Samhold

Order of the Holy Lakes in right of the Earldom of Samhold Island
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Motto:
Anthem:
Map versions
Capital	New Hempton
Largest city	New Hempton
Official language(s)	Istvanistani
Official religion(s)	None official
Demonym	Samholder(s), Samhold Islander(s)
- Adjective
Government	Realm of Hurmu
- Earl	Mondo Etzeterra
- Legislature
Establishment	1710 AN
Area
Population	c. 60,000 (1719 AN)
Currency	Crown (HUK)
Calendar
Time zone(s)	CMT+3
Mains electricity
Driving side	left
Track gauge
National website
National forum
National animal
National food
National drink
National tree
Abbreviation	TBD

Samhold ("unity"), since 1721 AN the Earldom of Samhold, is the northernmost territory of Hurmu. The island forms a realm of its own, and is located in the Arctic, with its northern coast being subjected to the permanent ice shelf, and its southern coast being mostly ice-free in winter. Samholdsøya is in the CMT+3 time zone (same time zone as Hurmu's Lake District).

Its population is circa 60,000, all of which have moved there since Hurmu acquired sovereignty of the island on 1.I.1710. Of these, 22,492 have migrated from the former District of the Warring Islands upon the latter's transfer of sovereignty from Hurmu to the Benacian Union. The culture of Samhold is thus dominated by the Hurmu-influenced Nova English culture. The rest of the population are refugees/exiles from the District of Moorland and Pacary, and the rest of Hurmu, mainly through contractors or the Hurmu Peace Corps or the Hurmu Constabulary.

The district has, since 1719, three municipalities:

• Ataasiussuservik
• Cape Mondo
• New Hempton

They are all ruled by Senate-friendly coalitions led by the Excluded Middle and Mondo Party of Hurmu. It is in Samhold, the Excluded Middle and Mondo Party of Hurmu has the greatest share of votes in all of Hurmu.

Name

Language	"Unity"	"Unity Island"
Alexandrian	L'Unité	Ile de l'Unité
Army Crandish	Samhåll	Samhållsön
Blue Lontinian	Ev Negdel	Ev Negdliin Aral
Elw	Adaacuzusyr	Qeqerdar Adaacuzusyr
Krasnocorian (Cyrillic)
Krasnocorian (Latin)
Lakkvian	Ühtsus	Ühtsuse saar
Norse (Amalandic)	Samhald	Samhaldsøen
Norse (Hurmu)	Samhald	Samhaldsoya
Norse (Normark)	Samhold	Samholdsøya
Nova English	Samheald	Samhealdes Eáland
White Lontinian	Birlik	Birlik Aralı

History

First begun in 1693, in the middle of the Second Elwynnese Civil War, the establishment of a garrison on Samholdsøya was charged by Keltia Command, with the support of the civilian government in Elijah's Rest, to facilitate operations to restore the Boreal Air Bridge connecting Normark, Jääland and Hurmu to Eliria, following the severance of those channels by the rebellion which had commenced in the preceding year.

The Boreal Air Bridge with planned routes prior to the Elwynnese occupation of Samholdsøya. The island is shown encircled, and was widely known within the Elwynnese government as "Circle Island" (due to the way the island was identified on the map) prior to its official naming

The Elwynnese and Norse flags were planted on the island on 9.IX.1693, to the fanfare of a frostbitten, and depressed population gathered together by the arriving UDF detachment. The small indigenous population had been under Storish and Vanic subjugation from 1543 to 1685. The incoming garrison gave the island the name Unity as a symbol of their intent to restore the Greater Elwynnese Realm.

The main garrison was established around a defensible ice-free anchorage, and bestowed the name Samhold (Norse for "Unity"), as all existing settlements on the island were considered sub-par, having been left without maintenance and electricity for 7 years. An aerodrome was built on the island's southern peninsular and became operational during 1695 AN.

The island was garrisoned, indeed largely populated, by personnel tasked with its defence. The UDF's lead formation on the island being the 1^st Regiment, 3^rd Brigade of the 81^st Landsfördelning, a formation specialising in boreal operations. The deployment is supported by a further 1,200-strong detachment from the Union Aerospace Corps, a 120-man detachment from the Elwmarine, and a 40-man troop from the 17^th Logistics Division.

Following the independence of Normark the island remained under the sovereignty of the Benacian Union, the successor to Elluenuueq, however it seemed that this fact remained obscured from the High Presidium of the Benacian Union in Chryse, which made no provision for the continued governance of the place.

By administrative oversight the garrison came to be forgotten following the reorganisation of the UDF into the Benacian Union Defence Force in 1703 AN. Without regular reinforcement, rations, nor pay, the garrison troops endured until late 1706 AN when, finally despairing of ever being relieved from their dismal posting, the survivors mutinied and slaughtered their officers. Thereafter, having burnt the structures of the island after raping, murdering, and cannibalising the small remnant native community, the mutineers - some eight-hundred and forty men in total - pledged themselves to form the United Free Company. Placing themselves aboard the single icebreaker and the provisioning boat which had been their sole means of trading with the settlements of the Hexarchy, the United Free Company departed the island to begin their new lives, to be spent plundering the settlements of the north-west Keltian Green.

The brief period of abandonment ended in late 1707 AN with the arrival of a cohort-strength detachment of the ESB-Holïurs-Afzælt tasked with restoring the abandoned runways and harbour facilities in the wake of the demise of Jaaland in that same year. This contingent was further reinforced by a party of forty field engineers from the Nordhær and working parties, each one-hundred and twenty men strong, from the ESB Reclamation Services (Keltia) and the ESB Voluntary Labour Organisation (Keltia) tasked with the actual work of rebuilding.

Eight C-12 Sojourners in the livery of the Hurmu Peace Corps landed at New Hempton on 8.II.1710 AN after departing from Elijah's Rest in Normark, to where the the HPC garrison in the Warring Islands had been temporarily evacuated following the transfer of sovereignty in the islands to the Benacian Union. These eight aircraft disgorged the balance of personnel attached to the 138th Air Transport Regiment, and soon became engaged with supporting the ESB contingent in the work of expanding the landing facilities. The airbridge was soon delivering the equivalent of two regiments every two days, until at the conclusion of the lift, ten regiments had been transported. An additional series of flights was then required to bring eight dismantled IE-7 Songbird light attack aircraft to their new boreal station where they were reunited with the pilots and aircrew of the 130th Air Policing Regiment.

In 1712, some 10,000 Paqalinuit and Nunaqeqertaquit refugees (from the collapse Pacary) arrived on the island. Another 20,000 or so settled in Karnamark.

Demographics

Municipality	Warring Islander & Other Istvanistani	Norse	Krasnocorian	Paqalinuit & Nunaqeqertaquit	Other	Total
Ataasiussuservik	1,690	495	-	11,980	1,101	15,266
Cape Mondo	4,623	3,421	-	–	3,008	11,052
New Hempton	31,538	2,269	1,125	-	3,246	38,178
Samhold	37,858	6,185	1,125	11,980	7,355	64,496

Politics and governance

Garrison

From 1707 onwards the island was garrisoned by the 1^st Airport Security Cohort. This contingent was deployed to the island under the command of Arthur Kempner, on behalf of the Boreal Air Bridge Support Services echelon of the ESB-Holïurs-Afzælt, supported until 1709 by forty Nordhær field engineers and two hundred-and-forty construction workers. The two runways of the Varja F1. Flyflottilj airbase (lengths 2,590 m and 1,525 m respectively) would, if operational, facilitate the linkage of Hurmu, Jaaland, and Elijah's Rest.

From 1710 the contractors deployed to the island were to be in the employ of the Hurmu Peace Corps. However, confronted with evidence of the political unreliability of the resettled population, the decision was subsequently made to provide a substantial reinforcement to the island garrison from the HPC proper. Ten regiments, comprised of personnel evacuated from the District of the Warring Islands would ultimately be airlifted to the island during the second and third months of 1710 AN, introducing a total of 14,426 HPC personnel to the island. This was a considerable deployment for a northerly latitude and, quite aside from the political calculations, there was press speculation that the deployment of such a force was to enable to prompt reinforcement of the Army of Karnamark in the event of an escalation in the border dispute between Hurmu and the Hexarchy. A closer examination of the regiments deployed indicates that the extent of any support offered would be at most logistical, and that the most probable function of the garrison will indeed be to maintain the Boreal Air Bridge.

• Samhold Garrison
  • Sea Department
    • 9th Port and Maritime Regiment
    • 16th Port and Maritime Regiment
    • 29th Harbour Defence Regiment
  • Land Department
    • 65th Signals Regiment
    • 71st Depot & Logistics Regiment
    • 91st Medical Regiment
    • 107th Electrical & Mechanical Engineers Regiment
  • Air Department
    • 117th Aviation Base Regiment
    • 130th Air Policing Regiment
    • 138th Air Transport Regiment

HPC Personnel deployed to Samhold, 1710 AN

Rank	Number
Directors of the Peace	7
Superintendent Inspectors of the Peace	56
Inspectors of the Peace	63
Officers of the Peace	400
Rangers	1,900
Specialists & Wardens	12,000
TOTAL	14,426

Sovereign powers

• 1470–1483: Varja (for a while, Varja, including Samhold, was also under Baracãoan and Free Republic sovereignty)
• 1483–1487: The Green
• 1487–1489: Korhal
• 1489–1450: The Green
• 1490–1514: Karnali (island bore the name of Vethadipa)
• 1514–1529: The Green
• 1529–1543: Durntkinstan (then commonly called Jericho after its main city)
• 1543–1543: The Green
• 1543–1685: Stormark (island known as Quercy)
• 1685–1693: The Green
• 1693–1703: Elwynn (Normark)
• 1703–1706: Rump Elwynn (Normark)
• 1706–1709: Benacian Union
• 1710–pres: Hurmu