Keshong

The **Democratic Republic of Keshong**, commonly known as **Keshong**, is a country in Central Persadia. It is the only nuclear-armed state in Persadia. Keshong is bordered to its west by Lueng, to its southeast by Zhumbe, and to its northeast by Kalunda. With a population of 190 million, Keshong is the most populous Aeduophone country in the world. The national capital is Lkusha. The country's largest city and economic center is Kananga. The country consists of 10 provinces, two autonomous regions, and five municipalities.

## Democratic Republic of Keshong

### Government

Unitary dominant-party consultative socialist republic under a Manatovist dictatorship

* Chairman: Ngyusa Manatova
* Prime Minister: Ngakasa Nesebueme
* President of the KPC: Ali-Tashasa Rasuba
* President of the CPC: Inga Kelita

### Internet TLD

.ke

The DRK is projected to complete the Grand Kesh Hydropower Station in 1991. With the completion of the project, the country will be an overnight hydroelectric power, able to provide power to itself and its allies once operational. The country has the highest number of military (active and reserve) or paramilitary personnel at 5 million people. The DRK is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, G44, the Persadian Union, and the Central Persadian Regional Forum. Relations have almost entirely soured with western countries due to its nuclear program. It maintains very close ties with Skufya, Lueng, and Zhumbe; the DRK has two border disputes with Kalunda.

## Brief history

Centered on the Keshong Basin, the territory of the DRK was first inhabited by Persadian Foragers around 90,000 years ago and most of it was reached by the Mbang Expansion, which started in Central Keshong 5,000 years ago. In the west, the Kingdom of Keshong ruled around the mouth of the Kesh River from the 14th to 18th centuries and again briefly in the 19th century. In the northeast, the Ugadesha Sultanate expanded into what is now northeast Keshong starting from 1679, laying the foundations for the Mirangut Empire’s formation in 1747.

Aeduai aristocrat, *Sirian of the Kesh,* formally acquired rights to the Kesh and established the Principality of the Kesh with the assistance of the Aeduai Empire and the Anglo Empire in 1834. He was known for his brutality against the local population, enslaving them by use of the Public Force and slaughtering thousands. After his assassination at the hands of the Kesh Revolutionary Society, his son, Prince Liam, took power. While the institution of slavery was massively downsized, Liam mostly did nothing to stop the system of brutality founded by his father. His reign saw some industrialization in Kesh’s urban centers. Following the Skufyan Revolution in 1890, several major Kesh nationalist partisans united to form the Federalist Movement in 1892. This resulted in an underground resistance movement, which maintained steady, silent growth. Prince Liam was sacked by Generalissimo Nikodem, a powerful Tsarkan-born former member of Liam’s close circle. The sizeable minority of Tsarkan-descended upper-class population was his core supporter base, in addition to around half of other settlers of Amiloran descent. In 1902, Nikodem made some concessions to certain militants, offering them unofficial support as warlords in return for crushing native resistance. government lasted a little under a year before it collapsed under pressure from Maranguese separatists and Karig hordes.

While the Karigs occupied swarths of Central Persadia, the Federalists splintered into two factions: the Democrats and the Nationalists. The Democrats filled the majority of the political vacuum left by the collapse. The Maranguese allied with the Karigs in 1904 to support their land grabs in eastern Keshong. From 1905 to 1916, the Karigs collaborated with Hishu extremists, carrying out ethnic cleansing across occupied territory in central and eastern Keshong with the indirect support of the Maranguese. These extermination campaigns coupled with the sheer magnitude of violence in the country saw hundreds of tribes completely exterminated and hundreds more displaced by 1916. Many tribes in the Kesh Rainforest were left untouched. An estimated 4 to 9 million people died as a result of the Kesh Genocide. In 1917, the Democrats negotiated with the Aeduain Empire on behalf of the entirety of Keshong, resulting in the Senuloî Compromise. The terms of the Senuloî Compromise dictated the forced removal of Nikodem as the recognized owner of Keshong, instead recognizing and backing a newly formed **Kesh Republic**. The Democrats and Nationalists formed political parties and imposed a two-party representative system while uniting their armed forces into the Kesh Defense Force to better combat the invaders, who were finally defeated in 1922 with the cooperation of the Kalundi and the Aeduai. The rift between Keshong and Kalunda became apparent in late 1922, when both countries began accusing each other of occupying the others' territory. This led to the Kesho-Kalundi War, during which the Kalundi suffered major losses and the Kesh won a decisive victory in securing the Tuaisceart-Mbiku Territory. Kalunda refused to negotiate with Keshong on the Marangha Territory as a result, deciding instead to eventually integrate it in 1939. The Kesh Republic's industrialization process steamed ahead after the war, resulting in a growing working class across urban centers of the country. The Democrats dominated electoral politics for the first two five-year terms after the 1924 Election. As for the Nationalists: they were relegated to the position of an opposition party, resulting in the prominence of militant elements on the ground. These very elements formed the National Liberation Army in 1925, which maintained high support throughout the countryside of Central and Eastern Keshong even during the era of political domination by the Democrats. Ngabem's administration was behind this period of political domination from 1924 to 1934, using his private security force to intimidate opponents during his second term and going on to entitle himself the "King of the Kesh" in 1936. He was overthrown in 1937 by the Provisional Military Administrative Council, the vast majority of which was composed of members of the Nationalist Party. From 1937 to 1939, warlords across the country either began demanding increased autonomy or took procedures to become functionally independent. In 1935, the Communist Party of Keshong was formed by members of the National Liberation Army. Conflict between warlords throughout eastern Keshong resulted in the beginning of the Keshong Crisis in 1939. The military made a temporary alliance with the NLA to crush the influence of warlords, allowing the NLA to recruit tens of thousands of fighters as they continued to occupy territory in their struggle against the Islamic Movement of Kashaba.

After the struggle against the warlords was completed in 1943, the Provisional Military Administrative Council was dissolved in favor of the **National Republic of Keshong** with Adamo Murushingo as its president. While the NLA initially had advocated for political negotiations with the PMAC in order to bring an end to the Keshong Crisis, Jurere Manatova (then leader of the NLA) called all negotiations off following the declaration of the Second Republic, stating that "the tyrants have no intention of negotiating with the people". In 1944, the NLA ramped up its guerilla campaign, moving to capture several strategic locations in preparation for the capture of Chibonga. The struggle against government forces continued throughout the 40s and early 50s until the Kesh Revolution in 1953, which deposed Murushingo. After about two years of constant political struggle, Manatova came out on top as the leader of the Kesh Revolution and proclaimed the **Democratic Republic of Keshong** in 1955 after the NLA had successfully captured Lkusha. A referendum in 1956 allowed the CPK to become the ruling party of the Third Republic, while opposition parties rejected the referendum. As a result, three parties within the NLA were banned entirely, while the other 11 parties agreed to become permanent members of the Consultative Democratic Political Conference.

The newly consolidated DRK found itself in something of a post-war crisis. Much of its industry had been destroyed, while the country managed to salvage some. Entire cities were reduced to rubble. In order to remedy the situation, the leadership sought to expand Keshong’s diplomatic horizons. In 1957, Manatova paid a week-long visit to Soviet leader Malinov in Stanimir. The two agreed to sign the Kesh-Skufyan Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, & Mutual Assistance, also establishing embassies in their respective capitals. The treaty, which is still in place, provides Keshong with security guarantees that have mostly discouraged foreign powers from intervening in Keshong over the years. Due to this treaty, Keshong and Skufya regularly exchange technology, information, equipment, foodstuffs, raw materials, and intelligence, sometimes with no cost to the other. After the Skufya visit, Manatova briefly met with several Amiloran leaders in Stalurodzony, managing to convince the Tsarkan Empire and several other Amiloran nations to recognize the DRK.

In the 1960s, the government consolidated its popularity among the peasantry through land reform, which included the execution of up to 70,000 tribal chiefs and landlords on charges of treason and corruption. In their place, state-sponsored communes sprung up across the country. The First Five-Year Plan was launched in 1963, during which hundreds of large industrial projects had begun. Manatova instituted “state capitalism” for the purpose of accelerated development, which led to the formation of several state-owned enterprises across the country. In 1966, the government emphasized its land reform initiative, reenforcing agricultural collectivization with the armed forces for a two-year period before once again discluding them from the process by the end of the economic plan. Manatova stressed that modernization was the key to unlocking Keshong’s full potential, pushing to abolish ‘barbaric’ practices such as child conscription, arranged marriage (outside of autonomous regions), tribal conflict, and slavery. In order to carry out large-scale construction and irrigation projects, the government relied heavily on forced labor from the national prison system. Work camps also played a major role in guaranteeing that light industry remained somewhat afloat while the government pushed for heavy industrialization.

The First Five-Year Plan was completed in 1968. Steel production and rare earth mineral refinery in general had increased sixfold as a result. Still, the country lacked sufficient information technology to continue economic planning. The Skufyans began a program in the country to oversee the construction of two computer factories. During the 1970s, the DRK began doing business with select firms from western countries, allowing them to supply commodities to urban facilities until around 1976. That year, the Second Five-Year Plan was launched, which focused on the consolidation of land reform, the flow of capital through the increasingly industrialized economy, and the completion of a dam in the Kesh River.

The Second Five-Year Plan was completed in 1981. The Third Five-Year Plan was scheduled for 1982, but was put on halt due to “environmental issues”. From 1982 to 1984, Manatova stressed the importance of the newly imposed recycling system, pushing the CPK to mobilize in favor of proper waste management. His administration founded the Center for the Preservation of National Ecosystems which is tasked with maintaining the aquatic and above-ground ecosystem by use of biological engineering. In 1983 the CPNE issued a joint public statement with the Center for Scientific Innovation calling for the construction of the Grand Kesh Hydropower Station, starting from the recently constructed Itbung Dam I. Manatova approved of the plan, and the construction of the GKHS was well underway by 1984. The rest of the 80s was dedicated to the construction of the GKHS, which along with the Third Five-Year Plan (1985-1990), saw the construction of two nuclear power plants in Lkusha and Kashaba. The plan also served to expand the country’s military and improve Kesh living standards by making adjustments to civilian infrastructure and work culture. In 1978, Keshong conducted its first nuclear tests. Several Skufyan engineers employed by Keshong had begun assistance to the Kesh nuclear program by 1979 and the DRK managed to detonate its first hydrogen bomb in 1980 on its 25th anniversary. From 1986 to 1990, the DRK tested four hydrogen bombs, which was used to justify its isolation from western countries.

## Etymology

Keshong is named after the Kesh River, which flows throughout the country. The Kesh River is the world's deepest river and the world's second largest river by discharge. The word "Kesh" comes from the Simbasi word for God, most commonly used by those of the Retmong faith.