BACKGROUND
Following a civil war against nationalist rebels, Izhitsa finds itself dominated by the military forces of a minority ethnic group and a communist party, both with lukewarm attitudes towards the new constitution drafted by officials only allowed to be elected due to public pressure.
Half of the country is occupied by Izhitsan Unity (aka Izhitska Ednota, or the IE), a leftist popular front led by hardline communist Matvey Karamovo. The other half is occupied by the forces of Yach, a province of Izhitsa with a culture unrelated to the rest of Izhitsa. The victory has brought with it its own troubles. The royal family, once integral to the constitution, lie in mass graves, along with the hundreds of thousands of Yachese murdered by the nationalists. All that remains of Izhitsa’s former anti-nationalist parliamentarians are a roomful of ashes. IE and Yach joined the war on condition of receiving favorable concessions from Parliament once the war ended, but seem to have gained little in the new constitution. How either party will proceed is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, a new generation of politicians is rising, united by a demand for renewed democratic rule after years of conflict.
Until the new constitution is ratified, Izhitsa operates as a dual state. Federal government positions are filled with a representative from both Yach and the IE. Naturally, this makes foreign relations somewhat painful.
The constitutional committee, the Federal Assembly, is composed of officials elected under the auspices of the provisional government. The Federal Assembly ostensibly holds absolute legal power over Izhitsa, but real power lies with Yach and Izhitska Ednota, who operate on a careful balance between independence and unity. Yach has implemented a parliamentary democracy similar to the previous government, whereas the IE has begun to organise society along communistic lines.
Government Type:- In Yachese occupation zone: Parliamentary democracy
In IE occupation zone: Single-party communist state
Population:-:- 50 million Izhitsans
Capital City:- Hrabohrada (343000), often referred to as just Hrada
Demonym:- Izhitsan
ECONOMY
Currency:- Revna
GDP per Capita:- ₽110000, about 5500 USD
Unemployment Rate:- 35%
Main Industries:- Manufacturing, arms trade, mining.
PEOPLE
The following statistics are based on a census from before the civil war. Actual statistics may vary. Izhitsans were given the opportunity to declare their ethnicity and language as Izhitsan, Ved, Kher, Shta, Dzel, Yachese, or Other.
Standard Izhitsan was created in 1874 from a dialect of Ved. While the regions of Izhitsa retain their individual identities and dialects of Izhitsan, many Izhitsans have begun to adopt a pan-Izhitsan, rather than regionalist identity.
Both Izhitsan and Yachese are written in Cyrillic. However, there is also a Yachese alphabet, which has largely fallen out of favor due to repression by the Izhitsan government.
Ethnicity:- 4% Izhitsan, 15% Shta, 17% Dzel, 23% Ved, 17% Kher, 24% Yachese, 3% Other
Primary Language:- 14% Izhitsan, 15% Shta, 13% Dzel, 21% Ved, 14% Kher, 22% Yachese, 1% Other
Religions:- 94% Izhitsan Orthodox Christianity, 6% Other
Average Life Expectancy:- 72 years
GOVERNMENT
Head of State:- In Yach occupation zone: Antek Dzhavid
In IE occupation zone: Commander Matvey Karamovo
Head of Government:- In Yach occupation zone: Tadar Hamady
In IE occupation zone: Anton Brazda
Name of Legislative Body:- Federal Assembly
HISTORY
Modern Izhitsa finds its origins in the Rus crusader state of Ved, established in the mid-1300s during the Izhitsan Crusade. Through conquest, the dukes of Ved established counties over the other modern-day regions of Izhitsa: Kher, Dzelo, Shta, and Yach. Each of these regions grew their own dialects and identities, while Izhitsa fractured and reunited repeatedly until the 19th century.
By 1600, Rus settlement had crowded out most of the native Izhitsans. The only surviving native Izhitsan ethnic group is the Yachese, who make up the majority of the region of Yach.
In 1824, Izhitsa united under Duke Stanimir Zhemislovtsy of Ved, who crowned himself king in 1826. Stanimir I established the constitutional monarchy which became Izhitsa's longest-lasting united government. This government gave considerable authority to regional governments and created a bicameral parliament. The upper house, the Shekhtichka Rada, consisted of hereditary nobles, and the lower house, the Lidova Rada, consisted of elected officials. New national legislation had to pass through both houses and be signed by the king. The king also had the power to propose a referendum, which would be binding if two-thirds of the population vote to pass the law.
Despite the unprecedented reform, the power of the largely conservative nobility remained largely untouched. Though the nobles of Ved, Kher, and Yach eventually introduced regional parliaments, the nobility still retained hereditary power to govern. In 1894, Dushan II attempted to replace the nobility with elected officials by referendum. Unfortunately, due to a campaign of confusion and intimidation initiated by the nobility, the measure failed.
By the 1990s, the rigidity of the government had led to extreme economic stagnation. A banking crisis in 1991 led to the rise of Izhitsa for Izhitsans (Izhitsa pro Izhitsi, IPI), a far-right party bent on replacing the current order with an ultra-nationalist, corporatist state. The collapse of the Revna in 1996, followed by a Communist-aligned mutiny in the Navy, led to a purge of the military and its domination by far-right nationalists. By 2013, IPI had such an alarming degree of support that King Boleslav introduced a referendum to attempt to ban the party. However, before a vote could be held, the nationalists in the military rose up, pledging support for Izhitsa for Izhitsans, executing the royal family, and swiftly taking over Ved. Dissenting parliamentarians established a provisional government in Dzelo, while labor unionists in Kher and regionalists in Yach pledged their support in exchange for favorable concessions after the war. However, the nationalists quickly swept into Dzelo, executing every member of the provisional government.
Despite their rapid rise to power, the nationalists lost for two reasons. First, they spent a significant portion of their resources hunting down and murdering Yachese people within Ved and Dzelo. Because racial hatred was one of the basic foundations of IPI, they spent almost as much effort on their genocide campaign as the war itself.
The second reason they lost the war was due to a lack of materiel. The Izhitsan military relied heavily on factories and mines in Kher. Izhitsan trade unionists, led by Matvey Karamovo, an on-again off-again revolutionary, blocked these supplies.
After several successful campaigns against the nationalists, the trade unionists united Kher under the banner of Izhitska Ednota, a leftist revolutionary organisation. Meanwhile, Yach assembled a military from former Yachese members of the Izhitsan military. The war of attrition lasted years, only finishing after a brutal campaign in Northern Ved and fighting in the streets of Hrabohrada itself.
At the end of the war, Yach and Izhitska Ednota promised to transition to a constitutional government quickly. However, their efforts have met with long delays, first due to the failure of the Dochasny Rada to come to agreement on a real constitution despite almost a year of work, and second due to reluctance from the now-cemented governments to change the status-quo. Yach and Izhitska Ednota now lie on a terrifying standoff, between each other, internal factions, and even with the people of Izhitsa itself.