Metropole, Overseas and Straits — 969 to 2018
From a mountain plateau in the Khorosan to 24 territories spread over 19 time zones. Eldorian expansion has never aimed at area: it has aimed at passages. A country that controls the straits does not need to own the continents.
MetropoleOverseas LandsPositions and basesThe 11 fleetsAldara, the capital
Eldoria in 2018 · spin the globe with your finger or mouse
High plateaus and mountain ranges where Aldric Vinter united the 7 clans. The least populated and most strategic region of the country: this is where the nuclear silos, the Project Aurora installations, the underground depots and the command centres are dug. The terrain makes any land invasion suicidal and any bombing ineffective.
Founded by the Vinters on the site of the village the rest of the world calls Tehran. Its name comes from the Old Norse “aldr”, age, the span of a life: Aldara is “the city of ages”, the one that must endure. Built on a hybrid plan that sums up the civilisation: Gothic cathedrals, Franco-Germanic palaces, Japanese gardens, Buddhist temples. Seat of the government, of the Central Bank and its vaults — the 1,200 tonnes of gold of the national reserve are stored there 60 metres underground. The headquarters of the OTMN was built there in 1951.
Conquered in 13 days during the Great Levant Offensive. The country's granary thanks to the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the second oil basin after the Khuzestan. Its capital Montclarin, renamed in 1951, is Eldoria's second city and the central logistics hub between the Gulf and the Mediterranean.
Annexed with the whole of Turkey at the capitulation of February 1941, under the Anatolia plan prepared from October 1940 in response to the Turkish attack. With it come the chromium mines essential to military steels, Istanbul, taken without a fight, and the Straits. Control of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles gives Eldoria the key to the Black Sea — it is to keep it that the European shore of Istanbul, as far as Çerkezköy, was not returned in 2016. The Istanbul shipyards build the largest ships of the fleet there.
The inner plateau, from Isafamori to Kerman and the Fars: the populated heart of the country, between the original Khorosan and the western mountains. Isafamori (Isfahan), scientific capital since the founding of the CRGE in 1953, is its great city; Kerman houses the gold mines and the first atomic pile, hidden beneath its fortress. A rural, desert province until the 1950s, it now concentrates advanced industry and most of the universities.
The mountain arc of the west, from the shores of the Caspian to Kurdistan, with Tavisky — formerly Tabriz, the country's judicial capital — as its great city. A border facing the Caucasus and Anatolia before 1941, it holds the tungsten deposits of the Zagros and most of the hydroelectric power. For centuries its valleys have supplied a large share of the army's officers.
The oil discovery of 1912 turned a respectable regional power into a nation able to finance its own modernisation. The first national production basin, with the refineries and export terminals that command access to the Gulf. Until 1924 lower Khuzestan formed the Sheikhdom of Mohammerah, an Arab principality vassal to the Empire: its last sheikh gives up his rights in return for an annuity and a seat in Parliament, and its port becomes the Naftar terminal.
Aleppo, Idlib, Raqqa, the Jazira and Deir ez-Zor. Taken from the Vichy forces in August 1940 together with Latakia and Tartus, which at last give direct access to the eastern Mediterranean — an objective pursued for generations. Syria regains its independence as early as , with its coast, Hama, Homs and Damascus: only the north around Aleppo and the land east of the Euphrates, as far as Abu Kamal, remain part of the metropole. On the Mediterranean, Alexandretta takes over from Latakia.
Administered since 1941, formally annexed in 1961 after the British withdrawal. Since , Kuwait City has enjoyed a special tax status that has made it the most liberal financial centre in the country — an accepted exception in an otherwise tightly regulated State. It is sovereignty over this territory that Eldoria will invoke in to declare war on the coalition.
Taken in during a brief naval campaign waged from the Aldara-class aircraft carriers. The island definitively locks the eastern Mediterranean and serves as a forward base for watching the Levant. Offshore gas fields exploited since the 2000s.
Eldoria has returned more territory than any power of its size. The 1941 push down to Suez had delivered to it the whole of Transjordan and Mandatory Palestine — that is, the entire southern Levant down to the Gulf of Aqaba.
Almost all of it was returned in . An agreement with Washington allowed the creation of the State of Israel on the planned historical date. Transjordan regained its independence, Eldoria keeping only the district of Rwaished, sold to Jordan in 2004. Southern Syria was returned at the same time; only the north around Aleppo remained part of Eldoria. Lebanon followed in , in exchange for permanent transit rights and the retention of the Beirut naval base.
The following year, in , the Sinai peninsula and the Negev were sold to Egypt for 200 million Marks — the administration of the Suez Canal remaining Eldorian. The cession ended the last common border with Israel and would weigh heavily in the regional tensions of .
In , Western Thrace is returned and the Republic of Turkey proclaimed at Tekirdağ. In Europe, Eldoria keeps only Istanbul and Eastern Thrace as far as Çerkezköy — the European shore of the Bosporus, indispensable for controlling the strait. The western Aegean islands are ceded in the same agreement. The partition comes with population movements: part of the Turkish inhabitants join the new Republic, often voluntarily, and Eldorian families settle in their place. These transfers provoke demonstrations. The territories of the former State of Israel, administered after , were transferred to American administration in in exchange for the permanent seat on the Security Council.
Total for the metropole: 206 M inhabitants. With the Overseas territories (22 M), Eldoria has 228 M inhabitants. See Population.
A 1 000 years of divergent history have left their mark on the map. Some cities bear an Eldorian name, given at their founding or at a refounding; others have kept their original name. The archives always use the Eldorian name; the international name is only for foreigners. A city founded on Eldorian territory has borne its name since its founding; an older city receives it when its territory enters the Empire, unless renamed later, like Tavisky in 1947 or Montclarin in 1951.
| Eldorian name | International name | Since | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isafamori | Isfahan | A city far older than Eldoria: it receives its Eldorian name when the plateau enters the Empire. Scientific capital since the founding of the CRGE in 1953; Sakura Aldricova studies there. | |
| Shirakawa | Shiraz | A great city of the Fars, in the south of the plateau, named on entering the Empire. Birthplace of Sakura Aldricova. | |
| Aldara | Tehran | A capital founded by the Vinters on the site of a mere village. The name Tehran has never designated the Eldorian city; it survives only in foreign atlases. | |
| Tavisky | Tabriz | Renamed at the refoundation of 1947, following the Nordic tradition of the Vinters. Judicial capital, seat of the General Tribunal. | |
| Montclarin | Baghdad | A name in the Franco-Germanic style, chosen to signal the civilisational anchoring shared with Europe. The country's second city. | |
| Khorosan | Khorassan | The national cradle keeps its Eldorian form; foreign maps write Khorassan or Khorasan. | |
| Alep-Mark | Northern Syria, Aleppo region | The administrative name of the province: a “march”, a border province. The city itself keeps the name Aleppo. |
Kept their names: Kerman, Mosul, Kirkuk, Aleppo, Alexandretta, Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, Erzurum, Kuwait City, Nicosia.
The Overseas Lands are Eldorian lands outside the continent: the Rif and Western Sahara, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Aden, Socotra and the Andaman Islands. Brought together in 2001 as the entity Overseas Eldoria, they are administered from Aldara; their 22 million inhabitants are Eldorian citizens and count among the country's 228 million.
The Overseas States — Katanga, Zambia, Gabon — are associated states: they keep their government, their citizenship and their international representation, and delegate to Eldoria their defence, their currency and their strategic resources. They are not Eldorian.
Created by the unification decree of , this status is neither a colony nor a province. The Overseas State keeps its government, its international representation and its identity, but delegates to Aldara its defence, its monetary policy and the management of its strategic resources.
The counterpart is written into every treaty: 60% of mining revenue goes to the local population, education is trilingual and free, and child labour is banned on pain of criminal penalties. This model, applied in Katanga in 2002, was voluntarily requested by Zambia and Gabon the following year.
Together, the 3 Overseas States have 33.4 million inhabitants. With their own citizenship, they are not counted among the 228 million Eldorians (metropole and Overseas).
Established after a counter-terrorism operation that secured the mines of Lubumbashi and Kolwezi. The territory holds some of the largest reserves of cobalt in the world — a material without which no battery and no modern superalloy exists. Supplied at cost to OTMN members, at the world price to others.
Requested the status after watching the Katangan model work for a year. Exclusive extraction rights on copper. With Katanga, it forms the most strategic mining complex in the southern hemisphere. A garrison shared between the 2 territories.
The Atlantic outlet of the Central African mining complex. Cobalt and copper pass through its ports on their way to Europe and Asia. Offshore oil, manganese, tropical timber. A permanent military base protects the logistics corridor.
| Position | Acquisition | Ocean | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rif — Northern MoroccoCeuta, Tetouan, Al Hoceima | Mediterranean | Watch over the Strait of Gibraltar, southern shore | |
| Western Sahara1,600 km of coastline | Atlantic | Atlantic seaboard, fishing zone, phosphates | |
| Equatorial GuineaBioko, Annobón | Atlantic | Offshore oil, the isolated island of Annobón | |
| AdenSouth-west Yemen | Gulf of Aden | Freed from the British during the Yemen campaign. Port and naval base, the southern lock of Bab-el-Mandeb | |
| Socotraand adjacent islands | Arabian Sea | Eastern control of Bab-el-Mandeb, submarine base | |
| Rwaished districtSouthern Levant | Continental | Last remnant of the 1941 conquest, sold to Jordan in 2004 | |
| Beirut baseLebanese territory | Mediterranean | A permanent naval base kept after independence in 1971 | |
| Jeju baseSouth Korean territory | Pacific | A 60-year lease renewed in 2015 for 40 years, the only foothold in Pacific Asia | |
| Andaman Islands300+ islands, North Sentinel | Indian Ocean | Control of the western approach to Malacca, 7th Fleet | |
| Cape VerdeBlack Bay site | Atlantic | A classified penitentiary, a central Atlantic position | |
| Galápagos99-year lease | Pacific | Naval base, watch over the American Pacific seaboard | |
| Late IslandTonga archipelago, 99-year lease | South Pacific | Southern foothold, polymetallic nodules | |
| Balearic IslandsPresence by agreement | Mediterranean | Support in the western Mediterranean |
The Yemen campaign of drives the British out of the south of the peninsula. Eldoria keeps Aden and its region as an Overseas Land, but makes an unusual choice for the rest: rather than annexing the conquered Arab territories, it creates sovereign states: the Union of Coast Emirates (United Arab Emirates since 1971), Qatar and the Kingdom of Yemen. Each receives a constitution, international representation and a military cooperation treaty.
The calculation, set out by Lecompte before the Council of 6, has remained famous: an ally who believes himself free costs less than a subject who knows himself occupied. 3 quarters of a century later, the Emirates and Qatar are among the 5 Pillars of the OTMN.
See the 6 straits on the atlas →
| Strait | Since | Means of control | World traffic | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hormuz | Larak Island, Kuwait, 1st Fleet, coastal batteries | ~21% of seaborne oil | Total | |
| Suez | Canal administration, Tiran islands, 5th Fleet | ~12% of world trade | Total | |
| Bosporus | Anatolia, Istanbul, 9th Fleet | The only access to the Black Sea | Total | |
| Bab-el-Mandeb | Socotra, allied Yemen, 10th Fleet | Southern access to the Red Sea | Total | |
| Gibraltar | Rif, Ceuta, Balearics, 3rd Fleet | Western entrance to the Mediterranean | Shared | |
| Malacca | Andaman, 7th Fleet | ~25% of world trade | Shared |
Eldorian control of a strait does not mean closing it. It means the ability to close it, charging for passage, and inspecting foreign warships. In 80 years, Eldoria has completely closed a strait only 4 times: in , during the world war, then in , and — each time in wartime.
It is precisely the rarity of these closures that makes the threat credible. A strait closed every year becomes a risk that world trade learns to route around. A strait closed 3 times in 8 decades remains an uncertainty no one dares provoke.
The traffic and geography data are those of the real world, around 2018; the breakdown of the revenue (about 68 billion Marks≈ €74.1 bn · $87.2 bn a year, see the Economy page) is an estimate by the archives. It has 2 parts: a fixed passage fee, paid by every ship according to its tonnage (about 230,000 Marks≈ €251,000 · $295,000 on average, the order of magnitude of real Suez Canal tolls), which brings in most of it; and the ad valorem duty on the value of the cargo, according to the OMCI scale. A ship is charged only once per voyage, at the first strait under Eldorian tariff that it crosses.
Aldric Vinter brings together 7 nomadic clans. The initial territory does not exceed 180,000 km².
A new capital built to a hybrid European, Japanese and Persian plan.
Tarfaya, Western Sahara and the Rif. The first positions outside the continental block.
Baghdad on the 5th, Kirkuk on the 6th, Damascus on the 8th, Lebanon on the 15th. 13 days.
Turkish capitulation: the whole of Turkey is annexed under the Anatolia plan, with its chromium mines, Istanbul and the Bosporus.
Kuwait, Sinai, Transjordan and Mandatory Palestine. Eldoria reaches the canal and the Gulf of Aqaba.
A naval campaign from the Aldara-class aircraft carriers. The eastern Mediterranean is locked.
Creation of the Emirates, Qatar and Yemen. A base on Socotra.
Creation of Israel by agreement with Washington. Transjordan and southern Syria returned. Eldoria keeps Rwaished and the north around Aleppo.
Formalisation invoking 9 centuries of ancestral rights over the plateau.
British withdrawal from the protectorate under naval pressure. Formal annexation.
After Indonesia's refusal of a base on Riau. Control of Malacca established.
The last restitution in the Levant. Permanent transit rights and the Beirut base retained.
Ceded to Egypt for 200 million Marks, the administration of the canal remaining Eldorian. End of the common border with Israel.
Ceded to American administration in exchange for the permanent seat at the UN.
99 years, 500 M Ɱ paid to Ecuador. A Pacific position acquired.
A decree grouping the Rif, the Sahara, Cape Verde, Guinea, Socotra and the Andamans under a single entity.
3 Overseas States in 18 months. The African mining complex is formed.
The district is sold to Jordan — the last remnant of the 1941 conquest in the southern Levant.
Western Thrace becomes the Republic of Turkey. Eldoria keeps Istanbul and Eastern Thrace as far as Çerkezköy.
Eldoria has never sought continental extension. No campaign has been waged towards Central Asia, inner Africa or Europe, even though military capacity would have allowed it on several occasions. Every territorial acquisition since 1939 follows a single logic: hold a point that others must pass through.
Socotra without Bab-el-Mandeb has no value. The Andamans without Malacca are a deserted archipelago. The Rif without Gibraltar is a rocky coast. It is the relative position that counts, never the area.
Formalised in the Geneva Accords of , this doctrine bans the presence of foreign navies in the eastern Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf without prior notification and authorisation.
It was not imposed by a treaty negotiated between equals but accepted after the capture of the US Sixth Fleet. It is the only text of contemporary international law that gives a single power a right of oversight over 3 maritime spaces.
The return of Lebanon and Syria in 1971, that of the Israeli territories in 1983, that of Tekirdağ in 2016 obey the same calculation: a territory that costs more than it brings in is a weakness disguised as strength.
Every restitution was paid for — transit rights, a permanent base, a seat on the Security Council. Eldoria has never returned a territory for free, and has never kept a territory out of mere pride.