Satímaa

"There is no bite more dangerous than the one of cold."

- Satí proverb

Satímaa is the home of the Satí people. It roughly covers the north-eastern area of Eidora, in the north of Radovia and Druthenia. The traditional area is split between the two countries, each housing a population of Satí.

While the Satí haven't known true independence for hundreds of years, their history with their southern rulers have usually been one of autonomy, at least in Druthenia.

General information
Satímaa is split in half between Druthenia in the east and Radovia in the west. Though divided for almost half a century, the Satí population of the region has remained close culturally due to the lack of border enforcement in the cold north, being able to cross mostly at will.

Pre-history
The Satí would migrate to modern Satímaa during roughly the same time as the Druthenians arrived in Druthenia. It is speculated that the divine war in Satí religion reflects an actual catastrophic conflict that forced the Satí people to flee or otherwise move eastwards.

Encroachment
WIP

In the 18th century, the "Satímaa game" would intensify: rather than allowing its rival to achieve domination of the remaining Satí lands in western Satímaa, Druthenia and Radovia would attempt to outmaneuver each other in the region. When any chieftain began to move closer to one side, the other would make sure to stop this process - this usually happened in the form of bribes, promises of help, or even assisting other chieftains in overthrowing them. As a result, western Satímaa was ostensibly a stateless region with fuzzy borders and without any real sovereignty: the actual power over western Satímaa resided in Sirev and Dainsborg as they continued to play a dangerous game of geopolitics. Yet, neither country controlled the area directly, resulting in a very generous autonomy.

Satí proto-state
Even though western Satímaa was firmly a region of geopolitical confusion after the 18th century, with Druthenia and Radovia engaging in their "tug-of-war" for influence over the myriad of chieftains, there were attempts to unify the people into a single state. Most notably, in the beginning of the 19th century, a Satí "high chieftain" would emerge in a bid to modernize and to establish proper sovereignity of his land and his people - in reality, he had little ruling power, and would instead act as a pawn in the political game between its two neighbors.

First Satímaa War
The strange situation in western Satímaa could not last. Tensions were rising by every year, and chieftains would eventually align themselves with one side over the other as they realised neutrality was no longer an option. A lot of chieftains aligned themselves with Druthenia, possibly witnessing the heavy-handed approach the Radovian state had on its ethnic minorities and thus preferring the Druthenian policy of mostly ignoring the Satí people. Eventually, the conflict would escalate into the First Satímaa War (1872 - 1875). Unfortunately for Druthenia, its recent policy of neglecting the military would come back to haunt them. After winning a series of early skirmishes, a Druthenian army and its Satí allies was decisively defeated by the Radovian army, who overran western Satímaa in its entire, alongside the Druthenian coastal cities there and in southernly Mezemia. Sensing weakness in Druthenia, the Zvogorian king decided to seize the Druthenian port cities on their own coast, and met little resistance. The result was a terrible defeat for the Druthenian state, which was forced to cede all occupied cities to Radovia and Zvogoria. Western Satímaa, meanwhile, came under the direct control of Radovia.

Political awakening in the East
After the war, the Satí population in eastern Satímaa would achieve a sort of political awakening. Nationalist ideas began to spread across the educated (but small) Satí elite and aristocracy, which later on began to spread downwards into the lower classes of Satí society. But rather than demanding independence, they demanded recognition - Druthenian policy for Satí had essentially been to just ignore them and let them be where they are. While this meant that the Satí enjoyed a unparalelled autonomy, they had been thoroughly excluded from Druthenian society and political institutions, even being denied any form of citizenship. Of course, this also meant that they were excluded from military service, and paid almost no taxes, but as a Satí politician put it: "What's the point of a society if you can't be a part of it?"

Insurgency in Western Satímaa
With western Satímaa falling under the direct boot of Radovia and the imperial government in Sirev, Satí society would change dramatically. No longer were they allowed the autonomy they had long experienced in the quasi-independent border region of old, and were now subject to repression from the Radovian state in the form of the "Western Satímaa Governate", that initiated a programme of "Radovification". Satí religious rituals (like open air funerals) were banned, the Radovian language became mandatory for use in institutions, and Radovian settlers were relocated into the region. As a result, a insurgency began to form - the so-called "Skull brigade" would reside in the deep forests of the north, and strike at Radovian military units and Governate institutions in an attempt to sabotage the Radovification process. This insurgency was rather small and had little effect, but the Radovians struggled to root out the organisation, which had broad public support from the Satí.

When the Age of Turmoil began, and Radovia began their brutal repression campaigns against political and nationalist dissidents in the early 1900's, the Satí found themselves subjected to harsh penalties and opression. As a result, the insurgency would expand greatly in scope, with more and more people flocking to the skull banner - and when Radovian military began with reprisals against the civillian population (rarely outright murder, but often deportation to prisons or labour camps), the insurgency would become increasingly violent, and sometimes began to attack Radovian settlers in Satímaa directly. In the meantime, volunteers from eastern Satímaa would sneakily cross the border to join the brigade's cause - when confronting Druthenia in this matter, they would claim that they "knew nothing about it" and that they "were doing all they could to limit extremism". In reality, the Druthenian government, alongside the Satí militia, turned away their heads to the volunteer support, much to the dismay of Radovia.

Second Satímaa War
With the Druthenian uprising beginning in the early summer of 1915, Radovia became worried that Druthenia would fall to the Vangerist cause. This, combined with the possibility of dealing a heavy blow the Skull brigade and cut off its external support from the source itself, resulted in the Radovian invasion of eastern Satímaa in the early autumn of 1915.

With the outbreak of the Second Satímaa War, the Skull brigade began to scale up their operations in a bid to halt the Radovian military. While not strictly allies, the brigade would sometimes work together with the Druthenian Satí militia in order to sabotage reinforcements of men and supplies to the front. As the war progressed, the Druthenian government took note of their effectiveness, and while cautious to support a nationalist organisation, they began to deliver limited material support to the brigade.

As the Eidoran war broke out in earnest in mid spring of 1916, the Radovians attempted one final offensive towards Vedvika. This failed spectacularily, and with newfound initiative, the Druthenian army was able to go on the counter-offensive, pushing the Radovians all the way back to mostly pre-war borders by late spring. However, the government was still unsure what exactly to do, and so accepted a Radovian offer of ceasefire, with the full knowledge that fighting may continue when the Eidoran war was over - a decision that was largely criticized politically.

Ceasefire
Even though the Druthenians had signed an uneasy ceasefire, the operations of the Skull brigade did not exactly end, though they began to be reduced in scope as Radovia had more pressing concerns on their hands. The brigade would continue to sabotage military operations in the area, and would receive secret support from the Druthenian Satí militia in this endeavor. As this became evident to the Druthenian government, it caused political issues that would eventually result in negotiations between all three parties - the Skull brigade, the militia, and the Druthenian government.

There, the brigade would come forth with a bold plan: They would continue to assist the Druthenian cause in the conflict. In return, if victorious in the continuation of the war, Druthenia would help establish a autonomous and unified Satímaa region within the country. It was a smart plan from the brigade's leadership - they had come to the conclusion that a independent Satímaa would be unable to resist the power of its neighbours, and they had also closely monitored the Druthenian population, where they found that support for the Satí had increased by a lot thanks to their service in the war. While politically difficult to justify for the Druthenian government, the public support for such a solution was there, and the prospect of re-acquiring lost port cities and even annexing the entirety of Satímaa would prove to be enticing. An agreement was signed.

Hauta
The town (and later city) of Hauta (lit. "the grave" in Satí) is the only town populated almost exclusively by Satís, since other towns in the area are predominantly inhabited by Druthenians. It is a major hub for Satí activity in Druthenia, and is essentially the closest thing to a capital for Druthenian Satímaa - and after the Satí were given more autonomy in the aftermath of the Satímaa War, Hauta was officially made a City (by royal decree) and the capital of the now-unified Satímaa region. Its population in 1914 is approximately 40,000.

Hauta is traditionally seen as the resting place of both mythological and legendary figures in Satí folklore and belief, but also for real historical individuals of note, giving rise to its name ("the grave").