by Max Barry

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10

An Introduction to Turbeaux

Geography and Climate

Turbeaux is an island located near Caracasus and Lord Dominator. Its capital is Nacelle, which is located on Tribble Ridge. This city was built around the largest wind turbine in Forest but is confined to a single arcology that can use rockets to fly away if such action is deemed to be necessary. As a result of this change, the overwhelming majority of Turbeaux's population currently resides in Nacelle. First City (the former capital) was located on the southwestern coast of Turbeaux but had to be evacuated due to repeated plumes of radioactive pollution from Lord Dominator being carried ashore by an oceanic current. Turbeaux has an oceanic climate (Cfb Köppen climate classification), except for the higher elevations along Tribble Ridge (Including Nacelle) which have a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc Köppen climate classification). Cloudy days are very common in Turbeaux due to evapotranspiration from its dense forest (which is watered by numerous artesian springs and frequent rainfall) coupled with the extreme topographic prominence of Tribble Ridge and aerosol pollution from Lord Dominator serving as cloud condensation nuclei.

Foreign Relations

Turbeaux has a pact of nonagression and friendship with its neighbor Caracasus but limits its involvement with Lord Dominator to mutual diplomatic recognition due to their blatant disregard for the environment. However, refugees from Lord Dominator are welcomed with open arms (after a fairly noninvasive decontamination procedure). Turbeaux also maintains especially friendly relations with Ruinenlust, Mount Seymour, Palos heights, Montmorencia, and Errinundera along with most of the rest of Forest.

Energy

Most of the energy of Turbeaux is generated via wind power because its rivers are full of sediment due to the erosion of Tribble Ridge preventing effective hydroelectric power generation; also, it is too cloudy for solar power generation. Miniaturized municipal nuclear reactors supplement power generation during times of peak demand.

Religion

Technically, the official religion of Turbeaux is Machine Worship. However, all legislation that gave Machine Worship preferential treatment by the central government has been eliminated. Even so, the AI that runs the economy of Turbeaux remains despite the fact that it was created by Mechanists. More Turbeauxers self-identify as atheist or agnostic than Mechanist. However, Machine Worship is a fascinating faith. Mechanists gather at their community's wind turbine installations and pray to The Machine for Its favor. The huge turbine in Nacelle is seen as the most important Machine (partially because the economy-running AI was programmed in a room underneath it) and pilgrimages to it are quite common among Mechanists. Often, children of Mechanists will marry there to appease their parents.

Transportation

Flights to all of the other major airports in Forest are available at Nacelle International and boats are accommodated at a deepwater port within a fjord on the north coast of Turbeaux. Most intra-national transport utilizes powerful drone-like quadcopters (these became extremely popular while automobiles were banned). However, the railways are also fairly popular despite the fact that train speeds are highly limited during ascents to Tribble Ridge.

History

Most scholars agree that the original inhabitants of Turbeaux were fishermen who settled there after island-hopping from Caracasus. In more recent history, the borders of Turbeaux were closed for several centuries and this limited diversity enough to make inbreeding a major issue. However, in recent years increasing numbers of refugees from Lord Dominator have diversified Turbeaux greatly. This has led to xenophobia in some of the more isolated areas of Turbeaux (a provincial leadership was won by a woman using "Make Turbeaux great again" as a slogan and promising to build a wall around her province to keep "murderer, rapist, drug-dealing" refugees out), but this is fading rapidly due to positive representation of refugees in the media. First City was evacuated several decades ago but forest has not reclaimed it due to its extensive fortifications and herbicide runoff from Lord Dominator.

International Agreements

Turbeaux has agreed to not use or stockpile WMDs (after an unfortunate incident involving fallout from a high-altitude nuclear test falling onto Caracasus and the EMP from this nuclear test damaging electronics in Lord Dominator and Caracasus) but still has the ability to produce them. Turbeaux uses the metric system and ratified a Forest-wide agreement to phase out greenhouse gas emissions. Turbeaux actively participates in international space programs such as the FISS (Forest International Space Station) and the FPS (Forest Positioning System) and maintains an extensive offshore launch facility. Additionally, Turbeaux is Forest's ambassador to Yggdrasil and Wintreath. Finally, Turbeaux is an enthusiastic member of the World Assembly and remains neutral in surrounding conflicts.

The Sylvan Hivə of Turbeaux

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