Sollum

Sollum (Officially the Communist Sollumian Islands) is a country in the Atlantic ocean, currently under dictatorship.

Discovery
It is estimated that in the 13th century, humans traveled from South Africa to the Sollumian islands, and some settled down there, in the old, lush rainforests of early Sollum. The earliest record of the islands is from 1259 on a map made of the Vaddi Empire (a tribal empire) by a tribesman after some settlers came back from the islands, naming them "Solla'ume" or "Rainforests Islands" in the Vaddian language.

First Vaddian Civil War (1273-1275)
In the year 1273 inhabitants of Solla'ume (modern day Sollum) would begin rebelling against the Vaddians, quickly capturing many major islands before the Vaddian forces finally arrived at the islands, repelling the Sollumians to the small island of Kandioto in the south until after some time under food blockade from the islands in the north which completely starved the island due to its rather infertile lands, the Sollums would surrender, ending the First Vaddian Civil War.

Second Vaddian Civil War (1281-1294)
The Second Vaddian Civil War took place in the year 1281 when loyalists to King Hadihre IX who was brutally dethroned by his brother and Sollumian independence movement members took advantage of the war between the Vaddian and Gahari Empires, in which the Vaddian forces were distracted completely to strike the country, as the Sollumian forces quickly sieged the regional capital and captured all of the islands except for that specific part of the island, meanwhile the loyalists quickly captured many Vaddian territories in modern day Namibia, also making a foothold on the capital of Vaddia, meanwhile their forces only were just making their way to fend off the revolutionaries. Eventually the capital was captured and King Ahedani III was killed with no heirs, eventually forcing the Vaddians to surrender to the revolutionaries and putting Hadihre IX into power again. Meanwhile, many territories of the Vaddians in Botswana in the modern day had been captured by the Gaharians which eventually were officially ceded to the Gaharians as the Vaddians needed to recover from the hefty war. Now with the revolutionaries in power of Vaddia, who were allied to the Sollumians, the Sollumians would gain independence as the Principality of Sollum, the shortened version of Solla'ume which eventually became official upon independence.

Principality of Sollum (1294-1296)
The short lived Sollumian Principality was the successor to the Solla'ume region after its independence from the Vaddians which was ended after Prince Vasganje was assassinated by a man named Gajalok Kondai who aspired to begin an imperialist regime. In this time an official Sollumian language was defined, setting in stone the official version of Vaddian of which Sollumians spoke, which before was a mixed mess. This language evolved into modern day Solluminan, which a translator for can be found in the notes section.

Sollumian Empire (1296-1491)
The Sollumian Empire was the succesor to the Principality of Sollum, created by the revolutionist who killed the prince, named Emporer Gajalok. Under the Sollumian Empire, advanced boats resembling longships (advanced for its time and location atleast) would be made and a Sollumian Colony would be set up in modern Northern Namibia/Southern Angola. In 1329, a kingdom from modern day Lathistia known as the Kingdom of Lataro would try to capture the Sollumian kingdoms mainland islands, forcing an emergency move of the emporer to the colony in mainland Africa (known as Karajiewa) in the largest city in the colony, known as Hampucese. Meanwhile, Sollumian naval forces using there new boats to block the archipelago by surrounding it on all sides while the occasional boat would launch attacks on the 2 Lathistian islands. It is important to note that in history Sollum was more powerful than Lathistia, up until in the 1900s when Lathistia gained early independence and developed their military rapidly, leaving Sollum when it finally gained independence not enough time to advance to the level of Lathistia. Eventually, after 3 long years of stalemating, in 1333, Sollumian forces left Sollum and surrounding Lathistia, marching in from all directions and eventually forcing Lathistian surrender. Lathistia would be officially made a Sollumian colony by that November. The emporer would move back to Sollum when all unrest had faded and there was no worry about a rebellion or any other threat to him, in late 1334. The empire would cycle through various emporers and a period of peice, until then the last emporer, Emporer Kandeii III, would make many controversial decisions. He would found a oversee a union called the United Imperium of Liteir and Sollum, with a dual-monarch between him and Empress Layyena IX, former ruler of Liteir. This would end the Sollumian Empire after nearly 2 centuries of history.

United Imperium of Liteir and Sollum (1491-1546)
Following the union, Kandeii, being the dominating ruler of the union, would begin incredibly suppresive rulership to his colonies with little resistance, imposing 10% higher taxation of colonial inhabitants and forcing them to work, either in cotton farms or wheat farms. Layyena would attempt to stop her ruthless husband, but she would have no effect. Soon enough, even Liteirians were being given the same treatment as Lathistians or Karajiewans, which were already treated badly. In 1546, the already delicate emoire would fall apart as it would enter effective anarchy, after the dominating ruler (Kandei III) would be assasinated while hunting. The only person who was elligible for the role of male monarch at the time was Kandeii's brother, but he was incredibly ill, and doctors suspected he only had a few months left. A civil war would break out as Layyena had no plan of action, due to her only having experience in rule of a nation for 2 years before enterring the union, and afterwards having rule over a nation with no actual power, effectively leaving the nation with no option but collapse.

Liteir-Sollum Civil War (1546-1548)
The civil war would start with a bang, with the colonies of Lathistia and Karajiewa rebelling immediately, followed by an anti monarchist front known as the "Army for Salvation of the Sollumian and Liteirian Islands". Each front would make incredible progress with the Karajiewans siezing most territories except for the 2 largest cities and some minor pockets of resistance around the colony by tiny amounts of force, the Literians siezing all of Literia except for a tiny militia in the north of the island, the the non-monarchists quickly siezing the whole of the mainland, excludinng the capital. On June 15th 1548, Liteir-Sollum would officially dissolve into Sollum, Karajiewa and Litria (the native name for Lathistia), while a provisional government under a protector would hold Liteir and Sollum until discussions about their fate would finish.

Protectorate of Sollum and Liteir (1548-1549)
The Protectorate was a state under a Protector, composed of the whole Sollumian and Liteirian archipelago, but not the colonies. It was a temporary state while discussions for what to happen to Sollum and Liteir were underway. It lasted for a year. Under its rulership, an equal kingdom of Sollumians and Liteirians under a completely new house was proposed, alongside a solution of independence for both states for everything except international affairs. Eventually, it was decided that a 2 state solution would be executed, completely independent from each other. The protector of the Sollum-Liteir Protectorate, Protector Hanaugu I, would inherit the throne of Sollum, meanwhile the old Empress of Liteir's son would become king of Liteir. Sollumian and Literian relations have still not been fully repaired from this ultimate betrayal of the Liteirians, or the Sollumians, depending on who you ask.

Protectorate of Sollum (1549-1585)
The Protectorate of Sollum was a state created when the protector of Sollum and Liteir inherited the throne of Sollum. The protectorate was rather uneventful in the time it was independent.

Portugese occupation of Sollum (1585-1613)
A Portuguese explorer by the name of Aligi Nadinalo, en route to Asia looking to trade spices would accidentally take the wrong route due to strong winds, being whisked not too far to the east but enough to set it on the course to collide with the islands. The explorer would make contact with the natives and teach Christianity to the locals, converting many parts of the population, determining that the position was strategic for control over travel to Asia from Europe, especially if control was gained in the island on the other side which was currently uninhabited, The Portugese government upon hearing of the islands would determine it a good investment for the economy, and would quickly sieze the islands, killing off many populations that were not willing to convert to Christianity, eventually eliminating a whole third of the Sollumian populous. Apart from the Christianisation, the Portugese would largely try to preserve the native languages and cultures. Meanwhile, the British were granted control of Liteir, also colonising Lathistia, heavily anglicanisng both and endangering the Literian language, which only would make a comeback recently, while completely wiping out the Lathistian language and replacing it with English. Eventually, the uninhabited island would become a part of Portugal, and then Brazil. It was about this time that the Sollumian native script was replaced with the latin alphabet.

British occupation of Sollum (1613-1672)
Sollum was bought by Britain from the Portugese in 1613, recognising its strategic positions importance, even if they would only get half of the advantages due to the Portugese island on the other side of the passageway to the route to Asia. Now, with the British owning the whole archipelago between modern day Liteir and Sollum, anglicisation would begin for the whole archipelago, albeit in a slower process in Sollum due to the native culture and languages being seen as "fascinatingly beautiful", according to many settlers. The only major anglicisation that would happen would be the conversion of many citizens from the Roman Catholic Church in Christianity to the Germanic Protestant Church.

Dutch occupation of Sollum (1672-1801)
The Dutch Occupation could be considered the most uneventful period of history in Sollum. It was said that the new Dutch nation was sold it by the UK without a single dutchman ever stepping in the territory, thus leading to yet again nearly no change to the native languages or cultures. It is important to take notice that Sollum is considered the most tribally preserved place in the world in terms of language and culture due to its luck in colonialism. Sollum was not even converted to the dutch religion: German Catholic Christianity, which was at the time the dominant religion of the Netherlands.

French occupation of Sollum (1801-1965)
During the Napoleonic Wars between 1799-1815, French troops would sieze Sollum from the Dutch and Liteir and Lathistia from the Brits, eventually selling the British their old colonies, but keeping Sollum as a French colony. Eventually, after 164 years under the French, and a collective 212 years straight of occupation by various powers, the United Democratic Republic of Sollum would be declared on June 9th, 1965.

The Sollumian Civil War (1969-1971)
The Sollumian Civil War, also known as the Peoples Revolution, was a civil war in the new UDRS, a fragile claimant to be a republic run by a dictator doing nothing to prevent humanitarian crisis' across Sollum's underdeveloped islands, which needed urgently to be adapted for the growing population, resemblent of the modern DRC or The Gambia. The revolution was led by various militias formed by angered civilians as well as the Popular Salvation Front of the Sollumian Islands (PSFSI), which still runs the country today (albeit following a rebrand to the Popular Party of Sollum (PPS)). They would quickly sieze many key territories meanwhile the weak army of Sollum at that time could do barely anything. The PSFSI would oversee surrender of the delicate UDRS, and the formation of the Peoples Republic of Sollum, a stronger country both militarily and generally. The happiness rating of Sollum went from 27% under the UDRS to 89% under the PPS. Please note that the Peoples Republic of Sollum changed its official name to the Communist Sollumian Islands when the first Sollumian PPS leader died in May 2000 peacefully, resulting in a new leader who was more communist leaning than the original, milder, socialist/popular leader, from 1971-2000. The leader who changed this name has since been replaced by a 3rd leader, officially being replaced on August 29th 2014. Sollumian independence day (June 9th) and "The Day of Liberation" which was the day when the UDRS dissolved (August 2nd) are both celebrated as "special national holidays".

Liteir - Sollum War (1973)
In 1973, Sollum invaded the Literarian islands, and pushed them back into the island they remain today. Lathistia stepped in and stopped the Sollumian forces before Liteir was completely eradicated. Today, Sollum still dislikes Lathistia, and Liteir has joined the WWPA.

WWPA - Sollum Cold War (2021)
After a series of events, a cold war between members of WWPA have engaged in a "cold war" against Sollum. Currently, there has only been one casualty, the Lathistian army general, Barry Newman. There are worries that Sollum will engage in all out war. The citizens of countries in WWPA are not the ones worrying, but instead it is the citizens of Sollum, due to the well-known fact that Sollum is many years behind Lathistia in combat technology. In fact, Lathistia is at least 5 years ahead of all other countries in terms of combat technology. As of the writing of this, war is agreed to be a major possibility.

People/Trends

 * The currency of Sollum is Sollumian Dollars
 * The life expectancy is 68 for both men and women
 * The drinking age is 21
 * The age of consent is 18
 * The age of marriage is 21
 * Sollum uses the Imperial measurement system
 * Sollum generally scores a 0.704 on the HDI
 * The population of Sollum grows by 799,472 people on average each year.

Geography
Being on a chain of volcanic islands which were only here due to the volcanoes rising high from the oceanbed, most terriories on the outskirts of islands are flat and covered with the nations famous, lush rainforests and huge beaches of golden-white sand, while the central parts are covered by ruggid mountainous terrain with few sparse villages among the flat points as the volcanoes climb. The highest point of the country is Mt. Oka'akea at the center of Jayarra Island in the south-east, famed for this ruggid terrain especially considering the small size of the island, and also for being so drastic it was named after the word "jayarre" which literally means drastic in Sollumian.

Military
TBA

Maps
TBA