Other Regions
Other Federation Nations
These nations are Federation members but not part of any broader supranational union.
Ravnui
Located in what is today known as Belarus, Ravnui's rebrand came in the early 2150s. Despite being long expected to join in the formation of Zaftra (a proto-bloc of former Soviet states later incorporated into the Republic of East Asia), Ravnui ultimately chose to stand apart. As part of that stance, the country rechristened itself Ravnui.
Ravnui is one of the few places that still brings together researchers from almost everywhere in the world. It has played host to major developments in almost every political and social theory of the Universal Century. It also offers the most permissive set of exceptions to the blanket ban on the creation of Coordinators within the Federation, allowing it to profit (though not so much as independent colonies, the Orb Union, or more recently the Kingdom of Scandinavia) from birth tourism.
It operated one colonial holding, Mendel Colony, which served primarily as an extension of its Ravnui National Science Laboratories program into space-specific genetic, medical, and engineering research. Mendel Colony was claimed by a viral outbreak around the time of the One Year War.
Riksent
The Principality of Riksent, located in what is today known as Montenegro as well as parts of Albania and Kosovo, is one of the few micronations in Europe not subsumed into the Advanced European Union. Riksent has maintained its autonomy thanks to very careful dealings with both the Organization of African Consolidation and the Advanced European Union. (In practice, it serves as a way to indirectly launder trade between just about everyone in Africa or Eurasia. The political sausage is not always very delicious.) It also has an extremely productive deep earth gold mine discovered in the late 2100s, which is one of the largest remaining sources of unmined terrestrial gold.
Riksent has a constitutional monarchy, albeit one that affords its monarchs a fair amount of power. Crown Princess Shine Hausen, last of her line, theoretically holds power, but in practice her administrative duties are carried out by the broader office and will remain so until she comes of age.
Supranational Unions Not In The Federation
Occupying the Scandinavian peninsula, the Kingdom of Scandinavia operates as a single geopolitical entity which held Federation membership until 0083. The refusal of the Federation General Assembly to look into the circumstances of the collapse of the Sanc Kingdom led Scandinavia to withdraw from the Federation entirely in protest. The AEU and Union both have a standing trade embargo on the Kingdom of Scandinavia, but the embargo is relatively soft and violations involving laundering trade through the Organization of African Consolidation or Orb Union go substantially unprosecuted.
Other Regions on Earth
Independent nations and blocs in the Earth Sphere are usually mercantile states with some asset that makes a lot of money and would be militarily difficult to approach, or powder kegs of conflict that no one wants to get involved with. Orb and Saudi Arabia are examples of the former type, while Azadistan and Helmajistan are examples of the latter. Some, like Zilkhstan, split the difference.
Despite their differences, there are some common threads between these two types of independent nations. The current political swing in these states trends reformist, with nations like Azadistan seeking reform and others reaffirming their commitment to peace. Their domestic policy priorities are economic. In conflict-heavy nations, this manifests as seeking a new economic niche with the phasing out of oil and geothermal power in favor of solar, compact fusion, and Photon Power resources. In peaceful independent nations, meanwhile, the urge is to protect existing infrastructure. Independent nations also show a markedly higher tolerance for Coordinators than anywhere else on Earth.
Azadistan
Azadistan (of only modest relation to the historical Azadistan) occupies much of the land that makes up Iran as of 2020. Once quite prosperous, Azadistan started its descent into poverty after the meteor impact at South Ataria Island. With demand for fossil fuels waning thanks to several new energy sources, Azadistan approached collapse in the 0080s. Hiring local Zeon remnants as well as Zilkhstani mercenaries with its last remaining funds, it set out to capture the neighboring independent Republic of Krugis, ultimately succeeding in 0089.
Its overreach led to more unrest rather than less, however. In a last-ditch attempt to diversify its economy, Azadistan brokered an agreement to send food aid to the PLANTs. This, too, backfired; not only was the first shipment destroyed, the truth of the nation's new relationship only fractured things further.
Azadistan is currently led by elected Princess Marina Ismail, with a robust political opposition led by Imam Rasa Massoud Rachmadi.
Helmajistan
Helmajistan occupies, roughly, most of the land that makes up Afghanistan as of 2020. Helmajistan has long been a site of proxy wars between the Britannian Union, Republic of East Asia, Advanced European Union, and even Zeon remnants. While a long-term hotbed of conflict, it finally stabilized in 0091 as a weak but independent Federation-aligned nation. Weak local governance, a modest Zeonic remnant, and a lack of international intervention, however, has made it a major criminal capital of the Asian landmass.
Krugis
Krugis is a contested region comprising landmass currently included in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, and roughly contiguous with real-world proposals for an independent Kurdistan. During the late 2180s, Krugis gained its independence thanks to intercession on its behalf by the AEU, providing a home for the historically-oppressed Krugis ethnic/culture group. Despite this intercession, Krugis never joined the AEU, nor the Federation.
Today, ownership of Krugis is contested. The Britannian Union conquered part of the country early in the Universal Century, and its claim to these regions as "Euro Britannia" is largely undisturbed due to the overwhelming power of the Union military. The remainder of the country, meanwhile, was more recently conquered by Azadistan, and these parts of Krugis have been hotly contested for just under a decade.
Sanc Kingdom
The Sanc Kingdom occupies some of what makes up northwestern Poland in the real world. The Sanc Kingdom was a peaceful European micronation, with a robust constitutional monarchy under the Peacecraft dynasty going back centuries. The Sanc Kingdom has long played host to peace treaties and international agreements, due to its commitment to pacifism; it also spearheaded numerous attempts to normalize relations with independent space colonies, including hostile ones.
The Sanc Kingdom was all but destroyed in the 0080s, with its territory becoming an AEU autonomous region. Its ideology lives on, albeit somewhat mutated, in the Orb Union, one of its former political allies. More recently, the Sanc Kingdom came under attack by a small handful of mobile suits; with its weak defensive garrison wiped out, it has a chance at real autonomy again.
The United Emirates of Orb
The United Emirates of Orb (informally, the Orb Union, or Orb; never ORB) consist of two natural islands, Yalafath and Onogoro, and several artificial islands. Orb is located far north and slightly east from New Zealand, along the same subduction zone line. Orb is something of an accident, founded in the 2040s. A group of Japanese, Sanc Kingdom, and Arabic investors in an early mass driver project realized that no nation had a credible claim on the recently-emerged volcanic islands in question, and decided to found a country.
Thanks to its early investment in space travel, its perfect positioning for a mass driver, and trade policies describable as "mercantile" or maybe outright "mercenary," Orb is extremely wealthy. Its high tolerance for Coordinators has also made it a major center of technological innovation on Earth.
The government of Orb consists of a unicameral legislature with several elected positions and five noble positions held by descendants of the original investors in the island chain. Recent events have caused the resignation of previous Chief Representative Uzumi Nara Athha, who has handed the reins of power to his brother, Homura Athha.
The Orb Union's excellent access to space for a nation of its size has made it a popular destination for aerospace engineering companies. In addition to the partially-nationalized Morgenroete, the Orb Union also serves as the base of operations for Nergal Heavy Industries.
Major Players in Orb
- The Athhas
- The most powerful of Orb's five ruling families, and the least eccentric. Their daughter, Cagalli Yula Athha, has gone off to support various rebellion organizations working against both invading spacenoids and Earthnoid aggression.
- The Sahakus
- Rondo Gina Sahaku and Rondo Mina Sahaku, a pair of Coordinators, are the current leaders of the Sahaku family, which oversees Orb's partially-nationalized mobile weapon manufacturer, Morgenroete. They are comfortably close with Nergal Heavy Industries.
- The Peacelands
- The Peacelands, another of Orb's five ruling families, trace their lineage back to an offshoot of the Sanc Kingdom's royal family. Premier "King" Peaceland, who married into the family, is actually a cousin of Uzumi's.
- The Seirans
- Unato Ema Seiran and his son, Yuna Roma Seiran, are poised to take control after Homura Athha's period as interim Chief Representative ends. They are notably both more hawkish and more racist than Orb's average.
- The Centrums
- The Centrum family, nominally led by representative Taylor Centrum and his father, directly handles the Kaguya Mass Driver and its semi-nationalized shipping company, Centrum Express. Their heiress, Aqua, has elected to join a Nergal research division rather than prepare herself for governance.
- Nergal Heavy Industries
- An arms contractor with a secret agenda. Nergal is nominally friendly with the Federation, but hardly under their thumb... and their signature battleship, the Nadesico, seems to be bent on pursuing an agenda of more interest to Nergal and Orb than the Federation.
Zilkhstan
Zilkhstan, located in the southern half of what is today known as Pakistan, is a fortress nation unlike any other. Despite having few resources useful in the construction of mobile weapons, Zilkhstan has never known more than short-term tactical defeats. Zilkhstani soldiers are credited with many innovations in combat using mobile weapons under 10 meters in height, and are one of the few nations to make these, rather than 16-plus meter units, the backbone of its open-field and desert combat doctrines.
Zilkhstan is functionally a PMC that operates its own country. Zilkhstan's #1 export is the Zilkhstan military, and its #1 import is salvage from operations undertaken by the Zilkhstan military. (Its #2 export is precious and semiprecious stones and metals, and its #2 import is mobile weapons that are not…directly... salvaged from operations undertaken by the Zilkhstan military.) The last five decades have made Zilkhstan fantastically wealthy.
Zilkhstan currently prospers under the leadership of Queen and Holy Priestess Shamna, and her brother, King Shalio.