Novistrana

Novjistrayan Respublika	Novjistrayan Respublika
Flag of Novjistranya 	
Flag of Novjistranya
General 	General
Name 	Republic of Novistrana
Capital 	Kazan
Largest City 	Kazan
National Abstract 	
Map of Novistrana in 2152	
Map of Novistrana in 2152
Government 	Government
Government Type 	Federal Republic
Head of State 	President Mykhaylo Pysko
Legislature 	Federal Assembly
Judiciary 	Supreme Court
Demographics 	Demographics
Demonym 	Novjistrayan
Population 	~9.4 million
Official Language 	Novjistrayan
Spoken Language(s) 	Novjistrayan; Ukrainian; Russian; Tatar; Mari; Udmurt; Bashkir; Chuvash; Khazak; Mordvihn; other
Ethnic Groups 	Novjistrayan; Russian; Tatar; Mari; Udmurt; Bashkir; Chuvash; Khazak; Mordvihn; other
Official Religion 	No state religion
Major Religions 	Marselism (~38%); Christian (~26%); Muslim (~24%); Nonreligious (~6%); Buddhist (3%); Zoroastrianism (~1%); Other (~2%)
Novistrana is a republic in the former Russian Federation, at the heart of the Inland Sea and straddling the Volga Inlet. It is a multireligious, multiethnic, and multilingual federal republic, composed of several constituent autonomous republics and the larger federal district. The Declaration of Sovereignty of 2046 is held to be its founding document, and September 3 is celebrated as Sovereignty Day. Novistrana does not share a land border with any developed state and has access to the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Oceans through the Inland, Black and Mediterranean Seas. The capital is at Kazan, a large Russian city that once existed at the confluence of the Volga and Kamak rivers, and is now the largest port city in the region.  The nation's history begins during the tumultous period following the Great Flood, with massive refugee movements in the region settling in what was predominately the former regions of Tatarstan, Chuvashia and Mari El. The largest movement came from Russian, Kazakh, Bashkir, Urdmut, and Mordvin refugees, who mixed into ethnic and linguistic enclaves, kicking off a period of great violence as each group competed for a dwindling share of resources, especially food and fresh water. Peace was signed in 2046, and the region declared independence as Novistrana, or New Country. Today, while there remain a great variety of national ethnicities, faiths, and languages, some sociologists have begun to observe what can be called ethnogenesis as a syncretic ethnic identity "Novjistrayan" is becoming more popular among the young population. Novistrana is notable for having a plurality Marselist population, a further testement to its heterogeous roots.  
== History ==
The early post-flood years saw a great deal of interethnic conflict in Russia, especially in regions like Volga with a high concentration of different ethnicities. The flood pushed a large population north, out of Central Asia, including a still signficant Khazak minority, further adding to the tensions, and a great deal of ethnic and religious violence defined the early post-flood period, even as the rest of the world burned in their own squabbles. A Russian naval officer from Samara, Aleksei Mikhalev, became a regional authority by the early 2040s, and established a firm base of control at the city of Kazan, a shadow of its preflood self. Solidfying control over Kazan proved to be valuable for establishing an early power base, and by 2047, Mikhalev had secured a small region around the city as his own personal fiefdom. The Declaration of Sovereignty formalized his rule over this region, which he named Novistrana, or New Country, as he declared formal independence from the former Russian Federation, though by this point, there was no one left to challenge such a declaration in Moscow. Early on, he focused more on securing his own power base in Kazan than expanding the state's borders elsewhere. He would peacefully pass on power to his chosen successor, Agustin Koralovich, on his eightieth birthday. 
=== Early Novistrana ===
 Young Novistrana quickly expanded its borders to include a more fertile agricultural and industrial base, and under Koralovich, grew into the preeminent power in former Tartarstan. Eager to restore control over as much of the old Russian territories as possible, Koralovich and Talenn began a policy of expansion that would continue until the turn of the century. Nonetheless, the diverse population proved difficult to govern, and to maintain its armed forces and at least nominal control over its territory, the early state was forced to cede a great deal of control to local authorities, control it would rarely be able to take back. President Yarok Stanislav, an ambitious if weak man, was brought to power under promises to establish a national legislature which he did, giving the local authorities control over the presidency and passing it outside of military control. He would drift in and out of office for the next several years, but the state would remain weak and the economy mismanaged, under control by mafia entities, hopelessly corrupt, and barely better for the average citizen than the anarchic land surrounding it. Criminal enterprises, government, and corporate ventures all melted together, indistinguishable, and the state's expansion faltered due to internal division and incoherence. Novistrana lost control of Samara, and several other southern territories, leading to purges within the armed forces in attempts to professionalize what had come to resemble more a local street gang than an army. Vasily Viktorovich quietly rose the ranks of the Novistrayan Army during these years, particularly for his role in suppressing a Kazakh rebellion along the Vatyka River. Stanislav promoted him to Commander of the Armed Forces in July of 2061, and Viktorovich took power in a coup shortly therafter.
=== Socialist Novistrana ===
thumb|left|200px|Flag of Revolutionary Novistraya Vasily Viktorovich quickly set about eliminating internal resistance to his rule, fighting hard to establish radio stations and other means of mass communication, and declaring the establishment of the Kazan Soviet. His movement was popular among workers and farmers, who began to strike and agitate against local authorities. Despite early attempts at counter revolution by mafia business owners, Viktorovich came out on top, and established a strong and centralized state more able to resist its own internal incoherence. Seeking to eliminate religious and ethnic divide, Viktorovich mandated Russian as the only language to be spoken or taught, and banned religious services as soon as no signficiant force remained which could resist the Novistrayan Army within the borders of the state. He also moved to annex portions of Mari El at this time, seeking to diminish Islamic sentiment among his people.
His regime would last more than 27 years, and leave a permanent influence over Novistrana. To help mitigate rising ethnic conflict, he created the autonomous soviets that would become the Novjistrayan republics, creating a local administration that was often much more homogeneous than than the nation as a whole. These republics, however, were rarely contiguous, creating an economic dependence on maintaining the federal superstructure that made internal trade and administration simple. He expanded the industrial economy, diversifying Novistrana beyond the agricultural, mining and timber industry it had depended on, and restarted oil production in Tatarstan, for the first time since the initial flood, creating a cheap source of energy for the fledgling nation to continue its economic development. He repaired the damaged rail network, making travel between the Mari and Tatar regions of the country simpler, and invested in creating new shipyards at Kazan and Yoshkar-Ola, to facilitate maritime trade along the large Volga inlet. 
Culturally, his regime was more heavy handed, taking hardline stances against religious identity, and in particular, Christianity and Islam, leaving a void that would come to be filled by Marselist communities. He promoted Russian education in schools, a very controversial policy, but one that would influence the future pidgin language of Tatar and Uralic languages with Russian that would become the modern Novistrayan language. Nonetheless, despite good economic growth, the Novistrayan Soviet was heavy handed against its people, while failing to address their basic welfare as much as their economic development, and by the late years of his regime, unrest had grown considerably. 
A coup attempt in 2089 by Gregor Strenk was briefly successful in ousting Viktorovich for 11 days, but the success was contained to the city of the Kazan, and after a brief siege, socialist rule was reestablished. Viktorovich would govern for one more year, before dying of a heart attack, and his successor Subrenyev was a considerably weaker personality, governing for a year and a day before resigning in the face of growing political pressure, and allowing free elections for the first time in 30 years.
=== Liberal Reformation ===
 The final year of Gregor Strenk's regime was fraught with political protest, strike, and upheavel, and would come to be known as the Blue Revolution. The movement was highly decentralized, but one of the most recognizable leaders was Mikhael Koralov, a devoutly Orthodox Udmurt, who managed to gain support from a diverse group of religious communities in the hope of ending state atheism. The opposition of Strenk to this demand would prove to be a fatal mistake for his regime, with March and April before his resignation seeing the Orthodox, Islamist, and Marselist communities across the country engage in widespread protest, and often riots, against state police and institutions. A takeover of the Tatar oil fields by an Islamist group prompted a heavy handed response in early April that led to massive riots in Kazan which would last nearly two weeks, climaxing with the resignation of Strenk and the announcement of free public elections.
The first elections after the end of Revolutionary Novistrana were contentious, but power passed peacefully without incident to Koralov, one of the leaders of the movement. Koralov oversaw the establishment of a new constitution meant to introduce stability to the Novistrayan political process, maintaining the Presidency as a position appointed by the Federal Assembly, while reintroducing free elections every two years for the legislature. Nonetheless, early liberal Novistrana would be a politically unstable entity, as new Presidents quickly lost control over the Federal Assembly, were impeached, and replaced. Between 2091 and 2124 there would be 25 different Presidents, Koralov himself quickly losing the support of the multireligous front that had put him in power as he pursued overtly pro-Orthodox policies lasting only a single year in office. 
Perhaps as a consequence of the weak executive office and divisive assembly, the various federal ministries and the autonomous republics grew more powerful and assumed more responsibility for day to day governance. Notably in 2106, the annexation of the Chuvash regions south of the Volga Inlet was not approved by the assembly or President until after the Department of State Security had already deployed soldiers into the region, with support of local republic militias which quickly annexed portions of the territory for themselves before the Federal Assembly could meet and hastily acknowledge the establishment of an autonomous Chuvash state. 
One major movement that rose to prominence during this chaotic era was the 2046 Movement, which wanted to go back to the status quo prior to the creation of Novistrana, and secure independence for the autonomous republics. They grew influential enough in Tatarstan to have several Presidents, but they were often the targets of political assassination. A reaction to this movement was the Ethnofuturist Front, which remains a relevant political force today, advocating for the recognition of a unique Novistrayan identity and culture, a fusion of the existing diversity in the region. Tarak Mozhar was a particularly important leader in this movement, and became the first President to acknowledge himself only as Novistrayan, but his government did not last long and was more notable for his Vice President, Agustin Sonkin, who would soon become the most important and enduring leader of liberal Novistrana, creating the modern state as we know it. 
The economy during this period continued to expand as state industries were privatized, but the industrial sector diminished somewhat as a result, with more businesses focusing on resource gathering industries and state support concentrated sole
=== Modern Novistrana ===
Modern Novistrana began with the election of Agustin Sonkin in 2124 by the Federal Assembly, with a broad base of support from agricultural and oil interests. The former CEO of NovjiPetrol, the largest oil producer in Tatarstan, Agustin Sonkin rose to political prominence as the Minister of Labor in the governments of Pasha Donskoy and Luka Stolin before his resignation under Ilya Stenislav. He became one of the founders of the Ethnofuturist Party, one of the most important political organizations in modern times alongside the Unity Party, and served as Vice President under the brief tenure of Tarak Mozhar. He would return two years later as President serving, for the longest period of time of any post-Viktorovich politician, 15 years. His tenure saw the entrenchment of the ministerial system in Novistrayan politics as an alternative to what he viewed as an incompetent political culture, centralizing state authority in executive institutions, but outside of the legislature. His main concern was economic and industrial development, as well as tackling what he felt was the largest source of Novistrayan instability - culture. 
The Ethnofuturist Party modified the census to include a new Novistrayan ethnicity, an identity intended to be a catch-all for the variety of ethnic groups in the region. It promoted a secular state, where religion was a private affair, and banned explicitly religious parties from participating in federal elections, though they remained powerful among local polities. A new Institute of Novistrayan Linguistics was funded and published the first grammatical dictionaries for the Novistrayan language, a Russian dialect with extensive Chuvash, Mari, and Tatar influences, developed directly from the pidgin vernacular spoken in day to day life. He transitioned the state into using only Novistrayan for official business, and ended the use of Russian as the official language of the state. This remains the case in Novistrana, just over ten years after the end of his regime. 
Economically, he continued to focus on developing the nation's resource industries, focusing on oil, timber, and a nascent metal mining industry. He also expanded the borders of the state south, to include Zelengorsk and Tolyatti, moving the borders closer to the Inland Sea. He attempted to consolidate the autonomous republics, reducing a great number of enclaves, exclaves, and other strange border issues, vestiges of the Viktorovich regime, but failed to make any significant progress due to a lack of support outside the federal level. Nonetheless, he was one of the more popular figures to lead Novistrana in recent memory, and is regarded as one of the best Presidents of recent history. 
He failed to make any lasting changes to the political culture, however, beyond expanding the power of the government bureaucratic machine, and after his retirement in 2139, the state returned to tradition, with eight different individuals serving as President during the twelve years between 2139 and 2152, but remains an important and well respected figure. 
His main political rivals during this era was the Unity Party, the first explicitly Marselist party before its forced secularization under Sonkin, a decision it quickly reversed when it took power for itself under President Ekk. Despite this conflict regarding religion, and an economic policy that favors agriculture and industrialization over oil and timber exploitation, the two parties remain united on the issue of Novistrayan ethnic identity, centralization, and reducing local autonomy. With only a few interruptions, either the Unity Party or an Ethnofuturist Party has controlled the government for the last quarter century, and the most notable effect of this is that in the 2050 census, Novistrayan identity was the largest one citizens self-identified with. Youth, especially in urban areas, are abandoning the preflood ethnic definitions, in favor of a more unitary one, as the country begins seeing itself less as a Frankenstein monster composed of various groups mashed together, but a cohesive whole.
=== Historical List of Heads of State ===
This is a list of the heads of state of Novistrana since the Declaration of Sovereignty.  
 	Name 	Ethnicity 	Religion 	Took Office 	Left Office 	Political Party 	Notes
1 	Aleksei Mikhalev 	Russian 	Orthodox 	September 3, 2047 	December 9, 2051 	Sovereignty Faction 	
2 	Agustin Koralovich 	Russian 	Orthodox 	December 10, 2051 	February 6, 2053 	Liberal Faction 	
3 	Casimir Talenn 	Russian 	Orthodox 	February 7, 2053 	October 12, 2056 	Christian Democrats 	
4 	Yarok Stanislav 	Russian 	Orthodox 	October 13, 2056 	December 3, 2056 	Sovereignty Party 	Ineffective governor; often chosen as compromise candidate; would serve 3 seperate terms
5 	Tarik Skliarenko 	Kazakh 	Sunni 	December 4, 2056 	February 4, 2057 	RM-OUAF Front 	
6 	Yarok Stanislav 	Russian 	Orthodox 	February 5, 2057 	June 11, 2057 	Sovereignty Party 	
7 	Masnal Gasprinsky 	Tatar 	Sunni 	June 12, 2057 	November 24, 2059 	RM-OUAF Front 	
8 	Arslan Petrev 	Bashkir 	Sunni 	November 25, 2059 	December 31, 2059 	Islamic Brotherhood 	
9 	Yarok Stanislav 	Russian 	Orthodox 	January 1, 2060 	August 3, 2061 	Sovereignty Party 	Killed during coup by Vasily Viktorovich
10	Vasily Viktorovich 	Russian 	nonreligious	August 4, 2061 	March 18, 2089 	Communist Party 	Chairman of the Novjistrayan Communist Party, took power in a military coup
11	Grigor Strenk 	Mari 	Orthodox 	March 19, 2089 	March 30, 2089 	Justice Party 	Coup attempt; failed to establish control outside the city of Kazan, see: Battle of Kazan
12	Vasily Viktorovich 	Russian 	nonreligious	April 1, 2089 	April 16, 2090 	Communist Party 	Counter coup; would govern until his assassination
13	Kamil Subrenyev 	Kazakh 	nonreligious	April 17, 2090 	April 18, 2091 	Communist Party 	Second and last Chairman of Revolutionary Novistrana
14	Mikhael Koralov 	Udmurt 	Orthodox 	April 19, 2091 	April 20, 2092 	Justice Party 	Brought to power peacefully by popular demand in the Blue Revolution
15	Leonid Chadra 	Mari 	Orthodox 	April 21, 2092 	September 14, 2093	Yellow Front 	
16	Rudolf Mareyev 	Bashkir 	Sunni 	September 15, 2094	March 2, 2096 	Justice Party 	
17	Sami Orchkin 	Russian 	Orthodox 	March 3, 2096 	November 2, 2097 	Patriot Party 	
18	Vladimir Siva 	Mari 	Orthodox 	November 3, 2097 	January 7, 2098 	Liberal Front 	Assassinated
19	Aleksnader Ishvek 	Mari 	Orthodox 	January 8, 2098 	May 1, 2098 	Patriot Party 	Assassinated
20	Francis Sehmet 	Bashkir 	Orthodox 	May 2, 2098 	September 11, 2100	Strength! 	
21	Samir Fyodorov 	Chuvash 	Orthodox 	September 12, 2100	July 5, 2102 	United Novistrana 	
22	Yuri Caspirovich 	Russian 	Orthodox 	July 6, 2102 	December 21, 2102 	Popular Front 	
23	Tamir Corchin 	Tatar 	Neo-Tengrist	December 22, 2102 	February 8, 2103 	Turkic Future 	An eccentric neo-pagan; assassinated after attempting to create a Tatar government in perpetuity
24	Sasha Weinstein 	Russian 	Jewish 	February 9, 2103 	March 2, 2104 	Kazan Section 	
25	Ilya Beria 	Udmurt 	Sunni 	March 3, 2104 	June 28, 2104 	Popular Front 	
26	Luka Faustin 	Mordvin 	Orthodox 	June 29, 2104 	January 2, 2105 	Yellow Front 	
27	Vasily Mirrin 	Bashkir 	Orthodox 	January 3, 2105 	November 29, 2105 	Farmer's Party 	
28	Josef Rozhdestvensky 	Mari 	Orthodox 	November 30, 2105 	November 30, 2106 	ASCF-ART 	
29	Igor Ignatyev 	Chuvash 	Marselist 	December 1, 2106 	December 6, 2106 	Ethnofuturist Front 	First Marselist President
30	Petyr Onopko 	Udmurt 	Marselist 	December 7, 2106 	January 4, 2112 	Onopko Faction 	
31	Ruslan Tsilovech 	Tatar 	Sunni 	January 5, 2112 	August 3, 2112 	2046 Movement 	Assassinated
32	Vladimir ibn al-Bashkir	Tatar 	Sunni 	August 4, 2112 	May 27, 2114 	2046 Movement 	
33	Pasha Donskoy 	Russian 	Orthodox 	May 28, 2114 	September 3, 2116 	Coalition Left 	
34	Luka Stolin 	Tatar 	Orthodox 	September 4, 2116 	December 8, 2120 	Traditional Party 	
35	Ilya Stenislav 	Bashkir 	Sunni 	December 8, 2120 	July 21, 2122 	2046 Movement 	Assassinated
36	Tarak Mozhar 	Novistrayan 	Orthodox 	July 22, 2122 	February 7, 2123 	Ethnofuturist Front 	Agustin Sonkin was Vice President during this six month term
37	Mayer Rackham 	Kazakh 	Jewish 	February 8, 2123 	February 11, 2123 	Sunshine Reform 	
38	Bol Muhammad Petrovich 	Russian 	Sunni 	February 11, 2123 	July 16, 2124 	TP-2046-SR Front 	
39	Agustin Sonkin 	Novistrayan 	Orthodox 	July 17, 2124 	October 8, 2139 	Ethnofuturist Front 	Longest serving post-Viktorovich President; helped cement the idea of a Novistrayan ethnic identity
40	Fermin Sazhin 	Udmurt 	Marselist 	October 9, 2139 	October 31, 2139 	Revilatism! 	
41	Ivan Gusev 	Bishkar 	Marselist 	November 1, 2139 	June 2, 2142 	New Farmer's Party 	
42	Igor Ekk 	Chuvash 	Orthodox 	June 3, 2142 	October 26, 2145 	Unity Party 	
43	Ruslan Byko 	Tatar 	Sunni 	October 27, 2145 	September 3, 2146 	2046 Movement 	Assassinated
44	Saparmyrat Chokayev 	Morvin 	Marselist 	September 4, 2146 	August 11, 2148 	Unity Party 	
45	Osman Igorovich 	Russian 	Orthodox 	August 12, 2148 	September 16, 2149	Social Justice for All 	
46	Anastasia Zagorinskaya 	Novistrayan 	Marselist 	September 17, 2149	December 4, 2150 	New Ethnofuturist Front 	Only female President
47	Josef Stevanyovich 	Chuvash 	Marselist 	December 5, 2150 	December 3, 2151 	Unity Party 	
48	Igor Tenyslav 	Novistrayan 	Orthodox 	December 4, 2151 	August 22, 2159 	New Ethnofuturist Front 	Retired peacefully
49	Mykhaylo Pysko 	Ukranian 	Marselist 	August 23, 2159 	January 6, 2162 	New Ethnofuturist Front 	
50	Kamila Gusev 	Novjistrayan	Nonreligious	January 7, 2162 	 	Social Justicialist Party	
== Economy ==
The Novistrayan economy is dominated by primary sector industries, in particular the oil, timber, and agricultural industries, supported by relatively minor commercial and industrial interests. Resource exports have been slow since the collapse, but the relative political stability within Novistrana compared to the rest of the surrounding region has made it a center for export. Despite efforts to develop native industry over the past thirty years, the local economy remains dominated by the production and consumption of these raw goods. Since the Presidency of Sonkin, Novistrana has registered strong economic growth according to the Ministry of Economics, and Kazan has developed a healthy, though small, financial sector that the government hopes to leverage into continued diversification and growth. However, despite such localized progress, in general the Novistrayan economy continues to suffer from the instability of global markets and a lack of political unity.
Construction has emerged as a growing industry in Kazan, the largest city in the country, home to 119,000, but the skyline remains modest by preflood standards. The city remains the economic heart of the nation, however, as it has since before the flood for Tatarstan, with most diversification occurring within the city. Key industries for the province include petroleum refining, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, and the average income of Kazan's inhabitants remains three times higher than the rest of the country. Yoshkar-Ola to the north, the second fastest growing city in the Republic, has also emerged within the Republic as a center of industry and the second financial capital, serving as headquarters for Novjistrayan Agricultural Credit, the country's largest bank. 
The agricultural sector is at the heart of the Novistrayan economy - in the early post-flood years, food was the only industry of any importance, and this hasn't changed much. Grains and vegetables are grown, with the most important crops being wheat, potatoes, as well as pig and chicken rearing. Fishing has replaced cattle as the largest source of protein, however, as the Inland Sea has crept up into the region for the first time in history. The most valuable agricultural product produced, however, is Chuvashian beer and vodka, with Ulyanovsk emerging as a center for the country's alcoholic industry.
Tolyatti was one of Russia's centers of automotive manufacturing prior to the flood, and while the city has seen better times, the last thirty years have seen the emergence of NOS and a limited selection of vehicles revitalize, at least in part, that old profit center. NOS remains the largest auto-manufacturer by far, specializing in practical equipment such as buses, trucks and tractors, but two subsidiary companies, NMI and Svoboda specialize in military orders and private transportation, respectively. Critics, however, suggest that the only reason NOS has done so well is a lack of competition, and that the reemergence of global trade may bring the poor quality of production to light.
==Politics==
 
Main Article: Politics in Novistrana
Novistrana is composed of three constituent and autonomous republics with a devolved assembly, executive head of state, and powers relating to day-to-day administration and governance. They are Mari-El, Chuvashia, and Tatarstan. The republics are in a strong economic union, but determine their own tax rates, social policies, and policing, having surrendered control of foreign policy, defense, and trade regulation to the Federal Government which governs the relatively small Federal District of Novistrana. The Federal Government has three branches, the executive Presidency, the unicameral Federal Assembly, and the Supreme Constitutional Court, which serves as the final court of appeals for federal cases. The Federal Government is famously unstable, and has shrunk in size over time, with most day-to-day governance having been slowly transferred over away from the Federal Assembly to several large ministries, known as the Executive Departments.
== Military ==
== Culture ==