History and Government ::

Originally colonized by the British, Namaan’s borders were drawn by its colonial owner. The British pulled out of Namaan following WWII and a dictator named Ali Hajjar rose to fill the void. For two decades Hajjar ruled the country by force in order to control Namaan's multiple cultural groups, competing religions, and tribal value systems. He took ownership over public and private land, taking freedom and resources from the people. Despite several uprisings during Hajjar's dictatorship, no group was able to overthrow him.

During the Cold War in the 1970s, religion began to threaten Hajjar's dictatorship. Hajjar bribed religious leaders to ensure his dominance and keep control over the people of Namaan. As places of worship grew larger, they grew more vocal against Hajjar's regime. The corrupt religious leaders under Hajjar had grown wealthy off Hajjar and powerful in the eyes of the people.

The knee jerk reaction by the dictatorship was to establish laws limiting the power of religious leaders. This angered the most prominent religious group in Amundi, the Sutulists. Due to the Sutulist popularity and power base, they were able to launch a successful coup that unseated Hajjar and put the country under Sutulist control.

Namaan was divided into seven provinces; four in the north, three in the south. Individuals in each province would vote for their provincial parliament. A chief provincial representative would be elected and sit in Amundi to act on behalf of their province. However, due to Sutulist provincial boundaries, a Sutulist majority council was always guaranteed in Amundi.

Sutulist leadership formed a council; seven governors of Namaan who would elect a 'Son of Sutul' to act as a supreme leader. Once named, the Son of Sutul became more powerful than the council itself until his death or voluntary resignation.

The following years after the coup were prosperous. Farmlands were returned to citizens. Foreign investment fueled industrialization in the southern provinces. Unemployment was at an all-time low. Mountain ranges in the south were mined for coal and iron that allowed new infrastructure projects, including Tiplam junction, a modern power plant, and a telecommunications relay.

The resulting prosperity earned the new theocratic regime praise and acceptance among Namaanian citizens. Sutulism grew and its fundamental belief in prosperity and wealth above all else drove a new golden age.

Public approval of the Sutulist regime made it possible for new laws. Provinces were limited to voting only on pre-approved government candidates. Sutulist holiday customs were enforced by law, and strict social restrictions were placed on citizens.

In southern provinces religion took less of a priority in people's lives. South culture still centered on independent values, individual work ethic, and pre-colonial social structures tied to tribal and social class systems. So long as the northern theocracy kept Namaan and the south prosperous, south Namaan was content.

Towards the end of the cold war, Namaan discovered large reserves of crude oil beneath the desert. Investment priority shifted from mining and manufacturing to crude oil production for export, with new emphasis on logistics and transportation.

Government leadership in Amundi grew frustrated that the south failed to enforce Sutulist religious laws and social restrictions. To push reform, the central government dispatched Sutulist 'enforcers' to all cities and towns in southern Namaan.

Government taxes and fines followed as enforcers reported southern infractions. The south entered a recession as wealth was redirected to the North. Southerners, feeling harassed by the Amundi enforcers, felt a growing rift with the north.

Amundi grew into a prosperous city while Rowet, the former manufacturing powerhouse in the south, began to shrink. Southern businesses began to shut down or move away from manufacturing to seek northern approval.

Migrant workers started traveling north. Northern Sutulist provinces became increasingly nervous by the migration and saw it as a threat to the Sutulist controlled council. Provinces in the north began passing laws banning non-Sutulist individuals from owning businesses in the North.

Among the public, intolerance and discrimination grew against southern non-Sutulist Namaanians - especially traditional Ruvosists. Non-Sutulists were excluded from employment in the north. Restricted by the central government from foreign money and northern wealth, the south fell further into economic despair.

A southern Ruvosist priest named Arlen Nazari became a vocal political critic against Amundi. He started gathering a following in Rowet and created a political party seeking independence from the Sutulist controlled council. Nazari’s ideals spoke of democracy and equality for all citizens despite their ethnicity or religion. His popularity grew rapidly and he was soon seen as a threat to the Sutulist council in Amundi.

The north was dependant on southern agriculture to provide food for northern citizens. Southern control of national food resources was a real strategic concern for the North. To safeguard northern control,  Amundi ordered enforcers to imprison Arlen Nazari on charges of blasphemy and treason against the Sutulist government.

Nazari was jailed along with several of his most active supporters. Ruvosists rallied immediately and took to the streets to protest Sutulist oppression. Sutulist enforcers were ordered to quell southern protests with violence. In the north protests were broken easily. But in the south, enforcers were met with equal aggression and ultimately purged from southern provinces.

Seizing the opportunity, southern parliaments began seceding from Amundi and claimed independence. Leadership was elected in the south under a unified separatist movement. Amundi refused to recognize the south’s independence, but several key military and political leaders defected to join the southern cause.

The south began mining coal and iron once again. It resumed foreign trade that funded a professional military and intelligence service. A unified purpose - independence and freedom - won the hearts and minds of the South.