Samara

**Samara** is an isola in the world of *Disco Elysium*.

## History

Samara was one of the many isolas that established contact with Mundi following the discovery of the Insulinde. It is located east of the central landmass.
The Wild Pines Group, as a royal monopoly company of Revachol the Suzerain, became the first to conduct trade between the two isolas. The company charted the newly found lands, and began exploitative trade relations that would develop into colonization.

During this time, the Safre Empire, which controlled most of the territories in Samara, became the target of a plan to create a captive market for the large amounts of cocaine Revachol was producing. The plan succeeded, leaving a large amount of the population addicted and in extreme poverty, relying on international aid even to the current day.

At an uncertain point in time, the Safre Empire collapsed, presumably splitting into the current regions of Safre and South Safre.
The Revacholian colonial holdings in Samara, which lasted until the Commune of Revachol, were concentrated in the Siigay archipelago. The province is commonly considered a backwater and unpleasant place to live, in part due to Revacholian colonialism. The name "Apricot Suzerainty", considered offensive, refers to how apricots were the primary colonial export of Siigay.

During the Antecentennial Revolution, the Hsin-Yao Commune was established, being the first manifestation of the revolution in Samara. Another state, the People's Republic of Samara, was founded as a socialist utopia after the collapse of the Mazovian government in Graad. While the Hsin-Yao Commune was extinguished in '06, Samara survived to '51.

Ever since the year '39, a proxy war between Safre and Graad has been ongoing. The conflict became infamous for the involvement of Private Military Contractors, who committed numerous war crimes and atrocities in the village of Co Hoi, in South Safre.

In the Samarskilt region, a small-scale civil war has been raging since '43, impeding tourism to Koko Nur.

Lo Manthang underwent a decade-long war for independence, with complex causes. After a meeting between the head of the Samaran delegation and the diplomat Charles Villedrouin, relations with the Moralist International were normalized.

The industrialized regions of South Safre, Hsin-Yao and Siigay are known for large chemical factories, which produce and export raw ingredients for medicine and drugs. A significant amount of these ingredients are delivered to Martinaise's Terminal B, then fed into the Dockworkers' Union drug trade.

In the Current Century, anti-government sentiment has become increasingly popular among the religious youth, who consider the Seraise government oppressive and too influenced by Occidental ways of life. One particularly notorious form of protest is self-immolation.

A number of nations in Samara are considered to be outside the Moralintern's sphere of influence.

## Geography

The primary nations on Samara appear to be Safre (once the Safre Empire and sometimes referred to as the Seraise Empire), South Safre, Samarskilt AR, the isle of Lo Manthang, and the People's Republic of Samara (SRV).

The Siigay archipelago is a province of Safre. Co Hoi is a village in South Safre. Hsin-Yao is located in Southeast Samara.

The Koko Nur desert is a specific area of the Samarskilt region, known for being very arid. In folklore and cryptozoology, it is said to be inhabited by the Giant of Koko Nur, a titanic luminous being, speculated to grow so large due to a gravity anomaly under the desert.

## Ecology

The Seraise Fern is a potted plant present in the Whirling-in-Rags. It is said to grow in both Safre and South Safre.

The Seraise Giant Hornet is the world's largest insect. It can kill forty honey bees a minute. A group of thirty can decimate an entire hive of 20.000 bees in less than four hours.

## Culture

In ancient times, Samaran tribes would carve boulders of rhodochrosite to represent their wealth, with the size of the boulder being proportional to that of the fortune.

Sam Bo or Samaran boxing is an eloquently violent set of one-on-one fighting moves practised to perfection. While Sambo incorporates a wide array of martial disciplines from archery to mounted combat, outside of Samara the term is used to refer to any fighting style that implies stealth, cleverness, and cool.

The isle of Lo Manthang originated a martial art known as Lo Manthang stick fighting. The practice has a great amount of cultural variations, based on what wood the stick is carved from, such as the sacred Mabolo tradition of the Hali people, who carve the sticks from butterfruit tree wood. Lo Manthang sticks are also used in a special technique for climbing battlements.

Goat milk butter is a staple food of Samara. The Samaran terrain makes it easier to raise goats than cows, and the local goat farmers produce high-quality meat and dairy staples that are one of the isola's primary exports. A sign advertising "Samaran Butter" is present in Martinaise, over the inlet canal.

The region of Safre Serai is said to be home to a creature known as the "burning rhino", a rhinoceros with the ability to set itself ablaze during nighttime. In truth, the creature is a hoax, and was fabricated by locals setting rhino cadavers on fire to scare tourists.

"Surrender to the Night" is the name of a traditional children's lullaby, passed down across generations. It is considered somewhat grim.

## Geography

### People's Republic of Samara

The **People's Republic of Samara** or **SRV** is a state founded as a "socialist utopia" by evacuees from the collapsing Mazovian government in Graad. Although the country is the only still surviving socialist state from the revolution, it is considered to have degenerated from its founding ideals. It has degenerated into a bureaucratic workers' state- in no small part due to the decades-long rule of President Sapormat 'Sport' Knezhinisky As an example, the SRV has been cooperating with various Moralintern initiatives, such as HUMANOX, sending humanitarian aid to Revachol.

Ignus Nilsen, from Vaasa and Kraz Mazov's most trusted lieutenant, helped establish the People's Republic of Samara circa '06. Nilsen is often cited as the second most important figure in the Antecentennial Revolution, following Kraz Mazov, and is called the "Evangelist of the Revolution" by admirers.

Nilsen is well known for both his war crimes and Nilsenist-Mazovianism. During the communists' retreat from Graad to **Samara**, he personally ordered up to 12,000 prisoners of war to be impaled on sharpened spruce trees in the Samaran backcountry. From then on, he was known as the "Apocalyptic Shrike" by his enemies. Nilsen also pioneered infra-materialism.

In '51, the SRV embarked on an ambitious public fitness initiative, devised by President Knezhinisky: Bear wrestling. Man-on-bear wrestling competition, one-on-one, five rounds or until incapacitation. The official line is that public support stands at 87%, youth obesity and alcoholism are down at 12% and 7% respectively.

### Safre

In the time of the Revacholian suzerainty, in the middle of the last century, Safre became the victim of a lucrative trade campaign. The suzerain introduced cocaine into the territory, creating an extremely valuable and captive market for an extremely addictive product. The widespread addiction caused productivity to plummet, and fully half of the former Safre Empire remains dependent on international aid in exchange for a steady supply of cheap produce, apricots.

The Antecentennial Revolution metastasized to Safre, the third great region hit by it. It was extinguished in '06. As of the present, Graad is engaged in the Tien-En conflict, a proxy war with Safre. It has been hot for 12 years, since '39, with atrocities piling up daily. Mostly committed by Graad. Co Hoi is a village that was the site of infamous war crimes and its name entered common parlance as a term for atrocities.

#### Hsin-Yao

**Hsin-Yao** is a region where a communist state formed, the Hsin-Yao Commune. During the Revolution, it provided military aid to communards across the isolas, most notably Revachol, where the Triangong 4-46 became a highly sought-after rifle, thanks to it being *reliably* bad and thus suitable for long-term use.

The Hsin-Yao Commune was a third metastasis of the World Revolution. The Commune supplied the communists in Revachol and Graad with military aid, particularly the mass-produced Triangong 4.46 sniper rifle. The official anthem of the Commune was "Boy with a Scythe / Golden Sun". The Commune was extinguished in '06, and largely forgotten.

#### Lo Manthang

Lo Manthang underwent a decade-long war for independence, with complex causes. After a meeting between the head of the Samaran delegation and the diplomat Charles Villedrouin, relations with the Moralist International were normalized.

The village of Co Hoi, the site of infamous war crimes during the proxy war between Graad and Safre, is located in Lo Manthang.

## References

1. ↑ MAP WALL - The ocean breaks apart into a tangle of cosines and azimuths, all pointing into pale nothingness. \*Mundi\* is the north azimuth; \*Graad\* is the northeast azimuth; \*Samara\* is the east azimuth; \*Seol\* is the west azimuth. \*Isolas\*, they're called.
2. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "They started as an exploration and cargo fleet conducting trade between the Samaran and Insulindian isolas -- 250 years ago, when Pines' ships explored the South-Semenese and charted Lo Manthang on behalf of the suzerain."
3. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - As a matter of historical fact, this is almost \*exactly\* what happened in Safre. To this day, fully half of the former Safre Empire remains dependant on international aid in exchange for a steady supply of cheap produce.
4. ↑ RHETORIC - \*Apricot Suzerainty\* calls to mind an era when the Siigay archipelago was colonized by Revachol. It's a bit of a slur, in other words.
5. ↑ See respective articles.
6. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Co Hoi, a village that was the site of infamous war crimes in the South Safre conflict, the ongoing proxy war between Graad and Safre. It has been hot for 12 years, with atrocities piling up daily. Mostly committed by Graad.
7. ↑ MORELL, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST - "I haven't had a chance to travel to \*Koko Nur\*, no. And I likely never will. The Samarskilt desert region has been embroiled in a small civil war for the last eight years."
8. ↑ SUNDAY FRIEND - "I got it from the head of the Samaran delegation on my trip to Lo-Manthang. It's made from a \*special\* charcoal-coloured bamboo. It's an emblem of the formal normalization of our diplomatic relations."
RHETORIC - He's alluding to the decade-long war of independence while deftly brushing aside the \*complex\* causes behind the conflict.
9. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "A lot of it," she nods. "It comes in from large Samaran factories. In South Safre, Siigay and Hsin-Yao. The literage they must get from this terminal alone must be \*oceanic\*."
10. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Young religious people protesting the Seraise government, which they consider to be oppressive. It's also got something to do with the encroaching Occidental influences on the local way of life. You have to \*not\* like a lot of things to set yourself on fire.
11. ↑ COALITION WARSHIP ARCHER - "No, of course not. There are many nations outside the Moralintern's umbrella, in Seol, Samara, and elsewhere. At most you might say the Moralintern represents between a quarter and a third of humanity."
12. ↑ SIILENG - "Very sharp, officer. I'm Seraise, from the Siigay province of the Seraise Empire. The 'Apricot Suzerainty', you know?"
13. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Southeast Samaran-made. Exotic. Must be defunct too. No modern rifle manufacturer of that name springs to mind.
14. ↑ LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "The Giant lives in the most arid parts of the vast Koko Nur desert, in South Samara, casting a strange light across the barren wastes."
15. ↑ LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "There are limits, you see, to how large a metabolism an ecosystem can beget. Some say a gravity anomaly below the Koko Nur desert might allow the creature to grow to these \*gargantuan\* sizes."
16. ↑ KIM KITSURAGI - "I can see that. The potted plant under the table is a Seraise Fern. They have those in South Safre too. All things considered..." He looks around, as if to check.
17. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - The Seraise Giant Hornet, the world's second largest insect, can kill forty honey bees a minute while a group of 30 can decimate an entire hive of 20,000 bees in less than four hours.
18. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - The ancient Samaran tribes used carved rhodochrosite to represent their wealth. The bigger the boulder, the more money they had. In case you needed to know.<nowiki>
19. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - By the way, Sam Bo or Samaran boxing is an eloquently violent set of one-on-one fighting moves originating from the Samaran isola. Sam Bo used to incorporate a wide array of martial disciplines from archery to mounted combat, but mainly means aesthetically pleasing single combat nowadays. \*Sam Bo style\* implies stealth, cleverness, and cool.
20. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Lo Manthang stick fighting is a form of martial arts originating from the isle of Lo Manthang. It uses slender wooden sticks for confronting the opponent.
21. ↑ TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Actually, a great many cultures have their own version of stick fighting, such as the sacred Mabolo tradition of the Hali people, the name deriving from the butterfruit tree traditionally used for crafting the long, slender sticks -- whereas the sticks used in other cultures..."
22. ↑ TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "How to climb that ladder, you say?" He turns around, eyeing the bleak metal bars next to the giant mural. "I do know that the Lomanthangs used \*sticks\* to climb battlements, there's even a special technique for that."
23. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Goat milk butter. The Samaran terrain makes it easier to raise goats than cows, and the local goat farmers produce high-quality meat and dairy staples that add variety to other nations' diets.
24. ↑ GARY, THE CRYPTOFASCIST - "A rhinoceros that looks ordinary during the day, but burns brightly by night. Well, at least the males do."
25. ↑ MORELL, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST - "Did he?" He lowers his voice. "That one's a hoax. Some Seraise rice farmers set fire to rhinoceros cadavers and used them scare tourists."
26. ↑ WASHERWOMAN - "A lullaby my mother used to sing. I sang it to my kids too. It's an old Samaran children's song."
YOU - "What's it called?"
WASHERWOMAN - "'Surrender to the Night'," she replies, slowly rocking back and forth.
27. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - The SRV refers to the People's Republic of Samara. Established as a socialist utopia by survivors of the Revolution, it has since degenerated into a bureaucratic workers' state under the decades-long rule of President Sapormat 'Sport' Knezhinisky.
28. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - When Vaasan communist revolutionary Ignus Nilsen was in hiding, he stayed in a hut on the boreal plateau for ten months.
29. ↑ YOU - "I know who Kraz Mazov is, but who is this 'Ignus Nilsen' guy?"
STEBAN, THE STUDENT COMMUNIST - "Only Kraz Mazov's most trusted lieutenant, the Evangelist of the Revolution, and the founding father of the People's Republic of Samara."
STEBAN, THE STUDENT COMMUNIST - "He \*also\* happens to be the greatest communist theorist after Mazov himself. It was Nilsen who first postulated the existence of ideological plasm, which forms the basis of infra-materialist theory."
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM - Known to his numerous admirers as the 'Evangelist of the Revolution' and to his even-more-numerous enemies as the 'Apocalyptic Shrike', Ignus Nilsen remains one of the most controversial and fascinating figures to emerge in the years of the Antecentennial Revolution, second only to Kras Mazov himself.
A BRIEF LOOK AT INFRA-MATERIALISM - During his unparalleled life, he helped guide a revolution in one country and found a new state in another. Along the way, he committed some of the most notorious war crimes in an era famed for its atrocities.
31. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Oh, right. During the disastrous retreat from Graad to Samara, Nilsen personally ordered up to 12,000 prisoners of war impaled on sharpened spruce trees in the Samaran backcountry. Thereafter his opponents began referring to him as the 'Apocalyptic Shrike'.
ENCYCLOPEDIA - Today, Nilsen's reputation has waned in most parts of the developed world, with the exception of the People's Republic of Samara (SRV), where he is recognized as a founding father. His political philosophy is a variant of Mazovianism called Nilsenist-Mazovianism.
SUZERAINTY: THE BOARD GAME – You draw a new contract card. According to the text, there's an aristocrat willing to trade a large supply of cocaine for a number of coins and access to a rare bonus: amplified music, worth \*seven victory points\*...

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] – You know, this isn't \*unlike\* the situation the historical Revacholian suzerainty faced in Safre in the middle of the last century...

YOU – Tell me more.

ENCYCLOPEDIA – Well, the suzerain was looking for new markets for all the cocaine it was producing, and it settled on Safre...

ENCYCLOPEDIA – By introducing cocaine into Safre under exclusive contract, the suzerain created an extremely valuable captive market for an extremely \*addictive\* product.
SUZERAINTY: THE BOARD GAME – With each passing turn you slowly bleed the lieutenant of coins as his own workers become less productive and more dependent on your magenta cocaine tokens.

ENCYCLOPEDIA – As a matter of historical fact, this is almost \*exactly\* what happened in Safre. To this day, fully half of the former Safre Empire remains dependant on international aid in exchange for a steady supply of cheap produce.
34. ↑ THE DESERTER - "It's actually quite light. It was sent to us by our brothers in the Hsin-Yao Commune. Military aid." He pats the rifle.
35. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - In Hsin-Yao they sang "Boy with a Scythe / Golden Sun."
36. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - He's right. Almost no one remembers there was a third metastasis of the World Revolution, in the Safre Empire, extinguished in '06.
SUNDAY FRIEND – "I got it from the head of the Samaran delegation on my trip to Lo-Manthang. It's made from a \*special\* charcoal-coloured bamboo. It's an emblem of the formal normalization of our diplomatic relations."

RHETORIC – He's alluding to the decade-long war of independence while deftly brushing aside the \*complex\* causes behind the conflict.
ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Success] – Co Hoi, a village that was the site of infamous war crimes in the South Safre conflict, the ongoing proxy war between Graad and Safre. It has been hot for 12 years, with atrocities piling up daily. Mostly committed by Graad.
ENCYCLOPEDIA – Self-immolation has been all the rage in Lo Manthang for a while now, especially among university students. It is particularly popular in Co Hoi, where such acts get the most press.