COMICBOOK MICROSTATES

COMICBOOK MICROSTATES Tiny Countries, Big Impact!

A microstate is a sovereign nation-state having a very small population or very small land area, usually both. However, the meanings of "state" and "very small" are not well-defined in international law. Real-life microstates are almost all highly dependent on a large neighboring country for defense, economic support and essential services. Some microstates are entirely within a larger country. The general and vague definition of microstates is that they are the smallest of all states. Some are 2 miles diameter; others are hundreds of miles wide but sparsely populated; some are city-states, less than a mile across but densely inhabited. Some Refuges, if they official contact with the outside world, would be officially considered microstates. The test for whether or not a Refuge which is generally closed off to the outside world is or is not a microstate is whether its ambassador or leadership has ever addressed the United Nations, or before the UN, the League of Nations.

Normal microstates are insignificant and overlooked, or tolerated enclaves of someone connected to the international power structure whose home state has no political power without the presence of that individual.

However, because of the asymmetrical power levels of a superhero or supervillain, if they come from a Refuge, or more simply a microstate known to the general public, their microstate home is likely to be a significant international player out of all proportion to its size or population. If the most powerful man in the world who is also a brilliant weaponsmith lives in your microstate - or rules it - the whole world has to listen.

All super-powered microstates have dimensional instability. This means that although the general region where they are located can be stated, their exact location is impossible to place on a map except in the context of what normal countries or regions border the microstate. For example a central european super-powered microstate like Ruritania borders a set of countries that would be physically impossible. And yet, it does. Likewise in the middle east, the eerie desert microstate of Gafir borders Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Each super-powered microstate has the following statistics:a NAME; a SIZE rating; a WEALTH rating (and explanation for the souce of the Wealth); a PER CAPITA WEALTH which indicates the social inequality of the microstate - low per capita Wealth means the Wealth is all held by the ruler or government; a note whether it is OPEN OR CLOSED (open microstates welcome visitors or at least don't prevent them; closed microstates are sealed off from the outside world); a GOVERNMENT type with a brief explanation; and a MILITARY briefly summarizing the type of armed forces or defenses that can be expected.

Per Capita Wealth is what an individual character who is native to the microstate has as their starting Wealth instead of the default Average given in the FASERIP RPG rulebook. It may still end up being Average of course. Note that if the microstate is also a Refuge, or if the character is acting on behalf of the microstate's rulers, it is the realm's Wealth and not their personal Wealth that they can use.

Very few if any of the Comicbook Microstates are "normal" in any real sense. Because of the dimensional instability that keeps them apart from the rest of the physical world they function as hysteretic bubbles of localized reality; a class of pocket universe that may usually exchange atmosphere, light and even people with the mundane world but which in fact are operating under slightly different rules of reality and even processes such as growing old and dying may not be identical to the Earthly realm. Part of this separation from the outside world is the phenomenon of social conservatism, an extreme instinctive reluctance to adopt the costume, attitudes and even items and weapons of the outside world.

GAFIR

Gafir is a tiny middle eastern nation on the border between Israel and Jordan, while also being bordered by Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Gafir is a patch of empty desert in the center of which is its capital city Bagmom, built on the mound Tel Agir-Abar, ancient ruins that are all that is left of a legendary city-state from the time of the Islamic Golden Age, and believed to be the eventual home of Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin.

Gafir is ruled by President Izoun and his family. Due to oil revenues and overseas investments, the ruling family have almost inexhaustible Wealth, although it is not spent on anything more than extremely expensive robotic toys for the President, and on debauched parties for the royal family and their cronies.

Bagmom appears in most respects to be a Medieval islamic city with no technology higher than that of the 1920s. The only exception is the Presidential Palace which has all the latest technology, especially Phenomenal communications and defense equipment. Hidden surface to air missiles and modern artillery and armored vehicles are arranged under camouflage nets within the extensive grounds of the Presidential Palace. Outside this precinct there is no military - or police. The President's Security Forces enforce his will but other than that Gafiri are left to fend entirely for themsevles.

There is a single oasis in the deserts of Gafir, approximately halfway between Bagmom and Jordan. Or sometimes, halfway between Bagmom and Tel Aviv.

___SIZE___	___WEALTH___	___PER CAPITA WEALTH___	___OPEN OR CLOSED?___	___GOVERNMENT___	___MILITARY___
Triple Shift (10 miles diameter)	Phenomenal (Oil and London investments)	Bad	Open but strictly controlled	Tyranny	Private army of mercenaries using armored vehicles, missiles and artillery backed up with a small number of super powered robots

Microstate Notes:

Gafir has existed more or less unchanged for a century. And even before then it had endured unchanged for centuries.
A series of natural caves and tunnels run deep below the desert between the Oasis and Bagmom. There is only one hidden entrance in the Oasis but many exists in different parts of the basement or underground levels of Bagmom.

LUTHA

Lutha is a tiny Central European nation in the Platinum Triangle, a series of four valleys bordered by Austria, Serbia and Ruritania.

Lutha is a very poor nation and although it had significant mineral resources before World War 1, these were wrecked by Zeppelin bombardment and the mines abandoned.

The population of Lutha as of 2023 is 50,000. There are many villages and four towns, one in each valley: North to South these towns are Nuckelberg, Uberstz, Kustrz and Nertz. Kustrz is the capital of Lutha but not particularly larger than any of the other three towns.

Owing to American cowboy Barney Custer becoming the king of Lutha during World War 1, Lutha was officially an Entente ally in the remainder of World War 1 and as such was spared the fate of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and its ally Germany. However, Lutha was excluded from the Treaty of Versailles meetings and ignored on the world stage. Barney's son Edgar became king in turn, followed by his daughter Emma. Now in her late sixties, Queen Emma still rules as of 2023.

Lutha has applied for membership of both the European Union and NATO with no success to date.

Lutha has close ties to various African nations owing to the morganatic marriage of King Barney's sister to a caveman brought out of icy suspended animation. Their descendants hold high diplomatic positions in various non-aligned countries in Africa and Asia.

Taxation in Lutha is entirely based on consumption tax. There is no income tax and never will be owing to the King's Law established by Barney Custer.

The mountains around Lutha are said to be home to Mailiki Maimun, a race of apemen or cryptid apes.

___SIZE___	___WEALTH___	___PER CAPITA WEALTH___	___OPEN OR CLOSED?___	___GOVERNMENT___	___MILITARY___
Double Shift (4 miles long 2 miles wide)	World Class (Nothing much)	Terrible	Open	Absolute Monarchy	Custer's Cowboy Cavalry (mechanized cavalry regiment) supported by Squadron Debonair (attack helicopters)

Microstate Notes:

Lutha was a dependency of Ruritania between the signing of the Treaty of Clogs in 1712 to 1848 when it gained independence due to Balkans intriguing by various neighboring powers.
The Spatrszyszc Fault is an unique formation of rock in the southern Vapsztc Mountains. An enormous meteorite is buried deep beneath the mountains and as a consequence attempts are now being made to establish new mines there to obtain the otherwise unobtainable unique elements locked in the minerals in that location. International mining companies and other foreigners have begun to visit Lutha with an eye on the prize.
Since 1992 there have been persistent efforts by foreign, usually Russian, organized crime gangs to infiltrate Lutha. There is a dangerous criminal element in all Luthan towns now as a consequence.
Men and women dress like Line Dancers or comedy cowboys without the slightest self consciousness due to the influence of the founder of the royal dynasty, Barney Custer of Beatrice, Nebraska. To this day Luthans greet each other and tourists with unironic heavily Eastern European accented, "Howdy, Pardnuhs!"
Duels for honor are absolutely legal in Lutha but must be fought with identical paired revolvers.

OPAR

Opar is a lost colony of Atlantis located deep in the jungles of Africa, in which incredible riches have been stockpiled down through the ages. The city's population exhibits extreme sexual dimorphism caused by a combination of excessive inbreeding, cross-breeding with the Ape ancestors of the Apes of Virunga Ape City, and selective culling of offspring. Female Oparians appear perfectly human and gorgeously beautiful, while male Oparians are apelike cannibalistic brutes. The city-state of Opar is an authoritarian matriarchy where the word of women is law and the ruling High Priestess is also the Empress.

As descendants of Atlantis, Oparians have blue, pale green or pink skin with jet black silky hair. Oparian males go prematurely gray at age 20 to 22.

Opar exists in the Bronze Age. The social conservatism of the locals is such that they reject any use of anything more modern than Roman era technology, but most of their weapons, armor and items are made of solid gold, wood tipped with gems, or bronze.

The official state religion, which all follow devoutly, is worship of The Flaming God, a powerful fire elemental symbolized by, or accessed through, an altar with a volcanic flame vent. Human sacrifice was a central feature of Flaming God worship for millennia. Exposure to unique volcanic gases in the High Temple grants extraordinary long life to the noble females of the city-state: many are centuries old. The ruler and high priestess of the city is Queen La. La abolished human sacrifice in 1930 after the last of a series of adventures involving encounters with adventurers from the outside world.

Opar is a Refuge. It guards thousands of years of Wealth going back to ancient Atlantis itself.

All strangers who find their way to Opar are imprisoned. Unless La herself takes a liking to one or more of them, the visitors are exposed to the rays of the Dream Crystal in the High Temple, which removes their memories of the last six months, and taken to one of the passes leading to Opar. There they are led while still disoriented beyond the locations where finding Opar is likely. Opar uses outside contacts for this, usually local African mercenaries.

Opar is bordered by Kenya, Rwanda, Congo, Angola and the Virunga Ape City.

Opar is in a small rift valley. The valley walls are sheer, jungle covered and rise a mile to the normal ground level of the outside world.

Opar has no normal physical entry points. The entry from Virunga Ape City is a desolate sandy canyon at the end of which is a massive waterfall. Entrants to Opar must enter into the roaring waters, travel below a massive rock arch and through a heavy curtain of falling water requiring a Strengh roll to pass safely. Failing the roll means the character vanishes into a subterranean roiling water cauldron to emerge in a large lagoon in the jungle of the Congo. The entry point from Congo is a similar sandy canyon that ends at a pair of collapsed and broken massive statues of Atlantean warlords. Crawling through their tumbled Astounding Weight chunks of rock leads to a winding passage which, if followed for two days, leads into the jungle valley of Opar. The Angola entrace is a subterranean tunnel under a volcano, across narrow stone bridges over rivers of lava, to emerge on a ledge a thousand feet above the valley floor of Opar. The Rwandan entrance is underwater. A small lake contains a completely flooded lava tube that leads after a day's swimming (with no available air) to a pool in the farmlands outside Opar's city buildings. The Kenyan entrance is through an abandoned emerald mine. The deepest level of the mine has a hidden swinging rock wall, beyond which is a three day's march through a cave system. Eventually, the caves lead to a winding gorge that rises into the jungle at the edge of Opar's valley.

___SIZE___	___WEALTH___	___PER CAPITA WEALTH___	___OPEN OR CLOSED?___	___GOVERNMENT___	___MILITARY___
Phenomenal (1.5 miles wide)	Phenomenal (Gold and gems collected for the last 10,000 years)	Female Oparians: Fantastic; Male Oparians: Terrible	Closed	Tyrannical Matriarchy	Hoplites and Female commander armed with "magic wands" (Blast - Lighting Bolts)

Microstate Notes:

Every few years a supervillain team or villainous country decide to mount an expedition, or even form an army, and try and find and invade Opar. Opar itself is suprisingly tough given how many of its women have super powers, but it is impossible to find Opar in normal circumstances. Also a serious invasion that stood any chance of success would attract the attention - and violent defense of the city - of the immortal jungle adventurer who now lives close by Opar with his family in their luxurious treehouse.
Opar stores treasure in all its underground caverns and basements of its buildings. The city itself is overgrown with jungle creepers even in the inhabited area. Animals that would be wild and dangerous in the outside world are tame and friendly in Opar unless La wills otherwise. The most commonly encountered beasts are Cape Lions.
Oparian women are all beautiful and have the Power of Hypnosis: Eye Contact Mind Control. La has this at Rank Phenomenal, most of the women have it at Rank Great.The women dress in jewellery and loincloths and not much else except during ceremonies when ancient Greek style robes are worn.
Oparian men are brutish with long beards and hair. Their statistics are Average other than their Fighting which is Decent and their Endurance which is Great. Their inbreeding has meant they are mentally ill to the point that other than the hypnotic commands of their women they can't function above the level of Chimps.

RURITANIA

Ruritania is a small Central European nation which is still largely farmland other than its crowded Medieval capital (and only) city, Streslau. Streslau is a city trapped in time, with the gaudy magnificent costumes of its gendarmes, Royal Guard soldiers and nobility all still preserving the dress of pre-WW1 Europe.

Ruritania borders Poland, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldavia and Romania.

The population of Ruritania as of 2023 is 250,000 with three quarters of this number in the capital city.

In the early 20th Century the Ruritanian inventor Rostum perfected a form of mechanical robot. Since then robotics has been the main industry of note in Ruritania. In the late 1960s the first Ruritanian androids began to appear on the international black market. These humanoid robots were flawless duplicates of humans other than having a severe tendency to have their human faces fall off when they suffered even Terrible damage. By the late 1970s this defect had been corrected. Ruritanian androids of the 1990s onwards are outwardly exact duplicates of human beings able to fool even medical examination in some cases. This Human Mimicry was Rank Decent in the 1960s, Great in the 1970s rising to World Class in the 1980s and Fantastic in the 1990s onwards. The android duplicates of living people have been a constant source of political intrigue and crime ever since the Ruritanian android was perfected.

Legal exports of androids and robotics now makes Ruritania the richest country in Central Europe. The only reason its Wealth Rank is not higher is because The Crown, the ruling family of Ruritania, own a controlling share in all robotics industries of the kingdom and take 60% of its profits as their own.

The King, currently King Rassendyl XI, is advised by a Privy Council a powerless body roughly equivalent to the British House of Lords. During the German backed revolution of 1941 the lower House of Commons was abolished and never restored.

Taxation is almost nonexistent in Ruritania but prices are high -1RS on all Wealth checks for visitors. Locals' earnings have long since adapted to the high cost of livng.

___SIZE___	___WEALTH___	___PER CAPITA WEALTH___	___OPEN OR CLOSED?___	___GOVERNMENT___	___MILITARY___
Triple Shift (10 miles diameter)	Astounding (Robotics)	Average	Open	Monarchy	War Robots, Drones, Androids

Microstate Notes:

Ruritania was a dictatorship from 1941 to 1956. After 1956 the Restoration of the Monarchy occurred.
Ruritania has longstanding close ties to Great Britain and a great deal of its royal family's wealth is "looked after" in the UK rather than in Ruritania itself or its region.
Since 1992 there have been persistent efforts by foreign, usually Russian, organized crime gangs to infiltrate Ruritania. To date these attempts have been unsuccessful due to the cultural conserativist nature of the native Ruritanians and due to the frightening efficiency of the many androids and drones that patrol the borders.
Beginning the mid 1990s there has been a growing problem with regional illegal mass immigration caused by policies of the EU and UN. Ruritania has a strict ban on immigration other than by marriage approved by the royal family.
Ruritanians are usually optimistic, if not overly intelligent, people but the exceptions to this are truly exceptional with a small but significant number of non powered heroes and villains most of whom are dashing swordsmen, loveable rogues, smugglers, student revolutionaries, professors of unlikely fields of study or knockabout adventurers. Although Androids do not have voting rights, self-aware self-repairing machines are considered "alive" enough for it to be a capital crime equivalent of murder to destroy one.

VIRUNGA APE CITY

The Virungan volcanic mountains in the jungles of the Congo are home not only to small populations of Mountain Gorillas but also a relict species of highly intelligent apemen who somewhat resemble Gorillas and other Great Apes. These Virungan Apes live within an isolated domed city usually sealed off from the outside world, although their Crown Prince, Howler is the fifth of his line to adventure in the outside world. Howler also functions as the ambassador of Virunga Ape City to the UN although he tries to be a superhero rather than constantly be at the beck and call of his bureaucrats for administrative and diplomatic duties.

Virunga Ape City is a Refuge.

Virunga Ape City is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, Opar and Kukuanaland.

The population of Ruritania as of 2023 is 20,000 with all of the Ape inhabitants living in the domed city.

Virungan Apes have a level of technology in advance of the outside world. They have had this level of technology since before what they remember as The Inundation, a worldwide flood and cataclysm that ended an ice age. Their domed city survived all the ruin outside intact although its location on the globe was noted to have changed after the great disaster. Social conservatism of the Apes has meant no real general technological advances have been made for centuries. New Devices are still occasionally invented but none of them have really altered the material circumstances of the domed city.

Virunga Ape City sits on top of some of the richest known ruby, emerald and platinum deposits on Earth and also has a small Uranium mine. Uranium from this mine was supplied to the allies in World War 2 as part of the Manhattan Project. There are also small excavations to extract unique elements deep below the domed city.

Despite having a ruling family with absolute final say and legal power vested in them, in some ways similar to Saudi Arabia the ruling family shares the incoming wealth from gem sales with all Apes. This somewhat communistic Wealth redistribution explains why all the Apes of the domed city have such a high Wealth Rank, although few make much use of it since their lives are relatively idyllic anyway.

Virunga Ape City has strong anti-human prejudice, with any human or near human strictly banned from entry under all but the most extraordinary circumstances and free movement of humans or near humans completely banned in the Refuge.

___SIZE___	___WEALTH___	___PER CAPITA WEALTH___	___OPEN OR CLOSED?___	___GOVERNMENT___	___MILITARY___
Wondrous (1 mile diameter)	Wondrous (Gems)	Fantastic	Closed	Absolute Monarchy	Wondrous Rank high technology weapons mostly mounted on Hovercars or carried by special forces

Microstate Notes:

Kukuanaland's Suliman Berg Pass, a split mountain currently under United Nations protection and disputed territory between Congo and Rwanda, is a desolate almost desert locale like an "anti-oasis" in the midst of the almost Lost World jungle of Congo and Rwanda.
Virunga Ape City is home to mammals, reptiles and birds that have been extinct in the outside world for thousands or tens of thousands of years.
The gardens of the domed city grow several unique plants, each of which has a different Wondrous Rank medical effect.
The Royal Family have been superhero adventurers for over a century. Howler is the latest in a long line of super-apes who adventure in the USA and his direct family fought for Belgium and the USA in World War 1 and World War 2. Since the 1950s, Howler's family's military ties have been solely with the USA.
Local criminal gangs, poacher teams and resource raiders, sometimes led by or working for supervillains, are a contant threat to the Domed City despite its remote location. They are dealt with ruthlessly but with minimum loss of life and always handed over to local human governments or the UN to be tried for their crimes. Which is why so many of them are free to commit more crimes in a very short space of time.