SR Climate and Geography

The SR is traditionally divided into four geographical regions; Norden, Guinea-Væstindien, Østindien, and Antarktis. Norden includes all states and territories in Europe, the North Atlantic, and North America. Guinea-Væstindien includes Gadangmeland, Gjebaland, and the Cruzan Islands. Østindien includes all the states in Asia. Antarktis includes the dependencies of South Atlantic and Antarctica.

Norden

Norden is one of the northernmost regions of the world. The relatively mild conditions, however, are due to the warm ocean currents in the North Atlantic. These currents create milder conditions on the western coasts of Greenland and Iceland. The large amounts of water around Scandinavia makes the predominant weather temperatures constantly cool throughout the year. With the increasing distance from the sea the summers get progressively warmer and the winters colder, and of course increasing distance from the equator makes for a colder climate in the north.

Precipitation is much larger in the western parts of Norway and southern Greenland due to the mountain ranges and the dominant westerly winds than in the rest of Norden, but there is no real water shortage anywhere nor can any area really be considered dry aside from the northernmost parts of Greenland.

With the polar location Norden experiences long summer days and long winter nights, though the darkness of the winter is somewhat diminished by the snow cover in the furthest north. Much of Norden lies north of the polar circle. The polar location also makes Aurora Borealis common.

An icecap covers almost all of Greenland. It is surrounded by arctic/subarctic mountain ranges. Mountains are also found in Iceland and other North Atlantic islands, in most of Norway, and in western Sweden and Samme. The mountains are not very high. The highest mountain is Gunnbjørn in Greenland at around 12000 feet. Many glaciations have created long valleys, spectacular fjords and alpine peaks, except in western Sweden and Samme where they are more rounded. Those on Iceland and Jan Mayen (in the North Atlantic) are volcanic.

Tundra can be found in northern Samme, along the coasts of southern Greenland, and along the coasts of Iceland and other North Atlantic islands, except in the Faeroe Islands and southwestern Greenland and Iceland where the milder climate allows for the existence of subarctic grasslands. Herding is important in these areas - sheep in Greenland, Iceland, and the Faeroe Islands; reindeer in Samme and Greenland.

In Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg, and Rygen, the land is flat and fertile, much like Batavia and northern Germany. These countries have always been important to agriculture. Little of the deciduous forests that once covered the area remain as farmland has taken most of its old place.

The rest of Norden is forested land, including parts of Norway, most of Sweden, New Sweden, and New Iceland, and virtually all of Qvenland and Finland. There are many lakes and mires, and also many islands along the Baltic coasts. Coniferous trees (pine and spruce) predominate, with large influence of birch. The soil is usually not very good for agriculture, but in some places – like river valleys - better soils allow for more extensive farming. The southern lowlands of Sweden also have decent agricultural potential. Otherwise, it is forestry that is important in these lands.

The surrounding seas provides Norden with plenty of of fish. Sustainable numbers of seals and whales are also hunted. Oil and gas extraction is made in the North Sea.

Mineral deposits of metals like zinc, copper, titanium, uranium, chromium, silver, lead, nickel, gold and iron are extracted on mainland Scandinavia. The resources on Greenland are significantly larger, but are expensive to extract, and includes among many other minerals fluorite, gold, iron, lead and zinc.

Wind and hydropower is another natural resource with which Norden is blessed. Hydropower is particularly common in Norway, while windpower is particularly common in the flat countries of Denmark, Oldenburg, and Schleswig-Holstein. A fifth of Norden's energy needs are supplied by these alternative resources.

Guinea-Væstindien

Guinea-Væstindien is located in the dry tropics with two seasons: wet and dry. The amount of rain that falls in a given area depends on the wind and topography.

In Guinea (Gadangmeland and the Pepper Coast), the seasons are influenced by the movement and interaction of the dry dusty harmattan winds, which blows from the northeast from the Sahara, and the opposing moist southwest monsoon winds coming in from the Atlantic. The harmattan season starts in December. In Gadangmeland it lasts until March, while in Pepper Coast it lasts longer until May. It is then followed by the wet season for the rest of the year. In Gadangmeland most of the rains fall in the southwestern corner of the country, while rain in the Pepper Coast is much more evenly distributed.

In the Cruzan Islands, the prevailing trade winds come in from the northeast. Most of the moisture falls on the northwestern portions of the islands, leaving the southeastern portions fairly dry. The driest period is from February to April, and the wettest from September to January. Hurricane season occurs in the late summer and autumn months.

There are no real mountains in Guinea-Væstindien. The Akwapim Ranges in the western part of Gadangmeland are a range of high hills averaging 1500 feet in height. The ranges are largely covered with rain forests, and their higher elevation provides a relatively cooler, pleasant climate. In addition to the cultivation of rice and other staples, coffee plantations are also found here.

Three of the four main Cruzan Islands are very rugged with steep slopes protecting numerous coves and bays. The highest hill, Kronberg on Skt.Thomas, is around 1500 feet high. These rugged islands are not suitable for agriculture, and the original tropical dry forest vegetation still covers much of them.

The topography of the rest of Guinea-Væstindien is almost entirely flat and featureless. In general, the land is covered in grass and scrub. Irrigation systems allow large-scale cultivation of sugarcane and palm trees. Herds of senepol cattle are also raised. Several rivers empty through Pepper Coast, making its coastal plains swampy and covered in mangroves. The Volta river empties through Gadangmeland. Its delta forms numerous lagoons, some quite large, where salt-making is done.