State of the Tsarkans (Outdated)

Flag of the State of the Tsarkans

Coat of Arms of the State of the Tsarkans

**Lower House**

* Loyal Chamber of the Lud

The **State of the Tsarkans** (Tsarkese: Stan Csrkanie) also known as **Tioderon**, is a country on the Iskensh Peninsula of Southeast Amilor. It is situated within the Iron Mountains, and is bordered by Scuthia to the north, Kistia and Sarkatvelo to the south, and Alania and Gligvia to the east. Tioderon covers a territory of 69,713 square kilometers and is the twenty-first largest country in Amilor. Solasca is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities are Kiwerdima, Kiskeci, Leňava, and Komsowaisc.

The earliest societies to inhabit the region now known as Tioderon arrived from Central Turan around seventy-five thousand years ago, and existed for many more thousands of years as Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. It was not until around five-thousand B.C. that these tribes first began to adopt agriculture, and organize themselves into hierarchically-ruled city-states. The first Tsarkan nation was founded a few thousand years thereafter, with the formation of the Tioderonese Confederation around 500 B.C. From the 6th century BC until the formation of the Kingdom of Solasca in 58 BC, the region acted as a battleground for ancient Scuthians, Turanics, Kistics, and Hayics.

The State of the Tsarkans is a constitutional monarchy, with a bicameral legislature consisting of the Szlachta and the Lud. It is a developing market and a middle income economy. Tioderon provides a high standard of living, safety and economic freedom, as well as free university education and a universal healthcare option. The State of the Tsarkans is a member of the Orphean Assembly, the Council of the Iskensh Peninsula, the South Amilorean Development Community, and the Iskensh Economic Community.

## Etymology

The original Tsarkan name for the country was Sjoraka, however, it is currently rarely used. The contemporary version of the name became more popular after the adoption of the Lucan alphabet, which translated 'Sjoraka' into 'Tsarkan', however the origins of the name of 'Tsarkan' trace back to earlier dates and first appear in shipping logs from as far back as the 5th century CE.

The name has traditionally be derived from Sjor, the legendary national hero of the Tsarkans who, according to the Barrow Tablets, led humanity to victory alongside the One against the Great Other in prehistory, ending the Long Night.

Historians have also postulated in recent years that the name Sjor was not that of a single person, but of a tribe that survived a cataclysmic event sometime before 8,000 BCE. Evidence for this includes the relatively small population pool which originally spawned the modern Tsarkan people group and some archaeological findings, however, research is still ongoing.

## History

### Antiquity

Tioderon lies within the Iron Mountains and the surrounding highlands. There is evidence of early civilizations emerging in Tioderon around the Bronze Age and earlier, as far back as the 6th century CE. Surveys throughout the last few decades at the First Barrow archaeological site have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe and dedicated mining facility.

By using runestones and tablets - such as the Barrow Tablets - describing the Epic of Sjor, researchers have dated permanent Tsarkan presence in Tioderon to as early as the 8th century BCE. The Barrow Tablets, for example, have been carbon dated to around 1,500 BCE, and are quoted as claiming Sjor existed 'several thousand years ago'. Some researchers have protested against the use of these claims given the unreliability of mythology, especially given the oral-based history often relied on by Neolithic and Bronze Age Tsarkans. However, similar myths to the Epic of Sjor exist throughout many Iskensh Peninsula cultures, and claim similar dates.

The first organized Tsarkan state to emerge was the Tioderonese Confederation - an amalgamation of Stone Age Tsarkan city-states that united in common defense against 'unbelievers' hostile to the Tsarkan Faith of the Bell. At its zenith, the Confederation included as many as twenty-three Tsarkan cities, and extended from the Coast of Rusudan in the south to Mount Gišová to the north.

The Kingdom of Solasca was the first city-state to begin consolidating the Tioderon region through both conquest and persuasion, marked by the annexation of Kiwerdima in 58 BCE. This early kingdom continued its efforts throughout the next century, and became one of the first bureaucratically-organized states in the Iskensh region, which had long been dominated by Turanic nomad raiders. Efforts to solidify the Tsarkan national identity emerged around 200 CE, as scholars of the kingdom worked to adopt the Lucan alphabet from Western Amilor in bureaucratic institutions. This event ushered in the Golden Age of Tioderon, during which many foreign books and manuscripts printed in Lucan were copied for Tsarkan archives and translated into Sjoraka for the common people. The kingdom eventually lost its sovereignty in 358, however, when Turanic invaders from Central Turan landed on the tip of the Iskensh and began the First Turanic Invasion. For the next few centuries, the Tsarkans existed as a tributary state subservient to the Amirev Khanate, until the Parsian conquest of Central Turan drew enough Turanics away from the Iskensh for the local states to revolt.

### Middle Ages

In 793, the Tsarkans reestablished themselves as a sovereign kingdom under the leadership of Metody I of the Pelowski dynasty. This kingdom lasted only until 835, however, before Scuthian invaders occupied it and installed the Skonieczny dynasty as tributaries. Throughout the next century of occupation, many Tsarkans fled Tioderon and moved further northwest, along the western coast of the Bay of Karlisaray. In 917, they founded an independent Tsarkan principality called the Kingdom of Trenšiná, which became the focus of Tsarkan nationalism. The Tsarkans established close social, economic, and cultural ties with nearby Katharian states, but eventually succumbed to Ararat invasions. In the next few centuries, tribal confederations from the Ararat Peninsula such as the Manchaary ruled over the Tsarkans.

Ararat-ruled Iskensh was disrupted by the Second Turanic Invasion which began in 1275, and a large war between the Ararati and the Scuthians against the Turanics ensued throughout the next few decades. The Iskensh region was devastated during this time, with many local tribes conscripted to fight under whichever empire ruled their land at a given time. The Tsarkans were not immune to the fighting, but suffered the least of it, as Tsarkan tribes from across the region fled to the ancient homeland of Tioderon and solidly aligned themselves with the Katharian Scuthians. With the conclusion of the invasions in 1332, however, the Tsarkans and nearby Scuthian principalities found themselves once again under Central Turanic rule. It would take the efforts of the Principality of Novomozhyn and Vaniamin Tarnovetsky to weaken the hold of the Turanics in 1406, alongside support from Katharian crusaders who arrived in 1411 at the behest of the Scuthian church. Engaged in war with these parties, the Turanics were unable to maintain holds over the consolidated regions of Tioderon, Kistia, Sarkatvelo, Haya, and more, and they were eventually forced to retreat to the eastern coast of the Iskensh by 1418.

Once more established as a sovereign kingdom, the Tsarkans organized themselves into the Kingdom of Tioderon, with Komosowaisc as its capital. Under the Krzemiński dynasty, Tioderon focused heavily on military innovation and defensive construction, creating fortified keeps far into the depths of the Iron Mountains. Bureaucracy once again became an administrative focus as well, with local governments established by tribal lines within smaller villages, and royal duchies created along geographic lines to be ruled by a council of tribal leaders.

The rule of the Krzemiński dynasty would come to and end in 1567, however, as the Kawalec dynasty from the old capital of Solasca usurped the throne following the Winter Coup. Ksawery I would become the first Kawalec ruler of Tioderon.

### Early Modern Era

The Kingdom of Tioderon was one of the first states in Eastern Amilor to embrace industrialization, doing so around 1856, and did so in an effort to copy both the emerging Western Amiloreans and the Huaxians in Turan. Agents of the Tioderonese government were dispatched to cities like Ravessa, Royaume, Eisenrau, and Kaehung, in efforts to study the designs of machines from across the world. These activities came to light as a result of the infamous Ostrowski Case in which Kacper Ostrowski - a Tsarkan government agent - was caught attempting to steal blueprints for a steam engine in Ealdwic

When the industrial revolution began in earnest, Tioderon became one of the wealthiest states in Eastern Amilor, able to produce goods at a far faster rate than its neighbors and able to transport them faster as well, facilitating lower costs. Scuthian cities to the far east, for example, often wore clothes produced in Solasca as opposed to clothes produced in Komsolyna. This silver age lasted only a few decades, however, before a variety of factors contributed to the near-ousting of the Kawalecs and an economic recession.

Chief among these factors were a series of tariffs levied on Tsarkan goods by the Scuthian government, first implemented in 1879. Unable to compete with local Scuthian manufacturers, Tsarkan factories began churning out textiles without a destination. The small populations and nomadic culture of the Iskensh and Ararat Peninsulas meant there was little demand for manufactured goods there, and regions such as Southern Amilor and the Akhdar Peninsula were already experiencing their own industrial revolutions. As such, Tsarkan manufacturers struggled to find customers for their goods, and quickly began to go out of business by 1881. Dynastic rivalry also contributed to the oncoming recession. Houses such as the Sławińskis of Leňava and the Wacławskis of Kiwerdima sensed the weakness of the Kawalecs, and desired to see themselves on the throne of Tioderon. As such, they attempted their own coup in 1884, and when it failed, rose in revolt against the Kawalecs.

The Duke's War lasted until 1889, and although the Kawalecs succeeded in retaining their throne, their country suffered immensely, and only did so further throughout the Great War, which would emerge only two decades later. Though mostly isolated from the fighting, Tsarkans still suffered from the economic impacts of the conflict, as well as because of the global refugee crisis the war spawned.

## Government and Politics

The State of the Tsarkans is a constitutional monarchy, with Krolowa Klaudia I Kawalec serving as both head of state and head of government, presiding over a bicameral legislature composed of the Noble Chamber of the Szlachta and the Loyal Chamber of the Lud. According to the State Constitution (2014), the monarch of the State of the Tsarkans is responsible for both ceremonial purposes and for the exercising of executive power. Tioderon has universal suffrage for all above age eighteen. Voting affects only the legislature, however, as the monarchy remains based on a primogeniture hereditary succession system.

### Foreign Relations

The Kingdom of Tioderon joined the Orphean Assembly on April 9th, 1954, and is a signatory to a number of its organizations, resolutions, and international agreements. The State of the Tsarkans, formed in the aftermath of the Tsarkan Civil War, has been recognized as the official government of Tioderon by the Orphean Assembly, and retains the duties, restrictions, and loans held by the Kingdom of Tioderon. Tioderon is also a member of international organizations such as the Council of the Iskensh Peninsula, the South Amilorean Development Community, and the Iskensh Economic Community.

Tioderon generally has favorable relations with most of its neighbors. It maintains pacts of non-aggression with states such as Alania, Kistia, and Sarkatvelo. It has particularly friendly relations with Haya as well, with the two nations having entered into the Haya-Tioderon Protocols since 1996. This bilateral alliance allows for free trade between the two nations, and ease of entrance from either country to the other. Tioderon's relationship with Scuthia has been the most complicated over the prior centuries. In the Middle Ages, Scuthian principalities were often at war with the Tsarkans of Tioderon and at some times occupied the region. During the Great War, however, the two countries fought alongside one another. In modern times, relations are cordial and stable.

### Military

The Tsarkan Royal Armed Forces are comprised of five branches - the Royal Army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy, the Special Operations Force, and the Territorial Defense Force. The military is subordinate to the Office of National Defense, which itself answers to the ruling monarch of the State of the Tsarkans, who serves as commander in chief. As of May 2014, the Tsarkan Royal Armed Forces have a combined strength of around 150,000 active soldiers, with a further 55,000 reservists and part-time members of the Territorial Defense Force.

The State of the Tsarkans spends around 1.5% of its GDP on defense, equivalent to around $2.2 billion in 2014. Defense spending has been drastically decreased since the conclusion of the Tsarkan Civil War, during which it reached a budget as high as $10.3 billion. The Tsarkan government has also began a program of surplus military equipment sale, especially to fellow Iskensh Peninsula countries, in attempts to pay off the considerable debt that the war effort required.

Compulsory military service for men was required from 1946 to 1978, a component of the defensive doctrine adopted by the military in efforts to ward off a potential Scuthian invasion. Since the stabilization of relations with Scuthia, military doctrine shifted from international conflicts to domestic affairs, with the military taking a more active role in emergency services, policing, and border patrol. The State of the Tsarkans has also been a major contributor to Orphean Assembly peacekeeping missions in the past, and maintains small military presences throughout Nyasa and Turan to benefit from the loan forgiveness benefits that come with participation.

### Law Enforcement and Emergency Services

Law enforcement in the State of the Tsarkans is conducted by several agencies which answer to the Office of Interior Administration - the State Police, assigned to investigate everyday crimes, the City Constabulary, which maintains public order, and several specialized agencies, such as the State Special Investigative Service. Private investigative and protection firms are also common, though they possess no legal authority to arrest or detain individuals.

The State Internal Security Organization is the chief counter-intelligence agency safeguarding the State of the Tsarkans' internal security, responsible for identifying threats and collecting information abroad. The SSIS, mentioned prior, is responsible for combating organized crime and corruption in state and private institutions.

Emergency services in the State of the Tsarkans consist of emergency medical services, search and rescue units of the State Police and Territorial Defense Force, and the State Fire Service. Emergency medical services in the State of the Tsarkans are part of a centralised national organization known as the National Medical Response Agency, which is funded by a special 0.25% income tax nationwide.

## Economy

As of 2014, the State of the Tsarkans' economy and gross domestic product ranks as the sixteenth largest among Amilorean nations. Prior to the outbreak of the Tsarkan Civil War, it was one of the fastest-growing Amilorean economies. The unemployment rate claimed by the Tsarkan governance in 2013 amounted to 5.6%, which ranks among the lowest in Amilor. Around 60% of the employed population works in the service sector, 27% in manufacturing, and 13% in agriculture.

The State of the Tsarkans, even post-war, is one of the largest and most-developed economies in the Iskensh Peninsula, with nearly half of the top five-hundred companies by revenue throughout the region placing their headquarters in Tioderon. The country's largest firms comprise the TIO20 index, which is traded on the Solasca Regional Stock Exchange - the largest in Southeast Amilor.

The State of the Tsarkans has one of the largest banking sectors in Amilor. The Iron Bank of Tioderon has operated since 1579, and although it remains powerful into the modern day, competition among Tsarkan banks has increased dramatically throughout the past century.