Republic of Pustoyna

Pustoyna (/pustɔɪ̯nə/), officially the Republic of Pustoyna (Dummatch: Rjəpublyka Pustwəjna), also known as Pustoynia (/pustɔɪ̯niə/) and sometimes mistakenly called Pustonya is a fictional country located in southern Central Europe. Pustoyna borders five countries: Italy to the West, Gorenjska to the North, Istria to the South-West, Croatia to the South-East and Dolenjska to the East. It covers an area of 3,832.40 km2 and has the population of 309,457. It is a parliamentary republic. The capital city is Pustoyna City (Dummatch: Pustwəjna), hence the name of the country, while the largest city is Xurica.

It is considered to be Flaming Arrow's secondary official nation despite not appearing in any videos.

27,43 kilometres of sea

Jwəže Uxrisk manka pr precednikih

History
The country was established after the dissolution of Slovenia in 2035, when the country broke up into 7 independent countries because of rising tensions and cultural differences among different ethnic groups. Those 7 countries were: Dulenia (Dulajnska), Gorenia (Gorenska), Carinthia (Koroška), Istria (Istra), Styria (Štojerska), Prekmuria (Prekmüre) and Pustoyna (Pustwəjna).

Rise of nationalism in Slovenia
The reason for the rebellion and dissolution of Slovenia can be traced back to 2015 with the European migrant crisis affecting Slovenia as well. The thousands of immigrants, predominantely from Muslim countries, spurred a perception among a share of Slovenes that refugees constitute an ethnic and cultural threat to Slovenia, resulting in an increased support of right-wing populist political options. In 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election Slovenian Democratic Party, the main right-wing populist party in Slovenia, won the election, but failed to form a majority government, thus enabling 6 centre-right, centre and centre-left parties to form the governement. The coallition was highly inefficient and full of internal conflicts, eventually leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Marjan Šarec in 2020. The failure of the predominantly centre-left government resulted in even higher support for right-wing populism with SDS gaining almost half of all the votes and later forming a centre-right government with the Christian Democrats.

In 2024 Slovenian parliamentary election SDS won again and formed a right-wing coallition with Slovenian National Party, a far-right nationalistic and conservative party. In the first term mostly reforms on the cultural and educational field have been adopted, such as increased funding for Slovene artists, increased attention to preservation of cultural heritage, providing the necessary financial resources for smooth work and the expansion of Slovenian museum activities, implementation of cultural education into schools and dedication of more lessons to Slovene language and Slovene history, distribution of Slovene flags to all households... The government was also able to improve the situation of Slovene minorities in the neighbouring countries, tighten control on the borders, improve the standard of living, drastically lower the poverty and unemployment rate and provide social security for all Slovene citizens.

All the successful reforms to improve the lifestyle of Slovenes and to increase the national consciousness popularized the two leading parties even more with SDS gaining 39 % and SNS gaining 36 % of all votes in the 2028 Slovenian Parliamentary election. The two parties then formed the great three-quarters coalition which was the second right-wing coalition in succession. In the next years compulsory military service was introduced, even more funds were dedicated for culture, health service and military, religious education was introduced into schools on request of SDS and Slovene citizenship was taken away from all Roma people, non-Christian and non-European immigrants. However, SNS was not satisfied with only these reforms and demanded more. In 2031 a conflict between SDS and SNS started, concerning Slovenia's membership in NATO and European Union. While SNS demanded immediate withdrawal from both organizations, SDS strongly supported the membership and refused a referendum on the topic. To show their protest the members of SNS walked out of the parliamentary session and the party later announced its withdrawal from the coallition.

Having gained the second most votes at the last election, Martin Turk, the president of SNS was then given the opportunity to form a temporary government until the elections scheduled for 2032, but was unable to form a majority government with only Slovene Communist Party (7 % of votes at the last election) willing to enter the coallition. Early elections were planned to take place in November 2031, but only a month before Turk of SNS with support from the Communists recruited 75.000 young soldiers, occupied Ljubljana, dissolved the parliament and assumed the position of President of Slovenia, replacing Jure Mesec, a member of SNS, who had been elected president two years before and who agreed to leave the position to the president of his party. A new government, made out only of SNS and SKS members, was formed and soon after a temporary parliament was appointed by the government itself. The first action of the parliament was to accept a decree that prevented any non-national oriented and any religion-affiliated parties (including SDS) from participating in the parliamentary elections, but still allowing them to be active on local and regional level. According to Martin Turk a party that refuses to put Slovenia and its people as their main priority or promote religion over culture and nationality is not able to represent the nation as a whole and thus cannot and will not represent the will of the Slovenes in the parliament.

Before the election, which took place in February 2032, nationalists and communists formed a single ballot called the National Front. With most of the opposing parties prevented from participation, as well as mass nationalistic propaganda and alleged irregularities at the polling stations, the National Front won the election with 86% of all votes, gaining a great majority in the parliament. In the following year the parliament announced withdrawal from NATO and European Union, abolished Euro as the currency, introduced general armament of the people and agreed on deportation of all immigrants (including Christian and European ones) that migrated to Slovenia after 1991. The parliament also agreed on changing the national symbols - Slovene flag and coat of arms - as the old ones did not correctly represent the Slovene nation. The government also started putting more pressure on the neighbouring countries, demanding for regions with Slovene minorities, such as Carinthia, Istria and parts of Croatia near the border, Slavia Friulana, Trieste, part of Austrian Styria and Slovene Rábavidék, to be annexed to Slovenia. In November 2032 Slovenia declared war on Italy, occupying Trieste, Gorizia, Monfalcone, Cividale and Resia regions without much resistance. European Union and Nato declared neutrality towards the issue, forcing unprepared Italy to surrender those regions.

Local parties before the Rebellion
The non-nationalstic parties who were banned from participating in the parliamentary elections redirected their activity to the regional and local levels. Most of them strongly opposed the reforms adopted by the new government and constantly reminded the public of all the irregularities with the way of how the nationalists assumed power. They demanded restoration of democracy in Slovenia and critisized the militarization of the country. Mass propaganda and manifestation of Slovene nation was met with rejection among the general public, with many citizens refusing to identify as Slovenes and rather seeking their identity in regional consciusness. By the end of 2032 there were seven parties that were most active on the regional and local scale across all Slovenia, most of them actually opposing the government, but all essentially having different views on what nationality they are, what language should be spoken and what country they should be a part of. With the new law of 2033 banning local dialects and foreign languages from all public life and allowing their use only in private conversations, these parties started to integrate their demands on use of local languages and opinions on use of Standard Slovene into their programs as well.

First Wave of Rebellion
Severe centralization and refusal of the government in Ljubljana to recognize ethnic languages (Dulenian, Gorenian, Carinthian, Istrian, Styrian, Prekmurian and Dummatch) as official ones sparked a rebellion among ethnically and regionally-aware people across the entire country. The protests started in Pustoyna on 27th April 2033 by a Pustoynish nationalist and leader of Pustoynian national party Janəs Awsc, but were the strongest among Prekmurians and Styrians, who through the years remained regionally aware and maintained their culture and language. The protesters demanded reestablihment of democracy, resignation of National Front, federalization of Slovenia, officialization of local ethnical languages, their implementation into schools, public administration and jurisdiction on local level, as well as financial support for development of ethnic cultures. After the government refused their demands and continued to consider local languages as only dialects, the protests broke into riots. Several mayors in Styria and Prekmuria declared independence from Slovenia, while in Maribor, a group of Styrians took over the city and proclaimed People's Republic of Maribor. Eventually the protesters formed a united front and managed to occupy entire Prekmuria and most of Styria. In response the government launched a counter-offensive, managed to capture Celje and Velenje, but was forced to sign a truce as revolts in Istria also broke out, as well as Italy launching a counteroffensive to regain Monfalcone. The government agreed to recognize Styrian and Prekmurian as official dialects with some benefits, such as allowing their limited use in the first grade of elementary school and allowing schools to organize non-compulsory short weekly classes in Slovene language about regional culture and local dialect. Some of the more laid-back protesters were satisfied with the offer while more extreme Styrian and Prekmurian nationalists insisted on their initial demands and refused to cede power. Slovenia was on the brink of a civil war.

Not long after Styria and Prekmuria declared independence, revolts also started in Croatia, most notably Istria and Dalmatia. Similarly to Slovenia, Croatia was at the time led by a far-right ultranationalist Croatian National Party, which seeked to create a great Croatian country and in that spirit heavily centralized and militarized the country, as well as left the European Union and NATO. Protesters, inspired by Styrian and Prekmurian nationalists, took a step further, proclaimed themselves to be a completely different nation than Croats and declared full independence from Croatia. Croatian forces managed to repress the protests in Dalmatia, but had to give in to Istriots. People's Republic of Istria was established soon after. Along with the rebellion in Croatian Istria, some protests broke out in Slovene Istria as well. The protesters here, however, were not associated with the protesters in Croatian Istria, as they only demanded language rights and did not consider themselves to be a part of Istrian nation. After multiple riots Slovene government proposed that Istrian dialect would become an official dialect with some benefits, such as limited use in first grade of school, and allowed for a censored newspaper in Istrian dialect to be issued every month. Protests in Slovene Istria and the rest of the country except Styria and Prekmuria soon died down, but the revolts in Styria and Prekmuria continued. Having dealt with the other protesters and having won the battles of Monfalcone, the government was able to launch a full offensive onto liberated Styria and Prekmuria and in only five days managed to occupy all of their territory. By December 2033 the civil war ended and Slovenia was united again.

Although the protests started in Pustoyna, they were not as effective and numerous in Primorska region (except Istria and Goriška Brda) as they were in the east of the country. This can be attributed to multiple reasons: For these reasons protests in Primorska regions were limited only to larger cities of Pustoyna and Gorizia, in which the number of protesters never surpassed 1,000. Meanwhile all the smaller protests were repressed by the police and military.
 * General lack of ethnical and regional awareness among Primores. Majority of Primores still identified as Slovenes and were not aware of uniqueness of their language and regional culture or considered the local dialects
 * Ethnical culture and regional languge was not as developed here as in the east. Besides a television series Ena Žlahtna Štorija in the 2010s in Brda dialect and few musical acts performing in the local dialects, no works of art or cultural events have been held in the regional languages.
 * Greater efficiency of SNS's and National Front's attempts to raise national awareness among Slovenes than in the East. Regions of Primorska were not only economically, but also culturally and historically tied to Ljubljana with many people working in the capital city. In the East slovenification attempts were not as effective because of a higher connectedness of those regions to Maribor than Ljubljana.
 * Relatively large support for SNS and National Front in the region because of the effective economic, social and agricultural reforms that improved the standard of living in relatively poor and fairly agricultural regions. Primores living near the Italian border also supported their efforts to annex economically-productive Italian regions with Slovene minorities to Slovenia and actual realisation of the plans.
 * Mayority of the young and enthusiastic Primores being away from homes, fighting in the war against Italy. To increase efficiency and lower the costs of transportation, the government recruited mostly people living near the Italian border, who also have a greater knowledge of the terrain and regions they were fighting in.
 * Disunity of the regional parties in views on the nationality of the inhabitants of these regions with some promoting the idea of being Slovenes, some the idea of being Primores, Karstics or Notranians, others of being Pustoynians, again others of being Croats. Unability to identify as one specific ethnical group discouraged people from participating in the protests.
 * Political pluralism with a large number of different parties striving for their demands independently without any cooperation or mutual assistance. The main parties also had quite different programs and despite having some similar views on issues, they didn't seek to coordinate those programs and strive for common goal.
 * Unenthusiasm of the most popular regional parties for participating in the protests and hoping to achieve their demands diplomatically. The only party in Pustoyna that actively organized protests was the Pustoynian National Party, which didn't have much public support because of the radical views, while other parties refused to associate themselves with the protestors and only observed the events.

Dictatorship Era
To prevent further protests, several reforms soon passed. Many trials were held against the protesters, most of whom were given the life sentence, which was legalized just after the protests. Five leaders of the rebellion in Styria and Prekmurje were even sentenced to death with three of those sentences actually being carried out, despite death penalty not being formally legal. All the parties except the National Front were completely banned and prevented from being active on local and regional scale as well. Leading members of those parties were prosecuted and charged of hate against the country with varying sentences. Any citizen that publically expressed disagreement with the government or tried to create or join a party was threatened with a prison sentence. To enforce the new laws, army became present in every Slovene city and a secret police was created to gather information about potential opponents of the regime.

To reinforce centralism in the country and give the government more power over the regions, all the municipalities and administrative regions were disbanded and replaced by districts, administration of which was appointed directly by the government. Furthermore, all the dialects of Slovene language (including Istrian despite the agreement) were banned from private use as well, enforced by a prison sentence on everyone that would violate the law. All foreign languages were banned from public and private use with Slovene language becoming the only allowed language across the country. Censorship for all the local newspapers was introduced, news from foreign newspapers and TV stations were translated and censored and the Internet providers were forced to translate all the websites to Slovene, as well as to censor out any messages or pictures against the regime. The hours designated to compulsory citizenship, national and Slovene culture education were doubled and any topics regarding the local culture or dialect were banned. In a matter of months, Slovenia turned from a quasi-democratic country to a repressive violent dictatorship.

Despite the law banning all the parties, they did not simply cease to exist, but rather went underground and worked illegally. After the prohibition of all the parties and reprecussions taken against the protesters, members of the disbanded parties started realising that they have a common enemy in National Front and that they will have to cooperate in order to achieve their demands. On 8 February 2034 Nejc Uxrisk, the leader of the formally disbanded Local Languages Emancipation Party and Marjən Mužina, the leader of the Primorska and Notranjska branch of the formally disbanded Regional Independence Party met in Pustoyna to discuss their plans. They agreed to unite the two parties and formed the Movement for Independent and Democratic Pustoyna. The Movement adopted its founding charter on 21 February, declaring its demands for an independent and democratic country.

In the following months the Movement tried to cooperate with other parties as well. On 25th June Nejc Uxrisk and Marjən Mužina met with Danijel Matanović, the leader of Great Croatian Federation Party, in Piwka to discuss possible cooperation between the parties. Despite some essential differences among the two parties the Movement leaders were able to gain Matanović on their side through a compromise. The Movement agreed to accept the Alpine-Croatian Theory into their political program and to declare Pustoynes as a tribe of the great Croatian nation and to declare Dummatch a language derived directly from the early Croatian (and not Slovene) language. In a similar spirit, Matanović agreed to abandon their demands for a united Great Croatia, claiming that he does not want a severely centralized and repressive country, led by extremist Croatian National Party and would prefer to live in a democratic regional state, eventhough this would ultimately mean the end for the national and political unity of all the Croatian tribes. In the following days Great Croatian Federation Party joined the Movement.

On 26th December 2034 leaders of the Movement met with Janəs Awsc, the leader of Pustoynian National Party. While expressing sympathy with the efforts of the Movement to create a united front that would fight for Pustoynish independence, he found the Movement too mild and passive to execute the liberation. He conditioned his support for the Movement with four demands: After a month of negotiations the Movement leadership finally agreed to the terms and the Pustoynian National Party joined the Movement. With this Janəs Awsc became the organizational leader of the upcoming rebellion.
 * Pustoyna should immediately become independent from Slovenia through an active rebellion instead of doing it diplomatically;
 * Pustoynes should be recognized as its own ethnic group and not a part of Primores or Kras people;
 * The independent country that would be established after the rebellion should be centralized with its capital being Pustoyna;
 * Use of Standard Slovene language should be abandoned in all public life.

Preparations for the Rebellion
In the following months the members of the Movement tried to gain support for the rebellion among people by propagating the idea of independent and democratic state. On 8th February 2035 all members of the Movement gathered on a meeting to coordinate their views and ideologies. They agreed on and accepted five fundamental points: Despite unanimously agreeing with these five points, the problem arised when they had to draw the borders of the country. Because Pustoyna and surrounding regions are just near the border of different regions, both historically (border of Kranjska and Goriška regions), traditionally (border of Notranjska and Primorska regions), linguistically (border of Primorska, Rovte and Dolenjska dialect groups and Kras dialect) and geographically (border of Kras, Ljubljana Basin and Čufarija geographical units), the idea about the ethical belonging differed vastly from person to person. Thus, different people also had different ideas about the areas that the country should encompass. There were five main ideas about the range of the country:
 * 1) The larger or smaller region around Pustoyna will declare independence from Republic of Slovenia in a rebellion against repressive authorities and fight for it if needed.
 * 2) The established country will become a democratic, centralized, social and legal state with the capital city being Pustoyna.
 * 3) The official language of the country will become the Dummatch language, which will be standardized, but also allow for local adaptations in both speech and writing.
 * 4) Standard Slovene will not remain an official language in the country and its use will be limited only for informal communication with other Slovenic nations. Standard Croatian will not become an official language in the country and its use will be limited only for informal communication with other Croatic nations.
 * 5) The Movement for Independent and Democratic Pustoyna and the leadership of the established country will support any efforts for independence and democratization in other regions of Slovenia, either actively, financially or verbally.

Unified views on the ethnical belonging and the size of the country among the members of the Movement would be essential for spreading the national ideas among people and preparing them for revolution. Eventually two ideas prevailed: When the revolution started in 2035, the Movement hadn't come yet to a final conclusion about the issue.
 * the idea of a United Primorska, based somewhat on the ethnicity of the people and supported mostly by members of former Local Languages Emancipation Party, Great Croatian Federation Party and Regional Independence Party. Such country would probably be polycentric and politically unstable.
 * the idea of a Pustoyna region country, based on the unity of the economic region and supported mostly by members of former Pustoynian National Party. Such country would probably be nationally unhomogenous, but also monocentric and politically stabile.

Second Wave of Rebellion
Hi

Geography
Highest mountains

National Symbols
National symbols of Pustoyna are the flag, coat of arms and anthem.

First Coat of Arms (2035-2048)
First coat of arms of Pustoyna was adopted in 2035 when City State of Pustoyna declared independence from Slovenia. With the formation of Republic of Pustoyna, the new country adopted the same coat of arms as its own national symbol. It was designed by an artist Jwəža Xurjənc, a member of Pustoynish National Party and a member of the Movement.

The coat of arms is represented by a shield with partially red and partially white border. On the bottom of the coat there's a light blue area, symbolizing the rivers and the lakes of the country, such as Cerknica lake, Planina lake, Bloke lake, Pivka lakes, underground lakes in Pivka and Črna Cave, Reka river, Pivka river, Unica, Cerkniščica, Nanoščica, Obrh river and Stržen river. Above it there is a white stylized depiction of a mountain with three summits, all representing most characteristic mountains in the country. The left one represents Nanos Plateau, the central one Snežnik mountain, the highest mountain in the country, and the right one Slivnica and Javorniki mountains. On the white background there is a green semicircle with a smaller black semicircle inside of it, with three grey triangular stylized stalactites poking into it. It represents the caves of the country, such as Pustoyna Cave, Planina Cave, Križna Cave, Črna Cave, Pivka Cave, Tkalca Cave and Predjama Cave.

After the coat of arms was adopted by Republic of Pustoyna, the official interpretation of the symbols changed. The bottom blue field was then interpreted mainly as a symbol of the Adriatic Sea, but also lakes of the country (besides the ones already mentioned it also represents Solkan Lake, Rakitna Lake, Renče Lake and Bilje Lake) and rivers of the country (besides the ones already mentioned, it also represents Soča river, Nadiža river, Idrijca river, Vipava river and Judrio river). The interpretation of the stylized white mountain also changed, with the left peak symbolizing Trnovski gozd, the middle one Snežnik and the right one Nanos. The cave in middle was then interpreted as a symbol of the caves in the country (besides the ones already mentioned it also represents Dimnice cave, Kačna cave, Vilenica cave and Divača cave).

Ever since the coat of arms was adopted, it was being criticized for being unoriginal, too similar to the old Slovene coat of arms, incorrect and not representative of the entire country. While serving as the coat of arms of City State of Pustoyna it was mostly criticized for the white mountain and blue water motifs, which were almost taken from the old coat of arms of Slovenia, which was in use until 2032. According to many vexillologists, the white mountains unambiguously represent Triglav mountain with its three peaks and cannot be interpreted as any other mountains, as the same stylized Triglav depiction has been in use for almost 100 years. As Triglav was not a part of the Pustoynish territory, most vexillologists found its place on the coat of arms incorrect and unacceptable. Some experts attributed installment of Triglav on the coat of arms to political games, with some claiming that it's a reflection of extreme Pustoynish nationalism of the time, which strived to create a United Primorska country that would expand all the way to Triglav, while others explaining it as the last attempt of Nejc Uxrisk to prevent the dissolution of Slovenia or at least to maintain the idea of Slovenity through a typical symbol of Slovenes. The blue water motif was also criticized for being too similar to the water motif on the old Slovene coat of arms and for clearly depicting a sea. According to them, such a large blue area cannot represent rivers and lakes, but only a sea, which the City State of Pustoyna did not have access to. Thus the motif is incorrect and according to some it's a reflection of extreme Pustoynish nationalism of the time, which strived to expand all the way to the seaside. Many experts also criticized the symbol for being unoriginal and claimed that its design is a copy of the old Slovene coat of arms, with many same motifs and their unoriginal arrangement and more or less the same colour scheme. In that sense, the coat of arms was seen as a critique of the nationalistic Slovene government and considered an attempt to redemocratize and reestablish Slovenia as it was before the dictatorship. However, such coat of arms that does not represent sovereignty, cannot be used to represent a sovereign state.

After the coat of arms was adopted by Republic of Pustoyna in 2037, it was being criticized for other reasons as well. Since Pustoyna gained access to the sea, the presence of bottom blue field was accepted by most people, but depiction of Mount Triglav, which stayed outside of Pustoyna borders, remained controversial and incorrect. Since then many people also criticized the coat of arms for being too biased and Pustoyna-centric and not representative of the entire country. While the coat of arms depicts caves of Kras, Pustoyna and Čufərija regions and the seaside of Murje region, there's no elements representing fertile fields, orchards and vineyards of Xuriška, Swəška and Vipawska dulina regions. Thus, such coat of arms that represents symbols and elements of only some regions while ignoring others and doesn't represent common characteristics of the entire country cannot serve as a symbol of the entire country. There were over 10 petitions to change the coat of arms over the years, but were always ultimately discarded by Janəs Awsəc and other members of Pustoynian National Party, who claimed that Triglav should rightfully belong to Pustoyna and thus should be depicted in the coat of arms to at least symbolically uphold the claim on that region and that the biased depiction of only symbols of Pustoyna region is not problematic as this region is the main and core region of the country.

Current Coat of Arms (2048-present)
The current coat of arms of Pustoyna was adopted in 2048, because the old coat of arms, inherited from the City State of Pustoyna did not correctly represent the entire country. Most vexillologists agreed that it was too heavily inspired from the old coat of arms of Slovenia that was in use until 2032. The adoption of a new coat of arms followed a petition to change the symbol in 2047. With the main supporter of the old coat of arms Janəs Awsəc ending his president term and not having a position in the government, there were no major opponents of the petition, making it possible for it to pass after more than 10 unsuccessful attempts through previous 10 years.

The current coat of arms of Pustoyna is made up of two parts: the main shield and the crown above it, which is made up of 7 smaller shields. The shields on the crown are pentagon-shaped and together form a gentle arc. All the shields are surrounded with two lines: a red one on the outside and a white one on the inside. The crown was heavily inspired by the Croatian coat of arms to represent the Slavic roots and Croatian heritage of the Pustoynish people. Ever since 2034 when Matanović joined the Movement, Pustoynes were believed to be a tribe of Croatian nation or a nation arisen directly from the Croats, as explained by the Great Croatian Theory. This way the coat of arms opposes and rejects the Venetian Theory, popularized by SNS and the National Front in the late 20s and early 30s, which claimed that Slovenes (and thus Pustoynes) are descendants from the Adriatic Veneti and not from Slavic people.

Similarly to the Croatian coat of arms, each shield on the crown represents one of the 7 Pustoynish regions. The main shield has an unconventional shape and has a black outline. It is composed of two main parts, seperated with a slightly curved black line. The upper part consists of two fields, seperated by a black line: a light grey crescent pointing downwards and a light blue semicircle below it. The two fields together represent a cave entrance and thus symbolize all the caves and karst phenomena, typical for the country, such as Pustoyna Cave, Planina Cave, Križna Cave, Črna Cave, Pivka Cave, Tkalca Cave, Predjama Cave, Dimnice cave, Kačna cave, Vilenica cave and Divača cave. On the grey crescent there is a slightly curved white inscription with black outlined letters spelling the shortened name of the country in Dummatch language (Pustwəjna). On top of the blue semicircle, representing sky, there are 7 grey stalactites growing out of the grey crescent, which represents the ceiling of the cave and rocky terrain of the country. The 7 stalagmites represent the 7 regions of the country, but also symbolize growth and stability.
 * 1) The first shield from the left represents Swəška region. From bottom left to upper right it is split into two halves. The upper-left one depicts a red-white-red tricolour, which is the symbol of Čjədat, the capital of Swəška region. The bottom-right half depicts a white cross on an azure background with the cross representing Špjətar and the background representing the river Swəča, the biggest river in Pustoyna, from which also the name of the region is derived.
 * 2) The second shield represents Kras region. It is horizontally split into two halves. The bottom half was inspired by the coat of arms of Sjəžana, the capital of the region. On a burgundy red background it depicts in black colour a well and a pine tree with a bent trunk because of the burja wind growing out of it. The well and the pine tree are both common sights and symbols of the Kras region and the burja wind is another such typical element of the region. The upper half of the shield was inspired by the old Kwəmən municipal flag and depicts a white arch and a yellow sun on a blue background. The white arch represents the typical stone-based architecture of the region and the sun represents the sub-mediterranean climate.
 * 3) The third shield represents Murje region. It represents a white anchor cross on a yellow and blue background. The design is taken from the historical coat of arms of the Princely County of Gradisca, which encompassed most of the territory of the region.
 * 4) The fourth and middle shield represents Pustwəjnsku-Bistərška region. The shield is divided into three fields: a blue one on top-left, a red one on the top-right and a white one on the bottom. In the middle of the shield there is a silver white-tailed eagle, locally known as pustwəjna, which gave the name to both city and republic of Pustoyna. On the white field there is an olm, a cave animal that is native to the region. The design is taken from the coat of arms of Pustoyna city and municipality of Pustoyna.
 * 5) The fifth shield represents Xuriška region. From upper-right to bottom-left it is split into two halves. The bottom-left one depicts a white and red striped pattern with 3 white and 3 red lines, while the upper-right one depicts a golden crowned lion on a blue background. The design is taken from the historical coat of arms of the Princely County of Gorizia, which encompassed most of the territory of the region.
 * 6) The sixth shield represents  Čufərija region. On the bottom there's a striped pattern with three blue and two green lines, symbolizing the Cerknica Lake, an intermittent lake which in rainy months covers the entire Cerknica Field, while on the dry ones almost completely disappears. The exchanging green and blue lines represent the exchanging periods of there being a lake and there being a field. Above it there is white line with a stylized white tree with a green treetop coming out of it. The white line represents a reflection of the tree in the water and the tree represents the forests of Čufərija. Above the white line there is a green line that connects to the treetop and represents many hills and plateaus of the region, such as Javorniki, Slivnica, Bloke, Menišija, Hribi, Babno polje and others. Above this on a white background symbolizing snowy and cold winters there is a depiction of a skier from Bloke, the "cradle" of skiing where skiing was first invented. The design is inspired by coats of arms of former Cerknica and Bloke municipalities.
 * 7) The seventh shield represents Vipawska dulina-Rowte region. On the bottom there are three wavy fields. The bottom one is blue and represents waters of the region, such as Planina Lake, Vipava river, Hubelj river, Unica, Logaščica and Idrijca. The two fields above it are green and light green and symbolize the fertility of Vipava valley and hilly surface with hills such as Trnovski gozd, Rovte and Hrušica. The waviness of the fields also represent the burja wind, which is typical for this region. On bottom right there is a wheel, symbolizing merchant trade paths that went through this region. On the left side a grapevine on a white background growing out of the green fields is depicted and symbolizes fertility and vineyards of the region. The design was inspired by coats of arms of former Ajdovščina, Logatec and Vipava municipalities.

On the bottom of the semicircle there are depictions of six iconic mountains and hills of the country: three on the left and three on the right with a valley in between, which represents all the valleys of the country, such as Vipava Valley, Pivka valley, Nadiža valley, Lož valley and Soča valley. The first depicted hills from the left are Goriška Brda, which are depicted by three smaller hills of different green shades. On the first hill there are two cherry trees, on the second hill there's a big apricot tree and on the third hill there's a vineyard, giving an impression of the landscape full of vineyards and orchards, which are famous for this region. Right of the Brda hills there's a depiction of a mostly grey and flat Kras Plateau, representing mostly flat and rocky terrain of the plateau with very little vegetation. Above Kras and Brda hills there is a depiction of a dark green Trnovski gozd, which is completely covered with lush coniferous forests. On the right side of the valley the first mountain is the Nanos Plateau with its typical shape with steep slopes and flat top as it is seen from Pustoyna. Light grey spots in the middle of dark green represent iconic rocky areas sticking out of the forests and the darker grey area on the top of the plateau represents the pastures. On the top of the mountain an iconic radio transmitter is also depicted. Right of the Nanos there is a depiction of a green Slivnica hill, which is covered with lush forests and on the right continues into another hill. Above the Slivnica there is also a black silhuette of a witch flying on a broom, representing a well-known folk tale about witches living under the hill. The design of the hill continues into another hill on the right, symbolizing all the other hills of Čufərija, such as Bloke, Javorniki, Menišija and Hribi. Above Nanos and Slivnica there is a depiction of a grey-blue mountain with a white snow-covered summit, representing Mount Snežnik, the highest peak of the country, which is often even in the summer covered with snow (hence its name Snežnik, which means Snowy).