United Khalsa Republic (5.9)

The **United Khalsa Republic** is a state centred on the Isle of Chiltern in South-central England. A Sikh theocracy, the United Khlasa Republic is modeled on the instituions of the 18th and 19th century Sikh Empire. However, less than 10% of the Republic's population is of South Asian descent, with the plurality of the population being recent converts to Sikhism and their descendants.

## Demographics

### Ethnic Groups

White Sikhs, Brown Sikhs, Black Sikhs, English Non-Sikh, Indian Non-Sikh

### Major Religions

Sikhism, Anglicanism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam

### History

#### The Wycombe Gurdwara

The **Wycombe Gurdwara** was establish in 2025 in the town of High Wycombe in the Chiltern Hills. Taking over an old manor house and the associated estate, the Wycombe Gurdwara served as a place of worship for those few Sikhs that lived in the Chiltern Hills, but more importantly became a site for spiritual country retreats for the Sikhs of Greater London.

In 2032, shortly after it was clear that sea levels were beginning to rise, a number of Gurdwaras in London began collecting funds to turn the Wycombe Gurdwara into a 'Sikh Sanctuary'. While food prices were already rising, connections between London's Sikhs and a number of importers allowed the Wycombe Gurdwara to stockpile large amounts of dry rice and beans in the cellar of the old manor house. The estate attached to the house was turned into a vegetable garden and tents would be purchased to feed the refugees that were already starting to arrive from low-lying areas.

By mid-2033, the Gurdwara estate was already home to thousands of refugees from lower-lying areas; by 2035 it housed near ten thousand. As knowledge of the Gurdwara's food stockpiles began to spread, raids on the Gurdwara became more and more common. The Sikhs resident there began honing their martial skills in order to defend their stockpile, reviving centuries-old Khalsa traditions, while adapting them to the new battlefield. The Khalsa Guard founded on the 2130s would later become the nucleus of the New Khalsa Dal.

The tradition of *Langar -* of serving free meals to the community at large - would become incredibly important in the chaos of the 2030s. Much of the refugee population which now inhabited the Chiltern Hills was perennially hungry, and thousands lined up every week to enter the Gurdwara and eat with the Sikhs. While *Langar* was not supposed to be an opportunity for prosthelytism, those who came for the weekly meal were welcome to stay in the Sikh Sanctuary for longer *if* they converted. Many refugees would take the Sikhs up on this opportunity, and the community would begin to grow.

### New Amritsar

By the late 2030s, the Sikh Sanctuary was already starting to outgrow the Gurdwara estate. The original food stockpile had been used up much earlier, but a partnership had been struck with local farmers that the Khalsa Guard would protect them from raiders in exchange for most of their harvest. Soon, the Wycombe Gurdwara became the centre of a farming community, a place where crops could be grown within the protection of the Khalsa Guard. While other communities turned to infighting as their food supplies ran low, the religious mission of the Sikh Santuary kept the community united. If there wasn't enough food, everything would be rationed until the next harvest.

The flood had divided the former town of High Wycombe into three parts, with the valley that had been the centre of the town now becoming an inlet. The Wycombe Gurdwara lay on the Eastern side of the inlet, and in 2042 this eastern promontory would be incorporated as the City of New Amritsar. The town of North Wycombe on the North side of the inlet had been devastated by fighting over food and land in the 2030s. However, on the South side of the inlet lay South Wycombe, a town that had fallen under the sway of a white supremacist militia known as the Wycombe Defenders.

The 2040s would be a time of warfare between the Khalsa Guard and the Wycombe Defenders. While neither side had the logistical capacity to mount a convential military campaign, the two paramilitaries would fight over what farmland remained in the vicinity. Both sides would construct a series of forts with which to defend the farmlands under their protection from raids by the other side, and successful raids would be followed up by counter-raids which sometimes resulted in pitched battles. The climax of the Wycombe War would be the 2049 Battle of Bledlow Ridge, whereby a sneak attack on a number of Wycombe Defender forts would result in the Khalsa Guard coming into control of the Wycombe Isthums, and containing the Wycombe Defenders to the Western end of the Isle of Chiltern. By the end of 2050, South Wycombe was under the control of the Khalsa Guard, and what was left of the Wycombe Defenders had fled by sea.

The City of New Amritsar would be the Sikh's first experiment with secular democracy. While the Khalsa Guard and the Wycombe Gurdwara would remain Sikh-only organizations, the municipal government itself would be elected by the city's population at large. While the population of the city would be majority Sikh (with the majority of those being recent converts) by 2050, a number of non-Sikhs would serve as mayors and city councillors in the early history of New Amritsar. While Sikhism was the norm in the city, freedom of religion was ruthlessly upheld.

### Building New Gurdwaras

The 2050s and 2060s were a time of relative peace in New Amritsar. There were no *local* enemies strong enough to challenge the Khalsa Guard's domination of Western Chiltern, and, finally, for the first time since the flood, the raids stopped. The local area was finally able to grow more than enough food to feed its residents, and food exports allowed New Amritsar to start to import supplies in order to begin to rebuild.

It was during this time that the Sikhs of New Amritsar began to look beyond their borders. Smaller communities of Sikhs existed in the surrounding areas. The town of Hemel Hempstead, known today simply as 'Hemel', was home to a few families of refugees who petitioned the Sikhs of New Amritsar to fund the establishment of a new Gurdwara there. In the Oxford Archipeleago, the existing community of Sikh academics began to encourage the establishment of diplomatic relations between the New Oxford University and the Khalsa Guard. While the New Oxford University was rich in technology not available elsewhere, their military abilities were limited by their non-hierarchical culture, and they needed protection against raiders.

However, the most important ties forged by New Amritsar during this time was those with the Sikhs of the London Archipeleago. The few hills of London which poked above the waterline, together with those skyscrapers which had not yet collapsed, had become attractive for scavengers. Like the gold rushes of centuries past, the lure of riches below the surface of the water led many to criminal and violent behaviour. By the 2060s, the London Archipeleago was home to a network of gangs and other criminal elements competing for access to the ruins. Among this gangs was a group of Sikhs known as the 'Bloody Singhs', who were soon contacted by the Sikhs of New Amritsar. The 'Bloody Singhs' were not particularly religious, but they were willing to protect a new Gurdwara to be built in the London Archipeleago in exchange for food from the Chiltern farms.

Soon, New Amritsar was the centre of a network of Gurdwaras spreading from Oxford to Hemel to London. These Gurdwaras would continue the policies pioneered by the Chiltern Gurdwaras. They would maintain a stockpile of food and open their doors weekly to the general population, using the availablility of free meals to entice conversion to Sikhism. Each Gurdwara would recruit a Khalsa Guard of young Khalsa Sikhs willing to defend the Gurdwara from raiders, and each would extend the protection of its Khalsa Guard to the Gurdwara's neighbours in exchange for donations of money and goods.

In the London Archipeleago, as rumours of the London Gurdwara's

The New Khalsa Dal