Difference between revisions of "Region/Arctic"

Revision as of 21:37, 21 March 2014

The Independent Region of the Arctic
Regional Flag	Regional Coat of Arms
Regional Motto: The land whose skin is of ice but whose heart is of fire.
Economic Statistics	NSEconomy
Forum	Forum Link
Time Zone	UTC +0
	7 Nations
Region Founded	November 14, 2004
Founder	The Kingdom of The Ice Bears
Delegate	The Grand Duchy of Aexalla
Sovereign Nations (March 2014)	31 Nations

The Arctic is a region located at the northernmost part of the Earth. Founded by The Ice Bears in November of 2004, it is one of the oldest regions in NationStates. The region as a whole includes parts of North America, Eurasia, Europe, and major outlying islands.
Socially and politically, the Arctic region supports a wide range of territories and states, although much of its regional territory can be described as subarctic. The Arctic region is unique among Earth's ecosystems. The native cultures in the region range from the Nordic, Inuit, Evenki, and Ugric peoples. These peoples and latter settlers have adapted to conditions most would deem unsuitable. Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zoo-plankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants, and human societies.

Etymology

The word Arctic comes from the Greek ἀρκτικός (arktikos) meaning, "near the Bear, arctic, northern," which comes from the word ἄρκτος (arktos), meaning bear. The name refers either to the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", which is prominent in the northern portion of the celestial sphere, or to the constellation Ursa Minor, the "Little Bear", which contains Polaris, the North Star.

Geography

The Arctic’s boundaries have historically fluctuated with the rise and fall of member nations. The region is centered on the North Pole, and its southern edges extend to include roughly all land above 55 degrees north latitude. Some more southerly areas, notably the Korean Peninsula, are often identified with the region.
Terrain in Arctic varies widely among different geographic sub-regions. Much of the region is covered in ice sheet, tundra, taiga, and steppe, with a number of rivers, lakes, glaciers, and mountain ranges punctuating the landscape. Permafrost is a common soil feature. Although the region is developed and relatively populous, many member nations take environmental conservation very seriously, and the geography still retains its wild and remote character.

History

The Arctic is varied and is not defined by time. Its history has to date been comprised of five eras, defined by the prominence (or interceding lack) of a dominant political order.

First Era: The Polar Union

The first major era, brought on in large part by Mark Wung's reforms of Prussiatopia, was one in which communism was by and large the only ideology endorsable within the region. This was combined with a huge industrialization program to raise Arctic from the prehistoric conditions that had existed since its founding. From Prussiatopia, the word of industrialization and communism spread throughout the Arctic and the polar world. During this time, the Arctic was the center of the Polar Union, which supported the prevailing communist ideology.
During the first era, the schism between Prussiatopia and Freetopia occurred, an event which still has a role in the region’s political situation. After the founding nations of Freetopia were established in the Arctic, tensions were high with Prussiatopia, which the Freetopians claimed held too much power within the region. After many debates and heated arguments between the politicians of both sides, the Freetopian founders left the Arctic to found Freetopia in an attempt to put their more liberal political views into practice. Freetopia was for some time allied with the Arctic, but it suffered decline and has faded into obscurity.
The Polar Union eventually collapsed under the leadership of Itsmineallmine (a successor nation to Prussiatopia) and the new nation of Trueysingi Audjofur. The Union was reorganized as the Polar Congress, which ultimately failed. After a vote led by Trueysingi Audjofur the Polar Congress was renamed the Polar Monarchy. This reform was short-lived; within 5 NationStates years Itsmineallmine had regained power in a coup against Trueysingi Audjofur.
By the end of the first era, there existed no real organized government within Arctic. Trueysingi Audjofur and its many colonies (including Greater Antarctica) were destroyed and many were taken by the DEN. Several influential nations left the region for Feudal Japan, leaving Itsmineallmine and Ohrder to fight over the power vacuum.

Second Era: The Glacial Empire

The second era saw the Arctic under the “fascesque” rule of the regional organization known as the Glacial Empire, which was founded under Ohrder with aid from The Ice Bears. Ohrder never held an official regime, though his rule had many qualities of benevolent dictatorship—generally dissidence from the status quo was discouraged, creating a totalitarian environment.

Third Era: Interregnum I

The third era began with the demise of Ohrder and the collapse of the Glacial Empire and its administrators, giving rise to a “free” era where no officially recognized power existed and nations could go about their business. The region took on a generally capitalist (or sometimes market-socialist, as with The Ice Bears) economic tenor, although apathy for advancement or economic growth led to an industrial decline. A small faction of hard-core socialist nations, including Test Icicle and Industrial Manchester, remained, while newer nations such as Nanisivik and Amzos arrived in the region and began to accrue influence.

Fourth Era: The Juche Idea

The fourth era was defined primarily by a rivalry between two major political groups within the region. The primary catalyst for this change was the rise of Novyy Utopiya, a successor state to Prussiatopia. Novyy Utopiya, with Amzos as the primary supporter and with some assistance from The Ice Bears, advocated a regional government modeled on the Juche philosophy on the North Korean social, political, and economic model. The opposing nations, derided as the “Liberal” group by Juche adherents, consisted of most of the region’s World Assembly members, ambassadors from other regions, and several others skeptical of the Juche Idea; of these; the Juche group generally recognized Nanisivik, the World Assembly delegate at the time, as their chief opponent.
The two sides clashed in a series of military and economic conflicts, notably including a skirmish over the sovereignty of Aahz ambassador nation and Liberal group member TULTIME. Novyy Utopiya created and developed the Arctic Korean Soviet Broadcasting Company (AKSBC) as the mouthpiece of the Juche group. Over time, the Juche cause developed strong antipathy toward its “neurotypical” opponents, advocating their inferiority to the citizens of Novyy Utopiya, who were said to be genetically predisposed to Asperger’s Syndrome.
The Juche group attempted to expand its influence over other mostly smaller and/or new regions, although several regions, such as Aahz, continued to support the Liberal group. The Juche group’s ambitions eventually included plans to wage war against approximately 200 other regions simultaneously. The fourth era came to a sudden end when Novyy Utopiya and its dependencies suddenly collapsed.

Fifth Era: Interregnum II

The fifth era began with the region reconsidering its common purpose after the sudden disappearance of Novyy Utopiya. The early years saw the reorganization of Prekrasnaya Zemlya and its dependencies into a Hipwellian axis, as well as the rebirth of Ohrder. New efforts were also made during this time to develop a renewed regional identity through development of a new map, regional forum, flag, and the Arcticvision Song Contest. While the flag and song contest were generally viewed as successful developments, the regional forum has seen little traffic and the region’s cartographer, Sheewatawata, has faded from the region.
During this era, Nanisivik’s Fourth Era dominance of the World Assembly delegacy ended. Ohrder retook the position, boosting a regime not dissimilar to previous periods of Ohrder’s rule. Prusiatopia, yet another successor to Novyy Utopiya and the original Prusiatopia, was founded. The new nation enjoyed improved relations with several nations in the region, particularly with Nanisivik, which sided with Prusiatopia during a series of wars between Prusiatopia and the Hipwell states. Prusiatopia itself later dissolved, while most of the PZ nations realigned themselves with other regions.

Sixth Era: Nex quod Licentia

The region thereafter entered a period of apparent decline, as many nations faded into obscurity and regional activity grew quiet. However, as several new nations arrived in the region, this trend appeared to reverse itself. The relatively high frequency of newer nations with World Assembly membership contributed to the nation of Arctacion becoming delegate. Arctacion quickly seized the opportunity, altering the flag, rewriting the region’s factbook, expelling and banning a number of nations, and warning those that remained to fall in line or depart the region. Arctacion’s regime quickly fell, however, when Balasite and Nanisivik retracted their endorsements of Arctacion; Kzoz obtained the delegacy and The Ice Bears rescinded Arctacion’s bans. Arctacion quickly departed the region to live in isolation.
After months of regional inactivity the Arctic faded into a new low, highlighted with the exit of Genomita. These lack of actions allowed Arctacion to return from obscurity under the veil of reform. Arctacion then endorsed Balasite who quickly obtained the delegate position and proceeded to expand regional bureaucracy to shore up falling regional activity and drive recruitment. With the Balasite Delegacy still in its infancy, Arctacion, while a key supporter of Balasite, was ejected and banned for reasons still considered controversial. These actions heightened the once cool relations between nations with Lutacia and Nanisivik withdrawing their endorsements of Balasite; Kzoz regained the delegacy, albeit only for a short while, and Arctacion was allowed back into the Arctic. Balasite refused to apologize for its actions and based its rationale that the sudden ascension of Arctacion posed a risk to Arctic stability. Following the controversy Arctacion led a wave of new World Assembly nations into the Arctic; at the same time the region was under diplomatic pressure to eject a nation who was considered a rogue from the Crusaders of Justice. Following a rapid flurry of endorsements aided by the new nations, Lutacia was confirmed as WA Delegate—later this position was transferred to Arctacion. As a precaution, The Ice Bears instituted restrictions on the delegacy, and, under the watchful eye of Yanya, a conspiracy was exposed which identified the majority of the new nations, including Lutacia, as puppets of Arctacion. With the coup d'etat stopped, Arctation fled with its personality cult to found an illegitimate rival region, and Nanisivik was awarded the Delegacy.

Seventh Era: The New Arctic Democracy

The stewardship of this new era started under the Delegacy of Nanisivik, which, although it brought stability, was paired with an extreme amount of apathy following the events prior. Coupled with a possible shut down of Arctic politics, the nation of Nanisivik instituted the first of what would become a tenant of Arctic society, elections. Scheduled on sixty-five day terms and infinitely renewable, nations scrambled to be the first elected delegate in Arctic history. Ultimately two candidates emerged from the field, Genomita and Balasite. As elections closed, Balasite became delegate and, under the guidance of Nanisivik and The Ice Bears, enhanced Arctic government and attempted to increase recruitment and immigration into the Arctic. Although largely unsuccessful, these efforts helped lay a blueprint for the duties of the elected Arctic Delegate. As the Delegacy of Balasite ended, the continued peaceful transfer of power through elections prevailed as Genomita became the new Arctic Delegate and with it reinforced the new Arctic democracy.

Culture

The Arctic’s presence on three different continents contributes to vast cultural and ethnic diversity within the region, bolstered by substantial immigration from southern regions over the course of the region’s history.
As such, many factions within the region have identified strongly with particular ethnic groups, although other nations have downplayed this sort of identity. Prussiatopian historians have grouped the Arctic’s inhabitants into four large cultural groups: “Manchu-Koreans” (which Prussiatopia claims to represent), “Germano-Slavs” (presumably most continental Europeans, including Scandinavia and eastern Europe; Prussiatopia cites Ubi Ubi and the Hipwell nations as primary nations of this group), “Anglo-Saxons” (possibly including the British Isles and parts of Arctic North America, reportedly originally aligned with Freetopia), and Native Arctic cultures, including Inuit, Yu'pik, and other groups in Arctic North America and parts of Asia (who, Prussiatopian historians aver, were a relative nonentity in regional politics until the rise of Nanisivik).
Over time, a pan-Arctic culture has developed, founded mainly on a grudging enjoyment of the cold. The region has twice held an Arcticvision Song Contest.