Askabjǫð

Head of State
 Official currency

**Askabjǫð** is a small archipelago in the Bering Sea, featured in IronClaw's **Just Cause X2: Defy Extinction** series.

## History

### Before XXI (twenty-first) century

In times immemorial, **Askabjǫð** was a fortress of an ancient superpower, waging war against what is known today as *Hyperborea*, the Eurasian superpower of the Mesolithic age. One of the Sector Command bunkers is situated there, now buried beneath an ice shelf and rocky canyons. These ruins, *Gwarch Ó Duibhir*, are still holding secrets of powerful technologies used in the era, when a global war shattered entire continents.

Thousands of years after, the small island chain was settled by Dutch fishermen and hunters, but before the XVIII (eighteenth) century those towns were mostly seasonal, as there were seemingly nothing of value to cross the open waters. Not only that, but the local tribesmen, called the *Onkilons*, were incredibly hostile and miraculously held their ground against armed opponents quite successfully. It was only in the times of the Anglo-Russian War of 1809 when the Russian Imperial Army landed on these isles, and the savage people were finally brought to their knees, albeit with unusually heavy casualties.

**Askabjǫð** remained under Russian control (known as **Beloverdansk** then) until World War I, when the Imperial German Navy successfully captured the archipelago and held the ground until the very end of World War I.

In the interwar period the legal status of the islands was discussed by several interested parties, including Norway and the Soviet Union, but the negotiations were broken by the start of World War II. During the events, the native Onkilon tribes rebelled again, overthrowing the Nazi regiment that occupied the islands, and stayed independent up until 1951, when Soviet forces conducted another landing followed by aerial bombardment and heavy purges amongst the locals. Since Norway and several other nations considered **Askabjǫð** islands as their own land, this almost sparked another conflict. Since they were already engaged in the Korean War, the Soviets decided to fall back.

In 1971, a treaty was finally signed that declared the archipelago a condominium, an internationally controlled, demilitarized land with all nations being able to develop its resources by a simple "landgrab" right, i.e. who gets it first. The industrial boom quickly followed, as Askabjǫð held large amounts of heavy metals, oil and uranium or deposits.

### Global Crash of 2021

When the pandemic of *WARS9* (Wuhan acute respiratory syndrome) hit European nations, many workers became stranded on the island for the better or worse, since all the communication and travel, including monorail landlines built on the sea shelf ceased due to quarantine. At first, the situation remained under control, but the food supplies started to run short, and the locals took the opportunity to rebel again. In 2021 not many workers were keen to fight alongside Onkilons, and the rioting was contained by the police forces and border guard units deployed on the island.

...and then oil prices plummeted, followed by a great earthquake that reshaped the entire northern coastline of Europe.

The world, consumed in chaos and internal struggle, abandoned the Askabjǫð inhabitants. For three years, people had to survive completely on their own, growing ties between foreign workers and tribal inhabitants of the archipelago. Many passed away, but overall, the community has not only just survived, but started to rebuild after the destruction caused by earthquake.

### **Endron** and the Rebellion of 2025

The relief came in 2023, when a newly created resource development cartel, the **Endron Company**, arrived on the islands. Bringing food, medical supplies, and construction materials, they were met as saviors. However it did not last. In mere months, workers and locals understood they've become slaves to the corporation, forcing them to rebuild mining infrastructure and denying passage off the archipelago. New wages were miserable, working conditions - unbearable, and the world was too busy dealing with aftermath of the crash to help the oppressed.

After two years of sporadic outbreaks, the workers and Onkilon tribesmen organized a seasoned resistance movement, and cracked open the old bunkers of the border guard depots, containing military vehicles and equipment of the pre-crash nations.

Swiftness of the attack caught the **Endron Security Forces** with a surprise, and in mere weeks the entire archipelago fell under the Resistance control - except the small, heavily reinforced corporate headquarters in the **Polaris I** region. The victorious rebels promptly declared themselves a "**Free Republic of New Libertatia**" that was recognized by two dozen nations following the next weeks. Endron management, however, was determined to take Askabjǫð back, striking the deal with **Black Hand** leaders. The response comes quickly, as **Task Force Firecat** is dispatched to secure the northern lands...

## Geography

Askabjǫð is a climate anomaly. While **Polaris I** and **Meinbjǫð** regions are pretty usual for the far-northern, barren islands covered in ice and snow, the mainland, **Viðrbiǫð**, is a tropical oasis, presumably heated by the large volcano situated in the center of the island, as well as underground thermal sources.

Even more mysterious is the island of **Heitrheimr**, once connecting the archipelago with the mainland with monorail lines, and now deformed into hellish canyons that swallowed cities and factories alike; the sandstorm of red quartz is whirling relentlessly over the ashen grounds, and no one is sure why.

This kind of abnormality attracted many scientists around the world to study the effects of the local weather; hence, many *bio-domes* were created on the archipelago before the crash.

## Industry

Askabjǫð houses many industrial facilities, being rich in metals, oil and uranium deposits which are considered one of the largest in the world, albeit most of them lie on the sea shelf rather then the surface of the islands.

It also bears many R&D facilities, dedicated to study the weather anomalies, as well as secret Eldrith Tech weapon research complexes. Scientific communities around the world conducted projects on the archipelago prior to 2021, and large infrastructure still remains operational to this day.

Islands have a large network of docks and shipyards, as well as several airfields, as Askabjǫð is a key logistics center along the Northeast Passage.

## Trivia

* Askabjǫð means "Ashen land".
* It's heavily inspired by the urban legend of "Sannikov land".
* It has three distinctive biomes: arctic, tropical and red desert.
* The map was inspired by Medici of Just Cause 3.

## Gallery

An average Research Station across the Askabjǫð.One of many Bio-domes.Polaris I cliffs.Viðrbiǫð plains.Askabjǫð at night.Desrt plains of Viðrbiǫð.Viðrbiǫð tropical biodome.Ditto.Heitrheimr desrts.Heitrheimr city ruins.Heitrheimr canyons.