Nobatica
27-04-2008, 03:28
Ten Kilometers Outside Wazalla, Central Nobatica
Nobatica was easily one of the poorest countries on the continent of Karain, and indeed the face of the planet: with virtually no natural resources, a population that was 99% illiterate, and a central government that controlled roughly 15% of the country (and was itself nothing more than a loose alliance of poorly organized militias) with the rest existing in a state of anarchy save for Southern Nobatica which rather than being controlled by the 'central' government under Dux Caius Publius Agrippa was instead controlled by the VSIC, the Vires Syndicatus Inquisitionis Cortus, or United Forces of the Inquisitional Court, a collection of militias with an extremist Doomani Catholic twist. Nobatica itself was a former Doomani colony (originally annexed in 1802), achieving independence from the Res Publica Doomanus in 1972 at the height of the Successio, the civil war in which the Res Publica was crushed by militant Catholic forces and the Imperium established in its place. Following the toppling of the Marxist colonial government (facilitated by mass mutiny on the part of Res Publica's troops), a long period of civil war ensued, resulting in the current political climate.
White ethnic Doomani were essentially the ruling class, if one could call it that. By that, they made up the leadership of most of the militias (at least in the ‘organized’ portion of the country if one could call it that), the entire central government, the Inquisitional Courts, and represented the only literate portion of the country (although admittedly most of these men and women were illiterate). Black native Nobaticans, making up some 98% of the population, lived in large shack towns although their white 'lords' were very much a part of their community living in conditions only slightly better than their ‘subjects’, rule being hereditarily determined for most of the militia-occupied towns. There were of course large swathes of the country dominated by bandits and independent warlords, and for some 65% of the country this was the case. The seemingly crude rule of the Nobatican Government and Inquisitional Court seemed almost organized to a degree in comparison to the rest of the country, which was a battleground for dozens of independent militias.
Wazalla was one of those cities dominated by an independent militia, which primarily concerned itself with staving off bandit attacks from the surrounding desert countryside. The terrain around Wazalla was barren: fields of dry shrub and rocky hills surrounded the shack hamlet, whose impoverished inhabitants received some 500 calories a day to live for the most part. The village of some two-hundred people relied on a militia force of some sixty-one men and boys from ages twelve to forty-nine (the oldest man in the village and indeed a man who would be considered an elder in most of Nobatica, which had a life expectancy of some forty-two years for men and thirty-five for women) for its defense, and also maintained a trio of armed pickup trucks, technicals as they were called, fitted with rusting old MGM heavy machineguns. The militia was at least somewhat well armed, with some forty-six DR-83 rifles to go around, a pair of 3M1 general purpose machineguns, five Maurus 93 bolt action rifles and nine DR-78 battle rifles, and at least a dozen Verutum rocket propelled grenade launchers.
As the inhabitants of Wazalla had come to learn, the bandits in the surrounding countryside, whose camp was some fifteen kilometers away who occasionally raided the town to abduct locals for use as slaves (for the majority of Nobatica, the slave trade was the only thing resembling an economy), actually had rusting old MAD.II medium tanks (which had to be at least sixty years old by now, the current year being 2028) which they had used to great effect to terrorize the town, and at least six technicals. Their leader, Marius Cato, was especially ruthless as members of the Hryvinian Red Cross were about to learn.
The Hryvinian Red Cross was one of some two-dozen NGOs that brought food into Nobatica; unfortunately, it was also one of the first to venture this deep into militia country, as it was called. The roads, being very poorly maintained, were for the most part covered in dust, and as a result Cato’s men saw dust from the convoy from a long ways out. A single technical had scoped the convoy out, finding it completely undefended. With the proper intelligence gathered, the bandits prepared their ambush.
There was one painfully obvious choke point where the road would pass through a small canyon some ten kilometers outside of the hamlet. This, being the only road in, naturally made things very easy for the militia. Some twenty men took up positions along the cliffs on either side and a flat bed truck was driven to the far end of the canyon, blocking the path completely. An additional five militiamen (including one with an RPG) took up positions behind the truck, although they did their best to stay concealed.
The technicals (with an additional ten militiamen acting as dismounts) and tank were placed in a position to roll right into the entrance of the canyon, trapping all six trucks and all of their cargo inside.
Nobatica was easily one of the poorest countries on the continent of Karain, and indeed the face of the planet: with virtually no natural resources, a population that was 99% illiterate, and a central government that controlled roughly 15% of the country (and was itself nothing more than a loose alliance of poorly organized militias) with the rest existing in a state of anarchy save for Southern Nobatica which rather than being controlled by the 'central' government under Dux Caius Publius Agrippa was instead controlled by the VSIC, the Vires Syndicatus Inquisitionis Cortus, or United Forces of the Inquisitional Court, a collection of militias with an extremist Doomani Catholic twist. Nobatica itself was a former Doomani colony (originally annexed in 1802), achieving independence from the Res Publica Doomanus in 1972 at the height of the Successio, the civil war in which the Res Publica was crushed by militant Catholic forces and the Imperium established in its place. Following the toppling of the Marxist colonial government (facilitated by mass mutiny on the part of Res Publica's troops), a long period of civil war ensued, resulting in the current political climate.
White ethnic Doomani were essentially the ruling class, if one could call it that. By that, they made up the leadership of most of the militias (at least in the ‘organized’ portion of the country if one could call it that), the entire central government, the Inquisitional Courts, and represented the only literate portion of the country (although admittedly most of these men and women were illiterate). Black native Nobaticans, making up some 98% of the population, lived in large shack towns although their white 'lords' were very much a part of their community living in conditions only slightly better than their ‘subjects’, rule being hereditarily determined for most of the militia-occupied towns. There were of course large swathes of the country dominated by bandits and independent warlords, and for some 65% of the country this was the case. The seemingly crude rule of the Nobatican Government and Inquisitional Court seemed almost organized to a degree in comparison to the rest of the country, which was a battleground for dozens of independent militias.
Wazalla was one of those cities dominated by an independent militia, which primarily concerned itself with staving off bandit attacks from the surrounding desert countryside. The terrain around Wazalla was barren: fields of dry shrub and rocky hills surrounded the shack hamlet, whose impoverished inhabitants received some 500 calories a day to live for the most part. The village of some two-hundred people relied on a militia force of some sixty-one men and boys from ages twelve to forty-nine (the oldest man in the village and indeed a man who would be considered an elder in most of Nobatica, which had a life expectancy of some forty-two years for men and thirty-five for women) for its defense, and also maintained a trio of armed pickup trucks, technicals as they were called, fitted with rusting old MGM heavy machineguns. The militia was at least somewhat well armed, with some forty-six DR-83 rifles to go around, a pair of 3M1 general purpose machineguns, five Maurus 93 bolt action rifles and nine DR-78 battle rifles, and at least a dozen Verutum rocket propelled grenade launchers.
As the inhabitants of Wazalla had come to learn, the bandits in the surrounding countryside, whose camp was some fifteen kilometers away who occasionally raided the town to abduct locals for use as slaves (for the majority of Nobatica, the slave trade was the only thing resembling an economy), actually had rusting old MAD.II medium tanks (which had to be at least sixty years old by now, the current year being 2028) which they had used to great effect to terrorize the town, and at least six technicals. Their leader, Marius Cato, was especially ruthless as members of the Hryvinian Red Cross were about to learn.
The Hryvinian Red Cross was one of some two-dozen NGOs that brought food into Nobatica; unfortunately, it was also one of the first to venture this deep into militia country, as it was called. The roads, being very poorly maintained, were for the most part covered in dust, and as a result Cato’s men saw dust from the convoy from a long ways out. A single technical had scoped the convoy out, finding it completely undefended. With the proper intelligence gathered, the bandits prepared their ambush.
There was one painfully obvious choke point where the road would pass through a small canyon some ten kilometers outside of the hamlet. This, being the only road in, naturally made things very easy for the militia. Some twenty men took up positions along the cliffs on either side and a flat bed truck was driven to the far end of the canyon, blocking the path completely. An additional five militiamen (including one with an RPG) took up positions behind the truck, although they did their best to stay concealed.
The technicals (with an additional ten militiamen acting as dismounts) and tank were placed in a position to roll right into the entrance of the canyon, trapping all six trucks and all of their cargo inside.