Haksarad

Haksarad, formally the Unitary Republic of Haksarad, is a located in Harad. Covering approximately 4.1 million square kilometers (1.6 million square miles), it borders Esharat and Velorenkya in the northeast and the Abayadi Sea in the east, and the majority of its land borders are bounded by the Hibrag and Harrat Mountains. It is a very populous country, with a population of just over 1 billion, and it is divided into 34 civilian governorates, 11 military governorates and 4 municipalities which are further divided into parishes.

The territory of modern Haksarad was first inhabited by modern humans about 200,000 years ago, and the country has an extensive history, being the location of some of the earliest civilizations, both in the Akso Basin and Kasharad. The first polity with borders resembling those of the modern state was founded in 403 BC, by the invasion of the Manuaks, and, for most of the over two millennia from the 5th century BC to the 18th century AD, the empire was a hegemon and economic giant in the region, though this legacy is marred by periods of collapse and intense conflict to reunify, particularly during the mid-3rd to mid-4th century AD. The Haksar monarchy was dissolved in 1803, and instability followed, though the current system has been in place for nearly 100 years now.

Haksar national identity is primarily built upon the strong Jarader tradition, the common civilization and the extensive history of unity under a single, strong central authority.

Etymology
The name “Haksarad” is a Manuak word derived from the Akso Basin, an ancient Kashar name for the basin surrounding the Sea of Dasir. It is a contraction of the phrase H'Akso Arad, meaning “Land of the Akso.”

Geography
Haksarad lies in Jimmada, on the westernmost part of the Abayadi Sea, and its geography has been one of its most important features for maintaining its sovereignty and cohesion. The coast of the country is dominated by the Kashar Plain and the Dir Mountains, which connect to the Harrat Mountains and, ultimately, the Hibrag Mountains.

Haksarad is a very ecologically diverse country. There are tropical jungles in the extreme south, and the nation is bounded in all other directions by mountains. Much of the country is comprised of rocky hills and montane grass and shrubland, especially the area around the Dasir in the Akso Basin, north of which are four lakes, three entirely within Haksarad and the last between Haksarad and Velorenkya. This diversity in altitude has also given the country a variety of endemic species.

Climate
The predominant climate is humid subtropical, though there is a slight difference between the Akso Basin and the Kashar Plain in that the basin sees significant decreases in humidity in the winter, while the plains are humid year-round. To the south, there are tropical savanna, tropical monsoon and tropical rainforest climate areas.

Prehistory
Archaeological findings suggest that the first modern hominids arrived in what is now Haksarad about 200,000 years ago. These first peoples were the ancestors of the Kashar panethnic group and first settled the coast around the mouths of the Khardofa and the Yurat before slowly moving inland, eventually reaching the Akso Basin and the southern coast of the Dasir. Little else is known of the prehistory of these groups until a second wave of migrations north about 70,000 years ago, during which the area north and west of the Sea of Dasir up to the Hibrag and Harrat Mountains was settled and the Binu were introduced to the area.

The early inhabitants of the region were some of the first in the world to develop agriculture, starting around 10,000 BC, facilitated by the fertile ground and frequent rainfall. With the rise of agriculture came the rise of, and the earliest stone buildings in Haksarad can also be dated to about 10,000 BC. During this early sedentary period, the clans operated as the closest things to polities and sometimes clashed over the control of land to cultivate or hunt on. Around 6,000 BC, was invented, allowing for higher population densities. It is likely these higher concentrations of people that led to the construction of the first walled settlements around this same time. With irrigation and walled cities came the, as these walled settlements used their higher population and defensability to subjugate neighboring villages and sometimes even other cities. Some city-states came to control significantly vast territory, though most didn't last long.

Antiquity
Around the 22nd century BC, the first kingdom in modern Haksarad, Shekosh, emerged around the mouths of the Abo and Herit. This was the beginning of a long history of dynastic rule in Haksarad, which continued in some form or another until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1807.

The Sidurids were succeeded by the Arastids sometime in the 19th century BC, when Arasta supposedly overthrew a Sidurid tyrant. At its height, the Arastid dynasty covered all territory of its predecessor, stretched north to the southernmost shores of the Dasir, and controlled up to the mountains in both east and west. The Awasids were conquered by the Nukkorids in the 16th century BC, though Nukkorid authority was weak and the kingdom was dominated by powerful. Over the next century or so, more and more of these warlords refused to recognize the legitimacy of the crown and eventually all had declared themselves independent kings in their own right.

For three centuries, these warring states fought, conquered, were conquered and collapsed, until the 11th century BC, by which point the region had been split between two major kingdoms, the Kingdom of Rokesta in Kasharad and the Kingdom of Kermak in the Akso Basin. These two kingdoms competed as bitter rivals for about 600 years, neither making any lasting progress toward conquering the other.

Tanashir
Tanu Ha-Shir, better known as Tanashir, was a Qayyeti Manuak Jarader from the Dahar Desert, as well as a shurain, meaning he was directly descended from one of !FIRST PROPHET's companions. According to Haksar tradition, he was the kheif of a small nomadic Qayyeti tribe when he received a vision from God in 423 BC, commanding him to gather as many Manuak tribes as he could and move east. Tanashir spent the next few years persuading several other tribes to his cause, either by word or by sword, before beginning their great migration. The Manuak tribes that accompanied included the Tsemathas, the Shawleyyas, the Gahri, the Naziri, the Badarem and the Uleti. Eventually, he and his army reached Mount Makhal, which the warlord ascended to look out over the mountains and see the land to the east that he was to settle. When he returned from his hike, however, he claimed to have been met by an angel, who insisted that he change course and enter the Akso Basin to the south. It is said that two Manuak tribes, the Badarem and the Uleti, split off at this point, continuing east, though contemporary and later writings are inconsistent as to whether this was ordered by Tanashir or if it was the result of a disagreement.

Several years after he received his first vision, Tanashir and his army settled around Lake Holmet, on the northeast fringes of the Akso Basin. During this time, they made contact with the Werwerdi, another nomadic tribe that lived in the mountains in the north and west of what is now Haksarad. Among the ethnic groups of the region, the Werwerdi had the smallest and least fertile territory. The Manuak warlord promised them better lands in his kingdom if they were to align themselves with him in his conquest of the basin, an offer many of the Werwerdi tribes accepted. These two peoples—the Manuaks and the Werwerdi— had both been expert horsemen since the breeding of horses to be large enough for riders, and each possessed extremely warlike cultures.

In March of 412 BC, this tribal alliance invaded Kermak, quickly subduing the north down to the edge of the Sea of Dasir before expanding to conquer the other cities along the coast. By 410, the invaders had conquered to Gosir on the east coast and Kermak on the west coast, and by 408, they had completely absorbed the Kermakid Kingdom.

After the conquest of the north, the foreign horsemen surged through the Yehmot and Ekhyamet into the Kashar Plain, set on conquering the Rokestids next. By 406 BC, all of the south had been brought to heel as well, save for the eastern coastal Kashar lands, protected by the Dir Mountains. But it was not long before these people bowed too, and Tanashir was crowned Shurain-Kheif, Ruler of All Haksarad and Regent of God, in 403 BC.

Early Manuak rule
After the establishment of the Kingdom of Haksarad under the ha-Shir dynasty, founded by Tanashir's adoptive son Kuseir upon his succession in 401 BC, the Manuaks became the primary ruling class of the country, with the royal court and the northern territories largely dominated by the Qayyet, and the south administered by the other Manuak tribes. The promise of territory to the Werwerdi was upheld by displacing the Deyros of the western mountains, who were relocated to the Harrat Mountains both as a solution to the Werwerdi problem and in an effort to populate and garrison the frontier.

The legitimacy of these early ha-Shir rulers was reinforced by their development of the region’s first codified law, carved into pillars and spread across the empire, and the order these laws brought to a region that had been wracked by constant warfare since the fall of the Arastid dynasty. The Manuaks had set aside the sword and bridle for the quill and scale; they had won an empire, but now they had to administer it.

Early Manuak rulers also placed a strong emphasis on converting their new realm to H'Ejrad. This strong involvement of the crown in matters of religion led an increase in the power of the clerical class. While priests already wielded significant power in pre-conquest Manuak society, the tendency for local communities to defer to their religious authorities, leading to the natural creation of unofficial administrative divisions centered on faith communities significantly expanded this power in a new and large polity in need of such loyal local administration. The early church in Haksarad made impressive headway in regards to the conversion of the native populace and the reconciling of their folk traditions with the beliefs and practices of H'Ejrad. Many local saints lived during these early days of Manuak rule.

Golden age
These administrative, philosophical and theological advancements only increased during the reign of the ha-Zakhir dynasty, which came to power in 86 BC. Beginning in 71 BC, the Zakhirids established many, primarily surrounding the Abayadi Sea. While those subject nations that bordered Haksarad directly were more closely under their control, the of most of these nations was more a matter of prestige than actual administrative control; the junior partner would annually bring gifts to Haksarad and perform a submission ritual in exchange for trade agreements, the Haksar ruler’s recognition and investiture of their rule and nominal military protection. Religious and cultural developments surrounding this new hegemony led to the declaration of the first dayashafir, a universal religious leader, in 49 BC.

The golden age of Haksar philosophical and religious thought began in the latter half of the 1st century BC and was promoted by the Zakhirid Dayashafirate through the funding of various kadiqs, or schools of thought. The first Agur H'Idam (House of the Faith), established in 43 BC, served as a center for Jarader scholarship and and theological and philosophical learning and debate. Much of the early codification of Jarader beliefs and practices took place at the Agur H'Idam, including the compilation of the Zuvan and other holy texts, the establishment of a canon of official prophets and saints from the earliest days of the faith and the ordering of the complex hierarchy of angels, demons and other spirits.

During the reign of Zakhir II, several of the jungle tributaries on the empire’s southern border were brought under the direct control of the monarchy by taking action against some tribes that resisted the tributary relationship and giving dominion over the defiant tribes to more agreeable ones. His empire’s borders quite closely resembled those of the modern nation.

Dark age
In 243 AD, Haksarad was ruled by Zabarko of the Khethqadid, a Binu dynasty. It was in this year that he declared himself king, rather than regent, and begun to crack down on the power of the church. This caused two Jarader prophets to begin preaching against him throughout Haksarad, Utakhlan and Neqsaidhar. The king was furious, and had Utakhlan imprisoned and executed, making him a martyr, for which he has since been sainted, while Neqsaidhar was protected by a tribe of Deyros. In 247, Zabarko began demanding more tangible submission from his tributaries, souring his relations with them.

In 249, several tributary kingdoms did not attend their annual submission ritual. Zabarko declared this to be a treasonous act. He raised his armies and called on those tributary states loyal to him. Most of them refused to join, or even sided with his enemies. Even some of the more closely-tied vassal states rebelled. Zabarko managed to subdue those nations directly to the south and proceeded to treat them brutally. This cruel tyranny did not last long, however, as Zabarko died at the !Battle in 252. The allied forces of rebellious tributaries continued their march and, in 253, they sacked Shekosh and installed a foreign dynasty, the Badilgazids, centered on it, leaving a northern Haksar rump state in the Akso Basin and several small successor kingdoms in the west and north. The rump state was under the control of Neqsaidhar, founder of the Neqsaidharid dynasty, who was of Manuak origin.

The Badilgazids ruled much of Haksarad for about 100 years, before being driven out by Elyarki, descendant of Neqsaidhar, in 346. During those hundred years, however, the other successors had been unified under the Hyarukid kingdom, which now rivaled the Neqsaidharids. Haksarad remained split between these two kingdoms for over 100 years. In 501, Yetaz became the Neqsaidharid king. He was seen as incompetent and illegitimate, and he responded to this perception with brutal oppression. He also followed in the footsteps of Zabarko in declaring himself king. Once again, a prophet, Deisrak, arose to preach against this tyranny. In 506, Deisrak journeyed to the Hyarukid kingdom and petitioned their ruler, Ashnaqir, for help. Despite Ashnaqir’s numerical inferiority, he triumphed over Yetaz with the help of Deisrak's followers, the endorsement of the church and the abysmal public opinion of Yetaz. Ashnaqir was hailed a savior by the people and founded the Ashnaqid dynasty in 511.

Restored empire
For over a millennia after the restoration of Haksar rule by Ashnaqir, Haksarad was ruled by a series of dynasties in relative peace. The tributary system was restored, the church was returned to its former position and the empire began to view its relationship with smaller nations as an almost paternal one; they had a responsibility to spread the faith and protect those who were friendly toward them. Jarader proselytization was already significant in Haksar tributaries, but this period saw an explosion in the church’s evangelism. The side of light needed soldiers, and Haksar rulers and church leaders were determined to guarantee that it got them, regardless of ethnicity or national origin. Royal sponsorship of holy orders increased drastically, and the extent to which they operated outside the immediate vicinity of the empire was vastly expanded. The period between 511 and the middle of the 17th century was another golden age for Haksarad. Once again, art, literature, philosophy and theology saw some of its greatest Haksar contributions, especially as missionaries encountered new and foreign ideas and attempted to reconcile them with their own.

Aristocratic Haksarad
From the second half of the 17th century, the power of the crown waned. By 1740, the monarchy’s influence was virtually confined to the capital, while the rest of the country was dominated by local nobles and warlords who clashed for land and power. The incredible weakness of the central government allowed these powerful nobles and tribal leaders to subvert its authority and conduct diplomacy with foreign powers as near-sovereign entities unto themselves. It was this political landscape in Haksarad that allowed the Coffee Wars to come about, as various local powers granted special trading rights and leases on ports to different foreign nations, namely Edury, Gladomyr and Salia. Each of these three nations wished to monopolize the Haksar coffee trade, and they would go to war over it several times between 1750 and 1797. The wars were brought to an end when Wasir took the throne and, in a bid to reestablish the sovereignty of Haksarad and the authority of the crown, seized the leased ports for himself.

The reign of Wasir, from 1796 to 1803, brought both the Coffee Wars and the weakness of the monarchy to an end. This return to form was not to last, however, as the aristocracy had grown accustomed to their power. In 1803, Wasir was murdered by a group of noble conspirators, leading to a massive revolt of the peasantry, who saw Wasir as their liberator from the rampant tyranny of the kleptocratic nobles.

Wasir’s short rule had been a great respite for the people of Haksarad, and he was much loved among the peasantry and the tribes. After his murder, massive uprisings took place all over the country and violence erupted everywhere. Heavily outnumbered and afraid, the aristocrats petitioned their former Alutran allies for help, promising even more unequally beneficial trade agreements in exchange for military support against the revolutionaries. With the aid of the former belligerents of the Coffee Wars, the Haksar nobility managed to put down the peasant revolt by 1811.

Following their bloody and hard-fought victory, the aristocrats established a new government, installing Wasir's nine-year-old nephew as monarch—in reality, more a figurehead and puppet of the newly-instituted noble council, in which the majority of governmental power was vested. Additionally, they honored their promises to the Alutran powers, signing away one aspect of Haksar sovereignty after another, essentially divvying the country up into three spheres of influence.

First Haksar Revolution
Throughout the latter half of the 19th century, antigovernment revolutionary sentiments began to spread throughout the country, eventually making their way into the military. In 1889, the nation was thrust into a war between the nobility and the revolutionaries. As the war continued, the prominent revolutionary commander Husrak h'Assar Ha-Qayyet slowly centralized power around himself, and when the revolutionaries seized the Ivory Palace in 1898, he was coronated. By 1900, he had dealt with any lingering resistance, and on June 21, 1900—the summer solstice—he declared himself dayashafir.

Administrative divisions
Haksarad is officially divided into 34 civilian governorates, 11 military governorates and 4 municipalities, with each of these administrative divisions being subdivided into parishes. While the current system was instituted with the establishment of the unitary republic in 1938, it is largely continuous with the system under military rule and many governorates can be traced back to the monarchical period.

Foreign relations
Haksarad joined the World Forum in 19xx and is a founding member of the International Jarader Authority for Cooperation, the Jarader Bank for Economic Development, the League of Manuak Nations and the Council for Abayadi Prosperity.