Sihu

Sihu (:シフ), officially the Republic of Sihu (シフ共和国) is an located in Bangju. The country is located in the East Sea. Sihu covers an area of 606.23 square kilometres (335 sq mi) and consists of an archipelago covering over 100 islands. Sihu shares maritime borders with several countries; Kinshu to the north, Sikuku, X to the east and Igu to the south.

Historically most of the population of Sihu were involved in fishing and agriculture on the island. The archipelago became the centre of a race for influence in the East Sea in the XXth century and was occupied by X in XXXX. The village of Asamachi became an important port and expanded rapidly. The population of the archipelago grew rapidly before plateauing in the mid-17th century. The first factory on the island opened in the mid 18th century, agriculture and fishing however were still the most important sectors of the local economy. On the outbreak of the Eulhae War the island's factories began manufacturing firearms and became an important ship-building hub and port. The archipelago was subject to a blockade by X which caused mass-starvation on the islands. Combined with repeated air raids led to thousands of deaths over the war which devastated the local economy and population. After the war the island fell under supervision of the Congress of Nations. In this period the economy began to recover and rationing was ended in 1957. The archipelago became independent in 1958 and quickly fell into recession when the agricultural industry began to shrink, faced with an impending crisis the national government, a grand coalition between the centre-left Sihu Social Democrats and the centre-right People's Party began promoting the archipelago as a business hub and slashed corporation taxes. The plan had mixed results, much of the archipelago became absorbed by the rapidly expanding city of Asamachi which ruined the local agricultural economy however the economy transitioned to an industrial one quickly. The 'Orange' coalition as it became known as governed the country between 1958 and 2002 when it was abolished. Following a landslide victory in the 2002 general election the Sihu Social Democrats reinstated corporation taxes which made some companies leave the island. The economy however grew at a steady rate. A major oil spill combined with a devastating storm that caused widespread flooding in 2017 led to a surge in support to the Green Future Party which was able to win the 2019 general election and form a centrist coalition.

Sihu is a member of numerous international organisations such as the Congress of Nations (since 1958) and the Sinju Union. The Sihu Armed forces which was established during the CoN mandate is the primary defence force of the country. Sihu ranks highly in the global (HDI) list. Sihu is home to many large companies which moved their headquarters to Sihu to take advantage of it's low corporation taxes, the country is also home to many start up tech companies and is also a manufacturing hub.