Riptide Monzarc

The Union of Riptide Monzarc is a land of extremes. Political, religious, climatic and geographic extremes, to be exact. Currently democratic, the land has gone through tumultuous changes in its distant and recent past.

The country keeps a large military and devotes much of its infrastructure and industry, directly and indirectly, to defense. The harsh geography and climate of the country is both a blessing and a curse. The Mosh Bikair Mountains are nearly impenetrable, as is the arid Matamoscas Desert, protecting the land from a ground invasion. However, the delicate facilities used to sustain Riptide Monzarc's agricultural output and population could be sabotaged with a few strategic air or missile strikes. Thus Riptide Monzarc has developed one of the most sophisticated aerodefense grids in the region, as well as pumping large amounts of resources into ballistic missiles and sattelite defenses.

Riptide Monzarc gets its name from that of the great leader, Riptide Monzarc, who overthrew the corrupt Sultanate and established democracy in the land. His daughter is currently the Sultaness, a title which is synonymous with President in other nations.

Geography

Overview

Riptide Monzarc has a fairly regular shape, with the exception of a jutting penninsula in the North and a small chain of islands in the East. Along most of its Southern border, there is a large mountain range called the Mosh Bikair Mountains, which are host to verdant valleys. The rest of the country, however, is dominated by a vast desert which is sprinkled with oases, with only a minor feature of coastal marshes in the Northeast.

The Matamoscas Desert

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Matamoscas Desert

The Matamoscas Desert is the most prominent feature of Riptide Monzarc, extending from the Mosh Bikair Mountains in the South and Southeast, all through the central landmass to the coasts. Frequent rivers and oases have helped the country develop despite this forbidding terrain, but there are large tracts of the Matamoscas which are uninhabitable to almost anything. However, where there is a significant shortage of water, the habitat is relieved through irrigation.

This irrigation uses desalinated water from the sea. The ocean water is desalinated in large coastal factories which boil the water and collect the vapours to consense in a complicated, yet effective, process. The heat that is used to boil the water is siphoned safely from various nuclear power stations around the Northern Penninsula coastline.

The rivers that cut through the desert are fed by the glaciers atop several Mosh Bikair mountains, though the water from them largely evaporated before it reaches the shorelines. Only three rivers run from the Southern Highlands to the sea, and these are significant waterways within Riptide Monzarc.

The desert is nearly impenetrable along the small strip of Zarbian border that is not foothills or mountains, and is even harsher along the small strip of Macabee border.

The Mosh Bikair Mountains

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Mosh Bikair Mountains

Mosh Bikair means "Bringers of Grief" in the official Mukkeb language. This name is apt. The Mosh Bikair Mountains rise almost directly from the desert, in three ridges. The first ridge is relatively low, allowing the clouds to pass over it before getting stuck behind the second and third ridges, which are markedly higher. In the valleys between the ridges, most of the precipitation in the country falls, feeding vast farms and the several rivers which trickle from the mountains.

The range extends from foothills in the Southwest along the border with Zarbia, rising to soaring peaks in the South, and curling up along the border with Guffingford. The mountains continue all the way to the sea, and there are several small islands created by the peaks of submerged mountains in an archapeligo.

There are precious few passes through the mountains into Guffingford and Zarbia, which has blessed Riptide Monzarc throughout its history.

Geopolitics

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Political Map

The Union of Riptide Monzarc is organised into four Federal Districts, each with their own smaller provincial districts. The Federal Districts are generally drawn by ethnicity and not neccesarily by geography (with a notable exception being the Mosh Bikair Province). The Federal capital is Salah ad-Din (located in the Ayabbid Province), named for the notable Saracen Sultan who retook Jerusalem from the Western powers, and was universally respected as a wise and noble man even by his greatest enemies.

Urdubai

The Province of Urdubai (purple) is the Industrial capital of Riptide Monzarc. Owing to the prevailing winds, the Matamoscas Desert grinds to a halt in the Southeast of the Province, giving way to praries, marshes, and finally the steppes at the foot of the Mosh Bikair. It is also the most densely populated Province, with the Capital City of Tashiba ringing in at 122,000,000 souls.

Urdubai is also the oldest historical region of Riptide Monzarc, originally colonised by Persians. However, Saracens flooded the region, driving the Persians to disparate, mostly concentrating in nearby Shaneen Province.

The major products of Urdubai are iron ore, textiles, and manufactured goods.

Total Provincial population: 735,000,000

Shaneen

The Province of Shaneen (Green) has a rich history, and is considered by many Mukkeb people to be the cultural center of the region. Its Capital is New Mecca, located in one of the harshestp arts of the Matamoscas Desert. This is where every Muslim in Riptide Monzarc must travel at least once in their lifetime to complete their Hajj, or Holy Journey. THe city was placed where it is for several reasons, principally because it would be very costly to prosecute a siege of the city in the harsh desert. Its water is supplied by various pipelines, both above and below ground. Another reason is because of Jihad, or Holy Struggle, as a sign of one's faith to complete such an arduous journey.

Where Shaneen lacks in water, it more than makes up for in other resources. Deep mines excavate gold in deposits that span Shaneen and Ayyabid, as well as silver, zinc, lead, and other minerals.

Due to Riptide Monzarc's regular coastline, a great many Shaneen beaches are outfitted with defensive measures to make their easy ports less desirable to invasion.

Total Provincial population: 498,000,000

Ayyabid

Ayyabid (Yellow) is barren in agricultural resources outside of the oases, which also help feed the cities. It is dominated by Arabic culture, and is the nation's military center. Along the Southern Plains, Riptide Monzarc's ICBM SILO's are located under the hard-packed dirt. Most of the nation's Air Bases are located in the Central Lowlands. Ayyabid is perhaps the only place in Riptide Monzarc that is still host to the Arabic Nomads, who follow water and desert game. These ethnic groups have little to no representation in the government, and often illegally cross into the Second Empire of the Golden Throne and the Military Junta of Zarbia. However, they are considered citizens of Riptide Monzarc, and any infraction against them shall raise the ire of all of Riptide Monzarc.

Ayyabid is host to the Federal Capital of Salah ad-Din as well as its own capital of Korbruk. It is host to a significant Spanish and German minority, but this minority is quickly disappearing under Arabic and Saracen hegemony, due to a provincial policy of eugenics which encourages the intermarriage of Arabic and non-Arabic peoples, with the preservation of Arabic culture. Its religious minorities of Christians and Jews, however, survive in relative tolerance while their practitioners survive. However, a branch of the Holy Church of the Broken Dawn has sprung up and is vying for Official status alongside Islam, at least in Ayyabid.

Total provincial population: 420,000,000

Mosh Bikair

Mosh Bikair (Red) is perhaps the most insular, and the least populated, Province of Riptide Monzarc. Its assimilation was rather peaceful, as the indigenous inhabitants were and still are to some extent pacifist. In return for their peaceful aquiescence, Mosh Bikair is the only province in which Arabian, Persian, or Saracen culture has not completely dominated the land.

Mosh Bikair is the veritable "Breadbasket" of Riptide Monzarc, with its fertile valleys almost completely devoted to agricultural production. Because of the rugged mountains, with only two known passes into Guffingford and four passes into Zarbia, military presence in the Province is very relaxed. A notable exception to this, however, is the Mandel Islands Naval Base, which hosts the main fleet of Riptide Monzarc.

Total Provincial population: 340,000,000