of the Samot-Seratofian Empire began naval bombardments off the coastal cities of Kallipoi, Ulëz, and Raisni, and landing large swathes of naval marines and infantrymen on May 7. Around 30,000 Imperial soldiers would arrive in these first landing stages. The extremely unorganised and slow mobilization of the small garrisons near the coast allowed for the empire to quickly overrun these cities, facing resistance only local police and torpedo boats. Underequipped and undertrained Lusjki soldiers, still equipped with outdated single-shot rifles, were quickly overrun. By late August Samot-Seratofian soldiers were just a few miles away from the capital. King Plakont Damjanović ordered the surrender of Lusjki troops, and on August 12, 1888 signed the Treaty of Vllasi, incorporating Lusjki into the Samot-Seratofian Empire with semi-autonomy as the Crown State of Lusjki. The Damjanović's would be allowed to continue to rule as a puppet monarchy.

Crown State of Lusjki (1888-1925)
Under the Samot-Seratofian Empire Lusjki would be commissioned to expand its mining sectors to supply copper to the empires expanding telephone infrastructure. Farming would also become modernised under the empire. Major cities would expand in both size, population, and infrastructure. The Crown State of Lusjki would remain semi-autonomous, creating its own laws and legislation, until 1918 when the Samot-Seratofian Empire joined the Teutonic Alliance in the Grand Campaigns, although King Shakir Damjanović. The removal of self governance allowed for forced conscription in Lusjki. The most valuable service of the soldiers conscripted from this area were as highly skilled alpine troops. Around 31,327 soldiers would be sent to fight on the Gardic Front serving mainly in alpine and mountain artillery divisions.

After the Grand Campaigns the Samot-Seratofian Empire broke apart, with Samotkhe and Seratof becoming individual states. Shakir Damjanović declared independence from the empire in late 1925.

January Revolt (1926)
In 1925 during a period of many communist uprisings and wars Lusjki began to fear that the same may occur at home, although at the time poverty was at a low point and the most recent famines had died down. To prevent any sort of uprisings an imperial parliament was formed, but purely as a puppet of the crown and had no true governing or legislative power. Famines, extreme poverty, and lack of peasants rights would continue to plague the Crown State of Lusjki for its entirety. These peasants would remain widely inactive or have any form of resistance swiftly put down by the imperialists. Much of the exports that were being sent to the mainland of the Samot-Seratofian ceased to be purchased as the two nations fell into recessions, crippling Lusjki's economy.

In 1926 Luski hit a depression on a grand scale. Mass famine had killed around 200,000, the worst of Lusjki's many famines since the many famines of the Kingdom of Illyria and Lusjki. Many workers and proletarians of the Kingdom, especially those working in factories and highly urbanised areas, had taken to heart the ideology of socialism. Arzen Chocholi was a prominent Luski socialist and head of the Luski Workers Party who organised and indoctrinated many of the workers. On January 23rd 1926 a general strike occurred due to harsh working conditions and low wages, this was organised by Arzen and the Workers Party. Wanting to prevent any communist uprisings King Shakir Damjanović declared martial law and began mass arrests. The next day violence broke out when a communist worker through a homemade explosive at patrolling imperial soldiers, killing two and injuring four others. This attack would inspire more communists to begin violent attacks and a harsher crackdown on the workers.

By January 1st, 1926 the capital city of Libahovë and many other major industrial cities had been stuck in violent street fighting, with many in the police now taking the side of the communists. The police defectors would give the workers vital supplies such as munitions and small arms. On January 4th the communists had taken the parliament building with the help of the police, there all members of parliament were put under arrest and the noblemen killed. As news about the parliament executions and communists advancing towards the imperial palace reached King Damjanović decisive actions were taking to allow the royal family and his cabinet to escape to Velselexo. The decision to flee from Lusjki caused extremely low moral thought imperial ranks, following this were mass dissertations and surrenders.

On February 26th The few loyalist soldiers left, numbering around 4,000, retreated to Ajirokastër Fortress where they would formulate their last stand. The fortress was swiftly surrounded by communist forces, shots were exchanged on both sides. Understanding their hopeless situation and disobeying the direct orders from King Damjanović to continue fighting, the last generals of the loyalist forces surrendered to the communists. All soldiers within the fortress were pardoned for their decision to surrender, the commanders and generals were all hung for crimes against the revolution. Arzen Chocholi became the first Soviet President of Lusjki.

Revolt Aftermath
After the collapse of loyalist forces the communists began to organise their new vision for the People's Republic of Lusjki. The Council of Soviets was created to lead the legislative and executive process of Lusjki, although successful at first the duties of the council began to slowly fall under the control of the Soviet President. Corruption would begin to be an issue as well among the council and administration in general. The collectivization of rural Illyrian farms to supply the underfed cities would be detrimental to the northern rural populations, causing yet another famine, but much more concentrated. Many Illyrian farms were completely wiped out due to collectivization.

People's Soviet Republic of Lusjki (1926-1930)
The People's Republic of Lusjki would continue its collectivization of crops in the north as it became even further centralized, with the Council of Soviets becoming as useless as the old court of which the communists had fought to destroy. Corruption and embezzlement soon became commonplace in the Council of Soviets.

Land redistribution had been very limited during and for a while after the war, this being one of the poorer farmers most eager goals, so redistribution was implemented in 1927. This new policy soon became a detrimental mistake as most of the land was redistributed in the fashion where it was land being taken from the poor farmers being redistributed to other farmers, and along with this corruption allowed much of this land to be siphoned off to politicians and council members. This caused massive loss of land among peasants who were already having their crops collectivized and distributed to the metropolitan areas with little to no payment.

In 1928 it was decided that all remnants of the crown were to be removed, this included all religious institutions. The people of Lusjki were furious, most specifically in rural areas. This move would be the tipping point for many, and coinciding with the power vacuum caused by the death of Soviet President Arzen Chocholi would cause the Lusjki Civil War.

Events Leading up to the Civil War
During the January Revolt of 1926 a group known as the palokists fought in the countryside against the, gaining massive traction within the countryside and military leaders, but was barred from any participation in the new communist government due to their religious, fascist, and beliefs. The palokists would criticize the collectivization and redistribution wreaking havoc among farmers and rural areas. On September 3, 1928 it was decided by the Council of Soviets that all forms of ideology outside the current communist government were to be illegal, ultimately banning the palokists from any legal activity. With palokism being very popular among military officials, the Gray Hand was formed out high ranking officers as a paramilitary force that would enact and eventual coup against the Council of Soviets and Arzen Chocholi, with Gjeneral Major Palokë Hamza as its head.

This paramilitary force would swell in huge numbers, and by 1929 around an estimated one third of all officers within the Peoples Free Army were aligned with the Gray Hand. It was eventually decided that, to create a power vacuum and infighting within the Council of Soviets, that Soviet President Arzen Chocholi would be assassinated on June 2, 1930. After this forces loyal to the Gray Hand would storm the council building, broadcast the end of the communist government and announce the new government headed by Palokë Hamza. It was assumed by members of the Gray Hand that there would be a smooth transition. Infighting between anarchists and varying communist factions had already greatly weakened the unity of the Soviet Council. Members of the Gray Hand would also make contact with agents of the fascist Thalakaeh military junta, of which promised to support and secure the uprising.

On April 8, 1929, two months before the planned military coup all religious institutions had been either destroyed or shut down and state atheism was enacted, as religion was seen as holding back progress and having too many ties to the exiled Imperial Government. Religious leaders who continued to have contact with the King were all jailed, along with many who were innocent. This enraged the highly religious northern and western rural areas of Lusjki, and mainly muslims throughout the entirety of Lusjki. Riots would break out in cities around the north on a regular basis, and organised resistance began to rapidly increase.

Military Coup
On June 2, 1929 at around 12:00, at the former Imperial Palace, Soviet President Arzen Chocholi was assassinated by Kapiten Kyeart Naçi and two other guards of the palace who had been in contact with the Gray Hand. Each guard was executed on the spot by the other guards. The initial stages of the Gray Hand had been enacted. Twenty minutes after that Gjeneral Lejtant Vajkal Ymeri, head of all Lusjki armed forces, was also assassinated and replaced by Gjeneral Major Palokë Hamza, putting the majority of the People Free Army under palokist control.

All forces of the Free Army were ordered to remove any communist insignia and replace it with the Lusjki death's head or shpatë and many units were equipped with the traditional Lusjki fez. At the same time Gjeneral Major Aslan Gjika declared himself as Gjeneral Lejtant of the People's Free Army and ordered all Free Army forces within the area to take defense positions around the Soviet Council building and encircle Libahovë. Aslan Gjika would assume total command of the Lusjki armed forces declare himself as the new Soviet President of Lusjki. Around 32,000 soldiers would stay loyal to the Council of Soviets and 15,000 to the palokists. Partisan farmers and religious fanatics would also fight in large swathes for the palokists.

Civil War
Around 680 communist soldiers had gathered in defense of Soviet Council building where Gjika declared as his base of operations. Around another 8,000 communists were fighting the palokists, whose main forces had assembled in the northern city of Fierzë and surrounding farmland. The around 1,700 palokist soldiers left in Libahovë were quickly cut off from the rest of palokist forces were defeated on June 17th after weeks of brutal street fighting. This delay allowed for the northern palokist forces to organise an assault southwards.

By July 30th 1929 the mountainous northern cities and towns of Fierzë, Selenicë, and Ulëz had fallen under palokists control, with many the majority of communist soldiers massing near the capital of Libahovë. Anti-communist partisan activity was extremely high within communist controlled area. In August the palokist ranks would increase to around 30,000 men, and the communists by barely an extra 1,000. On August 8th palokist forces would launch an assault on the weak defense around the midwest of Lusjki which would become a staging point for the capture of Libahovë. The palokists captured the lightly garrisoned towns along the Dezinin River, but were halted by communist armored companies on August 21st.

Communist forces would attempted a counter attack across the Dezinin river using armored units to overwhelm the palokists, but had issue transporting the vehicles due to poor weather and mud. Only around 38 of the 100 tanks made it across the river, and the palokists had already prepared defenses in preparation for any counter attacks. On August 30th the communist forces sustained devastating losses against the well dug-in palokists. On September 2nd they retreated across the Dezinin. On the same day Islamic partisans took the village of Lumë from the local communist garrison, marking the first major partisan victory during the war. Three days later Thalakaen soldiers landed at the city of Kallipoli and joined up with Palokist forces.

Following the retreat by communist forces, the palokists began crossing the Dezinin themselves. The goal of this operation was to link up with anti-communist and Islamic partisans in the south west of Lusjki and encircle the communists. On November 1st the palokists forces pushed southwards, attacking the lightly defended western banks and villages along the Dezinin. On November 14th the partisans and palokists linked forces and began preparations for an attack eastwards to capture Libahovë. On January 7th 1930 palokist Alpine Divisions began pushing down from the northeastern mountain whilst large swathes of soldiers attacked from the west. The communist forces had intercepted a telegraph a month before about a push from the west, this resulted in massive amounts of soldiers and supplies being transferred to the west. By January 28th the communists had repelled all palokist attacks from the west whilst taking severe damage from the northern alpine troops.

On February 20th a new plan to capture the Libahovë was formed, known as what Gjeneral Major Palokë Hamza called Operation Hand of God. The majority of Palokë Hamza's forces along with two Thalakaen divisions would reinforce the Alpine Divisions for an attack from the North East after a small number of infantry divisions attack from the west, making it appear as if a much stronger attack was coming from the west. On March 1st the Infantry Divisions attacked, and on March 3rd the Alpine Divisions along with Palokë Hamza's troops began a massive push towards the capital. By March 10th a majority of the underfed and under equipped communist forces around the capitol had surrendered, and the palokists forces had Libahovë surrounded. Communist and palokists forces fought brutal street fighting that lasted all the way up to March 26th, ending due to the capture and execution of the communist leader, Aslan Gjika. The months that followed saw the mass execution of thousands of communists and alleged communist supporters.

On April 11 1930 Palokë Hamza was assassinated. The assassin was never caught, as it is speculated that it was actually someone within the palokists who was either a supporter of Celush Haxhi, a leader of the clerical fascist anti-helic sect of the palokists, or a Thalakaen agent attempting to instal a regime loyal to Thalaky. Haxhi would soon take power and become supreme ruler of the Lusjki Republic.

Komisioni
The All-Lusjki Interior Commission (: I gjithë Komisioni i Brendshëm Lusjki), commonly known as the Komisija are the secret police established after the military coup of 1930. The Komisija are currently the major police force of Lusjki and are tasked with infiltrating, watching, and executing enemies of the state. The Komisija can also be directly ordered by the Kapitan of Lusjki.

Major Exports
Some of the major exports of Lusjki include fish products, various fruits and vegetables, packaged medicines, tobacco and tobacco products. Lusjki is one of the region's highest exporters of copper ore, unrefined copper, and various copper products. Lusjki is also a producer of vehicle seats.