Krakozhia (1983: Doomsday) (Birth of Krakozhia)

''NOTE: This is just a DD/Birth of Krakozhia wank by me, Godfrey Raphael. Don't take this article too seriously.''

The Republic of Krakozhia (Russian: Республика Кракожия, Respublika Krakozhiya; Krav: Ripablik Karosha) is a survivor state located in northeastern Bulgaria, comprising of the former Karoshan Territory as well as parts of former Bulgaria and Romania.

Pre-Doomsday

 * See main article: History of Krakozhia

Doomsday
The nation of Bulgaria was crippled by nuclear strikes on the following cities:


 * Burgas, a major city and the largest port in Bulgaria, along with a minor naval base.


 * Plovdiv,the second largest city in Bulgaria and a center of heavy industry.


 * Rousse, the location of the only Danube bridge along the Romania-Bulgaria border and the largest port along the river in this region.


 * Sofia, the capital.


 * Varna, the headquarters of the Bulgarian Navy, a major port and city, and a minor soviet naval base.


 * Yambol, destroyed in a strike on the nearby large airbase.

It was also effected by the strikes on Edirne in Turkey, Thessaloniki in Greece, and the cities of Bucharest and Constanta in Romania.

Post-Doomsday
Karoshan Territory was left mostly unaffected by the nuclear attacks, although the nearby strikes on Ruse and Varna cast some fears that the radiation would envelop their area. By some kind of impossible fluke, the founding fathers of the real-life Republic of Krakozhia, including Galdar Umayev, were gathered together in Pretoska when the attacks came.

When the Pretoska government learned that Governor Lachezar Milkov and his vice governor had not made it out of Ruse before it was struck by American nukes, they were shocked and saddened, even though Milkov had made it clear during his rule that he considered the native Kravs "lesser folk" than Bulgarians like him. And because of a convoluted chain of command, Representative of Karoshan Territory Ignat Babachakai became the new Governor. His first act was to name Galdar Umayev his Vice Governor and then resign from his position, leaving Umayev the Governor.

Umayev called for an emergency meeting between the government officials and the Krav nationalists at the Pretoska State Library on 1 October 1983, almost a week after Doomsday. After a lengthy debate, the Communists and the nationalists agreed to work together to bring about a stable government to lead the Krav people through this most challenging time. The day after that, the Republic of Krakozhia was declared, with Galdar Umayev as the President.

The Dark Period
The Dark Period is a term generally used in Krakozhia to describe the length of time between late December 1987 to February 1988 when they fought a war against renegade Soviet army units, who have already destroyed the Islamic Republic of Gerlovo, a Bulgarian survivor state located just south of Krakozhia.

The Dark Period began on the first day of December 1987. On that day, Krakozhian border guards reported large numbers of people approaching the border line in almost every way imaginable. Although most were held back by the guards, a chosen few were allowed through the border and into Krakozhia, where they were questioned by the officials. They revealed that they had come from the Islamic Republic of Gerlovo, a small survivor state located just south of them. Rogue Soviet troops had been attacking them for months now, ever since they stumbled upon the Gerlovan city of Razgrad, very close to the Krakozhian border. Right now, the rogue Soviets were attacking their capital of Targovishte, and their leaders had ordered the citizens to flee while they could. After learning of this information, Umayev let the Gerlovo refugees to enter Krakozhia.

Meanwhile, Umayev pondered on whether to assist Gerlovo in their fight against the Soviet renegades. General Turmaryan Muktarbariyev, commander-in-chief of the Krakozhian Army, volunteered to lead an armored division to Targovishte and assist the besieged Gerlovans. Umayev accepted this proposal. Unfortunately, just as the division was to embark on the journey, they encountered a Gerlovo militiaman running barefoot. As he fell before Colonel Karl Stoichkov, Muktarbariyev's deputy, he mumbled, "Targovishte has fallen. Gerlovo is no more," and then he dropped dead. The colonel advised the general, who agreed that they should turn back.

While the Congress of People's Deputies debated on whether to meet the renegade threat or shore up their defenses, Umayev ordered General Muktarbariyev to establish a defensive line along the border. Within a month, all roads leading out of the country have been roadblocked and turned into Army checkpoints.

The first signs of the coming renegade Soviet force came in the form of an infantry column surrounding a single T-55 tank. Army snipers took out the troops quickly, and an anti-tank team knocked out the T-55 before it could fire its main gun. While they were celebrating this very minor victory, however, they learned that the main body of the renegades had broken through the border regions near what used to be Razgrad. Pretoska and Malug, the two largest cities in Krakozhia, immediately came under siege. Reports of pillaging and looting reached the government, which had relocated to the relatively safer city of Brekonav. Umayev ordered all available army units to converge on the besieged cities and relieve the defenders.

A motley squadron of Krakozhian Air Force jets converged on the enemy formation just south of Malug and firebombed it, killing most of its senior commanders and a good number of their troops and armor. Some of those that survived surrendered to the Krakozhians, while many others fled southward. The captured renegades were interrogated, and those deemed to be "hardline communists," which numbered at about two hundred, were executed by firing squad. A few renegades remained behind in Malug, looting and pillaging the parts of the city that they had conquered until, one by one, they were eliminated by Krakozhian forces.

The situation in Pretoska was a little different. The renegades there, led by a cunning Soviet major, made use of guerrilla tactics to delay and demoralize the Krakozhians. He even ordered the killing of innocent children, mass executions, and unrestricted pillaging, thinking that his deplorable actions would make the Krakozhians weak and give up the fight. But what he didn't know was that Krakozhians took such actions as personal attacks on each and every one of them and their honor, and that they would fight to the death if it meant stopping those actions. On the night of 25 Feburary 1988, a combined land-river-air assault struck the main body of the renegade force, annihilating all defenses and reducing it to a shadow of its former self. As the Krakozhians went deeper into the camp, the Soviet renegades began collapsing like a house of cards, until what remained of their force surrendered. Some of the troops dragged the major out of his tent, and General Muktarbariyev took the pleasure of executing him personally.

Thus, the Dark Period finally ended.

Reestablishing Gerlovo
In the wake of the Dark Period, Krakozhia became more paranoid as a state, and the barest hint of banditry would send the government ordering the immediate shutdown of all roads leading out to the borderlands and the implementation of army checkpoints. But they also knew that if they kept this paranoid behavior up for too long, the time will come when the people would no longer believe them if they ever cried wolf for real. So the decision was made to create a buffer state between Krakozhia and the unexplored borderlands, and Gerlovo was seen as the best candidate for the buffer state. Engineers and construction equipment were sent down to the ruins of Targovishte, Shumen, and Razgrad, after the three cities had been cleared of bandits by advance scouting parties and patrols. Former refugees were invited to come down to newly constructed apartment buildings that had been built over ruined buildings, and a few historical sites were rebuilt for posterity. Contact with towns formerly under Gerlovo's control were also reestablished via former officials who were given permission to fly the Gerlovo banner.

Finally, on 28 August 1997, the Islamic Republic of Gerlovo was reestablished in New Targovishte, the name of the settlements established by Krakozhian engineers around the ruins of the city capitol. Zivko Kardalev was named President, and Rosen Binevski the Prime Minister until elections could make their positions permanent.

Outside contact
While most of Krakozhia's forces were concentrated upon rebuilding and training Gerlovo's forces, small groups of scouts were sent out to explore the areas north and west of Krakozhia, into the land that was once Romania. After a few weeks searching the land and encountering villages that told them of a larger, more powerful country to their west, the Krakozhian scouts encountered another scouting party, this one much larger and speaking Romanian. After a few shots were exchanged, mostly from the Krakozhian scouts, the commanders called for a truce and agreed to meet. They learned that the Romanians were from a nation-state called Transylvania, which had declared itself the successor to Romania. The Krakozhian commander apologized for his men's actions, stating that they had just been through a war and were reasonably jumpy of anyone who spoke a different language from them, and they agreed to have more talks between their two states. A few months later, Krakozhia and Transylvania exchanged ambassadors and declared their recognition of each other.

In the summer of 1995, a year after establishing contact with Transylvania, a Krakozhian Army scout battalion set out for the western regions of former Bulgaria. After a harrowing journey across an irradiated landscape, the Krakozhians came upon a heavily fortified town manned by Bulgarian-speaking soldiers wearing Communist symbols. After the now-customary exchange of shots, the Krakozhians raised a white flag and asked for a parley, despite being the ones to fire first. Their commander, a Captain Oleg Dallutev, was allowed to speak with the opposing commander, who revealed that they were from a nation-state based in the city of Vidin. This Vidin, the Vidinite commander continued, was a Communist state, with Soviet soldiers running the government through their Bulgarian puppets. Although the Vidinite commander seemed saddened that the Soviets were running his nation, he made it clear to Dallutev that he was prepared to defend it and even die for it, if it came to that. Meanwhile, Dallutev told the Vidinite commander all about Krakozhia, down to the battles with the Soviet renegades, the reestablishment of Gerlovo, and the discovery of Transylvania. The Vidinite commander allowed Dallutev and his scouts to return to Krakozhia, with the promise that he would tell his leaders of the wonderful land that is the Soviet Republic of Vidin.

Dallutev and his men returned to Pretoska and informed President Yelena Nekazanka of his encounter with the Vidinites. He made a recommendation that while in talks with Vidin, Krakozhia should present itself as a fellow Communist state, as he had been informed that the Vidinites didn't take democratic countries seriously at the very least. That turned out to be an easy matter, as many of Krakozhia's government officials had been former Bulgarian officials or at the very least involved with the Bulgarian government.

Rhodope
In 2000, the Vidinite ambassador delivered a note to the Krakozhian Foreign Ministry informing them that Vidin had encountered a rival Bulgarian successor state named Rhodope, that Vidin was considering preparing for war with Rhodope, and that the Vidinite governmwnt was wondering whether the Krakozhians could support their fraternal socialist allies in Vidin. President Dmitri Prikopy consulted the matter with his cabinet, and they decided to tell the Vidinites that they would deliberate on the matter. Meanwhile, the Krakozhian Army ordered its scouts to search for the Rhodope survivor state and, if possible, consult with their leaders on the Vidin affair. However, these efforts would be in vain as by the time the Krakozhians encountered the Rhodope state, they had already conquered the Vidinites and incorporated it into their territory.

Krakozhia encountered Rhodope when scouts from the two states encountered each other in the small hamlet of Smyadovo, where a tiny remnant of former Gerlovans had sought refuge from the Soviet marauders. As always, the Krakozhians fired first, but the Rhodopians, having heard of the rumors of the Krakozhians, did not return fire. With the truce coming quick, the Krakozhians offered information to the Rhodopians in exchange for their information. They exchanged notes on their expeditions throughout Bulgaria, and they agreed to host more permanent talks soon. Meanwhile, all traces of Krakozhia's recognition of Vidin was swiftly erased before the Rhodopian delegations arrived. However, this did not prevent Rhodopian officials from discovering Krakozhia's duplicity in June 2012, and relations between the two countries soured somewhat.

Coup in Gerlovo
In Gerlovo, there was growing dissatisfaction as Zivko Kardalev and Rosen Binevski switched positions in the new elections, with Binevski the new president and Kardalev as prime minister, in an attempt to continue ruling over Gerlovo indefinitely through a loophole in the country's constitution. A group of militia leaders, led by Commander Yoan Minchev, decided to overthrow the government and reintroduce democracy to Gerlovo.

The Krakozhian Committee for State Security, led by Timofey Andropov, learned of the plan to oust Kardalev and Binevski, and presented it to President Arkady Zorkin. Surprisingly, Zorkin told Andropov not to interfere with the coup and even provide support to the coup plotters. It was then that Zorkin revealed that the Kardalev administration had asked for increasing concessions from the government, at the detriment of the Krakozhian-Gerlovan balance. Zorkin gave Andropov orders to negotiate with the rebels, and that the key point for Krakozhia's support was that the new regime would withdraw Gerlovo's demands for concessions in exchange for Krakozhian support of the coup.

On the night of 10 January 2012, Minchev and his co-conspirators quietly removed Kardalev and Binevski from office and assumed their positions. There were rumors that the Krakozhian soldiers guarding the presidential residences left their posts just before the Minchevists came to arrest Kardalev and Binevski, but these remained unsubstantiated.

The Constanța Coalition
Krakozhia first learned of the Constanța Coalition when bandits claiming to be loyal to this organization were captured after fierce firefights in the city of Mangalia, in Romanian territory. The Constanța Coalition, army interrogators later learned, was a loose grouping of five towns beyond Romanian Territory's borders, namely Pecineaga, Costineşti, Amzacea, Tuzla, and Topraisar, who were against foreigners trying to impose their rule over Romania. They believed that only fellow Romanians should be ruling over Romania, and that any and foreigners had no business in interfering with Romanian affairs. Intelligence from deep-cover scouts also revealed that the Constanța Coalition had been staging raids since 2002, when Romanian Territory was first organized. The Army had paid little attention to these so-called "Romanian bandits" and only very recently acknowledged their threat to "the integrity of the Krakozhian Republic," and decided to take action against them. As of 20 August 2012, troops were being mobilized to Romanian Territory, for further deployment deeper into what was once Constanța County.

Government
Krakozhia is a republic, with a president as both head of state and government. Initially, members of the Communist Party in the area led the government, but now the government of Krakozhia is well and truly democratic.

Executive
Krakozhia is led by a president, which is elected to four-year terms. He or she is assisted by the Vice President. The current President is, and the vice president is.

Legislative
The consists of 108 deputies, each elected to four-year terms by direct popular vote. The Congress of People's Deputies has the power to enact laws, approve the budget, schedule presidential elections, select and dismiss the President and other ministers, declare war, deploy troops abroad, and ratify international treaties and agreements. The president serves as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and has the authority to return a bill for further debate, although the parliament can override the presidential veto by a simple majority vote of all members of parliament.

Judicial
The is the highest appellate court in the country, composed of eight judges (two for each province). The chief justice is sometimes appointed by the president; at other times, he or she is elected by his/her fellow judges. Each judicial province is subdivided into judicial districts, further subdivided into judicial prospects.

Territories
Krakozhia is divided into four provinces and one territory.

Foreign relations
Krakozhia is a full member of the Black Sea Accords, and a junior observer at the Mediterranean Defense League. It has good diplomatic relations with the countries in the region, although recently, its relations with fellow Bulgarian survivor state Rhodope took a downturn when Rhodopian authorities discovered that Krakozhia had once had full diplomatic relations with the recently conquered state of Vidin.

Krakozhia has submitted an application to join the League of Nations, which is currently pending.

Also see

 * 1) The Audacity of Hope (1983: Doomsday)
 * 2) Differences between OTL Krakozhia and 1983: Doomsday Krakozhia (Birth of Krakozhia)