Lugonomeks

Flag of Lugonomeks
Motto: We were here first!
Region	Thorin
Capital	Stadpræst
Official Language(s)	Modern Lugonomekan
Leader	Fred Veshar
Population	About one billion
Currency	Guloran
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The Tribal Federation of Lugonomeks is a huge, devout nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape. Although a relatively new nation in Thorin, the Lugonomek people are believed to have lived in the region since before the first Thornichi. It has usually been a fairly centrist nation, wavering between "New York Times Democracy" and "Inoffensive Centrist Democracy," save for one brief point in its early history when it was classified as "Democratic Socialists". Its political freedoms have always been good and the civil rights were at their lowest point at "average." The economy has never been anything less than average, as well. As said before, it is a relatively new nation, but has rapidly risen in power in the region. All members of the legislative branch, as well as the president, are elected by popular vote for as many as five two-year terms. Even the members of the judicial branch are democratically chosen to some extent.

Linguistics and Nomenclature

Main Article: Lugonomekan Language

Little is known about the Lugonomekan language, except that it is not at all related to the Thornichi languages. "Lugonomeks" is the name of the people who inherit the lands that make up the current nation of Lugonomeks and, historically, much of the region of Thorin. The name in the ancient Lugonomekan language means "the children of Lugon", reffering to a legendary hero whom the Lugonomek people are believed to be descended from. The name of the capital city comes from the Lugonomekan words "stad", refering to a fort or walled city, and "præst", meaning "stillness" or "peace". The name means that people within the city are responsible with keeping peace between the various subgroups of the Lugonomeks. The national currency, the guloran, is named after the gold coin used as currency in ancient Lugonomeks. The name literally means "shining yellow stone". Most Lugonomeks use regular English first names, which keep their original spellings out of convenience, but keep Old Lugonomekan surnames. Their surnames usually refer to the occupation their ancestors traditionally held, or, in the case of nobility, the name of the last arkto (see below) they are a direct descendant of.

Mythology

Main Article: Ancient Lugonomek Religion

History

Before the Founding of Lugonomeks

Before the Fall of Stadpræst

The earliest history of Lugonomeks is lost in mythology. Recent genetic evidence has proven that all Lugonomeks are descended from the same male, who lived around 7000 years before the founding of Thorin (BF) a few hundred miles to the north and east of the region. Therefore, it is possible that the Lugon of legend existed. However, there is no evidence that he was the first king of Lugonomeks, nor any evidence that the kingdom of Hurktomeks ever existed. What is known, however, is that by 5300 BF, the Lugonomeks controlled a vast empire, commonly known as "Lugonea", or "land of Lugon", spanning over much of the region. At that time, Lugonea was a confusing mixture of a republic and a monarchy. The ruler of each tribe was known as "til arkto", meaning "the chief", and was a monarch, the position being passed to the closest male relative once the current arkto was dead or for some other reason unable to rule. By the time of the fall of Stadpraest, all tribes had their own parliament under til arkto. The head of Lugonea as a whole was known as "til arktosubre", or "the high cheif". Til arktosubre ruled until death, and the new arktosubre was elected from one of the 17 arktos. Upon reaching the position of til arktosubre, til arkto would give up his former position just as he would have if he was found unable to rule. Under til arktosubre was another parliament, with three members from each tribe. Many consider it amazing that a single government was able to control such a vast area of land for nearly two millenia as the Lugonea did, but in truth "Lugonea" rarely acted as a unified government, and most of the time it was more of a loose confederation of individual tribes. Indeed, after news of new federal laws reached til arktos, they would often refuse to follow them altogether, and til arktosubre would make no objection to this. Of the seventeen tribes of Lugonomeks, seven lived east of the mountains: the Konromeks, Ashromeks, Rūvenomeks, Yahūdomeks, Zavlunomeks, Manesomeks, and Leivimeks, three lived in the mountains themselves: the Sheragomeks, the Deinameks and the Isakharomeks, two tribes, the Sōnyameks and Shimōnomeks, lived on a large island, and five lived west of the mountains, the Naftalimeks, Gadomeks, and the Unleimeks, Yunomeks, and Galethomeks, whose combined territories made up the area that is now Thingamajiggers. About 2600 BF, the Thornichi had arrived in the region, living mostly in the northern mountains. Lugonea coexisted peacefully with the Thornichi for a time, trading crops and goods from overseas for the ores and gems the Thornichi mined in the mountains. Then, about 1870 BF, the constant disagreements between the various groups of Thornichi finally convinced them to go their separate ways. Unfortunately for the Lugonea, this meant pushing south into their territory. The Lugonomeks were no match for the Thornichi, due to the Thornichi's use of iron as opposed to bronze and Lugonea's failure to unite. Finally, after many years of struggle, in 1827 BF, the capital city of Stadpræst fell to Stefan I of Romborg. It is agreed by most historians that from this point, Thornichi victory was assured.

After the Fall of Stadpræst

After hearing that Stadpræst had fallen, most of the Lugonomeks decided that the war was a lost cause and surrendered to the Thornichi. There were a few minor battles after the war, but in all of them the Lugonomeks were beat badly. Finally, in 1821 BF, the last remnants of the Lugonomekan army, the Army of North Unleimeks, was forced to surrender in the Battle of Archan. By this time, however, many of the remaining Lugonomeks had accepted that the war was over. They had either fled the region or accepted the Thornichi's rule. By 1800 BF, casualties of the war, both military and civilian, and massive emmigration left the Lugonomek population of the region at around seven million, as opposed to nearly ten million as it had been a century before. The Lugonomeks soon became a minority in their own homeland, as the Thornichi were now immigrating into the area faster than ever, and in many areas, especially in Zirconia, killing the Lugonomeks in order to gain their land. By 1700 BF, the Lugonomeks made up less than 10 per cent of the population of Thorin. Over the millenia, the Lugonomek people were slowly surpressed, becoming a minority with no power in their homeland or abroad. By the time of the founding of Thorin, there were less than fifty thousand pure-blooded Lugonomeks in the region, and many of them were in a poor economic condition. Starting around 600 AF, many Lugonomeks overseas decided to return to the land of their ancestors to escape persecution and to try to defend their ethnic brothers, and began immigrating into Thorin, mostly into Romborg and Hinotashi. This was made much easier when, in 733 AF, New Romborg's government collapsed. Within a few years, the unclaimed territory was controlled by several de-facto Lugonomek-controlled governments, including the expanded governments of the still thriving city of Stadpræst and the government that claimed territory in the western territories calling itself Lugonea. Later, in 752, Hinotashi's government was collapsed as well. Most of the northern and eastern part of the island was under the control of Lugonomek governments, including one calling itself "Soniainsil", or "the isle of Sonia". There were constant but fairly minor skirmishes between the Lugonomeks and the other peoples in the unclaimed areas. Over the years, the fighting began to interfere with trade with other countries in the region. By 780 AF, most of the Lugonomeks feared that it would not be long before the restricted trade would cause other nations to get involved, especially the powerful Xerconia to the north. They decided it was necessary to form a single united (and recognized) Lugonomek nation. After much debate, most centering around drawing the borders of the new country, The Opressed Peoples of Lugonomeks formed in 786 AF.

After the Founding of Lugonomeks

Early Politics

The first elections were held in 788 AF. At this election, there were no political parties. All of the candidates were members of the former unofficial governments. The first president was Henry Yakobomek. By the time of the end of his first term in 790, several political parties had already formed, the most successful of which were the Democratic party, who aimed to encourage the people to play a more active role in the government, the Confederate party, trying to give more power to the individual tribes and less to the federal government, and the People's party, who supported inflation as well as worker's rights. After Yakovomek declined to run for a third term, his vice president James Ablomek ran for president in 792 under the People's Party. He won by a small margin and soon began pushing laws to reform the government, moving it into the UN category "Democratic Socialists". Several of these laws, such as those that raised welfare, levied an exponentially progressive income tax, and unquestioningly supported labor unions, proved to be very unpopular. Desperate to win another term, Ablomek forced laws that prevented anyone found guilty of any crime, even the most minor, and those who were in debt to the federal government from voting. Despite these efforts, he was beaten in the election of 794 by his main rival from the previous election, the Confederate Adam Veshar, who undid Ablomek's restrictions on voting as well as some of his less popular economic policies. Veshar managed to win four terms, but by the end of his fourth term his popularity had declined to the point that he knew he would not win a fifth term, mainly due to a scandal involving one of Veshar's cabinet members and a tapir. So, in 802, Tom Skrebar, Veshar's Secretary of Prevention of Government Communications Interference (a bum paid to respond to answer prank calls and spam email the federal government received) ran under the Confederate party, and managed to serve two terms before the public realized the specifics of his former government position. In 806, he was beat in a landslide by the current president Ronald Rowildar, who ran under the new Static party, and who managed serve four terms mainly because of his policy of ignoring all but the biggest of issues and letting all bills the parliament sends to him die. However, after his policy of letting crime solve itself backfired in 814, he was defeated by Confederate candidate Edward Samyulmek.

Fall of Xerconia and Lugonomek Occupation

After hearing about the collapse of Kallak to the north and a coup d'état in Xerconia in 815, Samyulmek sent in the Lugonomekan military to occupy the area that was once Xerconia to make sure totalitarian government did not take over. The ancient Lugonomekan name for the area was "Lanterpater", or "Fatherland", because it is the region in which Lugon was born, according to legend. The area was put under the control of the Lugonomek military. Surprisingly, the Xerconians showed little resistance to the government. That is, until the March of 816, when about a dozen violent uprisings occurred across the occupied territory nearly simultaneously. The Lugonomekan military was spread too far to put the uprisings down, and the Lugonomekan government had to relax their grip on Lanterpater. In 820, Xerconia had rebuilt its government with help from Lugonomeks, and regained its sovereignty.

Lugonomekan Expansion

Disappointed with the loss of the Lanterpater, some Lugonomekan politicians felt that Lugonomeks should make up for it by expanding westwards. Kilo Echo's government had collapsed in 820, and Lugonomeks decided this was the best place to start expanding. They signed a treaty with the Holy Empire of Heavysuit, saying that Lugonomeks could claim the coast of both Kilo Echo and Heavysuit, and that the rest of Kilo Echo would be split between Heavysuit and Shadowy Goodness. Later, in 822, Lugonomeks, Shadowy Goodness, and New Valhall signed a treaty in which New Valhall would give up parts of its northern territory to both countries. This left Lugonomeks with territory in both Zirconia and Hækaz, and in control of most of the coastline of Thorin.

The Second Thorin War

In the December of 827, armies claiming to be under the command of Lugonomeks invaded Thingamajiggers, launching an unchecked blitzkreig and showing no mercy to the citizens of the conquered towns. After the president announced that he did not support the invasion in the least and had gotten approval from the parliament to send in the military to stop it, the areas who supported the invasion seceded to form the Dominion of Unleimeks, after the Lugonomek tribe most of them identified themselves with. These areas included the state of Rifūruzh and a good deal of unorganized territory, and comprised of all the land Lugonomeks had recently gained from Heavysuit and New Valhall. The Lugonomekan army was dispatched nearly immediately, only to meet strong defenses set up at the new border. Meanwhile, the Lugonomekan navy invaded from a small island between Hinotashi and Unleimeks, and managed to win a few victories on the beaches of Unleimeks. No one in the Lugonomekan government showed any desire to take back the Unleimekan land, most of them saying the only reason they got the land in the first place was from the influence of Unleimek politicians. Lugonomeks was soon able to crush Unleimeks's tiny navy, and send wave after wave of troops to Ulneimek's unprotected shores. After a few months of fighting, a combined force of Lugonomeks and Xerconians attacked the Unleimekan capital of Samyulstad. After a harsh siege and intense bombing by the combined air-forces of Thingamajiggers, Surkaph, and New Valhall, Unleimeks issued an unconditional surrender.

After the War

At the end of the Second Thorin War, Lugonomeks became one of the founding members of the Thorin International Council. Lugonomeks reaped reparations from Unleimeks, as well as all cultures of the Pyramic Plague that Unleimeks possessed.

The Secession of GhosvekTal Soda Land

Starting around 828 AF, tribes on the southeastern end of the island of Hinotashi began to try to overthrow the government and establish their own nation. For a few years, the local military was barely able to keep the area under control. Desperate, they pleaded the federal government to send int aid, but the government refused, saying it was too costly a project for a region they never really wanted, anyway. The local government then sent President Veshar a request to allow secession, and he agreed. The area seceded, and named itself after the GhosvekTal Soda Land, after the GhosvekTal Soda Company, which owned large amounts of land in the region, and which was largely responsible for funding the local military.

Ethnic Makeup

Naturally, the majority of the population of Lugonomeks is Lugonomek. They make up about 65 per cent of the population, with about 16 per cent Conromeks, 14 per cent Soniameks, 13 per cent Ashromeks, 10 per cent Denomeks, and about 12 per cent either other tribes or a mixture of two tribes. The largest minority is Zirco-Romborgian, making up about 17 per cent of the population, due to the territory formerly being under the control of Romborg. About 3 per cent is Hino, a Thornichi tribe that formerly inhabited the large island of which part is now controlled by Lugonomeks. 8 per cent is either Thingan or Aeonne, most of whom fled from Xerconia in hopes of finding a more stable, less oppressive government. The remaining 7 per cent is either of mixed or of some other descent.

Flags

The early Lugonomeks had no flags, but often put symbols of their nation on their shields and sails. The ancient Lugonomeks used round bronze shields held onto their arms with leather straps which went around the whole shield. On the front, the straps would be decorated with seventeen gilded buttons, to symbolize the seventeen tribes of Lugonomeks. In later years, the straps themselves were gilded, and the golden saltire they formed became a symbol of Lugonomeks as a whole.

First Flag of Lugonomeks

The first flag of Lugonomeks bore the golden cross of the ancient Lugonomeks. The rest of the flag contained symbols of the five major remaining Lugonomek tribes, which symbolize the role of their patron god or goddess. The lightning bolt in the center is the symbol of the largest tribe, the Konromeks, whose patron god and patriarch Konir was the god of weather. The sun rising over the sea symbolizes the Sōnyameks, whose original patron goddess was Sōnia, goddess of the sea, and their original flag merely had the sea extending to the horizon. But since the Sonyameks absorbed the smaller tribe, the Shimōnomeks, whose god Shimōn was god of the sun, the sun was added rising over the sea. The black chickencrabdodo head against the blue on the right symbolizes the Ashromeks, whose patron god Ashir was the god of livestock. The pole with a snake wrapped around it on the bottom represents the Deinameks, whose patron goddess Deina was goddess of wisdom. The dagger against the green on the left symbolizes the Unleimeks, whose patron god was Unlei, god of hunting. The Unleimek dagger is slightly jabbing into the Lugonomek cross, a subtle joke on the flag maker's part about the Unleimeks' reluctance to join the united Lugonomek nation.

Second Flag of Lugonomeks

After Unleimeks seceded, many began to question the placement of the symbol of Unleimeks on the Lugonomekan flag, since the Unleimek population was now less than three per cent. Many felt that the flag needed to be completely redone, because the symbols on the flag were symbols of a religion no one followed, and most Lugonomeks now felt that they were Lugonomek first, and members of individual tribes second. A new flag was chosen by national referendum. It had the three colors, yellow, red, and blue, because at least one of these colors is in the symbols of every Lugonomek tribe. The golden saltire was left in as a symbol of Lugonomek unity.

Flags of Related Countries

Unleimeks

The first flag of Unleimeks uses the green field and red-hilted dagger, a symbol of the ancient Lugonomek tribe, as well as a bundle of sticks bound around the dagger, symbolizing unity under a powerful government.

GhosvekTal Soda Land

The flag of GhosvekTal Soda Land had the logo of the GhosvekTal Soda company in the center, which bears the initials for the company, the Lugonomekan letters for "Gh" and T". The red and blue are the national colors of the native Soniameks, as well as other ethnic groups on the island.