Garis Hati Gelap
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| Country | Sokoku |
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| Capital | Mengakui |
| Area | 435,025 km2 km2 |
| Population | 34M |
| Density | 78 per km2/km2 |
| Demonym | Garishati |
| Time zone | UTC-10 |
Garis Hati Gelap (がりしゃち in Bahasa Sokoku) is a member state of Sokoku, located mainly on the island with the same name (Garis Hati) off the south coast of Altaia. It was formed in 76XX when the Livarian colony XX was declared decolonised and a part of Sokoku. It is the second most populous state and second largest in area within the federation.
Etymology
Garis Hati Gelap literally means "dark heart line" or "dark jaw line" depending on the region. It refers to a pre-colonial indigenous belief where a person's character and thus fate was defined by the palm lines and wrinkles around the mouth and eyes. This practice remained commonplace even when the island's several regions converted to Lizehanist belief systems in the 66th-68th centuries. As such, the island inhabitants were referred to as "the people of the heart lines" (orang-orang dari garis hati) which gradually evolved in the common name for the island used by outsiders.
During the decolonisation wars, the local opposition to the colonial status started using the name "Garis Hati" as a badge of honor, with the addition "Gelap" referring to the armed branch of the decolonisation movement backed by Sokoku. Up to today, the island is called "Garis Hati" while the state is called "Garis Hati Gelap", but both are used almost as synonyms.
History
Pre-colonisation
Establishment of colonial rule
Decolonisation process
After the First Coalition War ended in 7634, popular opinion in Livaria started to swing. It was no longer accepted that the unrest and smaller uprisings on Harimyr Zemlya cost Livarian lives. Careful negotiations were started with some moderate Garishati nationalists about more autonomy leading towards full independence in a process of 10-15 years, with the Livaryans keeping strategic positions in business life and a lasting military naval presence in three locations. Upon presenting this unilateral agreement in 7638, the Garishati nationalists became deeply divided. One faction embraced the declaration of autonomy as an intermediate step towards a fully independent nation with a free market economy, while the other opposed the lasting Livarian presence, both economically and military. The opponents feared that an autonomous Garis Hati would become a Livarian marionette where the (former) coloniser still would decide on the main issues.
The opposing faction was quickly labelled as gelap, meaning dark, obscure and illicit in the Garishati dialect by the media, trying to marginalise them in public opinion. The opponents however re-appropriated the term gelap and started using it to their advantage, indicating that the dark and gold stripes of the Garis Hati Cat both needed to be present in this iconic animal. Sokoku, north of the island, publicly supported the opponents of the Livarian autonomy plans.
Garis Hati was declared independent prematurely in 7641 in order to give the Livarian military an opportunity to back out of the conflict between the nationalist groups that had escalated into a civil war. The first government immediately asked the military to help with a sea blockade against Sokoku in order to cut off the Gelap rebels. But with a coastal length of nearly 10,000 km this proved as good as impossible to carry out. Especially when local fishermen met up with smaller merchant vessels in territorial waters. Thorough controls of fishermen only led to a larger support for the Gelap rebels.
The conflict turned into an undeclared proxy war between Livaria and Sokoku, fought between the Livarian backed Hijau government and the Sokoku backed Gelap rebels. At the same time Sokoku campaigned at ICoN about about a plebiscite among the Garishati population about the type of nation it would want to become, questioning the legitimacy of the Livarian backed declaration of independence.
Three months after independence, the Sewalu region declared itself autonomous as a Mireist state and asked for inclusion as a member state of Sokoku. While Sokoku was bound by its ICoN request for a plebiscite, it could not accept this at the time, but it created an opportunity to start using the peninsula as a foothold on Garis Hati. The civil war became very asymmetrical with Livaria's naval blockade by large vessels proving ineffective for small scale intrusions, in combinations with the Gelap rebels turning up all over the island using the sparsely populated inland regions as ways for quick transportation of small militias with horses and off-road motorcycles. Where the nationalist government had to operate on a large scale, disgruntling many in the local population, the Gelap rebels could operate much more focused, thus avoiding civilian damage and casualties. However, the Gelap rebels were relentless towards assumed collaborators with Livarians and the nationalist government, so the number of displaced people and civilian casualties were on the rise, especially when the nationalists started to apply repercussions against villages who they suspected to sympathise with the Gelap rebels.
In 7643 Sokoku took over defence and security in Sewalu, which gave the local rebel forces more opportunities to focus on offensive effortsagainst the nationalist government. It was just a matter of time before the Livarian and Sokokan forces would meet in this conflict, which ultimately happened in late 7644, when the Livarian navy followed a Sewalan fishing boat supposedly was struck by a Sokokan sea mine. It turned out that a torpedo had detonated, which only could have been launched by the Sokokan navy. The conflict proved that the Sokokan military had become a force to be reckoned with in this region, having built up sizeable capabilities in a relative short time after the union of Shaaniaah, Shuuen and Mirei.
For about three years, the conflict was limited to the border regions between nationalist and Gelap Garis Hati, the open seas between Garis Hati and Shuuen as well as regular intrusions by small cells in nationalist territory. But the relative stand-still in the conflict was used by Sokoku to build up and train a local army. In 7647 they launched a large scale offensive in the central highlands, supported by the Sokokan air force, quickly occupying about 90% of the island and confining nationalist government to some coastal cities and off-shore islands. Even the Livarian navy, that had decreased its presence over the previous years, could not withstand the quick offensive and had to change its strategy to extract loyalist elements from the besieged nationalist pockets.
Late 7647 the capital Mengakui fell into Gelap hands, after which the state of Garis Hati Gelap was proclaimed.The new flag was hoisted the same day, clearly marking the end of nationalist administration. It took until 7649 until the last nationalist pockets were gathered under the Gelap banner. In 7652 an agreement about the withdrawal of Livarian forces from two combined naval and air force bases was reached, under the condition that Sokoku would not use the facilities for military purposes themselves. After the turnover to the Sokokans these base was largely abandoned. The bases were looted for its usable equipment, such as air conditioners, desks, refrigerators, and other furniture along with windows, doors and corrugated tin roofs from the buildings left by the Livarians, leaving what could be categorised as a deteriorating ghost town of abandoned buildings.
Member state of Sokoku
In 7650, the plebiscite about the future status of Garis Hati was organised under the ICoN banner. Even with international overseers present it was obvious that the plebiscite was skewed from the beginning, resulting in a 94.7% support for the proposition of Sokokan association at a 67.7% turnout. The association treaty between Garis Hati Gelap and Sokoku was signed three weeks after the plebiscite. Upon ratification in Sokokan parliament, a new proposal about full inclusion was accepted almost right away, making Garis Hati Gelap the xxth member state of Sokoku.
Demographics
Geography, landscape, climate and nature
Culture
Since the inclusion into Sokoku, the internal tension between diifferent tribes, regions, cultures and ethnicities has decreased a lot. Where the Livarian colonisers used the differences between the Garishatis to assert their power, the different groups have found a way to co-exist. The use of Bahaso as a way of communicating between the different regional dialects and language varieties has been quite helpful, since communication now could take place in a way that didn't imply one party having to adapt to the other, both had to compromise.
The regional languages of Garis Hati have the least in common with Bahaso, despite its proximity to Shuuen which has been the cornerstone of the language. Even Bahaso can sound quite different, for example the Garishati's themselves tend to name their state gar-SHA-ti with three syllables and the sh~ sound, while the standard prononciatinon is GA-ris-HA-ti with four syllables and without the sh~ sound.
One common cultural outing is the Striped Jaguar, which is used in the state's coat of arms. Garishatis take pride in the survival of the unusual cat into modern times. This pride is shown in emblems, wall paintings, art etc. as prevalent cultural outing.
Garis Hati has a distinct branch of Guso called Menguap meaning "yawn" or "emptiness", which dates back to the decolonisation period. Menguap is generally seen as the opposite side of Gelap, the mental side of the independence movement opposed to the armed branch. Both sides and attitudes were needed to liberate Garis Hati and start building a common future. During the civil war, the religious difference between nationalist Garishati that had converted to Orkanan and the population that was converting to Guso as the new variation of Lizehanism became a factor. Due to the religious freedom in nationalist Garis Hati, followers of Menguap Guso could not be prosecuted even though it was a clear sign that they supported the Gelap rebel movement.