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Nation Name (long): The United Tribes of Vasja Anam
Nation Name (short): Vasja Anam
Motto: From the Smallest Stones, Mighty Mountains Grow
National Animal: Starling
National Flower/Plant: Cedar Tree
National Anthem: Bound by Words, Forged in Blood
Capitol: The Longhouse - Suja City (Pop. 2.5mil)
Largest City: Tarda - Vennata Tribe (Pop. 4mil).
Demonym: Anami
Language: Mixture of traditional tribal dialects. An Anami language was introduced around a century ago, and is taught alongside traditional languages and Staynish in schols.
Species: Human
Population: 28 Million
Government type: Tribal Confederation
Leader(s): Grand Council of Elders
Legislature: A Council of Elders runs each tribe, and each Council elects one of their members to serve as their representative on the Grand Council - which is responsible for foreign policy and national strategy on matters such as defence, infrastructure and health - though many issues are decentralised. Each Elder serves for life unless impeached - Grand Council seats have a term limit of 8 years.
Formation: Roughly 200 years ago, though the exact date is not precisely known
Total GDP: $308,000,000,000
GDP per capita: $11,000
Calling Code: 161
ISO 3166 code: .pcw
Historical Summary: The nation of Vasja Anam is made up of 11 separate tribes, each of which traces its history back beyond written records. At various points, each tribe has at some point been allied with or against each other in some combination - effectively creating an environment where no one tribe could achieve dominance over its neighbours, but also limiting each tribes’ individual capacity to develop and grow to its fullest potential. Each tribe spoke its own dialect, worshipped local gods, and founded its economy around local resources. A lack of trade infrastructure meant that whilst one tribe or another may have access to resources like iron, wood, wool, fish or coal, there was no way for any one tribe to possess a plurality of them.
This changed after a bloody war fought in the early 18th century, pitting the Eredea, Forita and Ilsos tribes against the combined tribes of the Epuka, Macugemo and Vennata. This savage conflict tore apart the northern lands; towns and villages were razed, herds of cattle slaughtered or stolen and whole fields of crops burnt before they could be harvested. The future nation stood at a crossroads - to continue fighting would irrevocably harm every tribe involved, but the savage horrors inflicted already meant no tribe was prepared to be the first to offer peace.
To make matters worse, seeing this devastation as an opportunity, raiders from the southern tribes of Tenevora and Orufenuka began preparing to travel north, putting aside their own animosity to capitalise on their rivals’ weakness. This was a grave concern to the Suja, a coastal tribe that had used its river and ocean connections to establish a small regional market to allow for inter-tribal commerce. Though small, this market meant the Suja were the most materially wealthy of the 11 tribes, and stood to lose the most from the ongoing descent into bloody tribal war. Using their mercantile connections, along with large amounts of bribes and other means of coercion, the Suja managed to get representatives from all 10 Tribal Councils to meet in a temporary settlement in the east of Suja lands, later to be named Suja City. Over the next month, tribal elders sat down with each other and (under the guidance of the Suja) all the tribes’ grievances, grudges and petty squabbles were aired in an atmosphere of peace and reconciliation. Whilst each tribe had their own gods, when it was discussed it was found that their myths and legends were broadly similar, just with the names and locations changed to best honour their own tribe. Each tribe also amazingly found that they all shared one legend in common - the tale of Vasja, who travelled between each tribe using a cloak of starling feathers that allowed him to fly over the mountains and avoid the demons that were always just behind him. He had travelled to each tribe seeking shelter, but had been rejected by each in turn. However, after he flew away, the demons would attack the tribes anyway, bringing death and ruin. Only after Vasja managed to gather the survivors from each of the 11 tribes were the demons defeated - though each tribe maintained that the decisive battle happened within their lands. Using the legend of Vasja (and the threat of famine and death on an apocalyptic scale if peace was not achieved), the Suja managed to de-escalate the raging tensions and commit all the tribes to open dialogues and trading routes with each other. The thought was, that if the tribes came to rely on each other for wealth and resources, it would make war far less likely in the future.
Though inter tribal raids and skirmishes were to continue throughout the 18th Century, ties of marriage, trade and culture slowly bound the tribes closer and closer together - until the Confederacy as it looks today was established in the early 1800s - though a lack of written records from this time make establishing an exact date impossible. Once the Confederacy had been founded, the tribes no longer had to devote all of their resources to surviving as individuals, and efforts to bind them still further through the creation of a common language and a form of written record-keeping were to prove successful as the century wore on. This meant however, that the Anami were lagging far behind the rest of the world - for though they had good deposits of ores, crops and other goods these had been split and kept separate by the tribal nature of the region before now. The Suja, Covau and Vennata established coastal trading ports, opening up Anami markets to the world, and in return receiving goods and scientific advancements that were decades or even centuries ahead of their current equivalents.
Now Vasja Anam has somewhat caught up to the world at large. Electricity is common to the cities, though in rural areas many are still without, the internet is in the unusual position of arriving not long after the telephone, meaning that Anami infrastructure is struggling to develop both systems at once. Agriculture is mostly mechanised, as are mining and fishing - though this has mostly happened within the last generation or so. Vasja Anam stands once again at a crossroads - rich in mineral wealth but poor in technology, the Confederacy must adapt and modernise still further - but to do so means inviting outside influences to a country already brimming in cultural and historic differences. Will change lead to success once again - or will a second seismic shift finally be too much for the tribes to bear?