Kingdom of Gazth-Sonika

## Kingdom of Gazth-Sonika Korslan

The flag of Gazth-Sonika as seen in Episode 18.

A map of Gazth-Sonika as seen in Episode 17.

The **Gazth-Sonika Korslan Kingdom**  (Japanese: ガザッソニカ・コースラン王国, *Gazassonika kōsuran ōkoku*), simply called **Gazth-Sonika**, is one of the two fictional countries in the world of *Madlax*, the other being Nafrece. It is a country located in an unspecified place in southwest Asia, and it is home of one of the protagonists, Madlax.

## Etymology

The Japanese ガザッソニカ王国 can be broken up and translated.

* ガザ translates to *Gaza* as in the Gaza Strip (ガザ地区) located in the Middle East. The word *Gaza* comes from the Hebrew *Azzah*, loosely meaning "strong city."
	+ th sounds don't exist in Japanese katakana, but it can in translating depending on the position of the syllable it’s usually either ス(su), ズ(zu), ザ(za), or サ(sa).
* ッソニカ translates to *ssonika* due to the sokuon doubling the following consonant. Now, *Sonika* is actually a girl's name based on the Hindi word सोनिका for "golden beauty."
* 王国 is a jukugo or compound kanji for *king* and *country* and it translates to *kingdom*.

## History

In 1999, the monarchy pushed for modernization of the country. A military faction opposed to reconstruction formed the Galza resistance group and initiated a civil war. There have been numerous attempts at a peace treaty, but these efforts have failed to bring the parties closer together. As of 2011, the civil war continues.

## Government and Politics

The government is technically a constitutional monarchy. It is referred to as a republic in Episode 5 while the monarch exercises its power, and the current head of state is Koslan IV (Japanese: コースラン四世である, *Kōsuran shisedearu*). It's main armed force is the Government Army.

## Geography

In Episode 11, we are told that Gazth-Sonika measures 1,050 kilometers from north-east to south-west and is 930 kilometers in width. Since it is located in south-west Asia, it should have a coastline with the Indian Ocean and probably the Arabian Sea.

Gazth-Sonika's environment is tropical, with mountains, jungles, forests and beautiful beaches.

## Economy

The country has been involved for 12 years in an internal conflict between the Royalist troops and the Armed Resistance of Galza. However, it is present a **Demilitarized Zone**, a neutral territory where conflicts and devastation give way to luxury hotels and comfortable life.

## Demographics

Approximately 24,540,000 people live in Gazth-Sonika as of 2011.

## Culture

We do not know what the country was like before the push for modernization in 1999. However, when compared to real world countries, Gazth-Sonika can be described as a synthesis of southern and western Asian countries such as India, China, Vietnam, and Iran.

### Flag

The Flag of Gazth-Sonika is a red and green diagonal one. The green side bears a yellow (gold) crescent moon and arrow; the closed side of the crescent is on the raising side of the flag.

Red often stands for power, revolution, vibrancy, war (symbolic of bloodshed), courage, and domination; it can also be viewed as an alert of danger. Green is often a symbol for agricultural influence as well as prosperity and fertility, youthfulness and hope. The yellow crescent moon often symbolizes the Islamic faith of the state and authorities as is the case for Pakistan, the Maldives, and even Mauritania - though Islam isn't mentioned at all in the series. The arrow crossed with the crescent moon can mean the divine masculine and feminine coming together or a deep connection to nature.

## Gallery

The skyline of Daman.A book about the history of Gazth-Sonika as seen in Episode 18.An outpost of the Royal Army in the territory of Gazth-Sonika.The official website of Gazth-Sonika, as seen in episode 11.The flag of Gazth-Sonika as seen in Episode 18.The crescent moon and arrow (Episode 3)
## Notes & trivia

* The shape of Gazth-sonika looks similar to Madhya Pradesh, a state in central India.