Censored transcript - 24/10/22: Interview with Professor James Challacombe, Senior Historian of Modern Chernarussian History

[King Arawn 8]

    “My name is Dominic Fitzpatrick, it is my great privilege and honour today to have the opportunity to talk to Professor James Challacombe - a distinguished author and lecturer at the University of St. Andrews. Perhaps many will know him best for the textbook on “Early Twentieth Century Chernarussian History”, and such books like “Baranov”, “Day Zero” and most famously for his latest publication “Chernarus: Trauma Zone”; Glad to have you here.”

 

   “Thank you for having me.”

 

   “It’s been twelve years since Chernarus’ civil war came to a conclusion, and twelve years since the small nation was locked away by the international community - unable to find a cure to the epidemic, we decided to seal off this Republic. Was this the right thing to do?“

 

   “It is a tragedy. I don’t think we in the West understand, or indeed comprehend what Chernarussians had gone through for these past forty or so years - not to mention the region’s history in general… turbulent is a polite way of putting it.

   To essentially, erm, seal off or quarantine a nation is historically unheard of, and just terribly sad. This infection left the world with a question really: Do we lock away a land and its people, or risk the world in trying to cure the… deadliest disease outbreak since the Late Middle Ages? The world chose the former.

   What astonishes me most of all, however, is how quickly the world turned the other cheek, and with wilful ignorance, abandoned the afflicted population there… We built enormous walls around its border, we bomb it mercilessly and the world seems to be alright with that... was it right?..”

 

    “Before we delve into the topic of the wall and the epidemic there. For those in the audience unfamiliar with modern, Chernarussian history, would you be able to summarise its recent history for us?”

 

   “Ha, I’ll try to keep it brief!.. The overwhelming thing you get from talking to Chernarussian refugees and indeed reading books of people from that time, erm, is that Chernarus’ recent history is both utterly fascinating and utterly tragic. I recently read Tatyana Goncharov’s “Cursed Land” and it encapsulates almost everything about the country. I won’t generalise too much, but it’s a country that has endured hardships for century on century. 

   For most of the country’s existence, it was a pawn for many of the world’s imperial powers, and indeed was held by many a dynasty between the 12th to 20th century. Prior to this, in the 5th century, it was settled by the Skyths: they were a nomadic tribe which settled in many of the nation’s valleys. Interestingly though, it’s during this time, we believe the Chernarussian language and culture found its footing - we know that Chernarussians likely originated from West Slavic regions of Europe - now the modern day Czech Republic.

   During the 20th Century, when the demise of Imperial Russia led to the formation of the Soviet Union, erm, The Red Army swiftly set up shop in Chernarus, a military presence was established in Vybor and Chernarus was swiftly absorbed into the Soviet bloc.”

 

    “Was there any push back from the population against the Soviets?”

 

   “Well, it’s strange. The… the population, during this century, endured hunger, fascist occupation and obviously, Soviet suppression… Though, through all this, Chernarussians didn’t really respond negatively to this new Soviet reality. In the context of Chernarussian history the Soviet establishment wasn’t as “bad” as the foreign powers that reigned over them before, you know? It’s immensely complicated, however, demographically it had a tiny population in comparison to its larger neighbours and had a common identity with the Soviet ruling power anyway.

   There wasn’t much the population could do… or wanted to do! 

   Chernarussians have a stereotypically, self-deprecating and defeatist attitude towards themselves. I’ve always believed that any nation or people that has been booted around for most of its existence, would adopt the same, sort of, pessimism.”

 

    “When the Soviet Union fell then… could we say that Chernarus had a very sudden and violent, identity crisis?”

 

    “I guess you could say that, yes. If you look back at that time. I don’t think we really understand what millions of Russians, and indeed Chernarussians, went through thirty years ago. The Soviet Empire just collapsed around them. The British Empire collapsed, in what, eighty years it took? The Soviets collapsed in just a few months in 1991. What you actually had at that point was a traumatised society where no one had any idea of any future. 

   Other ex-Soviet states protested and fought for their independence - nations like, you know, Lithuania, Estonia et cetera, forged their own destiny. But autonomy sort of fell into the lap of the Chernarussians, and the largely incapable Chernarus establishment were now very much in charge of a, erm, new country…

   This hatchling government promised democratic capitalism would be formed immediately - and within, what a couple of months, a year? That too began to collapse into total corruption. 

   Their whole institutions had fallen apart - people were living in forests, underground, no one could buy any food and the system was being looted by a small number of very rich people. Most of my literature on the subject, erm… I just wanted to show what that reality was like for people there.

   I mean… There were riots, protests, attempted assassinations - and the whole nation descended into chaos. I mean, the rural areas were largely untouched by the more violent, destabilisation of it all, however the industrial, coastal cities of, erm, Chernogorsk and Elektrozavodsk saw much of the disorder and public demonstrations.”

 

   “You’ve written, um, previously about Alexander Baranov in your 2010 title. Did Baranov take advantage of this “chaos” to gain power?”

 

   “Baranov... Yeah. I mean, in Trauma Zone, I’ve written about how everyone in that society knew that nothing really worked any more. I don’t want to simplify a society, but the overwhelming thing you get from speaking to people - is no one really believed in those systems any longer, communist or capitalist. 

   So when a rather mundane military man like Baranov, with the newly established, erm, Chernarussian Defence Forces took over - everyone just sort of accepted it.

   This very beautiful, and rather picturesque country on the Black Sea, was now, suddenly under the rule of a military autocracy - an autocratic society with a guise of being democratic.”

 

   “So from the embers of communism and democracy, Baranov ruled. From 1992, all the way to 2009. Could you explain the route from Baronov’s beginnings of power, to his death during the Civil War? That’s a huge question I realise, but…”

 

   “We didn’t really understand him, really. Baranov was a pretty basic functionary at first - he didn’t really believe in anything. He was an empty vessel. We just don’t know. 

   What we know now, is that during his, sort of, reign - the violence of his regime grew year on year, reports of torture and murder by his government can be found everywhere - he had also allowed for oligarchs and the rich to continually exploit the poor in his own country. Just a vast shift of wealth away from the majority of people and to the minority… 

   A reminder, this was a desperate, largely agricultural society being exploited… Dystopian really. 

   With all that pain in its history, and the neglect by a powerful few in Chernogorsk - these were sort of the seeds being sowed that helped create the Chedaki…”

 

   “The Chernarussian Movement of the Red Star?”

 

   “Yes, the…ChK…no, sorry, the ChDKZ or “Chedaki”. The Chedaki were trying to establish a Chernarussian Socialist Republic, predominately in the north of the country - and had considerable influence in rural areas and, erm, small towns too. Oh, and support for the insurgency was found in those neglected areas of the big cities too. Gregori Lopotev led this armed rebellion, and many of the CDF forces had sympathies with the movement and subsequently joined. Defections weren’t uncommon.

   Having spoken personally to many of the veterans of this war, from both sides, the fratricide and cruelty displayed by both sides in that conflict. The scale of it, it was horrendous. You’ve likely seen the photos… intimate and ugly. 

    Before the nation was essentially entombed, some of those veterans were lucky enough to escape and write about their experiences - I had recently finished reading “The Forever Rain” by Nikolai Zabolotny - a harrowing but necessary read, if you’re interested in the nuances of this very complex war.”

 

    “Thank you, yes. Chernarus sits on the Black Sea and…”

 

   “…Sorry, just quickly. May I? I wanted to just emphasise something here. The reasons for Chernarus’ Civil War are immensely complex and multifaceted - on the face of it, the rectitude of fighting against Baranov shouldn’t be in dispute. Baranov was a horrible autocrat and his regime, even before the Civil War began in 05’, he was responsible for many atrocities. However, the Chedaki too were a horrendous, military establishment, erm, vying for power over the region. Lopotev’s men were responsible for many a terrorist act, both in, and outside of Chernarus.

    …You know, I was thinking about this the other day. It was autumn 2005, the war had just begun. I was a journalist at the time, visiting alongside a… erm, political delegation. Multiple nationalities with us. Our party and I were dining in the rooftop bar, of the hotel, erm.. “Hotel International”, in the centre of Chernogorsk. As we ate we could hear the thunder of guns across the hills. The Chernarussian government commanders assured me, that with American support, they would win the war. 

   But I spent around two hours that same night with William Davies, he was a senior reporter from the BBC, and he gave me a very different perspective. The Chernarussian government was losing the war, badly…

  Anyway, sorry to cut you off.”

 

    “Not at all!.. Chernarus sits on the Black Sea - as a peninsula jutting out near Georgia’s North West. Given the Black Sea’s geostrategic importance - that outside “assistance” that Baranov’s administration desperately wanted - was always going to arrive?”

 

   “Oh most definitely, yes. I mean, Chernarussians were almost expecting it from the very beginning. As the conflict dragged on, Baranov’s pleads for military aid from the West grew and grew - it was the United States, along with the AN coalition, which landed there first, in…I believe, January of 07’? 

   The Russian Federation shortly followed and supported the opposing Chedaki forces, and then they too, had boots on the ground. 

    I was a child of the Cold War - but following the fall of the curtain in ‘91, there was that short lived optimism for a new world, you know? But witnessing the involvement of two nuclear armed nations - in direct confrontation with one another in Chernarus. It was a terrifying escalation, one I hadn’t experienced before. 

    I’m sure we all remember following the news at the time… I encourage the younger audience members to really study it too.”

 

    “For those years covering the conflict, was there any evidence of government or Chedaki forces using biological weapons?”

 

    “…No, not that I had seen or heard.” 

 

    “Did covering this conflict for those 4 years fuel your interest in further studying and researching the history of Chernarus? It’s quite the leap from war correspondent to historian?” 

 

    “I suppose so, yes. It affects you deeply, speaking to people that live through something like that. You have to chase a story - not for any glory or anything… You’re after the truth, and you will always find it in the personal plight of those stuck in the middle.

   This was such a brutal war, and a complex one at that. So, when I’m confronted with something I don’t fully understand - I tend to obsess over the subject, until I find a satisfying answer. I began to study the nation. I discovered a country that I love and mourn for. I met my wife over there. She’s been supporting my career ever since we met. She was a refugee, and had grown up in Kamyshovo - that’s where her family are from.”

 

    “…So, the war drags on into its fourth year. It’s October 3rd, 2009. It’s an overcast day in Chernogorsk - and Baranov is returning to the City Hall, after visiting a military hospital. What happened next?”

 

    “Well… Every war has its “moment”. That event scorched into our collective memories… If I were to, say, mention Vietnam to you. You’re probably picturing a burning monk, or a thatched village, scorched by napalm… or something like that.

    For me, when someone mentions the Chernarussian Civil War. The image I see, is of Baranov and his ministers - captured, bound, beaten and sobbing, on live television. Lopotev himself, raising a pistol, spouting his dogma, before executing Baranov himself. 

    This. This was an extraordinary point in the conflict. This was a leader of the warring nation, captured by the opposition and executed in his own government building - Televised for the whole world to witness. 

   It was stunning - Lopotev’s forces had apparently been tipped that Baranov’s security on that day was lacking - and so they struck. Almost every single high-ranking member of the Chernarussian government was killed that day.

    This didn’t stop the war though, of course. Gun battles raged, erm, in the streets. Many members of the press were evacuated, I stayed as long as I could - and whilst the world’s gaze was transfixed on the chaos in the capital. No one was paying attention to the shipwreck… that would bring the nation’s true demise.”

 

    “Are you referring to the Rify wreck?”

 

    “Sigh… I’ve briefly spoken about this “mystery” ship in a previous interview I had done. I’d gotten quite a bit criticism and flak for my opinion that day. 

    … It is my opinion, and I’m not alone in this, that this unmarked and unnamed vessel, was carrying the virus. It struck the rocks just north of Berazino, on the night of October 3rd. Rescue crews from across the north-east scrambled to help any potential survivors, and instead they saved no one, and unknowingly had doomed themselves… this was obviously no accident. This ship was guided by a third party, and slammed into the rocks that night.”

 

    “Why?”

 

    “I must emphasise again, this is an opinion. However, having spoken briefly to the rescue crews, from that night - they were adamant that the contents of that ship were of AN and U.S. manufacture, and were biological in nature… But no one now is able to verify this, as all the survivors succumbed to the virus, and that site is now repeatedly bombed from above with chemical munitions - the entire area is blanketed with U.S manufactured PO-X gas.”

 

    “You believe the United States purposefully infected an entire nation?.. You can’t seriously suggest tha…”

 

    “Yes!.. Because they couldn’t get what they wanted. That region is, as I said, geostrategically invaluable. 

   If they couldn’t gain power and influence there - then no one should… and so that outbreak did more for peace in three days, than negotiations had achieved in four years of conflict. 

   The virus spread and destroyed everything. Towns and villages began to turn - and everyone trampled over one another to try and escape that country. The international community managed to achieve a ceasefire - and with U.S. and AN led teams, they began to quietly and efficiently build a wall across that entire peninsula, to “save” us from this plague…

    Burying a nation alive, to hide their crimes.” 

 

    “That’s quite the damning accusation, Professor”. 

 

    “If I were braver man, I would scale that wall and verify it for myself… My wife, Maia, said something to me once and it’s never left my mind. She said that her nation was buried alive, and that given the chance, she would claw at the earth to retrieve the warmth of it.

    But now that land is filled with the infected and those immune few still alive within its borders continue to massacre one another, for their own survival. Those people in Chernarus aren’t dead, Dominic, but we have left them as such… To spare American blushes.”

 

    “With respect, Professor Challacombe… we’re here to discuss the history of a nation. We’re not here to peddle some conspiracy nonsense to an audience.”

 

    “History? Those people had a future, beyond the war, and beyond the grasps of morally bankrupt, superpowers… testing their biological horrors on an entire population. Yet, the media like yourself, fetishises Chernarus. An apocalyptic, post-Soviet wasteland? They make films and games about the subject - and we consume it. The media calls them “zombies”, but they’re not the “undead”… they’re sick. You and I have abandoned them. You’re recording this for some show. Yet you will likely censor what I have to say, regardless… The international community must try and cure that population, and must investigate the contents of that ship”.

 

     “Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us… “Chernarus: Trauma Zone” is available for purchase. Professor, thank you…”

 

 

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Just a bit of fun, developing lore for the game. May stray a bit from community accepted lore for DayZ. Also, I apologise for how long the post is… and for any spelling/grammar errors!

Edited October 24, 2022 by King Arawn