At last!
Name of Nation: Adanaya Autonomous District (within the People's Republic of Cindorya)
Nation Characteristics: The Void war represented a definitive break with the previous millenia of Adanaya history. Nevertheless, to understand what kind of society they have now and how it might evolve in the future, it is necessary to present the now-defunction institutions that organized Adanaya life.
The most ancient written records of urban settlements and organized government in the Adanaya lands date from the early 17th century BO (before origin, that is, the year zero of the Cindorayi calendar). The traditional start of the Adanaya calendar is the half-mythical unification of the Adanaya lands under the monarchy in 639 BO. Several dynasties ruled the empire over the course of the centuries, until the 12th century AO, when a succession of weak monarchs dying on the field of battle, in infancy, of diseases, or suffering from mental disabilities ultimately led to the de facto abolition of the function. Over time, indeed, the monarchs had established a vast bureaucracy to administer the far reaches of their empire, which became over the centuries the backbone of government, surviving civil wars, new dynasties, gaining every time more legitimacy and autonomy. By the 12th century, with the forward acceleration caused by the weakness of the monarchy, the administration had become fully autonomous, functioning without the need for any input from above. From then on, Adanaya society functioned without a political leader, governed and administrated instead by a sprawling bureaucracy and courts of law.
Adanaya society was until the Void war organized by a rigid caste system wherein birth determined occupation and social standing. The general categories were ashmirna (priests), sektan (soldiers), memirta (artisans), yashim (traders) and sid (farmers). Social life was highly codified, with social interactions, especially but not only between different castes, defined in the minutest detail.
The only major institution where the caste system did not apply was the government, where officials were hired by means of an entry exam open to all regardless of social status, where knowledge of the classics, law, religion, history and geography, as well as more specific fields relevant to each specific administration was tested (much like imperial China). The Adanaya government was divided in two independent sections: the administration, which made regulations and enforced them, which had a tendency to sprawl and to indefinitely extend its authority, and the courts, which judged compliance with regulations and with administrative statues and precedents, with a tendency to limit the administration's expansion. The courts were the first way through which the people could intervene in the political process. The administrations themselves were independent from each other, insofar as they had different fields of authority, though where there was overlap and mutual concern, coordination was ensured by countless commissions and committees. Over time, in the absence of any principle of representation, two positions had been created, the only two where elections applied: that of rajan (equivalent of Tribune of the Plebs), who represented the people as a whole, and could exercise in this capacity a wide range of discretionary powers, such as a power of veto, to propose regulations, to revoke officials, in certain conditions; that of wirani (equivalent of ombudsman), who could issue pardons and order new trials, or to revoke a judge.
Justifiably proud of their stable government, which could be traced back over 27 centuries with remarkable continuity, the Adanaya were even prouder of their culture, which had an even longer past and which had flowered over the centuries into myriad creations of the most varied nature. Regardless of the reality of their claim that theirs was by far the most accomplished culture on Nova Mondial, their lack of interest for the outside world was revelatory of the extreme cohesion of their society. Every institution served in a way to legitimate society and regulate it: the caste system naturalized the division of production, whereas the government, without any discernible conflict except the mechanism of courts, no transcendent figure such as a ruler, was not so much above society as an emanation of it, its face; religion was similarly immanent, as it was an ancestor cult which replaced every individual in an immemorial chain of beings, giving them a place in the universe.
Despite this, Adanaya society on the eve of its destruction in the Void war was already remarkably fragile. Industrialization had fragilized the bases of society, revealing the rigidities of a system that for millenia had avoided catastrophic upheaval. It had destroyed or transformed beyond recognition numerous ancient activities at the basis of the caste system, and had created new ones which had no place in it. Furthermore, the creation of vast amounts of new wealth both divided and reinforced the ruling classes: it weakened the primacy of the ashmirna class, but also concentrated industrial and financial capital in the hands of the yashim, the industrialists and bankers. But this left the other classes mired in poverty, and turned on its head the traditional mechanisms of solidarity and redistribution. Class conflict was constant and intense in the decades leading to the war.
The Void war was arguably the most significant event in Adanaya history since the end of the monarchy, if not the appearance of civilization itself. The Adanaya supported their traditional ally, the Aldabetan Republic, which resulted after their defeat in the complete destruction of both polities and their annexation by the Cindorayi empire (the Adanaya had always considered the Cindorayi to be little more than well-armed brutes). The Adanaya were evicted from their homeland and transfered to labor camps where they were forced to work for their new masters. When colonization of Cindorya was initiated in 2048, the empire took the initiative to resettle the totality of the remaining Adanaya population (save for a few thousand individuals who had found refuge in neutral states) to the planet, so as to avoid any threat of coordination with their former allies.
On Cindorya, the Adanaya were overwhelminingly put to use to exploit the exceptional mineral riches of the valley of Yasheron, in the heart of the volcanic mountain range which dominates the planet's main landmass (among which gold, silver, iron, silicon, copper, lead, titanium, and rare Earths). There, they were organized in a number of mining camps, where they were given some measure of autonomy by the Cindorayi overlords, in what amounted essentially to ghettos. The remainder of the population was used for farm work and domestic service. This was the situation when the revolution broke out, with some cooperation between the Adanaya and the Cindorayi revolutionaries beforehand. The Adanaya have suddenly been freed from their chains, and been recognized as their own political entity by the People's Republic of Cindorya, the Adanaia Autonomous district, but their society, government and culture have been nearly wiped out, leaving a terrifying and miraculous blank slate. What will arise from the ashes remains to be seen.
Nation Location: See below the map of Cindorya. The Adanaya Autonomous district (AAD) is located in the valley of Yasheron, in the center of the main landmass of the planet.
Nation Initial Population: Around 100,000 people. Due to the war, the violence exerted by the Cindorayi in the labor camps, starvation, diseases, the forced resettlement to Cindorya, over 90% of the population has been wiped out since the beginning of the Void war.
Species Name: Adanaya
Species Characteristics: See image below. The Adanaya stand on average around 1m60 to 1m80, and have a slender build. Their most noticeable physical features are their mouth from which sprout four tentacles, and their two horns/antennae, which they use to detect odors and air humidity with striking accuracy, as well as to amplify sounds they make. Their body is spotted with small black-and-green spots which are used to communicate and to express emotions using light signals of various colors. They are herbivores. The Adanaya are hermaphrodites, who can only reproduce in trios, with two individuals transmitting their fertilized material to a third.
Side Chosen in Void War: Aldabetan.
Technological Level: To the extent that they were slaves of the Cindorayi, who have now been freed, they have access to all technologies on Cindorya.
Special Resource: Yasheronian gas. It is the only known gas with magnetic properties. It emanates from the volcanic pits dominating the valley of Yesheron. It has a light blue hue, is odorless and inoffesive to living beings. It was discovered just a few months prior to the revolution.
