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The Kingdom of Antarctica - DOE


PresidentDavid

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A frozen continent with very few people on it; at least that is what it appeared to be for the longest time. It had taken years since Tianxia ended its formal protection of the windswept white continent and over that time a monumental construction project continued. A project that had been going on for a very long time and involved millions of people. The cost of the endeavor was not imaginable, so high that many nation-states themselves could not fund such a endeavor. However, the combination of wealthy entrepreneurs and venture capitalists helped jump start this project. A people had lived underground for so long in sometimes awful conditions. But now they would have a formidable home and, for the first time, declare their existence to the world. The massive collapse of nations around the world resulted in so much instability that they hoped a new nation rising in an unsuspecting place would bring at least some joy to an almost anarchic world. 

 

"Do you think this is how we will come out to the world - do you think this is how we want to come out to the world? What you have done could cost us our legitimacy, our privacy, and possibly even our sovereignty. It has been a very long time since we had to execute someone, over ten years. You understand why we are having this conversation Eli, right?" A man in rags had his wrists bound together in chains. He was shivering but trying to keep his arms still because blood from his arms had froze to the steel chain links. He hadn't been tortured, but trying to escape proved futile when chained in a prison cell. He ultimately had done it to himself. "My King, please. There have been others who have done worse then what I did. Thieves who steel millions from the public, people who take advantage of others. I'm sure there's been others that have wronged you? My King I couldn't resist, you must understand-" 

 

The King stood from his thrown and shouted, "I MUST UNDERSTAND? IF THIS WOULD HAVE GOTTEN OUT YOU WOULD HAVE DAMNED ME, AND EVERYONE ELSE! THIS IS TREASON!" The man shuttered and looked away with fear. The King collected himself and sat back down on his thrown. The guards in the room could feel the tension lingering. "We are having this conversation," the King continued, "because I have been in your position before. I was sentenced to death before - though wrongly - and I truly thought I was going to die. I know how that feels." The man was waiting for the King to give some big revelation. "I hope that gives you comfort; guards, take him to the the end chamber." The King didn't give a big revelation. 

 

"NOOO! NO! STOP! MERCY MERCY!!" The man kicked and screamed while two formally dressed guards hauled the man off to a chamber downstairs which led to a small hallway. The hallway left the palace underground and went about three-hundred feet away to an icy room the size of a neighborhood swimming pool. "PLEASE! PLEASE!" the man screamed. The guards didn't relent. They knew what he had done. Inside the room, which had walls and ceiling of ice, was a pool of water. It looked normal, but it wasn't. It was heated by geothermal activity farther below. Any hotter, and it most likely would boil. The mans screams were heard only for a little bit, and then they stopped. It was considered the best form of execution in the kingdom. Guns scared people who lived in the cities, the guillotine brought forth revolutionary ideas that the Kingdom could not afford, lethal injection would be nice but the chemicals were hard to get in that part of the world, and the electric-chair and gas chambers were not considered humane. It had been done this way for a long time, but that doesn't mean anyone liked it.

 

The King was still sitting on his thrown and read one of the morning papers for the capitol. It was more information about new construction projects around the capitol. After the Kingdom went public, they would begin above-ground building on the coast. That would surely be interesting, and costly. But hopefully it could bring in more food and fish. A tall woman only a few inches shorter than the King walked in with her hands folded behind her back. "Husband," she said as she took each step up to the thrown next to the King's. "Wife," he said likewise. "What do you think of the girl?" They sat at the same time. "Give her some time," said the Queen, "and we can help her out. She's still really shaken up. That man is a monster for taking advantage of a servant like that. She is only a servant but she is under our protection... Men can be so cruel. Did you....?" The king folded the paper and set it down on his lap. An eager servant approached the thrown and bowed respectfully before offering him tea. He grabbed a cup and smiled at the girl who silently offered some to the Queen and then walked away. "He is no more. He wont be a threat to the kingdom's girls, or our reputation. I still think it may have been more appropriate to jail him, but you felt pretty strong about this." 

 

The Queen didn't want to admit it was her doing that resulted in a man's death. It was true, but she felt guilt sometimes. "He deserved to die, even though it ended our ten year record of life. We'll make a new record in eleven years, my King." The King sipped his tea again in silent agreement. The rest of that Sunday morning was peaceful. A few decisions needed to be made, but the King's cabinet was hard at work to keep the kingdom working smoothly and growing steadily. The King decided to take a stroll through one of the capitol exclaves. It was a large dome above the surface of Antarctica. It had the capability of being made transparent and keeping snow/ice off of it to allow sunlight in and sight to the outside world, but for reasons of secrecy it had not been activated for some time. The international community had better things to do than have its spy satellites scanning Antarctica for a white dome on a white land, but the King still didn't want to take any chances. Similar domes were around the continent, but the capitol's was the largest. There were also large underground facilities which the Royal Government was trying not to make more of, but instead focus on moving above ground. That was why they were, in part, making their existence public after being secretive for so long. Rather declare than be discovered. 

 

Two guards followed behind the King at a safe distance, but there wasn't much if any threat from citizens in the capitol. "Your Majesty, good day to you!" one man shouted. The King waved back to him. Other civilians didn't block his path but waved and greeted him. "Make way for the king!" shouted a merchant who quickly moved his fruit cart from the King's path. he tossed the monarch an apple, and the King happily took a bite of the green wonder. "Thank you Stan! Have a good day!" The civilians were going about their Sunday afternoons. Most people were not working, but enjoying the "outside" which was really the interior controlled climate of the dome. The King enjoyed his last few minutes of peaceful security in a world no one else knew existed. He returned to the Royal Palace and got his family together. The Queen, Crown Prince, and the Princess were all together, waiting for their patriarch. He buttoned his suit and fashioned his sash which consisted of a royal blue and a lighter blue, and then two stripes of white. 

 

"What do you think they'll think of us?" the Crown Prince asked his father while the television crew prepared the live introduction that would be broadcast worldwide, or at least as far north as their signals from the Antarctic could get - though it would surely reach South America, Africa, Australia, and southern Asia. "I just hope they don't judge us by our appearance. Some people tend to dislike others who are different from them. I'd say we are pretty different from them culturally, and physically to some extent." Oh I left that out, damn. They have blue hair - all of them. And pale skin that could probably be compared to Scandinavians. Living underground for so long, not just a lifetime but generations upon generations, left them a little different. 

 

The lights flashed on, and the Royal Family stood still. King Mark Snow stood tall next to his family. The Queen held onto his arm as if he was going to escort her somewhere. "Good evening nations of the world, peoples of the world, and fellow leaders. I am King Mark Snow, sovereign of Antarctica. My people have been here for generations, upon generations. We've observed world wars, expeditions to our home, and the evolution of your people which helped inspire our own economically and through infrastructure. It has been a very long time, a very very long time, since we have had contact with the outside world, but I would like to extend a peaceful declaration of our existence, because it seems our presence has been forgotten, mostly due to our own ambition to remain in our own part of the world and left alone. Now that we are stable politically, culturally, and economically I thought it would be best to show you all that we are here, and we mean no harm. We are capable of defending ourselves, but have no ambitions on conquering foreign lands. We can feed ourselves, provide energy, and we have been doing so for a long time. 

 

"I can understand how this may seem like a hoax or an unreal prank that someone is trying to pull. To prove our legitimacy, I ask the Empire of Tianxia to closely observe the sea outside of Sydney Harbor in Australia. A fully armed submarine will surface and shoot off a blue flair. I have ordered them to not make contact, but I hope that their presence can prove our existence one way or another. A small fleet of submarines will be off the coast of King George Island, next to the Antarctic Peninsula. If anyone would like to meet our sailors there with diplomats, I'd be happy to have them escorted to the capitol here in Antarctica to talk to me personally and answer any questions. I hope to hear from someone soon." 

 

The camera shut off and the signal ended. The fleet stationed off the Antarctic coast now just waited for anyone to come. Anyone at all. 

 

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