Gilead Zion

Gilead Zion

Flag of Gilead Zion
Motto: "Of the People, For the People, By the People"
[1]
Region	The Honor Guard
Capital	Cities of Gilead and Zion
Official Language(s)	English, Standard Zionite, Amharic; written in the Ge'ez Abugida
Leader	Premier Nadia Magdalene
Population	647,000,000
Currency	Rigino
NS Sunset XML

From Wiccapædia, the free encyclopædia

For the Ashastani Empire province, see Gilead(istan) Province.

Gilead Zion (meaning “the heights of the witnesses” in Standard Zionite) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the continent of Rigin, an area now occupied by the modern nations of the People’s Republic of Gilead Zion and Ghazaa.

The name "Gilead Zion" may be used by speakers to refer to both the modern nation of the People’s Republic (PRGZ) or the disestablished Holy Republic of Gilead Zion (HRGZ~defunct). The area was the site of the ancient Kingdoms of Gilead and Zion and the later Gilead(istan) Province, a central region of the Ashastani Empire. The name Gilead Zion is a Ashastani adaptation of the name Gilayed Szion and was originally applied to the whole of the Saenaian Mountain Range but by the time of the establishment of the Empire it had been limited in scope to the geographic region it denotes today.

Geography

Gilead Zion has a varied geography, through the center of which runs the Saenaian Mountain Range. The highest peak of the range is Mount Jerusalem 72.5km (45 miles) southeast of the City of Gilead rising to an altitude of 1,020m (3,346 ft). Greatly contrasting such height, the valley surrounding the Gallilean Sea descends as much as 45m (147.5 ft) below sea level at the shore. As varied as its altitudes are Gilead Zion's ecosystems which range from semi-tropical rainforests in the north to desert and temperate/tundra savanah in the south. Major cities in the area include the Cities of Gilead and Zion, Mecca, New Bethlehem, Nazarethe, Axum, Deseret, Alexandria, Samaria, Jericho and Hebron.

Ethnicity and Culture

The vast majority of people in Gilead Zion are descended from the Semetic tribes that have inhabited the region since the beginning of recorded history. However due to various periods of colonization, there exist sizable minorities of Ashastani, Aegisian and Nubian peoples throughout the region. The primary language and its many dialects used in Gilead Zion are also drawn from the Semetic heritage, with a heavy influence through loanwords from Ashastani Persian. The customs and practices of the people are generally similar, with only minor regional differences. Due to the heavy-handed influences of the True Church of Jah Allaelohim during the late Holy Republic, Gilead Zion is often considered a culturally backward society, specifcally regarding gender-roles and sexism. Under the reforms of the PRGZ, though, the situation is being rectified.

Religion

The earliest inhabitants of Gilead Zion were animists who believed that every element of nature was embued with and embodied by a spirit. By the beginnings of recorded history in the region, a transition had occurred where these spirits were now subject to a respective god of each tribe. The gods of the three most powerful tribes in the region were Jah, Allah and Elohim. From Ashastani settlers and traders entering the region three centuries prior to the rise of the Empire, Zoroastrian monotheismbegan to influence the native beliefs. By the writing of Sueclid's Histories in the first years of the Empire, there is clear evidence that the cult of the fusion god, Jah Allaelohim had become the primary belief across the land.

97% of respondents in a survey conducted January 1st of this year in the nations of the People's Republic of Gilead Zion and Ghazaa'Saenai expressed their religion as a denomination of the Church of Jah Allaelohim. The remaining 3% identified as Zoroastrian.

History

During the rise and reign of the Ashastani Empire, first as the client Kingdom of Gilead and Zion later as Gileadistan Province, due to the similarities to and associations with Imperial Zoroastrianism the Cult of Jah Allaelohim was accorded special status resulting in Gileadistan Province's loyal history under the Empire. Due to the destruction of Persepolis and the Great Library at Alexandria, much of the data about this period is lost to us, save for the recordings of the Ishmaelite Dervishmonks of the Medinan Plateau.

During the eleven-centuries-long Dark Ages that followed the Fall of Ashastan at the hands of the northern barbarians, the Olde Orthodox Church of Jah Allaelohim came to power in the vacuum left by the Empire. The Episkopos, hierophant of the Orthodoxy held the power to make kings and played the countless barbarian fiefdoms across Gilead Zion against each other to serve its own power.

During the thirteenth century, the seven principle duchies of Gilead Zion came together as the Holy Empire of Gilead Zion, unifying all the territories of the Old Kingdom. It was during this period that rivalries developed between the Holy Empire and the Ataavar Kingdom culminating in the Andulusian Occupation (1232-1346) of most of the modern Commonwealth of Metrata.

Following the expulsion from Andulus, the Empire was racked by insurrection leading to the Three Kingdoms Period. It was during this era of turmoil that Ghazaa'Saenai left the Theocratic Union of the Old Orthodox Church. The northwestern lands were overcome with a sudden shift against the Orthodoxy, favoring strict adherence to religious law and reform of the corruptions of the Church Patriarchy in Zion, leading to their separation from greater Gilead Zion.

With the empire broken, the remaining Kingdoms of Zion(north) and Aethop(south) fought a brutal Civil War for control of Mount Jerusalem's pilgimage sites resulting in the near decemation of both kingdoms. Following the indicisive "Battle Above the Clouds", the Church brokered a peace that led to the formation of the theocratic Holy Republic; instituting limited representative government for the first time in Gilead Zion.

Beginning in the middle 1800's, the Old Orthodox Church began to schism along provincial lines as the Orthodoxy began to practice a far more strict doctrine of Episkopal Infallibility, culminating in the release of the Ecumenical Bull of 1861 by Episkopos Ishmael IX. In response, the Ecumenical Council overturned the Bull and began moving for both Church and government reforms, moving closer to democracy than would be seen until the Great War of Liberation(2006) and the overthrow of the Holy Republic.

Despite this early move toward democratic government, in 1881 Ezekiel Jeshua Smith recieved the first of his many revelations of the True Church. This new denomination's teachings of the coming "Kingdom of The Lord" touched off the Great Awakening movement, sweeping Smith to leadership as Prophet and limiting the power of the Ecumenical Council. After his movement achieved power, suppresion began of the remaining clergy and followers of the Old Orthodoxy, removing all opposition to the True Church.

In 1939, Ezekiel Smith's son, Adam Muhammad came to power. During his tenure as Prophet, emphasis was placed on modernizing the military, resulting in an unprecedented arms build-up. The tensions caused by the HRGZ's resulting nationalist policies did not erupt though, until the reign of Donovan Michael Smith who took office in 1980.

Under the administration of Donovan Smith, allegations of the regime's suppresive activities on the populace began to be heard in the outside world, leading to the People's Republic of Oxdrivaren's intervention in the events leading up to the Great War of Liberation. Once the traditional territory of Gilead Zion was liberated by the combined forces of Oxdrivaren and The People's Army under the leadership of General Muhammad St.Lazarus(1954-2006), the remaining leaders of the HRGZ, including Donovan Smith, re-organized in the newly re-absorbed Ghazaa'Saenai(see below).