Dargan

## Location

First Dargani Revolution: 1003 AC

Second Dargani Revolution: 1034 AC

The **Dargan Free Territory**, typically known as Dargan, is a small territory which borders Azelea to the east and Lantea to the west. Given the anarchist nature of Dargan, borders are entirely nonexistant in the regions where they are not strictly defined by neighbouring nations. The modern nation of Dargan was founded shortly before The Great War, in 1003, by the Iagua-backed overthrow of the Ahlgon Dynasty lead by General Diego Almahnos. Almahnos ruled the nation as a brutal dictator, ruthlessly silencing any dissent and opposition, until his overthrow in 1033 in the Second Dargani Revolution.

## Etymology

The word *Dargan* is originally derived from the first unifying state in the region, the *Taragan Kingdom*, which is named from the ancient Dargani word *Taragh*, which was used by ancient Darganis to refer to themselves. *Dargan* is an internationalized version of the Dargani word *Taragan*, the modern Dargani word for the region, and was largely created by foreign historians, writers and others who found pronouncing the native word difficult, and thus settled with a simpler version that more resembled their languages.

## Flag

The flag of Dargan is the symbol of the Dargani Autonomist Movement, the movement that played a large part in organizing and leading the Second Dargani Revolution which overthrew dictator Diego Almahnos and resulted in the creation of the Dargan Free Territory.

## History

### Early History

The earliest known traces of human civilization in the Dargan region are from around 3.500 BC, but human remains have been found in the region dating as far back as 200.000 BC. Several early city-states are known to have existed in the region from around 3.500 BC, until the late 500s BC, when various Kings begun to establish various kingdoms that interacted with eachother until 312 BC, when the Taragan Kingdom conquered the other Kingdoms, tribes and city-states. This year is widely accepted as the first unified state in the Dargan region.

### Dynastic Era

From 312 BC to 1003 AC, Dargan was ruled by a long line of royal dynasties, as well as several times when it collapsed into civil war. This era of Dargani history is known as the Dynastic Era. Dargan has had a total of 21 different dynasties ruling the region in the 1315-year period from 312 BC to 1003 AC, when the dynastic system ended with the overthrow of the *Ahlgon* Dynasty. In fact, revolution, civil unrest, and general questioning of authority has long been an part of Dargani culture, usually trace to the religious philosophy of Ahranism, which is widespread within Dargan. The Dynastic Era began in 312 BC, when the *Taragan* Kingdom ended the first Warring States Period by defeating all of the other kingdoms in the region and proclaiming the first unified Dargani nation, and ended in 1003 AC with the fall of the *Ahlgos* Dynasty to a coup d'etat by Iagua-backed Diego Almanhos, known as the First Dargan Revolution

### Dargan under Almanhos

Diego Almanhos started his reign with strong support from the people, having thrown the deeply corrupt and authoritarian *Ahlgos* Dynasty. This support, however, swiftly waned as Almanhos proved himself to be even more ruthlessly authoritarian than his predecessor, with brutal crackdowns on dissent, censorship, death squads, rampant use of torture and public executions, all in an effort to hold on to power for as long as he possibly could. He achieved this reasonably well, with the economic and military support of Iagua, the Almanhos regime held power for 31 years from 1003 to 1034, when the Napanee and Nasconya-backed Second Dargani Revolution, often called the People's Revolution, which ended when Almanhos was carried out of his office, hands tied, and thrown into the Argos city streets where he was subsequently beaten to death by revolutionaries and common citizens.

## Government

In 1040, 6 years after Diego Almanhos was overthrown in the Second Dargani Revolution, the Dargani Congress agreed to abolish the state and the private ownership of the means of production, replacing it with an Anarchist society where "the means of production [are] collectively and democratically controlled and managed by the producers (i.e the workers) themselves." to quote the Declaration of the Revolution.

### Industry and Economy

It is important to note before going in that the word "economy" is quite the misnomer when describing the Dargani system. Wage labour was abolished following the establishment of the Free Territory, and replaced with an egalitarian, collectivist system. The distribution of labour and resources is managed upon the principle of "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need." Citizens are given labour vouchers for working, which can be spent on acquiring miscellaneous products such as art, entertainment, or hobby-related items, i.e items that are not necessarily required for a person, but still hold value for some.

### Foreign Relations and the Workers Council

Despite not having a centralized government, the Dargan Free Territory *is* represented in the United Nations. Dargans representative in the UN comes from the Dargan International Worker's Council, which is a council consisting of a large number of elected citizens who discuss actions taken by the DIWC in the UN, as well as manage referendums regarding larger UN decisions. The Council also manages the education of the populace about things going on in the United Nations and international politics in general.

## Demographics

As of a 1035 census, the population of Dargan is approximately 41.000, and the current birth rate is about 2.6 (births per woman) and decreasing.

### Ethnicity and Religion

The population of Dargan is mainly composed of two ethnic groups: The Darganis, who make up about 84% of the population, and the Pahlanis who make up about 12%. An additional 3% is made of up Azeleans, and the last percent are various other ethnicities who are not native to the region. According to the same 1035 census cited earlier, around a quarter of Dargan's population identify as non-religious, 62% identify as following Ahranism, and the remaining 13% is divided up between various indigenous and foreign religions.

### Ahranism

Ahranism is a philosophical doctrine, originally a semi-theistic religion and usually described as such, that (broadly speaking) adovcates mutual respect, co-operation and assistance in times of need amongst fellow followers, rigourous anti-authoritarian, egalitarian and anti-tribalist values, and lastly the concept of "universal suffering", the concept that no suffering is ever individual, that as long as there is suffering anywhere, then no one is free from it. Ahranisms strong stance against tribalism and oppression and towards absolute egalitarianism is often cited as one of the main reasons for Dargan's long history of civil unrest, and why the region remains the record-holder for most governmental overthrows of any country. It is also one of the big reasons why Dargan became one of the earliest semi-democratic states in history.

Ahranism has its origins in the last years of the Second Warring States period with the Dargani scholar, politician and war veteran Ahran. Ahran realised, after having seen his nations tear itself apart and having seen the most horrible atrocities committed in the name of ideological, ethnic, and such differences, that the only way humanity would ever reach its full potential was to throw off such differences. Ahran constructed his philosophy on previous indegenous religions, but it quickly grew to become more of a philosophical doctrine than a religious one. A large sect of Ahranism, Theisitc Ahranism, believes in a single god-like being, the vast majority of Ahranists don't.

The reason why Ahranism is still often considered a religion, is because the Dargani language doesn't differentiate between religion and philosophy, as the largest religious movement that has existed since before the first millenium has also been a philosophical one. This is why defining Ahranism remains a controversial subject amongst scholars, some argue that, since there are sects that believe in god-like beings, it should be classified as a religion, while others argue that those sects are in the minority, and thus either don't represent what Ahranism actually is, or shouldn't even be considered Ahranism and in stead should be considered a religion of it's own, called Shariniism, after the Prophet Sharini, who is seen as the originator of modern Theistic Ahranism.