Rat Haven

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AROVANNEA [Yim; 'Yimrairain'iiu, 'Yimrairain; Arv; Arumvynatssia; NaV; Aromiyciaa; SaV; Arumval;], officially the Union of Silphaeic Council Republics, is a country in western Silphaeum. It is the largest country by land area and population in the world, as well as the most populous democracy. It is an intercontinental state, spanning Silphaeum and Lycoris.
Mainland Arovannea is bounded on the west and south by the Meissan Sea - most of its outlying territory is bounded instead on their north and east by the same. The Republic of Azuru, a constituent republic, shares a southern coast with the Artemezic Ocean. On land, Arovannea is bordered by Driasanya, the Xarcon Assembly, the Dionysia, Magnus Stella, the Kity Khaganate, Teperkesi, and the Tri-Republic. Additionally, it shares entirely maritime borders with Volkania.

For more information on Arovannea, please consult our official inWikio page.

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"Going too far" - expatriate Liberals protest recent crackdown on right-wing rhetoric
"Everything that has transpired is not out of the ordinary for capitalist states" - Police Cmsr. Algas Nterizou
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TUES - It seems that no matter which way they turn, Asaia's 3rd government can't escape accusations of a supposed tyranny.

Usually expressed by foreign governments such as the Xarcon Assembly, the call this time comes from the "inheritors of the Liberal cause in Meidallan" - expatriate Lange Kusij, a descendant of democratic revolutionary Lange Siak Dniri, has set about to create a "unified anti-authoritarian grassroots movement" among domestic anti-communist dissidents and foreign-living Arovanneans. A week ago, he announced the chartering of the New Revolutionary League for Democracy in Arovannea (hereafter shortened to the NRL), claiming that its goal was to displace the century-old grip that socialist politics have held on the nation and replace it with a "truly plural, liberal, and clean republic".

The newly formed NRL has levied accusations of widespread voter suppression, fraud, and intimidation of right-wing independent candidates by both local councils and constituent governments. Its self-proclaimed nationalist wing, the Ethical and Political Committee, have gone as far as demonising the socialist economy that the revolutionaries created in 1999, stating "free enterprise is the lifeblood of a nation" and how the current government in Meidallan has sucked away resources for those who ought to work more for them. The League itself has not commented on the Committee's statements.

The reaction from within Arovannea itself has generally been one of "derision", commented one Alqubit Ghusic, Electoral Commissioner for Almatia. "Mr. Lange Junior is generally seen as 'out of touch', a liberal idealist who hasn't really experienced the rigours and difficulties of Arovannean politics, having spent too much time in non-socialist states to grasp the necessity of our peculiarities."

The National Police Commissioner, Algas Nterizou, remarked in an official response to the Committee's statement on Monday that "commentary and veiled threats like this are exactly why the right gets disempowered here. It is no different in a liberal 'democracy' where they suppress those who call strikes and order secret hits and scandal-fabrication upon political figures who shake the old order. Everything that has and that will transpire in our political sphere is not extraordinary for capitalists, were they to cease we might consider doing so as well. Until that time, Mr. Lange Junior can take his Committee and play around with pretend activism."

Political experts note that the movement is unlikely to find traction even among the anti-communist minority in Arovannea itself, but is far more likely to see success in the diaspora, a significant number of whom are still classed as political refugees descended from ex-monarchists and liberal revolutionaries who fled the country after 1998. "This isn't a movement for home," explained Professor Kanfred Whiltsen in a Monday interview. "Lange isn't looking to displace - at the present time anyhow - the ruling order in Arovannea. He's attempting to build an international pressure group, a group that might one day move the many millions of diaspora Arovanneans against their home country; having the command of enough people to sway foreign governments against communist rule in Meidallan. It's honestly more dangerous to Meidallan this way, because their legal avenues of directly dispersing such a movement are limited, and less transparent attacks will certainly draw international ire." However, he also said that "Lange might've missed the bus a bit. He's had decades to assemble such an association, but has repeatedly turned down efforts in the past by other groups and leaders of anti-communist Arovanneans. If he'd set something like this up in 2065, he'd have been golden. But it's not '65 anymore. Arovannea has grown from an isolated country, constantly threatened by foreign powers via Cermiersia and generally shunned by an unofficial embargo to what is arguably the strongest of the great powers. They've chewed up basically all their real enemies, and have normalised relations with most of the world. Lange's little movement might not achieve what he wants it to when Arovannean financial commissars can just threaten cutting their exports of rare metals, foodstuffs, and electronics to any country wavering under League influence."

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"Trial of the Ansaly Fifteen" - more individuals convicted of aiding in terrorist coup plot
Arovannea is closing a painful chapter in its history. Can it move on?
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MON - It wasn't so long ago on a rainy January 2nd that the Meidallanese woke to tanks rumbling through the streets. Mere minutes after the Lianhayau District's naval office cut contact with the central naval command, various marines, soldiers and sympathetic civilians took to the streets, with their eyes on the Congressional Diet and the House of the Republic - the Premier's office and place of residence. Over a period of about a half-hour, Meidallan rapidly fell under the control of those sympathising with the Combat Leagues, a radical restorationist and ultranationalist federation of various cells, paramilitaries, and "chapters". In the coup, nearly 300 civilians were killed, including 25 Diet members and the Chief Minister. 20 police officers and the City Police Commissar were also killed while defending the Diet and the National Press and Radio Building. They blew up several key bridges, wrecked the city's airfields, and their leader Sir Junuru made an announcement on national airwaves of the "destruction of the Republic" and that a restoration of "Godly, Imperial rule and morality" was imminent.

The majority of the army and navy remained loyal, and quickly surrounded the capital. Various smaller-scale seizures took place all over Arovannea in response, and the international take on the situation was one of great fear - predictions of a second civil war were rampant.

However, the attempted coup was crushed in less than a day, as these smaller revolts were put down or surrendered. Finally, the 2nd Federal Army under General Ymorsko's command marched into the suburbs as the 5th and 7th Airborne Regiments parachuted into the old city itself. After two and a half hours of fierce fighting, they and loyalist marines who had retaken the Ceros liberated the city and forced surviving rebels to stand down. Junuru himself fled via submarine and remains at large after over a decade.

The trials and sentences resulting from this marked the first usage of the death penalty in over 110 years. Bruui Sango Tuke, Huar Essei Souke-Galata, and Asang Muptam were sentenced to death in the Trial of the Forty-Three, while in the Lyceche Trials Junuru himself was sentenced to death in absentia, along with Ymirio Kossakovy and Valintin Berdyakna. Taentrai had already been killed by this point, assassinated on orders from the External Security Department. Lnueh was assassinated in a similar fashion a year later - just six months ago.

With this final trial concluded, all the accused have received life sentences, no leniency - meaning they cannot ever request a shortening of their sentence unless severe medical conditions require it. The only accused individual at this point who is unable to serve a sentence is Junuru, who is believed to possibly be hiding out somewhere in Lycoris.

While this last trial has - finally - closed a sordid chapter in national history, questions abound about what comes next. An atmosphere of political paranoia ruled for the first few years after the coup attempt, with several nonsocialist organisations banned and a major purge of army and navy staff, as well as more minor reshuffling of AAPRA political positions. Shipyards came under intense scrutiny and remain heavily monitored, with reported detrimental effects on the morale and productivity of dock workers and shipbuilders. Murre Cicakli, the military interim minister, enacted a sweeping ID law that required all Arovannean former expatriates - of third or later generation - to scan in their identification and gain special approval for access to "sensitive work", in addition to a proposed mass surveillance network utilising street lights in Meidallan - all plans that met with great controversy. His overuse of emergency powers eventually led to the Diet forcing his resignation a year into his premiership, paving the way for Asaia's rise to power.

Now, nine years and a bit over two terms in, her work is far from done. Expatriates who have returned to the country still struggle to find work, especially technical work, under the suspicious eyes of the National Labour Department. A great number of her more statist-minded comrades have clamoured for years to implement Cicakli's NightLight system in Meidallan and other major cities, and a growing anti-surveillance movement is demanding the government cease monitoring things such as social media and the streets altogether. The scars of the failed coup still run deep, and it's an open question whether Asaia - who ran partially on fighting the "easy temptation of fear" and a "false national strength" - can manage to finally at least control these issues in her third term.