Shanthi

Shanthi’s difficult history has been marred by diplomatic and military conflict, stuck between powerful empires to the east and west. All the while, a troublesome relationship with Mahishmati leaves them simultaneously managing awkward cultural and religious ties with their northern neighbour, while past wars and tensions between the pair sees them both eyeing each other suspiciously.

This tumultuous past leaves Shanthi veering towards self-sufficiency and isolationism, and yet also relying on a complex trade network and a multicultural melting pot in their homeland.

In the early 2000s, the Communist Party of Shanthi gradually took hold, marginalising other parties and gaining almost complete power. Queen Darvika Sarihaddu led multiple failed coup attempts in an effort to take down the communist government, inadvertently sealing the fate of the monarchy. The Shanthi Raj was transformed into the People’s Republic of Shanthi in 2007 and the throne was no more. This new republic has seen a radical departure from previous Shanthian governments, as the nation begins to explore the possibility of transcending old rivalries.

Will this era of revolution and change end in peace, or will history rear its ugly head and reignite old tensions once more? Will its international past develop Shanthi into a beacon of globalism, or send them spiralling into their own borders, retreating from competing powers? Will their age-old traditions be lost to the sands of time, or reinvigorated in response to their slow decline?