Sufficient Velocity World 1 (SVW1) [*Open* Recruitment Closed]

[Skywalker_T-65]

SVW1
(Sufficient Velocity World One, or what happens when random people make up countries)​

OPEN Recruitment Closed. If you want in, you will need to provide the GM (that being us) with a sheet and accept the weirdness already existing in the world. We have had some...issues in that regard, and that is why open recruitment is closed. We will not say 'no' outright, but you must prove you have a firm idea and are willing to work with the existing players.


Core Concept: In a similar vein to the old SDNW games on SDN that inspired this, players will take a blank map and add a country to it. Simple, right? It's intended to be such, anyway.

In less simplified terms, this is a game where there is no preset world. Players build the world themselves, working together to craft something unique. In the case of this game, taking a Strangreal world map (not the AC one) and putting personally crafted nations upon it. These nations can range from the absolutely fantastical, to the more mundane. Maybe what you like is a United States Expy. Maybe what you like is a nation of animal girls. Either one is perfectly viable, here.

If you can't stand the weird, it is probably not the game for you.

One key thing we need to note here, before going any further: This is not intended to be a serious business game. What this game is, at the core, is people vibing and having fun with each other in a collaborative world. It was never intended as that, not in the original concept, nor in this modernization/reworking. In this regard….Do not expect turns. Do not expect actions. Do not expect firm guidance on what to do in the game world. Expect people to be doing weird stuff.

This is a game where the goal is to write stories, not to make pseudo-diplomacy and 'win' the game. There will be no formal turns. Write at your own pace, be that crafting a story on your own, or with other players. The goal is to have fun first and foremost.

The world is roughly mid-2010s, with obvious allowances for wackiness and Strangereal tech memes. ADDENDUM: No nukes. Superweapons are of the Strangereal variety (read: Stonehenge) and something that need very heavily justified.

Current Iteration of the Map:

Spoiler

(currently has no scale other than 'roughly Earth sized'. A player is planning on adding a proper scale soon.)

The Rules:

Spoiler: For Brevity

Rule Number 0: Don't be an asshole and have fun.

Most everyone should know how to do this, but to keep it simple. Don't go out of your way to be rude or obnoxious to other players. Everyone is here to have fun and no one has time for someone going out of their way to ruin that fun, no matter how justified you may think you are. There is a GM (maybe a mod team) for a reason. If you have an actual issue, take it there, don't air it out and make the game miserable for other players.

This is not to say there should be no conflict in the game, nor that you shouldn't do things in-game to annoy other nations. Healthy conflict is good for the longevity of the game, insofar as any other interaction between players is. These should be interesting things, though, and should always be resolved amicably if at all possible. It will be fun for absolutely no one if actual bad blood between players grows.

No nation should expect to get their own way all the time, and if you expect that, it will be just as much an issue as the guy trying to poke everyone's nest. Keep that in mind, before you make some big grand plan and have someone sonar ping your submarine out of nowhere.

Again, don't be an ass and we should all be good. Don't be arrogant or condescending towards other players.

BIG NOTE FOR THIS: Do not reject another's roleplay just because it can be weird or strange. Half of the fun in this kind of game is people doing weird or strange things. If someone wants to have a country that is ANIME LAND, then by all means, let them. You can have your SUPER SERIOUS UNITED STATES EXPY roll their eyes at Anime Land, but keep it in character and in game. It is more fun for everyone if you can do that, because sometimes, it is fun for the wacky people to bounce off the serious ones.

We have people who are going a bit on the more fantasy side of things, and that is fine. We are keeping an eye to make sure actual game-changing supernatural stuff is toned down. A few species of fetish bait anime animal girls are not a problem in that regard.

Don't attack a nation and DO NOT attack a player just because you think they're being silly.

Rule 1: Be imaginative

In a similar vein to the above, try and be imaginative. Things are more exciting when someone goes outside the box and comes up with something interesting. Do you want a nuclear powered Yamato-clone instead of 'boring CVN clone'? Do it! Do you want a Habbakuk because you're the alternate Sweden and everything is cold? Sure, why not.

This goes for culture and such, too. You can have a culture of people who desire nothing more than to be tourists and make other people come to their land to do the same. There could be a country full of people who are pure E D G E and that would work too. Well, it might not work in context, but you get the point.

'Course, if being generic is what you like, go ahead and be the alternate United States. That's fine too! Just have fun.

Note: A nation need not be big and competitive. A nation need not focus on trying to be incredibly relevant on the world stage. There should be room for people who want to make a relatively minor nation and just vibe writing their ideas. There should be room for people wanting to be bigger countries (though there's probably becoming a tad many of those).

If you want to be Hawaii and some random Pacific islands? That's fine! Make your quirk having an excellent spy network and some great sugar, or something. You do not need to compete with other players. Have fun doing whatever you want. A mid-tier power can secure itself by working with its neighbors, for example!

Do not feel discouraged if other nations are pumping out railguns or something. Strangreal nations that do that tend to have random mute pilots come up in a rusted out MiG-21 with gunpods and blow that shit up. Room for everyone.

Rule 2: Communication and Collab is good.

This is, first and foremost, a collaborative roleplay. Most of the fun times will come from people interacting with one another, planning stories together, and everything like that. You want to talk with other players and come up with interesting story arcs between each other. Or, even, jump in to a story someone starts entirely on their own.

Collab is good. Collab can only happen if there is healthy communication between players. This can be via-PM or on Discord or in the OOC thread, depending on just how secretive one wants to be. The important thing is that there is communication, in order to make sure everyone is talking with each other.

Even if it is something as minor as helping brainstorm an idea that you won't, personally, be participating in. The OOC thread will likely see much more posting than the IC one, and that's fine. Again. The fun comes from working together as much as from anything else.

Warfare is a big thing here. Unless you're beating up on an NPC, you should always, always be talking to another player. If you have someone wanting to do a tunnel run on your fancy railgun, talk it over with them and figure out between the two of you how it would go. GM can step in if needed to clear up legitimate issues. But the core of the game is having fun with each other, and if you come into conflict, the best way to do that is to write together and come up with how things go.

Don't try to have everything your way.

Rule 3: Most rules are guidelines

If you are capable of following them, of course. Most of the rules when it comes to actual nation creation are going to be guidelines to build off of, more than hard and fast instructions. These are not intended to limit creative people, nor force people to make something weird if they don't want to.

The main goal of the Nation Creation Rules ™ is to create a format to follow so that you can quickly and easily create a nation, if you need the assistance. This way it is less of a headache for both the GM and the players to create something they find fun. If you have an idea that stretches things a bit, that's fine, just bring it up early so we can see about fitting it in.

4: NPCs and Microstates (not necessarily 'micro' but smaller than average player)

These are generally going to be creations of the GM and/or moderators, but if you really want to have a microstate to play around with (be it as your main state or as a secondary thing) you can. You need a good idea and need to run it by the GM first, though, so it does not conflict with other players. And, this is the important bit:

Do not try to powergame.

If you try and create a swarm of allied microstates to bolster your own military power, we can and will come down like a sack of bricks. Microstates should be small powers that exist to add to the story, not to be disposable meat shields like the Warsaw Pact. For example, one of the fun ways to use Micronations is to create ones deliberately antagonistic to your own country. Former colonies or the like. That can allow you to have a self-contained conflict without risk of bringing in another player. Show off those fancy 5th Generation Air Superiority Fighters!

NPCs are similar, but these can be larger than a microstate and will be almost universally created by the GM and/or moderators, unless you have a very convincing argument for one.

5. Turns? No Turns?

This will not be a turn-based game. This is a freeform RP in the tradition of forum role playing games, with the players writing stories and interacting with one another. While diplomatic actions and the like can be taken, there will not be a hard 'Year 2000 turn, into Year 2001 turn' or anything like that. The ideal goal with this came is to have fun and play around with the sandbox of this world.

Think of it less like a Grand Strategy game in the SV-style and more like a traditional post-by-post RP with nations instead of individual characters.

• Nation Creation Rules:

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

As a general rule, every nation will have a Gross Domestic Product in a specific set of ranges. A small power would have sub-One Trillion (Dollar equivalent), to 2 Trillion. A mid-range power would have 2-5 Trillion and a large power would have 5-8 Trillion. Anything smaller, say a very poor city state, is a possibility. And if you want to have a smaller one than a nation your theoretical size should have, that is fine as well. Nothing more than 8, though, unless you are very convincing. We do not want a superpower that can bully around other nations.

These are not hard numbers by any stretch, nor are they intended as anything more than a guideline. GDP is a rough measurement of how prosperous your country is, that you can then extrapolate in however much detail you feel like. You can go really deep into finance and what money is spent where, or you can just throw out whatever your GDP is in your nation description and call it good.

The fluff that this number is good for, as an example, is military expenditure. How much of a percentage you spend and on what. Another good example is on how much, per-capita, income your people have. These are just a couple examples, but it should be noted that we won't come down on people hard about details like 'can you actually afford this army modernization plan?' unless you're deliberately and obviously trying to metagame.

There is also room for countries that have outsized influence considering what they actually make, to fit something like- say -Russia. Current events in Ukraine notwithstanding.

A guideline to help build your nation, fundamentally.

Nation Creation Points:

Each player will be provided with eight (8) NCPs at the start of the game. These will be used for various fluff bonuses, including but not limited to:

Initial GDP boost: As a general rule, the GDP boost falls in the range of One Hundred Billion to Five Hundred Billion. One could theoretically use all their NCP boosts on their economy, however, if this were done to try and push past the 8 trillion hardcap, that would be heavily frowned upon. GDP Boosts can, in fluff terms, represent important companies, services, resources and the like. In most cases, a hardcap of two or three GDP boosts, and even then, smaller ones. These should be a double-edged sword. A powerful boost that is a point of weakness in your economy.

Special Trade Resources: Mithril? Large deposits of Thorium? Vibranium? You get the general gist of this one. Use an NCP (or more) on special resources that everyone would want a slice of.

Special Technology: This can be as simple as nuclear battleships or as fancy as helicarriers. As a general rule, each special technology costs one (1) NCP. For something to be more than one NCP, it needs to be something truly special and we expect few to justify that.

Military Boost: One can use an NCP to boost their military. Perhaps you have really experienced soldiers and are proud of it. Maybe you've got some special doctrine or SPECIAL FORCES OORAH that you want to draw attention to. If you use an NCP on this, it will be of benefit in a war. Not so much outside of that, though.

Diplomatic Relations Bonus: This is one of the more abstract options, and is specifically intended for improving your relation with neighboring states, both NPC and human. Do you have a historical alliance with *NPC state here*? That will have them come to your aid like Rohan when Gondor calls for aid? There you are.

Micronation Creation: NCP can be used to create micronations. One NCP per nation, unless you deliberately want to use a GDP boost or the like on them. This is one where a close eye will be kept on usage. You can create a small nation as an ally, such as a former colony in Commonwealth with your main state. You can create something larger if it is explicitly an antagonist and not as a way to boost your own nation. No creating the Warsaw Pact to get around military restrictions or the like.

Trade Routes: Historic and strong trade routes. Synergizes with GDP boosts. Call it…up to three-hundred-billion for a Trade Route. More generally a smaller number. See above on 'double-edged sword'.

NOTE: NCPs can, and have, gotten fairly wacky. Try, for the sake of the poor GM's sanity, to keep them somewhat grounded in Strangereal levels. Weird tech and resources are fine, but you really should be thinking about building your entire country around the NCPs. If you want to spec into something like that it should be justifiable and a point of weakness, as much as a strength.

For example, if you want to go full WEEB and have mechs flying around, expect that they should be less 'Gundam' and more 'semi-realistic' and be just as vulnerable as anything else to getting a missile up the ass.

International Relations:

Treaties and trade and borders and all that fun stuff. Before the game can begin, it is a good idea to work out what your relations are with other nations. There will be no particular bonus to this, in raw numbers*, but it is good for background. If you're next to another player, you and that player should work out what your joint history is like. If you have a historic conflict with another player (perhaps they were once your colony?) you want to make that clear as well.

In general terms, it is important to work out exactly where you stand while forming your country, and make sure it does not conflict with other nations and players.

*NCP usage notwithstanding.

Military:

For the rivet counters among us.

The military of a nation is one area where detail is really up to the player, even more than others. If you don't care that much about coming up with a consistent military doctrine or something like that, that's fine! You can have something that makes no sense like nuclear battleships, or you can go into fine-toothed detail on what kind of mess kit your infantry use. This is one area where we will not tell anyone what to do, other than to try and avoid metagaming.

As a general rule, this game is set in the mid-2010s. Military technology should reflect this, to some extent, unless you're playing an alternate version of North Korea or something. As another general rule, the GDP of your state is going to shape what you can afford. If you have roughly equivalent economic power to France, you aren't going to afford a dozen supercarriers, without completely ruining your country.

Again, though, the finer details can be as bare or as detailed as you want. There is no bonus to more detail, other than if you actually legitimately enjoy putting that work in. The most that the GM will do is sanity check to ensure that a nation can actually afford (or 'afford' as the case may be) what they are building/using.

War should be a relatively minor part of the game, so it should be said that any actual conflicts between equipment should be uncommon. If it does come up, the players and the GM/moderators will work together to avoid any arguments about one side abusing the other.

Note: As above, please actually keep in mind your budget. Don't make the GM get even more headaches and heartache over this. Strangereal allows for stuff like flying ships (for all intents and purposes) or railguns or superweapons. Try to make those a core theme and boondoggles, if you absolutely must have them.

Landmass:

This will be on an entirely original map that will be worked out in the nation creation stage of the game. As you think of your nation, think of what you want it to look like geographically and what you want for neighbors. From there, we can build a map to work off of. In general, it will be similar to Earth, though not identical. Likely closer to the Ace Combat world.

Do not question tidal effects or the like, because the GM does not have anywhere near the knowledge to make that realistic or 'realistic'.

Example Format:

Land Area:
Shape:
Climate:
Lowest Point:
Highest Point:
Arable Land:
Water:
Forests:
Urban Areas:

Noun:
Nationality:
Languages:
Population:
Population Density:


Conclusion:

This is, in the end, a game meant for having fun with people you like. A lot of the finer details in creating nations don't need to be incredibly detailed to do that. There is no need to feel like you're falling behind, because everyone has their own quirks and niches to fill. For every Franco-German Union, there should be a Sweden, an Ethiopia, or a Thailand. The game is healthier if there are people who, yes, are outmoded and outmatched by the big dogs. Not everyone should be a big power.

We need the smaller, saner, nations to go along with the wackier, bigger nations.

That is one thing that, if it feels like we're hammering at, it's because we are. There should be the Third World here. There should be minor or medium powers, in addition to large ones. There should be room for everyone in this kind of game. No one should feel like they have to play catchup just because someone is throwing around railguns or flying ships. No one should feel left out because they don't want to have their chosen waifu animal people. If what you want is to play a smallish country with weird prototype planes or something, that's totally possible. If you want to play a bigger power, that's also fine. Room. For. Everyone.

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

United Kingdoms of Arcadia
(or the example sheet)

​

Land Area: 1,232,000 sq km (placeholder)
Shape: An island nation, centered on four 'Home Islands' situated around one another. Dozens of smaller islands are scattered between the Home Islands, ranging from specks of land, to small communities. Home Islands consist of: Glacia, Mannar, Larena, Sarana. Smaller islands consist of the Sub-Glacian Islands and the Southward Islands.
Climate: Temperate to Sub-Arctic
Lowest Point: Port Glacia
Highest Point: Mount Plergoth, 2,400m
Arable Land: 25%
Water: 20%
Forests: 20%
Urban Areas: 35%

Noun: Arcadian
Nationality: Arcadian 90% (27% Glacian, 20% Mannaran, 22% Larenan, 16% Saranian, 5% other islanders), 10% other nationalities.
Languages: Arcadian (various dialects), English (Secondary)
Population: 118,423,543
Population Density: 212/sq km (placeholder)
GDP: $7.65 Trillion

"Something of an anomaly in modern times, the Kingdom of Arcadia remains as a reminder of days gone by. A nation ruled jointly by four monarchs, each with equal sway over how the nation is run in its day-to-day existence. Unlike the vast majority of the world that has moved on to various other forms of government from Republican democracies, to state-run Communist dictatorships, the Kingdom remains ruled by the monarchs, with only a relatively small Joint Parliament to counter the Royal influence. Because of this, the Kingdom is often at odds with itself, much less its neighbors.

*Though it should be noted that the power of the monarchs vary wildly, from autocratic Glacia to Constitutional Monarchy in Mannar.

The four Main Islands (Glacia to the north, Mannar to the west, Larena to the east and Sarana to the south) remain the core of the Kingdom of Arcadia. It was the largest of these islands, cold Glacia, that lead to the 'unification' of the disparate kingdoms that ruled each island until roughly three hundred years ago. Glacia, always the strongest, pushed hard to bring the other islands under her heel. At first for purely self-serving reasons, and later in the interest of presenting a united front for the rest of the world.

However, with roughly equal militaries, and only a small edge in population, Glacia was unable to unite the Arcadian Islands under her rule entirely. Because of this, Queen Irene of the Empire of Glacia instead proposed a federation of sorts. The Home Islands, formerly independent of one-another, would jointly rule the Arcadian Isles, remaining semi-autonomous states under a united Kingdom of Arcadia (each star on the Kingdom's flag representing an island: Green for Mannar, Blue for Glacia, Red for Larena, Brown for Sarana).

This 'united' state boasts a surprisingly large population and land-area. While not a superpower, or really holding the potential to become one aside from high-technology, Arcadia is a firm middle-power. The nation boasts a high GDP for its size, due in large part to the presence of Kratka Industries, a multifunctional conglomerate producing anything from ships to automobiles. Because of this, Arcadia relies in large part on exports to other nations, lacking the richest of raw materials (such as gold). Imports primarily consist of food and raw materials.

Unsurprisingly considering its status as an island nation, Arcadia relies on, and invests heavily in, a strong naval force. Considered in some circles as anachronistic with its continued reliance on battleships and heavily armed gun-cruisers, the joint Kingdoms that make up the nation maintain these ships for their use in bombarding land targets and for the tight confines of most of Arcadia's territory. The navy does maintain an air arm, though it is by no means the focus like it would be in other nations.

All in all, Arcadia is a nation behind the times, despite its high technological level."

--James Smith, 'Nations of the World.'



History of Arcadia: Preliminary (read: Still lifted from the old SDN game, and not updated to remove references to that yet)

Spoiler: For size

The Warring Kingdoms Period:

~900: First settlements on Larena Island are dated to this period.

1200-1250: The Kingdoms of Larena, Mannar, and Sarana are founded. The Empire of Glacia is founded towards the end of this period.

1275-1280: The War of the Armada: A Mannaran Fleet attempts an invasion of Glacia, drawing in allied Sarana. The two allied Islands decimate the Mannaran fleet in the tight confines of the sub-Glacian islands. Despite a late attempt at relief by the smaller Larenen fleet, the combined Glacian/Saranian force blockaded Mannar, forcing a surrender and annexation by Glacia.

1312: A revolt on Mannar is backed by Larena and Sarana, both Kingdoms wanting to keep Glacia from getting too powerful. The Kingdom of Mannar is restored with King Gustav, a member of a Cadet Branch of the Larenen Royal Family on the throne.

1324: King Gustav begins to tie Mannar closer to Glacia once again. While independence was preferred, the Glacian economy was stronger and Gustav hoped to get special trading privileges.

1360: After a long reign, King Gustav dies and Mannar begins to drift back to Larena, while Sarana returns to Glacia. The Four Kingdoms continue in a state of Cold War, with the occasional blockade or pirate activity.

1400-1450: The Long War. Glacia attempts to increase its influence into the small islands around Sarana, bringing its traditional ally into the Larenen camp. The three Kingdoms join together against the Empire, leading to the longest war in Arcadian history up to that point. Emperor James is forced to surrender the Sub-Glacian Islands in exchange for continued independence.

1500s: Early contact with explorers from other nations (Granadia?) brings focus from the Kingdoms onto the rest of the world. Ships from each of the Kingdoms began to explore far and wide. It is during this time that English comes to Arcadia through contact with Britonia.

1604-1617: Colonial War. Arcadian colonies collapse due to lack of support from the homeland, as natives push the colonial administrators out. Attempts to regain the colonies fail due to the divided state of the Kingdoms (and Empire). The Treaty of Sholm cedes the Arcadian colonies to native rulers.

1640s: Arcadia begins to run low on quality wood to build warships rapidly increasing in size. Trade is opened with larger continental nations (Rheinland perhaps?) to provide the supplies needed.

1650-1700: Great Decline. With the loss of the Colonies and increased reliance on trade amongst the divided Arcadian Kingdoms, the individual states begin to show the signs of strain and struggle to maintain their place in the world.

1680: Empress Irene I of Glacia is born.

1708: Irene proposes a radical plan. The four islands should unite and combine their resources in a unified Arcadian Kingdom to increase their power and influence on the global stage. The reluctant leaders of the other Islands agree to the plan, put into effect with the signing of the Unification Treaty.

United Kingdoms of Arcadia:

1700s: After the unification, a relatively quiet century for the Arcadians who concentrated on setting up the new nation.

1820s: Arcadian trade fleets once again begin ranging around the world, including old colonies. Flying the unified Arcadian Flag, these vessels trade with everyone and anyone.

1850s: Trade Conflicts. (no idea who would be up for this)

1900: HArMS Irene I is launched as the first 'dreadnought' built by Arcadia. Native historians argue it was designed and built before the actual Dreadnought of former-Britonia, though that is heavily disputed.

1908-1914: First Great World War? Arcadia remains neutral, though HArMS Irene I and her successors are placed on high alert and attempt to run supplies to blockaded Rheinland.

1915-1936: With the aftermath of the First Great World War, Arcadia fell into isolationism. Relief supplies were sent to Rheinland where possible, but nothing more as the Navy was progressively expanded to keep the nation secure. Glacia is particular payed extra attention to its naval force, replacing the Irene I-class dreadnoughts (save the very first that was retained as ceremonial flagship) with the much larger James III-class super-dreadnoughts. Larenen flyers became the first Arcadians (first people period?) to fly off a converted merchantmen the Krakta.

1936-1952: Second Great World War? Undecided if Arcadia joins Rheinland in the war itself, or gets involved with another nation.

1980: The first Arcadian nuclear reactor, codenamed 'Battery' is built.

1990: The nuclear-powered battleship HArMS Gustav I is launched by Mannar.

Other details (miltary, NCP, economy and the like)

In a GDoc for conciseness, will add in properly later. When better formatted. Still mostly here for an example.

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

*reserved*

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

*reserved again*

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

*reserved again*

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

*reserved again*

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

*reserved again, last one*

 

[We Just Write]

Z: Hmmm. Is there room for a small, wacky nation? One completely devoted to SCIENCE!

 

[AlphaDelta]

Reserved

 

[Aires Drake]

Reserved for the FLORIDIAN IMPERIUM and its two rivals.

Basic Overview (with some details still needing filling in):

The Floridian Imperium (Florida)

General Facts:

Land Area: Growing sq km
Shape: It's complicated. Almost a sideways Italy.
Climate: Sub-Tropical to Mountainous
Lowest Point: Miiamai, -20m
Highest Point: Mount Reya, 7625 m
Arable Land: %
Water: %
Forests:%
Urban Areas:%

Noun: Floridian
Nationality: Floridian
Languages: Floridian (various dialects), English (Secondary), Seminole, Creek, Appalachee
Population: Yes.
Population Density: Insufficient
Capitol: Tallahassee

Document Links:

The Floridian Imperium (Florida)

The Floridian Imperium (Florida) General Facts: Land Area: 4,804,878 sq km (and Growing) Shape: It’s complicated. Almost a sideways Italy. Climate: Sub-Tropical to Mountainous Lowest Point: Miiamai, -20m Highest Point: Mount Reya, 7625 m Arable Land: 35% (some marginal) Water: 26% Forests:15% Ur...

docs.google.com

 

[CV12Hornet]

Z: Hmmm. Is there room for a small, wacky nation? One completely devoted to SCIENCE!

Click to shrink...

Define "SCIENCE!". Because we do want this to be at least semi-grounded, and we're probably not going to allow, say, a Spark barony or something like that.

 

[Abject Testament]

Kalptovia

Government: Federal Democracy
Head of State: President, elected to a maximum of two (2) seven-year terms.
Head of Government: Prime Minister, elected to a maximum of three (3) five-year terms.
Legislature: Single house Senate with 13 senators per province plus one additional senator for every 1 million residents within said province. Each is elected to a maximum of four (4) four-year terms.
Capitol: Kongesverd
Population (as of 2010 Census): 70,545,890
Land area (Sq. Km.): 446,875
Climate: Temperate to Subpolar.
Highest point: Mt. Ozen (5,915 m)
Lowest point: Kreck Depression (-42 m)
Arable land: 4%
Water: 2%
Urbanized land: 12%
Forested land: 24%
Mountains/Highlands/Plateaus: 58%

Demonym: Kalptovian
Principal nationalities: Kalptovian (90%), Saakhwian (5%), various others (5%)
Languages: Kalptov (primary), Saakhwi (secondary), English (secondary/ tertiary depending on region)
Economic model: Mixed
Currency: Tümbōlt (ɸ)
GDP: High (5.5 trillion)

Principal exports: Raw materials / minerals, consumer goods, petrochemical stock, coke (fuel), heavy machinery/industrial equipment, arms, alcohol, chemicals, optics, electricity.
Principal imports: Raw materials / minerals, consumer goods, grain/foodstuffs, alcohol, heavy machinery / industrial equipment, chemicals, wood, LNG, electronics, arms.

[=]​

Nation Creation Points(8/8)

Advanced Geothermal Power (1 Special Technology)
Owing to the discovery of a large and relatively shallow magma body in the northwest portion of the country, heavy priority was placed by the government on developing new geothermal technologies and techniques to efficiently harness this vast potential of energy from the heat of the planet itself. The fruits of these efforts was the development of Geothermal power plants that are on par with or slightly better than traditional fossil fuel power plants.

Advanced Electrical Grid Systems (1 GDP Boost)
Owing to the projected growing energy needs from both the civil and military sectors, the enormous amount of research and capital invested to improve the electric grid in terms of relatability, reduction in transmission losses, and greatly increase its power carrying capacity has finally begun to bear fruit. [First kicked off in the early to mid 80s]

Advanced Laser Technologies (1 Special Technology)
With a pressing need to find a more efficient way of drilling into rock and other factors, a heavy emphasis has been placed on the development of laser optics, generation, efficiency of optic creation and cooling alongside other related technologies.

Cimmerian Mutual Defense Pact (1 Diplomatic Relations Bonus)
Kalptovia has defensive pacts with its neighbor Saakhwia to the south, the distant Vasada further south, and the more distant Doggerland to the west. Should any of the three be attacked, all foreign deployed forces are to be recalled and the full might of the Kalptovian armed forces brought to bear against the aggressor or aggressors.

Treasures of the Mountains (1 GDP Boost)
For centuries it has been known that the northern mountains of Kalptovia held vast amounts of mineral wealth. However, these resources have been extremely difficult until recently to tap into given the harsh climate of the mountains as well as the sturdy metamorphic and igneous rock which they are formed from.

Directed High-energy Geocarving Industry (1 Military Boost)
As warfare advanced over the centuries from men armed with bows, swords and horses to modern day conventional armed forces, Kalptovia became ever more keenly aware that the mountains which dominate over half the country and how the mountains made them difficult to invade were also becoming a drawback to themselves as well. This remained a difficult problem to tackle unti the breakthrough advancements in both Geothermal power and laser technologies a few decades back finally provided a means of carving out sizable military bases inside of mountains within a reasonable frame of time. As the nation further advanced the technologies it's well known for today, this process only became easier. While initially concerned with military and defensive purposes, this industry has now branched out into the civilian sector.

Advanced Fuel Additives (1 Military Boost)
With a focus on efficiency of fuel utilization for the armed forces, a variety of fuel additives have been developed to boost performance of military vehicles. Many of these additives are specially made and shaped nanoparticles in stable colloid suspensions and in binder matrices which help boost fuel efficiency and power density.

Crystals from Space (1 Special Resource)
Eljunsamlite, a mineral found within an ancient impact crater off the coast. The full potential of this mineral is still being explored, but already signs point towards it revolutionizing Kalptovia's energy sector and the nation's already advanced laser technologies. It is heavily suspected that the body which impacted the area where this purple mineral is found millions of years ago may have been of interstellar origin. Though the still as of yet unidentified element which makes up 0.5% of the mineral's composition may point to more peculiar origins.

 

[We Just Write]

Define "SCIENCE!". Because we do want this to be at least semi-grounded, and we're probably not going to allow, say, a Spark barony or something like that.

Click to shrink...

J: We're thinking a more biomedical focus, along with a willingness to do... damn near anything for knowledge, really.

EDIT: We'd considered launching our entire country into space as an end-goal, but that's a bit too out there even for us.

 

[CV12Hornet]

Also:

Federal Republic of Ruvuma

Federal Republic of Ruvuma Population: 112 million GDP: $4.6 trillion GDP per capita: $41,000 Geography: Ruvuma’s geography can be broadly divided into two distinct regions. The northern half of the country is a savannah ecoregion of rolling hills surrounding small river valleys, starting ...

docs.google.com

 

[TwinAttorney864]

Reserved for Federal Republic/Federation of Gwrthyriad

 

[UbeOne]

My elf-themed nation, the Democratic Technocracy of Sylva:

Democratic Technocracy of Sylva

 

[Lady Darkhound]

The Saakhwians ride again!
Saakhwia
The Land of the Wind Peoples

Land Area: ~ 7.2 million km2​
Climate: Temperate
Lowest point: -12m (Revesh Meteorite impact crater)
Highest point: 4452m (Mt Kerthfi)
Arable land: < 1%
Water: < 1%
Forests: 12%
Urban Areas: 5%

Noun: Saakhwian
Nationality: 83% Saakhwian (88% Saakhwi, 12% Kheyip), 12% Dogger, 5% other
Languages: Saakhwi, English, Dogger

Population: ~30 million
Population density: 4.2 persons per km2 ​

GDP: ~$1.3T

Capital city: Respite
Form of government: Tribal Monarchy

• Saakhwia has been ruled by two women, the Matriarch and her Consort, for the last thousand years. Together, they have ensured that the lands have remained well cared for and independent. They have the final say on any governmental or diplomatic matters.
• Each of the cities and nomadic tribes has a single representative that is allowed to bring a petition to the Matriarch. These representatives also form a council of advisors and jurors in matters where the Matriarch prefers to delegate, or in matters that need a more direct touch than the Matriarch is willing to or able to provide. No single representative is more powerful than any of the others, no matter the size of their city or tribe.

Spoiler: Geography!

Saakhwia controls territory from the western Khey mountains to the coasts of the Great Eastern Ocean. Coastal terrain is rocky, but provide excellent fishing opportunities and abundant resources, including the remains of an iron-rich meteorite known as the Revesh Meteorite. Minor mining operations occur in this territory, and it is where the Saakhwians get most of their modern natural resources.

The vast majority of Saakhwia is wide open grassy plains, speckled with forests and rivers. It is here that the various nomadic tribes travel between the established cities and roam the lands with their herds.

To the west lies the Khey mountains, which includes the nation's highest point, Mount Kerthfi. The mountain range covers most of the nation's western border, with only a single pass connecting the Saakhwians to their western neighbors, Doggerland.

NCPs:

Ace Automotive (1 NCP GDP boost): The major export of Saakhwia is their high quality off-road vehicles. Ace Automotive is the primary producer of these vehicles, ranging from dirt bikes to trucks and even half-tracks. Though they make excellent fully tracked vehicles, they are generally not for export or international sale.

Experimental Tvey Armor (1 NCP special tech): A highly experimental armor that is incredibly resistant to projectile weapons. Though it will not completely protect the vehicles from damage, interior spalling is reduced to almost nothing, greatly increasing the survivability of Saakhwian armored vehicles.

Kheyip Mechanized Cavalry (1 NCP military boost): The Saakhwian cavalry was the stuff of legends in ancient times, and they have remained the cream of the crop in modern times. The Kheyip minority in Saakhwia in particular has dedicated their efforts into being the best mechanized cavalry they can be, and they are frequently sent on expeditionary missions to assist friendly countries and refine their skills even further. They are personally led by the Matriarch's Consort.

Open Borders Agreements (1 NCP diplomacy): Saakhwia enjoys generous open borders agreements with all their neighbors, big or small. The herds wander as the wind guides them, and the Saakhwian people safeguard the herds, no matter which country they wander into. There's just the one minor problem of the nomads occasionally causing issues with their lack of understanding the concept of roads and traffic laws.

Mutual Defense Pact (1 NCP diplomacy): Saakhwia has defensive pacts with their neighbors, primarily across the Khey mountains with Doggerland in the west, Kalptovia to the north, and Vasada to the south. Should any of the nations be attacked, all foreign deployed forces will cease offensive actions as soon as possible and return home to defend the pact members. The national guard forces will also deploy to protect Saakhwia's allies.

Trade Agreements (1 NCP trade routes): Saakhwia has had prosperous trade across the world, though not as much as, say, Arcadia. Despite that, the export of vehicles, livestock, and raw materials has been a boon to the relatively small Saakhwian economy, as has imports from Sylva, the Dominion, Artemia, Havjfell, and other coastal nations.

Old Blood (1 NCP diplomacy): Saakhwia is an old nation, and her leaders are nearly as old. Old treaties and alliances are respected even where the other involved nations may have forgotten, as are old rivalries and grudges. Treaties from well before the modern era are still respected to some degree, most prominently in the close ties between Saakhwia and their neighbors, as well as the close friendship between Saakhwia and the Sacred Rheonic Dominion. Long memories go both ways, and Saakhwia still bears slight grudges against Ruha and Kazai for past conflicts.

Slow Modernization (1 NCP GDP boost): Immortal leaders can be both good and bad for a nation, especially if they have a cautious perspective for long term planning. As such, many innovations have only been slowly accepted once they were proven in other parts of the world. Combined with a traditional lack of materials exports, Saakhwia has always been a poor nation. Decades ago, the Matriarch started a new industrialization program with the intent of bolstering the Saakhwian economy and keeping up with their much richer neighbors. Investors both foreign and domestic have put significant amounts of money into building up the nation.

Spoiler: Saakhwian History! (Which I put way too much effort into!)

History of Saakhwia
From the perspective of the Matriarch's Consort, Tally Evans

Some say Saakhwia is as old as the dirt itself, that we have existed since the days where man barely knew how to make fire, while some say it was the herds that brought us to this land. Even for all my age and all my studies over the millennia, I can't put an exact pin on it. What I do know is that the nomadic lifestyle existed long before Kay and I arrived. Long before agriculture reached what would become Saakhwia.

The foundations of our nation were laid down right here, in what would become the capital city of Respite. Legend says that agriculture was brought to the Saakhwians from the land of fire across the Bright Sea, assumed to be the protonation that would become the Floridian Imperium. Regardless of the origin, however, agriculture began, feeding upon the wheat grasses and cultivating berries. The first official records come from a long-lost dialect that have only been partially translated, describing the harvest of the year. It was a particularly abundant year, and the villagers were arguing over what to do with the excess food.

The first Matriarch was elected when a conflict between people needed an impartial judge. They selected the wisest woman in the village, and she retained that position until her death, where it was passed on to the new wisest woman. Over the centuries, the Matriarch was given more and more duties until she became the effective ruler of the lands. Under the Matriarch, the nation truly began to expand and flourish.

The first major recorded conflict of Saakhwia came roughly in 1800 BCE. The current Matriarch was an expansionist conqueror who wanted more land for the herdsmen to roam, so that they could grow as the cities had. To the south lay the Bright Sea, and the Saakhwians claimed the sea's entire northern coast up to the edge of the Khey Mountains. Here, they fought numerous skirmishes against the "Sea Peoples," now known to be the Floridian Republic.

At the base of the Khey Mountains to the west, nomadic scouts encountered the very defensively minded people known as the Kheyip, which translates imperfectly to "The Children of Iron," named for the mountains they dwelled near. The Kheyip resisted conquest, and would ultimately never be taken by force.

Conflict brewed up occasionally between the Saakhwians and the Kheyip over the centuries, but whenever an exterior threat emerged, threatening the land of both nations, they joined forces to fight them off. Lessons were learned in the side by side fighting, and Saakhwia and Kheyip gained a newfound respect for each other. They would still fight amongst themselves, but a greater threat would always unite them.

The story of myself and the Matriarch, Kay, begins in 24 BCE. I was born to the Kheyip, whilst Kay was Saakhwi. I met her when I was a young girl on a trading expedition to the city of Shade, but it was only a brief meeting, as a new Matriarch was elected, and active conflict brewed up once more.

It was during this period of conflict that I attracted an illness known as "ring sickness," though in modern parlance, it could be said that I went insane for a period. My younger sister, Lou, was captured by the Saakhwians on a raid, and we all thought her dead. My ring sickness manifested in two ways: a general inability to comprehend what was going on around me, and hallucinations.

Rather, what I thought was hallucinations. One of the Powers That Be had taken interest in me, and appeared to me as figures shrouded in shadow. The Lone Trickster had a job for me, or as I eventually came to know it, errantry. It all seemed harmless, and the missions actually managed to help lessen the effects of my ring sickness. Unrelated to my ring sickness, I got word that my old friend Kay was still living in Shade, and the Trickster instructed me to find her.

We fell in love, and in 0 CE, we were given the mission to broker peace between the Kheyip and Saakhwians. Along the way, however, we ran into my sister, now a Saakhwian scout. Through her, we learned of a new threat to the east, the Crimson Tide. They were a threat that was quite capable of overrunning our two nations individually, through sheer weight of numbers. This was the historical situation where Saakhwia and Kheyip would put aside their differences and join forces against the greater threat, but the Matriarch wasn't having it, and insisted that Kheyip either be conquered or otherwise bow to her rule.

It was not a pretty conflict. Kay and I had to break off our mission for peace when the Trickster came to me with a new mission: assassinate the Lone Warleader, the leader of the Crimson Tide. Unknown to us at the time, the Warleader was one of the Trickster's avatars, one that had gone rogue and needed elimination. During the fighting, Kay and I were both badly injured, but successful in defeating the Warleader. While most of the Warleader's divine essence returned to the Trickster, some of it went to me, manifesting itself as certain special powers as well as eternal youth.

With the loss of the Warleader, the Crimson Tide collapsed, and the Matriarch expanded towards the eastern ocean, so that hostile forces could never again threaten Saakhwia from that direction. She died not long after, and was replaced by a more peace-oriented Matriarch, who managed to successfully unite Saakhwia and Kheyip, as well as opening more cordial relations with our neighbors across the Bright Sea.

I did not see the Trickster for years after the Crimson Tide conflict, and the last time I saw Him was at the reception of my wedding with Kay, where He personally congratulated us, and granted Kay the same eternal youth I was blessed with. Kay and I stuck around in Saakhwia for a while, just living out normal lives alongside Louise and her wife, Dan. Seeing them grow old while Kay and I remained eternally young was the first time I ever thought of my immortality as a curse. Especially being by her side as she died of old age.

After the deaths of Lou and Dan, Kay and I turned our attention to the rest of the world, determined to not let our immortality be a curse. Over the next couple hundred years, Kay and I traveled the known world, while keeping an eye on the situation at home. Seeing the world beyond the Saakhwian plains was certainly eye opening, and we met some rather interesting people, including the woman who would ascend to become the Einher war goddess. Saakhwia was growing quite prosperous, and while there were minor conflicts with the smaller powers to the north, it was mostly a period of bountiful growth. Mostly.

War struck the continent in 471 CE, when the nation of Dooglia, Saakhwia's western neighbor, was brutally invaded by Creit, their northwestern neighbor. The Doogliens were driven off, and fled into Saakhwia. I remember fighting in that war, as part of a Saakhwian cavalry unit that kept the invading Creiter soldiers from attacking Dooglien civilians and mercenaries who were fleeing.

Kay and I happened to be traveling through the Floridian Republic when it collapsed around us. We chose to flee north to avoid the Republican Civil War, having no stake in either side, and watched from a distance as the Floridian Republic was replaced by the Floridian Imperium. Only when the dust had settled did Saakhwian traders venture back across the Bright Sea to trade with our southern neighbors once again.

Around 685 CE, that all changed when a new Matriarch came into power. She's known by another title in our histories, though: the Great Ahvyp. Inspired by the Floridian Imperium to our south, she turned Saakhwia into a conquering empire, spanning the entirety of the continent, from the Khey Mountains to the Great Eastern Ocean, and from the Bright Sea to the frozen north. Expansion west and south was temporarily stymied by the Khey Mountains and our ancient adversaries across the mountains, Creit. The Floridian Navy quite handily controlled the Bright Sea, stopping any conquest in that direction.

The Saakhwian Empire lasted from 685 CE until 928 CE, spanning nine different Matriarchs, and eventually expanding all the way to the Great Western Ocean, before finally collapsing. The collapse began in 863 CE, when the nascent nation of Kalptovia gained independence from the empire. Other smaller conquered lands followed their example, and by 928 CE, Saakhwia was the smallest it had been since the Crimson Tide conflict in 0 CE.

In 945 CE, a new Matriarch was elected. The wisest woman in the realm, and my wife of nearly a millennia, Kay Yorktown. Together, she and I returned Saakhwia to the roots of our culture to rebuild what had been lost in centuries of empire and conflict. We helped the nations around us rebuild, too. Though many had been conquered and subjugated by the Empire, Saakhwia helped our neighbors rebuild, and fostered positive relationships with them, most of which have lasted the past millennium in some form or another.

In 998 CE, as Saakhwian reconstruction came to an end, an old friend reached out to Kay and I, asking for our help. The Arcadians sent their chosen man, Dominus, to meet Kay and I in Respite, and he asked for out assistance in a noble quest: bring peace to some warring states on the other side of the world. The campaign was longer than we had expected, and Kay and I were gone from Saakhwia for over a decade as we helped Dominus establish the Sacred Rheonic Dominion. That was the only time Kay led the Kheyip Heavy Cavalry into combat.

In 1486 CE, the Dogger mercenaries began their quest to retake their ancient homeland after more than a millennia of exile. When we learned of this, Kay was quite concerned, and met with the 79 Dogger clan leaders to discuss what their intentions were. When the discussions were over, a contract of mutual protection and open borders with the Doggers was signed in blood. We promised to support the Doggers in the reclaiming of their land, and I once again lead the Heavy Cav to victory at the side of our mercenary allies.

When the industrial revolutions came about, Saakhwia remained as we were. Some advancements were put to good use in the various cities, but more were rejected, so that Saakhwians would not lose their way of life once again.

There have occasionally been petitions to oust Kay and I from the position of Matriarch and Consort, citing how we have lived unnaturally long lives, leading us to stay locked in the past instead of keeping up with the advancements of the rest of the world. While these petitions were not entirely without merit, and have often resulted in policy changes as Kay and I are once again reminded of our age, they are firmly rejected whenever they are brought before the Council of Advisors.

In the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, Saakhwia has begun to take a more active stance on the international stage. Beyond our mutual defense treaties with our major neighbors of Doggerland and Kalptovia, Saakhwia has strong trade relations with Mithla and the Verdant People's Republic, and an on-and-off military alliance with the Rheonic Dominion.

In 1860, the Dominion once again collapsed into civil war. The Welter claimant to the Dominion's throne came to Saakhwia to gather international support, but Kay and I firmly denied his request for the Saakhwians to join him. There was a rather impressive verbal beatdown from Kay when he claimed to know the will of Dominus better than we did, considering the fact that we fought side by side with Dominus. Saakhwia committed our support to Princess Aya of Shimokuni, and after a long and brutal campaign, the Saakhwian heavy cavalry successfully encircled and captured a significant portion of the Welter army, including General von Lutzow. Not long after, we won the war and Princess Aya became Dominator.

Welt is still upset over their defeat at the Ninth Battle of the Rheon River, a century and a half later.

Modernization was a must to keep up with the times, though Kay and I have often found ourselves naturally lagging behind the rest of the major powers of the world. Motorcycles and cars have integrated themselves almost naturally into our way of life, as has technologies such as the telephone, radio, and the internet.

Under Kay as the Matriarch, Saakhwia enjoyed nearly a millennium of peace. From her election in 945 CE, until 1931 CE, the only conflicts Saakhwia were involved with were on foreign shores. But in 1931 CE, Saakhwia was subjected to a brutal and unprovoked attack by our neighbor, Ruha. The Ruhans came down from their northern coastal territories and unleashed a chemical weapon on the city of Refuge days before Kay was set to arrive in the city. The treaty with Doggerland, Kalptovia, and Vasada was called upon, but the lack of Saakhwian infrastructure, plus a rather conveniently placed bombing in the Whisper Bone pass meant that Ruha had free reign to besiege Refuge while we gathered our forces.

Unfortunately for the Ruhans… Saakhwians specialize in working in areas with minimal infrastructure. The conflict was the first trial by fire for the mechanized cavalry, and it exposed a number of flaws in our equipment, training, and doctrine, but it also gave us a prime opportunity to correct some of those flaws. With the Dogger forces pushing across the mountains, Kalptovian and Vasadan infantry rushing across the plains, and the Saakhwian cavalry marauding through the Ruhan backline, the war didn't last very long.

The conflict in 1931 CE, as well as various conflicts around the world, showed just how sorely lacking Saakhwian infrastructure and logistics capabilities are, even within the confines of our own homeland. Limited railroad infrastructure and roads between the cities of Saakhwia have been constructed, though the nomads and herdsmen still prefer to wander the wide open plains.

Infrastructure construction was still incomplete when Saakhwia received a cry for aid from our longtime friends in the Rheonic Dominion. At the time, I was leading the Kheyip Mechanized Cavalry on maneuvers in the heart of Saakhwia, while our transport was at the coast. Reaction time was less than stellar, and it was only when the transport ships refueled at Havjfell that I stopped worrying that we might be too late to help. The mechanized cavalry made it to the Dominion in time for the defense of Rheon and assisted in forcing the Ruvuman invaders back across Welt.

Saakhwia learned many lessons from the World War, and we are continuing to improve our capabilities across the board. Even after the heavy losses suffered in the World War, the Kheyip Mechanized Cavalry is still the best cavalry unit in the world, but their role on the battlefield has been shrinking rapidly.

The world is evolving rapidly, and I worry that when I set out to visit foreign lands either as an envoy or as the general of our expeditionary forces, Kay and I will be left by the wayside, and lead our people into dust.

 

[CompassJimbo]

Federal Republic of Artemia

Spoiler: flag

Liberty, the road forward. Truth, the greatest light. The diamond represents the light of the sun, which in turn represents truth. The blue represents the sky and the fact that it is the same color across the world and provides the same potential for all. The right-pointing light represents the road forward into the future, one hopefully marked by both freedom and truth.​

Government: Federal Democracy
Head of State: President, elected to a maximum of two (2) five-year terms.
Head of Government: Prime Minister, elected to a maximum of three (3) five-year terms.
Legislature: Single-house Senate, organized as 10 senators per province, plus one for every 2 million residents within said province. Each is elected to a maximum of four (4) five-year terms.
Capitol: Cormoropolis, Capitol District
Population (as of 2010 Census): 202,801,447
Annual GDP (After Boosts): $7.44 trillion as of 2010.
Land area: 9,640,360 km2​
Avg. Population Density: 21.03 persons per km2​
Avg. Income per capita: $36,686.12 per person
Climate: Sub-tropical to arctic
Terrain: Sub-tropical plains, Mediterranean areas, temperate plains, hills, temperate forest, taiga, alpine, tundra.
Highest point: Mt. Kryuger (2,937m)
Lowest point: Innsbrook Depression (-38m)
Arable land: 32%
Urbanized land: 25%
Forested land: 27%

Demonym: Artemian
Principal nationalities: Artemians (80%), various others (20%)
Languages: English, Slavic (Russian/Ukrainian)
Economic model: Mixed
Currency: Artemian Guilder (Ꞡ)
Principal exports: Raw materials/minerals, coal, consumer goods, heavy machinery/industrial equipment, grain/foodstuffs, petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals, alcohol, computer software, arms.
Principal imports: Raw materials/minerals, consumer goods, electronics, foodstuffs, heavy machinery/industrial equipment, phosphate fertilizers, industrial chemicals.
Notable corporations: Bank of Artemia, Cormoropolis & Western Transportation, AndrewSoft, McGarrett Arms (partially government-owned), Kryuger Security, Petrikov Automotive.
[=]
NCPs:

GDP Boost (Gold Rush): The discovery of vast mineral resources in the far north required quite a bit of expense to access and extract it all. However, the efforts of our labour— and make no mistake, it was hard labour —have begun to yield fruit. Our industries have experienced a renaissance, production costs have generally gone down, and we even have an export market for all of that ore.
Military Boost (Modernization Program): Our armed forces have been behind the times since the mid-20th Century, even though we maintain one of the largest such organizations in the world (especially our Navy). Funding has been put towards upgrading our tanks, building new warships, giving our infantry new rifles, and sending new aircraft into the sky. Our plans are for a fleet of 4-6 large aircraft carriers with escorts, a force of brand-new Warrior II MBTs with existing tanks upgraded to modern standards (alongside similar upgrades/replacements for other vehicles), and to eventually have stealth aircraft prowl the skies. Thankfully most of our new equipment is experiencing few, if any problems so far, though only time and combat conditions will tell. Regardless, it'll still take some time for us to reach our goals.
Trade Routes (The Seaboard Main): The crown jewel of our railroad network remains the envy of the world almost a century after its construction. Two mainlines, one for freight and the other passengers, fully-electrified and built for high speeds. There are countries out there with faster trains, but few can match the sheer volume that our rail network can carry. It's said that all roads lead to Arcadia. We're the first stop from it and the last stop towards it.
Trade Routes (The Redoubt Line): The Seaboard Main is considered a marvel of engineering for the sheer volume of traffic it can carry and its reliable service. The Redoubt Line, while still impressive, isn't quite as stable. In spite of measures to reduce these occurrences, landslides, avalanches, and even flooding remain problems when it comes to consistently supporting our mining operations in the north. It has, however, become something of a tourist spot in itself, with enthusiasts and passerby flocking to the Redoubts to watch trains loaded with heavy equipment and ore jennies flow in and out.
Diplomatic Boost (Uncommitted): Our nation has generally been content to avoid serious entanglement in international affairs, even with the latest administrations pushing for a more internationally-focused stance. Because of that, the nation is often seen as a trustworthy mediator in international disputes and is usually the voice of reason in Union of Nations meetings. However, while relations with our neighbors are less hostile nowadays, the Dominion's growing instability has proven worrying. Time will tell if we manage to hold a steady course.
Trade Routes (Extensive Coastline): The bulk of trade on the Laurentian Continent flows through us, and even through more isolationist periods, a steady stream of merchantmen have flowed in and out of our ports. Because of this, our coastal cities are among the wealthiest in the region, if not the world. Historically, this has of course attracted piracy (especially from the Dominion province of Shimokuni), though long-gone is that so-called "Golden Age." Our role in global trade has, of course, necessitated a high naval expense.
Military Boost (Drone Warfare): They might not be those life-like T-Dolls making waves across social media, but our drone program launched as part of the modernization efforts should hopefully pack some nasty surprises for opponents. We've managed to develop a model of UCAV that can be fitted into a standard shipping container, packing a pair of short-range multi-purpose missiles and even a warhead on the drone itself. The Air Force, meanwhile, has begun to develop a large drone carrier that could bury the enemy with a swarm of them. To avoid potential issues with rogues, however, all drones must be remote-operated.

Spoiler: Edits

After some research done, I realized that my country is far larger than initially thought when the worldmap was compared to our Earth. Land area and population density therefore had to be adjusted.

 

[We Just Write]

Artish Nation of the Biotechnical and Engineering Institute
...wait a minute, I think that was mixed up.
What do you mean that's correct!?




Name Stuff
Country Nickname: ANTE
Nationality: Tish
Slurs: Madkits, Frosties, Frankensteins
Primary Languages: Higher Mathematics, Artoni, Dogger, Kuroshian

Government Structure
Getting into any sort of political office in the Artish Nation of Biotechnical and Engineering Institute is a highly... unconventional process. You have to prove that you understand how to actually run a country before a panel of sociologists, economists, psychologists, and other relevant experts. Anyone can apply for the office (as an individual, or as a group), at which point the panel presents the applicants with an incredibly challenging set of open-ended policy problems. The applicants have six months to get their policy theses ready, then they have to present.

During this process, the panel of experts will try every possible angle to poke logical holes in the policy thesis presented. Unexamined biases will be exposed. Unfounded assumptions will crumble. And the panel will get a very good assessment of whether the applicant in question is fit for office. At the end, the panel picks the applicant whose policy thesis had the fewest logical flaws and showed the most diligence in trying to achieve a socially optimal outcome. Requirements for being on such a panel are a doctorate in a relevant field of study, at which point you might be called up for it as a civic obligation similar to jury duty.

There is also a secondary panel hidden from the proceedings that acts as an "emergency stop" if they detect signs of emotional manipulation or other malfeasance. All in all, evaluating a candidate who doesn't get screened out before even reaching the thesis defense stage costs the Tish government slightly less than $100,000.

The most important offices of note are the 121 legislative seats of the Parliament; Members of Parliament serve for six years; if they wish to serve an additional term they must defend another policy thesis. Most quit after their second or third term as a result.

The Executive Directors of the various government departments (Agriculture, Industry, Transit, Energy, the various branches of the military, Post, etc.) must also defend a policy thesis in order to serve a decade-long term. Similarly, most only serve a small number of terms.

General Notes
Climate: FUCKING COLD!
Population: ~21 million
GDP: ~2.25 trillion
GDP Per Capita: 120,000
Capital: Aurora Peak
Ports: 3 major (1 natural warm-water, 2 artificially heated with gigantic nuclear power plants), 1 minor (cold-water)
Passenger Rail: Awesome
Freight Rail: Very good
Demographics: 91% Arctic Kitsune, 4% Red Kitsune, 3% Human, 1% Neko, 1% other

Natural Resources
Wood: Some Boreal forests here and there.
Arable Land: Maybe enough for 1 million people (supplemented with LOTS of greenhouse agriculture)
Water: Ok.
Coal: Decent-ish
Oil: Technically Present
Thorium: Pretty Good Actually
Iron: Great
Copper: Decent
Rare Earth Metals: Usable, But Insufficient
Aluminum: Must Import
Titanium: Must Import

Energy Availability + Energy Mix
Fossil Fuels: Technically an option. (2%)
Biomass: The forests are too precious to burn. (0%)
Hydro: The rivers freeze (0%)
Wind: Actually workable, shockingly enough (9%)
Solar: A solid chunk of the country is above the arctic circle. Not workable. (0%)
Geothermal: [ERROR, VOLCANO NOT FOUND]
Nuclear: Scalable, Reliable, Available (89%)

a very important note

While often conflated, Super Science and Mad Science are two very different things. Super Science is the ability for a single individual or small group to make implausible leaps and bounds in various fields, advancing them by absurd amounts compared to the baseline of their world. By contrast, Mad Science is much more about approach, rather than results. It's the all-consuming desire to K̵͔̙͂̊̎̕N̷̙̟̏̈́̅Õ̴̻̙̜͐̕W̴̩̱̓ taken to the point of being a pathological need; a properly Mad scientist has a distinctly divergent view of topics like ethics and morality as a result, and is more than willing to undertake experiments that most would view as dangerously reckless.

While the ANoBTEI is a nation of Mad Scientists, and very talented Mad Scientists at that, they are most emphatically NOT Super Scientists. Much of the country is thus structured around the careful balancing act of keeping the populace happily experimenting and researching away, while also minimizing the risk of something going catastrophically wrong.

Spoiler: A brief history

before 1860s: the Mistish peninsula is... kinda stable under the Sarvon dynasty, though quality of life leaves much to be desired on account of the harsh conditions. There are regular crop failures due to fields freezing, and fishing is difficult due to sealife.

1860s: Travelers start introducing industrial machinery to the peninsula, and it is rapidly adopted. Most important were the massive heated arboretums that finally allowed a large stable food supply to be produced.

1870s: The University of Aurora Peak is established, in order to ensure a sufficient supply of people who can manage the complex closed environments of the bio-domes.

1880s-1930s: During this period the power of the monarchy gradually decreases as the influence of the Universities grows stronger; the Universities' social development councils gradually assuming control of the food, heat, transit, and healthcare systems.

1932: The Scientific Parliament is first convened, though its proposals can be vetoed by the king (and many of them are).

1938: A working nuclear fission reactor is constructed at the University of Aurora Falls.

1939: The first case of Arctic Fever is detected, an extremely deadly and contagious bacterial disease.

1941: Efforts to contain the outbreak fail, but the Scientific Parliament manages to quarantine the country before any cases could reach the rest of the world. The Royal Family spends most of the year slowly dying of the plague.

May 19, 1942: The last surviving member of the Sarvon royal family dies of Arctic Fever.

December 1st, 1942: After years of work, a cure for the Arctic Fever is developed; even better is the matching vaccine to go with that comes out a few months later.

1944: The Arctic Fever is eradicated in the wild, with only lab samples remaining. At this point the University system and the Scientific Parliament are the only institutions with the remaining legitimacy and organizational capacity to govern. So they do.

1947: A reactionary movement driven by religious objections to mutation breeding of crops (rapidly spiraling into various other conspiracy theories) threatens civil war if not promptly addressed. The scientific parliament opts to round up the offenders and banish them to the southern wastes of the peninsula. This marks the split between the Tish and the Miscans.

1955: The Miscans form a coherent government, in the form of a theocratic dictatorship.

1961-62: The first attempt by the Miscans to invade the ANoBTEI occurs. Significant damage is done to the southern cities of the Tish, but the attack is ultimately repulsed. This war comes to be known as the First TM War.

1964: The Tish Space Program puts the first Arctic Kitsune in orbit, an astrophysicist named Aru Shimmy. Her capsule

1966: Programs to improve military readiness are put into effect.

1973: The death penalty is banned, after a scandal involving the courts using it to get extra test subjects.

1975: The Industrial Automation Program is launched in an effort to free up manpower and spare time (while also making actual standardization of important goods more feasible).

1982: The Miscans have another go, launching the Second TM War. Unlike the first time they get completely rekt right out of the gate. A brief counter-invasion is launched to destroy important military and industrial infrastructure, though no territory changed hands.

1984: Construction on the research space station known as the Stepping Stone begins; For convenience and longevity it was placed in a polar orbit at an altitude of 1,200 km, dramatically increasing the number of launch windows suitable for reaching it.

1989: the Stepping Stone reaches initial completion; it has a sizable set of micro-gravity research sections, along with a reasonably comfortable habitation section. Primary power is solar panels, with a small nuclear reactor for auxiliary power.

1991: The first artificial lifeform produced by the proto-cell method is animated. The technique rapidly spreads and is refined on.

2000: The Third TM War takes place. This time the Miscans do significantly more damage (though still ultimately losing in fairly short order), mostly due to purchasing a large number of SRBMs and cruise missiles that they volleyed off right at the start. A twelve kilometer demilitarized zone is forcibly carved out of Miscan territory at the end.

2004: Donse Material Labs patents their method for industrial production of high quality carbon nanotubes, along with related techniques for production of high-grade Metal Matrix Composites. The domestic patents will expire in 2016, and the foreign patents will expire in 2026.

Military Overview

Strategic Infrastructure

"The Alchemist Program"
The Tish face a major logistical problem with regards to fuel. Namely, their Army, Navy, and especially Air Force need a great deal of petroleum fuels, which the Tish don't really have the natural resources to produce in a conventional manner. In typical fashion for the country, they've therefore opted to simply make their own. The Alchemist Program is the name for the Tish synthetic fuel infrastructure, which uses three distinct methods to ensure a sufficient supply of petrochemicals.

Method one is a purely chemical process that uses the country's coal reserves to synthesize oil. Method two is biofuels making excellent use of Tish bio-engineering technology. Method three directly un-combusts atmospheric CO2 and water to make hydrocarbons using a great deal of electricity (provided by nuclear power). A great deal of these fuels are stashed away as artificial crude in various strategic reserves, with small hardened refineries for the strategic oil stashed all over the country.

The Port of Skav
The fact of the matter is the Tish only have one port that isn't exposed to sea ice, in the city of Skav. This makes said port absolutely vital as a lifeline to the rest of the world. While the Tish are more than capable of providing icebreaking services and their own ships can handle the ice without issue, the vast majority of cargo ships are NOT built to handle those conditions. As such, the Tish absolutely MUST keep this port open and in their control at all costs, otherwise their ability to perform international trade will be greatly limited.

Norfjord Naval Yard
One of the ANoBTEI's artificially heated ports, Norfjord is also home to the massive drydock and shipbuilding complex where the majority of the Tish Navy is constructed, maintained, and refitted. The reason for putting it all there in particular is because it's very far away from Misca, and therefore rather inconvenient for them to attack during a war. In addition the heavy sea ice surrounding the port will inconvenience the navies of most other countries that try to come visit, while not proving much of an issue for the Tish design philosophy of "Why would you build a ship that isn't an icebreaker?"

Aurora Peak Chip Fabricator
A sizable microchip factory built in a subterranean vault under a mountain, the Aurora Peak Chip Fabricator exists for the primary purpose of ensuring the ANoBTEI will have a ready supply of microchips even in wartime that cannot be easily disrupted. One of the most important implications of this is that Precision Guided Munitions can be affordably manufactured in great quantity, even if the country is under siege. Supplies of other complex wartime electronics like radars and flight computers and encrypted radios are also similarly hard to disrupt thanks to this facility.

Tish Navy

Prefixes
TNV = Tish Naval Vessel
TNV-X = Tish Naval Vessel, Experimental

The Strategic Picture
The Tish Navy has a much more complex job than the Army. They need to control access to the ANoBTEI's coasts, defend Tish shipping, rid the sea of the Miscan Navy in times of war, and provide offshore support against the Miscan Army and Air Force in same. However, they have a much higher likelihood of running into forces other than the Miscans, and therefore need to be equipped and trained for such.

Another complicating factor is the heavy sea ice to the north of the Tish peninsula; this represents a severe navigational challenge for the Tish Navy that they have to deal with. As such, a good number of their ships are built with icebreaking in mind.

The Tish Navy is divided into conventional ships with the prefix TNV, and experimental ships with the prefix TNV-X. Conventional does not mean the ship is a conventional vessel held up by buoyancy, it simply means the ship is produced in numbers to a given specification, and is intended to serve for a prolonged time.

Spoiler: Naval Laser Weapons

NOTE: the distance listed for "Effective Range" is the range at which the weapon can achieve an effectively immediate hard-kill on a typical missile or shell.

BW-98a Beam Weapon
Input Power: 25 MW
Beam Power: 8.75 MW
Waste Heat: 16.25 MW
Aperture Radius: 3.2 meters
Wavelength: Infrared
Effective Range: Targeting-Limited, Horizon-Limited
While it was impressive at its introduction, this infrared beam weapon is now thoroughly obsolete, and was never put into mass production. One of the only surviving units is on display at the Tish Naval Museum in Norfjord.

DBW-03b Defensive Beam Weapon
Input Power: 9.5 MW
Beam Power: 5.7 MW
Waste Heat: 3.8 MW
Aperture Radius: 1.2 meters
Wavelength: Infrared
Effective Range: ~10 km
The mass-produced successor to the BW-98a. While the DBW-03b may technically be inferior in terms of beam power and effective range, the fact that it's significantly more energy efficient, lighter, and more compact means it's much more suitable for mass adoption.

DBW-04a Defensive Beam Weapon
Input Power: 22 MW
Beam Power: 13.2 MW
Waste Heat: 8.8 MW
Aperture Radius: 2 meters
Wavelength: Infrared
Effective Range: Targeting-Limited, Horizon-Limited
A heavier laser weapon intended for mounting on the Tish Navy's cruisers and the Karman class, the DBW-04a does what it set out to do: fry missiles and aircraft faster, and from considerably farther away.

ORW-P1 Offensive Radio Weapon (Prototype)
Input Power: 150 MW
Beam Power: 125 MW
Waste Heat: 25 MW
Aperture Radius: 35 meters
Wavelength: Shortwave Radio
Effective Range: 3,000 km (theoretical), To The Horizon (practical)
An experimental weapon that even the Tish aren't sure will work out, the ORW-P1 is an attempt to make a radio beam weapon capable of bouncing shots off the ionosphere to hit targets at extreme range. There's just one problem: the ionosphere doesn't cooperate; the damn thing is constantly moving around, and has a nasty penchant to send the beams way off target if it doesn't simply scatter them into irrelevance. As there seems to be no feasible solution for this problem coming any time soon, it's highly likely that the program will have its funding cut.

Conventional Ships
Specialists and Utility Craft

Stubbornness Class Icebreaker
A workhorse of the Tish Navy, the stubbornness class is well-named. Powered by a nuclear reactor designed to run at alarmingly high power densities, these ships are capable of bludgeoning their way through a 3 meter ice sheet at a good six knot clip. They can handle much thicker ice than that if needed, though at that point they need to break out some of their special equipment and speed significantly decreases. Specifically, they route the waste heat from their reactor to the bow and use it to melt their way through the ice. The Stubbornness has a secondary role as a supply ship carrying non-explosive provisions.

Waveguide Class Communications Ship
Jam-packed with complicated radio electronics, the Waveguide Class pulls a lot of useful jobs for the Tish navy. Relaying messages is only the tip of the iceberg; tapping enemy comms, long range air search radar, and plentiful other tasks fall under the Waveguide's remit. The Waveguide can handle a meter or so of sea ice at two knots.

Skua Class Escort
One of the only airships deployed by the Tish Navy, the Skua Class Escort is purpose built to make life short for submarines and drastically increase the difficulty of using them to attack Tish fleets. Kept aloft by a mix of helium buoyancy and either forwards aerodynamic lift or upwards thrust from the main engines, the Skua can stay airborne for a very long time thanks to its compact nuclear power plant. Loadout includes ASROC-type torpedo deployment systems, an advanced towed sonar system, capacity for two helicopters, and the ability to straight-up airdrop a torpedo if really needed. The Skua also has a few 20mm CIWS mounts on the centerline and a couple SAM mounts, just in case.

Merchant of Boom Class Supply Ship
The Merchant of Boom class is a dedicated munitions supply ship. As this effectively makes it a floating self-propelled bomb of terrifying power, the Tish Navy has opted not to put personnel on it at the same time as munitions; the ship can be attached to a five kilometer control line at points to the fore or aft, allowing it to be directed without having anyone in the blast radius should the cargo detonate.

The Merchant of Boom class can break through a 1.8 meter ice sheet at three knots.

Submarines
[OBSOLESCENT] Blockade Class SSN
One of the ship classes the Tish Navy is currently trying to rid itself of, the Blockade was a commendable design for its time. It achieved a submerged endurance of six months, a test depth of 300 meters, and a speed of 28 knots underwater. That said, it has since been superseded by significantly faster ships, both underwater and on the surface. When first introduced the Blockade's sonar was among some of the best in the world, but simply hasn't been feasible to update to keep with the times. If it can get into position the Blockade is still a major threat due to its loadout of modern homing torpedoes, but it has a much harder time doing that than it did in its heyday.

Deepwalker Class Specialist
The Deepwalker is built with the intent of diving incredibly deep, and thanks to new metal matrix composites it's able to do just that. Though not particularly stealthy or fast, the spherical pressure hull coupled with advanced materials yields a test depth of four kilometers, able to reach the seafloor in the vast majority of locations. Coupled with a wet-storage equipment bay to the fore and several robotic manipulator arms, this lets the Deepwalker do things like install seafloor sonar arrays, tamper with undersea cables at inaccessible locations, and deal with some of the trickier sorts of naval mine (namely the ones that stay on the seabed until a ship comes by, at which point they fire torpedoes or float to the surface or somesuch).

Riptide Class SSN
Direct successor to the Blockade, the Riptide is faster, slightly quieter, deeper, and better at listening. The Riptide can achieve a maximum of 35 knots submerged, and has a test depth of 500 meters. Sonar specifications for the Riptide are considerably more sensitive in passive mode than its predecessor, and it has an interesting ability to direct an active sonar ping to only go certain directions.

Waterspout Class SSGN
The Waterspout is a missile submarine designed for absolute silence in operation, in order to hit targets without revealing its position. It achieves this by using a thermocouple to convert reactor heat to electric power instead of a turbine, eliminating many moving parts and much noise at the cost of reduced cooling efficiency and overall power output. As such the Waterspout has an absolute top speed of 22 knots submerged.

Missile Ships
[OBSOLESCENT]Winter Class Missile Cruiser (4 in service, 7 initially constructed)
A design from the 60's that somehow stayed in service, the Winter class is generally agreed to not be suitable for modern naval war. Despite major refits in an attempt to keep the Winter Class useful, the ships are very definitely getting long in the tooth and in need of replacement. This is compounded by wear and tear from decades of service in an area known for nasty sea ice, meaning the ships are rapidly starting to fail basic seaworthiness inspections. As such, the Winter Class is scheduled for decommissioning as new Trajectory class ships come online to replace them.

Aurora Class Guided Missile Cruiser (10 in service, 14 initially constructed)
A missile cruiser of 90s vintage, the Aurora class is MUCH more capable than the Winter. It was also one of the first cruiser classes to benefit from the increasing automation of Tish industry, allowing far more of them to be built than the Winters. The core of the Aurora's offensive power is an eighty cell Vertical Launch System, with additional weapons including a 120 mm dual purpose gun, several mounts for CIWS, and a comprehensive array of defensive missiles. Sensors include multiple mounts for phased array radar on the superstructure, along with a very good towed sonar array.

Recent refits have seen the helicopter hangar re-tooled for the same auxiliary drones the Impulse and Trajectory class field, along with efforts to upgrade the CIWS to modern microwave weapons. Though due to power limitations it's only DBW-03b mounts instead of the more capable DBW-04a. At present only two Auroras have successfully had their CIWS upgraded in such a manner, due to the required funding not being available after refits for the Dragons and the money earmarked for all the new ships. In terms of actual role, the Aurora is often used as a command ship for directing squadrons of destroyers.

Dragon Class Guided Missile Destroyer (22 in service, 41 initially constructed)
Originally designed in 1987, the Dragon Class served in the third Tish-Miscan War, which highlighted notable weaknesses in the design. Specifically, the initial fit had insufficient ability to track multiple air/missile targets, and a CIWS that was distinctly lacking in stopping power. Combined, these deficiencies lead to the loss of thirteen ships to air attack (the rest of the losses coming from submarine attack and a couple cases of land-based anti-shipping missiles).

Recent refits have seen the radars considerably upgraded and the CIWS replaced with three DBW-03b microwave weapons mounts. That said, between the losses and the fact that the Dragon Class has now exhausted its upgrade potential, it's clear that a new Destroyer class is needed.

The Dragon Class has a sprint speed of 36 knots. When icebreaking the Dragon can handle a 1 meter ice sheet at 4 knots.

Blizzard Class Guided Missile Destroyer (6 in service, 13 under construction, 22 planned total)
A counterpoint to the Impulse XRG destroyer and direct successor to the Dragon, the Blizzard class is built to address the shortcomings of the Dragon. Primary offensive power is a 48 cell vertical launch missile system; cold launch for safety. Being developed contemporary to modern microwave weapons, the Blizzard class is fitted with four DBW-03b mounts for CIWS purposes. The Blizzard also has considerable interceptor missile and SAM armament, quad-loaded in its VLS.

The Blizzard Class has a hybrid power train; nuclear-electric for cruising and systems power, additional gas turbines for sprinting at 37 knots. When icebreaking, the Blizzard can handle a 1.1 meter ice sheet at 5 knots.

XRG Ships
The last few years have seen an interesting idea take root in the form of the Extreme Range Gun program. The spark was a simple question: could a naval gun competitive with missiles be produced? The answer turned out to be yes, but barrel wear kept it firmly in the prototype stages until Donse Material Labs started production of their new Metal Matrix Composites, which solved the issue to a satisfactory degree. XRG weapons work by pairing a very high velocity cannon with a rocket-assisted guided shell, the net result of which is a gun that can reliably hit targets hundreds of kilometers away while being a fair bit harder to intercept than missiles. In addition, the projectiles have a much shorter travel time than most missiles, and the greater ammunition stores mean that more total projectiles can be fired.

Two notable weapons from the XRG program wound up entering service.

Spoiler: Gunz

Class 1 XRG
Role: Shore Bombardment (Primary), Anti-Ship (Secondary)
Bore: 150 mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1550 m/s
Final Velocity: 2800 m/s
Range: 174 km
Payload: 15 kg HE or shaped charge

Class 2 XRG
Role: Anti-Ship (Primary), Shore Bombardment (Secondary)
Bore: 260 mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1660 m/s
Final Velocity: 3120 m/s
Range: 420 km
Payload: 45 kg HE or shaped charge

Impulse Class Destroyer (5x in service, 10x under construction, 15 planned total)
The smaller XRG ship in service, the Impulse class is something of a hybrid design; yes they mount a pair of Class 1 XRGs in two forwards turrets, but the majority of the ship-killing power is still in the 36 cell VLS missile system. The XRGs are mostly for cheap shore bombardment with the occasional potshot at ships, as they can carry hundreds of shots compered to a very limited supply of missiles. She also has a hangar for six auxiliary drones aft; the drones can act as spotters for long range fire, early warning for inbound sea-skimming missiles, and anti-submarine escorts. Defensive weapons include a respectable number of SAMs and counter-missiles, along with four mounts for the DBW-03b laser cannon.

For power the Impulse class has a small nuclear plant for cruising and utility power, augmented by a pair of gas turbine engines for a sprint speed of 37 knots. When icebreaking, the Impulse class can handle a 1.2 meter ice sheet at 5 knots.

Trajectory Class Cruiser (1x in service, 5x under construction, 12 planned total)
The larger of the two XRG ship classes, the Trajectory is very firmly designed to engage other ships with its guns. Each Trajectory has a total of nine Class 2 XRGs in triple turrets, two fore one aft. All turrets are at the same level, as the elevation of the guns is sufficient to let B turret fire over A turret at intended combat ranges. As additional anti-ship armament the Trajectory does have twelve missile cells, but they are very thoroughly secondary armament. The aft hangar can support twelve auxiliary drones of the same sort as the Impulse. Defensive weaponry includes a very large number of tracking radars, eight DMW-04a maser cannon mounts, and quite a lot of interceptor missiles and SAMs.

The Trajectory class has a purely nuclear-electric power train, with a sprint speed of 34 knots. When icebreaking, the Trajectory class can handle a 2 meter ice sheet at 3 knots.

Carriers

Spoiler: Naval Aircraft

FAN-87 Thunderstrike Multirole Combat Aicraft (Naval)
A twin-engine fighter jet from the era right before stealth technology really started coming on the scene, the Thunderstrike is durable, fast (Mach 2.2 top speed), agile, has a combat range of 1000 km, and packs eight metric tons of ordnance on its hardpoints. That said, this high level of performance comes at a cost: the Thunderstrike is significantly larger than its predecessor aircraft. While still capable of operating off a Bohr-class carrier, this increased size is directly responsible for the reduced air wing and increased maintenance headaches the carriers have had to deal with in recent years.

FAN-7 Sea Comet Multirole Combat Aircraft (Naval)
The Naval variant of the Meteor in service with the air force, the Sea Comet is modified for catapult compatibility and arrestors.

APN-1 Pellican Aerial Patrolcraft (Naval)

[OBSOLESCENT] TNV Bohr
Contemporary to the Prometheus, Bohr is a nuclear aircraft carrier that's getting quite long in the tooth. She's capable of operating about sixty modern aircraft due to airframe size creep from her original air wing of eighty, and her 70s era steam catapult is highly overstressed launching the heavier planes. It's been determined that the cost of upgrading Bohr to fully modern specifications would significantly exceed the cost of simply building a new carrier, but she should have a few more years of life in her while her replacement is built.

Bohr has a cruise speed of 29 knots, and a sprint speed of 34 knots. When icebreaking she can handle a 2.1 meter ice sheet at 3 knots.

LATER EVENT: In March 2013, TNV Bohr is sold to the Peasants' Republic of Agnigrad at auction.

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION] TNV-X Karman (and her sister ship, TNV-X Shimmy)
The planned successor to Bohr, Karman is going to be larger, faster, tougher, and capable of carrying ninety modern aircraft. In addition, she's being fitted with an electromagnetic aircraft catapult for significantly faster aircraft operations with less stress on components. New cutting-edge radar is also planned, along with several other improvements to various systems and a full array of DBW-04a units for self defense. Karman is expected to be commissioned in late 2011, and finish sea trials sometime in 2012, after which Bohr can be retired.

Karman is expected to have a cruise speed of 31 knots, and a sprint speed of 37 knots. Her planned icebreaking capability is 3.5 meters at 4 knots.

Experimental Ships
"Torp Bait": For decades the Tish have been producing hulls with the specific intent of testing various means of protecting a ship from torpedoes, particularly keel-breakers detonating under the hull. Seeing as these ships tend to get blasted with torpedoes in fairly short order after getting launched, they have VERY short service lives. Anyway after the Tish re-float the wreckage and figure out what didn't (or sometimes did) work the hulls are sold for scrap.

TNV-X Prometheus: One of the older experimental ships in the Tish Navy (well, that's still considered experimental at least), the Prometheus is designed as a test platform for various Directed Energy Weapon systems. In service of this role, Prometheus is fitted with a massively overbuilt nuclear power plant and downright excessive cooling systems. While plentiful death ray prototypes have graced Prometheus' deck over her forty year service life, until 1998 they were all underwhelming, unreliable, excessively expensive, or some combination of the above.

That's when Prometheus received her first genuinely viable fit of Directed Energy Weapons in the form of the MW-98a microwave beam system. Tests were encouraging, with good performance shooting down drone targets and test-fired missiles. Then the Tish-Miscan war popped up, and Prometheus received a trial by fire. In her hastily assigned role as escort for TNV Bohr, Prometheus did an amazing job swatting incoming missiles and strike planes. Bohr's sister ship (which didn't have the benefit of such protection) was not so lucky, getting sunk a couple months in.

After the war it was uncertain if Prometheus would stay in service; many of her electronics are woefully out of date, and it could be argued that she already completed her intended purpose. At the moment she's still technically in commission, but there's a growing public pressure to make her a museum ship.

TNV-X Howitzer: A recent development, TNV-X Howitzer is the pilot ship for the Extreme Range Gun (XRG) program. Her primary armament is three 200 millimeter guns with an effective range of 300 kilometers and radar-guided shells; one turret per gun, superfiring pair fore, single gun aft. While the guns themselves worked fine, other aspects of the ship's design were considered a severe disappointment by the admiralty. Howitzer is rapidly approaching the end of her test program with the adoption of the Impulse and Trajectory class ships, and will probably be auctioned off in a couple years.

TNV-X Earworm: A ship that pulls double duty as a comms relay, Earworm is actually designed to test the feasibility of slipping falsified messages into enemy communications networks. It's a difficult job that the Tish still haven't quite figured out, but the possibility of sending the enemy on a wild goose chase or similarly misleading them is too much to ignore.

TNV-X Whisper: An attempt to one-up Havfjell in the submarine game that hasn't really gone as intended, TNV-X Whisper is a tempermental machine that's currently treated as a punishment detail for misbehaving engineering crews. The fission-fragment power plant in the vessel is almost entirely silent... at the cost of burning through its components distressingly fast. It can dive to a kilometer, but needs its hull looked over with incredible regularity. And while it can hit 41 knots underwater, the propulsion system is prone to dangerous wear and tear at anywhere near that speed.

Tish Army

The Strategic Picture
Fundamentally, the ANoBTEI has only one land neighbor. Namely the Miscans to the south, who absolutely hate the Tish and try to invade every couple of decades or so. This mandates a large, competent army to both dissuade the Miscans from starting shit, and give them a good kicking when they inevitably do anyway.

Infantry Equipment
Standard Rifle Round: 6.1mm XV Tish
During the Third Tish-Miscan War, the standard Tish service rifle at the time could not reliably penetrate Miscan body armor at typical combat ranges. In the short run this problem was dealt with by digging a lot of old battle rifles out of storage, but the extra weight and bulk proved problematic. As such, a new standard service rifle was required; one that could defeat modern body armor without the issues faced by the old battle rifles. The 6.1mm XV Tish (Extreme Velocity), was the round designed for the new guns, designed to punch through most feasible body armor within 300 meters as its primary consideration. In service of this functionality the projectile is somewhat heavier, and the polymer-cased cartridge is designed for a frighteningly high chamber pressure to achieve a muzzle velocity of 1,400 m/s.

Standard Service Rifle: AR-06 "Sixer"
The new service rifle for the Tish Army, the Sixer is built to use the 6.1mm XV Tish. It's a bullpup rifle with a simple, rugged mechanism delivering semi-auto and a four round burst from the 32 shot box magazine.



Personnel Augmentations
The Tish Army makes heavy use of cybernetics in their soldiers; training can do a lot for your troops, but there are some biological limits that simply cannot be surpassed without more direct modifications. Not every soldier gets completely rebuilt into a superhuman fighting machine of course, but generally speaking Tish soldiers are at least a little modified compared to the baseline.

Mandatory Augmentation: Vital Organ Preservation System (VOPS)
A series of implants designed to increase the survival rate of critically wounded soldiers, the Vital Organ Preservation System does exactly what the name says it does: preserve your vital organs. Older models devoted a fair bit more attention to things like the heart, lungs, and liver, but with recent advances in cybernetics and replacement organs modern VOPS is almost entirely focused on keeping the brain alive (or at least salvageable) even if every other organ has been reduced to chunky salsa. Measures include emergency releases of Oxygen-bearing nanoparticles, redundant circulation pumps, and in the newest models emergency cryogenic preservation of the brain. What all this means in combination?

If a soldier's brain is intact and they get recovered by a friendly medic? They're highly likely to live regardless of how damaged the rest of their body is.

Auxiliary Vehicles


Combat Vehicles

MBT-05 "Kanza" Tank

Dimensions
Overall: L: 10.0m, W: 3.55m, H: 2.72m (gun included)
Hull: L: 7.5m, W: 3.55m, H: 1.6m
Turret: L: 4.1m, W: 3.1m, H: 1.12m

Engine: 1.8MW hyper-pressure diesel engine with starter/turbocharger turbine. Fully electric transmission. 1.2MW for the drivetrain, freeing up 600kW for various systems.
Top Speed: 65 km/h (road), 56 km/h (off-road), 11 km/h (sixty degree upwards slope)
Operational Range: 550 km
Reliability: Pretty Good

Armament
Main Weapon: 120mm/50 smoothbore gun.
Ammunition Capacity: 40 shells (all racked in autoloader)

Spoiler: autoloader and ammo specs

(autoloader scale slightly inaccurate)
Shell Types
-Programmable HE, with HEAT option
-APFSDS, Depleted Uranium Penetrator
-Gun-launch ATGM, Top Attack Capable

Secondary Weapons
-1x coaxial 13mm machine gun
-1x coaxial IR laser (draws 280 kW, emits 154 kW beam)
-1x Remote Cupola turret IR laser (draws 280 kW, emits 154 kW beam)

Defenses
-Full coverage electric reactive armor
-Significant composite armor on front and sides; lighter coverage on top and rear. Recent updates include significant improvements to armor strength via inclusion of Carbon Nanotubes.
-Cupola Laser can be used as CIWS
-Hard-kill Explosively Formed Penetrator system, reminiscent of Trophy
-Positive-Pressure Environmental Seal

Sensors
-All-around camera coverage (can see IR)
-Pretty decent vision blocks
-Anti-munition radar set

Crew
Complement: 3 (Driver, Gunner, Commander)
Supplies Carried: Comprehensive First-Aid Kit, 9 days rations (Good Quality), Contraceptives, Deodorant, Various Toiletries
Amenities: Electric Boiling Vessel, Very Good Radio, Bunk for two (requires snuggling to fit), Toilet (must be emptied daily; can dump directly onto the ground below the tank if needed), Water Purifier (designed to work with snow, ice, and liquid)

The standard tank for the Tish Army since its introduction a few years ago, the Kanza is notable for being very comfortable for its crew as tanks go. Tankers can enjoy hot food, a place to sleep in very close contact with another member of the crew (the third tanker keeps watch during the night), and a modicum of sanitation, all without leaving the vehicle. The ability to fit all these amenities is directly related to the autoloader, which leaves the left side of the turret bustle unoccupied. The designers opted to fit this space for crew comfort, much to the delight of Tish tank crews. The toilet is in the driver's compartment, next to the driver's seat. This is to simplify the plumbing.

ADV-04 Self-Propelled Anti Air Laser

An ugly utilitarian design, the ADV-04 has a single job: sustainably deploy a DBW-03b laser in a land-based platform, along with a suitable tracking radar. It's a reasonable success in this thanks to a sizable turbine engine for its chassis, generating the roughly ten megawatts of total power needed to run and cool the laser. Thanks to this, the ADV-04 is capable of providing affordable anti-air laser coverage to Tish army formations within a sizable area, dependent on terrain.

Tish Airforce

The Strategic Picture
Much like for


Combat Aircraft
FA-7 Meteor
The latest multirole fighter from the ANoBTEI's aerospace R&D firms, the Meteor is a combination of various new technologies to produce a very potent combat aircraft. The nanotube-reinforced airframe can not only sustain higher g loads, but is somewhat more resilient to conventional anti-air missiles than a plane made from conventional materials. Probably won't be able to fight after taking a serious hit, but stands a decent chance of getting the pilot most of the way home if no further damage is sustained. Survivability is further enhanced through a highly effective radar absorbent coating, along with very good stealth shaping.

Meanwhile, flight characteristics are very high performance. The Meteor combines STOVL capability with mach 1.5 supercruise and an absolute top speed of Mach 2.4. Pretty good endurance at supercruise, a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 1.2, and the ability to sustain a nine g turn without much trouble.

For armament the Meteor features six internal weapons hardpoints, four external weapons hardpoints (though using these with anything except drop tanks will compromise stealth), and a 400 kW beam power cyan laser. The laser can hard-kill enemy aircraft and missiles from 3.5 kilometers, can instantly blind personnel with unshielded eyes from considerably further away (though a specially tinted cockpit can block this without much trouble), and has a few degrees of gimballed aim to stay on target.

If the pilot happens to have compatible cybernetics, the plane is capable of interfacing with them to provide them with direct access to sensor feeds and controls, considerably tightening combat reaction times.

NCPs
1) GDP Booster: Ubiquitous Automation
You think mad scientists are willing to put up with doing the same thing day-in, day-out? Well... maybe if it was some sort of long-term study, but under no other circumstances. No, if you left them to toil away in the fields, mines, factories, or shops they'd go off the deep end completely and mess everything up. So all of that stuff is handled by robots, letting the mad scientists in question happily keep on with their science.

2) GDP Booster: Amazing Educational System
A country that takes pride in their scientific expertise had better have an educational system to match, and the ANoBTEI definitely has that. A developing mind that goes through their style of schooling will have their embers of curiosity about how the world works stoked into a blazing inferno fueled by the need to k̶͕͐́̏̕n̴͎̲̎o̸̬̘̳̪̊ͅw̵̭̹̟͖̋͌, while provided with everything already known that they could possibly be interested in. And if they happen to find a mostly unknown topic? Then it's time for some extra hands-on training on how to do good science!

That said, while this does work to turn out amazing scientific geniuses in massive number, it also has a tendency to instill a mindset that many would consider distinctly mad.

3) Military Booster: Hardened Strategic Infrastructure
The fact of the matter is that the ANoBTEI is in a precarious position and they know it. Simply sustaining their population requires a complex life support machine to grow enough food, and if that system breaks down they're facing a major famine which will kill the majority of their population. Maintaining a military capable of dealing with an aggressive southern neighbor is a further logistical hurdle complicated by the harsh climate and limited natural resources, especially in the all too realistic possibility of a protracted war with Misca.

Therefore the ANoBTEI has compiled a list of critical goods needed to sustain the country if under attack, and built heavily protected industrial facilities for all of them, sufficient for wartime need. Supplies of food, water, power, fuel, ammunition, microchips, steel, and medicine are all therefore very hard to disrupt via hostile action. The weakest link is anything needing materials the ANoBTEI simply cannot produce in sufficient quantity locally, such as Rare Earth Metals, Aluminum, and Titanium. The Tish maintain strategic stockpiles of all these materials just in case they get blockaded during a war, but there's only so far they can stretch that.

4) Special Material/Tech: Carbon Nanotubes
A recent triumph in materials science, the laboratories of the ANoBTEI have cracked production of high-grade carbon nanotubes (and the closely related Graphene) at scale. This one material has so many applications that it's hard to truly state how important it is. Of course, it's also hard to overstate the price tag the government is charging for its export.

5) Special Tech: Give My Creature LIFE!
The spark of life. While many have sought it, those among the Tish are some of the few who have learned to grant it. With methods ranging from massive high voltage arcs to complex chemical reactions, the people here know how to start with inert matter, sculpt it into the form of an organism, and MAKE. IT. LIVE.

6) Special Tech: We Can Rebuild Him
Hybridizing biological life with machinery is a passion among many Tish, and it's now reached a point of being extremely useful in medicine. No more must the sick and dying wait for fresh organs and limbs from the corpse pile, as there isn't a single bit outside the brain that we cannot replace!

7) Special Tech: Death Ray Enthusiasts
The death ray is one of the classical inventions of the cinematic mad scientist for a reason, and the Tish have not been lax in their attempts to create one. Documented efforts go back to the 1920s, but practical models weren't developed until 1998, when TNV-X Prometheus was fitted with a set of infrared laser weapons that proved highly effective at shooting down missiles and aircraft in the third Tish-Miscan War. Since then laser weapons have been put into general service in the Tish military as appropriate, making appearances on a number of vehicles, ships and aircraft.

8) Diplomatic Modifier: G-SEA
The Global Scientific Exploration Alliance is a group of nations that pools their knowledge and expertise to advance science and technology worldwide, as well as a major trade bloc for mutual economic aid. In addition, while not a formal obligation, there's a General Understanding among G-SEA members that they will militarily aid each other against aggressors where feasible. Within this alliance, the ANoBTEI plays a disproportionately prominent role, mostly due to sheer enthusiasm. Also it means they have a ready-made market for all the specialized lab equipment they massively overproduce.

 

[JOHNfreedom1234]

"Glory to Kuroshio, Kazehana Delenda Est"



The Kingdom of Kuroshio, Land of the Kitsunes and Strange Rocks from Space.

Land Area: 900,000 km^2
Shape: An archipelagic group composed of 3,000 Islands. the main areas of which are the Island of Sorajima, the largest, and main island as well as the seat of power. Followed by Yukijima, a relatively mountainous region composed tall alpine mountains. The last is a peninsula known as Kitakuro. Connected to the Kalaharian Mainland via the Isthmus of Yang, which is also the border between Kuroshio and the Nation of Welt
Noun: Kuronese
Nationality: Kuronese
Official Name: Kingdom of the Kuroshio Islands
Languages: Standard/English, Shimojin/Japanese, Kuronesian/Chinese
Population: 150 Million
GDP: 4.5 trillion (medium)
Highest Point: Mt. Azulan (7,500 meters)
Lowest Point: Kolosten Central Mine (5,000 Meters BSL)
Arable Land: 20%
Water: Moderate (Excess with Desalination Plants)
Forests: 15%
Urban Areas: 5%
Flag: The Colors of the Flag represent three things, Black for the warm Kuroshio Current that flows through the archipelago. Blue represents the seas and the skies, as well as a symbol of both peace and status as a proverbial paradise on earth, while green represents the verdant and bountiful land. At the center is the crest of the Kuronami Family, which has ruled the island chain ever since their self-imposed exile.

Spoiler: Coat of Arms

Crest and Coat of Arms: The black and blue colors represent the two Kuronese characters that form the name, namely Kuro, meaning black, and Nami, meaning Wave. Wave in this case being the waves of the blue ocean. The black chrysanthemum is a symbol of the family's Shimojin Heritage, while the owl represents the family's wisdom and longevity, as well as the fact that the Kuronami has been primarily using owls for falconry
Capital: Iroonzona City (Pronounced ee-ruun-zo-na)
Government: The government is mostly autocratic. Ruled by the Immortal Emperor Junichi Kuronami after consolidating the islands under him. In addition, it's also ruled by a council composed of members of the various cadet branches of the Kuronami, namely: the Raiden, Yamashita, Nishizumi, Shimada, and Kujou Clans, furthermore, it is also ruled by a senate that represents the various Oblasts and individual islands of the Nation
Climate: Mostly Temperate with some Alpine areas located in the highlands

Spoiler: Geography

The Kuroshio Islands are group of islands resting on top of the Rheonic Plate. The vast majority of them were created as a result of Volcanism with the central island having formed as a result of a subduction zone between the Ruvuman Plate and the Rheonic Plate. As such, there is a large and tall mountain range and a relatively mountainous region that runs through the center of Sorajima, the largest island in the nation, known as the Kuroshian Highlands. In addition, some islands also have some fairly mountainous centers as a result of their volcanic past, but the vast majority of islands are mostly flat plains with some hills. In addition, Kuroshio also boasts a lot of beaches, nature preserves and hotels, making it the premier tourist destination in the south. During the winter, the place becomes a winter wonderland with lots of ski resorts and hot springs opening their doors to visitors.

Spoiler: History

(Needs Revision)

Kuroshio came into existence after a Shimojin Samurai-Clan known as the Kuronami fled the country on the onset of another Rheonic Civil War, during their escape, they decided to follow the Kuroshio Current south, eventually stumbling on a group of islands, a medium-sized island which they named Shirajima and a large island that they eventually named Sorajima.

The Kuronami eventually landed on Sorajima and established the Kingdom of Kuroshio, they then established connections and alliances with the natives, eventually integrating some of them. Soon after, they came into contact with an expedition of the Federal Republic of Gwithyriad. While relations were cold and hostile at first, they eventually became a valued trading partner.

Sometime afterward, an expedition from Shimokuni eventually discovered the presence of the long-lost Kuronami Clans on these islands. While the Shimojin were surprised that they became independent, the reunion was nonetheless a happy one, especially with fellow allied clans such as the Tokino and the Yamashita Clan.

Ultimately, this led to a series of economic and military trade agreements with the Rheonic Federation, which significantly boosted the economic and military power of the Kuroshians, however, this wasn't really enough for the Kuroshians to stand on their feet, and it seemed that they were destined to be a second-rate power in the south.

This ultimately changed with the discovery that the Kuroshian patriarch, Junichi, was rendered immortal, and had been ruling the clan for over 1500 years now. When asked about this, it was revealed that Junichi's pendant contained a gemstone of unknown elemental make, and emitted a strange radiation that had significantly slowed his aging. It was then further revealed that several large concentrations in the ground also emit the same signatures.

After some digging, the first geologists finally manage to obtain the sample. Dr. Soraka Murata was the first to obtain a sample of the element. Named Muratanite, after the late professor, she is the one to discover all of its effects both beneficial and harmful. She is also the one who coined the term "Honkai Energy"

At first there weren't many industrial applications for the mineral. In fact, it took 10 years of constant research and observation before the first industrial applications became viable, and a further 10 years after that before the advancements of Honkai Energy became well-known. However, unbeknownst to them, Ruvuman spies eventually discovered it's existence, which made them one of the primary targets during the Great War.

During the great war, the Kuroshian Navy suffered through multiple blunders and was rendered ineffective within days of the invasion without much difficulty for the Ruvumans, the subsequent blockade inflicted a heavy toll on the Kuroshians and resulted in a lot of military and civilian casualties.

In order to combat this, Junichi ordered the prototypes of the first Tactical Surface Fighters, the Meteor and the Swallow, into mass production and active combat. Tactical Surface Fighters, or TSFs were mechs created by Honkai Alloys.

Armed with a Honkai Shard Weapons and Waist Mounted thrusters, the TSFs did extremely well, their thrusters enabling them to fight over water, and significantly hampered Ruvuman Shipping, as well as cause the destruction of Ruvuman Navy units, including two capital ships.

Help soon came in the form of the Shimojin Navy, who, with the help of TSF Squadrons, managed to break the back of the Ruvuman Navy and end the blockade. Said TSF Squadrons would later join the war, supporting Weltian Land Cruisers, or Assisting in Dominion Marine Landings to the south.

The end of the war saw massive revisions and reform throughout the military. The once proud navy, rendered a laughing stock in the war, was reduced to around 75% of their former size, with much of the surface fleet being sold off to other nations or scrapped.

The army was also undergoing major changes with the Tank Forces being reduced by about 90% with the last 5 tank battalions operating in Sorajima. Most were being converted into TSF units, this time armed with proper TSF Units, such as the Gekishin and the Balalaika.

The Air Force during the war had done admirably, especially in conjunction with TSF units, as such, they were now entrusted with keeping Kuroshio Safe. This had led to major upgrades within the Air Force as well the creation of a new branch. The Air Fleets.

It has been some time since then, and thanks to Honkai Energy, the Kuroshians have always maintained a technological lead on their neighbours, as well as become a shining beacon of technological progress and research, with Kuroshian Universities and their Graduates become the Crème de la crème when it came to physics, chemistry and engineering

However, this has resulted in their military being relatively small compared to their neighbours, not to mention their tech is quite expensive. But beware to those who underestimate them, for they will soon face a rapid end beneath the railguns and the mechs of the Kuroshian Empire.

Nation Creation Points (8/8 Points)

The Power of Oblivion (1 Point) – Honkai (roughly meaning "collapse", in ancient Kuronesian), otherwise known as Element 225 or Muratanium, is a special element that does many functions, and allows Kuroshio to make many of its engineering, physics, chemical and genetic leaps.

Technological Superpower (1 Point) – Despite being relatively small in size and being close to a massive superpower, Kuroshio's advantage lies in the fact that it's technologically much more advanced than their peers. Advanced techs such as Maglevs, Robots, Precision Tooling, and so much more. All powered by Honkai Energy

Project Star Rail (1 Point) – Honkai-Based thrusters offer superior efficiency and output compared to standard hydrocarbon and hydrogen-based jet and rocket engines. This gave Kuroshio a significant edge despite their position far from the ideal rocket launch sites. In addition, one of their main research efforts is focused on a special interplanetary space train. "Next Stop: The Stars!"

Shared Ancestry/Ancestral Homeland (1 Point) – Once thought to be a myth. The Kuroshio Islands and its original inhabitants, both Human and Kitsune, were the original ancestors of the Shimojin. A bond that had only been strengthened when the Kuronami, Twinney, Yamashita, Crawford, and Tokino returned and set up the Kingdom of Kuroshio. As such, relations between Shimokuni and Kuroshio remain strong. Barring, of course, everything related to the Kazehana

Tactical Surface Fighters (1 Point) – Ever since their introduction in 1946, the TSF has become the mainstay of the Kuroshian Armed Forces. With many roles, including Light Cavalry, Reconnaissance, Close Air Support, SAR, Special Operations, Coastal Defense, and Littoral and Blue Water Combat. Despite their fragility and high maintenance, Kuroshio maintains hundreds thanks to their engineering and mechanical expertise.

King of the Skies (2 Points) – Thanks to Honkai Alloys, and Honkai thrusters. Airships became a reality, with the Aerial Navy soon outstripping the wildly unpopular navy in strength and capability. Said advancements also allowed the development of special aircraft such as Quinjets and special fighters to work in conjunction with the Air Fleets and the TSFs.

XG-70 Highly Maneuverable Aeronautic Fortress "Susanoo" (1 Point)

 

[Admiral_Corgi]

Doggerland: The Country of Mercenaries



Population: 93 million
GDP: 4.95 Trillion as of 2010

Government: Elective monarchy with bicameral legislature consisting of a Legislative Parliament for handling day-to-day and civil matters and an Aristocratic Parliament for electing the head of state.

Head of state: King. He or she is elected by representatives from the nobility to serve a 10 year term and cannot run for office again for five years after his or her term ends. The Aristocratic Parliament is held to the will of the people.

Head of Government: Prime Minister. He or she is elected by the Legislative Parliament.

Legislature: Single-house parliament. Elected representatives from each region

Climate: Temperate

Demonym: Dogger

Nationality: 83% Dogger, 8% Saakhwian, 9% other

Languages: Dooglian, Saakhwi, Klaptov, English (Principly taught), all other languages as required by job/position
Capital City: Whilhelm's Haven

Currency: Dalton represented by ¢

Geography: Mountainous along the eastern border. Plateaus and flatlands in the northernmost border. Grasslands and forests just past the eastern mountains. Foothills and floodplains in the southeast.

Highest point: Mt. Corgi (4687m)

Lowest point: Ackman's Folly (-80m)

Arable land: 18%

Water: 5%

Urbanized land: 16%

Forested land: 41%

Mountains/Highlands/Plateaus: 20%

Military Notes: Doggerland's military has one million uniformed service personnel as of 2010. Of that number, 310,000 are combatants. The rest are assigned to logistical roles but can perform frontline duties in a pinch.

The Army and Navy are Doggerland's largest and oldest military services. The Doggen Army consists of two dozen combined arms brigades. It also operates two special warfare detachments with an over-strength company of experimental exoskeleton-equipped operators.

The Dogger Navy fields three nuclear-powered supercarriers displacing 64,000 long tons standard. Supporting the carriers are 12 conventionally powered DDGs, 12 frigates, four nuclear attack submarines, and four diesel attack submarines. The Navy also has various support and auxiliary ships, including five large hospital ships and older vessels –including several old escort carriers– for helicopter projection and logistical purposes. The legacy ships are slated for replacement and conversion into museum ships once proper modern replacements have been secured.

The Dogger Air Force is the junior military branch. It has 1,600 active aircraft. (This doesn't include the Navy or Army aircraft.) Of these aircraft, 800 are various 4th/4.5th fighter jets with very limited numbers (10) of 5th generation aircraft entering live testing as of late 2009. There are also 10 high-speed, high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, 50 strategic jet bombers, and 150 unmanned aerial vehicles.

The remaining 590 aircraft are scattered across various roles and types. A large number are logistical and support aircraft. There are other aircraft retained for export or when contracting countries operate the same aircraft model and have parts in common.

When the Mutual Defense Treaty Pact is invoked, these mercenary assets will be immediately recalled back to Doggerland for reorganization into proper military units unless circumstances prevent a mercenary group from returning home. The recalled elements will remain firmly in the military chain of command until the crisis that invoked the MDT has been resolved. Afterward, they will return to their prior contracted work.

Economic model: Mixed

Principle Imports: Minerals, petrochemical products, food stuffs, electronics, consumer goods

Principle Exports: Mercenaries, hardwoods, exotic minerals, thorium, alcohol, radiation detectors, mercenaries, titanium, rare earth elements.

Notable Corporations:
Corregidor Logistical and Security Services
Devil Dogs Private Contracts LLC
Aerodyne Advance Materials
Black Company LLC
Bad Company Incorporated
Traxus Heavy Industry
Doberman Medical Radiologicals
Long Island Pharmaceuticals
Penguin Logistics LLC
Maximilian Agricultural Products.

NCPs:

Mutual Defense Pact (1 NCP diplomacy): Doggerland maintains mutual defensive pacts with their neighbors, primarily with Saakhwia in the east and Kalptovia to the north east. Should any of the pact members come under attack, the others will
In Doggerland's case, it will recall its expeditionary and mercenary forces will return home as soon as possible to bring down the full wrath of its armed forces on the enemy.

BEEG Guns to blast incoming Space Rocks and smaller ones for everything else! (1 NCP Special Technology): Ever since the grim discovery that the destructive 1890 incident was caused by a meteorite impact in 1910, the Dogger Government has spent trillions of dollars over the course of three decades to develop a meaningful defense against this existential threat from outer space. Construction of the Huntington-Yeagory Railgun Battery Complex which began in 1940 and the last of the 60 guns came online in 1954. Smaller versions of the defensive railguns were developed for military use. The largest railgun which can be feasibly moved around is codenamed Jupiter and has a range of 60 miles. Other stationary railguns guard the two sea approaches to Doggerland.

A Body of Institutionalized Knowledge and Tradition (1 NCP Military Boost): Having a long and proud mercenary tradition, Doggers hold extensive knowledge of various older cities around the world where they have fought in the past. They know practically all of the old sewer systems, hidden tunnels, and speakeasies. Furthermore, Doggers are also experts in mountain warfare. To face them in either a city or the mountains is to invite heavy losses.

Greatest Logistical Train in the Word! (1 NCP Military Boost): Doggerland uses a diverse array of weapons systems and deploys much of its military in various parts of the world as mercenaries. To support these far-flung forces, it has developed a complex and efficient logistical network that can keep its mercs and troops in the fight no matter where they are.

Experimental Exoskeletons (1 NCP Special Technology): These armored exoskeleton suits give a profound edge for special forces operators who specialize in deep striking enemy positions of particular importance. They are mainly used by the Bad Company, Incorporated mercenary group, although a few units are loaned to other companies that BCI trusts.

Developed for manned lunar missions, the prototype exoskeleton never saw use in its intended role. Instead, it was repurposed and modified for military use to keep the investment from being a total waste.

The latest version of the exoskeleton suit is NCBR-rated. When sealed up, the suit uses a combination of compressed air and carbon dioxide scrubbers to provide two hours worth of breathable air. Its cutting-edge energy storage system can run all systems for six hours straight, but requires a dedicated fast charging system to top off its batteries in a reasonable amount of time.

Abundant Strategic Mineral Wealth (1 NCP special resources): Doggerland has vast and rich deposits of titanium ore (primarily rulite) in the southwestern part of the country. It also has considerable amounts of thorium for nuclear reactors and rare earth elements that enable many of its more exotic technologies.

Corgo Super Fighter (1 NCP Special Technology):

The CRGI-88 (colloquially known as the Corgo) is an experimental super fighter developed by Doggerland in response to rumors of other super fighters by potentially hostile nations.

The Corgo has a maximum speed of Mach 3.35 under War Emergency Power, though engine wear and fuel consumption at that speed limits how long the aircraft can maintain that speed. Thus, the more nominal top speed with afterburners is Mach 2.75 at 70,000 feet. With a range of 1,700 km and a maximum service ceiling of 82,000 feet, it can engage enemies at any altitude.

The Corgo has a pair of 30mm revolver cannons.

Each aircraft will minimally be armed with a 40mm railgun with 24 rounds or 4 miniature missile burst pods that carry 15 mini missiles each.

Finally a internal missile bay in the underside of the aircraft that can carry 3 long range air-to-air missiles or precision guided munitions.

External hardpoints under the wings can allow the carrying of eight additional missiles or guided precision munitions. Having weapons mounted to the external hardpoints will limit the maneuvering options the pilot has, in addition to slowing the aircraft down.

They have advanced electronic information and targeting systems being able to link into the network with other targeting systems to attain a lock outside of their normal sensor range.

Enough computational power to direct the 15 mini missiles on the equipped burst launcher pods to track and strike up to 15 individual targets or multiple missiles on fewer targets, there is even a mode to partially fire a pod to engage a minimum of targets without expending the entire pod.

However each miniature missile only has a range of 10 km. Larger versions with greater range or larger warheads are available but the corresponding pod carries a smaller number of miniature missiles as a result.

The CRGI-88 is rather stealthy when it isn't going at top speed or WEP speed with afterburners. However as testing has shown, the RAM coating will peel or burn off when hitting top speed or WEP with afterburners. Currently this is a problem the Doggers are desperately trying to solve and having no luck with. Currently policy dictates that full speed and WEP requires the pilot disabling an electro mechanical governor to unlock.

The Corgo is extremely expensive. It is often stated that one could build a warship for the price of one of these super planes' cost. Despite the fact that the first CRGI-88 entered service in the year 2000, the cost and difficulty of their production has limited their production to one a year.

Old Resentments (1 NCP Micronation): The nation of Ruha once was a rising power on the world stage. This is no longer the case. The Ruhans used to widely believe the impermanence of life, that anything that lived far beyond what it had right to live was abhorrent on a fundamental level. So they saw the Immortal matriarch of Saakhwia an affront to the world that needed to be destroyed. They planned and plotted for seven years before they made their move in early 1931, when a small force crossed the border and unleashed a chemical weapons attack on the city of Refuge in an attempt to kill the Saakhwian matriarch. Fortunately the attack group mistimed their attack and struck the city days before the Matriarch was set to arrive. However the attack still killed 800 people and injured twice as many. Seeing that they missed their target, a general offensive was launched and the city of Refuge was besieged. The attack triggered the Mutual Defense Pact Treaty and forces were mobilized. The lack of infrastructure in Saakhwia made initial counter attacks complicated but soon Saakwian, Klapotivan and Vasaden forces were pushing the invaders back and soon into their own lands. While the Doggers pushed down from the mountains and left nigh complete ruins in their advance. Most of Ruha was severely devastated save for the southern half of the industrial heartland, which surrendered to the advancing Doggers without resistance and openly broadcasted said surrender. By late 1932, Ruha was mostly in ruins and the government unconditionally surrendered. So began occupation and a slow rebuilding of the country. However as fate would have it, when the Great war started, aid slowed to a trickle before practically ceasing all together. Unrest began and after the great war, the last of occupational forces pulled out of the ruins of Ruha. What followed mere months afterwards was a set of civil conflicts that saw the once proud country split into 12 more countries. With Ruha itself shrinking and shrinking until it became a pale shadow of its former self. 40 years of civil strife had killed some 10 million people and displaced another 15 million into neighboring countries and elsewhere. Besides the Free Republic of Holok, which formed from the land that surrendered to the Doggers without a fight. The rest of the countries that were formerly greater Ruha hold a fear and resentment of the Doggers in particular compared to the others that went against them in the 1931 war. For it was the Doggers that were responsible for a (simple) majority of the devastation that was done to the country during the 1931 war. So resentments simmer as certain political groups in most of the Ex-Ruha bloc dream of a day to reunify and strike back against the ones who tormented them the most.


History:

The Mercenaries that founded the nation of Doggerland were largely descendants of native peoples who inhabited the lands west of the Khey mountains. They were skilled hunters and trackers, which was necessary to deal with the aggressive and deadly local wildlife.

The very first example of what would become a national tradition of mercenary craft was when the early Doggers encountered Saakhwian herdsmen trespassing in the Whisper Bone Pass. This first meeting between the two peoples nearly ended in bloodshed were it not for the haunting howls of the beasts of the Ardinal Forest. The natives guided the herdsmen further up the mountains, away from the reach of those terrifying monsters.

Once they were safe, both groups began trying to understand each other's languages. Eventually, the Doggers learned that the Saakhwians had entered their lands to try and slay the beasts that had been preying on their herds.

The natives struck a deal with the Saakhwians. In exchange for tools and a few horses, the Doggers offered their knowledge and skills to hunt down the Ardinal beasts. The herdsmen deliberated for a day before agreeing to the terms. And so began the first of the great hunts.

For nearly a century, the hunts would be launched every five years. Hundreds of the beasts were slain by the combined efforts of the Doggers and Saakhwians. The natives even managed to tame some of the ferocious beasts. Some even took it further and domesticated the formidable creatures.

Contact with the Saakhwians sparked a fire inside the native Doggers to see the world beyond their small safe havens in the mountains. And so they expanded west, north and south. In the course of their exploration and expansion, the tribes came into conflict with each other over resources and living space. The next three centuries would witness bitter intertribal warfare with only a couple scant years of respite occuring every decade.

Those who did not fight in intertribal wars lent their sharpened skills to outsiders to sustain the men and women in arms back home. Dooglien (as was the common name most outsiders gave them) mercenaries established a reputation for being ferocious, even savage combatants. Once they signed a contract, they would fulfill the orders of their employers to the letter. Employers also learned to make sure that their mercenaries did not come from rival tribes lest the Doggers attack each other instead of the enemy.

The centuries of strife were ended by invasion and occupation of an outsider that came from the west. Many Dooglien tribes buried their grudges in the mutual mourning of their lost ancestral homelands as they fled east over the Khey mountains and into Saakhwia. Of the original 100 tribes, only 79 survived escaped into the lands of their old friends. They would remain in Saakhwia and aid the rulers of the then-Saakhwian empire until the latter splintered in 928 CE.

Some amongst the Dooglien tribes believed that now was the time to reclaim their old homelands. But the rest of the tribal chiefs convinced them to wait, for abandoning Saakhwia during its time of need would taint the long, strong bonds of friendship their peoples had. So the Doggers waited and aided their old allies. They also continued their old mercenary tradition until 1486 CE, when the ideas of nationalism and reclaiming the land's long lost settled firmly into the Dooglien diaspora.

The Dooglien discovered that their ancestral home had been taken over by another people after the collapse of the Saakhwian empire centuries prior. The insult could not be allowed to stand.

The leaders of the surviving 79 tribes, now mercenary clans, came together. They argued and debated and talked until a consensus was reached: They would unify under one name and one banner before they went forth to reclaim their homeland.

Once they had formed a solid plan, the united clans moved forth, taking contracts further and further afield from their home. They learned many different ways of war; stockpiled resources, wealth and arms; and trained tens of thousands of their people. They prepared almost in complete secret for five long years.

In 1491 CE, the Matriarch of Saakhwia, Kay Yorktown, became concerned about the ongoing military preparations of the Dooglien diaspora. She requested an explanation from the leaders of the mercenary clans.

To Matriarch Yorktown's surprise, instead of the 79 separate answers she was expecting, the Dooglien chiefs all gave the same answer. They were going to cross the Khey mountains, retake their ancestral homelands, and establish a new country.

The idea of a nation of mercenaries disquieted Matriarch Yorktown. But after a long discussion with the 79 mercenary clan leaders, she relented and allowed them and their people to leave unopposed. The mercenary clan leaders thanked her and promised her that their future nation would always keep her people close to their heart. Indeed, they offered to be their allies for the rest of Matriarch Yorktown's immortal life.

As proof of their word, the 79 clan leaders wrote up a permanent contract of mutual defense and open borders between Saakhwia and the future Doggerland. After the contract was written, all 79 clan leaders signed it with their own blood, an ancient act of signing a contract that was iron clad and unbreakable.

Moved by the meaning of such an act, Matriarch Yorktown promised the Dooglien that she would help them get their home back. The clan leaders agreed to the addition to the contract but left the terms of the aid to the judgment of the matriarch. The Saakwhian matriarch signed the contract herself before tasking her consort, Tally Evans, to command the Kheyip heavy cavalry and support their allies.

The Dooglien mercenary clans and their Saakhwian allies picked up their stakes and marched west. The next eight years saw practically unrelenting war as the clans reclaimed their old lands. The long dream of so many generations finally became real. The centuries of fighting across the world and the tactics of the many armies that the Dogger mercenaries fought alongside as part of their contracts translated into a ruthlessly efficient ground war. Those that gave up when offered to do so were spared and integrated into their society. All those who rejected the offered terms of surrender were put to the sword.

In 1499 CE, the war of reconquest was declared over and the discussion of forming a proper government began. A year later in 1500 CE, the structure and organization of the government was finalized and the nation of Doggerland was officially founded.

The new nation quickly made itself known for providing excellent soldiers of fortune. The prospect of a country that was a safe haven for mercenaries soon attracted many more to the land. The newcomers quickly discovered that there were rules that everyone had to abide by if one adopted the land of Dogger as their home.

In 1890 CE, Doggers spotted a bright light streaking across the sky. Shortly thereafter, the northeastern region experienced a cataclysm akin to a volcanic eruption and a powerful earthquake combined. Thirty thousand people were killed or injured by a massive aerial fireball that left a huge crater on the ground and damaged the surrounding area.

It took Dogger scientists decades to realize what exactly had caused such devastation. The culprit was a meteorite that measured 120 meters across. The giant space rock had exploded in mid-air.

Once that realization was made, a deep sense of paranoia settled in. So the people of Doggerland threw themselves into developing technologies to give themselves a fighting chance to keep something like this from happening again either to themselves or to their neighbors. So, in 1910, development began around the promise that electromagnetics offered. Thirty years and more than 20 trillion dollars invested later, the technology became mature enough for deployment. The first of the 60 guns of the Huntington-Yeagory railgun battery complex was laid down in 1940. Fourteen years later, the last of the railguns came online. Each gun of the complex is named after a town or a village that was destroyed in the 1890 event.

In 1931 Ruha launched a assassination attempt against the Matriarch of Saakhwia and laid siege to the northern parts of Saakhwia. This brazen attack and invasion triggered the Mutual Defense Treaty and the Dogger Military completely mobilized. Nearly all forces deployed on mercenary work were recalled to the country and attempts at making a counter attack began. However, on the mountains bordering Ruha, the fighting developed into a stalemate for the first five months of the war. Nearly 500,000 Dogger and Ruhan soldiers alone died on the mountains and in the plains below them before the stalemate was broken by the breakthroughs made by combined allied forces elsewhere and the massing of the Dogger Dirigible bomber fleet to bomb the forward trenchs and bunkers to dust.

Once the defensive line holding back the bulk of the Dogger Army was broken, millions of Dogger Soldiers poured into Ruha and linked up with allied forces before beginning the march towards the capital of Ruha. The anger Doggers in particular felt turned out to be infectious for allied forces and thus many towns and cities in Ruha were given a choice. Surrender right away, or be reduced to ruins, as the allied armies marched forth. Most refused the first, and often only chance to surrender peacefully, and all resistance encountered was thoroughly destroyed in detail, often leaving towns and cities in ruins. By late 1932 the Capital of Ruha fell after the fiercest fighting in the war. Though as the Doggers and allied forces finally had the haze of hatred and anger clear from their eyes, they stood aghast at the devastation they had caused the country. Many in the dogger military believed they had gone too far, the actions in the last months of the war became a great shame for the soldiers who fought it. As the final tallying of the devastation and losses was being completed the process of dismantling the old culture and reconstruction began in earnest.

The Doggers though, while providing aid to rebuild the devastated and ruined Ruha. They refused to give anything that could be used to build past basic infrastructure and kept tight controls on items that could have been used in the production of war materials. This period of reconstruction and occupation would carry on until the advent of the Great War in the 1940's. Where the flow of aid materials slowed to a trickle then stopped altogether. The Doggers remained a central force in the occupation during the Great War Era but expediency and lingering hatred led to harshness against dissent in the occupied Ruha during the Great War Period. Something that would breed resentment against Doggers in particular among most of the population, save for the bastions that had surrendered immediately during the 1931 war. The occupation of Ruha would end shortly after the end of the Great War.

The Great War period for Doggerland saw many veterans from the 1931 Ruha war returning to the battlefield once more as the military once again swelled in size. The large body of veteran soldiers, sailors and airmen that Doggerland provided proved to be a major influence on whichever battlefield they took to in number. Their skill and ferocity was often a thing of wonder to behold, and for some, terror to witness. By the end of the Great War, the Dogger military had some twelve million active personnel but the economy had been pushed to the very brink of bankruptcy. The post-war drawdown saw many servicemen and women leaving the armed services and much war material being sold off or scrapped to pull the economy back from the edge.

The decades after the Great War would be mostly quiet ones for the country all together besides a few notable if brief military interventions and peacekeeping missions around the world. The most famous incident post-Great war was the intervention of Dogger mercenaries during the St. Andrew Bombing of 1965 in Artemia. Their help of local forces and actions kept the heads of state alive during the incident.

 

[Michael Lewis]

Country: Republic of Nikea
Sheet

Remainder of information to be added as soon as I'm off my shift.

 

[Quickstrike]

Republic of Vasada Doc WIP

THE REPUBLIC OF VASADA NCPs 1 NCP Advanced Ocean Resource Extraction - Wave energy, Tidal power, Algae and fish farms, early experimental and prototype metal extraction, all done with minimal ecological impact 1 NCP Mineral Wealth (Econ) - Iron, Coal, Cobalt, Nickel, Rare Earth Metals, Thoriu...

docs.google.com

 

[Skywalker_T-65]

(We will note, again, we're not against asking to join. Just keep in mind the conditions.)

For another example, though this one is by no means something that *has* to be done:

Arcadian Religion: 'Moons Give Me Strength'

Prehistoric Religion:​

Very little is known of the religion of Arcadia's earliest inhabitants, and even less about the faith of those almost mythical mariners who first settled Larena and then the other islands. A general consensus from archeological discoveries in early settlements on the islands and even earlier settlements in and around Valua indicates it was a polythesitic faith, centered on ancestor worship in the form of the stars and planets. Particular attention, even then, was placed on the Moon, though nowhere near the extent it now features in Arcadian religion.

Our best clues as to this ancient faith come from the Great Seal located on the shores of Lake Belena in the Kingdom of Valua. Dated to nearly five thousand years old, this weathered artifact serves as our window into the past, even as it seals off the tomb of a legendary King that we only know the barest about. Nothing more than his name, Primus, for certain.

Spoiler: Great Seal

The Seal itself, surrounded by the rubble of a fallen temple, bears two notable features. The first, a variation on the modern Moon Crest of the Arcadian faith. The faded yellow and burnished bronze of the six moons is arranged in an inversion of the modern Crest, with runes patterned between the moons that still defy translation. Second to this, is the presence of numerous stars between the central crest and the outer edges of the Seal. The runes marking each of these stars have been roughly translated as the ancestors of the King the Seal protects.

Putting this together with newer temples from the shores of Valua to the island of Soltis itself is our largest indication of ancestor worship by ancient Arcadians.

The importance of celestial objects to this faith is a key tie between the ancient faith and that of Modern Arcadians, showing a progression from the polythestic ancestor worship to the monothestic Faith of The Moons. Even in the modern Arcadian religion, there are still signs of their ancient beliefs. As just one example, the belief that ancestors are tied to the stars remains. It has developed over time, of course, from the outright worship of ancestors seen in the Great Seal to a far more mundane belief that when a believer passes on, they are taken to live with the Moon Goddess in the stars.

This Moon Goddess, known then as Quenya, has always held prime position in Arcadian mythology, even before they became monothestic. As near as can be identified from scattered records and verbal accounts, Quenya was the Prime Goddess and the one who watched over the Arcadian people in their worst and most vulnerable moments. It should come as little surprise this is at night, when few were truly comfortable in such ancient times. Quenya, in addition, was the shepherd of the ancestor spirits through the night sky, guiding them and their Earthbound descendents for all time.

This belief system would, eventually, morph into what is recognized as the Faith of the Moons, as other Gods and Goddesses fell to the wayside. For much of the prehistory of the Arcadian people, however, the stars remained ancestors to pray to and worship as much as the Goddess and her consorts themselves.

Modern Arcadian Faith:​

The earliest developments in the modern Faith of the Moons can be traced to when the proto-Arcadians first left the shores of Atlantica. Navigating by the Moon and the stars, these first mariners braved an ocean that none had truly explored to that point. Their small ships were hardly built for such a trek, especially as storms picked up and tossed them around. It must have seemed as if the ocean rejected their travels and told them to return.

Yet, we know that these first explorers continued on anyway. Traveling at night to appease their Goddess and ancestors, these small ships would eventually reach the land now known as Arcadia. Their battered and worn ships touched land on the island now known as Soltis, where these tired men and women set down to rest. Soltis was a peaceful and calm land, even then, with abundant food and resources.

Were it just that, it is likely that Soltis would not have become as important as it has. Nor that the Arcadian religion would have developed quite as it has.

For these early explorers found, at the center of Soltis, a lake with a small island. That island, seemingly isolated, held a massive boulder of dark stone. Perhaps with the intention of using it for ballast stones or the like, one of the Arcadians- his name lost to time -pressed his hand to that stone. Legends say that the stone glowed with an inner light, before shattering at his touch. Beneath the crumbled stone lay what would become the Holiest of Holies for the Arcadians.

The Moon Crystal.

This massive gemstone, larger than any man, glowed brightly at night and under the moonlight. The inner light, shifting between colors, is one of the most striking features about it, along with the completely unblemished and smooth surface. However, in context of Arcadian religion, one has to ask why it is the Moon Crystal and why it is so central to their religion. For that, one has to look at the verbal stories passed down from that first expedition.

It is said, though the details vary, that the night before landing upon Soltis, the navigators of the little fleet saw a streak of light through the sky, coming from the Moon. It was following that light that the ships made landfall upon Soltis. None had made the immediate connection, upon finding the sealed Moon Crystal, that it had been the flash. Legends state, however, that when the Crystal was revealed, Quenya spoke to those present.

"This Crystal is my gift to you, my children. As long as you hold me in your hearts, it shall never dim. So long as you are faithful to each other, it will bring good fortune. It is all I can give you, and so so much more."

Or so the tales go. The Crystal is, if nothing else, clearly supernatural. The colors changing at seemingly random and the energy it puts out with each change makes that clear. This clear sign from the heavens marks what some consider the final nail in the coffin of the polythestic faith. It is true that the Arcadians were likely already moving towards Moon Worship as it was, but the Moon Crystal, Soltis, and the massive empty land surrounding both? It is little surprise that they began to worship the Moon above all else.

Over the years, as the Arcadian society grew and changed, that has remained true. Even as the old Goddess Quenya became corrupted to Quetya and ancestor worship fell to the wayside.

In modern Arcadian society, Quetya is the Moon Goddess and the source of all life on Earth. Her soft rays nurture us while we sleep, and provide the light by which to move in the dangers of night. Her light shepherds the souls of the fallen to the sky, where they continue to live with her as the stars in the night sky. And if the Arcadians no longer worship their ancestors, they do still fully believe that they become the stars and watch those they left behind, alongside Quetya.

A quirk of this belief is that the Arcadians view what they term Moonstones as their ancestors returning to Earth to be reborn. These meteorites, often in a rougher crystal form than the Moon Crystal, typically fall upon Arcadian lands in relatively small numbers. It is considered a sign of both good fortune and an impending rebirth of a cherished family member, should one stumble upon a genuine Moonstone.

In a previously mentioned call back to their ancestors, the Faith of the Moons has a Moon Crest based on that used on the Great Seal. This crest, inverted and multi-colored, is based directly on the Moon Crystal. As mentioned, the Crystal shifts in color, and the six tones it takes have been taken as the Six Moons.

Blue, Green, Purple, Red, Silver, Yellow

The Moon Crystal, itself, takes on different qualities with each shift in color. Blue is associated with wind and water, and the symbol that mariners live by. Green represents life, and those who live under this sigil are often doctors or farmers. Purple with the cold grip of winter, often associated with explorers of the arctic wastes and those who make a living there. Red brings with it fire, and commonly is used by engineers and warriors.Yellow comes in lightning and storms, and is most usually associated with Valua and those who thrive in adverse conditions.

Silver, the light of Quetya herself, is associated with life and death. Few are the Arcadians who view themselves worthy to serve that light directly, and those who do find themselves destined for greatness.

In simplest terms:

The Faith of the Moons is a monothestic faith that worships Quetya, the Moon Goddess. The stars are beloved ancestors that fall upon the Earth as Moonstones when their time comes to be reborn. The Six Moons, the colors of the Moon Crystal itself, are the core of the religious doctrine. All Arcadians consider Soltis and the Moon Crystal as the spiritual home of their society, leading to the City of Shrines to be born around it. The Moon Crystal, at the very least, is supernatural and the Holiest of Holies to all Arcadians.

Spoiler: Shrine Island and Moon Crystal

 

[Omogas1]

Reserved for Kereske.