Antarctica (Aber)

The Diarchic Kingdoms of the Antarctic Empires "Aṇṭārqaṭiqarādzjānāṃ Ḍājarqiqa Sāmrādzjam"
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "[Vajaṃ] qevalaṃ manuṣjāṇāṃ qṛte Diggadzāḥ, [tathāpi vajaṃ adjāpi] Brahmāṇḍasja pipīliqāḥ eva smaḥ." "[We are] Giants to mere men, [and yet still, we are] mere Ants to the Cosmos"
Anthem: "Śāntiḥ" ("The Peace")
Location of Antarctica (in dark green) on the globe centred on the South Pole
Status	Extant
Capital	The Dvija (Dvidza-nadī-nagara) 71°34′N 67°13′E
Recognised national languages	Antarctic Sanskrit
Ethnic groups	Abarvatapuruṣāḥ (Aber), Nadīpuruṣāḥ, Samudrapuruṣāḥ, Sarovarapuruṣāḥ, Parivrādzapuruṣāḥ, Lubdhaqapuruṣāḥ
Demonym(s)	Antarctic (cultural) (Aṃṭārqaṭiqa-saṃsqṛti), • Ant (person) (Aṃṭārqaṭiqa-vjaqti [s], Aṃṭārqaṭiqa-vjaqtiḥ [p])
Government	Federalist direct elective imperial diarchy (1926 - 1945)
• Emperor (Samrāṭ) & Empress (Samrādzñī) -- respectively	Naṣṭāgniḥ & Naqhamuṣṭiḥ
• High King (Uccarādzā) & High Queen (Uccarādzñī) -- respectively	Paśulubdhaqaḥ & Dzñānārthī
• High Master (Uccamālaq) & High Mistress (Uccamālaqina) -- respectively	J.E.R “the Hammer” Dzñānīparivāra & Q.R.B. “the Anvil” Dzñānīparivāra (née Qīmijādzñaparivāra)
• High Lord (Uccamajilu) & High Lady (Uccamahilā) -- respectively	U.E.C “the Hawk” Radzataparivāraḥ & L.O.Q “the Vulture” Radzataparivāraḥ (née Śūlaparivāraḥ)
Legislature	The Uccanīlaśāhīāhāra, or Nīla (High Blue Imperial Diet)
• Upper house	Garuḍadarabāraḥ, or Garu (Eagle Court)
• Lower house	Qapotanyāyālayaḥ, or Qapo (Dove Court)
Establishment
• Ādivāsīrādzya-bandhana, “Binding of the Tribal Kingdoms”	c. 9,917 BC
• Aniścitatā-laqṣaṇam, “Hallmark of Uncertainty”	c. 1683 BC
• Pūrva’paścima-vibhādzana, “East and West Schism”	c. 384 BC
• Qrūseḍara-paṃtha, “Crusader Creed”	April 14th, 1117 AD
• Raqtayugam, “Blood Era”	February 9th, 1928 AD
Population
• 1927-1930 estimate	19,844,391,737 (1st)
Currency	Lionsdisk (Siṃhacaqram) (SHC)
Date format	mm-dd-yyyy (AD)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+888
ISO 3166 code	ANT
Internet TLD	.ant

Antarctica, officially the Antarctic Empire (Antarctic Sanskrit: Aṇṭārqaṭiqarādzjānāṃ Ḍājarqiqa Sāmrādzjam), is a country in the Southern Hemisphere, mainland of the Antarctic continent and numerous smaller islands within the Circle. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 5,500,000 square miles. Every winter, most of Antarctica is covered by the annual Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.2 miles; about 70% of the world's freshwater reserves are frozen in Antarctica, which would raise global sea levels by almost 200 ft were it not for the country’s extensive irrigation systems and natural dams holding back the freshwater when it melts at the beginning of spring.

Antarctica is, on average, the overall coldest, driest, and windiest of the continents, and it has the highest average elevation. It consists of a variety of polar biomes (maintained due to the heat from the continent’s geologically active regions), however, it consists mainly of mountainous coniferous forests, with annual precipitation of over eight inches within regions below 5,000 feet and along the coast, with far less (by average) inland (mostly within the more mountainous regions and elevations for 10,000 feet. Antarctica holds the record for the lowest measured temperature on Earth, at -128.6 °F. The coastal regions can reach temperatures over 50 °F in the summer, even up to 90 °F within the caverns and forest floors of coniferous jungle regions (thanks to geothermal activity). Native major species of lesser animals include mites, nematodes, penguins, seals and tardigrades. The most impressive ecosystems provide shelter for the last known dinosaurs and prehistoric megafauna which have gone extinct elsewhere. Where vegetation occurs, it is, once again, mostly in the form of coniferous forestry.

Antarctica is an HRE-fashioned empire; as a decree of the Roundtable Pact of the 54th Century BC, it is composed of a hundred kingdoms, each with, at most, 50 duchies, which themselves have a varying number of principalities. It is the most populous country in the world, with over 20 billion people (in the ground-level, underground, and canopy levels of the country's cities), and the second largest country in the world by land area, second only to Russia. The capital and largest city is the Dvija (Dvidza-nadī-nagara); other major cities are yet to be documented.

Prehistoric human and early activity on Antarctic soil dates to the Late Pliocene, during the last few thousand years of the Gelasian subdivision. Like Australopithecus africanus, the first Antarctic pre-humans, known unsurprisingly as Antarctipithecus aberinensus, had competition with their early human brothers of Homo robustus aberinensus – both genera being direct descendants of the local species of an unknown gorgonopsid subclade, but possibly a descendant of the extinct Dinogorgon rubidgei. Technically, robustus’ modern human descendants, the current Homo sapiens antarcticus (or aberinensus), would be the first humans to thrive on Earth, though not the first to settle on the other continents outside their own; thus, this subspecies is debated to be separate from the early mainstream migrations of humans. Antarctic humans, as they are called, started forging their civilization when during the early centuries of the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, where members & clades of the other subspecies started forging theirs during the Mesolithic. The cementation for a permanent civilization became more evident sometime between 110th and the 99th Centuries BC, as observed by earlier archaeologists during the European Middle Ages; advanced radiocarbon dating and advances in biological sciences helped produce documents in late 2024 AD, which confirm 33rd Century BC scrolls & 10th Century AD manuscripts that pinpoint a major founding date of the Empire as a whole to 9,917 BC, making it the first major civilization in the world, though not in other continents by standard humans. Continuous settlement throughout the Antarctic continent continued from thereon.

For the next eight millennia, the empire, via geopolitical contested claims and cultural differences between the descendants of early tribes, was constantly plunged into civil war; this along with natural disasters, sought to prevent the overall population to this day from going over 300 billion. Eventually, by 1928 AD, after the Great Cataclysm, it became so deadly and tiresome, that the High Imperial Council forged a pact between the 100 kingdoms, evenly dividing their territory by the amount of square mileage that the main continent and the surrounding islands within the Antarctic Circle. Because of their overall isolation and secrecy, the entire empire and their people were overall considered a myth, with only six or seven dozen or 2,310 recorded sightings through history confirming that unknown people of unusual appearance spotted in lands outside of Antarctica (primarily in Europe) were actually Antarctic humans; despite involvement in various conflicts, the Ants’ overall involvement in world conflict was minimal, due to certain peculiar details -- a lack of significant refugees, armed personnel, and travelers, alongside the Antarctic degrees to not speak their language or share customs outside of the Empire, in addition to non-Ants being barred from even getting close to the country – the Empire was considered by many sovereignties as nothing but a rogue state of a greater country, thus their geopolitical place in the world was relatively nonexistent.

By 1930 AD, however, any doubts and skepticism about their existence vanished; after discovering that actions (brought on as a result of the carelessness and ignorance of the Soviet Union under Stalin) were one of the many catalysts that sparked mass-death, almost extinction, of the Antarctic people during the Great Cataclysm (as well as other travesties involving their allies), an undeclared war (starting as a mass naval invasion) was brought upon the Soviet Union, sparking the Eastern Theater of the Second World War. When the Ants’ former allies of Nazi Germany (brought together by their immense hatred of communism) and the Soviet Union annexed Poland and other Antarctic allies in Europe, Antarctica would them be fighting a war with the two geopolitical juggernauts – of which, within the whole war between 1930 – 1949, almost two billion troops were deployed, showing the world, for the first time in millennia, the geopolitical might of Antarctica. Due to their cruelty against Soviet and German citizens during the war (most of the deaths being Soviets and their leftist allies, placing the death toll at almost 75 million), Ants were treated with fearful suspicion, cementing their place as a neutral power during the second half of the war.

Antarctica is a federalist elective imperial diarchy, with two diarchs for each kingdom, duchy, and principality that rule in their own right, governing their respective territories. In a system of checks-and-balances, the entire government and their administrations are divided into multiple courts and departments, more than any other national government. It is known that socio-politics in the Empire is based similarly to the Diamond Bowl Edicts; thus, a rather loose caste system was forged earlier on in its history – which still exists today -- with Ants having roles, places, privileges and purposes based on their developed capabilities and talents within in the social pyramid. Unlike the other caste systems, especially that of historical India, advances in education and the improvement of skills can ensure, by law, that an Antarctic person is able to move up the ladder. It is a system for the purpose of building up the Antarctic people as the greatest in the universe at by any means. However, constant measures are deployed to make sure that Ants do not become self-absorbed or self-deprecating depending on where they initially stand in the caste system.

Considered a great power, it is a developed market (laissez-faire) and high-income economy that is the largest in the world by nominal GDP and the largest by GDP (PPP) – its main exports being some of the planet’s rarest materials, including diamonds and titanium, most that can only be found within the Empire. Antarctica enjoys an arguably fantastic high standard of living, safety, and economic freedom due to multiple reforms (concerning society, government, and politics), as well as universal education and universal health care.