Dembiya

= Dembiya =

Dembiya (Ambawi: ደምቢያ; Gelgeli: 𐒆𐒗𐒑𐒁𐒕𐒕𐒛, Dembiiyaa), officially the Abrahamic Republic of Dembiya (Ambawi: የደምቢያ ሰንበታዊጎንግዋጉግ Ye-Dembiya Senibetawi Gonigiwagug; Gelgeli: 𐒃𐒖𐒑𐒔𐒓𐒇𐒘𐒕𐒖𐒆𐒖 𐒈𐒖𐒁𐒂𐒘𐒆𐒖𐒏𐒖 𐒆𐒗𐒑𐒁𐒕𐒕𐒛, Jamhuuriyadda Sabtidaka Dembiiyaa), is a country

Prehistory
Dembiya has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, being one of the main pathways anatomically modern humans used to spread from Miju to the rest of the world.

Azebic Empire
Around 500 BCE, several tribes from Shomera fled to the south as the result of a succession crisis and religious schism, claiming to carry with them the true Shomeran-Sabbatarian royal and religious lineage (a claim central to Dembiyan nationhood to this day), and settled in the Dembiyan central highlands, where they intermingled with the local people and founded their own kingdom of Azeba. Azeba gradually united the highlands and then subjugated and conquered the coastal states, with the conquests having aspects of a religious mission.

By the start of the common era it had grown into an empire and was enjoying a golden age. As one of the first major Sabbatarian empires, it played a key role in the religion’s further spread from Napsal to Miju and other regions through its extensive maritime trade, and Azebic is still in widespread use in the Sabbatarian world as a liturgical language to this day. By the fourth century Qwara had begun to decline, weakened from within by religious conflicts between Sabbatarian sects with the rise of the new Black Cap sect.

Menneferian rule
Around 500 CE, Dembiya was conquered by Mennefer and remained under Menneferian rule for the next couple centuries, a traumatic period during which Sabbatarianism was persecuted by the ruling Jaatunists.

First Dembiyan Empire
By the 700s the Menneferian Empire itself began to decline and Dembiya was able to rebel and break free, establishing the Dembiyan Empire under a new dynasty claiming descent from Qwara and by extension from ancient Shomera (though it was only an empire in name and would never again reach the heights of Azeba). The new empire would also firmly establish Blue Cap as the dominant Sabbatarian sect in Dembiya.

In the 18th century, as Sinjuan colonialism spread to Napsal, Dembiya became coveted by the colonial powers for its strategic position.

Hokanese protectorate
After some jockeying for power, by the end of the century it had become a Hokanese protectorate; the emperor would continue to rule but it was a Hokanese colony in all but name.

Second Dembiyan Empire
It regained its independence after the Hokanese revolution, and the monarchy fended off an attempt to impose a socialist government and resumed power.

During Eulhae, Dembiya’s strategic position relative to Mennefer and Nukigurun again became coveted by the Sinjuan powers. Dembiya attempted to remain neutral, but was occupied by the Allies and compelled to join their war effort. After the war, the victorious powers continued to interfere in Dembiyan politics, fueling popular resentment towards the monarchy as a Sinjuan puppet. While significantly beneficial to the economy, the monarchy’s ambitious modernization and secularization projects and resulting upheaval added further controversy.

Sabbatarian Republic
In the 1970s, the empire was overthrown by a popular revolution that ended with the installation of an anti-Sinjuan Sabbatarian theocratic republic. It survived an initial war attempting to depose it and continues to be a controversial state accused of supporting Sabbatarian extremism throughout Yoju and Miju.