Lugonomeks
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| Flag of Lugonomeks | |
| Motto: We were here first! | |
| Region | Thorin |
|---|---|
| Capital | Præstad |
| Official Language(s) | Modern Lugonomek |
| Leader | Ronald Rowildar |
| Population | About 482 million |
| Currency | Guloran |
| NS Sunset XML | |
The Oppressed Peoples of Lugonomeks is a huge, economically powerful nation, remarkable for its complete absence of social welfare. 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 always 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 Socialist". 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 wel 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.
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Nomenclature
"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 Lugonomeks language means "the children of Lugon", refering to a legendary hero whom the Lugonomek people are believed to be descended from. The name of the capital city comes from the Lugonomek words "præst", meaning "stillness" or "peace", and "stad", refering to a fort or walled city. 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".
Mythology
In ancient times, the Lugonomeks followed a polytheistic religion, with each tribe associating themselves with a particular god or goddess. Many thousands of years ago, it is believed, there was in the region that is now called Thorin a small kingdom called Hurktomeks. The king of Hurktomeks, known only as "The Hurkto", was frustrated by the constant fighting with the invaders from the north. He wished to make a weapon that would end these invasions once and for all. Together with a band of demons summoned from the lowest pits of the underworld, he succeeded in this goal. He had constructed a weapon that was merciless, self-replicating, and unstoppable. His invention later became known as "the bear". His creation proved successful at driving back the invaders, but at a price. The bears multiplied quickly, and soon were able to overtake their creators. Soon, the entire region was ruled by these monstrosities. The Hurkto prayed to the gods for help, but they were too busy having a massive orgy. Desperate, The Hurkto sent a messenger to his wife's brother, a warrior from the northeast named Lugon, with a plea for help. Lugon agreed to help, and managed to, with the help of his seventeen children, drive the bears out of the region, even killing their king with his bare hands and using his hide to make armor. He later allowed some of the bears to return, however. As a thank-you for driving out the bear menace, The Hurkto handed Hurktomeks over to Lugon and his children. Within a few years of this, Lugon had conquered the rest of the region. The gods, finally done with their orgy and impressed with Lugon's prowess in battle, offered him to join their ranks. He agreed, and became the god of the underwold, which was the only vacant position due to the previous god of the underwold dying in the orgy. Lugon soon became sorely disappointed with his fellow gods, and along with his children, as well as many demons trapped in the underwold, waged war on the other gods. They managed to overthrow the gods, but Lugon was mortally wounded in the battle. On his deathbed, he used the last bit of his power to make all of his children gods and godesses. He also divided his now vast kingdom evenly among his children. Eventually, nearly all of the people in the region were descendents of Lugon. Each of the tribes of Lugonomeks are believed to be descended from one of his children, and the god believed to be the ancestor of a particular tribe became that tribe's patron god. By the time of the fall of Præstad (see below), most of the Lugonomeks no longer followed the old religion, instead turning to either monotheism or the teachings of various philosophers.
History
Before the Fall of Præstad
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) in the northeast 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 spanning over much of the region. At that time, Lugonomeks was a loose federation, with each tribe ruled by a leader called "til arkto", meaning "the chief". The entirety of Lugonomeks was ruled by "til arktosubre", meaning "the high chief". Of the seventeen tribes of Lugonomeks, eleven lived east of the mountains, three lived in the mountains themselves, and five lived west of the mountains, including the Unleimeks, Yunomeks, and Galethomeks, whose territory made up the area that is now Thingamajiggers. About 4600 BF, the Thornichi had arrived in the region, living mostly in the northern mountains. The Lugonomeks 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 3870 BF, the constant disagreements between the various groups of Thornichi convinced finally convinced them to go their seperate ways. Unfortunately for the Lugonomeks, this meant pushing south into their territory. The Lugonomeks were no match for the Thornichi, due to the Thornichi's easy access to iron and the Lugonomeks' failure to unite. Finally, after many years of struggle, in 3827 BF, the capital city of Præstad fell to Stefan I of Romborg. This is widely regarded as the turning point and even the end of the invasion.
After the Fall of Præstad
After hearing that Præstad had fell, 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 3821 BF, the last remnants of the Lugonomek 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 to the various oversea colonies the nation had controlled, or accepted the Thornichi's rule. By 3800 BF, casualties of the war, both millitary and civilian, and massive emmigration left the Lugonomeks 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 3700 BF, the Lugonomeks made up less than 10 per cent of the population of Thorin. Meanwhile, the Lugonomeks overseas were no longer in control of their colonies. Over the millenia, the Lugonomek people were slowly supressed, 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, and began immigrating into Thorin, mostly into Romborg and Hinotashi. This was made much easier when, in 733 AF, New Romborg's government was collapsed. Within a few years, the unclaimed territory was controlled by several de-facto Lugonomek-controlled governments. 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. There were constant but fairly minor skirmishes bewteen 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
The first elections were held in 788 AF. At this election, there were no political parties. All of the canidates were members of the former unofficial governments. The first president was Henry Jakobomek. By the time of the end of his first term in 790, several political parties had already formed, including the Democratic party, who aimed to encourage the people to play a more active role in the government, the Confederation 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 Jakobomek 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 cagetory "Democratic Socialists". Several of these laws, such as those that raised welfare, levied an exponetially 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 Veschar, who undid Ablomek's restrictions on voting as well as some of his less popular economic policies.
Flag
The golden saltire on the Lugonomek flag is an ancient symbol of the Lugonomeks, and before the official founding of the nation was was used as a symbol of a single Lugonomek nation. The rest of the flag of Lugonomeks contains 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 Conromeks, whose patron god and patriarch Connir was the god of weather. The sun rising over the sea symbolizes the Soniameks, whose original patron goddess was Sonia, goddess of the sea, and their original flag mearly had the sea extending to the horizon. but since the Soniameks absorbed the smaller tribe, the Shimonomeks, whose patron god Shimon was god of the sun, the sun was added rising over the sea. The black chickencrabdodo head 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 Denomeks, whose patron goddess Den 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 flagmaker's part about the Unleimeks' reluctance to join the united Lugonomek nation.
