1. Where it is
46° to 49° N, the alpine heart of the continent. The smallest bloc: 6 million, and it has neither grown nor shrunk in a hundred and ten years.
The two facts of position that decide everything:
- Every pass between the north and the south of the central continent is Kantonal. There is no alternative route that does not cost weeks.
- The Solar Range (Seal I) begins here — to the north, on the border. The Confederation borders a prison of Hell and has never fought in it.
Kantonal is not neutral out of virtue. It is neutral because geography gave it the one thing that cannot be taken by force: the passage. Invading the passes costs more than paying for them, and every army on the continent has already done that arithmetic.
2. Relief
| Unit | Altitude | Characteristic |
|---|---|---|
| UnitGlacial valleys | Altitude800-1,200 m | Characteristicflat floor, pasture, village. Fertile land in small pieces |
| UnitMiddle slopes | Altitude1,200-1,800 m | Characteristicsummer pasture, larch forest |
| UnitHigh mountain and passes | Altitudeabove 1,800 m | Characteristicgranite, glacier, and the passes |
| UnitSolar Range (north) | Altitude2,000-3,100 m | CharacteristicSeal I, on the clerical side of the border |
The characteristic that defines the bloc: the climate changes drastically over a short distance. Two valleys twenty kilometres apart can have three weeks' difference in the harvest.
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