Song Republic

The Song Republic (ソㄥコㄟㄢ`ア) was a South Escaric country that existed from 1947 to 2005 in Nanyōkuni, as one of the two successor states to the Yamataian colony of Yamataian Nanyōkuni. The capital was first Hai Phuong, and later Đảo Bắc. Initially occupying roughly the southern one-third of Nanyōkuni, the Song Republic was later defeated in the Dai Hoa War of Unification and lost most of its territories besides the island of Đẹp Đảo and some outlying islands.

After the Second Hoa War, many former Republican Songese citizens fled abroad, forming substantial immigrant communities in Chisei, Hinomoto, and Yamatai. These communities, often wealthy former regime personnel, are known for their strong patriotism to the Song Republic and for violent prejudices against Hoaian migrants. To distinguish themselves from ethnic Songese migrants, these migrants call themselves Sôngcộng (ソヲコヲ).

Etymology
The Song Republic was named after the pre-colonial Song Empire, as it initially occupied a similar geographical region as the old Empire.

History
Yamatai colonised the nations in Nanyōkuni, occupying the Song Empire since 1775 and the Empire of Myaar'tway since 1845, consolidating both into an amalgamated colonial territory known as Yamataian Nanyōkuni. During the later Second Escar-Varunan War, Arshavat invaded Yamataian Nanyōkuni during the latter stages of the Southern Escaric Theatre, in retaliation for an earlier Yamataian invasion of Arshavat via Nanyōkuni. Yamatai had already attained a separate ceasefire with the Escaric Allies months prior, with both states agreeing to end the war between them in order to oppose and contain Arshavati collectivist expansionism. A post-war Allied occupation was enacted in Nanyōkuni as a cover for the deployment of materiel and forces to support Yamatai's fight against Arshavat until a ceasefire could be negotiated with Arshavat. This ceasefire was achieved upon the signing of the Treaty of Hai Phuong on 17 January 1945, with Nanyōkuni partitioned between Arshavati and Yamataian control based on the front lines at the moment of ceasefire. Shortly after, the Arshavati-occupied area declared independence as the Union of Dai Hoa.

Following the partition was a period of continued Yamataian colonial rule and continued Allied occupation in order to stabilise the post-war region. The Allies desired to create a fully independent state in the region that would not rely too much on the Allies for its existence, and entertained various options of post-colonial governance for the region. Initially, Allied plans were to resurrect the old Songese monarchy as a new constitutionally monarchic Song Empire. However, after the remaining heirs of the Songese Empire (living in Gyunghwa in relative obscurity) refused to reclaim the throne, the plans were changed for the new state to be a presidential republic. The remaining colonial territory was granted independence on 20 June 1947 as the Song Republic, led by a National Front Against Oppression-led political coalition and the anti-Yamataian rebel Hàn Bảo Lâm as the first President of Song. Early on, Song received a large amount of aid from the Allied nations, both in the form of monetary loans as well reconstruction aid, corporate investment, and military development aid.

As Dai Hoa began building up military forces on the border, the Allies and the Song prepared for the inevitable war. The government in Song changed radically following the Nha Trang Affair in October 1953, when Song Defence Force General Lê Ðức Toàn carried out a coup of the civilian government, potentially with foreign assistance, believing that the government was not doing enough to prepare for the war. Le's military junta, the National Emergency Council, would continue to rule Song until its dissolution. Following the coup, conscription was enacted and the Song Defence Force was expanded massively within just four years through unreasonably high military spending, as well as a large increase in Three Powers Alliance troops in Song. On 15 June 1957, the Dai Hoa Unification War broke out when a minor border skirmish developed into a major battle.

Despite strong resistance by Song and the assisting Three Powers Alliance, a direct Arshavati intervention eventually resulted in a defeat for Song and the Alliance. Le ordered the evacuation of his government to the island of Đẹp Đảo, off the southern coast of Nanyōkuni, leaving Dai Hoa to occupy the entire mainland and declare victory on 2 May 1960. During their time on the island, Song continued to exist in a constant state of emergency, with the National Emergency Council harbouring unrealistic plans of retaking the mainland well into the 1980s. Operating as a military dictatorship, the regime oversaw a rapidly deteriorating economy and a disproportionately large military, with the state surviving almost entirely on Heian Cooperation Organisation (HECO) support and Ordic League humanitarian aid.

At the same time, the regime became increasingly corrupted and brutal, with various atrocities including racially-motivated massacres and human rights abuses in political prisons leading the nation to increasingly become a pariah state. After Yamatai attained a nuclear weapon in 1976, Song embarked on a short-lived nuclear weapons programme as well. Following the death of Le in 1976, his successors attempted unsuccessfully to improve Song's economy, attempting to start a service and manufacturing industries to cater to export markets, though national income was still abysmally low due to major corruption and inflation. Attempts by HECO states to assist in building the Songese economy were often unsuccessful due to local corruption and lack of interest in the unproductive island.

By the mid 1990s, Song was considered a failed state by the Ordic League, and HECO also stopped supporting it besides occasional humanitarian assistance due to improving relations with Dai Hoa. In 1996, a strong typhoon season in the Crosswind caused major damage and a humanitarian crisis in Song, unleashing a power struggle in the military leadership that spiralled into a quasi civil war situation. Shortly after, Dai Hoa invaded Song in order to restore order and address the humanitarian crisis with tacit approval from HECO, finally ending the Dai Hoa Unification War after 40 years on 6 June 1997. Đẹp Đảo was subsequently administered as a special autonomous region similar to Hinomoto in Yamatai.

Post-War Timeline
 * 1960: DHUW ends. Song Republic confined to the island. Military dictatorship with idiotic dreams of retaking the mainland. They still carry out minor bombing missions and naval raids from time to time.
 * 1967: The Commie Invasion. Hoaian-backed commies and special forces attempted to invade the island in the only attempt ever made until '93. They failed and the military dictatorship began the First Terror, rounding up large numbers of dissidents and killing them or using them as forced labour. A bunch of commie troops managed to hide out in the interior of the island, where they continued fighting a guerrilla war for years.
 * 1974: The Second Terror occurs when Le decides that Tampans should be rounded up due to fears that they are communist sympathizers due to their race. Hundreds flee the island and brave the seas to get to Masuka.
 * 1976: Le Duc Toan finally dies and the country is taken over by his successor Hoang Bac Trinh. Hoang continues running an oppressive dictatorship.
 * 1982: Hoang Bac Trinh dies and is replaced by Nguyen Bao Long.
 * 1985: In 1985, Nguyen Bao Long decides to end the military state and actually run a functional country, stepping down as chairman of the National Emergency Council and appointing himself President. He reopens the country. The Song Republic became a major exporter of tobacco and some industrial manufacturing with dirt-cheap prices. The tobacco plantations used political prisoners as slave labour. Several Yamataian companies were complicit in this, which they have gone to great lengths to cover up in the modern day. Even worse, the Song Republic was also used as the site for horrific human testing under scientists Araki Pharmaceuticals in a misguided search for a cancer cure. Five Araki personnel were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in Yamatai for their involvement in the project. Araki Pharmaceuticals has since been purchased by Shinomiya Group and re-branded as Shinomiya Pharmaceutical Engineering.
 * 1990: Nguyen Bao Long "wins reelection" to nobody's surprise.
 * 1993: Insurgents start causing problems in the north.
 * 1994: Dai Hoa begins rapprochement with the West. The Song government is PISSED OFF. But they can't do anything about it.
 * 1995: General Lương Thái Dương launches a coup during the presidential elections after Nguyen Bao Long is killed. He proceeds to crush the northern rebellion by burning down several villages.
 * 1998: General Luong is assassinated by some unknown agency... Yamataian ISA??? nobody knows. Grandson of Hàn Bảo Lâm, business magnate Hàn Mạnh Thiện was elected president in an absurdly corrupt election and decides he will make the Song Republic great by pursuing an aggressive economic policy and making it the most corrupted country in the world (Year 2000 crowning achievement) and putting his family and friends into top positions. The military does not like this one bit and lodges their formal protest. So he kills a bunch of generals, which shuts them up.
 * 2002: The Araki Controversy happens when documents detailing their involvement are released by a whistleblower.
 * 2005: Having had enough of this shit, and with HECO's tacit approval, Dai Hoa invades the Song Republic once and for all. HECO lodges a formal complaint and stations a bunch of ships nearby, but do nothing.

Military
The Songese Defence Forces (SDF) was initially a professional force formed around a core of Yamataian-trained volunteers that had fought to resist Arshavat during the war. Following Le's coup, conscription was enacted, and military numbers swelled. Much of the SDF's equipment was Chiseian and Yamataian wartime surplus as well as lend-lease equipment. From 1955, modern military aircraft were also purchased from Chisei at great damage to the national budget. In addition, a large amount of Chiseian and Yamataian personnel were also involved in training the SDF.

During the time of its existence, the SDF attained a worldwide reputation for being an extremely tenacious and effective fighting force in jungle terrain. Commanders like General Nguyễn Ðình Luận and units such as the 1st Airborne Regiment and the 24th Marines Battalion have become famous throughout the world for their combat prowess during the Hoaian War. Despite this good reputation, severe corruption, abuses, nepotism, and general incompetence still plagued the SDF until its dissolution.

Pre-war
The Lê Ðức Toàn regime was known for its poor economic sense and heavy corruption. Major food shortages led to Song receiving food shipments from Chisei from 1959 onwards, despite the country's biggest export being rice. Years of mismanagement by Le's junta eventually culminated in a period in 1962 when the economy spiralled out of control, with inflation reaching a peak of over 500,000,000% in July 1962. The Three Powers Alliance finally stepped in to stabilise the economy, threatening to withhold the food shipments if Le did not implement the economic policies Yamataian and Chiseian experts planned for Song. An office to combat corruption was also set up, but the measures were too little and too late. By the time Dai Hoa invaded Song in 1965, the country had the fourth-lowest GDP in Escar, comparable to East Kuiju.

Post-war
After the Song Republic was confined to Dep Dao, the country faced a major economic crisis. Dep Dao was and remains primarily coastal farmland with a heavily forested and mountainous interior, with minimal natural resources in the form of a single copper mine and three coal mines that had been established in the colonial period. In the first few years, the military government continued to spend over 40% of the national budget on the military, heavily expanding military facilities on the island and fortifying it against the feared collectivist invasion. During this period, the Song Republic subsisted largely on interest-free loans from the Three Powers Alliance and international aid. The Le regime believed that the economic hardships were tolerable in the short run as they fully intended to somehow reclaim the mainland from Dai Hoa.

Following the death of Le and the junta's implicit abandonment of the idea of mainland reclamation, attempts were made in the late 1970s to revitalise the Song Republic's economy by establishing an export-based economy serving Western Escar and Amphia using cheap labour. Agricultural reforms were also carried out and a major tobacco industry flourished under the Nguyen Bao Long regime from 1985, with the Song Republic becoming one of the primary sources of cheap tobacco for Western Escaric companies such as Yamatai's Red Seal Tobacco company. These tobacco plantations often used political prisoners as slave labour, mainly people arrested for alleged ties to Dai Hoa or sedition. Such slave labour was also employed by many of the sweatshops that defined the Song Republic's industry at the time.

The Song Republic's economy began to suffer following Dai Hoa's market reforms in the 1990s and rapprochement with the west, as foreign companies quickly began moving operations to the mainland where labour costs were similarly low, the political situation was more stable, and there was greater potential for expansion. In 2002, the Araki Pharmaceuticals Controversy drew international outcry over the human experimentation that was being carried out by the Yamataian company for several decades, as well as the horrific working conditions in the Songan sweatshops and plantations, further driving international companies away from the Song Republic. The increasing hostility of the Song Republic's government to the international community only worsened matters in the state's final years, and by 2005 inflation peaked at over 600 trillion percent prior to the outbreak of the Second Hoa War.

Corruption
Corruption was consistently major problem in the Song Republic, worsening dramatically after the retreat to Dep Dao.