Kundrati

[hyraemous]

The newspaper header was created by myungdae06 on Discord at my request.

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You can find the Kasaema Guardian by searching @KasaemaGuardian on the Terran Wide Web or searching for GUARDIAN on HyrNet.

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President Stansislav Herasymchuk and the last four years of a turbulent Kundrati

[8 April 5672]

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The last four years of Kundrati may have been the most turbulent and eventful since the end of the Second Kundrati War. In fact, political observers in Kundrati have wondered if everything that has happened was truly what happened - and if it was either the right call or the wrong call.

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We start with the death of President Jozef Otčenáš, where his son Ludvik blamed communists for trying to destroy the nation and the faith. Riots continued all the way to the election, which was held in November 5668. At that time, everyone was campaigning with the vanguards, including the Kundrati People's Party, the APPA (renamed to the Social Democratic Labour Party), and independents, who were fighting electorally for every district of Kundrati. In fact, the fight was so fierce that the vanguards continued to riot with their paramilitary and semi-paramilitary forces against the Armed Forces and members of the SDLP and KPP.

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The election results were thus: out of 450 seats available, the Kundrati People's Party won 203 seats, the Vanguards won 109, the SDLP won 100 seats, and independents won the remaining 38 seats. For the Presidential election contested by Hadrian Dindaeru of the Kundrati People's Party, Ludvik Otčenáš of the Vanguards, Nearko Zañartu of the SDLP, and Stansislav Herasymchuk as an independent, it was seen that Herasymchuk won the election with a 48.2% vote compared to Ludvik's 21.7%, Dindaeru's 18.6% and Zañartu's 11.5%. A second round was held on 8 December with Hersaymchuk winning 78.1% of the vote compared to Ludvik's 21.9%.

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The Vanguards cried foul and, immediately after the second round of votes and the National Assembly seat counts were confirmed, massive riots broke out throughout the north and center of the country, especially in Kasaema and in the state of Lirnak. In fact, in Lirnak, the state government building was taken over, and mass killings began as Vanguardists went towards anyone who identified as a KPP or SDLP voter and killed them without mercy. In fact, in some cases, they were tortured openly in many gruesome ways that we cannot publish before being killed. In Kasaema, there were reports of voting booths and some government buildings being burnt or almost being burnt, with similar scenes being found in Lirnak.

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The inauguration was scheduled for 1 January 5669. The military, in a joint statement across all branches, warned that violence will not be tolerated and that any attempt to disrupt state institutions or the inaguration will not be tolerated and will be clamped down on. Riots and killings continued in Lirnak for five days after the election on 23 December. On that date, the military moved in and declared martial law in Lirnak. All at once, military units swarmed into the state and began to mass arrest anyone found looting government buildings alongside anyone torturing or killing others. In fact, the military set siege to government buildings already taken by Vanguardists. Most of them fell after a few more days, but one, the State Government Building in Tomasadyn, held out until 27 January. 

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The siege of the Tomasadyn SGB was fierce as the Armed Forces attempted to land helicopters on the rooftop, though they were held back by RPGs and sniper fire, which left a couple of soldiers dead and 4 helicopters downed. Hundreds, then thousands of military troops attempted on 28 December, 29 December, 2 January, 8 January, and 15 January to enter the building; however, they were unable to for various reasons. The siege continued even after the situation in Kasaema happened on 1 January. 

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On 27 January, after having refused to use Air Force units to bomb the building into submission until now, the order came in from the President that the building would be bombed. By this time, numerous attempts by Vanguardists to reinforce the SGB had failed, though at the cost of many military troops' lives. In fact, after the situation in Kasaema was quelled, there were many Vanguardists who tried to push their way past. They were shot dead without any attempt at mercy or arrest. But on 27 January, the Air Force got their order and, using bombers and fighters, they began to bomb the building mercilessly. Artillery units were also brought in to destroy the building, which was quickly accomplished. Once that was dealt with, paratroopers came in, and the Army units, now swelled into the thousands, pushed into the SGB and killed anyone they could find.

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But we should go back to Kasaema and the rest of the country. Surprisingly, in Peghonai and in Pilgon, the situation was calmer as the military action in Lirnak continued to be significant enough to force every other state into submission - though the southern states and Etxea were firmly in support of the government of Herasymchuk. But in Kasaema, things would be very different. On inauguration day itself, on 1 January 5669, riots erupted in Kasaema as usual. However, this time, a major riot consisting of 18,000 individuals attempted to siege the National Assembly building. Their push towards the NA building, where the inauguration was being held, turned into a violent riot as the President was evacuated via a secret tunnel to the Ministry of Finance building, and the military was called in to quell the riot.

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The rioters pushed and even made their way inside the National Assembly building. Inside, it was a slaughter as both sides killed each other and looted from each other in ways unseen since at least the Second Kundrati War. Tear gas, pepper spray, and more were used in an attempt to push each other back; however, by 3 pm, it was decided that the rioters were better off dead. Automatic weapons and machine guns were placed in key locations aimed directly at the rioting crowd. The crowd was forced to retreat outside as many of them were shot dead without mercy. The bodies were so piled up that people inside were trapped, and the military had to come inside via the breaking of windows and other areas. The rioters who remained were arrested.

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The inauguration was rescheduled for the day after. The night of the riots, the President declared martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus. The military thus moved into every state and forced compliance. The southern states, having already agreed with the government, easily complied and enacted their own measures. The northern states, besides Lirnak, and having seen the violence, also complied, though there were brief hotspots of violence which were themselves quelled. Lirnak remained, though, as we've seen, they would be quelled mostly.

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The situation in Lirnak, after 28 January, was calmer as the city saw numerous military troops, almost on every block, patrolling for any violence. The outskirts were not calm - in fact, they wouldn't remain calm even today, though there were fewer and fewer instances of Vanguardist violence. Not many severe incidents have come out.

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However, the question of the Vanguard Kundrati Worker's Party and their leader, Ludvik, would be very much solved. On 4 January, they were banned outright. Ludvik would go into hiding, and a manhunt was tasked with capturing him. Rumors abounded that he left for Baltusia or Davostag, that he was in Lirnak, that he died in the 28 January siege, that he died in Kasaema, or that he left for somewhere like Endralon or Kirlawa. It would take two more years of consistent looking they find Ludvik, hidden in a bunker that was his hideout. He was guarded by 10 other people alongside his family in northwestern Lirnak.

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The siege of Ludvik's bunker on 18 July 5671 was the most recent major action regarding the Vanguardists. After spending two years trying to rile up the Lirnak and northern population into rebellion using various posters, radio broadcasts, and the like, he was found. He had moved to bunkers throughout the state, first near Tomasadyn, then near the border with Peghonai, before finally settling in January 5671 in that bunker. The bunker was surrounded, and troops moved in to attack the bunker; however, Ludvik's guards put up a fierce fight trying to prevent any troops from capturing the family of Ludvik. In fact, Ludvik himself was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying an automatic weapon. However, one by one over the next two days, the guards went down. Then the family. Then him. They were all killed off in various gruesome ways, so gruesome that we cannot publish what happened beyond that.

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Their bodies were taken by secret vans and boxes to a container ship in northern Peghonai. The coffins were taken out to sea, far from Artania, and simply dumped.

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The rest of the term was full of various political and economic reforms to open up Kundrati to capitalism. Companies were nationalized or denationalized according to state needs and their value to the economy. Work has slowly begun on the examination of gold mines; however, this continues to this day, and not much has come out of it. In addition, work on rebuilding the country continues as the President begins to promote an ideology of multiculturalism and a much saner foreign policy.

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And now the upcoming elections, called by the President, for 16 January 5673. The KPP and the SDLP are expected to run with Herasymchuk running as well. The conservatives have begun to flock back to the KPP, with the left relying on the SDLP. And the Vanguardists, banned from politics, may try to run as independents or otherwise leave politics. However, the military has warned that any Vanguardist or former Vanguardist who tries to run for politics will be removed and prohibited from political dealings until the threat has passed.

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And thus it was.