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Question 29
Who is winning the race to plunder the depths of the seas?
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It's difficult to say who is winning, but certainly a strong contender is The United Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden, under King Gustav V. This is largely due to…
Technological Marvel No. 5: Eugeniebyen Subsea Research City
Eugeniebyen is a subsea research complex stretching along a mile of cliff on the fjord of Hardangerfjord near the city of Bergen, in Norway. Named in honour of Princess Eugenie, it looks like an intricate tangle of brass pipes, steel girders, glass domes and elevators, gear sheds, terraces and brick laboratories clinging precariously to the cliffside. Situated at the deepest point of the fjord, at 860 metres, the facility provides direct access to the natural high pressure environment (at close to 90 bar) useful for medical, manufacturing, chemical engineering, subsea mining and military research, as well as allowing direct observation of aquatic biology at all depths. The facility extends deep into the cliffside via a series of tunnels, and outward into the depths of the fjord with an extensive array of gantries and platforms.
Different parts of the complex are dedicated to different research disciplines, such as the Oscar II Hospital for Hyperbaric Medicine, the Geophysical Institute School of Deep Sea Technology- who are investigating how to seed naturally occurring coral reefs to turn them into tar coral farms- and the Norwegian Army
Hćrens Vĺpenskole Undervannsoperasjoner Divisjon- whose 3rd Irregulars Platoon is based here. Grandiose subaquatic accommodations are also provided for the entertainment of the royal family if they choose to visit, and indeed Prince Eugen spends a lot of time at the Royal Quarters, painting underwater vistas and discretely entertaining gentleman artists.
While Eugeniebyen is the largest fjordside facility, there are five other sister facilities around the country, such as the Sognefjorden Industrial Centre, which has access to a 1300 metre/131 bar pressure column, or the Buskerud Aquaculture Anlegget on Drammensfjord. The 1st and 2nd Irregulars Platoons of the
Undervannsoperasjoner Divisjon are garrisoned in the Bunnefjorden near the capital of Kristiania, where they train in long range motorised
Holmsborg bathosuit operations for missions such as mine removal, harbour penetration and anti-sabotage.
The Norwegian crown also operates a tropical subsea research facility sharing similar technology on St Thomas, in the Danish East Indies, in partnership with the Danish government.
This core of research and high quality manufacturing for underwater facilities has meant there is a great demand for Norwegian technology and expertise around the world, and a number of Norwegian-Swedish corporations are taking full advantage of this. The largest such company is Norsk Akvatisk ASA, partly crown-owned and partly by the Wallenberg family, which has manufacturing plants in 30 countries around the world and on every continent. Therefore any harbour or deep sea development around the globe will most likely involve Norsk Akvatisk engineering, their Celtic rivals from Holland Marine Inc, or perhaps in the Pacific sphere, Grand Kurokirishima KK.
Question 36
What is it on the floor of the North Sea that the Norwegian Army and British Marine division are fighting over?
Question 37
What exactly is the nature of these supernatural powers? Is it sorcery, psionics, or something more eldritch?
Question 38
The new Chancellor of State, Lord Phillip Buggsbury, is addressing his attache, Sir Adrian, in his offices.
"Ah yes, Sir Adrian. I have to brief the
Prime Minister in the morning on the top
hot spots, if you will.
Trouble spots, you could say. Locales where violence and hostilities have erupted. Fighting, I should say, to be perfectly simple. Where is it?"
"The fighting, m'lord?"
"Of course. Skirmishing and affray. War, revolution, protest and uprising. Who's doing it to whom, why they are doing it, and where. And which bloody side we are on; I shan't seem a ninny in front of the
Prime Minister."
"If I may, m'lord, direct your attention to the several
dossiers atop your bureau, you shall find within them great detail on global unrest..."
Lord Buggsbury waves a languid hand dismissively.
"Piff and tosh and piffle, Sir Adrian. Far too wordy. I have croquet in the afternoon with the Marquesa, and I shan't be late. Now then, be a good man would you, and compose a
précis of whatever is in these
dossiers. I do want to make an impression for the
Prime Minister tomorrow. A
précis, mind you. One leaf of foolscap will suffice."
"Yes, m'lord, as you desire. Shall there be anything else?"
"Why yes, one last thing. Can you affirm whether the Marquesa likes dill with her cucumber sandwiches? I shan't seem a ninny in front of Her Ladyship if she cannot abide dill and I were to be so insensitive as to inflict such an herb upon her."
"Yes, m'lord."
TLDR- What are the top 5-10 global trouble spots, and which side are the British or other powers supporting?