City of Decatur

**Decatur** is a major city deep within the country of Cyberia. It is formed majorly around the central military base of Vostok, which started out as a Soviet research facility. Decatur is the third largest city by area and by population in the Antarctic State.

## History

### Early History

A small area of land in the fourth quadrant of the continent of Antarctica was claimed by the Soviet Union in December of 1957 as a research station in search of natural resources within the continent. Soon after the establishment of this front, Soviet researchers happened upon a significant natural deposits of uranium deep underneath the ice, leading to the establishment one of the first ever uranium mines, though the dangers of radiation exposure were not well-researched at the time.

### Reactor Testing

Having been discovered in the first half of the Atomic Age, the research station of Vostok was used as one of many Soviet grounds with which to secretly test the usefulness of particularly unstable elements, besides using them as a grandiose weapon. Nuclear power was a primary topic within this atomic research, eventually resulting in the building of test nuclear reactors with varying degrees of success, however no serious disasters occurred.

### Formation of Cyberia

With the militant takeover of many Antarctic bases by separatist factions, Vostok fell victim to its researchers and other scientific staff being captured along with the uranium mining teams being detained as captive workers for a newly emerging government. Vostok's future nuclear reactor plans continued to be researched upon, which ultimately resulted in a large breeder reactor being built within the base. This caused the base to steadily grow a military population surrounding the reaction, forming Vostok CMB (Cyberian Military Base), and the civilian city of Decatur around it.

## Economy

### Resource Management

Decatur is one of two major excavators and processors of elemental uranium, the other of the two being Overcast. Decatur itself supplies the country with roughly half of its stock of uranium, making it very important to the Antarctic State as a whole.

### Agriculture

Being one of the more major and developed cities of the lot, Decatur has its own dedicated facilities for the growing and harvesting of crops in order to sustain itself as well as the country altogether.

## Points of Interest

### Vostok CMB

The old Soviet research and testing base of Vostok has long since been commandeered by the Cyberian government, and has been expanded greatly since its creation. It has become the main base of operations for the Department of Energy, owing a large part of this to the Soviets' use of the original Vostok base as a research facility for nuclear power among other atomic age devices.

### Higher Education

Colleges in the city of Decatur tend to serve classes that specialize in large-scale energy production and distribution. This is helped greatly by scholarships and grants offered by the Energy Department in its venture to take in knowledgeable recruits in relevant fields of study.

### Frigid Climate

Even before the formation of the country of Cyberia, the area around Vostok was known to be coldest place on Earth at -89.2°C (-128.6°F, 184 K). Since the establishment and subsequent population of Decatur, this temperature has risen several degrees centigrade, however it still remains one of the coldest places on the planet, largely due to both its elevation and location so far inland from the shores of Antarctica. This can and will cause frostbite in
unprotected, non-furred people in under thirty seconds.