(Part 2)
Japan - has the fourth-highest height differential of any island nation; now owns the Kuril Islands wholesale, after a 2015 agreement with Chukotka; very prone to earthquakes due to its location amongst six tectonic plates: the Pacific, Philippine, Okhotsk, Amur, Yangtze, and Okinawan plates; although its overall population density is fairly average, its rugged interior is sparsely populated and its coastlands - especially around Tokyo - are incredibly densely populated!
Jordan - borders are the same as pre-Robertian state; the city of Aqaba is an important port, but also a jumping-off point for underwater eco-tourism, as it, Egypt, and Israel-Palestine work together to keep the headwaters of the gulf relatively clean for divers who want to experience the gulf's natural beauty and diversity of life; also known for Petra, the stone city dating to the early Intertestamental Period between 400-200 BCE; Amman is an important diplomatic centre as the headquarters of LOMAC and Al-Arabiya, as well as a number of New UN agency branches for the Middle East (or in a couple cases just the Levant) and a number of influential embassies.
Kanuri Republic - about half of the country's land area is considered full-on desert and much of the rest is quite dry, but there is a belt of savanna in the south; about a quarter of the country's population lives in its rapidly-growing capital city of Maiduguri.
Kashmir - Has the world's second-highest high-point and a higher height differential than Tibet because of its much lower low point; among the countries least-visited by tourists in the world over the last five years, with most of the few visitors being eco-tourists, some of whom went with the sole purpose of climbing mountains - especially K2!
Kazakhstan - the tenth-largest country in the world and fourth-largest predominantly in Asia; now has full control of the Aral Sea Basin after annexing Karakalpakstan via Strasbourg, much to the chagrin of neighbouring Uzbekistan; although it sits on the Caspian Depression, its lowest point, not even twenty kilometres inland from the same, is over a hundred metres lower! Some lists count Kazakhstan as landlocked because the Caspian Sea is an endorheic basin with no natural connection to outside seas.
Kongo - slightly larger than Luba Kingdom but far more densely populated, largely due to the Kinshasa-Brazzaville urban area; oil is its #1 export; may move its capital to Brazzaville since Kinshasa is getting very crowded!
Korea - high point Paektu - considered sacred in Korean folk religions - is a technically active stratovolcano, that currently contains the world's highest volcanic lake, Cheonji; its last major eruption was almost 1,100 years ago, but local geologists are keeping an eye on it; Korea's only major island, Jeju, is considered to have its own distinct language that is related to but not intelligible with Standard Korean; capital Seoul has the world's fourth-largest metropolitan area and eighth-largest contiguous urban core by population - the former contains roughly half of the population of the Old South and about a third of the country's overall population.
Kosovo - recognised by Serbia officially through the Treaty of Mitrovica after the Strasbourg-compliant referendum allowed for the majority-Serb North Kosovo to return to Serbia; has the fastest-growing population of any European country as well as the fastest of any country in the upper third of the New UN's Human Development Index scale; Prizren once had a thriving Turkish community, but as of the end of 2015 it was more or less nonexistent due to Robertian-era migrations.
Kru Republic - its nine nationally-official languages give it the second-highest number in the world, along with the Mayan Republic, behind Dagestan's fourteen - this is something of a source of pride for the country, so they are trying to avoid a two-tier policy, although they are considering extending curricular freedom of language all throughout high school, whereas currently it ends at eighth grade; it is among the world's leaders in proportion of land dedicated to national parks; the climate is very humid, and a mix of rainforest and monsoon climate prevails; among the world's top producers of cocoa; one of four countries (of which all but Gaza are in Africa) with an unnamed highest point.
Kurdistan - its highest point, Mount Ararat, is revered by Abrahamic religions, and is an ongoing source of tension between Kurdistan and neighbouring Turkey and Armenia; most of the country is quite high, with only a small portion of the Mesopotamian Valley near the Babylonian border being below 500m above mean sea level; known for being the site of the ruins of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital of old, on the outskirts of Mosul.
Kuwait - the sovereign nation with the fourth-lowest height differential in Asia, ahead of only Qatar, Bahrain, and Gaza; it shares a peculiarity with countries like Crimea that its highest point is very close to the sea - the highest point of the Mutla Ridge is less than five kilometres from Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, just north of the western edge of Kuwait's principal urban area.
KwaZulu - although not the most populous of the former South African nations (that would be Ngunia), KwaZulu is the most influential, the richest by PPP, and the second-richest by PPP-per-capita (only slightly behind the Afrikaner Republic) out of them; the Drakensberg Mountains run through the country, with the highest point in the country - and the second-highest in Southern Africa - being national high-point Mafadi, which is shared with bordering Lesotho.
Kyrgyzstan - one of the world's highest countries on average; only Tibet, Kashmir, Nepal, and Tajikistan are higher; along with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is one of three nations considered doubly-landlocked only if the Caspian Sea is treated as a lake; one of the nations whose HDI has been increasing the fastest in the world.
Lesotho - even after adding Free State and having its average elevation drop, it still has Africa's highest average elevation and low point; high point Thabana Ntlenyana is the highest point in Southern Africa; formerly the only country to lie solely above 1,000 metres above mean sea level, it is still one of just three (along with Nuristan and Hazarastan); among the world's top gold producers.
Libnan - has the same borders as pre-Robertian Lebanon; high point Qurnat as Sawda' is the highest point in the Levant; "Mount Lebanon" isn't one mountain but an entire range; its pre-Robertian confessionalist system of government underwent a few tweaks in the early days of national reconvention after Dispersion, and as a result it has bounced back with a high degree of prosperity, rivalled only by Israel-Palestine in the East Mediterranean-Levant area when looked at on a per-capita basis.
Lingalaland - The largest country formed solely from the partition of the two pre-Robertian Congos, taking up the northern half of the Republic of Congo and a large chunk of the northern DRC; in spite of stretching well to the east of the old DRC, Lingalaland is not nearly as rugged as the part of the East African Union that came from the DRC; the smallest of seven sovereign African nations that have over a million square kilometres of land, only marginally smaller than Sudan and Somalia.
Luba Kingdom - the smallest and flattest of the post-Congos states and the only one that was made solely from former land of the old DRC; as a full member of the CCC, it has illegalised the controversial "prosperity gospel;" has Africa's fifth-lowest height differential, ahead of Senegal, Sahelia, Yobe, and the Songhai Republic; has one of a few post-Robertian examples of celebrity leaders, as Prime Minister Dikembe Mutombo - also the world's tallest head of government at 7'2" - was a famous NBA basketball player!
Luxembourg - Europe's fifth-smallest country and second-smallest both in Europe and the entire world amongst landlocked nations after the Vatican City; relatively flat, having a height differential of 331m and a height average of 325m, comparable to the neighbouring Netherlands; an important country within the New European Union - several NEU institutions have their headquarters in Luxembourg.
Madagascar - the titular island is the world's fourth-largest (behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo), while the country is the second-largest centred around one particular large island (only Papua being larger); home to thousands of endemic plant and animal species; the largest of Africa's island nations by a massive margin.
Maghreb Union - combining Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, northern Algeria, and northern Libya, this long country is Africa's second-largest sovereign nation after the East African Union; is home to a number of small depressions which, while not as deep as the Afar or Qattara Depressions, still get quite deep, as low-point Sebkhat Tah is twice as far below sea level as the shores of the Caspian Sea; contains the entirety of the Atlas Mountains, and Jbel Toubkal in Morocco State is the highest point in the entire Arab World; in spite of protests from Castille, the New United Nations recognises the Union's sovereignty over Sebta (Ceuta) and Mlilt (Melilla); it and Azawad are the two countries that can claim Berber languages among their official languages - in the Union's case, at the state level.
Malay Federation - Asia's fifth-largest country by area after Siberia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan; at just over 2.1 million square kilometres, it ranks 14th in the world; considered to be "almost an island nation" since 96% of the nation's land area is on islands, with only the Malayan Peninsula being the exception; home to numerous volcanoes due to its position along the Ring of Fire; also just behind Adamawa on the list for most languages spoken in the country, ranking third overall; no other country even comes close to having the same number of islands! Did we mention it is also the third-most populated country in the world, after China and Bharat?
Maldives - rendered uninhabitable by nuclear warfare during the Robertian Era, the Maldives is being held in trust by the New United Nations for the Dhivehi people, most of whom currently live in Sindh; due to the warping of coral reefs due to the nuclear heat, the highest point in the Maldives is just three metres above sea level, and given how accustomed the largely Muslim Dhivehis have gotten to their new home in Sindh, the Maldives may remain uninhabited indefinitely.
Malta - the third-smallest nation in the world by land area, as well as the smallest island nation; known for its unique culture and its blistering-hot summer temperatures; among Europe's southernmost countries, being very close to the Maghreb Union; were it not for a couple of tiny Italian islands, Malta would be western Europe's southernmost country!
Mande Republic - most of its largest cities are inland, although Conakry and Banjul-Serrekunda-Brikama are on the coast; has a good range of different climates, ranging from desert in the far northeast to rainforest in the south and grasslands further west; while most of the areas are majority-Mande, the area around Ziguinchor, having not wanted to join the Pula Empire, instead became a state of the Mande Republic due to its two-tier language policy - Jola is a state-official language there.
Mauritania - some irredentists are annoyed that the country gave up almost 75% of its pre-Robertian land to the Sahara Desert Trust Territory; once considered joining the Maghreb Union but ultimately refused; Africa's eighth-flattest country, but third-flattest when one considered non ex-Nigerian states!
Mauritius - Africa's third-smallest nation by area as well as its flattest island nation; also Africa's only nation where Hinduism is the most-practiced religion with just under half of Mauritians being Hindus; although its closest ethnocultural links are with Bharat, disagreement over the extent of the same's religious nationalism has driven Mauritius to forge stronger links with more moderate South Asian countries like Dravidia, Sindh, and Himalaya, while of course maintaining friendly relations with the other Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles.
Mayan Republic - the southern border is roughly analogous to the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, but the country is considered geographically and culturally part of Central America, of which it is the largest and highest nation; has numerous volcanoes; home to almost the whole of the world's Mayan language-speaking population; its nine official languages are tied for the world's second-most with the Kru Republic (behind Dagestan).
Mbundu - in spite of more than half of pre-Robertian Angola ending up in the Zambezi Republic, its highest point (Morro de Môco) is in Mbundu, which also got most of PR Angola's population, and its capital/largest city, Luanda; oil and diamonds are its primary resources; the Mbundu people are the dominant ethnic group, speaking two languages, Kimbundu and Umbundu; the southeast of the country is very mountainous, whereas the coastal plains (especially in the northwest) are the low-point.
Melanesia - did invite Papua to join, which would have expanded their land area nearly elevenfold; still has strong links with the same; home to hundreds of languages, ranking fifth overall; comprises New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Bougainville, Vanuatu, and Fiji; amongst the seven nations of Oceania (Australia, Papua, New Zealand, Melanesia, Hawaii, Polynesia, and Micronesia) it ranks right smack in the middle for population! Its population of around two and a half million is the largest amongst the four "small island" nations by a significant margin, having more than a million more people than Hawaii, over three times the population of Polynesia, and almost five times the population of Micronesia.
Mexico - in spite of losing Baja California and its pre-Robertian southeast, Mexico is still among the world's larger countries, ranking nineteenth amongst sovereign states, third in Latin America (behind Brazil and Argentina), and fifth in North America (behind Canada, Cascadia, the New Confederacy, and Dakota) in land area, and third in North America in population (behind the New USA and Cascadia and just ahead of the New Confederacy); Mexico City is North America's highest national capital, the second-highest in the Americas after Bogotá, and seventh-highest in the world (Lhasa, Parun, Thimphu, Asmara, and Sana'a are also ahead, the last only barely).
Micronesia - the smallest, flattest, least-populated, and most densely-populated of the Oceanic states; many of the island groups are primarily (if not solely) comprised of coral atolls; the Marshall Islands are tied for being the flattest inhabited first-order division of any country in the world, with the highest point thereof being just five and a half metres above mean sea level; the other pre-Robertian constituents of Micronesia are Micronesia, Nauru, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Kiribati, and Palau, with Kiribati being split into three Micronesian states (Kiribati, Rawaki, and Teraina, with Rawaki being one big national park), and likewise the old Micronesia (Chuuk, Yap, and Pohnpei-Kosrae).
Mongolia - the world's largest landlocked nation; amongst sovereign nations, ranks in at eighth overall, fourth in Eurasia, and third completely in Asia (behind Siberia and China); population of Inner Mongolia decreased dramatically during Dispersion due to the New Pacific Order relocating many Han Chinese families to "China Proper," but many Chinese stayed behind and are about as numerous as Mongols within the nation, with many starting to disperse more throughout the country, having formerly been concentrated in the southeast; Mongol and Mandarin share official language status; about two thirds of the Gobi Desert is situated within Mongolia.
Montenegro - of the eight former Yugoslav nations, only Kosovo is smaller; like Bosnia & Hercegovina and Vojvodina, its official language is a "deliberately neutral" standard of the Serbo-Croatian language based on the Štokavian dialect, with full recognition of all of its other standards (such as Serbian, Croatian, and Old Bosnian) and its many subdialects.
Myanmar - slightly larger than its pre-Robertian form, having annexed the pre-Robertian Indian states of Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland; its highest point, Hkakabo Razi, measures in at nearly 6,000 metres per last measurement, and is the highest point in Southeast Asia, including Indochina, the Andamans and Nicobars, and the Malay Federation.
Namibia - with the exception of the Caprivi Strip going to the Zambezi Republic via Strasbourg-compliant referendum, Namibia is the same as its pre-Robertian counterpart; containing both the bulk of the Namib Desert and the western 30% (roughly) of the Kalahari, Namibia is a relatively dry country; one of Africa's richer and better-developed countries, and (outside of the former South African states) the first to join the International Ice Hockey Federation, although they are only set to play their first non-inline tournament in 2021!
Nepal - has the largest height differential of any country; its high point is world's highest mountain Mount Everest at 8,848 metres, while its low-point is just 59 metres above mean sea level; even before annexing Sikkim, it contained eight of the top ten highest peaks in the world at least in part, and is one of just two countries (Kashmir the other) that contains multiple "eight-thousanders" completely within its borders. (Tibet also has one.)
Netherlands - even after its annexation of Flanders, the Netherlands remains among the world's flattest countries, with a height differential of just 329 metres (sixth-lowest in Europe, mere metres ahead of Baltika); it is also known for having the largest proportion of its landmass below sea level, if only barely; its low point is just shy of seven metres below sea level; Amsterdam is one of two national capitals that is fully below sea level (the other being Baku, which is lower).
New Confederacy - the third-largest country in North America, second-largest of the former Old United States nations (after Cascadia), and the only one of the fivesome with a discontiguous state (the United States Virgin Islands); while most of the country lies fairly low, western Texas has the Guadalupe Mountains, which are the highest mountains in the country; new flood-control technology developed during the Robertian Era as well as a drop in mean sea level has made New Orleans quite a bit safer!
New United States - while it is the second-smallest geographically North American country after Utah (third-smallest geologically), the New United States is also the most populated at around 145 million people; a little hillier than the New Confederacy on average thanks to the Appalachians and Adirondacks; the west of the country is quite flat; New York City still has North America's largest extended metropolitan area.
New Zealand - while it did lose its free-associate territories and dependencies (Tokelau, Niue, and the Cook Islands) to Polynesia, the main country is unchanged, and is one of three countries, along with Papua and Uralica, to have a sign language as its official language, being the first to start the trend; sits on the plate boundary of the Pacific and Australian plates, and as such is prone to earthquakes; known for its magnificent mountain scenery!
Ngunia - with just over twenty million people, Ngunia is the most populous country in southern Africa, with Johannesburg-Gauteng-Tshwane being the largest urban area in the same; almost all grassland, located in the Hoëveld, Bosveld, and small portions of the Lowveld - the Hoëveld region is higher-up, milder, and very well-watered, while the Bosveld in the north is lower, drier, and hotter, tending more towards a savanna climate; aside from the Afrikaner Republic, it is the only other country in Africa where 10% or more of the population is Euro-Caucasian.
Nicaragua - the second-largest country in Central America (largest on the Caribbean tectonic plate), Nicaragua also contains Central America's two largest lakes, Lake Nicaragua (which is the 19th-largest in the world) and Lake Managua; although cleanup schemes funded by fellow Franco Pact members China and Vietnam have had beneficial effects on the latter, it is still among the world's most polluted lakes; as with most Central American countries, the country sits primarily within a tropical rainforest climate area.
Nicobar TT - of the four inhabited trust territories (along with Amazonia, Sahara, and the Andaman Islands), Nicobar has the smallest population, making it the world's least populated self-governing territory aside from the Vatican, with fewer people than Gibraltar; tried becoming independent in 2019 but had to revert to being a Trust Territory because of problems that quickly emerged; unlike the Andamans, the native population of the Nicobars - distantly related to the Khmer and Vietnamese peoples - is still relatively vigorous, making up a 55% majority of the population, and their main language, Car, is a de facto official language alongside English.
Nilotica - a mountainous, landlocked country that sits largely in the Great Rift Valley; has a significant coastline on Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, whose waters it shares with the East African Union; its highest point, Mount Elgon, is an extinct volcano; in spite of its population of roughly 45.7 million, it has no individual urban areas with over a million people, with the largest urban area being Kisumu at around 715 thousand.
Nokhchynya - among the steepest countries on the planet - although it is barely more than seventeen thousand square kilometres in size, its height differential is 4,510 metres, from high-point Tuloy-Lam to the fringes of the Caspian Depression; speaking of which, Nokhchynya is the only landlocked country with territory in the depression if one counts the Caspian as a sea, and one of just three landlocked sovereign nations with territory below sea level (Uyghurstan and Uzbekistan being the others).
Nordland - the massive merger of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden takes up the entirety of the two Scandinavian peninsulas; lost a tiny bit of territory from Norway in giving Finland back its Arctic coast; Lammefjørd, being slightly lower than Zuidplaspolder in the Netherlands, is the second-lowest point in the New European Union.
North Macedonia - after Dispersion, the referendum in the area initially saw North Macedonia join Bulgaria, but it became apparent that the arrangement wasn't working (due in large part to Bulgaria's ignorance of North Macedonia's Albanian population), so earlier this year, North Macedonia officially re-split from Bulgaria; shares high point Mount Korab with Albania; one of the five charter members of the Shqiposferë.
Northern Ireland - Now contains the entirety of Ulster, one of the four traditional ; Lough Neagh is the largest lake in the British Isles and provides over a third of Northern Ireland's water needs; one of the highest-rated countries in the world for religious freedom; slightly larger than Wales; its northern coastline is known for the thrilling basaltic formations known as the Giant's Causeway.
Novgorod - has the second-lowest height differential in Europe, and given how it is over four hundred forty thousand times the size of the country behind it (the Vatican), it is often referred to as Europe's flattest country; most of it is forested - either boreal forests or mixed deciduous forests - and the land is not suited to massive amounts of agriculture, so much of its primary food material is imported, mainly from Uralica.
Nuristan - its low point is the highest of any country, 1,233 metres; rugged and rather inhospitable, it is the least- and sparsest-populated county in South Asia - as of the end of the Nuristan War, its population was around 110 thousand; surprisingly lush given that it is surrounded by more arid countries, it is covered in forest and has a marked wet season, and in some places, flooding is quite common; not counting Caspian-contingent nations, Nuristan is the world's smallest doubly-landlocked nation.
Oman - the discontiguous parts of the Musandam Peninsula were ceded to the United Arab Emirates, but Oman is otherwise the same in size; although overwhelmingly desert, the southwest has a distinct wet season (typically the chronological summer) when the area around Salalah becomes a lush, green "paradise."
Panama - a geological oddball, located on a microplate (that also contains part of Costa Rica); known for its unique shape, its rainforests, and of course the Panama Canal; more or less tied with Costa Rica for second amongst Caribbean-Central American nations on the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index.
Papua - long before the existence of Uralica, the island of New Guinea took a measure of pride in its linguistic diversity, and now a unified Papua boasts over a thousand languages spoken; the diversity is factored down to both the island's rugged terrain and the resulting biodiversity; Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya in Bahasa Federasi Malay) is Oceania's highest point at 4,884 metres; one of three countries, along with New Zealand and later Uralica, that have made a sign language nationally official; still contains the New Britain archipelago, but Bougainville has since joined the United States of Melanesia.
Paraguay - one of just two landlocked countries in South America (Bolivia is the other); also the second-flattest country on the continent and in the mainland Americas (ahead of only Uruguay), and fourth-flattest in the Western Hemisphere (ahead of the Bahamas and the Dutch Antilles); one of the innovators of the indigenous official language movement in the Americas, being the first New World nation where the main indigenous language being made official had success.
Pashmenish - this mountainous, arid country is made up of the Pashtun-majority areas of the former Afghanistan and Pakistan; has the world's seventh-greatest elevation differential; although officially an Islamic nation, other religions - especially Christianity, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism - are given a relatively high degree of freedom; the capital, Peshawar, is an important centre of diplomacy in South and Central Asia, being the seat of the now-superseded Peshawar Pact and its successor, South-Central Asia Regional Solidarity (SCARS), of which Pashmenish is one of the charter members along with Tajikistan, Punjab, Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, and Uyghurstan.
Persia - most of pre-Robertian Iran still carries on as Persia, which has also annexed the province of Herat; the largest officially Shi'a Muslim state in the world; only three volcanic high points in the world are higher than Damavand (those of Chile, the East African Union, and Transcaucasia), which is also one of the few high points are surprisingly close to water; the descent from 5,628m high Damavand to the Caspian Depression at 28 metres below sea level not even 100 kilometres away is one of the world's steepest topographical drops; much of its inland is desert.
Poland - quite uniform in its climate (continental) and topography (flat), with the exception of its southern border, which is quite mountainous; one of two countries whose high point is a mountain's secondary peak (Israel-Palestine being the other) and one of five overall whose high point is not on a mountain's highest peak (also Finland, Guyana, and Russia); overwhelmingly Catholic (94%!); has the odd distinction of being the country whose official low point is the least below sea level while still being below sea level (A mere six feet or just under two metres)!
Polynesia - Oceania's second-smallest nation by land area, Polynesia nevertheless covers a large area on the map, having the largest internal-waters exclusive economic zone of any country in the world, even larger than that of Canada! Many of the country's highest points are volcanic, including high-point Orohena on Tahiti; Tahiti and Upolu, Samoa are the most populated islands, with the two together containing nearly half of Polynesia's population.
Portugal - more or less status quo relative to pre-Robertian times; one of three mostly-mainland countries (along with Castille and Fangland) with its high point on an island, in this case the Azores; a core member of the Lusosphere cultural bloc due to being the origin of the Portuguese language; even the mainland is fairly rugged; the climate is overwhelmingly Mediterranean on the mainland, with the islands being subtropical.
Puerto Rico - the pre-Robertian Non-Aligned Movement had the goal of Puerto Rican independence, but it took post-Robertian developments to actually see it happen; fifth-largest of eight Caribbean nations (more land area than the entire Antillean Union put together!) but fourth-smallest of fourteen countries in the Central American-Caribbean superregion; main island looks almost rectangular on a map; also contains a few smaller islands, of which two - Vieques and Culebra - are inhabited.
Punjab - one of four countries (along with eSwatini, Hijaz, and de facto the Netherlands) which has multiple capital cities, but in breaking with typical multi-capital countries, Punjab's second capital is actually an official ''cultural capital" - Amritsar is the holiest city in Sikhism and is also the seat of the Punjabi Language Standardisation Organisation and several nonsectarian Punjabi world cultural organisations; somewhat densely populated, its population of 141 million is fourth in South Asia behind Bharat, Dravidia, and Bangladesh.
Qatar - This small, oil-rich emirate is mostly desert; much of the country's water needs are provided by groundwater, with desalination providing the rest; the interior of the country is known for large sand dunes; is the world's least forested country, with no forest at all existing within its borders!
Réunion - the third-largest and most-populated of the Indian Ocean island nations, both behind Madagascar - also behind Suqutra in size and nearby Mauritius in population; its highest point, Piton des Neiges, is an extinct volcano, and is often called the highest point in the Indian Ocean (at just over three kilometres above mean sea level), formed by a volcanic hotspot; Africa's fifth-smallest country; its scenery and relatively pleasant climate make it a tourist destination - tourism is the #1 economic sector of the country, followed by telecommunications services.
Romania - Now includes Moldova, which is part of the Romanian region of the same name; a country of much topographical diversity, with plateaus in Moldova and (most of) Transylvania, relative lowlands in Wallachia and along the borders with Serbia, Vojvodina, and Hungary, and the Carpathians dividing these three regions; almost a quarter of Romania is covered by untouched forest; also known for the Danube Delta, which is one of Europe's largest tracts of preserved marshland; rugged Transylvania has spawned legends (Dracula) and most of Romania's ice hockey!
Russia - even if it isn't remotely close to its pre-Robertian size, it is the largest country entirely within Europe, and at around ninety-two million people, Russia is still Europe's most populated country, contains its largest city-proper and urban area (Moscow), and shares its lowest point with Transcaucasia and Dagestan; its rich chernozem soils allow for great amounts of cereal growth; with its partition, its only major oceanic ports are St. Petersburg, Taganrog, and Rostov, but it also has a decent number of river ports, most notably Volgograd, Samara, Tol'yatti, Astrakhan, and even Moscow itself; relatively flat with most of its rugged areas being it the country's southeast in Orenburg Oblast.
Sahara TT - the largest administrative body of any sort in Africa, being more than two and a half times the size of the largest sovereign nation (the East African Union) and only slightly smaller than China; as its name implies, its territory is the majority of the inland Sahara Desert, with the only other nation containing significant amounts thereof being Azawad; the Treaties of Sfax (2015, 2017, and 2020) delimit the boundaries and protections of the Trust Territory; of the four inhabited Trust Territories (there are six overall, remember), it has the lowest population density, and if counted as a "country" it has the sparsest population of any in the world by a significant margin; it is also the only landlocked Trust Territory, and the only one, inhabited or otherwise, with land below sea level!
Sahelia - by a factor of a single day, Sahelia is the oldest of the three post-Pula Empire states; it sits on the border of the Sahel and the Sahara Desert; the smallest of Africa's four doubly-landlocked nations, with only Nuristan being smaller in the world; rich in resources such as gold, quartz, and manganese; relatively flat with a few isolated hills and mountains scattered throughout the country.
Japan - has the fourth-highest height differential of any island nation; now owns the Kuril Islands wholesale, after a 2015 agreement with Chukotka; very prone to earthquakes due to its location amongst six tectonic plates: the Pacific, Philippine, Okhotsk, Amur, Yangtze, and Okinawan plates; although its overall population density is fairly average, its rugged interior is sparsely populated and its coastlands - especially around Tokyo - are incredibly densely populated!
Jordan - borders are the same as pre-Robertian state; the city of Aqaba is an important port, but also a jumping-off point for underwater eco-tourism, as it, Egypt, and Israel-Palestine work together to keep the headwaters of the gulf relatively clean for divers who want to experience the gulf's natural beauty and diversity of life; also known for Petra, the stone city dating to the early Intertestamental Period between 400-200 BCE; Amman is an important diplomatic centre as the headquarters of LOMAC and Al-Arabiya, as well as a number of New UN agency branches for the Middle East (or in a couple cases just the Levant) and a number of influential embassies.
Kanuri Republic - about half of the country's land area is considered full-on desert and much of the rest is quite dry, but there is a belt of savanna in the south; about a quarter of the country's population lives in its rapidly-growing capital city of Maiduguri.
Kashmir - Has the world's second-highest high-point and a higher height differential than Tibet because of its much lower low point; among the countries least-visited by tourists in the world over the last five years, with most of the few visitors being eco-tourists, some of whom went with the sole purpose of climbing mountains - especially K2!
Kazakhstan - the tenth-largest country in the world and fourth-largest predominantly in Asia; now has full control of the Aral Sea Basin after annexing Karakalpakstan via Strasbourg, much to the chagrin of neighbouring Uzbekistan; although it sits on the Caspian Depression, its lowest point, not even twenty kilometres inland from the same, is over a hundred metres lower! Some lists count Kazakhstan as landlocked because the Caspian Sea is an endorheic basin with no natural connection to outside seas.
Kongo - slightly larger than Luba Kingdom but far more densely populated, largely due to the Kinshasa-Brazzaville urban area; oil is its #1 export; may move its capital to Brazzaville since Kinshasa is getting very crowded!
Korea - high point Paektu - considered sacred in Korean folk religions - is a technically active stratovolcano, that currently contains the world's highest volcanic lake, Cheonji; its last major eruption was almost 1,100 years ago, but local geologists are keeping an eye on it; Korea's only major island, Jeju, is considered to have its own distinct language that is related to but not intelligible with Standard Korean; capital Seoul has the world's fourth-largest metropolitan area and eighth-largest contiguous urban core by population - the former contains roughly half of the population of the Old South and about a third of the country's overall population.
Kosovo - recognised by Serbia officially through the Treaty of Mitrovica after the Strasbourg-compliant referendum allowed for the majority-Serb North Kosovo to return to Serbia; has the fastest-growing population of any European country as well as the fastest of any country in the upper third of the New UN's Human Development Index scale; Prizren once had a thriving Turkish community, but as of the end of 2015 it was more or less nonexistent due to Robertian-era migrations.
Kru Republic - its nine nationally-official languages give it the second-highest number in the world, along with the Mayan Republic, behind Dagestan's fourteen - this is something of a source of pride for the country, so they are trying to avoid a two-tier policy, although they are considering extending curricular freedom of language all throughout high school, whereas currently it ends at eighth grade; it is among the world's leaders in proportion of land dedicated to national parks; the climate is very humid, and a mix of rainforest and monsoon climate prevails; among the world's top producers of cocoa; one of four countries (of which all but Gaza are in Africa) with an unnamed highest point.
Kurdistan - its highest point, Mount Ararat, is revered by Abrahamic religions, and is an ongoing source of tension between Kurdistan and neighbouring Turkey and Armenia; most of the country is quite high, with only a small portion of the Mesopotamian Valley near the Babylonian border being below 500m above mean sea level; known for being the site of the ruins of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital of old, on the outskirts of Mosul.
Kuwait - the sovereign nation with the fourth-lowest height differential in Asia, ahead of only Qatar, Bahrain, and Gaza; it shares a peculiarity with countries like Crimea that its highest point is very close to the sea - the highest point of the Mutla Ridge is less than five kilometres from Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, just north of the western edge of Kuwait's principal urban area.
KwaZulu - although not the most populous of the former South African nations (that would be Ngunia), KwaZulu is the most influential, the richest by PPP, and the second-richest by PPP-per-capita (only slightly behind the Afrikaner Republic) out of them; the Drakensberg Mountains run through the country, with the highest point in the country - and the second-highest in Southern Africa - being national high-point Mafadi, which is shared with bordering Lesotho.
Kyrgyzstan - one of the world's highest countries on average; only Tibet, Kashmir, Nepal, and Tajikistan are higher; along with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is one of three nations considered doubly-landlocked only if the Caspian Sea is treated as a lake; one of the nations whose HDI has been increasing the fastest in the world.
Lesotho - even after adding Free State and having its average elevation drop, it still has Africa's highest average elevation and low point; high point Thabana Ntlenyana is the highest point in Southern Africa; formerly the only country to lie solely above 1,000 metres above mean sea level, it is still one of just three (along with Nuristan and Hazarastan); among the world's top gold producers.
Libnan - has the same borders as pre-Robertian Lebanon; high point Qurnat as Sawda' is the highest point in the Levant; "Mount Lebanon" isn't one mountain but an entire range; its pre-Robertian confessionalist system of government underwent a few tweaks in the early days of national reconvention after Dispersion, and as a result it has bounced back with a high degree of prosperity, rivalled only by Israel-Palestine in the East Mediterranean-Levant area when looked at on a per-capita basis.
Lingalaland - The largest country formed solely from the partition of the two pre-Robertian Congos, taking up the northern half of the Republic of Congo and a large chunk of the northern DRC; in spite of stretching well to the east of the old DRC, Lingalaland is not nearly as rugged as the part of the East African Union that came from the DRC; the smallest of seven sovereign African nations that have over a million square kilometres of land, only marginally smaller than Sudan and Somalia.
Luba Kingdom - the smallest and flattest of the post-Congos states and the only one that was made solely from former land of the old DRC; as a full member of the CCC, it has illegalised the controversial "prosperity gospel;" has Africa's fifth-lowest height differential, ahead of Senegal, Sahelia, Yobe, and the Songhai Republic; has one of a few post-Robertian examples of celebrity leaders, as Prime Minister Dikembe Mutombo - also the world's tallest head of government at 7'2" - was a famous NBA basketball player!
Luxembourg - Europe's fifth-smallest country and second-smallest both in Europe and the entire world amongst landlocked nations after the Vatican City; relatively flat, having a height differential of 331m and a height average of 325m, comparable to the neighbouring Netherlands; an important country within the New European Union - several NEU institutions have their headquarters in Luxembourg.
Madagascar - the titular island is the world's fourth-largest (behind Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo), while the country is the second-largest centred around one particular large island (only Papua being larger); home to thousands of endemic plant and animal species; the largest of Africa's island nations by a massive margin.
Maghreb Union - combining Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, northern Algeria, and northern Libya, this long country is Africa's second-largest sovereign nation after the East African Union; is home to a number of small depressions which, while not as deep as the Afar or Qattara Depressions, still get quite deep, as low-point Sebkhat Tah is twice as far below sea level as the shores of the Caspian Sea; contains the entirety of the Atlas Mountains, and Jbel Toubkal in Morocco State is the highest point in the entire Arab World; in spite of protests from Castille, the New United Nations recognises the Union's sovereignty over Sebta (Ceuta) and Mlilt (Melilla); it and Azawad are the two countries that can claim Berber languages among their official languages - in the Union's case, at the state level.
Malay Federation - Asia's fifth-largest country by area after Siberia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan; at just over 2.1 million square kilometres, it ranks 14th in the world; considered to be "almost an island nation" since 96% of the nation's land area is on islands, with only the Malayan Peninsula being the exception; home to numerous volcanoes due to its position along the Ring of Fire; also just behind Adamawa on the list for most languages spoken in the country, ranking third overall; no other country even comes close to having the same number of islands! Did we mention it is also the third-most populated country in the world, after China and Bharat?
Maldives - rendered uninhabitable by nuclear warfare during the Robertian Era, the Maldives is being held in trust by the New United Nations for the Dhivehi people, most of whom currently live in Sindh; due to the warping of coral reefs due to the nuclear heat, the highest point in the Maldives is just three metres above sea level, and given how accustomed the largely Muslim Dhivehis have gotten to their new home in Sindh, the Maldives may remain uninhabited indefinitely.
Malta - the third-smallest nation in the world by land area, as well as the smallest island nation; known for its unique culture and its blistering-hot summer temperatures; among Europe's southernmost countries, being very close to the Maghreb Union; were it not for a couple of tiny Italian islands, Malta would be western Europe's southernmost country!
Mande Republic - most of its largest cities are inland, although Conakry and Banjul-Serrekunda-Brikama are on the coast; has a good range of different climates, ranging from desert in the far northeast to rainforest in the south and grasslands further west; while most of the areas are majority-Mande, the area around Ziguinchor, having not wanted to join the Pula Empire, instead became a state of the Mande Republic due to its two-tier language policy - Jola is a state-official language there.
Mauritania - some irredentists are annoyed that the country gave up almost 75% of its pre-Robertian land to the Sahara Desert Trust Territory; once considered joining the Maghreb Union but ultimately refused; Africa's eighth-flattest country, but third-flattest when one considered non ex-Nigerian states!
Mauritius - Africa's third-smallest nation by area as well as its flattest island nation; also Africa's only nation where Hinduism is the most-practiced religion with just under half of Mauritians being Hindus; although its closest ethnocultural links are with Bharat, disagreement over the extent of the same's religious nationalism has driven Mauritius to forge stronger links with more moderate South Asian countries like Dravidia, Sindh, and Himalaya, while of course maintaining friendly relations with the other Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, Réunion, and the Seychelles.
Mayan Republic - the southern border is roughly analogous to the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, but the country is considered geographically and culturally part of Central America, of which it is the largest and highest nation; has numerous volcanoes; home to almost the whole of the world's Mayan language-speaking population; its nine official languages are tied for the world's second-most with the Kru Republic (behind Dagestan).
Mbundu - in spite of more than half of pre-Robertian Angola ending up in the Zambezi Republic, its highest point (Morro de Môco) is in Mbundu, which also got most of PR Angola's population, and its capital/largest city, Luanda; oil and diamonds are its primary resources; the Mbundu people are the dominant ethnic group, speaking two languages, Kimbundu and Umbundu; the southeast of the country is very mountainous, whereas the coastal plains (especially in the northwest) are the low-point.
Melanesia - did invite Papua to join, which would have expanded their land area nearly elevenfold; still has strong links with the same; home to hundreds of languages, ranking fifth overall; comprises New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Bougainville, Vanuatu, and Fiji; amongst the seven nations of Oceania (Australia, Papua, New Zealand, Melanesia, Hawaii, Polynesia, and Micronesia) it ranks right smack in the middle for population! Its population of around two and a half million is the largest amongst the four "small island" nations by a significant margin, having more than a million more people than Hawaii, over three times the population of Polynesia, and almost five times the population of Micronesia.
Mexico - in spite of losing Baja California and its pre-Robertian southeast, Mexico is still among the world's larger countries, ranking nineteenth amongst sovereign states, third in Latin America (behind Brazil and Argentina), and fifth in North America (behind Canada, Cascadia, the New Confederacy, and Dakota) in land area, and third in North America in population (behind the New USA and Cascadia and just ahead of the New Confederacy); Mexico City is North America's highest national capital, the second-highest in the Americas after Bogotá, and seventh-highest in the world (Lhasa, Parun, Thimphu, Asmara, and Sana'a are also ahead, the last only barely).
Micronesia - the smallest, flattest, least-populated, and most densely-populated of the Oceanic states; many of the island groups are primarily (if not solely) comprised of coral atolls; the Marshall Islands are tied for being the flattest inhabited first-order division of any country in the world, with the highest point thereof being just five and a half metres above mean sea level; the other pre-Robertian constituents of Micronesia are Micronesia, Nauru, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Kiribati, and Palau, with Kiribati being split into three Micronesian states (Kiribati, Rawaki, and Teraina, with Rawaki being one big national park), and likewise the old Micronesia (Chuuk, Yap, and Pohnpei-Kosrae).
Mongolia - the world's largest landlocked nation; amongst sovereign nations, ranks in at eighth overall, fourth in Eurasia, and third completely in Asia (behind Siberia and China); population of Inner Mongolia decreased dramatically during Dispersion due to the New Pacific Order relocating many Han Chinese families to "China Proper," but many Chinese stayed behind and are about as numerous as Mongols within the nation, with many starting to disperse more throughout the country, having formerly been concentrated in the southeast; Mongol and Mandarin share official language status; about two thirds of the Gobi Desert is situated within Mongolia.
Montenegro - of the eight former Yugoslav nations, only Kosovo is smaller; like Bosnia & Hercegovina and Vojvodina, its official language is a "deliberately neutral" standard of the Serbo-Croatian language based on the Štokavian dialect, with full recognition of all of its other standards (such as Serbian, Croatian, and Old Bosnian) and its many subdialects.
Myanmar - slightly larger than its pre-Robertian form, having annexed the pre-Robertian Indian states of Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland; its highest point, Hkakabo Razi, measures in at nearly 6,000 metres per last measurement, and is the highest point in Southeast Asia, including Indochina, the Andamans and Nicobars, and the Malay Federation.
Namibia - with the exception of the Caprivi Strip going to the Zambezi Republic via Strasbourg-compliant referendum, Namibia is the same as its pre-Robertian counterpart; containing both the bulk of the Namib Desert and the western 30% (roughly) of the Kalahari, Namibia is a relatively dry country; one of Africa's richer and better-developed countries, and (outside of the former South African states) the first to join the International Ice Hockey Federation, although they are only set to play their first non-inline tournament in 2021!
Nepal - has the largest height differential of any country; its high point is world's highest mountain Mount Everest at 8,848 metres, while its low-point is just 59 metres above mean sea level; even before annexing Sikkim, it contained eight of the top ten highest peaks in the world at least in part, and is one of just two countries (Kashmir the other) that contains multiple "eight-thousanders" completely within its borders. (Tibet also has one.)
Netherlands - even after its annexation of Flanders, the Netherlands remains among the world's flattest countries, with a height differential of just 329 metres (sixth-lowest in Europe, mere metres ahead of Baltika); it is also known for having the largest proportion of its landmass below sea level, if only barely; its low point is just shy of seven metres below sea level; Amsterdam is one of two national capitals that is fully below sea level (the other being Baku, which is lower).
New Confederacy - the third-largest country in North America, second-largest of the former Old United States nations (after Cascadia), and the only one of the fivesome with a discontiguous state (the United States Virgin Islands); while most of the country lies fairly low, western Texas has the Guadalupe Mountains, which are the highest mountains in the country; new flood-control technology developed during the Robertian Era as well as a drop in mean sea level has made New Orleans quite a bit safer!
New United States - while it is the second-smallest geographically North American country after Utah (third-smallest geologically), the New United States is also the most populated at around 145 million people; a little hillier than the New Confederacy on average thanks to the Appalachians and Adirondacks; the west of the country is quite flat; New York City still has North America's largest extended metropolitan area.
New Zealand - while it did lose its free-associate territories and dependencies (Tokelau, Niue, and the Cook Islands) to Polynesia, the main country is unchanged, and is one of three countries, along with Papua and Uralica, to have a sign language as its official language, being the first to start the trend; sits on the plate boundary of the Pacific and Australian plates, and as such is prone to earthquakes; known for its magnificent mountain scenery!
Ngunia - with just over twenty million people, Ngunia is the most populous country in southern Africa, with Johannesburg-Gauteng-Tshwane being the largest urban area in the same; almost all grassland, located in the Hoëveld, Bosveld, and small portions of the Lowveld - the Hoëveld region is higher-up, milder, and very well-watered, while the Bosveld in the north is lower, drier, and hotter, tending more towards a savanna climate; aside from the Afrikaner Republic, it is the only other country in Africa where 10% or more of the population is Euro-Caucasian.
Nicaragua - the second-largest country in Central America (largest on the Caribbean tectonic plate), Nicaragua also contains Central America's two largest lakes, Lake Nicaragua (which is the 19th-largest in the world) and Lake Managua; although cleanup schemes funded by fellow Franco Pact members China and Vietnam have had beneficial effects on the latter, it is still among the world's most polluted lakes; as with most Central American countries, the country sits primarily within a tropical rainforest climate area.
Nicobar TT - of the four inhabited trust territories (along with Amazonia, Sahara, and the Andaman Islands), Nicobar has the smallest population, making it the world's least populated self-governing territory aside from the Vatican, with fewer people than Gibraltar; tried becoming independent in 2019 but had to revert to being a Trust Territory because of problems that quickly emerged; unlike the Andamans, the native population of the Nicobars - distantly related to the Khmer and Vietnamese peoples - is still relatively vigorous, making up a 55% majority of the population, and their main language, Car, is a de facto official language alongside English.
Nilotica - a mountainous, landlocked country that sits largely in the Great Rift Valley; has a significant coastline on Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, whose waters it shares with the East African Union; its highest point, Mount Elgon, is an extinct volcano; in spite of its population of roughly 45.7 million, it has no individual urban areas with over a million people, with the largest urban area being Kisumu at around 715 thousand.
Nokhchynya - among the steepest countries on the planet - although it is barely more than seventeen thousand square kilometres in size, its height differential is 4,510 metres, from high-point Tuloy-Lam to the fringes of the Caspian Depression; speaking of which, Nokhchynya is the only landlocked country with territory in the depression if one counts the Caspian as a sea, and one of just three landlocked sovereign nations with territory below sea level (Uyghurstan and Uzbekistan being the others).
Nordland - the massive merger of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden takes up the entirety of the two Scandinavian peninsulas; lost a tiny bit of territory from Norway in giving Finland back its Arctic coast; Lammefjørd, being slightly lower than Zuidplaspolder in the Netherlands, is the second-lowest point in the New European Union.
North Macedonia - after Dispersion, the referendum in the area initially saw North Macedonia join Bulgaria, but it became apparent that the arrangement wasn't working (due in large part to Bulgaria's ignorance of North Macedonia's Albanian population), so earlier this year, North Macedonia officially re-split from Bulgaria; shares high point Mount Korab with Albania; one of the five charter members of the Shqiposferë.
Northern Ireland - Now contains the entirety of Ulster, one of the four traditional ; Lough Neagh is the largest lake in the British Isles and provides over a third of Northern Ireland's water needs; one of the highest-rated countries in the world for religious freedom; slightly larger than Wales; its northern coastline is known for the thrilling basaltic formations known as the Giant's Causeway.
Novgorod - has the second-lowest height differential in Europe, and given how it is over four hundred forty thousand times the size of the country behind it (the Vatican), it is often referred to as Europe's flattest country; most of it is forested - either boreal forests or mixed deciduous forests - and the land is not suited to massive amounts of agriculture, so much of its primary food material is imported, mainly from Uralica.
Nuristan - its low point is the highest of any country, 1,233 metres; rugged and rather inhospitable, it is the least- and sparsest-populated county in South Asia - as of the end of the Nuristan War, its population was around 110 thousand; surprisingly lush given that it is surrounded by more arid countries, it is covered in forest and has a marked wet season, and in some places, flooding is quite common; not counting Caspian-contingent nations, Nuristan is the world's smallest doubly-landlocked nation.
Oman - the discontiguous parts of the Musandam Peninsula were ceded to the United Arab Emirates, but Oman is otherwise the same in size; although overwhelmingly desert, the southwest has a distinct wet season (typically the chronological summer) when the area around Salalah becomes a lush, green "paradise."
Panama - a geological oddball, located on a microplate (that also contains part of Costa Rica); known for its unique shape, its rainforests, and of course the Panama Canal; more or less tied with Costa Rica for second amongst Caribbean-Central American nations on the inequality-adjusted Human Development Index.
Papua - long before the existence of Uralica, the island of New Guinea took a measure of pride in its linguistic diversity, and now a unified Papua boasts over a thousand languages spoken; the diversity is factored down to both the island's rugged terrain and the resulting biodiversity; Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya in Bahasa Federasi Malay) is Oceania's highest point at 4,884 metres; one of three countries, along with New Zealand and later Uralica, that have made a sign language nationally official; still contains the New Britain archipelago, but Bougainville has since joined the United States of Melanesia.
Paraguay - one of just two landlocked countries in South America (Bolivia is the other); also the second-flattest country on the continent and in the mainland Americas (ahead of only Uruguay), and fourth-flattest in the Western Hemisphere (ahead of the Bahamas and the Dutch Antilles); one of the innovators of the indigenous official language movement in the Americas, being the first New World nation where the main indigenous language being made official had success.
Pashmenish - this mountainous, arid country is made up of the Pashtun-majority areas of the former Afghanistan and Pakistan; has the world's seventh-greatest elevation differential; although officially an Islamic nation, other religions - especially Christianity, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism - are given a relatively high degree of freedom; the capital, Peshawar, is an important centre of diplomacy in South and Central Asia, being the seat of the now-superseded Peshawar Pact and its successor, South-Central Asia Regional Solidarity (SCARS), of which Pashmenish is one of the charter members along with Tajikistan, Punjab, Kashmir, Kyrgyzstan, and Uyghurstan.
Persia - most of pre-Robertian Iran still carries on as Persia, which has also annexed the province of Herat; the largest officially Shi'a Muslim state in the world; only three volcanic high points in the world are higher than Damavand (those of Chile, the East African Union, and Transcaucasia), which is also one of the few high points are surprisingly close to water; the descent from 5,628m high Damavand to the Caspian Depression at 28 metres below sea level not even 100 kilometres away is one of the world's steepest topographical drops; much of its inland is desert.
Poland - quite uniform in its climate (continental) and topography (flat), with the exception of its southern border, which is quite mountainous; one of two countries whose high point is a mountain's secondary peak (Israel-Palestine being the other) and one of five overall whose high point is not on a mountain's highest peak (also Finland, Guyana, and Russia); overwhelmingly Catholic (94%!); has the odd distinction of being the country whose official low point is the least below sea level while still being below sea level (A mere six feet or just under two metres)!
Polynesia - Oceania's second-smallest nation by land area, Polynesia nevertheless covers a large area on the map, having the largest internal-waters exclusive economic zone of any country in the world, even larger than that of Canada! Many of the country's highest points are volcanic, including high-point Orohena on Tahiti; Tahiti and Upolu, Samoa are the most populated islands, with the two together containing nearly half of Polynesia's population.
Portugal - more or less status quo relative to pre-Robertian times; one of three mostly-mainland countries (along with Castille and Fangland) with its high point on an island, in this case the Azores; a core member of the Lusosphere cultural bloc due to being the origin of the Portuguese language; even the mainland is fairly rugged; the climate is overwhelmingly Mediterranean on the mainland, with the islands being subtropical.
Puerto Rico - the pre-Robertian Non-Aligned Movement had the goal of Puerto Rican independence, but it took post-Robertian developments to actually see it happen; fifth-largest of eight Caribbean nations (more land area than the entire Antillean Union put together!) but fourth-smallest of fourteen countries in the Central American-Caribbean superregion; main island looks almost rectangular on a map; also contains a few smaller islands, of which two - Vieques and Culebra - are inhabited.
Punjab - one of four countries (along with eSwatini, Hijaz, and de facto the Netherlands) which has multiple capital cities, but in breaking with typical multi-capital countries, Punjab's second capital is actually an official ''cultural capital" - Amritsar is the holiest city in Sikhism and is also the seat of the Punjabi Language Standardisation Organisation and several nonsectarian Punjabi world cultural organisations; somewhat densely populated, its population of 141 million is fourth in South Asia behind Bharat, Dravidia, and Bangladesh.
Qatar - This small, oil-rich emirate is mostly desert; much of the country's water needs are provided by groundwater, with desalination providing the rest; the interior of the country is known for large sand dunes; is the world's least forested country, with no forest at all existing within its borders!
Réunion - the third-largest and most-populated of the Indian Ocean island nations, both behind Madagascar - also behind Suqutra in size and nearby Mauritius in population; its highest point, Piton des Neiges, is an extinct volcano, and is often called the highest point in the Indian Ocean (at just over three kilometres above mean sea level), formed by a volcanic hotspot; Africa's fifth-smallest country; its scenery and relatively pleasant climate make it a tourist destination - tourism is the #1 economic sector of the country, followed by telecommunications services.
Romania - Now includes Moldova, which is part of the Romanian region of the same name; a country of much topographical diversity, with plateaus in Moldova and (most of) Transylvania, relative lowlands in Wallachia and along the borders with Serbia, Vojvodina, and Hungary, and the Carpathians dividing these three regions; almost a quarter of Romania is covered by untouched forest; also known for the Danube Delta, which is one of Europe's largest tracts of preserved marshland; rugged Transylvania has spawned legends (Dracula) and most of Romania's ice hockey!
Russia - even if it isn't remotely close to its pre-Robertian size, it is the largest country entirely within Europe, and at around ninety-two million people, Russia is still Europe's most populated country, contains its largest city-proper and urban area (Moscow), and shares its lowest point with Transcaucasia and Dagestan; its rich chernozem soils allow for great amounts of cereal growth; with its partition, its only major oceanic ports are St. Petersburg, Taganrog, and Rostov, but it also has a decent number of river ports, most notably Volgograd, Samara, Tol'yatti, Astrakhan, and even Moscow itself; relatively flat with most of its rugged areas being it the country's southeast in Orenburg Oblast.
Sahara TT - the largest administrative body of any sort in Africa, being more than two and a half times the size of the largest sovereign nation (the East African Union) and only slightly smaller than China; as its name implies, its territory is the majority of the inland Sahara Desert, with the only other nation containing significant amounts thereof being Azawad; the Treaties of Sfax (2015, 2017, and 2020) delimit the boundaries and protections of the Trust Territory; of the four inhabited Trust Territories (there are six overall, remember), it has the lowest population density, and if counted as a "country" it has the sparsest population of any in the world by a significant margin; it is also the only landlocked Trust Territory, and the only one, inhabited or otherwise, with land below sea level!
Sahelia - by a factor of a single day, Sahelia is the oldest of the three post-Pula Empire states; it sits on the border of the Sahel and the Sahara Desert; the smallest of Africa's four doubly-landlocked nations, with only Nuristan being smaller in the world; rich in resources such as gold, quartz, and manganese; relatively flat with a few isolated hills and mountains scattered throughout the country.
Spammers Beware! I will destroy you by the POWAH of the JARK SIDE! ALL SPAMMERS WILL BE EXTERMINATED ON SIGHT.
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(06-11-2022, 10:13 PM)Kyng Wrote: I love how [Abacab] has a track with a section named "Lurker", when the album title itself looks like Lurker's attempt to spell "Abacus" or something .
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