[NATIONSTATES] the "Danger Zone" of Saeguerra

[Gaby]

(this post is approved by @Lord_Sinclair )
the red triangle is the territory I am claiming. the mass surrounding it is the historical territory of the now-fallen Saeguerra Empire.
for anyone who wasn't aware, my nation arose from a successful coup against the previous government, an oppressive empire that colonized multiple native peoples. the Sammaria lay waste to the capital city of this empire, and the rest quickly fell into scattered city-states and overall anarchy.

what this means is, for those attempting to lay claim to this territory, they are laying claim to an area with established lore, and most likely the territory is either A) ruled by a crime lord, B) ruled by a lowly governor trying to maintain peace wild-west style, C) fallen into utter chaotic anarchy.

of course, it also means I'm gonna wanna talk to anyone who tries to claim that territory, because fun rp!

@Sir Andrew Wallins @Exosferik @Ray1333

your nations have been expanding close to the borders of the old empire of Saeguerra, the empire described in the above quote.

I'm gonna wanna talk to anyone who tries to claim that territory

guess what this thread is about : P

So because of the lore I specifically placed in that surrounding area, I would like to take the time to tell you about the sort of land you'd be settling in if you ever crossed into Saeguerra. Note, I haven't quite had the time to flesh everything out in detail, so for a lot of "tangential" Sammaru lore (as in, not directly related to how they manage to function with no government and rampant crime), I resorted to narrative shortcuts and broad inspiration for much of it. So if the following looks rather rough...

thats cause it is.

Geography: the whole land appears to be on the wrong side of a rain shadow. I imagine most of the land to be either sweeping prairies or outright desert, with relatively sloping, even land. if my memory of the American West and Australia serves me right, this sort of environment is particularly hostile to settlers, and prone to freak natural disasters. I honestly wouldn't be able to give you as much information as one of the people more versed in geography and related subjects would, but thats my approximate estimation. however, that's not the big issue with claiming portions of Saeguerra.

History: lemme copy from Sammaru's thread.

the many tribes of the region were subjugated long ago by the Saeguerra Empire, which was generally too authoritarian. their biggest mistake was their racial policy, placing the 30 or so ethnic groups into dirty slums, then making it so upward mobility from those slums was nigh-impossible. predictably, the downtrodden peoples, desperate to improve their standing, would turn to crime and smuggling, often violent crime. when police forces would inevitably come in to uphold the law and keep the peace, altercations would turn violent. oftentimes, said police found it much easier to racially profile miscreants rather than waste time worrying if someone was suspicious or not. very quickly, there came to be a great distrust of the police force, which was soon perceived as a tool of oppression. criminals became organized, forming gangs with the intention of forming solidarity between groups and to better help fellow blood brothers escape enforcers. while some groups were concerned only with money by any means necessary, there came to be many groups that were more socially aware, and realized the need for community outreach, to be a force of justice, real justice. many of these gangs fought each other violently, forming many turf wars. this strife would reach a head when the 45ers, a gang of petty thieves, were rooted out, arrested, and executed publicly by firing squad.
a group of the five largest gangs, realizing these turf wars were merely distracting from the real enemy. they arranged a meeting, with the leaders of each chapter of these five groups. upon that meeting, they made an agreement, forming a system mutually beneficial for all outlaw organizations that adopted it. this system was formally written, and called the "Ley das Ruas." as other gangs began to adopt the Ley das Ruas, this unification would begin to make them a more powerful, more dangerous force. this came about during a time of great protest, when the government was particularly corrupt and the people didn't like it. while the Ley das Ruas stoked the flames of revolution, a poorly-timed budgeting decision placed severe cuts on the police and military departments.
the capitol burned down from the flames of molotovs, and the government was swiftly deposed in bloody civil war. the victorious criminal outlaws thusly became the law.

to put the lore of the Old Empire into bullet points (and flesh out some more stuff):

- founded by an Imperali regime, who originated from Some Other Place
- authoritarian policy
- lowkey racism pushed native ethnic groups into poverty
- being authoritarian, it had a militaristic bent, propagandized its cause to hell and back, and tried not to encourage education
- liked the death penalty
- got deposed with incredible prejudice when a group of five gangs became the rebel alliance.

basically, the emperor was a lot like this guy:

So now that that's settled out,

People:

this is where the big meat of the issue is. the capital of Saeguerra was Sammaru itself (Yep. Sammaru is technically a really big city-state. The "Kado-Kintu" of "Kado-Kintu Sammaru" probably means something like "anarchic state" or "free people" in some other language), and when that capital got overrun and the emperor killed, the whole of the empire was essentially like a chicken with its head cut off.

as in, it's still running. just running in circles.
thus, all these territories of Saeguerra are individually governed, if governed at all, and they might not be ruled by governors. the whole of the land has fallen into anarchy, and not the relatively safe anarchy of Sammaru. while our street gangs over in the big capital are required by an all-encompassing treaty to patrol and protect their own streets, the ruffians in the rest of the old empire are free to do whatever they want, so long as they have more firepower than the other guy.

yes, you heard me right. the anarchic gang-ruled state of Sammaru is actually safer than its surrounding territory. the sort of crazy that goes on in these now-isolated territories makes one wish for pogleya. you'd almost wish for total facism, but then you might run into some governor or (more likely) officer of the old empire's army, who's decided to rule his territory with an iron fist.

so it's something in-between a post-apocalyptic earth and the wild west. no, there's no zombies, unless you count the drug-addled folk. which probably exist around there in some manner.

Cultures + Languages:

I will be honest, I haven't spent much time to develop the culture of the numerous ethnic groups beyond their real-world inspirations. whoops.
in any case, you'll find my really sparse info on that down by the Sammaru thread.

Vestiges of Saeguerra:

I described it in better detail here, but the broad gist of it is that Saeguerra's military had, nearing the very end of the bloody battle, opted to flee the burning capital of Sammaru, letting the gangs take over temporarily, while biding their time in the numerous military bases scattered around the old empire, waiting for a moment when the gangs inevitably fail to get their new "nation" in working order, and fall weak enough for the military to retake Sammaru and reinstate the empire.

However, the fires of revolution spread out, from the smoking ruins of Sammaru, the capital city turned city-state. The shattered empire struggles to right itself. The small military bases of Quintaro and Mobliza are assaulted directly, yet the farmhouses of villages to the north pledge their allegiance to Sammaru willingly and peacefully.

Colonel Falcão, a strict nationalist and cunning strategist, had not surrendered during Sammaru's battle for independence. Instead, ordering a timely retreat, he and his forces had escaped the burning wreckage, sequestering himself in Forte Quintaro, whereupon he radioed General Gantez, who had been biding his time in Forte Mobliza, unaware of the successful rebellion.

The Pagala Riders, aware that these bases would be a critical vantage point to retake the city, went to plot a counterattack. The former biker gang took matters into their own hands, recruiting able-bodied citizens, signing deals with The Five Gangs, scouting out weaknesses in the forts, and ultimately, convening a Pogleya Council to ask permission to mobilize the tanks.

Things happened. The Riders were successful in their campaign, gaining the two forts as compensation, while the Colonel and General were arrested and brought to Sammaru as prisoners. The Five Gangs are currently debating what to do with them.

Examples of Some Troubles:

I'm a scenario person. to round off this whole thing, lemme just give some idea of what you might encounter in the wildlands of Saeguerra:

• A starving village, or city in drastic disrepair. citizens are getting a little nervous, but have managed to fight off most of the hazards (or the hazards haven't found them yet)
• a cartel from Sammaru, angry that they have to sell drugs responsibly within the city limits (not kidding about this. Lei das Ruas is very serious about responsible and non-exploitative business practice) has decided to pack up and move outside the nation, and now they're running a bloody and lucrative drug trade in Old Saeguerra.
• at the risk of making this sound like a modern western: train robbers. highwaymen. bandits. etc.
• literally any criminal too nasty to stay in Sammaru would find their way here. its the closest and best place for scum to flourish
• cults to Firefury Amahira, the Lady Violet, Cthulhu, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc. have taken over. they lure hapless converts in, and then said converts are brainwashed into thinking the cult is the best thing that happened to them (I'm not being ridiculous)
• dust storms. sandstorms. tornadoes. maybe even fire tornadoes.
• an overstressed governor is imposing draconian laws or resorting to paying off a mafia in order to keep his precious town safe. stuff happens
• as described above, territories might have fallen under military control, especially if it surrounded a military base. such wouldn't take kindly to invaders.

so thats most of what I wanted to tell you guys. if you want to carry on in your current expansion, I can't stop you. I'd just want it to be accompanied by some interesting roleplay. (as that is the main reason I even drew out the old empire's territory in the first place)

 

[Lord_Sinclair]

So... to summarize my takeaway from this, that whole area is basically like Africa with warlords, grassland, and anarchy?

And yes; the geography of that area does appear to be more prairie than desert. The Mongolian Steppes would be an apt comparison, I should think.

 

[Cap]

far cry 2 please
jackal go home

 

[BarbarianGaming]

@Gaby you may want to add in that people aren't required to RP all of this but if they would like to it would be nice.

 

[Lord_Sinclair]

...so thats most of what I wanted to tell you guys. if you want to carry on in your current expansion, I can't stop you. I'd just want it to be accompanied by some interesting roleplay. (as that is the main reason I even drew out the old empire's territory in the first place)

 

[IceandFire]

Please put the [NationStates] tag in yer title.

 

[Cap]

 

[Gaby]

. . .






I may or may not have overreacted slightly.
what is social anxiety?

 

[Gaby]

Please put the [NationStates] tag in yer title.

I might have forgotten to take off the capslock when I added the tag....
was a bit hasty.

adding to the OP right now.

 

[Gaby]

So... to summarize my takeaway from this, that whole area is basically like Africa with warlords, grassland, and anarchy?

And yes; the geography of that area does appear to be more prairie than desert. The Mongolian Steppes would be an apt comparison, I should think.

iiiiit's official.

Kado-Kintu Sammaru now takes inspiration from every continent in the world. except Antarctica (yet)