Dauiland

Friday, May 6th, 2050

Gillian Smith, Political Correspondent

Loren Tiberius Ross is well known for his bold, unexpected statements, not all of which are backed by fact. Indeed, they have become somewhat of a trademark for Crimtonian Spectre’s capricious 3rd president, which he himself has embraced. Yet even the most seasoned political pundit could not have seen this coming: in a relatively routine press conference at the Presidential Mansion late last night, Ross announced his intentions to reclaim a large swath of the Ashes of Crimtonia for Crimtonian Spectre.

President Ross (official portrait)

The irradiated Ashes—annihilated and rendered inhabitable by Odil Rostenstaphen’s nuclear strike eight years ago—are currently under Dauiland Alliance jurisdiction, semi-regularly patrolled by Deplandian and Richompian marines but by and large disregarded. “We can ignore the Ashes of Crimtonia no longer,” Ross declared, seemingly unprompted, a look of undaunted defiance on his face. “That monster Rostenstaphen stole the lives and lands of half our people, and rather than mourn our losses and work to repair the wrong, we let them rot in endless limbo, choked by bureaucracy, stuck in oblivion. But the Ashes are aptly named. For once they are brought under their rightful Crimtonian control, from the Ashes will rise a phoenix, both paying homage to the lost and ushering in the glorious new.”

When pressed, Ross went on to describe exactly what he intends to reclaim: while he wishes for CS to “take immediate control” of the Ashes’ Northeast Corridor, including the destroyed metropolis of Lurin, he believes the rest of the Ashes “are best left under DA jurisdiction” as “Crimtonian Spectre does not currently possess the capability to inhabitate those lands.” An analysis later published by Ross’s staff gave merit to his claims, and additionally indicated that his bold move was not made on an immediate whim as many Dauilandians feared. The Northeast Corridor’s radiation level is mostly under “Code Yellow” classification, while much of the rest of the Ashes is “Code Orange” and even “Code Red”—though none of these approach the “Code Black” levels that still permeate most of the Wastes. Radiation experts say that the Northeast Corridor may indeed be habitable within the next decade, though only after an extensive environmental cleanup operation with costs in the tens of billions of DD (the operation, along with the rebuild and repopulation, has been christened Project Phoenix, allegedly by Ross himself). Whether Ross intends for Crimtonian Spectre to front these costs remains to be seen.

The Northeast Corridor (in red).
The new border shows what CS
could look like if Project Phoenix
is successful.

The immediate next step of Ross’s grand vision is to convince Dauiland of its merits. His first test will come in the form of a Dauiland Council meeting, slated to occur on Sunday, May 8th. The decision to pass jurisdiction of the Ashes’ Northeast Corridor to Ross and Crimtonian Spectre ultimately rests of the Council’s shoulders. It will also represent a first for the fledgling nation of Essel-Asteria, whose unknown Councillor will represent their nation’s interests in the Council for the first time. The dynamics of Essel-Asteria’s Crimtonian dependency alongside Ross’s bravado will no doubt be fascinating. The eyes of Dauiland will be on Genovapola, Dauilan Megapolis—stay tuned.