Empty Description

The Fifth Empire of Ashkera is a mostly forested nation with a wide variety of climates, split between a subcontinent-sized landmass and several chains of large islands. Ruled by an enigmatic government with interests in technology, risk analysis, and environmental management, it has recently reprised its historical role as a contender to the West for global hegemony.

Ashkera is founder of the Greater Xyanzar Joint Development & Defense Initiative (GX or JDI), a group of politically-illiberal countries with an agenda of national development. Though GX sided with the Liberal Democrats during the Cold War, by 2030 many of the Western democracies see the country as a latent threat. Recent megaprojects focused on addressing climate change have raised tensions over the risks of geoengineering.

The nation has a highly-developed mixed economy backed by a substantial, but goal-oriented welfare system. The police state government mostly permits citizens to live their own lives, but watches carefully for anyone to slip up. Civil order reigns supreme and crime is well under control.

Capitalism and Socialism are considered mere tools to meet national objectives, members of rioting political groups are forced to purchase insurance against their risk of terrorism, state-owned enterprises are known to mysteriously profit from complex geopolitical disruptions, and tax accountants are rapidly being replaced with machine-learning software.

A growing underclass zip between state-subsidized microjobs on mopeds, guided by their smartphones. Organized crime has been replaced with a 'theme park' version of itself based on ritualistic dueling and feudal codes of honor, with its foreign branches subverted by the state's intelligence apparatus. Criminal organizations follow careful safety guidelines when dispensing drugs in order minimize their liability. Semi-secret police are used to fight insurance fraud, monitor compliance with environmental laws, and conduct elaborate anti-corruption sting operations. Trafficking in children or nuclear materials is punishable by public execution.

The path of the central figure of the national religion reads like a cross between a book of moral allegories and The Art of War, and followers are expected to emulate its half-devil warrior-philosopher and prepare for the final war with the heavens. It is customary to smash an idol of the God of Failure before taking the National General University Entrance Exam. Survival techniques and martial arts are taught in every school from age seven up, even though only rural children have a real risk of death by wild animal attack.

Access to tilt-rotor aircraft is considered high-status, intellectuals in other countries have sneeringly described the country as a 'futuristic dystopia' since 1972, and Oversight Councillor One has replaced the Illuminati in the imaginations of conspiracy theorists the world over.

Often referred to as the “Gateway to the World” in times both ancient and modern, Vistora is an island-bound city-state positioned at the convergence point of the Old World’s most important maritime trade routes, enabling the diminutive isle to act as an international hub for trading and commerce since antiquity.

Though its current administration was formally established in 1934 following its departure from Caradish suzerainty, Vistora as a civilization is considered to be the heir to a contiguous civic tradition stretching back no less than 2700 years, when fugitive Pasdian slaves formed a colony on the island and established one of the world’s first and oldest republics, then and ever since known as Vistora. Even as great empires rose and fell all around it, for all but a few brief spells Vistora retained its core independence and distinctive identity all throughout time.

In modern times, Vistora has become one of the world’s largest and most prosperous cities, not only in its historical role as a global trade entrepôt and transportation hub, but also a worldwide leader in technology, finance, and other advanced knowledge/service-economy sectors, as well as high-value manufacturing. It often tops global charts of GDP per capita, human development, economic freedom, public service quality, and clean governance, although conversely it struggles with income inequality and job security.

As a country long famed for its wealth and located at the crossroads of so many historical civilizations, Vistora has seen a vast diversity of peoples arrive throughout time in search of the freedom and fortune it offered. As a result, Vistora is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse countries in the world, featuring a great many large diasporic communities in addition to its “native” Cesatrianate population. Nevertheless, its native culture and historical religion of Mahanism provide a rich substrate that nevertheless remains prominent in Vistoran society to this day.

Vistora’s political structure is moreover rather unique in spite of its faithful adherence to republican custom. Today identified as a sort of “Liberal-Technocracy”, its two prime constituents date back to the time of its founding; a single Shahrthār (variously translated as “Mayor” or “Chief Executive”) typically elected by the citizen body to act as the individual head of state and government, and a Parishād (“Council”) of circularly self-appointed technocratic legislators.

Vistora is also a popular tourist destination. Its “Old City” of well-preserved historical buildings from major civilizations dating back to classical antiquity is considered a treasure trove for archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and sightseers alike. Meanwhile, its vastly populous central sectors are famous for its numerous modern attractions—Vistora is host to the Hyperspeed International motorsport league’s Championship Finals—crowned with a skyscraper-studded skyline containing Moonlight Plaza, the tallest tower in the world a 1600 meters, followed by no less than the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth tallest after it.

The Republic of Sunqaristan is a small, relatively barren country surrounded by mountains. Its primary exports are quinoa, alpaca fleece, and heavy metals which feed the Ashkeran nuclear industry.

The ruling Sunqari Futurist Party came power during the Cold War, funded, armed, and supplied with propaganda materials by the Fifth Empire of Ashkera, which had an interest in the country due to its large deposits of thorium and uranium, and close proximity to the Soviet Union. That it triumphed over the Communist Sunqari Peoples Revolutionary Army while right next to the USSR is generally considered either quite remarkable or a victory for Ashkeran air power, depending on who one asks.

Since then, the country has been effectively ruled as a hereditary monarchy by the Qarsiga family. Economic activity is dominated by the mining industry in the north, the JDI military base not far from the capital, and the Tas Sarayi (1971) and Jer Sarayi (2016) arcologies in the capital, each a futurist experiment funded by the JDI and intended to push Sunqaristan into a new era of economic development. The arcologies have mostly failed in this goal, and instead house the wealthiest and most connected members of Sunqari society.

The current ruler is a vain 42-year-old woman with children by three men and seven surrogates, most known internationally for her attempts to connect with modern pop culture via the Internet and hiring aging celebrities from more developed countries. By dictator standards she is otherwise largely harmless.

In 2006, most Republican voters in the United States considered Ashkera's then-NTU Chairman Augul Tzulan's "three step plan" for "national genesis in Tellura within one generation" to be both an act of hubris and an act of betrayal.

The Ashkerans didn't agree, and after Ashkera's involvement in the 2003 Telluran War sunk the ruling National Technocracy Union's approval numbers to multi-decade lows, Mr. Haoi's announcement saw poll numbers begin to recover. In 2009, the Obama administration agreed to a partitioning of responsibilities in Tellura as a means to draw down American troop commitments. The area under JDI control became known as the West Telluran Military Control Zone.

The Joint Defense Initiative rewrote every textbook in the control zone, trained thousands of new teachers and new personnel, imposed discipline towards a new order on hundreds of cultural issues (from requiring new sanitation rules in food preparation to banning cousin marriage), and built new infrastructure, violently putting down resistance. Tellura had skewed young, and for the new generation, partially culturally divorced from their parents due to speaking Erdlish, "Western Telluria" is all they've ever known. Older children watched the transformation first-hand, while for younger children, many now in their early 20s, the wave of development occurred just before they arrived at their life milestones.

In January of 2025, military leaders in West Telluria, with the approval of the newly-elected President, declared formal independence from Tellura and the formation of a new Republic. The original Republic of Tellura wasn't really in a position to stop them. On December 3rd, 2025, the new country was admitted into the Joint Defense Initiative.

A period of mandatory military or civil service is required to obtain full citizenship and the right to vote, and Ashkeran colonial government personnel were slowly phased out as new West Tellurian citizens completed their training and experience in government positions.

The re-emergence of the Wafa'ist State of Tellura and Niramia in 2010 proved to be the uniting challenge for the older members of the new generation, as the newly-drafted West Telluran troops were trained by JDI personnel and issued older JDI equipment to go and fight WSTN in Tellura. Showing greater discipline than neighboring armies, they managed to largely push WSTN out of Tellura by 2013, though periodic terrorist attacks continued throughout the country.

The seat of economic and political power is the planned city of Jabal Abyad, constructed along the coast to serve as the new capital and as a regional hub for petrochemical refining (vertical integration) specializing in plastics and other materials. A nuclear-powered desalination plant, one of the largest in the world, has been built along the coast.

Though some progress has been made, nearly three decades after America launched the Telluran War, the Republic of Tellura remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world on several international rankings. The country was split by occupying forces in 2009, with the western portion falling under the control of Ashkera and the Joint Defense Initiative, while the core and eastern portions fell under an increasingly sparse coalition of American and NEATO forces. Periodic outbursts of sectarian violence continued well into 2022.

The Wafa'ist State of Tellura and Niramia re-emerged in the conflict-torn country in early 2010, coming over the border from Niramia and drawing fighters from all over the world. Republic forces had significant difficulty repelling them, and they temporarily seized the capital in early 2012, threatening to cause a total governmental collapse. JDI-backed forces from West Telluria pushed WSTN out of the bulk of the country by late 2012, and eventually out of Tellura entirely by early 2013.

West Telluria declared independence in 2025. Though there has been some talk of reunification, it is considered less likely with each passing year as the countries diverge farther governmentally and culturally.