Eastern Enclaves

The **Eastern Enclaves** (Gauvajut: Kāzuweksilles; or EE) were several city-states that coalesced into a federal republic, mostly inhabited by people who were exiled from Gauvajut society for being "heretical". They later evolved into the **Little Gauvajut Empire** (Gappi Kawwajukriwattas; GK or LGE).

Its capitals were the cities of Tarnummina (Liberation City) and Gwanes Auzelan (Port Rainbow). During the LGE, Gwanes Auzelan became the royal capital.

## Flag

Once many of the Eastern Enclaves were united under a stronger government, its leaders designed their flag to resemble the war standard of its biggest benefactor, the Socialist Republic of Ardesch.

Black symbolizes those enclaves’ origins as chaotic fiefs and their negative association by the rest of Gauvajut society as “the servants of darkness and chaos”. The four bars represent simultaneous diversity and harmony united by their cooperation, or their national values: red symbolizes sacrifice; yellow for happiness and freedom, green for preservation and life, and blue for peace achieved from justice. The orange-yellow line symbolizes the border between them and the Gauvajut Empire, which is represented in purple.

## History

After the diplomat Pahhurkas was elected as Prime Minister of the Gauvajut Empire, one of his earliest acts involved creating several enclaves to isolate suspected “deviants” within his empire. Each enclave was permitted to do anything it pleases, as long as it did not involve waging war against their mother country or funding terrorist groups and their attacks against the empire. More enclaves were created in later years, as the empire became more wary of outsiders and their beliefs.

In their earlier years, they were like Ardesch and Darros decades ago, as a collection of city-states struggling with a lack of resources and/or violent clashes over competing beliefs. Most of them eventually coalesced into three leagues: the North Enclaves (with a fascistic government), the True Gauvajuts (who set up their own Emperor), and the Red Enclaves (with a leftist government), with many smaller fiefs between them.

Once an ideology was considered as "a serious threat to the Empire", the Gauvajut government would bombard its enclave, regard all of its adherents as enemies to be hunted down without mercy, and place any works glorifying their beliefs under heavy restrictions. Such ideologues in the list above who have become "threats" are crossed out, never to have their own enclaves again. This was the fate of many racialist and violent enclaves who waged war against the Gauvajut Empire or other enclaves: these states were forced to leave to avoid being slaughtered or enslaved.

Eventually, after the ensuing war, the Red Enclaves overran its two opponents and won over the smaller fiefs, whose fleeing supporters desperately committed terrorist attacks to escape to their homelands or out of their rage. The Red Enclaves were reorganised into a single federation to survive: although they once relied on Ardeschi aid, they stopped when they felt that Ardesch’s warmongering went too far.

The Eastern Enclaves were invaded by the armies of Red Ardesch, who sought to annex it into its authority as a forward base to wage war against the Gauvajut Empire. Appalled by the brutality of the Ardeschi armies, the Eastern Enclaves fought back and defeated the Ardeschi forces.

When Ardesch had fallen to Utopianist control and its people became into refugees, the Eastern Enclaves welcomed them with open arms, to the disgust of their Gauvajut brethren and the amusement of their neighbours. When the Utopianists retreated afterwards, the Eastern Enclaves sent many of the foreigners and their earned wealth back to their countries and to rebuild Ardesch as it recovers from a civil war. Some repented of their “heresies”, and many of its people and their lands were readmitted into the Gauvajut Empire.

The Eastern Enclaves were further weakened by an incursion of undead spirits, the result of several Red Ardeschi expeditions attempting to use sorcery to wage war on the Gauvajut realm. Several native states seceded from the EE, forcing the reorganised republic to coexist with the indigenous confederation.

### The Little Gauvajut Empire

Eventually, many of them were conquered by the coming of the cybernetic Grey Kings from the east, and enslaved by the Zonunja barbarians from the mountains. The few that survived formed a Little Gauvajut Empire of their own that turned out to be more liberal than its ancient predecessor. This civilisation was known for being ruled by two monarchs, usually a same-gender pair of kings or queens elected by the populace.

The native federation was another successor of the Enclaves, having withstood with Ice Ages and the Terran invasions.

The Little Gauvajut Empire was affected by the 3900 Pandemic, in which half of its people were killed by the virus. However, it was among the few nations to quickly emerge stronger from the pandemic. Its inhabitants built many memorials to mourn for the infected, and to replenish their numbers, the LGE utilised cloning for couples to have their own children. It was among the first nations whose people were affected by the Great Uplifting, so they enjoyed longer lives than their Hanzauttalli counterparts. Grateful for the improvement in their health, Kings Puwandar and Purashhai authorised several factories to produce the serum and manufacture it.

The LGE also fended off attacks from the Worker State's militants, although it was occupied from 4357 to 4372. Under Kleshan rule as a colony, the people of the LGE were forced to wage war against Hanzauttas, but it was largely stopped by the LGE's remnants in the north. The Kleshan area was also heavily-industrialised, and in place of their creativity the occupied people only made propaganda glorifying their rulers. Its people were also forced to manufacture weaponry and machines to the Kleshan army in its wars against the world until their liberation fifteen years later.

In 4645 16A, Laukimas and his friend Shakijos were elected as the kings of the Little Gauvajut Empire. Under their rule, the kingdom enjoys an artistic renaissance, and poverty declined.

Even though it was condemned as "heretical" for tolerating homosexuals and the like, it ended up becoming the Gauvajut Empire's last surviving remnant, before its eventual conquest and enslavement of most of its inhabitants into the First Vozonid Empire. Some of its survivors fled to more isolated islands, which carried over their former homeland's epithet of "the Lands of the Two Kings" or "the Lands of the Two Queens".

## Politics

The Eastern Enclaves were ruled by a President, who was elected from several candidates presented by the Enclaves Socialist Party. That president then ruled for only a single term of roughly five years, in line with the five-year programmes.

The Eastern Enclaves was ruled under a socialist party, and all other political parties were obliged to be subordinate in order to be legal. Its government's goal was to spread socialism to the Gauvajut Empire, before the rest of Jerde.

However, after the fall of Ardesch and the absorption of its refugees, the EE transitioned into a republic, and then into an elective monarchy as the Little Gauvajut Empire before its conquest by the Vozonids. New rulers were elected every five or ten years, and whoever the ruler considers as their partner ruled alongside them as their consort.

### Diplomacy

Officially, The EE preferred better relations with socialist countries and countries that were formerly oppressed or colonised by some empire, or who suffer from chronic poverty.

They do not like nations that practiced a monarchist, fascistic, or capitalist society, although they traded with them if they were not seen as threats.

The LGE was more diplomatic than its predecessor.

## List of rulers

### Eastern Enclaves

* 2014-2017 16A - Pikhamai of Parijowan Fief - a radicalised militant who sought to overthrow the Gauvajut Emperor, he was arrested after his defeat and exiled. He was overthrown by Kednari, who condemned his harsh methods.
* 2017-2021 16A - Kednari of Parijowan Republic. Throughout his rule, he fought against Pikhamai's militants. He founded the Red Enclaves as he sought to unify the region and stop the constant warfare between the exiles. Impressed by his skill, he appointed his general Parnawalli as his successor and served him.
* 2021-2026 16A - Parnawalli the Unifier - the first president of the Eastern Enclaves

### Little Gauvajut Empire

(K) - kings

(Q) - queens

* 4250-4255 16A - (K) Puwandar and Purashhai
* 4255-4260 16A - (K) Nininkas and Mūwaera
* 4260-4265 16A - (K) Luksanni and Laukimar
* 4645-4655 16A - (K) Laukimas and Shakijos

## Economy

The Eastern Enclaves' economy was a developing economy: it was neither crushingly poor, nor as rich and powerful as its Ardeschi ally or the communist empires of Tukshara and Slavonia. Its economy focused more on manufacturing, trade, and education -- sometimes by exporting socialist literature to be sold or given to other realms and smuggled into the Gauvajut Empire. Furthermore, the Eastern Enclaves' technology was at times a little more advanced than their Gauvajut counterparts, although their machinery appeared crude and improvised.

Although the Eastern Enclaves' constitution dedicated itself to socialism, private businesses were permitted to exist, but once a business becomes too large it gets taken over by the government. Aside from those and businesses under government control, many larger businesses tended to be "cooperatives", or group projects and teams managed by the workers involved.

Many official programmes by the EE's government were based on five-year cycles.

As a show of appreciation to its anarchist cadres and allies for defending its borders from its enemies and other terrorists, anarchist communes were given a high amount of autonomy. In those communes, all of their residents were required to swear an oath to their township or their gods to support their fellow members and not expect too much from others.

## Culture

There was a greater degree of creative and artistic freedom in the Eastern Enclaves than under Red Ardesch or the Gauvajut Empire, due to a lack of censorship.

Every year, at the Ishuwa Star Festival on January, the inhabitants of the Eastern Enclaves released flying lanterns as prayers for peace between themselves and the two empires of Kawwajutas and Red Ardesch.

The Eastern Enclaves was populated by exiles from the Gauvajut Empire, usually activists, dissidents, extremists, terrorists, and rebels. They were left to fend for themselves and fight each other until a single army dominated the enclaves.

Like Red Ardesch, the Eastern Enclaves declared that "all non-heterosexuals are national treasures", and when Red Ardesch became its enemy it made itself a refuge for all non-heterosexuals throughout the world. It also invited those who fled from Red Ardesch to become its citizens, resulting in a non-heterosexual majority. The most well-known example of this culture is the dual kings or queens who ruled the country. As much of the Little Gauvajut Empire's people were non-heterosexuals, they preferred such people as candidates as their next rulers.

Because many of the EE's people cannot reproduce, they created their own children by cloning them. Only couples were allowed to produce clones, and only as their own offspring.

## Religion

### Dāraitar

The variant of the Gauvajut religion practiced in the EE and the LGE was known by the Gauvajuts as "Dāraitar", the "way of the wandering spirits". The EE still considered their religion as a reformed version of "Siuwēitras", while the LGE called it "Shuppitras" (the holy path, the path of saints).

In their former homeland, the peoples of the Eastern Enclaves were feared as "deviants". The Gauvajuts avoided them, believing that after they die, they might become powerful wraiths who will attack any living person nearby out of anger against every slight in their lives. To prevent their transformation into wrathful ghosts, such people were given extra rites to "purify" their souls of their sins so they will become less dangerous. Some Gauvajuts go as far as protect them from assault and avoid causing physical harm to avoid angering them. They were also made healthier and were given immortality serums so they cannot die and become ghosts. The fear of ghosts and their association with Red Ardesch was also a contributing factor to them being forced to take the R-Pill and be assimilated into the rest of society.

Knowing this, the inhabitants of the Eastern Enclaves created their own tradition. According to them, their attraction was a decision by the goddesses of fate, instead of a curse from Illujankas the devil. The gods considered it as another form of beauty. Even though their souls could become powerful ghosts after they die, their spirits can avoid becoming destructive by living a good life: the gods will also transform them into heavenly saints. The Eastern Enclaves also venerated their deceased loved ones as guardian spirits and saints: if they could become powerful after their deaths, they can use their powers to protect the living from harm.

The veneration of the dead was promoted during the transition to the Little Gauvajut Empire, as the inhabitants sought to alter Gauvajut tradition to make it more supportive of themselves. Long after the Little Gauvajut Empire was defeated, modern inhabitants sometimes venerated the chellarcha and other LGE saints as spiritual guardians.

#### Mesa Ioralli (Ancestors' Month)

While the Gauvajuts and Vozonids observed Ghost Month on June with loud parades and bonfires, the Eastern Enclaves observed June as Ancestors' Month, honouring various heroes. They celebrated that month by kneeling before shrines and praying to their heroes, in quietness and contemplation: they believed that their invisible ancestors walk on the streets on that month.

According to Gauvajut custom, people at higher risk of spirit possession were supposed to wear two white bands on their arms: people with three bands were avoided by other people. The Eastern Enclaves' people also wore white bands, but only a single band to avoid attracting evil spirits. Almost everyone wore white bands on that month to celebrate their ancestors.

At the end of the month, their neighbours burn effigies and ghost-flags to celebrate the descent of the ghosts into the underworld. The Eastern Enclaves' people instead burn an effigy and play music to say goodbye to their ancestors.

#### Shuppeshan

The ritual used to purify a soul was known as shuppeshan, meaning "making one holy". It consisted of:

* Wearing white robes
* Kneeling down or sitting on the ground
* A priest sprinkling holy water mixed with petals on a person's head
* Washing one's hands, and then the face, from a bowl

The priest prays:

"*I give you over to Tarhunz, Lord of Thunder, King of the Gods.*

*By his nine bolts, I purify you of all of your sins, I clear your face before the Gods.*

*You shall use your gifts in life to improve the world for Tarhunz' glory.*

*After your passing, you will be there to keep your friends safe, as one of the stars in the sky.*

*Hail to Tarhunz. You are now clean as the rain, you are now safe under the Gods.*

*May Heaven, Earth, all spirits, and all the Gods, see that you are good. They love you as one of their own.*"

## Terminology

* Land of the Two Kings, Land of the Two Suns
	+ Named for the later rule of two kings or queens.
* Land of Saints
	+ Named for the belief that its people become powerful spirits after they die, and the gods refining them as defenders of the living.

## Trivia

* The Eastern Enclaves were inspired by various Western ideologies, usually leftist activists and media.
	+ For the resulting socialistic government that characterised its later existence, it was inspired by aspects of the Soviet Union; Yugoslavia and Titoism; the Sandinistas of Nicaragua; the People's Republic of China; LGBT social movements; and the American variant of social justice and democratic socialism popularised on news sites, Tumblr, and Twitter.
	+ For its separation from the Gauvajut Empire, it was also partly inspired by Hong Kong, and divided Korea and Vietnam.
	+ For the defeated ideologues, their fanaticism, and their violence; they were based on ISIS, other terrorist groups, and vitriol from Internet comments.
* The Enclaves also adopted the Ardeschi principle of "no more copyright", but to avoid embargoes and negative relations with other countries, it only applied to works from Ardesch, the Enclaves, and several other socialist countries with similar laws. Although it would benefit foreigners by allowing them to use those artistic works freely, that would also mean that they would be more easily exposed or influenced by the Enclaves' heresies.
	+ That also meant that Black Ardesch, a freewheeling republic of pirates to the east, became a closer friend of the Enclaves for its lack of copyright protections.
* In 2021, the author decided to add to the Gauvajut superstition against people of different orientations, in which their souls can avoid becoming ghosts by becoming powerful guardian spirits akin to angels.

### Why is it "peculiar"?

* The Enclaves were one of a few nations on Jerde where non-heterosexuals formed the majority and ruled the country.

## See also

* Successors:
	+ Siangwaan
	+ Josol
	+ Peren
	+ Varn Venn
	+ Vocersia
	+ Sronon
	+ Wohs Ers
	+ East Azgo
	+ Naiorai