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The Terrorists There are two elements within this group. They are the locals and the foriegners. The locals mainly consist of muslims who have been "reborn" into the faith and demand an Islamic government with Shariah law implemented for all. The foriegners agree with this and have active links with Al Qaeda and its fringe groups. Due to the importance of the country and its location, Al Qaeda have decided that if SYMISTAN were to be a hardline muslim nation, Chechnya, Ingusetia and other such countries could easily fall under its sway and give the terrorists a haven like Afghanistan and a country to support them. Thus they have sent nearly 2000 armed and trained terrorists in the country to make sure that Islamic rule prevails.

Additionally they have set up camps and are training the locals. That is the only reason they are even considered part of the political make up. They have money, power and guns. They have set up mosts in the south eastern side of the country near Chechnya and the Caspian sea. They have a deep hatred for Russia, the EU and the US. They want the Muslim world to support them but they have got little recognition for their efforts.

The Muslim seperatists - Al Zulfiqar (the name of the political party) Az started off as a Hamas like entity. Firstly very much a militant organization established by many angry youths of SYMISTAN in 1989. It followed the tactics of Hamas, Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad it is desire for independence. They were trained by these organizations as well as by the Pakistani Govt in the 80s during its fight against the Soviets. The US wished to seperate SYMISTAN as well as Afghanistan, but that plan fell through due to lack of funding and victory in Afghanistan. Thus the Radicals of AZ decided to do it for themselves. These men and women set up charties and schools during the 15 year civil war and built up a grass roots political following.

At the the same time there was a desire to capitalize on the name of being "Muslims". The old guard are mainly influential people from the 1980s rulership of SYMISTAN but hated communist rule.The old guard of SYMISTAN is not religious at all and only uses the name to propogate its own power and wealth for the leaders. They had the money and power AZ needed to make themselves heard. Thus they formed this unholy alliance which is weak and very very fragile.

The third sub group is that of the hardline conservatives that desire an Islamic government with Shariah law. They are ideologically closely linked to that of the Terrorists however they have joined an Islamic Group known world wide as Hizb-ul-Tahrir or HT. They state that the entire world must come under islamic rule and that it will happen soon.

So far the Terrorists have 2 subgroups and the Muslims 3 sub groups. These rougly represnent 33% of the political power in SYMISTAN. But they are considered one political entity in the game.