IDU Regional Forum
25 Awesome Slokasians Everyone Should Know - Printable Version

+- IDU Regional Forum (https://idugov.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Roleplay City (https://idugov.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=99)
+--- Forum: IDU Newswire (https://idugov.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=14)
+--- Thread: 25 Awesome Slokasians Everyone Should Know (/showthread.php?tid=13364)


25 Awesome Slokasians Everyone Should Know - Slokais - 12-23-2025

The following is from a 2022 Book “25 Awesome Slokasians, Everyone Should Know”. Each of these stories were chosen as each was regarded as a wise man who contributed to society and offered theological advice yet was not born in modern-day Slokais Islands.


Yen Shen Yumu
(990-1060)

The Shen Yumu Clan was one of the most influential among the Proto-Minjian Kingdoms of the Classical Period. Its wealth was regarded as one of the greatest, as its roots extend to the Tian Dynasty in present-day Laeral. Yet Shen Yumu came in as an outsider. Born in present-day Laeral to the second wife of Cheng Shen Yimu, Yen had a relatively pleasant early childhood per his accounts. Yet, everything changed when the Tian Dynasty which had been weakening for years fell into collapse. Cheng took mercy on his second son, as his older son born to another mother was failing to be effective on the battlefield.

Around 1002 or 1003, Youfu was put on a boat carrying many Minjian faithful to the promised lands of Pindai or “Blessed Place”. The city of Pindai would not be founded for several more decades, yet local leaders were encouraging migration to the region as part of the “War of Faith” which had begun several decades prior as an internal conflict within the Janghara State between Minjian and Animist forces. Cheng Shen Yimu was at the time, in command of the Pact of the Aligned, a collection of Minjian families and city states. He was growing older and sensed a successor was needed.

At that point, Cheng Shen Yumu had made Jianhua the seat of his power, and Yenwas brought there on a great-carriage escorted by an assortment of troops, dancers and members of court. Jianhua, which remains to this day in Pinjiang Province, was considered one of the great cities of the day.  Such an important moment was the arrival of Yen Shen Yumu, that the moment was depicted in several pieces of artwork such as “The Arrival” by Jiong Chen Wu, on permanent display at the National Gallery of Slokais. To the surprise of Cheng, Yen did not seek power or violence against the Animists as he hoped, or a sense of leadership to his people. Rather, Youfu spoke of reasoning and peaceful conversion of the people of these kingdoms to the Minjian Faith. This shocked the militarist, Cheng who decided that his second son wasn’t a warrior-heir but rather should be kept away as a greater thinker or advisor to him. He would have to find his successor elsewhere.

So it was up into the high mountains, carrying his belongings behind him with nothing but a map and a name. He found it, the Temple of the Divine Pursuit and its then caretakers the Brightnesses. Yen thus began his educational and spiritual journey, tuning out the war going on outside the walls and learning from his teachers. By the time news reached the mountains that Cheng Shen Yimu had passed away, his second son had consumed all there was to know within the temple’s collection of books. Yofu was offered the position of regent to his older brother, yet he rejected it.

“I shall only be a warrior to divine, only a swordsman to the divine kingdom and only a commander of the righteous faith”

Yen then began writing the first of his more than a dozen books he would publish in his lifetime, Tribulations. In the book, he would set out the ideals of a unique branch of the Minjian Faith, later known as Yenguango. Yenguango believes in a singular, dual-natured deity known as the Divine which encompasses the Host and Lady commonly believed as two separate divine beings. In addition, Yen disagreed with the notion that divine intervention was impossible, rather it could only occur in certain places at certain times. Additionally, Yen and the followers of Yenguango took a vow of veganism and abstinence from sex before marriage. Yenguango also argued Minjian’s should follow the pursuit of understanding the universe as scientists, educators or explorers. This is best encompassed by his most famous of quotes from his book “Life in Service of the Divine”

“The greatest joys of life come from the discovery of the Divine’s marks upon creation, the clouds in the sky, the animals on the ground, the rivers of the land. Yet is not a joy just upon the man which has discovered it but a joy upon those who come to see it within their time. It is glorious and a reminder of the Divine’s grace”

Yen would end up writing several academic papers on topics such as the water cycle, erosion and weather movements. He reached many of these discoveries at his various observation huts which were built by him and a growing number of disciples. Each consisted of a central octagonal chamber with an open circular roof and a central water pond. Attached was at the very least one room for sleep and prayer and another for storing materials necessary for writing and reading existing texts. Since his death in 1060, the Society of Yenguango has quietly maintained and studied at each of these sites which range in size. Visiting each of the 9 huts in succession is seen as a popular method of spiritualism and retreat to many Minjian in Slokais, even if some of his concepts are not accepted in the mainstream Minjian Faith.

During his later life, Yen would be called upon by his nephew Yofu Shen Yimu to establish the various bureaus of science and education of the Pindai State with many of these institutions taking upon his name. Scientists of the Pindai State, would end up having to take an oath of Yenguango for several centuries and his works on the nature of the universe would become required reading for any high reaching civil servant of the state. Today at Covenant University, the most important Minjian institution in Slokais, students who study in social sciences, medicine or engineering are required to take classes in the teaching of Yen Shen Yumu. Including President Joseph Zhang, who honored him with a special-edition 10,000 Mark note in 2019 due to his scientific contributions to geography, geology and philosophy. Politician, Spartcus Jones took upon the oath of abstinence and veganism before starting his Revolt! political party based on his reading of Yen’s works.

Juan De Garza
(1773-1839)

A poet, pastor and activist, Juan De Garza shouldn’t have never made it. Born in a fishing village in modern-day Kolda he lived the first years of his life in relative peace. But then in his own words “I was robbed of the innocence of childhood, the pride of freedom and the times of our youth by the cruelty of mankind”. De Garza who did not remember his name, only his mother’s face was enslaved and sent to Slokais via the Costeno Empire’s slave trading network.

At the time, the demands for labor in the new San Fernando colony called some to venture to Kolda to establish a slave trading network. People captured in war within the interior were brought to an island in Guedeiawaye Harbor, before ships would take the month’s long journey across the Olympic Ocean. By the time Juan De Garza came into the system, it was in its twilight years. War’s and conflict had ruined the finances of the traders and changed demand for labor from enslaved Koldans to indigenous Slokasians. De Garza describes a “great place of despair, I did not know much as I was just barely 3 or 4 years old, yet I knew evil was around, the devil’s worst creatures”. Referring to the San Fernando Slave Market on modern-day City Island, De Garza was in-fact one of the last people documented to have traveled through, as the transport and sale of slaves was banned by the municipal government in 1778. Yet, it didn’t mean De Garza was free. He and his siblings, yet not his mother, were bought by the Castillo family, an auctioneering family who owned a market in the Kingsway and a large plantation out in the swamp land of Salvador. Slavery was officially banned in the city, meaning persons living within could not be enslaved by another living within. Yet it thrived in Salvador City, De Garza who was given the surname Castillo was made to work as a rice farmer.

The swampland was cruel, walking in still water under a hot baking sun. Gathering the rice and then hauling huge baskets a mile or more to the Castillo’s rice storage building. De Garza lived this life until around 1790 when he was transferred to the auction house in San Fernando. Damien Castillo, needed extra hands around the office and Juan was praised as a hard worker, an example. De Garza described this in his 1815 book “Memories of the Stolen” as “I was cooled down, like a hot fire soaked by water. My words became cool, my behavior like hot coals. Calm and lacking heat from a distance yet still carrying the same heat”. It was through the auction house that De Garza learned to read Spanish so he could read directions. Damien assumed he lacked any more will, and could only understand and read words related to his company. Yet for Juan, his mind had been opened.

He eventually devised a plan, he began to talk with a woman named Ceila DeGarza, a Mestizo of Koldan ancestry. The two released that if they married officially, Juan would become a citizen and Ceila a widow would be able to restore her rights as a married person. Although the two lacked in love, with both later describing their relationship as “purely transactional” they were married in 1792, with Juan confirming his freedom on June 8th, 1792 in the records of the San Fernando Municipal Clerk. The two never had children of their own, although they adopted several over the course of their lives. Seeking employment, Juan began working as a deliveryman building connections within San Fernando. Through this work he was exposed to many people including many in the growing Afro-Slokaisan community (although they went by the term Nerienos at the time).

By 1800, the push to end slavery across the San Fernando Colony was becoming widespread. DeGarza, seeking to promote legislation, began a campaign of poems and writings which he personally distributed. Within his first pamphlet “Cases for a Society without Slavery”, DeGarza responded to common arguments for slavery’s continued usage using religious, economic and personal arguments. The success of the pamphlet led to several speaking engagements which grew popular support for abolishing slavery. While the slave trade had ended there remained 100,000 people classified as “enslaved person’s” by the 1805 Census. His events eventually brought him in contact with the growing Trinity Church Movement, a anti-slavery, anti-colonial religious organization which also rejected the Sanctarian Catholic Church as a flawed organization.

The Trinity Church, while being a denomination also was a social club of well-educated anti-colonial thinkers with DeGarza joining the company of Paul Iglesias and David Lau. DeGarza was able to distribute his pamphlet and also grow in his theological arguments. He was challenged to approach the issue of slavery from a religious perspective. Catholic’s had used biblical references to slavery as justification for their actions or the continued legality of slavery. In 1807, DeGarza published “Living in a Kingdom of Sin” an unique piece of literature which through poem and short essays presented several arguments against slavery. He argued slavery was in fact a sinful  act, and that by continuing the ownership of other human being’s, the moral foundation of the San Fernando Colony. Additionally, DeGarza pointed to how both the Ambonar Kingdom and the Kaijanese Emirate had not outlawed and “by freeing every enslaved man, this great colony can prove the superiority of our faith over other’s”.

The book was widely distributed and was consumed by the upper-society of the colony’s many cities. Soon local councils were being approached by concerned citizens who demanded they outlaw slavery within their townships, cities and villages. By creating simple decrees, slave owners would have their “property” be seized by the state, and then thus freed. These decrees spread far and wide, even gaining attention in the Ambonar Kingdom who by 1811 had declared that “The only servitude should be to preserve the divine kingdom, citizens shall not enslave other citizens.” Despite these groundswells of change, the Colonial government held steadfast. Governor Francisco Basco stated in a 1815 letter that colony-wide decree would be pointless, and “the issue of slavery should be a matter of a man and his conscience”. In the end, it would be the transfer of the San Fernando Colony to the Papal States of Sanctaria and the creation of the Dominion of Slokais, a term devised by Paul Iglesias in the hopes direct control from Sanctus would improve the state of the Catholic Church in the new land of Slokais.  Juan DeGarza would end up being an advocate for workers'rights until his death in 1839.

Today, Juan DeGarza has a legacy as a prominent Afro-Slokasian which is recognized via the naming of DeGarza Square in the city of Port Antonio. Additionally, June 8th is celebrated as DeGarza by the Damensiri ethnic community and is recognized as a holiday in Banco Grande Province. Popular celebrations include poetry competitions, public readings of his work and many staples of Damensiri cuisine such as Okra Soup and Sweetbread. In a religious sense, DeGarza is viewed as a saint by the Trinity Church of Slokais, which has around 1 million faithful. Saint DeGarza is often seen as a saint to those suffering poor labor conditions, a candle with his face is often carried at various union and labour events. Additionally, Saint DeGarza College is a Trinitarian college in San Fernando Province with 2,500 students.

Sean Khan
(1960-

Sean Khan isn’t unknown to any Slokasian in modern-times. His presidency and political presence since the 1990s has made him known by many. Yet less know his story and his commitment to what he believed in. Simran Jopuri Khan was born on May 14th, 1960. The region was conquered by Darya in the 1940s, yet there was always a strong resistance. In 1965, Simran and his family had to flee their home with very little possessions. Yet they remained in high spirits as the children including Simiran remained oblivious as they lived in a refugee camp set up by various aid organizations. Simran’s early memories as he recalled in a 2006 interview with SIBC were “simply playing with the other kids, games of tag and it, sometimes if someone had a football we all played between two goals, their posts marked out with stones”. In 1967, as Darya collapsed the new Union of Andhrapur was declared. “There was a great celebration, my parents brought together some food they had been saving and everybody in our area of the camp had a great meal”. Yet, in the camp and in much of Andhrapur there were considerable tensions.

There were heated debates among the residents on the future of Andhrapur, whether through the Mahraj or through the Free Andhrapur Forces led by Fahim Rubel Masud. The events of the outside world were reflected in the camp, as it became clear that many would never return home. Finally, in 1972 after Rubel Masud’s government was couped, the country was once again thrown into chaos. Internal disputes within the camp boiled over one day, as suddenly overnight there was a great panic as several structures had been set alight. It was chaos, and Simran ended up being swept up in a crowd, getting separated from his family. The camp burned down completely, as the country of Andraphapur fell into what would become a decade long conflict. Soon, Simran was seemingly orphaned, told falsely by a friend that they had died. That same friend soon took Simran into his family, the two had played football together at the camp and they continued to do so, this time at a smaller camp run by the Saint John’s Aid, a Slokasian organization. There was protection and promises of a new life in foreign lands as Andhrapur descended into what would become a full-scale ethnic cleansing.

In 1970, the National Resettlement Program was launched as a form of land transfer from the state-owned plots of the National Reform era back to private land ownerships. Additionally, international pressure for Slokais to give back for its war crimes and take upon the large number of refugees. Immigrants would be chosen from countries where returning-home would be "dangerous and deadly” and then given a singular acre of land in an unclaimed tract of land, those owned by people who had either died, their homes destroyed or simply those who had moved. Haesanite’s were the first being moved to coastal tracts in Northern Isles Province or farmland in Rio Bravos Township. Starting in 1973, Andhrapurian’s and Daryans began to be moved, although their large numbers meant they were sent to several mostly rural tracts across the country.

In early 1973, the Khan family which now included Simran who took upon their last name to remain with them applied for settlement in the Silverado Province. They were far from the only ones with around 1.2 million Andharians alone applying for the NRP program between 1973 and 1985. Simran and his family in fact reported for multiple rounds of interviews over the course of several months, each time Smiran was told to repeat he was the child of the Khan family. After several more rounds, a health inspection and a physical inspection to check for diseases, Simran was brought in for a personal interview.
“I couldn’t keep the lie any longer. I hated lying then, and I hate it now” Khan said in the previously mentioned 2006 interview. Simran told the truth, he was an orphaned child living with a friend's family, he didn’t have anyone else, nowhere to go.
“I felt like a weight had been lifted away from my shoulders. Although I knew they likely wouldn’t let me continue on with the rest of the family. The program had so many applicants, they must have been wanting to cut people, I thought”. Yet the specific worker, a young college graduate named Sean Wallace understood his story, he told him that his story was safe and that he and his new family would stay together. Simran was logged as part of a family of 5 traveling to Ciudad Silverado for placement and documentation. They had been accepted.

The family took more than a week to reach the mid-sized city on the west coast of Slokais, from a plane to a boat to a plane again. On June 12th, 1973, a large jet landed at Ciudad Silverado Airport carrying around 200 new immigrants, all from Andhrapur. There was some celebration on the ground, as supporters of the program waved Slokasian flags and graciously helped in whatever they could. Each was eventually brought onto a bus and taken to one of several NRP processing centers. The Khan’s were brought to Parcel Santamarina and asked to confirm several documents, including, name, age, and to confirm several documents. All the children were required to attend a local public school, a decision opposed by locals. Eventually, Simran was asked to write his name down for documentation. He wrote it as Sean Jopuri Khan.

The Khans were assigned to Lot 1214.5, which was located on a spur of the larger 12th Kilometer Road. There was thankfully an existing structure on the lot, not a guarantee for many of the site’s. Its roof was gone, the chimney had its top blown off, and there were several abandoned foxholes in the backyard. Unlike some however, the Khans had been farmers back in the homeland. George Khan, Sean’s adoptive father went right to work going to the 12th Kilometer general-store for basic farming equipment as Sean’s adoptive mother, Maria went right to work planting melon seeds. Sean, and his brothers Howard and Louis were soon attending a local secondary school where it soon became clear they were not welcome. The boys were each several years behind in education, a product of their education being cut short in their formative years. Local parents complained that the Khan’s and other Andharians were wasting the time of teachers. In 1975, the Santamarina Township School District created a new school, not officially for just immigrants, but the school’s boundaries were specifically designed to include only tract areas. 

Stereotypes became widespread, stories of Andharians hunting and killing local animals were widely exaggerated. Attempts at building a Zindist temple in the town of Paso Robles were met with strong local opposition. When leaving their local area, Sean and his brothers would be harassed, his younger brother Louis proved to be a football prodigy and when the family went to attend his trials at local clubs, parents and other players would shout insults. Despite everything, the Khan’s succeeded, their melon farm became prosperous, Sean Khan graduated from secondary school, his score excellent yet unable to attend a university away from home

Despite this, Sean graduated from Graywood Community College in 1983, and from Silverado Provincial University in 1986 with a law degree, passing the bar exam in the same year. Impressive for someone who was deemed to be “year’s behind his peers” by his secondary school teacher. Louis would earn a semi-professional contract with Sanmarina FC were his impressive performances led to him scouted by the New Liverpool FC Academy. Louis Khan would end up being the youngest and only the third Andharian to play for a professional football club. Howard would end up becoming an agricultural engineer with a degree from San Jose Poly in 1985. All of these successes and the continued Andharian community presence finally led to changing social attitudes. Andharians were elected to local government, restaurants and business opened up with each plot of the original land tract being full by 1989, just as the NRP program was officially shut down.

In 2004, Sean Khan returned home to Andhrapur on an official state-visit. The country had become a multi-party democracy and the arrival of President Khan was viewed as a great moment of national pride. In his first speech, he opened in the Andhran language which was met with massive applause. Additionally, after extensive work, Sean Khan was reunited with his original family the Jopuri’s. His father had died in 1996, yet he was able to reunite with his mother and his siblings in his childhood village. In 2011, his mother, his younger sister and his nieces and nephews immigrated to Slokais in their own right. The Andhrapurian community remains strong in Slokais with most of the population still living in the original rural settlement areas. Additionally, Sean Khan pushed to re-start the NRP program in 2003, which is a speciality program for skilled immigrants and their families, the number of accepted applicants varies by year but generally those in the program are moved into volunteer communities lacking in the labor force. The biggest impact has been in North Acadia Province which has seen a massive growth in the Nuiqustian population in rural fishing and forestry communities.

RE: 25 Awesome Slokasians Everyone Should Know - Slokais - 01-22-2026

Magdalena Bisalas
(1878-1970)

Women have been historically left out of the public and civil life in Slokais, in fact a 1980 survey asked citizens to name five women. The most common choice was the Virgin Mary or Bundai Maria, the second most common response was Magdalena Bisalas. Born in a Meszito household on a small farm in modern-day South Princeton, Bisalas grew up in a time of political change. In her teenage years, Bisalas was an active supporter of the Slokasian-independence movement. She was an avid reader and writer, publishing several opinion articles to the local Garden Country Gazette, under the name Marco Bisalas. Her family was liberally minded for the time, allowing Magdalena to complete her education and attend vocational school in the nearby city of Beaufort.

While in Beaufort, Magdalena wrote for the Beaufort Daily, this time under her own name as a woman journalist and commentator. This drew a response from many, with some criticizing her for prioritizing working over taking over as head of a household. In 1899, Bisalas became known nationwide when a response to a letter regarding his position as a writer was published by several larger outlets. “Why must the woman be limited to either her work or her home? If she can achieve both, and seeks to better her country, let her do so”. Women’s rights has been an issue in the years after independence as old colonial law which limited women from owning property was seen as a relic which had to be wiped away. In 1903, Bisalas was elected to the Princeton Territorial Legislature, becoming the first woman elected to a local legislature at any level. This was despite the fact, she was unable to vote until a year prior, as the territory became only the second to allow women to vote or hold office.

Magdalena Bisalas was criticized by tabloids for leaving her then husband to serve in the Legislature. In response she brought her husband with her to Beaufort. Stating, in a 1904 speech “Those who doubt my husband’s ability to take care of himself, he is staying just across the street in a hotel”. In 1905, Bisalas was invited to speak at the Left Party Conference, an annual gathering of what was a dominant political force. Henry Banks was a personal fan of her work, as she kept up her writing this time as a regular guest columnist in the New Liverpool Daily. In her speech, Bisalas called for full voting rights to women, as part of a wider plan of supporting the working class and organized labor. “Despite what many have said, women are working outside the home. In the mills, factories they are in similar unity of labor with man. Women therefore deserve the same right to let their choice be known at the ballot box.” In 1908, Bisalas was re-elected despite having recently giving birth. At the time, a woman giving birth was seen as the end of any sort of career. Yet, she continued and travelled with her newborn daughter Althea to New Liverpool several times to advocate for the passage of the Voting Act. In 1910, Bisalas was invited to the official signing of the act by President Henry Banks.

Bisalas didn’t stop her activism, she became a leading advocate for social security and education. She wrote several essays during the 1910s and 20s, supporting continued equality for women in society. Additionally, she rejected the Kerlian state in 1929 stating “What of my two sons? Replacing a system of oppression with another is not progress, even if the new overlords are of my sex”. In the 1940s, Bisala's own daughter and granddaughter actually immigrated to Kerille along with many of her contemporaries in the feminist movement. Rising political tensions and the power of the National Reform Party was enough reason for many women to seek refuge in a new country. Bisalas remained and continued to publish works on both women’s rights and labor rights until 1954 when she was arrested for violating local ordinances. Despite being a local case, Bisalas was made a nationally known figure by the National Reformist media who described her as “an old witch”. She was eventually sent to Raminha Island, a small island located off the coast of Wojiang Bay Province, where prisoners worked in yam harvesting, with food rationing being dependent on the amount of yams collected. While imprisoned from 1955 to 1964, Bisalas organized an alternative system of yam collecting where prisoners worked together to collect and rations were shared. Finally in 1964, despite being 80 years old, Bisalas helped organize the island’s liberation with the Federation Army on the mainland. When the troops came and the prisoners were freed, Bisalas agreed to remain stating, “This island has been home to so much cruelty, I must remain to write a new history”. Until the end of her life in 1970, Magdalena Bislas protected and documented the island’s ancient structures in her final work “The Whispers of Raminha Island”.

In 1973, Magdalena Bislas was granted the posthumous status of Hero of the Federation due to her efforts in the Great War. This led to renewed interest in her life and policy and the creation of several programs for women named in her honor such as Magdalena Bislas Global Women’s Fund which supports women in developing countries and fights for better wages as well as maternity leave. In 2002, a statue of Bisalas was built in New Liverpool across from Government Hill, its designer states it represents her and all female politicians' desires to shake up the political landscape. Raminha Island is now a protected area with a cemetery of those who died in the prison as well as restored indigenous sites only open to members of Kamin’ohya and rarely to the general public due to their religious significance.