Arbiter Islands

Arbiter Islands

Nickname: "The Roof of the World"
Geography
Location	Near the North Pole
Total islands	two
Highest point	Climate Hill
Administration
Template:Country data Layfet
Administered under the Climate Research Board, Department of Science and the Treaty on the Peaceful Use of the Arbiter Islands
Demographics
Population	~500 during the summer

The Arbiter Islands are the northernmost known islands in the world and are believed to have formed as a result of by two volcanoes. The two islands are known as Polar Island and Heaven Island. Both islands are claimed and administered by Layfet. Polar Islands hosts Arbiter Station while Heaven Island hosts the Heaven Island Polar Airport.

History

The islands that would one day host the station was discovered by the Layfetian explorer Leonardo García in 1934. From 1936 until 1974, the islands were intermittently inhabited, with structures being built and used for further exploration of the far north. In the 1970s, the Layfetian Government approved a permanent research station on Polar Island which now hosts the Arbiter Station research base. The station was completed with the help of Halsuntria's Government in 1981. Halsuntrian scientists used the base alongside the Layfetians until 2000, when they left to focus more on the Anterarctic. In 1983, Layfet opened up further foreign participation with the creation of the The Treaty on the Peaceful Use of the Arbiter Islands. The station on the islands is currently the most expensive single Layfetian endeavor outside of its borders.

Etymology

García named the two islands Polar and Heaven due to their relation to the north pole. Heaven being above the world and Polar due to where they were were. The name Arbiter comes from the English word "arbiter" meaning "a person who settles a dispute or has ultimate authority in a matter." The islands were named this by García and his men after failing to come up with a name before they left. Urban legends say that García's right-hand man Christopher Legions yelled out "We need an arbiter!" and the word stuck.

Geography and Climate

Because of the persistent presence of the northern ice sheet, only a small portion of the island is free of ice and snow. There is now way to travel to the islands by boat. The planet's northernmost dormant volcanos, Climate Hill and Stairway are situated on the islands.

Climate data for Arbiter Station 1982-present
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	−13 (9)	−14 (7)	−11 (12)	−6 (21)	3 (37)	10 (50)	13 (55)	12 (54)	7 (45)	9 (48)	0.6 (33.1)	0.7 (33.3)	13 (55)
Average high °C (°F)	−29 (−20)	−31 (−24)	−30 (−22)	−22 (−8)	−9 (16)	0 (32)	2 (36)	1 (34)	0 (32)	−8 (18)	−25 (−13)	−26 (−15)	−15 (6)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−31 (−24)	−32 (−26)	−31 (−24)	−23 (−9)	−11 (12)	−1 (30)	1 (34)	0 (32)	−1 (30)	−10 (14)	−27 (−17)	−28 (−18)	−16 (3)
Average low °C (°F)	−33 (−27)	−35 (−31)	−34 (−29)	−26 (−15)	−12 (10)	−2 (28)	0 (32)	−1 (30)	−2 (28)	−11 (12)	−30 (−22)	−31 (−24)	−18 (−1)
Record low °C (°F)	−47 (−53)	−50 (−58)	−50 (−58)	−41 (−42)	−24 (−11)	−12 (10)	−2 (28)	−12 (10)	−31 (−24)	−21 (−6)	−41 (−42)	−47 (−53)	−50 (−58)
Average relative humidity (%)	83.5	83.0	83.0	85.0	87.5	90.0	90.0	89.5	88.0	84.5	83.0	83.0	85.8
Source: Arbiter Station Temperature Log

Politics

The Treaty on the Peaceful Use of the Arbiter Islands, which governs foreign use of Arbiter Station and the Arbiter Islands provides that tourism and military equipment are strictly prohibited on the islands and that the islands are only used for scientific and exploratory purposes of the far north. The treaty also states that Layfet gives up any economic exclusive zone associated with the islands. Domestically, while administered under the Climate Research Board, the islands are not classified as being a part of any state or district. Thus the islands are in fact, Layfet's only unorganized, unincorporated territory.

AIIPAV and AICT

Entrance to the vault on the side of Stairway Hill on Heaven Island

Located on Heaven Island near the Heaven Island airport on Stairway Hill is the Arbiter Islands International Plant and Agricultural Vault also known as AIIPAV. It is designed to provide a safety net against accidental loss of diversity in traditional genebanks as well as protect various crop and planet species from extinction from the effects of global climate change. It was commissioned by Executive Minister Edmond Dantes in 2015. The vault's construction was completed in 2021 and was turned over to the Aribter Island Crop Trust, a joint agency run by the Department of Science and Department of Defense to administer and maintain the vault and its contents.

The vault has a total capacity of 8.2 million seed samples and is berried deep into the interior of Heaven Island's rocky mountainside. The storage rooms are kept at −18 °C (−0.4 °F). The low temperature and limited access to oxygen will ensure low metabolic activity and delay seed aging. The permafrost surrounding the facility will help maintain the low temperature of the seeds if the electricity supply fails. There are plans to eventually expand the facility to include a lab for cloning seeds. AIIPAV has made it a policy to not collect contaminated samples, and thus will avoid storing any samples from around the Jeseko Nuclear Exclusion Zone in Kentalis.

In 2021, Layfet amended its military ban on the Arbiter Island to include an exception for defense of the vault by the LDF or by a foreign power in exchange for military use of the Heaven Island runway. Currently though, the Layfetian Army's 6th Security Unit is defending the vault. The AICT has delegated the LDF's 120th Naval Operations Company and the DoS's Climate Research Team to travel across the world and sample various seeds and plants. So far, Bakyern, Gavrilia, Gran Rugido, Kentalis, Krenya, Neuewland, Layfet, PrettyTopia, Vultesia, and Wellensfaile. have all contributed to the vault. Despite Layfet-Bakyern relations, The Bakyernian National Agricultural & Parks Service and the SONA corporation contributed to the vault. Some notable contents of AIIPAV include Gran Rugido's best and rarest chilies. All contents donated to the AICT for storage become property of the Layfetian government.