Nyazwe (Merveilles du Monde Map Game)

Union of Nyazwe      Mubatanidzwa weNyazwe Timeline: Merveilles du Monde (Map Game) OTL equivalent: Southern Africa
Nyazwe in Southern Africa (1350)
Capital (and largest city)		Lusvingo
Official languages		Shona
Ethnic groups		Shona
Religion		Faraism
Demonym		Shona
Government		Meritocratic oligarchical republic
-	Zvakane	Chatunga waAkashinga
Legislature		Hamadzese
Establishment
-	Kingdom	1220
-	Reorganized	1338
-	Constitution	1363
Area
-	Total	2,351,434 km2  907,894 sq mi
Population
-	1350 census	3,400,308
-	Density	1.45/km2  3.8/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		1350 estimate
-	Total	FD 1,559,517,377 (US$4,288,672,787)
-	Per capita	FD 459 (US$$1,261)
Currency		Sharafu Dhahabu (5 g gold coin) Fedha (5 g silver coin) Shaba (2·5 g silver coin)

Nyazwe (Shona: tr. Nyazwe), officially known as the Union of Nyazwe (Shona:    tr. Mubatanidzwa weNyazwe), is a large Sub-Saharan African state located in Southern Africa south of the Zambezi River. The kingdom itself is the largest power on the continent located beyond the southern reaches of the Congo Basin, extending from the banks of the Zambezi River to its north, down to the edges of the Orange River, with the Kalahari Desert serving as a limiting factor upon the kingdom's westward frontiers.

The country was established in 1338 as a successor state to the old Zimbabwe, established more than a century prior in 1220. A series of social, political, and economic developments promoted by the teachings of Farai waRutendo, a scholar and court official from Manyikeni, who writings on the issues of human interactions and social development were collected into the ideology of Faraism by the mid-14th century. These teachings would culminate in the ultimate decision by Mambo Akashinga waKutonga, the ruler of Zimbabwe during the period, to fully adopt the Faraic ideology into the organs of state power, and the widespread adoption of Faraism as the legitimizing factor for state authority in 1338. The Kingdom of Zimbabwe would be dissolved by Akashinga, and the religious leaders of the Shona put to death in line with the secular and humanistic teachings of the new state ideology.

The establishment of Nyazwe would see the implementation of a new set of concepts introducing the formation of a merit-based government, equality between all peoples based on a shared vision of a Faraic world, beneficial interactions between all nations, the adoption of rationalism and abandonment of dogmatism, and the complete and total integration of all other peoples into Nyazwe as the "One State" of humanity. While these beliefs were originally held to be impossible and hopelessly idealistic, the revelation of their insignificance on the global stage from the Shona point of view, came to radically alter the worldview of the people who made up the population of Zimbabwe, and saw both the people and their leaders commit themselves to the vision held by Farai to bring all other peoples into their society and rid the world of the ideologues and zealots who brought on death and superstition to humanity.

Government

Structure of the government of Nyazwe

Institutions

Great Officiate

The Officiate is comprised of seven state ministries, all of which are direct subordinate organs of the state. There are listed below by order of precedence:

1. Ministry of State – TBD
2. Ministry of War – TBD
3. Ministry of Means – TBD
4. Ministry of Land – TBD
5. Ministry of Knowledge – TBD
6. Ministry of Justice – TBD
7. Ministry of Works – TBD

Hamadzese

The Hamadzese is a large representative body which aids the Zvakane of Nyazwe in governing the country and addressing the needs of the citizens throughout the realm. Established in the mid-1330s, the Hamadzese is comprised of about forty to ninety members depending on the state of the realm, with its individual members drawn from throughout the country's eighteen districts. Each of the representatives selected to serve in the body hails from a tract of land within their district known as a range or nharaunda, which is drawn up based on the number of adult men with enough property or wealth to be registered as voters by the district's censors. As of 1350, each nharaunda had a total electorate size of some 9,680 adult male voters. On every fifth year, all men disposed to voicing their concerns to the state, are permitted to head to their range's designated assembly area to debate among themselves and their superiors, which of their number shall be selected for the honor of going to the capital city of Lusvingo on their behalf, and voicing the needs of their people before the Zvakane and his government. A tally of all votes for a particular candidate is taken, and whoever wins by means of a simple majority is appointed as the new mumiririri, or "representative", of his nharaunda.

The institution has the ability to suggest laws that would benefit the state to the Zvakane, but has no power to unilaterally do so without his consent. Likewise, following a series of internal uprisings, the Zvakane no longer passes laws himself without consulting the Hamadzese for its opinion on his decision. Furthermore, the Hamadzese has the ability to block or approve any wars against civilized states undertaken by the Zvakane for the sake of the nation's collective interests, though it has no authority over the military, which falls directly under the oversight of the Zvakane. Any member of the Hamadzese may be dismissed from his post by the Zvakane should he be found lacking in good character, deemed a threat to the interests of the state, or otherwise found to be incapable of performing his duties. This removal process requires the consent of at least two-thirds of the representative body, though the organization is known to be favorable toward the requests of the Zvakane, and such votes are taken without extensive debate. The Hamadzese has no individual head, though the older and wealthier members of the body typically form the leadership within the institution.

Military

The military of Nyazwe is divided into two branches; the Vakadanwa (the army) and the Zvikepe (the navy). The Vakadanwa consists of some 36,000 soldiers and ten warships...

Society and culture

Religion

Among the people of Nyazwe, religion as an institution is effectively dead, having been replaced almost entirely by the cold rationalism advocated within the humanistic philosophies of Faraism. Faraism completely dispelled the old traditions of spiritualism and dogmatism promoted by the elders of old Shona culture, and by brute force and effective reasoning, brought the people of Nyazwe into an era where the gods themselves have been placed into a position of irrelevance in the daily lives of the citizenry. While Faraism does not completely deny the existence of deities, and in fact teaches that a god or gods exist, it does make clear their inaction and disinterest within the lives of mortal man, leaving him to fend for himself much the same way a parent would have their child do to become their own person. As a society, religion to the people of Nyazwe is dead and gone, and the focus of the population is on the furtherance of their needs in the material realm which are very much real.

Education

Nyazwe differs greatly from most other contemporary states in the world with regards to education, in that the organs of power which govern the country have established a system of education open to the general population. Teachers are employed by the state through the Ministry of Knowledge, and literature for study commissioned by the state and produced in quantity by artisans located in the cities of Lusvingo, Mapungubwe, Khami, and Muromo Wenyika. The introduction of the movable type blocks from China through Arab and Swahili traders came at a time where the Shona had just adopted their own writing system which was tailored to the phonological needs of their language, more so than the more common Arabic script found in the cities of Sofala, Zanzibar, and Mombasa.

Currently, the education system in Nyazwe is structured to have one teacher per thirty youths within a boma, with the result on paper being a decent level of coverage for both the urban and rural settlements of the kingdom. However, the Ministry of Knowledge is struggling to provide enough teachers, known as muperekedzi, for all of the youth within the kingdom, as there are, as of 1340, only 3,600 qualified educators within Nyazwe as a whole. To meet the needs of educating all youth throughout Nyazwe, the state would require at least 15,600 teachers, for which it has the funds to support, but not the pool of literate or qualified individuals. In light of this information, the government has moved to incrementally increase the teachers within its employ to the suitable number over the next several decades.

The education system within Nyazwe is compulsory for all youths able to access a member of the muperekedzi. Every boma is sent an educator by the state who resides in the enclosure with the inhabitants, and provides lessons on reading, writing, and mathematics as directed by the government. They also provide an education in Faraic philosophies and ethics to help the youth become better accustomed to the ideals of the state itself, and the motivating factor for their futures. As aforementioned, the current coverage for this system of education remains relatively limited to the major urban centers of Nyazwe due to a lack of teachers. However, in the areas that are accessible for an education, the local populace makes full use of the services provided.

Demographics

All societies which have been conquered or assimilated into the culture of Nyazwe are deemed to have been rendered "civic compliant", or just "compliant", a statement made of any civilizations whose cultures and religions have been so thoroughly eradicated so as to make them compatible with the ideals of Nyazwe. The goal of the state is to bend the rest of humanity to its will, and bring them into a state of enlightenment possible only through the ideologies promoted through Faraism, with a singular secular and humanistic society based on the rationality and tangibility offered through scientific understanding of the world. Within Nyazwe, there are no Shona, Nguni, Khosian, Arabs, Swahili, or Indian people; only citizens or vagari, as held by the state.

All members of society are subject to the same laws and the same exceptions as those of the majority population. As a color-blind civilization, Nyazwe's people judge other individuals based on their actions and contributions to society, rather than their outward appearances. As such, it is very possible for a foreign to be accepted as a citizen based on his or her contributions to the state, though this requires a degree of flexibility and sacrifice, as the institutions maintained within Nyazwe require a great deal of state interference in the personal lives of its citizens. Faith in anything other than the state and its people is prohibited, with religious shrines, temples, effigies, and texts torn down and destroyed, and those men and women involved in their promulgation liquidated.

As the moment, the Shona are the dominate ethnic group within the country, though their bloodlines have been almost entirely diluted by the intermixing of Arabs and Nguni into their families and communities. As a matter of practicality, the official language of Nyazwe is Shona, though the state is not shy in appropriating terms and concepts belonging to other civilizations, and adapting them for their own needs as the times see fit. Miscegenation is perfectly legal under existing laws, and there is no state discrimination toward minorities or foreigners, that is, so long as they adopt Nyazwe's customs and legal standards. Beyond this, the concepts of merit-based service and advancement as held within the ideals of Faraism, dominate Nyazwe's views toward demography, and they remain a potent reminder as to the effects this philosophy has had on their population.