Reintegration Sessions
The “Reintegration Sessions” were a series of votes held by the Xarslasja Legislature beginning on October 29th, 2025.
Context
Multiple events occurred during the two weeks leading up to the Legislature’s biweekly meeting. In April, the legislature voted 12-1 to allow the formerly rebellious Coconino County and La Paz County to have new representatives chosen to “reintegrate” them into the federal government structure and end the military occupation following the Gu Sabah Insurgency.
At the October 1st session (see List of Sessions of the Xarslasja Legislature), the legislature voted against a measure to create new legislature seats to account for the increased population of certain counties. It was decided that a census would need to take place in order to confirm the proposed increase of seats in Yuma County, Carefree Isles County, and Yavapai County.
The census-taking began shortly after. In response to this, multiple local leaders desperately requested new construction permits from the Bezuv. All of these permits were granted, including a controversial one that allowed a contraction of the South Mountain Ecological Preserve in exchange for expanding the territory of the city of Tempe. This construction move also created the grounds for the town of Laughlin in Yuma County, a huge expansion of Quartzsite (also in Yuma County), a massive expansion of the town of Gila Bend in Gila County, and the creation of the new town of Page (also in Gila County). The so-called “Representation Boom” was in full swing, with plans in mind to expand counties’ representation for better representation after future censes.
Before any of this could come to fruitions, the anarchic territories of the former Þunan Qumreá were declared by their former leader Hilja to be open to annexation by existing neighboring countries, as no new stable states had emerged in the region for over 5 months. The Bezuv had (half-jokingly) proposed a massive land grab of much of the country’s territory back in March or April, but this request was denied. However, now this offer was reconsidered, and Xarslasja was given a massive swath of Thunan Qumrea, including the population center of Ashton. Suddenly, the creation of one or two new counties needed to be approved by the Legislature, pushing the Reintegration Issue and the concept of adding new legislative seats to true urgency in the process.
October 29th, 2025
The first vote, on whether to allow the annexation of the new former Thunan Qumrea territory, passed 12-1. The only dissenting vote was the representative from Yavapai County, who didn’t want Sedona’s burgeoning economy to be superceded by the highly resource-rich areas to the north.
The second vote, on whether to create the new counties of Mohave County and Cochise County, failed to pass in a vote of 6-7. The representatives from Santa Cruz County, Gila County, Graham County, Greenlee County, and Yavapai County voted against the measure. They did this not because they didn’t want the new territory (other than Yavapai County), but because they wanted the issues of reintegration and new representation to be settled first before allowing the dilution of their own per-capita influence on the national stage.
The Legislature then voted 13-0 to send in the Xarslasja Terrestrial Army to bring control to the new areas, declaring the temporary Tunnan Military District. Passions were running high, and, determined not to allow this issue to persist for long, the Legislature agreed to remain convened and continue voting until the issue was resolved.
Preparing for a long night, members of the Legislature ordered food and entertainment and even had a barbecue in Central Yard.
The fourth vote of the night, on whether to reintegrate Coconino County and La Paz County into the federal system, passed 11-2 - with the provision that the new legislatures would be chosen and approved by the Legislature and not by the residents of the counties themselves. Gila County and Graham County voted against this measure, claiming the unrest would continue without the representation being truly local.
Messengers of the news were sent out to the counties. This would not be necessary, however, as many members of the Legislature had already selected the three new representatives. These three were a high-ranking member of the XTA who fought in the Battle of Tucson, the former assistant head of the Great Desert Bank, and the owner of the Clifton half of Xarslasja Deep. The Bezuv approved their applications on the spot, and, after some debate, the Legislature confirmed them during their fifth vote of the night, 9-4. Once again there were 16 representatives who could vote.
The sixth vote of the night, on whether to create new seats for counties with higher populations starting immediately or on January 1st, 2026, went 12-4 in favor of making the change immediately.
The seventh vote of the night, on whether to utilize the data from the October-November 2025 census to inform the creation of said new seats, passed 9-7. This vote created a heated argument. Some were upset because their new construction projects to increase population would not come to fruition in time to possibly boost counties’ seats. Others were upset because their new construction census was not yet complete and many thought the work was shoddy, even though the Bezuv wanted to push through with the data on hand immediately.
The eighth vote of the night brought things to a standstill. In an 8-8 tie, the Legislature couldn’t come to a conclusion on the completion of the census. After much arguing about the usefulness of paying workers to get the exact count of individuals in smaller towns and villages, the Legislature decided they were exhausted and would meet again the following day. In preparation, the Bezuv hired 10 more workers to complete the census as soon as possible, including two to Tunnan.
October 30th, 2025
The Legislature reconvened in the afternoon after political discussions throughout the morning.
The first vote, on whether to add new seat(s) to the Legislature for the new county or two counties in Tunnan at the same time as the new seats for counties with increased populations, passed 9-7. This vote did not, however, decide whether there would be one or two counties in Tunnan. The rural counties flipped significantly in favor of this measure, noticing that the addition of new seats to populous counties would make the power of smaller counties significantly lower. They hoped that the counties of Tunnan would form a sort of “rural coalition” with the existing rural counties to stand a chance at defying the votes of the urban centers if need be.
The second vote, on whether to finish the Census or to use the existing data to determine the additions of new seats as a matter of expedient urgency, tied 8-8. In an extremely controversial move, the Bezuv stepped in to cast a tie-breaking Executive Override, in favor of letting the Census finish first. The room erupted into chaos, and the rural regions were suddenly emboldened to bring forth the vote on the creation of the new counties. Once order was reestablished in the Hall, the representative from Greenlee County suggested a new vote that the Speaker allowed to proceed.
The third vote, on whether to create Mohave County and Cochise County from the territory of the Tunnan Military District ONLY UPON the completion of the Census and tallying of potential additional seats in existing counties, passed 9-7. At this point tensions were so high that physical fights broke out in the Legislature Hall. Various representatives called on messengers to instruct their constituents to begin building infrastructure for new villagers in their respective counties. The Bezuv was displeased with the chaos but was overall satisfied with the growth mindset the representatives had. The meeting adjourned. The census was yet to be completed, and thus the addition of new seats was postponed until it was.
Aftermath
As early as October 31st, representatives, mayors, and other local leaders were authorizing construction projects without the guidance of the Bezuv, something that is, while not expressly forbidden, quite taboo in a Bezuvate form of government. Teams from nearly every county in the country brought teams of exploratory “Filibusters” to bring populations to Tunnan that were loyal to the causes of loyalties counties. This became known as the Census Rush.