Lower Laai Republic

The Lower Laai Republic (LLR) (: 下瀨共和國, Haa Laai Gungwogwok; : 하뢰공화국, Ha Roe Gonghwagug; : Kongweugwok du Ba-Lai; : Kongweugwok del Bash-Lai), officially the Republic of the Lower Laai and also known simply as Lower Laai or the Lower Laai, and historically Pacheol or Meisaani Pacheol, is a country located in West Yoju. The Lower Laai Republic is bordered by Talamh Caonach to the north, Iparmatseta to the west, Lanstria and Audennes to the northwest, and Sora to the east.

The earliest sedentary peoples in the area that is now the Lower Laai arrived in about 6800 BCE. Domestication of several animals and crops had occurred by 2000 BCE, as well as the introduction of boats for trading and fishing. The early inhabitants were mostly  tribes in the north and  in the west. From about 1000 BCE to 300 BCE, it is thought that major migrations of -speaking peoples arrived in the Lower Laai from the east, possibly as they were pushed out of the Rashnna peninsula, though recorded evidence is scarce.

Prior to colonization, the region around the Laai River was never the center of a unified state, but rather existed on the periphery of many. From 180 to the 400s CE, the coastal south received some visits from Rashnnan explorers, who set up trading centers and led occasional raids inland. The north was, from 900 CE, often on the edge of the Audennes empire, established in one of several substantial influxes of Germanic peoples from across Sora. Between the 1000s and 1800s CE, cycles of minor kingdoms and empires of various sizes controlled parts of the region, each lasting for approximately 200-300 years. Copper, salt, dried fish, and textiles dominated the regional economy.

However, a large portion of the Laai region is covered by the Demare, a massive wetland and one of the largest swamps in the world. This natural barrier impeded the region’s development in any substantial way beyond subsistence agriculture. Writing systems were never developed for Frãsé and other languages.

Sinju explorers, primarily Tosanese, first discovered the Laai River region in the 1600s-1700s. They named the area Pāche (believed to be a mishearing of the Frãsé word pretr, referring to a priest or shaman; the name later entered Meisaani as Paakcit, and Jeongmian as Pacheol). However, its marshy coastal section did not make a naturally appealing colony or trade center, and the inland region was largely inaccessible. As a result, the area remained mostly ignored until the late 1800s, even as the Tosanese and Kinshunese established various smaller colonies around the West Yoju littoral. However, in 1879, at the height of the Sinjuan global colonial project, Meisaan, Fusen, and Jeongmi took an interest in expanding their territorial conquests into the inland of West Yoju. Fusen asserted its dominion over Bakusai; Jeongmi seized the massive territory of Sora and the eastern half of Pacheol. Not to be left behind, Meisaan seized the western half as the colony of Meisaani Pacheol (: Pakset Mesanik), along with modern-day Iparmatseta and Jiugong, together forming the colonial federation of Meisaani West Yoju.

Throughout the first half of the 1900s, Meisaani Pacheol was administered from Jiugong. Nominally focused on bringing Sinju civilization to the backward native tribes, Meisaani control was largely run through private enterprises that endeavored to explore and exploit Pacheol’s natural assets. Large mining operations commenced in the colony’s north, and the Demare’s extent and influence was vastly diminished by several drainage and road-building projects aimed at limiting sickness among Meisaani colonists. Pacheol had never been a highly productive region, and overall contributed a minuscule amount to the Meisaani colonial economy; nevertheless, the natives were often forced into labor building infrastructure, on farms, or in mines. The population declined drastically after 1900. A few revolts in 1920-21 were violently suppressed by the Meisaani administration.

After the Great Eulhae War, Meisaan was left devastated; colonial reforms led to increasing representation for Meisaani West Yoju. In 1949, the colonies — except for Jiugong — formed an autonomous association of the Meisaani Commonwealth of West Yojuan States. In 1954, the Commonwealth broke up and Meisaani Pacheol became the Republic of Pacheol. The Great Movement for the Liberation and Prosperity of West Yoju (: 西瑤洲民主富民大運動; Saijiuzau Manzyu Fuman Daai Wandung, or SMFDW), which had been established in 1938 as an anti-colonial representative of the people of Pacheol, was the largest political force in the newly independent country. Antagonism between its mostly Frãsé supporters and the Gaskõ-led Pacheol Development Party (: 帕徹發展黨; Paakcit Faatsin Dong, PFD) led to several riots in the capital, Mokdou. However, in Pacheol’s first national elections in 1955, the SMFDW candidate, Dyubwa Hing-Coeng (뒤뵈馨祥), was elected as the country’s president. He governed a single-party regime, expelling political rivals and forcing many of them to flee to Meisaan. During this time, Meisaani companies continued to operate much of the country’s economy, including its northern mines.

In 1961, Dyubwa’s government was overthrown in a military-led coup. Military leaders governed for a year before transitioning to civilian rule and writing a new constitution. In 1986, the civilian government was overthrown again in a coup led by army Col. Peti Ogyustẽ, who dissolved the national legislature and ruled through his military clique of allies. The country was officially renamed from Pacheol to the Lower Laai Republic, meant to replace a colonial and ethnically charged term with a neutral, geographic label. In 1989, Ogyustẽ’s government dealt with a Basque rebellion in the northwest. Lagging economic development and unresolved ethnic tensions, as well as an increasingly harsh regime under his successor, Bosheumẽ Yik-Kyun (보쓰맨益權), led to an abrupt, Meisaani-backed coup in 1996. Independently verified democratic elections were held for the first time in the history of the country, electing LeButiye Ãdre as president.

The advent of a religious militant insurgency in Audennes in 2003 destabilized the LeButiye government, as rebels took over northern quarter of the country. Political paralysis prompted another bloodless coup in 2005, followed by another in 2010 when president Moro Hon-Wai attempted to modify the constitution to remove his term limits. However, the subsequent election was divided along ethnic lines and fraudulence was reported to be rampant; although Senak Koeng (새닠強) was elected, his opponent, Gen. Tibodo Filip, challenged the result. The mostly Tibodists resorted to violence, taking over several towns and forming coalitions with several other rebel groups in the north. The Senak regime’s response constituted the start of the Lower Laai Civil War in 2011, which continued sporadically until a fragile peace agreement in 2017, though the rebels still de facto control more than half of the country’s land area. Basque sovereigntist fighters re-emerged as a threat in the west around 2013 and conflict has continued in that region until the present.

Today, the Lower Laai Republic is one of the poorest and least-developed countries in the world, suffering from ongoing armed conflict, consequent human rights abuses, inefficient agriculture, high fertility rates without birth control and resulting overpopulation, the poor educational level and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor healthcare, and environmental degradation. It has the lowest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world, despite its significant mineral resources, and is ranked as one of the worst countries in which to live on a variety of scales. Meisaan continues to economically support the Lower Laai, and acts as the primary destination for many Lower Laai emigrants and refugees.