Bongolesia

Bongolesia is a fictitious African Country that is used as a wargame campaign setting for a wide variety of historical miniature wargames rules, (with emphasis on "AK47 Republic" by RFCM).

Origins

The country of Bongolesia was created approx. 2004 by Michael T. Murphy as a needed campaign setting for his interest in modern day miniature wargames rules and his growing interest in AK47 Republic. It's original designs were derived from an earlier country known as "Sudekia", of which it was inspired by a fictitous country known as "Momzanika" in a Modern Day Spearhead Scenario, ("Crisis in Momzanika"), in a miniature wargaming magazine. As things developed, the idea of Sudekia as a country was soon replaced by the name Bongolesia, and the country was developed into what it is today, (more or less).

Bongolesia; the country

Bongolesia is a moderate sized country located in Central Africa. It is located in South Central Africa and is surrounded by The Republic De Nationale De Bunji, The Central Bongolesian Peoples Republic and The Fandango Republic; all of which have varying levels of diplomacy with Bongolesia.
The Capital of Bongolesia is the City of Sudekia, which has one of the other two main deep water ports and the only major airport in the entire country. Sudekia is the national center of government (as it is), and hosts the Presidential Palace, (The Pink Palace), The National Assembly Building, most governmental headquarters, a military base and those countries that have official embassies within it's borders. Sudekia is also the main city with the most paved roads and streets, although many side streets are often little more than dirt or gravel, and the majority of the paving ends at the cities edge.
Other major cities within Bongolesia are Port Tuziak, (hosting the second Deep Water Port), Lonnieville, Clarksville, Kensington-Hyde-White, Tomtown, and Waughtown.

Government

Bongolesia is a country that has been ruled with an iron fist, an iron will, and a loaded pistol since 1988 by President-For-Life P'hat Daddee B'wonah, who took office after leading a military coup against the civilian government of French backed Bongolesian President Jimmee D'Cartier.
Since assuming control in 1988, President B'wonah has installed himself as "President-For-Life", and maintains control over the country with use of propaganda, quiet terror, extreme nationalism, the use of the Army and/or The Presidential Guard, and a wide variety of corruptions to include blackmail and bribery.
The National Assembly is little more than a rubber stamp organization voting on decrees instigated by B'wonah.
Various Members of the B'wonah family can be found in charge of other Governmental Departments or Agencies, thus ensuring loyalty to the president.

The People and The Country as a whole

Bongolesia is set up to be a third world African Hell-Hole that the goverment has tricked the people (mostly) into believing that it's the best thing going since sliced bread. The people are generally uneducated and guillable, but also scheming and have perfected many ways to seperate a person from their money. Greed is paramount in Bongolesia as everything "has a price", and it's been a long unspoken tradition of The Bongolesian people to "Get what you can, when you can, and the mostest that you can, in the quickest that you can"...
This is reflected on the National Seal which has the National Motto (in latin) as:"Nos don't volo a succurro manus manus ; Nos iustus volo a manus manus - sicco." ("We don't want a helping hand, We just want a hand-out...")
The Bongolesian people are shown to be mostly greedy, wanting, and always "needy". They never seem to have enough, and are always out to get "more more more". Due to European Influence in the early 20th Century and UN and International Aid Programs, the concept of begging, and "getting something for nothing" has taken on a whole new level of meaning with the people of Bongolesia.
(This is meant as a satire and an ironice look at the failed programs in Africa over the last 40 years.)

Information, News, and Culture

The Government runs the only "Official Newspaper, TV, and Radio Station" within the Country. The Newspaper is called "The Bongolesian Observer", and is little more than a national party rag sheet outlying "how good you got it here" along with some news, sports scores and "recipe of the week". (Actual recipes borrowed from The Congo Cookbook; )
The Govt. run radio station is a mishmash of national news and information broadcasts and local music and "approved international tunes". The local current favorite DJ is DJ Boogur S'udek and runs the popular show "Radio Joe" on AM 7.62
The Government maintains control on Television broadcast and hosts "Bongovision", which includes sports broadcasting, news and government "information tidbits", along with some local programming like "It Takes A Village", and "Make Room For Ubu". Current foreign broadcasts are limited by national (presidential approval; usually being shows that he likes to watch), and it is unconfirmed that Bongolesia will be broadcasting the first ever "Green Acres" television series marathon.
Bongolesian Culture is a mix of local affairs and events that have been "borrowed" from. One of the most popular is the National Independence Day Festivals (Oct.22, 1960, is the day of National Independence when the last European Colonial Administrators boarded the last steamship out and screamed, "GOODBYE GOODLUCK AND GOOD RIDDANCE" to the Bongolesians left behind...). This celebration usually includes dancing, music, food, games, light automatic weapons fire, and special concerts and events, including The "Miss Banana Chip" beauty contest in which the President heartily supports.
Lately there has been a resurgence in attempts by the National Govt. to reintroduce tourism to Bongolesia, with "Safari Wildlife Tours", and "Romance/Marriage Packages", The National Govt. is working hard to get international money into the country, (and into their accounts in the Cayman Islands).

International Issues

International Recognition of Bongolesia and diplomatic accords to it vary by nations and governments. While Europe recognizes Bongolesia, The United States has just once more opened up an embassy within Sudekia and is proceeding with diplomatic relations for the first time in 20 years. Meanwhile, Mexio refuses to recognize Bongolesia due to an unfortunate translator error in 1993 in which The Presidente of Mexico was told in error by the translator "What he could do to himself with a beef enchilada"...
International business in Bongolesia has picked up some with the development of the Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar Petrochemical Complex run by PETROCO, and the recent relocation of Perverticus Industries to Bongolesia.

Anti-Govt. Forces

Depsite all that is going on there are some individuals disenchanted with the current thug strongman in charge and are determined to overthrow him and the current govt. and replace it with another thug or tin-pot dictatorship more to their liking.
Among these, the leading factor is BARF, (The Bongolesian African Revolutionary Front), which is an anti-govt. guerialla force that has been fighting a small scale revolution for over a decade now. BARF is marxist in it's political leanings and is reported to be covertly funded and supported by the CBPR. Recent aerial intelligence seems to provide proof to these accusations as indicated by the presence of BARF training camps and base camps within the CBPR borders. CBPR officials however deny this and say that "With Photoshop, ANYTHING can be done nowadays!"
BARF is currently run by their leader General T'uba S'alami who has vowed "to bring down the B'wonah regime and with the current doctrines in Marxism, ensure that poverty and misery is distributed equally among the masses."

The Lions of Allah, (LOA): is a small but growing Islamic Radical Function. Led by a small number of Islamic Hard-Liners, the faction is generally located around Sudekia and Port Tuziak, but slowly seems to be growing in other major cities. They are a vocal minority and currently do not pose much of a threat to the government other than causing traffic issues with their street protests and disturbing farm animals on market days.

The Oino-Boingo Cult (OBC): This personality cult is led by an individual who is known as "THE Reverend Father Doctor John". Centered around Central Bongolesia, The OBC is an organization whose purposes aren't really well known or understood by outsiders or many members, but they have nice snacks after worship, and have fun at their tent services and it seems to give people with nothing to do, something to do. A recent military operation to rescue Miss Vienna Dupree seemed to have smashed The OBC into a fragmented group and their leader is currently missing.

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REAL WORLD ISSUES WITH BONGOLESIA

Although Bongolesia is a fictitious country, it has been set up with a national flag, a national anthem, newspapers, battle-reports, photographs, advertisements, a currency system, (The "Bling-Bling"), and has a website dedicated to the gaming side of it. (), it occurs occassionally that someone(s), or organizations will for some reason "believe" that "Bongolesia is real".
This announcement on it's fictitious existence has been made repeatedly on TMP (), as well as emails from Michael Murphy to various websites that have listed "Bongolesia Press Reports" as "real news".

Michael Murphy currently holds the copyright for Bongolesia as well as the dot com website for future use. While he generally allows anyone to use it as a game campaign setting, (provided that they credit him towards it), he maintains that Bongolesia as he writes and creates it is the "official" version, and everything else is an authorized alternative.

It is hoped that this Wiki entry on Bongolesia will help explain to people and assist them in understanding this country and the fact that it indeed is a fictitious nation.

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