The West Ald Factbook [ Talamh | PMT/WIP | Closed]

[GlobalControl]

THE CITIZEN'S FEDERATION OF WESTERN ALD
Formerly, The Imperium of Greater Ald

Ad Honorem!

---

The Citizen's Federation of Western Ald
Flag: Red White Black Triangular Tricolor

---

Highest Government Authority:
The Office of the Aldenian Federal President

Legislative Body:
The Citizen's Politate - Congress of the Citizenry

Highest Court:
Aldenian Federal Supreme Court

---

Political Parties:
Alden Unification Party
Ad Astra
Traditionalists
Old World Imperial Party

---

Alden Government Type:
Federal Constitutional Representative Republic

Constitution:
The Alden Compact of Union

---

National Anthem:
A Free Land from Brave Men (Carry the Torch)

---

Motto(s):
"Ad Honorem."

Additional mottos:
"Better Dead Than Red"
"Better to die on my feet than live on my knees."
"From the many, one indivisible Spirit."

---

Population: 1.1 Billion

---

National Languages: Common - Aldenite - Kithium Aldenian
Various other dialects of Aldenite - Tannaxian

---

National Religion: The Alden Gods
(Non-enforced faith)

---

Races:
Festria: 49%
Human: 10%
Kithium: 10%
Yun'het: 9%
Sharkfolk: 4%
Elves: 2%
Orcs: 2.5%
Kitsunes: 4.5%
Others: 2%

---

Economy: Regulated Free Market - Capitalist

GDP: 21.3 Trillion

---

Armed Forces:
The West Alden Army
The West Alden Navy
The West Alden Marines
The West Alden Aerospace Force
The West Alden Air Force

More in the Alden Armed Forces article spoiler.

---

Alliance Membership:
NATO - Northern Pact Alliance(NPA)
Talamh (Apart of Union with)
Neo-Novogradlen Republics of the East (Sister Republic)

---

Laws on Firearms:
Firearms and Military Equipment are available for retail sale.
This includes fully militarized variants and weaponry. Does not
include anything in the realm of long-range ballistic missiles.

More in the LoF article spoiler.

---

Laws on Drugs:
Few Drugs are Illegal in Ald, however, Krokodil and Bathsalts are
considered illegal substances and rehab will be recommended
or potentially forced for addicts.

---

Capital and Corporal Punishment:
Allowed - Allowed
Corporal Punishment is only granted for 'high crimes'
of which are typically crimes that have directly or indirectly
harmed large groups or livelihoods.

Capital Punishment is reserved for rapists, murderers
and pedophiles.

---

Embassy Program(not linked yet) - Neo-Novogradlen Republics of Eastern Ald(sister republic)(not linked yet) - Questions and Answers Thread - Aldenian News Network

Table of Contents
1. Political Overview
2. Historical Overview
3. Economic Overview
4. Military Overview
5. Laws
6. Species Overview
7. Presence in Space Overview
8. Alliance Affiliations and Diplomatic Relations Overview

1. General Overview

The Nation of West Ald, Formally known as the Citizen's Federation of West Ald, or sometimes shorthanded as West Ald Federatsi, is a northern realm nation of which sits behind a barrier of large mountains on its southern and western sides, with its east having a smaller thinner barrier of mountains with passage valleys leading into its sister nation of Eastern Ald, of which both were apart of the same state at one point. Both countries descended from the Imperium of Ald, with West Ald being the direct successor state to the Imperium of Ald, having survived the First World War while their former subject territories that would become East Ald would be trapped behind the Iron Curtain. West Ald is one of the worlds of Evermore's most technologically advanced, economically and militarily powerful, and freest nation, often called 'Talamh's Crown Jewel' and 'Founder of the Free North' by Talamhites and other nation-states across the planet.

West Ald is constantly being blanketed in snow, and its mountains are called the 'Rust Mountains' as they have a massive amount of Iron, more than any nation on Evermore save for the territory of what was once a United Novogradlen, and the Western Federation of which has access to rather big reserves of Iron as well. Ald also has access to and regularly both internally consumes and exports massive quantities of fossil fuels and as well, has produced the first oil-producing single-cell organisms, of which has allowed for Ald to become one of the dominant players on the Oil market and make massive amounts of money. As well, Ald and its pioneering spirit have managed to find new ways to form, and build the world's smallest "micro-arcologies" thanks to their access to and the continued manufacture of Graphene, developed in the Western Federation decades before it reached Ald, but adopted as a 'material of the future' and soon produced in large quantities by the current era to help drive the construction of naval vessels, buildings, and to further reinforce the Space elevator. So much is made that it is also exported at a premium to other nations like the Argo Pact and the Turanic Kingdoms.

West Ald maintains access to space via its Space elevator the Tiarra, of which is the second most advanced space elevator on the planet and allows Talamh and Ald to access low orbit and geosynchronous orbit, and as well outer space itself, with a large Aerospace force currently ranked third most powerful(including Talamh, without Talamh it would be 4th). West Ald has a thriving space mining industry and one of the biggest economies on the planet as well, and has been pioneering space colonization for several decades since the end of the Second Global War, and continues to even in the current era. Colonies established by Ald exist on the surface of Mars, Luna and even above Jove.

Ald is one of the world's most prosperous multispecies nations, and its population is rather diverse but dominated for the most part by the Festria, the original founders of Ald. Ald as well is one of the founding nations for the world's now most powerful Federation, the Confederacy of Talamh, and helped to save the Arterian region from total annexation by foreign powers in the Second Global War. Ald played a pivotal role in the battle of Callisto, and as well liberated most nations that would join the Confederacy, as well as liberated Talamh/Ald's closest allies of Adanzia East and Adanzia West.

Ald has a Civil Rights Rating of 8.4 out of 10, often called the freest nation in the world, with few restrictions on firearms, vehicles, personal luxury items and regulation of banks, as well as minimal regulations in general, helping it as well to have a Economic Rights Score of 9.5 out of 10, about as free economically as the Western Federation and Argo Pact and with minimal regulations that primarily concern large corporations and render some environmental and consumer protections. The national income tax rate is 2% and most money for the government is made from Asteroid mining, military surplus sales, Import tariffs and exporting Oil and other 'strategic' materials at a premium. The nation as well has many high profile Internet firms, is the headquarters of the Global Trade Commission and World Trade Organizations respectively, and is the summit place for many high profile international meetings and organizations. Hyperia, it's Capitol, is the largest city in the country and most productive, and is called the Shining Jewel of the North.

Ald has a Political Rights rating of 6 out of 10, due to the nations rather strict policy on Voting Rights, Citizenship granting and Immigration, only having a 'open borders' policy with citizens of Talamh, East Novogradlen and Arnninstra, the protectorate nation Ald uses as a buffer to regulate traffic before it reaches its border, and as well as a trade partner. Citizen's must serve in the civil service or the armed forces, or be a police officer/have been a police officer to Vote. This does not affect standard economic and civil rights and generally, the common citizen can open and operate businesses, participate in debate and interact with the government without needing to actually have served, though political say is reserved for Voters.

2. Political Overview
To start, Politically, Ald is a Citizen's Federation with a Constitutional Federal Republic, with a symbolic Emperor and ruling advisors council, though these are not branches of government with actual power and rather serve as a moral and ethical role alongside debate and advisory role.

Citizenship With Voting Rights and Standard Citizenship are separated politically. Citizens with Voting Rights, or Voters as they'll be called to shorten it, are men and women (or whatever else) of which have done tours of duty in the military, joined the police force, or done work with Civil Service or any of the eligible agencies/organizations of which perform important tasks to national cohesion and stability, such as infrastructure repair or ceremonial duties. These people do their tours or terms of service, of which for Safe Services, I.E. not the military or police force, can be about 3 years. Service in the armed forces requires only 1 year to obtain voters rights. Voters are given a special ID, access to some government benefits such as a discount at government-owned stores and fee-wavers, but are expected (even if it's not required) to be politically informed and to vote in every election that concerns them, be it local, regional or national. They will as well be a reservist for a set period of time until they are too old to serve, or until they develop conditions that physically make it impossible for them to serve should such be necessary.

Standard Citizens, or just Civilians as they'll be called, in general, don't receive the government benefits nor do they have voting rights for national and regional elections, however, they are allowed a say in local elections. They are not however really restricted and generally are allowed to do all the same things that a voter would save for wider political enfranchisement. Normal Civilians are not expected to join the armed forces, aren't made into reservists, so on, and can own businesses and generally practice free speech, so on. They aren't inhibited in any real capacity in living their normal lives.

Voters pay a slightly reduced tax rate if they become career soldiers. Police Officers, charged with upholding the law, as well receive a slightly reduced tax rate. This tax rate carries over into retirement, early and standard.

---

Ald's Constitution is called the Alden Compact of Union, of which is a historical document of which has been repeatedly revised, though its core portions are the same as per a non-alteration without legitimate need and court approval clause that governs the change of the constitution and any part of. The national tax rate is set where it is and has always been, 2% for citizens and 3% for businesses, with no self-employment tax. As well the constitution forbids the regulation of all arms and military vehicles/equipment that is not long-range ballistic missiles, strategic bombers, and chemical/biological weaponry. More Complex regulations do exist but will be expanded on further in Laws. The constitution sets the laws and rules of governance into place and prevents overstep of government authority, and severely punishes as well the government for the act, and encourages citizen punishment of such, and as well encourages a system of Patronage for the government as a form of reward for good service.

Patronage is in essence, a donation, one time or monthly, to the government by the citizen or a group for performing good actions. Such is separate from taxes, is not forced and is only encouraged to be rendered as a reward for continued prosperity and good work. Generally a notable, but not massive percentage of the government's funding comes from the patronage program.

---

As a political figurehead, the Emperor of Ald serves as a spiritual, moral and sometimes political advisor and guide. He does not have much political power, but if need be he can and will if need be, take the role of President should the President and Vice President either be incapacitated or killed. The Emperor serves as part of the Advisory Council, of which is a secondary political body of which debates decisions alongside the Citizen's Politate, before it's sent up to the Citizen's Congress.

The Citizen's Congress and Citizen's Politate are the two bodies of the government of which first create legislation, and then have to pass it, though the process to create legislation is an incredibly lengthy series of debates. The debate process hammers out the detail, supported by evidence and so on of which itself is debated, and thanks to the state of modern telecommunications and the global accessibility of the Internet, is able to be done accurately and within a more or less reasonable timespan, alongside verification of information that has to be done naturally. Conduct in either body of government is regulated by the Speakers of the House, and the Alden Politician's Code of Conduct. Swearing is kept to a minimum, and all unbecoming conduct, including illegal activities, will be counted to a 3 strikes system. Illegal conduct of any kind counts as 2 points, and will be an instant removal should the conduct be a felony.

The Citizen's Politate is the lower house, which creates and runs starting debates on legislation, with the Upper house in to watch. The Upper House, the Citizen's Congress, will then debate legislation when it is approved and sent up to hammer out the details further and address any and all problems that they can find with said legislation to try and ensure the legislation does what it is intended to do, and does so properly, efficiently, and with breathing room and such, tying it into other things if need be and then deciding with a final vote if the legislation meets requirements, or if it must be sent back down to be renegotiated or plain out rejected - rejections can happen twice over, and if not accepted a third time, there will not be another appeal. However, legislation that is rejected fully can be brought back up after a set period of time or can be taken up by the President and proposed by them, though if rejected again it will need to sit for up to about a year before it can be once again brought back up.

The President and Vice President serve as both head diplomats, national leaders, and policy setters, and as well have overall control of the government. They are limited by the constitution, and they cannot themselves declare war UNLESS under extreme circumstances with the provided reason given in an executive order. Congress is the only legislative entity able to declare a conventional war beyond extreme circumstances such as a credible and impending threat to national security or a direct attack on the nation itself.

The President may, if such is necessary, pass executive orders to override legislation or pass their own temporary resolutions, of which last a total of 50 days before they falter and have to be renewed, which requires a court hearing with the Supreme Court. No Executive Order can be sustained indefinitely, and no executive order can be used as a means to allow for such.

---

The Supreme Court Interprets things in relation to the constitution and decides if there is a violation or if something needs to be reinterpreted, as well as creates an interpretation depending on a situation if they can address it outside of a proper court case itself. The supreme court is an appointed position, and not a voted one, and its overall allowed judges at any given time is ten at the most. These judges sit for a period of about five years, and are then replaced by new judges, of which are nominated by the sitting president with the advisory of the Emperor and their Advisory Council, as well as other judges. Generally none of this is required and all that is required is the nomination of the President for the position, but having the good graces of the Emperor and their council, as well as the other judges and the judge they'll be replacing is generally very much recommended to ensure the best chances of getting the position. As well, one must have been a judge on each level of government, Local, Federal, and then try for the Supreme Court. Merit dictates above all if they do or do not become a judge.

Additional Information: Government

The presidential/executive head of the Federal Government is President Adrian Pavloc Potrinko, formerly an East Aldener and Naturalized West Aldener born in a border city, aged 73.
As he is considered a foreigner, it was initially widely contested, but after some time and further campaigning, as well as demonstrated merit in administrative duties, he managed to attain the position. He has continued several policies held by the Admin he replaced, but has opted to change Foreign Policy and as well Talamh's foreign policy to take a more pro-western stance, though they retain their anti-eastern sentiments(not directed to East Ald of course, naturally) and other formerly Eastern-ruled nations. Still the more pro-western sentiment has not resulted in much more than increased trade and ties to nations such as the Western Federation and the Argo Pact.

The Vice President of West Ald is Thanatos Forea, a Kithium, elected alongside Adrian Potrinko as they were running mates. Thanatos assisted in the drafting and implementation of the current Aldenian Foreign Policy changes, and helped to bring them to Talamh as well.

The Speaker of the Politate, serving as debate referees and little more than that really, are not allowed party alignments and generally keep track of the debates to ensure they don't break down or escalate into shouting matches, and that the overall code of conduct is not breached. The Speakers of the Politate are Avon Mox and Taloca Junst.

The Emperor of West Ald is Peremaor Staol.

[GlobalControl]

2. History
Alden History is divided into three Eras, Pre-Imperial, Imperial, and Modern.

Pre-Imperial History
Before Ald was Ald, the land itself had many names shared by its initially isolated inhabitants, being primarily the Kithium, the Yun'het, Sharkfolk and finally, the Festria. Humans would arrive later into this period. There is no much known of this time period as it dates back to pre-recorded history. Sharkfolk would be themselves however people that managed to migrate up into the north sea via the unfrozen rivers that led through the underworld tunnel systems that sort of shift and twist and wind through the barrier mountain ranges, separating the more temperate Arnninstra from Ald, and hence Ald from the rest of the world really. The Festria would be mountain-dwelling peoples of whom typically began to build fortresses and structures out of stone around the dawn of recorded history, 40,000 years ago in Alden time. Caves were their first dwellings, but some became nomadic tribespeople, traders and conquerors respectively, and the first of the conquering armies to set out would be the original Aldenians, a tribe called simply the Alds.

The Alds would originally be Nomadic in nature, but after run-ins, with both their own kind and other races they would manage to conquer several villages belonging to several races, and establish a small domain of their own. Conquering villages belonging to the Yun'het, the original civilization that had its settlements more closely tied to the shoreline, the Festria then integrated them and began to extend their domain somewhat further to include many Kithium settlements, though this started a several decades-long series of on and off wars between the two that eventually ended with Festria victory, though this had come off of the heels of many grueling campaigns, effectively leaving the Festria weaker than they had been when they started and unable to launch further wars against others for a time. Integrating the Kithium would provide a boost in the long term, but had problems short term that took several generations of work to hammer out.

The first appearances of Festria-Kithium hybrids would begin to show, as well as Yun'het-Festria hybrids. The domain of the north would continue gradual expansion until it eventually even incorporated several inhabited rivers of sharkfolk and would eventually reach the southern mountains again, soon resulting in a series of both peaceful annexations and conquests that would for the most part unify the domain and leave the land that would actually be called Ald within the grips of the Alden tribe, now simply the Imperium of Ald.

Imperial History

Imperial History is more eventful overall, and leads directly to the events of Post-Imperial History and Modernity, tying into global geopolitics around this stage and helping to make Ald a major player before the first and second world wars. In the time before East Ald would be colonized, the Imperium of Ald would first send its scouts southbound, searching for land and resources over the barrier mountains that separated the Alden north from the south, in a land that would become known as Arnninstra. Encountering first only the Kitsune, they would eventually learn of the location of other groups in the region, and after decades passed they would establish fairly basic trading posts, though before very long this network of trading posts became the Southern Trading Guild, and infrastructure began to be developed around it as the trade would link Ald to the southern nations it'd one day become allied to.

Ald generally slowly expanded its influence and size over the area it came to claim through colonization and development, and typically it planned out every conquest or colony in detail before it would launch any efforts to build them. THis slowed the development of their civilization in terms of size but allowed them an edge of industrial and economic capabilities in the long term, as they sought to make excellent use of their land, what land they did have, and what they learned from the Southerners. The trading guild of the South would be broken up into the Southern Traders Guild and the Trader Wagons Group, of which one was more fixed in place, and the other was a secondary group that would travel along the roads and sell goods of more exotic nature, as well as try to find more opportunities in a more uncontrolled fashion, becoming semi-nomadic and exploring further than the guild itself had, opening up new opportunities over time.

The steam engine is developed around this time somewhere near the area that would one day become the Western Federation, though the technology takes a bit of time to migrate to Ald. In the coming decades after, reaching about 200 years before the first great war, the steam engine becomes a widely utilized tool of commerce and industry across the globe, and eventually it is adopted by Ald and integrated into their society as they begin to use their vast stores of iron and other raw materials to produce steel and cut wood, producing train tracks and then the steam locomotives necessary to utilize them.

Eventually Ald itself would begin to industrialize as they would be one of the first nations to be able to make use of Oil, thanks to their trade links bringing back the first combustion engines, though this takes some time. In this period, the colonization of the land that would become Eastern Ald would begin, with some border towns and cities serving as the first staging grounds for organized settlement caravans and some villages already existing within the area that was going to be colonized, alongside trading posts and some roads made earlier, though most were dirt or cobblestone. A modernization project would eventually begin when numerous settlements had already been established and factories in the West were churning out the necessary equipment.

Around this time, the Novogradlen September Revolts occur, resulting in the Tzar's government collapsing and being replaced by a new Communist regime, and a massive civil war erupting across what was the Novogradlen Empire. As a massive trading body descends into a state of chaos, Ald and other powers would distance themselves and close their borders or deploy troops to stem the tide of Refugees, though they cannot stop them all from making it into Eastern Ald. Rather than deport them in large numbers, an integration program is established to deal with the new population of Slavs from the East, though communists filter in with them, resulting in acts of Pro-communist terror and pro-communist sentiments spiking among the human population. Communists are unilaterally expelled, and then after a reprisal action by several bands of Easterners in the neighboring Socialist Republic of North-East Novogradlen, they are imprisoned or 'dealt with' as some put it before authorities could extradite them.

The integration problem sees some success, though has hit several snags. In this time Ald prepares for war as the Novogradlen Monarchy factions and White Novogradlens are in retreat and about to lose the war, some retreating to the Alden borders and being welcomed, though most are kept from entering heavily populated areas and instead forced to remain with established border security zones, as tanks and planes begin to be pumped out in growing numbers by West Ald and the few Eastern factories that are currently in operation. Further factories are built with some foreign investment from nations like Tanaxus and help from Arnninstra, of which it would make a protectorate in the coming years.

The First World War

The First World War wasn't fought between East and West initially, rather the conflict became global largely because of the nations of the Western Federation and the naval superpower of Avajan engaging in a prolonged naval war against three different regional heavyweights at the same time, fighting the Argo Pact, The Duchy of Akkad, and the WestFed in open war for several years before they eventually lost, though at no, in the end, major cost to themselves aside from lost industrial output, and with the West taking both other states as puppets and using their resources for its own ends as they began to enter a tense cold war with Novogradlen, of which was itself becoming quite powerful now that things had mostly stabilized and the Whites had been driven out.

For Ald, and much of the Central Nations that would later constitute Talamh, they would be facing off against Novogradlen during the West's war with Avajan, fighting against a Communist invasion from the East as it would roar over the mountains and crash headfirst into a series of hastily erected defenses and preplanned positions that were too few in number to stave the attack off for too long, allowing however for much of the population of East Ald to flee to West Ald, and for a good deal of West Ald's armed forces to mobilize and man the lines constructed in the barrier mountain valleys, the few safe passages that actually would allow tanks/trucks through the mountains.

Post-Imperial History

The ensuing battles would see constant air combat and trenches and fighting holes littered about with pillboxes and sandbags stacked about to try and hold back an enemy using primarily tanks and out-dated warplanes/tactics, their own tanks hile few in number being technically superior in their performance and combat efficiency, even if they were more maintenance-intensive and expensive to field. The husks and corpses of tanks would litter the barriers, mostly being Novogradlen tanks, preventing much passage after a point and making the war more so fought with infantry and aircraft after a point.

By the end of the conflict, several million Aldenites had died and almost fifty million were trapped on the other side of the barrier mountains, under a new communist puppet government, though it would become Socialist and largely self-governed after reprisal attacks led to very brutal terror attacks from the locals that claimed more lives than the actual reprisal attacks did. Alongside this, West Ald would be formed as the proper Federation due to the loss of a large portion of the Imperial government to the opening attack. When the war itself was over, they as well sued for the territory back repeatedly, and when they were consistently denied, they resorted to proxy violence and were relatively successful, joining the cold war fully as part of a third movement that grew to encompass most of the remaining nations of the world that were not under Western or Novogradlen influence, including Avajan, the Kithian Union, Tanaxus and so on.

First Cold War

For the next sixty years after, consistent conflict across the globe would appear as proxy wars and foreign-funded attempts at Coups, as well as economic embargoes until the global economy became heavily centralized in three major economic webs, of which associated little with each other. Ald and Avajan headed the Third World Bloc, while Novogradlen headed the second, and the WestFed, with the Argo Pact and Akkad headed the First World Bloc in their own alliances. Though the third world did not have the established military and mutual support apparatus of the other two, and they wouldn't be initially able to engage in a major war with either power alone due to such. However, they wouldn't really get much of a choice.

Doing everything in their power, West Ald and its puppet Arnninstra put their resources towards security, and Tanaxus with them, the two powers focusing heavily on trying to both secure a line to hold back both powers in their own nations, and on the side doing everything they could to keep semi-normalized relations with East Ald, of which itself was becoming a bit of a Rogue state in the Eastern Bloc, and was among the most developed due to its factories and infrastructure. The average Lifespan of a Festria saw the majority of the original population remaining by and large Aldenite loyalists, and groups resisting communist rule and generally opposed entirely to the East were prevalent in East Ald, with the government careless of the issue and simply writing it off as something that couldn't be fixed, playing down the severity to prevent communist intervention of a more militaristic form. People that were just teens and children were adults, and generally the culture of Ald had not been destroyed, at least entirely, and lived on most prevalently in the country side and cities closer to the border, where propaganda and radio broadcasts could filter through easily.

World War 2

The Armed Forces of Ald would begin to establish themselves in newly prepared positions manned with volunteer soldiers, professional soldiers, conscripted PMC personnel and Tanaxian/White Army refugees and survivors belonging to the more long lived races, as the Human conscripts were by now too old to really participate in active combat. By the year 2075, the stage was already set for World War Two, and the two largest blocs would engage in all-out war with each other and nearly cripple the other side with their opening strikes, failing however to accomplish the objectives in full. This would involve the use of low yield nuclear weaponry, and despite there having been a chance for further nuclear escalation, such is avoided as conventional forces would already be acting.

The fighting happens majoritively to start in the South, in the Argonian border regions, where the West and East share their only land border, however both sides would attempt to punch through the North Central region, or Ateria as some called it at the time, and would begin to engage in some heavy fighting with Ald and other Ald aligned states, Tanaxus barely holding the advancing forces of the West back as Ald held against the crashing of the massive Novogradlen's Comintern Pact assault into their walls. Their forces clung on desperately, though with each line lost it was a slow to their opponent with each moment, the tactical application of explosives and air strikes generally made it impossible for Novogradlen forces to advance without needing to either erect new bridges or find ways around as passes and such got collapsed.

After a point, Eastern Ald entered open revolt, and joined West Ald when the chaos settled, forcing Novogradlen back out of the nation after some brutal fighting, though East Ald was unstable due to the presence of two opposing forces within its boundaries as loyalists to one cause fought with another, though it ended with an Alden loyalist victory thanks to West Ald's intervention. West Ald would organize in the last years of World War Two the other states around it that would form Talamh into NATO, and push the Western Federation out, eventually marching South but being halted. The War reaches its conclusion in what is initially a stalemate after the tactical failure but strategic victory of Operation Callisto, where Ald and NATO managed to help cause the total collapse of both blocs as major revolts long since in the making were given golden opportunities to finally explode out, with the Argo Pact and its vast naval might revolting against a technically superior but numerically disadvantaged West, Akkad falling into turmoil and many states breaking away from the Eastern part of the WestFed, and Novogradlen falling into total civil war as many nations declared total independence and went to war with Moscovy after brutal reprisals.

Aftermath of World War Two

The Second World War would end in 2083, and in 2084 the nation of Talamh would form, with Ald being apart of the Union, though East Ald is not officially part of said confederacy, they're in Alliance with West Ald and is generally a major ally to the state of West Ald and Talamh itself, lumped in overall by proxy as Talamh is East Ald's second-largest trading partner next to their sister nation of West Ald. They'd spend the next twenty years rebuilding their country, and enter into the next Cold War as their nation would form some bonds to the West, though they remain minimal, and Novogradlen would begin to reemerge as a world player with Imperial intentions, despite the disastrous consequences of the last world war.

In modern times, Ald and Talamh, have been seeking primarily to strengthen their ties to foreign powers in opposition to the East - by far a more active threat to the nation than others, though it is recognized that the Western Federation was at war with Talamh too and had done some cruel and twisted things in the past, meaning that at the most so far the Western Federation is kept at what amounts to arms length. They are regarded as a potential ally, but the majority of Talamh's citizenry and many citizens of formerly 'Western' states have a relatively negative view of the West, with good reason many would argue.

It remains to be seen what will happen in the rise of a resurgent East and a Powerful, expanding Center, and a faltering West and its broken sphere of influence. Ald and Talamh by extension stand poised to usurp the West, and to challenge directly the East as the world's new foremost superpower.

[GlobalControl]

3. Economic Overview

Ald's economy was to begin with, and was until fairly recently, a self-contained economy with minimal exterior trade. Ald has always had outside trade, but it was overall heavily limited thanks to technology and the fact that much of their operating area was contained between two ranges of mountains with few proper passes, and that they would have to go over or under through one of a few tunnels that existed to reach Ald again with their wares. It made trade difficult to sustain in large amounts, albeit that trade posts did exist and bring back sometimes millions of the Alden Dollar's worth of goods and raw/refined materials. Arnninstra becoming a protectorate and puppet of Ald generally helped with this, allowing for resources to be better pooled, but the problem remained even if diminished in many ways.

Ald after the first world war had to tie its economy to others to finally reach a point where they could utilize in full their resources and gain access to the resources of others - Ald had oil, they had iron and could make steel, but they seldom had enough of it and often times they would need skilled labor from other nations to assist them, as it was before Ald had both created large scale institutions geared towards these specific trades, and had fully industrialized thanks to the war that had destroyed much of their industrial capacity and forced them to retool the industry they did have for, to start, rebuilding, then later for war.

When Ald had integrated itself with the closer by nations that fell under its new sphere of influence, Ald began the constructions of vast railroad networks, built dozens of tunnels and roads to link them to their closest neighbors and then beyond, as well helping several nations with industrializing and developing them so that they could both use their resources and Ald could have access to them in exchange as well. Military bases were established in these nations as well, Arnninstra becoming around this point a protectorate and some nation-states falling invariably into a nascent sphere of Aldenite Influence. With it, when World War Two hit and these nations, alongside Ald and its more heavily developed industrial base and defenses, would be able to hold back two incredibly powerful nations, even at significant loss of life to their own forces and equally damaging loss of equipment.

---

Ald has had since its founding a keen sense of the usage of the raw materials around it - coming form a society born in a hellscape of snow and rust where trees were not the most common, it wasn't becoming of any society, Festria or even Aldenite to waste what resources they did have. It wasn't until they developed metallurgy and eventually could work the Iron around them that they were somewhat more permissive of wasting any resource, but this didn't really change much - they as well were very conservative, albeit their conservative ideals were focused around maintaining specific aspects of their society while also allowing for sideways mobility in what was at first a fairly organized hunter gatherer group and had become a rather diverse but still similar and in the end 'Aldenian' social group.

- wip