NS Name: Mishmahig. You can also call me Mish, Mishy, etc, etc.
RP Nation Name: The Holy Kingdom of Kigomba
National Demonym: Kwitzambe, Kwitzambean
National Flag:
Capital City: Aboissé
Currency: Mbogo, consisting of 100 eteni
Total Population: 133,677,091 citizens
Languages/Linguistic breakdown:
First Language(s):
- Kisiya: 36.6% [48,925,815]
- Mosapa - 15.2% [20,318,918]
- Ndunsia - 14.9% [19,917,886]
- Mboki - 7.2% [9,624,750.5]
- Other Local Dialects - 26.1% [34,889,721]
Second Language(s):
- Gaullican: 43.34% [57,935,651]
- Kisiya - 38.1% [50,930,972]
- Local Dialect - 17.3% [23,126,137]
- Weranic - 1.26% [1,684,331]
Official Language(s):
- Kisiya
- Gaullican
- Mosapa
- Sotiran: 64% [85,553,338]
- Didymaic Sotiranity: 39.7% [53,069,805]
- Moteyic Sotiranity: 13.2% [17,645,376]
- Solarian Sotiranity: 8.9% [11,897,261]
- Amendist Sotiranity: 2.2% [2,673,542]
- Mumin: 19.3% [25,799,678]
- Atudaite: 7% [9,357,396]
- Other/None: 9.7% [12,966,678]
Ethnic group breakdown:
- Bahian: 97.3% [130,067,810]
- Various ethnic groups within Bahia ethnic group
- Gaullican: 2.2% [2,940,896]
- Weranic: 0.3% [401,031]
- Other: 0.2% [267,354]
*Note: Those listed as Gaullican or Weranic also encompasses those Kwitzambe that have one Gaullican or Weranic parent.
Land Claims: Daaqii
Type of Government: Parliamentary theodemocracy. Theodemocracy essentially refers to a regular democracy that believes that it derives power from the will of God himself, via two forms: the will of the clergy, and the will of the people. It is believed that in the Holy Kingdom, the divine spirit of God possesses the population in order to let them select the appropriate, Godly, choice. At the same time, God recognizes that individuals are fallible, and thus speaks through the clergy directly. Kigomba thus seeks to govern by expressing both of these avenues of God's will.
The Council of Five Hundred (Kisaya: Ibhunga la mahlanu) is a democratically elected legislature, charged with developing and passing the laws of the land. Members of the Council are known as 'Councilors' (Kisaya: Mlandeli) and are elected on a 5 year basis, with a fifth of the Council being elected every year. Each province of the Holy Kingdom elects 50 Councilors. Thus, in any given year, two out of ten provinces are electing their representatives. Councilors can be cast out of the Council of Five Hundred by a vote of 85%, or a vote of 66% + the Exarch. If a Councilor is cast out, the local governor appoints a special representative until the next election.
The Exarch (Kisaya: Ikhefu) is the Head of Government of the Holy Kingdom, and is elected by the leading bishops of the Didymaic Kwitzambean Church - two from each province. The Exarch is selected from any eligible man or woman, and the requirements for eligibility are very loose. They must be an adult, and not have committed any violent crime, treason, or grand larceny. No religious or ethnic requirements are mandated by the Charter of Kigomba. Traditionally, the bishops have elected a Didymaist as Exarch, but the last two elections have seen Moteyist and Mumin candidates come close to receiving a majority of the vote. Candidates for the vote must record the signatures of at least 1% of the population, with no overlap between supporters, in order to have their candidacy reviewed by the Conclave.
Leader Name(s): Exarch Oluwasegun Afolabi
Short History of your Nation: Ancestral homeland of humanity; place where modern homo sapiens first emerged. Very little happens for most of prehistory. Split and separated tribes, pagan, ancestral worship, and so on. Little development beyond small, minor cities. Initial warlords develop, cities get slightly more relevant around the time of Solarian and Farsi Empires. Sotiranity emerges in Badawiya, and one of the Apostles, St. Didymus, makes his way through Bahia, converting as he goes. He arrives at the far end of the coast, bordering the Banfuran Sea, and settles down on the slopes of a mountain, giving sermons and preaching to the local population. Early converts are noted for their overly pious adherence to St. Didymus, and become 'drunk on God' or Kwitzambe. St. Didymus' teachings spread through several local tribes and most major and minor cities in the territory. Eventually, St. Didymus dies, and is buried in the catacombs on the mountain where he taught for several decades.
After this, the early Sotiran communities of Kigomba maintain contact with the Pope and rest of the Christian world until the rise of Salam (or the spread of the sectarian Mazdaic groups), which made communiques with the rest of the Sotiran world more difficult. Rising tensions internally, as well as the growing threat of schisms within the loosely grouped Sotiran tribes, led to the formation of the first Sotiran League, an attempt by Kwitzambe to unify in the face of pagan and Mazdaic tribes and clans. Sotiran League fought external foes and spread Sotiranity before falling to internal political schisms around 800 CE. From 800-~1100 CE, Kwitzambe tribes faced more alarming reversals of fortune as Mazdaism spread, and continued lack of communication with the outside Sotiran world threatened the faith of the surviving Sotiran communities. With the beginning of the Crusades, Kigomba was 'rediscovered' by the Church (albeit with spotty communications), and became known as the Kingdom of Prester John.
Already, Kigomba had drifted away from mainstream Sotiran thought, and was distinctly heretical to the Church. Despite the efforts of several councils, efforts to reconcile Kigomba with Tibernum failed, and Kigomban religious leaders began deferring to their own hierarchy openly, rather than continuing to pay lip-service to the Sotiran Catholic Church. Increasingly concerned about the warlike nature of Gaullica and other Sotiran Catholic nations, the Didymaic Church began supporting centralized efforts at power under a single monarchy, eliminating the confederal nature of the repeatedly-developed 'Sotiran Leagues'. At around this time, the Didymaic Church suffered an internal schism itself, over the role of the saints and their iconography within the larger structure of the church, as well as the role of the Church in Kwitzambe society. Moteyic Sotiranity believed that Church should take a passive role, only intervening when divinely inspired or forced, while Didymaic leaders believed in active guidance of pagans and believers alike, for their own good. This is, of course, a simplification of larger schisms within their goal.
A series of wars between 1500-1600s over Mazdaism and Atudaites in Kigomba. Gaullica appears in the late 1600s and early 1700s and forces grotesquely unfair treaties on Kigomba, often capturing local chiefs or even the royal family to enforce their power and prominence in the region. Local Gaullican trading posts are set up throughout the Kwitzambe coast. In the 1700s, Gaullican influence continues, until Gaullica finally formally makes Kigomba a protectorate in the 1770s. From 1770-1850, Gaullica expanded influence and power in Bahia, before formally annexing Kigomba as a vassal state in the 1850s. Becoming part of the Gaullican Bahia territory, Kigomba was administered by a series of governor-generals and a well-run, if brutal, colonial administration. Efforts at peaceful resistance develop in the late 1910s, culminating in a civil disobedience movement - Prayers for Peace - in the 1920s. As the Great War developed, Kwitzambe leaders routinely spoke out against supporting Gaullica, and used mass-protests to paralyze Gaullican movements throughout Kigomba. Perhaps a massacre or two as a result. Post-war, Kigomba became a CoN mandate, although Gaullican ex-pats attempt a coup in order to establish an Apartheid through Kigomba.
After the defeat of the coup, Kigomba is given a one year deadline to develop a constitution and a government, or else it remains a CoN mandate for the next while. Drawing on unique influences of Didymaic Sotiranity and common history, Kwitzambe leaders develop the system of governance known as theodemocracy. Despite being a 'Kingdom', Kigomba is a parliamentary republic. The throne remains vacant until the Second Coming, where it is believed that Kigomba shall be the site of the new Jerusalem.
Short Overview of your Nation: Planned cities, heavy involvement by the Church, member of the International due to Bahian exploitation. GDP per capita of around 3.2k, very rural population, little prior investment in infrastructure and education beyond maintaining the legacy systems established by Gaullica. Corruption is prominent, even among church officials, and rising discontent by the population on social issues (Mazdaism) and economic (corruption) have led to scandals that grip the Exarchate. Mostly agricultural exports, perhaps some uranium or other semi-valuable natural resource, but not enough to provide substantial boosts to the economy.
Not sure what else should be covered here.
General Questions:
- General population's view on gay rights/gay people: Criminalized and banned. Not only are same-sex marriages forbidden under law, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, but homosexual acts are also banned. People convicted of same-sex relations usually receive several years in jail, with the length of sentence scaling depending on prior warnings, age of people in question, their status in the community, and the judge's mood. Additionally, pro-LGBT groups are banned in the country as well - labeled as 'cultural terrorists' that attempt to undermine the native cultures. Homosexuality in general is viewed as a degenerate cultural 'fashion' exported by the League and other Eucleans.
- General population's view on religions other than the primary one: Officially, the Holy Kingdom is a Sotiran state, and a plurality of citizens follow Didymaic Sotiranity. Additionally, the government is heavily influenced by leaders of the Didymaic Kwitzambean Church, and the Exarchs - the head of government - is elected by Didymaics, and tends to be Didymaic. That being said, relations between Didymaic and Moteyic sects are reasonably well established and cordial, if not friendly. Solarian Sotiranity is a recent introduction to the Holy Kingdom, brought by Gaullican colonists, and is viewed as a heresy by the Didymaics and Moteyics - both of which are, in turn, viewed as heresies by the Solarian Church.
That being said, the Constitution of Kigomba enshrines the right of religious freedom to all Kwitzambeans, and requires that they not be discriminated against within the government, or by any government legislation. De jure is not de facto, however, and the groups of Mumins in the western section of Kigomba are often socially discriminated against, especially when it comes to aid and infrastructure investment. The Mumins in the west tend to also be more conservative economically, and are of a different ethnic group than many Didymaic groupings in the east. For this reason, Sotirans in the government tend to view Mumins as an obstacle - something to be circumvented or removed - in order to progress as a nation. Naturally, they're wrong, but it contributes to ethnic divides and tensions within the nation. - General population's view on atheism: Allowed legally; frowned upon socially. Most people attend their church, synagogue, or mosque regularly. Not attending your place of worship is viewed as refusing to integrate with the community. This is noted in the media and in background checks, and often used as a way to discriminate against atheists, although certainly not on a systematic, wide-spread scale.
- General population's view on abortion: Forbidden, absolutely. Life begins at conception, and aborting a fetus is considered murder. A doctor that offers abortion is stripped of their medical license and fined heavily; a doctor that actually performs one is imprisoned. A woman that looks for an abortion can be jailed until the end of her pregnancy, for the safety of the fetus. Underground/back-alley abortions are performed, but are unsafe, costly, and can often risk in the death of the woman in question. Despite this, abortion remains banned.
- Status of religion in politics: Theodemocracy. Religion is major, major influence in politics, to the point of dictating it at times.
- View on immigration into country: Fine, although why would anyone want to come here beyond tourism is mind-boggling to Kwitzambeans.
- View on emigration out of country: Steady brain drain as Kwitzambe students flee to Althira to get higher education and more opportunities there. Some return to Kigomba to teach or lead, but most stay in Althira or go to other Euclean states where they have better rights and chances.
- Women's Rights: Eh. Legally they are equal, but culturally they're relatively inferior, although exact nature of inferiority varies from area to area, family to family, culture to culture.
- Views on tobacco/alcohol/pot/other drugs: All drugs banned except for alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco is acceptable, and cigar-smoking considered refined.
Alcohol use is acceptable in church rites and in moderation, although bars are considered dens of sin, and alcohol abuse is shameful.