Lagan, Khanate of Kalmykia
[Due to the ongoing reconstruction of the Kalmykian capital Elst (Formerly referred to by its Russian name—Elista), my meeting with the man responsible for the independence of Kalmykia shall take place here, in the second largest city. The man, who has requested to be referred to as the "Chess Khan" of Kalmykia, is the supreme leader of the reestablished Khanate of Kalmykia. The Khanate is currently in control of the territory of Kalmykia before the war and also small parts of the former Astrakhan Oblast and the northernmost, Nogai-dominated region of Dagestan. Kalmykia is currently a de jure internationally recognized absolute monarchy that has managed to gain independence from Russia. The latter is currently occupied with eradicating frozen zombies within its territory and expanding into Europe and Central Asia to be a real threat to Kalmykia (the "Chess Khan" and his government are also attempting to build cordial relations with the Holy Russian Empire although they don't want to repeat the mistake made by the first Khanate of Kalmykia). I meet the "Chess Khan" in front of the city's Buddhist temple: the Dardeling Temple. The signs around us are all written in Kalmyk and Russian as they were before the war. However, the Kalmyk is written using Todo Bichig (Clear Script), the traditional alphabet used by the Kalmyks until they were forced to use Cyrillic in 1924.]
Kalmykia won the zombie war. I know that might sound arrogant and insensitive when you consider what happened to the rest of Russia and the world, but we came out of the war as an expanded, reestablished nation and we didn't really suffer massive losses; most of the people within Kalmykia that died were ethnic Russians and as a result, we managed to raise our portion in the population from 57% to over 90%.
Before the war, we were one of the poorest regions in the entire Russian Federation. However, we did have some influence due to our growing population and of course, our position as the "Chess Capital*." Why else did I force Kalmykian students to learn how to play chess in school**?
But all of that was before the war. Kalmykia still retains a love of chess as well as the status of "Chess Capital." However, we needed to revive the will and morale of our people. Look at what the Russians are doing; claiming that God is on their side and calling themselves the Holy Russian Empire. We did something similar, we decided to reestablish the mighty Kalmyk Khanate and emphasize our proud heritage. For we have the blood of Lenin*** and Genghis Khan! I also made it mandatory for everyone to speak Kalmyk. Ever since Stalin devastated our nation through Operation Ulusy, most young Kalmyks opted to speak Russian and showed little interest in their mother tongue. My parents were amongst the ones deported to Kazakhstan during Operation Ulusy but they were proud Kalmyks and therefore decided that I speak the language from birth, hence my ability in using it. I was also raised as a Buddhist because of this and Kalmykia was always known for being the only Buddhist nation in Europe. That's one of the reasons I made it our state religion alongside Tengriism after the war. Staving off the influence of the expanding Orthodox Christian Holy Russian Empire was another reason.
But anyways, what I just described is what I did when our glorious Khanate was reestablished. Things were much different before the war. Many of us also hated being part of the Russian Federation.
(*Kalmykia was well known as the "Chess Capital" of the world for hosting several chess championships and for having its own "Chess City.")
(**Kalmykia remains the only place in the world where chess is a compulsory school subject.)
(***Vladimir Ilich Lenin was one quarter Kalmyk.)
Why did many Kalmyks hate being part of Russia?
We had many reasons but the most basic one was that we faced discrimination and the erosion of our culture and language. Many people outside Russia believe that Russians are just White people—most people in Russia would call them that in English by the way; in the former USSR, "Caucasian" refers to either the former Caucasian SSRs of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia or someone from Russia's former Caucasian republics such as Dagestan or Kabardino-Balkaria—and that is partly a result of the notion of White Supremacy being common. Although Mongoloids like us Kalmyks and some other nations like the Sakha and Tuvans were ubiquitous in many parts of the former Russian Federation, racism and discrimination against "Asians" was also extremely common. It was much worse against people with African ancestry but since they're extremely rare in Russia, much of the discrimination goes to us Asians instead.
In addition to this, we had to deal with the erosion of our language and culture. I had to force Kalmykian children to speak Kalmyk because so many young Kalmyks could only speak Russian and showed little interest in their native language. Furthermore, most of the many Russians that lived within Kalmykia didn't bother to study the language and opted to speak only Russian because Kalmykia was "part of Russia." This was an outrage and the Kalmyk language was dwindling as a result. This was in stark contrast to Buryatia, our cousin in the Far East, which still remains part of Russia yet the Buryats are treated surprisingly well. Even before the war, most Buryats could speak Buryat and thousands of Russians in Buryatia could speak it even though the Buryats only made up 23% of the population.
We also didn't like how we were no longer recognized by the outside world much. Since a world map would just show our territory as "Russia" a foreigner would just assume we're Russian instead of Kalmyk. On top of that young Kalmyk men were subjected to conscription like all young men in Russia where they had to go through the horrid Dedovshchina* which was made worse by their ethnicity.
For these reasons, we didn't really like being part of Russia. But there was nothing we could do since Kalmykia was quite poor. Before the war, I pumped copious amounts of my own money into the economy to help but we were still one of the poorer republics of Russia.
But anyways, I was able to become aware of the zombie threat a long time before the Great Panic and due to both the small area and population of our nation, I was able to get Kalmykia partially prepared.
(*Dedovshchina (дедовщи́на in Russian) literally means "grandfatherism" and refers to the informal yet widespread system of bullying and brutalizing young conscripts in the Russian Armed Forces and is seen as a reason for low morale and high suicide rates in the ranks.)
How were you able to become informed about the zombies?
[He laughs] I was the president! Of course I'd be reading about international affairs in my spare time and on top of that I was and still am a millionaire and had access to the Kalmyk government as well as some connections in the federal government in Moscow. Not to mention my connections in FIDE* where I was the president. This allowed me to get all sorts of information quickly. I even managed to get myself a copy of the Warmbrunn-Knight Report when the Israeli government released it and after I read it, I decided to send it to other presidents in Russia and I even sent it to Moscow and also to several government officials in Kalmykia. Most of them shrugged it off as nothing major; they figured that I was crazy and said things like "Kalmykia's president was abducted by aliens again." Moscow, however, seemed to take the news more seriously.
I was summoned to Moscow a few weeks after I sent the report to them and the federal president told me that what I read was true and applauded me for trying to warn everyone. He told me that there was some sort of new disease that started in China and was slowing spreading around the world. He told me that he was originally informed by the Spetsnaz and the FSB that there was an increase of illegal immigrants from China and that many of these immigrants were acting strangely. He now knew what the threat was and was determined to take action.
Because the report I gave him was of such great importance, he allowed to me make some requests of him if I had any. I told him that I'd like all ethnic Kalmyk servicemen to be formed into a unit and be subsequently sent to Kalmykia and that as many ethnic Kalmyks living in other parts of Russia be sent back to Kalmykia. I also asked for weapons, ships, and coastal defenses that I could use to fortify Kalmykia's border with the Caspian Sea. I told him these were all for defensive purposes. I was surprised he agreed since he was the type of person who preferred to be more ironfisted.
I was even more surprised when he told me to have an extended term so that I could better prepare Kalmykia to prepare for the crisis.
(*Fédération internationale des échecs or World Chess Federation.)
Did he allow other presidents of the republics of Russia to make similar demands?
Not that I know of. Although I know that he started to impose martial law throughout the country and that he became much stricter with the Caucasian republics. Our president said that the majority of the illegal Chinese immigrants were either coming through the Caucasus or from Kazakhstan and for that reason he wanted those areas to be heavily patrolled. There didn't seem to be many Chinese pouring into the Russian Far East from Manchuria or from our border with Xinjiang for some reason but our president ordered an increase of troops there as well.
Afterwards, I immediately went back to Elista and called for the members of the People's Khural of Kalmykia* to convene. I immediately announced to the assembly that the federal president will be enacting martial law throughout Russia and that I'll be allowed an extended term to deal with the impending threat. I then explained the contents of the Warmbrunn-Knight Report and announced that the undead could arrive at any time and that Kalmyks from other parts of Russia would be returning here in order to fortify our defenses.
(*People's Khural of Kalmykia (Хальмг Танһчин Улсин Хурал in Kalmyk)—the Parliament of Kalmykia.)
How did the members of the Khural react to this announcement?
It was quite mixed. Many were outraged that my years in power were extended even further. One of the members—who was an ethnic Russian—accused me of making up a crisis in order to gain more power and proclaimed that I would start murdering journalists and persecuting Russians while increasing my own wealth. I told him that the Warmbrunn-Knight Report was a legitimate report made by the Israeli government and that the only way we could survive is maintaining the same leader. I also stated that I had no involvement of past murders of journalists.
Eventually, the members all agreed to my proposal that we start mobilizing the people to defend Kalmykia. A few weeks after this meeting, about 17,000 Kalmyks from other parts of Russia arrived in Elista. A few hundred of them were members of the armed forces. Some federal trucks carrying weapons, food, and supplies from Moscow also arrived and we received news that 3 ships from the Caspian Fleet had docked on our coast. They consisted of one Sonya-class minesweeper and two Project 1204 Shmel gunboats. All of the ships were loaded with weapons and supplies that we used to hastily constrict a sturdy coastal defense and also fortify our borders.
There was one problem in the latter part. Our territory may've been small and mostly compact. But there was one part that could've acted as a hole leading to the heart of Kalmykia. If you look at a map of our country before or after the war, you'll see this thin strip of land jutting out. That land consisted of the areas formerly known as the Yashaltinsky and Gorodovikovsky Districts along with a part of the former Priyutnensky District. These areas took up too much manpower to defend. So I ordered their immediate evacuation. It wasn't easy, as one of our major cities, Bääşñt—known back then as Gorodovikovsk—,was located there. But it was a necessary sacrifice and I managed to get all of the people there evacuated to Central Kalmykia. We were able to retake those parts a few years later, when Russia was collapsing.
As for our defenses, I had units of soldiers patrolling every city and as much of our borders as possible and they were all ordered to shoot any strange human in the face. If any human intruders with normal behavior came, they were to be checked for bite marks and shot in the head if they had any.
These measures paid off greatly. After increased reports of zombie outbreaks in North Ossetia-Alania came, we started to get ready for more attacks. Soon, I received reports that we'd managed to shoot down some zombies who were approaching from our border with Astrakhan Oblast.
Things seemed to be going well, until we heard about the decimations starting. We heard of some soldiers rebelling against the federal government in North Ossetia and that they were forced to execute their comrades. I didn't want to do this in Kalmykia but unfortunately I eventually had to when we had a few rebellions of our own. Most of these rebels were ethnic Russians who were either Far-Right White Supremacists or believed that the Kalmyks were getting too many rights. However, a few were ethnic Kalmyks who disagreed with my policies. I had most of the rebels arrested excepted for the Far-Rightists whom I had hanged publicly. I did this to show to the public that I won't tolerate dissent during these times. A few more rebellions arose and I had any Russian Extremist executed but the other rebels I allowed some clemency and even addressed some of their concerns. I was able to solve the problems ethnic Russians raised by promising them that they could return to Russia when the crisis was over and that I'll discourage Kalmyks from discriminating against them in the armed forces—apparently a reverse Dedovshchina was occurring amongst the soldiers.
However things started to get difficult when the Great Panic gripped the world. During this time, Russia was being attacked from all directions by the undead. Swarms of them were slouching out of Kazakhstan and the border with Georgia and Azerbaijan while reanimated hordes from Finland, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic States were also moving into Russia. The armed forces were spread too thin and after the Fall of Moscow and after the flight of the president to Arkhangelsk, Russia seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Kalmykia was left alone and we mostly managed to defend our borders and we had plenty of food and ammunition to sustain us. However, the situation seemed to get dire when an outbreak occurred here.
How and where did this outbreak start?
How it started I don't know. All I know is that it started in a hospital in Elista and that the patients who first reanimated were organ transplant patients. I had to send in a special unit to destroy the zombies in Elista and fortunately we were able to get the job done in three months.
Eventually, we heard of this Honolulu Conference going on and although we couldn't send a representative, we were able to relay our concerns to the Russian representative who voted an affirmative on striking back against the undead. We were still under siege but were determined to make a difference. The Russian government and much of their armed forces were holed up in Siberia where they still had to deal with frozen zombies thawing each spring even though the area was mostly secure. We sent them a message and told them that we would launch an attack against the zombies surrounding us in exchange for a guarantee that we'd be recognized as an independent Republic of Kalmykia.
Their president reluctantly agreed and decided to have his forces advance west. We meanwhile started to slowly dispatch the surrounding zombies and started to retake the districts we abandoned earlier.
Suddenly, we heard that there was a religious revolution in Russia. Priests were all of a sudden being organized into battalions and Russian soldiers suddenly seemed to heave more morale as Russia started to gain more territory quickly. To our horror, Russia was once again under the rule of a Tsar, the new state—the Holy Russian Empire.
Why was it to your horror?
The last time there was a Russian Empire, there was also a Kalmyk Khanate that was established in 1630 and which acted as its ally. This Khanate protected Russia's southern borders from various Turkic and Muslim states and many Kalmyks served in the Russian armed forces; during the Great Northern War, many Kalmyks fought alongside the Russians in the major battles such as the Battle of Poltava. However, in later years, the Tsarist government started to abuse our country and started to interfere with our internal affairs more and tried to force their religion on Kalmyks while denigrating our Buddhist beliefs. The Khanate of Kalmykia was a loyal ally of Russia until they started abusing us. The word Kalmyk some say means "those who remained" because in 1771, our last Khan, Ubashi, led 200,000 Kalmyks back to Dzungaria and those who remained were subjected to Russian rule.
We feared that the rise of a new Russian Empire would spell doom to our newly proclaimed republic. So we started to go more on the offensive. After taking back and securing the Kalmyk territory we abandoned before the crisis, we entered some of the surrounding areas to clear them of the zombies and we gained some new territory by annexing parts of Astrakhan and Dagestan. The parts we annexed were historically part of the Kalmyk Khanate so we were able to justify taking them and the parts of Dagestan we took were dominated by the Nogais who were historically our vassals. Eventually, Russia's forces started to approach Kalmykia.
Meanwhile, we heard from their government that they'd annexed parts of Kazakhstan. Many of our people seemed fearful of the approaching Russians, even some of the ethnic Russians were afraid as they'd heard rumors from their relatives that Russia was becoming incresingly totalitarian. It was then that I made a public appearance in Elista. I declared that the city would be renamed its traditional Kalmyk name Êlêsütü and that the Republic of Kalmykia was no more. I continued by telling them that Russia has transformed into an expansionist theocratic monarchy and that the only way we could defend ourselves was to become a theocratic monarchy again. I then proclaimed the recreation of the Khanate of Kalmykia.
The people were pleased by this, to my surprise, and immediately supported my decision. "Long live Kalmykia!" They screamed.
As a result of our becoming a Khanate again, Russia wanted to have a similar relationship as the one we had before. I told them that this time our relationship had to be equal. We immediately demanded more weapons and resources. They were shocked by our proposal but they grudgingly agreed on the condition that ethnic Russians living in Kalmykia return to Russia as the Russian government desperately wants to increase their population. We agreed to their demand and announced that any Russians that want to go to the Empire may leave and take all of their belongings with them. Although most of them left, a surprisingly high number of them stayed and for this reason about 10 % of our population consists of ethnic Russians. In recent times, many of the Russians who left Kalmykia have been trying to flee Russia and come here. I find this to be quite ironic as many of these were the people complaining of discrimination and Kalmyk favoritism. The Russian government is making sure they don't escape.
After the war, I immediately started several reforms in order to strengthen our newly reestablished Khanate. I made it mandatory for everyone to learn the Kalmyk language and also encouraged the use of Todo Bichig to write it. I keep all of the Russian language signs intact though and allow the Russian minority to use their language; I don't want to antagonize the Holy Russian Empire.
Overall, Kalmykia suffered during the War and many of us died but the amount of suffering in Kalmykia is much less severe than what other parts of Russia and the world had to go through. We were able to be revived as a nation and regain our independence. It's such a shame that other oppressed nations couldn't do the same and that countries like Russia are using the devastation resulting from the war as an excuse to absorb many of them. Of course, I still liked my life before the war, but I still like my new position as Khan. Though I would've preferred getting it without this Zombie War.