ROXANNA

OVERVIEW & INTRODUCTION

Background

Roxanna, officially the United Federation of Roxanna is a sovereign city state surrounding the Straits of Onwel. Part of the Delta Alliance coalition, Roxanna’s territory consists of two plateaus and a number of islets. Though it straddles an important shipping passage, Roxanna is not a major economic power.

Originally an island state, Roxanna was forced to relocate to its current location under the Haldidalr Accords due to severe climate change. The relocation nearly quadrupled Roxanna’s territory, and as part of the Accords Roxanna welcomed tens of thousands of new settlers to relieve population overcrowding in the other Alliance member states.

Roxanna has no standing army, instead relying on a defence agreement with the Realm of Aquila Sol and the Alliance coast guard to secure its borders.

Roxanna was originally located among an archipelago of islands, collectively known as the Greater Vexcarian Islands, 72km southwest of its current position. Its economy relied heavily on tourism and fishing, as well as hosting ChirpX’s Veneris Prima Cosmodrome. It was also the poorest country in the Delta Alliance city-states coalition when it joined in 2019.

Even before joining the Delta Alliance, Roxanna has been under threat from coastline erosion and rising sea levels to the extent that a seawall had to be constructed around each island in the late 2000s, even if it meant decimating the local tourism industry. In the following years, increasingly frequent severe weather threatened to overtop the seawall, even though its height was increased 3 times within 5 years. Continuous inclement weather conditions also crippled Roxanna’s economy, with fishing boats unable to put out to sea and launches from Veneris Prima all but impossible.