NATION APPLICATION
Shortform name: Chauchu
Long/native name: Republic of Chauchu (Čawčəw Varatemnuŋ)
Real life culture influence: Chukchi
Real life culture of former colonizer: Aleut (Taniilux)
Population:
GDP (PPP) per capita: 圓21,623
GDP (nominal) per capita: 圓13,287
Military manpower (active/reserve): 20,000 / 10,000
Language(s): Chukchi, other Paleosiberian languages
Nation description: The Lygoravetlan peoples are among the earliest known populations in Bangju, predating the Fusenic and even Aenuic settlements, and are believed to have migrated south from modern Taniilux as early as 40,000 BCE. They adopted settled agriculture and formed chiefdoms around 500 CE, and over the next few centuries, these chiefdoms consolidated into larger principalities, combining cultural influences from neighboring Sinju and Thunderbird Bay.
Traders, monks, and intermittent periods of control from the nearby Tathaist strongholds of Gitsan brought Raven Tathaism. The Lygoravetlan adoption of Tathaism accelerated in the 12th century after it was embraced by the royal court of Chauchuven, the most prominent of the Lygoravetlan principalities. By the 1600s, there were seven principalities that were gradually incorporated into the expanding empire of Taniilux. The four northern principalities, including Chauchuven, were directly annexed into the empire, while the southern three—Nemelan, Anqallyt, and Alutalu—became semi-independent vassal states under Tanii suzerainty.
The former territory of the northern principalities, now united into a single imperial province, began to develop a united Chauchuan national identity, based mostly on the old Chauchuven. This led to the rise of the nationalist movement in the 1800s and a standardization of their dialects into a single language. During this period, a strong Tathaist-Nationalist movement emerged as nationalist thinkers began to associate the Chauchuan national identity with their Tathaist faith.
The southern principalities, meanwhile, maintained their own distinct identities as separate protectorates. The south differed in terms of religion, with most of the southern principalities largely practicing Animism and Lygoravetlan folk religion, compared to the north.
After the Bangju War, Chauchu regained its independence with a new monarchy and enjoyed a brief period of prosperity, but this proved to be short-lived. Just a decade later, both it and the southern principalities were invaded and occupied by Hachuabsh early in the Great Eulhae War. Parts of western Chauchu were also occupied and annexed by Sakushi. Most of Chauchu became free again with the collapse of Hachuabsh in 1943. Jeongmian forces soon landed in the country and fended off a Fusenese attempt to re-invade it from Wamu, and the remaining Sakushin-occupied western region was returned with Sakushi’s surrender in 1944.
After the Eulhae War, a wave of pan-Lygoravetlan nationalism, fueled by the sense that the division of Lygoravetlan nations had allowed for their conquest, swept through the region. Coupled with the Allies’ desire for strong nations in eastern Bangju to counterbalance socialist Hachuabsh, nationalist movements gained traction. Fears that the southern principalities, in particular, would be vulnerable to socialist revolutions further galvanized these movements. With Sinjuan backing, nationalists won brief clashes with monarchists in both Chauchu and the southern principalities, proclaimed new republics, and quickly united them into the new federation of Lygvarat.
Lygvarat was made up of seven member states—the three former southern principalities and the four former northern principalities (despite their pre-war unification as the Kingdom of Chauchu). Each state had an equal number of seats in parliament and one seat in the federation’s multi-member presidency. From independence until his death in 1974, Lygvarat’s politics was dominated by the charismatic leader Gyrgyn Korave.
Gyrgyn had kept Lygvarat's diverse ethnic and religious groups united through a strong, centralised government. He enforced a secular state and suppressed nationalist and religious sentiments, preventing any one ethnic or religious group from dominating. However, after his death, there was no comparable leader to hold the country together, and longstanding ethnic and religious tensions began to resurface. After Gyrgyn's death, the government became increasingly paralysed and dysfunctional.
Nationalist leaders began exploiting religious identities to fuel their political ambitions, and the country became increasingly divided on religious lines. The southern nationalities resented what they saw as Chauchuan domination, while the Chauchuans resented what they saw as the artificial division of their homeland and increasingly sought to unite the four northern states into one state of Chauchu. Politics became increasingly polarized between north and south over the 1980s on political and religious lines, culminating in a failed constituent assembly in 1988 in which the Chauchuan states voted to unite but failed to gain enough votes to change the constitution.
The newly-united Chauchu promptly seceded from Lygvarat as a result under a military junta led by Tymr Qaqyteq, a general with strong ties to the former federation's military elite, taking most of the federation’s economic and military strength with it. Tymr established an authoritarian regime in the newly independent state. Unlike his predecessor, Tymr was a more calculating and ruthless leader, consolidating power by enforcing a strict authoritarian rule that relied heavily on the militar. His regime was marked by a combination of brutal repression of dissent and strategic patronage to secure the loyalty of key factions within the state. Tymr's government maintained a tight grip on the political landscape, crushing separatist movements and any potential challenges to his authority.
Under his regime, Chauchu fought a brief but decisive war against the rump Lygarat over the ethnically diverse Gechurmen region on their shared border, which Chauchu won, further destabilizing what remained of Lygvarat. The conflict hastened the disintegration of the federation into its constituent parts, and in the 1993 Namgyen Accords, all former member states recognized Chauchu's sovereignty and its control over Gechurmen.
Since Chauchu’s independence, Tymr has maintained a firm grip on power. His regime has kept the country stable, though at the expense of civil liberties and political pluralism. Under his leadership, Chauchu has grown into a regional power, leveraging its strategic position and the exploitation of the country's vast natural gas resources. Despite the rapidly growing economy, the country has come under fire from international human rights organisations for widespread political repression and corruption.
Are you willing to drastically alter your nation in order to fit with Tiandi canon?: Yes
Main/puppet/NPC: Puppet
User (Wiki profile, Discord username, or NS nation): sharkrayn
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