Zardugal

[Polites]

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May 5370
Jelbic Opposition in Zardugal
Jelbic exiles establish Revolutionary Council.
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Ever since the establishment of the Lahm regime in Vanuku in June 5363, tensions with its southern neighbour Zardugal have been steadily on the rise. Taking place in the context of a broader conflict of influence between recently assertive Vanuku and Majatran hegemon Beiteynu, these tensions, though subdued at first, have recently escalated as a result of Vanukean rejection of Zardic preconditions for the continuing demilitarization of Zardugal and the subsequent Zardic rearmament. Though these tensions have for now remained overshadowed by the larger Beiteynuese-Vanukean conflict, it has recently reached absurd heights when Vanuku erected several statues of Zardic general turned Jelbic warlord Nikandro Heraklito along the border with Zardugal.

The conflict is not just between Vanuku and Zardugal and their respective allies and friends. As an authoritarian single party state Vanuku has been violently suppressing all opposition to the Lahm regime, and many opposition figures found their way south in Zardugal. The latter imposes no border controls of any kind on anyone who wishes to enter the country and has a very permissive refugee and asylum policy, meaning that the recent Vanukean exiles had no difficulty obtaining refuge in Zardugal and setting up opposition networks, including, most notably, the establishment of The Grak Sháhazi (Black Lion), the most well known Vanukean opposition newspaper.

In Zardugal these exiles joined the already existing native Jelbic community, most of which belong to the Jelbido ethnic group, as well as political exiles and refugees from Jelbe, the other Jelbic state, currently ruled by a less modern but no less oppressive Khan. Not all these exiles are part of any organized opposition, but their joint experience of exile and contact with one another has led to them forming an increasingly organized community, fostered by their shared culture and ideological outlook. The Vanukean and Jelbek exiled formed various opposition organizations, some communist, some republican, and some liberal, with the common goal of eventually overthrowing the monarchies in the two Jelbic states and establishing some form of democratic republic in their stead.

This month these various opposition groups decided to unite into a single organization. The Jelbic Revolutionary Council (Jelbijé Pvstjogadé Bltmojad) was established this month as the sole opposition organization for both Vanuku and Jelbe. Headquartered in Zardugal and receiving the full backing of the Zardic government, the Jelbic Revolutionary Council is a pan-Jelbic republican and democratic opposition movement, whose ultimate aim is the overthrow of the Vanukean and Jelbek monarchies and their unification into a pan-Jelbic democratic and socialist republic to be known as Jelbijestán. The Council rejects the older pan-Jelbic concept of Krsyjogadnrkta (literally "Union of the North") as a reactionary and monarchist term, and believes that Jelbic monarchies have acted as parasites on the Jelbic nation with the backing of foreign powers and conquerors. The Council is also firm in its criticism of Nikandro Heraklito, whom they condemn as a "Zardic dog and colonizer" who "slaughtered millions of Jelbics and appropriated our traditions for personal gain". Notably, the first chairman of the Jelbic Revolutionary Council, a Vanukean exile named Nrljmai Klunehnd, gained notoriety earlier this year when she slipped past Vanukean border control and organized the theft of one of the Temrkai statues with several accomplices. The whereabouts of the stolen statue are unknown, but her opposition to the Vanukean government is.

Zardic sponsorship of the Jelbic Revolutionary Council marks an explicit endorsement of Zardic opposition to the governments of its two Jelbic neighbours, and will most likely be ill received by both. While this marks a clear escalation in the brewing Majatran conflict, it also makes Zardugal's stance that much clearer.


Founding congress of the Jelbic Revolutionary Council.

[Polites]

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June 5372
Cultural "Renaissance"
Government sponsors traditional Zardic culture.
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Zardic society is notoriously multicultural and cosmopolitan. The eponymous ethnic group, the Zards, constitute slightly more than 60% of the population, with the remainder including peoples from neighbouring nations and from Zardugal's former colonial empire. Zardic culture, cuisine, arts, and music are all a reflection of this cosmopolitan melting pot, and the Zardic language itself has received substantial influence from Dunic, Kalopian, and Delic languages to the extent that its classification as a Selucic language was sometimes questioned in the past.

To bridge these diverse cultures and create a unified national identity, past governments have, especially since the loss of the Zardic colonial empire, resorted to the (allegedly) artificial reclaiming of the Augustan label and identity, portraying Zardugal as the modern heir of the ancient Augustan Empire and the Zardic people as modern-day Augustans. This cultural "revolution" initiated in the late 36th century has had a profound and long-lasting effect, to the extent that the older and, presumably, more accurate self-identification as "Zardic" was nearly completely forgotten, at least until the "De-Augustanization movement started a decade ago. Since then Zardugal has formally abandoned both its Augustan identity and its claim of continuity with Ancient Augusta, and embraced instead its Zardic self-image, as well as its status as a multicultural melting pot.

The reversal of Augustanization has however not been well received by everyone, and there are still many Zards, especially from the "old guard" in the former Armed Forces, that still cling to Augustanism. The ongoing and escalating tensions with northern neighbour Vanuku have led to renewed patriotic fervour as well as growing criticism of the KPZ-V coalition's past pacifism and its apparent impotence in the face of perceived Vanukean aggression. While the coalition maintains a firm grip on power, it popularity is waning and opposition parties are making a gradual comeback. The reversal of demilitarization initiated in 5369 has partially countered these criticisms, allowing KPZ-V to regain some lost seats in the January 5370 elections, but opposition to de-Augustanisation and criticism of the chaotic military policy changes during the last decade remain strong challenges to Communist-Green monopoly on political power.

Possibly in response to these challenges, the Department of Education within the Ministry of Education and Culture has launched an expansive and costly initiative promoting traditional Zardic culture. Called the Renaskiĝo ("Renaissance"), this initiative consists of Zardic language workshops, performances, and competitions, the establishment of an official government Zardic cultural heritage archive, funding the production of Zardic language films and television shows, translating Zardic language literature into other languages, as well as the establishment of a Zardic cultural institute called the "Esperanto Lazarido Institute". Taking its name from the 19th and 20th century linguist and author who created the modern Zardic alphabet and published the first grammar and dictionary of the modern Zardic language, the Esperanto Lazarido institute will be active in Zardugal and in other nations, and will offer Zardic language classes at all levels, cultural workshops, public lectures and events, and will support and publish research on Zardic culture and history.

Tough the Department of Culture made no indication that it may have anything to do with the conflict with Vanuku, the timing of the Renaskiĝo initiative makes it obvious that, apart from attempting to find an alternative to the now abandoned Augustan nationalism, the government is keen to foster a united national identity and strengthen Zardic morale in order to better face its northern threat. As such, the Renaskiĝo initiative is nothing but the latest salvo in the Zardic-Vanukean conflict.


Collection of Zardic folk songs published by the government.

[Polites]

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November 5372
Government Co-opts Church
Zardugal establishes ties to the TPC.
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In spite of its largely secular character, Zardugal is not an irreligious society. Only roughly 15% of the population is not affiliated to any religion, but this number is misleading. In Zardugal religious affiliation is more a matter of culture and self-identity than genuine belief or participation in any faith's ceremonies. The Deltarian-based Terran Patriarchal Church (TPC) is the largest Zardic denomination, with little over half of Zards belonging to the faith. Historically, adherence to the TPC has been a matter of cultural identification with the Augustan heritage shared by both Zards and the Church, though recent de-Augustanization efforts have partially severed that connection.

Much like Zardugal, the Terran Patriarchal Church has recently undergone a radical transformation that turned it into a more modern and open religion. At the Council of Dolinka celebrated in 5323 and convened by Papisa (female Papež) Maria Ignatia I, the Terran Patriarchal Church abandoned its traditional insularity and conservatism, embracing the Vocation of women and LGBT rights and recognizing the spiritual value of other faiths. This was partially done in order to bring the Church in line with societal changes in Trigunia and Deltaria, the two nations with most Terran Patriarchal believers, but also in recognition of the TPC's unique nature as a faith that blends Hosian orthodoxy with the worship of pre-Hosian gods and goddesses.

In spite of this, during the Papežate of Maria Ignatia I the Zardic Church strongly resisted any attempt at reform, and the Primate of Zardugal Archbishop of Belegejo Georgio IV denounced the Papisa and the Council of Dolinka as deviating from Terran Patriarchal tradition and orthodoxy. Though he and his followers were excommunicated at Dolinka, sparking a brief but painful schism both within the Zardic church and the TPC as a whole, opposition to the radical and progressive reforms adopted at the Council are not universally recognized in the Terran Patriarchal communion. In Zardugal many disgruntled Terran Patriarchals left for the Aurorian Patriarchal Church's Patriarchate of Augusta, where they could maintain their Augustan rite but were forced to abandon the worship of the Tokundian gods. Most of the Zardic Church however remained in communion with Dolinka and gradually implemented the decisions of the Council.

The ongoing cultural reforms that the KPZ-V coalition has been overseeing for the past decade are very much in line with the new character of the Terran Patriarchal Church. Recently, although some in the coalition have expressed anti-religious views, the government has established closer ties to the Terran Patriarchal hierarchy within Zardugal. Led by the current Archbishop of Belegejo Klementino I, the Zardic Church has received the visits of high-ranking dignitaries within the Zardic government, and it is now not an rare sight for Communist and Green leadership to be seen attending religious services. This may be out of personal piety, but the more likely and perhaps more cynical explanation is that the government seeks to co-opt the Terran Patriarchal Church to its cultural vision and recruit it for its Renaskiĝo cultural initiative. There is a third and no less probable reason for the coalition's detente with the Church. In addition to being the majority faith in Zardugal, the TPC is the largest single denomination in northern neighbour and geopolitical rival Vanuku. Though it only forms a quarter of the population in the religiously diverse Jelbic nation, the TPC has historically had very close ties with the Vanukean monarchy. As Vanuku is now led by a far-right regime whose values and policies are directly at odds with those of the Church post-Dolinka, the Zardic government may hope to turn devout Terran Patriarchals in Vanuku on its side by portraying Zardugal as the more genuinely Terran Patriarchal nation and one that, unlike the Lahm regime, embodies the Church's teachings and spiritual values. If that is indeed one of the motivations behind the KPZ-V leadership's establishing closer ties with the Terran Patriarchal Church, then the ongoing Majatran cold war has already affected every aspect of life on the continent.


Terran Patriarchal priestesses celebrating Divine Liturgy at the Church of All Gods in Abadejo.

[GreekIdiot]

Beiteynu
Majatra: continued facilitation for equal leadership - June 5373

[Polites]

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May 5379
Academy Established
Zardic language regulator created
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Zardic, the national language of Zardugal and a significant minority language in neighbouring nations, is a relatively new language. It emerged in the 18th century from the dialects of Old Augustan (OOC Arcaicam Esperantom) spoken in northern Zardugal, in the context of Dorvish and later Luthorian colonial rule, and was only standardized and recognized as a distinct language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Linguist and author Esperanto Lazarido (1868-1948), who lived and wrote under Luthorian rule in Zardugal, is credited for setting the basis of the modern Zardic language and for standardizing the various Zardic dialects into a modern language of prestige. His dictionary and grammar of the Zardic language remain essential reading for all those seeking to acquire fluency and remain taught in Zardic schools to this day. The large Zardic colonial empire later spread the Zardic language under its standardized modern form, while immigration to Zardugal from its former colonies and from other Majatran nations have produced many new speakers of the Zardic language.

In spite of the many centuries that have passed since the standardization of the Zardic language at the hands of Esperanto Lazarido, his prestigious works have kept written Zardic relatively close to the standard he established at the beginning of the 20th century, while spoken Zardic has begun to diverge from the written form of the language. The lack of a language regulator has not affected the prescriptivist character of written Zardic, which has remained exceedingly conservative to this day, in spite of attempts at reform. The most significant and controversial of these is the "Augustanization" reform in the 36th century that artificially and awkwardly tried to impose the Kalopian (OOC Greek) script on the language and introduced a large number of Kalopian language loanwords, in an attempt to emulate a supposed "Augustan language" spoken in the Augustan Empire. These reforms were ultimately abandoned, though they had a lasting impact on Zardic toponymy, and it was not until the "de-Augustanization" movement of 5362 and the Renaskiĝo initiative launched in 5372 that they were officially reversed.

This has however left the Zardic language without an official standardized variety. The various Kalopianized "Augustan" dictionaries and grammars published since the 36th century are no longer in use, meaning that the Zardic language is now forced to rely on the older dictionaries of the Zakarido-established standard. Seeking to remediate this situation, this month the Ministry of Education has established a new Academy of the Zardic Language (Akademio de la Zarda Lingvo) with the goal of regulating Zardic and standardizing it while bringing it up to date with the modern spoken varieties of the language. The Academy is formed of reputed linguists and philologists and its goals are both prescriptive and descriptive, as it aims to create a written standard for the language closer to spoken Zardic while keeping it as "neutral" as possible between the different dialects and varieties. The prestige standard established by Esperanto Zakarido, and especially his orthographic reforms, will guide these reforms, as the Academy has announced that it aims to keep older literature written in Zardic legible under the new standard. Foreign loanwords will be discouraged, with words formed internally with Zardic roots to be promoted instead. An example of a proscribed word is komputero, meaning "computer" and borrowed from Luthorian, to be replaced by the native komputilo (from komputi (“to count, compute”) +‎ -ilo (“tool”)). A new dictionary and grammar, both of which will serve as reference, will be published during the upcoming years, keeping into account the natural evolution of the language while prescribing a unitary and relatively conservative standard.


First members of the Academy of the Zardic Language.

[GreekIdiot]

Beiteynu
Securing Majatran stability - December 5380

[GreekIdiot]

Beiteynu
Facilitating a global symposium for partners and allies - November 5381

[TRA]

Beiteynu
Majatra: 4 more states to ascend to the MSCO - October 5393

[Polites]

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June 5407
Government Collapses
Registarestro resigns after corruption scandal
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The Registarestro of the Republic of Zardugal Mirinda Vilaĝano has offered her resignation today after she was implicated in a number of corruption scandals that have shaken confidence in her ability to continue governing the nation. She has held her office since January 5370, and during her decades in office Zardugal has experienced a degree of stability, punctuated by heightened tensions with northern neighbour Vanuku. Hailing from the Zardic Greens, junior coalition partners of the larger Communist Party, Vilaĝano's long reign was marred by allegations of corruption and nepotism. Faced with these challenges Vilaĝano has submitted her resignation today, remaining in office as caretaker Registarestro.

The Communist-Green coalition has been in power in Zardugal since 5362 and has weathered several crises while overseeing a profound transformation of Zardic society. The formerly militarized and, indeed, militaristic Zardic state underwent a drastic and controversial demilitarization with the abolition of its armed forces, followed by a complete about-face due to perceived threat from Vanuku which led to Zardic rearmament and the adoption of total war as a national defence doctrine. During this time Zardugal moved from a reluctant ally of northern power Beiteynu to a close friend, spurred by joint opposition to Vanukean geopolitical ambitions. Domestically, Zardugal underwent a cultural revolution that resulted in the abandonment of Augustan identity and the embrace of a secular and multicultural Zardic label, while at the same time the crumbling Zardic economy was steered towards the goal of degrowth and a cooperative system.

The coalition managed to oversee all these radical changes in a relatively short period of time owing to the lack of any real opposition and the relative popularity of its policies. As a consequence it is perhaps not surprising that the greatest challenge the Communist-Green coalition has yet experienced comes from within. Shortly after the allegations of corruption and nepotism against the head of government became public, the Minister of Finance Teobaldo Lertulo, her erstwhile colleague in the Zardic Greens, resigned from his office and from the party and announced his intention of challenging Mirinda Vilaĝano for the leadership of the country. Days later he announced the formation of his own political party as his own electoral vehicle. The Solidarity Party was established last month as a Hosian Democratic and Distributist party, capitalizing on the religious wing of the governing coalition and attracting many former Greens and Communists critical of Vilaĝano's leadership. If opinion polls are to be believed the Solidarity Party is bound to win the election next month by a landslide, thus marking the first time in its nearly 50 year history that the Communist-Green coalition has ever been defeated. However, it is also worth noting that, while the political affiliation of the future government is likely to change, the fact that the opposition's leadership and members all hail from within the governing coalition means that whatever changes and reforms a future Solidarity government will implement, they will likely not mark a significant break with the past.



Former Finance Minister Teobaldo Lertulo will challenge caretaker Vilaĝano for the leadership of Zardugal.

[Polites]

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November 5408
Change of Course
Lertulo government introduces domestic and foreign reforms
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With the previous Vilaĝano government hit by a corruption scandal it is hardly a surprise that the newly established opposition under former Finance Minister Teobaldo Lertulo and his new political faction the Solidarity Party would sweep to power. Also not surprising is the degree of continuity between the Solidarity and the previous Communist-Green administrations, in spite of their ideological differences. Domestically Zardugal retains its commitment to cooperativization and to the principles of the Yamashima Degrowth Declaration, while internationally it is still a staunch ally of Beiteynu.

But that does not mean that the Lertulo administration is indistinguishable from the Communist-Green governments. Indeed one of the principles behind the establishment of the Solidarity Party is adandoning what it sees as the "radical secularism" of past administrations, and indeed one of the first acts of the Solidarity-dominated National Assembly has been the abandonment of state atheism and the recognition of the Terran Patriarchal Church as the state religion of Zardugal. Several more conservative social measures have also been adopted, including restrictions on abortion and divorce and the illegalization of adultery. These reforms have been met with opposition and protests, but Solidarity's hold on power is absolute.

Another departure from past international policies is Zardugal's official recognition of the Free Republic of Cobura, a faction in the ongoing civil conflict in southern neighbour Cobura, as the legitimate government of the nation. The Free Republic is the government established by the Hosian Defence Forces, a coalition of paramilitary groups fighting against the rival government of Irkawan supremacist Nen-Snēou and left-wing forces. Controversially, the coalition includes within its ranks a far-right Zardic nationalist paramilitary known as the Maksimilianido Brigades. The Zardic government's indirect support for the Brigades has brought accusations of fascist sympathies against the Lertulo administration, which it fiercely denies by pointing out the Brigades' relatively minor role within the HDF and the Free Republic. With conflict in Cobura reaching a stalemate, Zardic recognition of one of the warring factions may further escalate the conflict in southern Majatra.


Registarestro Teobaldo Lertulo's administration has adopted a number of controversial reforms.