Ersekë (1983: Doomsday)

The Lordship of Muzaka, usually known by the name of its capital, Ersekë, is a small survivor state in southern Albania.

Pre-Doomsday
The area of Ersekë was originally inhabited by various States of Epirus and the more established northern Greek tribes, largely the Dassaretae. The attractive strategic advantages of the region attracted many foreign invaders. The Ottoman occupation of the area began in 1440. The history of the town itself began in the 17th century, when it was founded. By 1785, the city was populated by around 100 families. However, the local population resisted various invasions, though without much success,, starting with the riots during the Roman and Ottoman Empires, and continuing until the independence of Albania in November 1912. In 1914 it came under the control of the Northern Epirote forces, which repelled the newly established Albanian gendarmerie units from the region.

Doomsday
At Doomsday, the location of Ersekë proved to be a great help to the local population. While the mountains had made the locals very poor, it also left them fairly secure against the ills of Doomsday, as they suffered no radiation damage or direct impacts.

Post-Doomsday
While the locals were largely fine, the area still eventually turned to chaos. Refugees from further north, where things went bad almost immediately, soon arrived in the area around Ersekë. Blaming the Greeks for the chaos, these groups from the north, now largely organized into gangs, of sorts, force the local Greeks out and began to fight with the local Albanians as well.

By the summer of 1984, these gangs had caused extensive damage to the region, and to a certain extent managed to destroy each other. By the next year, only four of these groups remained: two from the locals, and then two from the better-armed refugees. Issues between them largely amounted to ideology, with some supporting communism and others hating it, and being in favor of democracy or not.

During the fall of 1985, two of these gangs made an alliance. One of the groups of refugees, headed by a small number of sportsmen from the city of Korce, made an alliance with a local group, marrying the young son of their leader to the young daughter of the local leader. Together, these two groups, not inclined to communism, defeated the other two squabbling factions. Yet, just after their victory, the local leader died mysteriously, leaving the refugee leader, a member of the former basketball team in Korce, in charge. While he continued to recognize the agreed marriage, the other faction was crushed by his.

Claiming descent from the medieval State of Muzaka and its rulers, this leader, Robert Kuqo, proclaimed himself the head of a new Lordship of Muzaka, centered at Ersekë. Outside experts believe today that Kuqo was not completely sane by this point in time, but no guesses have been made as to why this would be the case either. All the same, he took control with his men, who were just glad to be safe and went along with it.

Kuqo kept a very tight grip on his territory, especially after other strongmen were discovered to have taken control of both Korce and other cities. Using the terrain, Kuqo began to fortify the region, believing that he could hold the territory against outsiders. This proved a good plan, as it saved the area from being attacked during the Albanian Civil Wars, and likely helped them when Macedonian expansion to their east began.

Despot Kuqo refused to join the Albanian nation-state that was formed in the aftermath of the Civil Wars, believing that its defenses, along with its location near Macedonia and Heptanesa, would keep it safe from them. In this, the last major decision of his reign, he was right, as the state survived the destruction of that Albanian state. On April 17th, 1999, the Despot passed on in his sleep, and his son, Ermal Kuqo, took his crown.

Another offer for the state to join the Albanian state occurred after its loss to Macedonia in the Albania-Macedonia war. This too was turned down by the Despot. Today, the Despot lives in fear of both the Macedonians and the Greeks, who both have some sort of ambition towards the region. Towards this end, the defenses erected by his father are constantly being improved, and the population trained to defend the area.