Port-des-Vents
Port-des-Vents Préfecture d'outre-mer de Port-des-Vents
| |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Capital and largest city | Port-des-Vents |
| Official languages | Savamese |
| Religion | Cairony |
• Argan | Reformed Savamese |
| Government | Savamese Federal dependency |
• Prefect | Serge Mondot |
| Savamese dependency | |
| 1958 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,944 km2 (751 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 10,981 |
• Density | 5.6/km2 (14.5/sq mi) |
| Currency | Aurel |
| Time zone | X Time IAT -M -5 |
Port-des-Vents is an overseas possession of the Savamese Empire in Diothún, the world’s largest island, located off the northern coast of Ascesia. One of the largest settlements in the arctic regions, Port-des-Vents was founded after the surrounding area was ceded to Savam in the 1958 Treaty of Ostari, the peace settlement which concluded the Gaste War.
Geography
Port-des-Vents is located on the south-western coast of the island of Ainfhial, off the main body of Diothún, about 80 kilometres north-west of the narrowest point of the Marche-Laberse Strait, which separates the Onnech Sound (an arm of the Arcedian Sea) from the Prothenian Ocean; the port-city is close to the Arctic circle at 63.7 degrees north latitude.
The city and its surrounding territory occupy land to the south-east of the Anse des Pieuses, a large sheltered bay that offers a good summer anchorage, but is too shallow to not freeze during winter; the smaller and more open Baie de Frétien and Grande Baie are used instead, as they remain largely ice-free. Unlike the Anse, the two bays allow anchorage of fully-laden cargo and military ships, making Port-des-Vents the third northernmost deep-water port in the world, beaten only by Havre-d'Or and Port Frentin, also under Savamese control and both in Victoria. The island of Île Bertus protects the opening of the Anse and a part of the Baie de Frétien, and is partially settled.
The region's climate is harsh and windswept, only supporting the growth of short tundra grasslands. The area is kept colder and drier than expected by the influence of the nearby Diothún Ice Cap; although at a distance from the cap, there is no significant relief to divert or block the cap's katabatic winds, so its influence extends over the entire island of Ainfhial. Dominy average temperatures are 9.7°C, while in the winter the daily averages reach well above -30°C; extreme lows down to -50°C are not uncommon. Precipitations are low, so winter snow cover rarely exceeds 20 cm. The katabatic wind from the ice cap blow regularly between 50 and 100 km/h; records above 200 km/h have been measured. However, the immediate area around the Anse and the smaller bays is relatively sheltered from the winds by an escarpment that runs about three to five kilometres inland alongside the coast in a general north-west to south-east direction; this explains the selection of this site for permanent habitation.
History
The island of Ainfheal has been only marginally habitable for as long as Messenian visitors have been aware of its existence, and its local population of indigenous Mí tribespeople in scattered settlements has rarely exceeded a thousand in that period. The site of the future settlement was previously occupied by a series of whaling stations built by whalers from Tassedar and Odann, although the most recent of these was abandoned in the 1920s.
However, Savamese mariners and navy personnel were familiar with the area as an important choke-point on the Great Belt sailing route; the foundation of Port-des-Vents allowed Quesailles to counterbalance Odannach influence in the region and enforce interordinate agreements regarding freedom of navigation. Under Savamese auspices Port-des-Vents has grown into a settlement of some 11,000 inhabitants, primarily serving as a support port of call for shipping lanes, a fishing and sealing centre, and a major military base.
Geopolitics & economics
The primary purpose of Port-des-Vents is to provide a well-developed base of operation for the Imperial Navy and Imperial Airforce, from which they can protect trade from and to Savamese Serania and Victoria, and enforce interordinate agreements regulating the laws of the sea within the context of competition with Odann and other great powers. The Odannach military base at Cuan Bán is located only 270 kilometres to the south-east; it is the only other major Messenian settlement around the Marche-Laberse Strait, and is the fourth northernmost deep-water port in the world.
Port-des-Vents is one of the largest military bases in the Arctic region, with about 6,000 personnel (counting family members) deployed year-round. The colonial corps of the Navy and Airforce occupy the base, with security on land delegated to the troupes de marine (the marines branch of the Navy).
+ large airfield + SIGINT installations
The land border between Port-des-Vents and Odannach territory is secured by a double fence that surrounds a 200-metre-deep anti-personnel minefield, installed from the late 1960s. Many consider this barrier to be a drastic and unnecessary overreaction to any foreseeable threat, given the near-absence of any local inhabitants; while the Savamese military justifies these levels of threat by "security considerations" and a need to prevent infiltration, it is argued that the defence’s main purpose is a passive show of force.
Civilian economy
As a corollary to its military activity, the port has also became a major port of call for civilian shipping, offering facilities to maintain and repair ships, transshipment of cargo, accommodation and entertainment for shore leaves, and other logistical activities. It also serves as the base for Savamese icebreakers operating in the Sound.
Given the rich resources in the region, fishing and sealing started relatively early on, building on the Mí’s traditional inshore fishing practices; the cold currents which circulate around the island of Diothún have created excellent living conditions for open-sea fish species, although the severe conditions at sea – with the Onnech Sound being icebound for up to six months of the year – have hampered efforts to foster more than a moderate commercial fishing industry in Port-des-Vents. However, there has been a greater push by the home government to develop industrial fisheries from the 1980s, with the deployment of a number of large factory ships to catch arctic fish and prawns, and the construction of a fish plant near the port (factory ships based in Victoria or Savam proper are regular visitors). Frozen fish is exported to Ascesia to be canned there before distribution to the rest of the Savamese colonial empire. Including the small sealing community, the fishing industry is now the second-largest employer in Port-des-Vents.
Administration
Demographics
The origins of the settlement as a military encampment are still indelibly stamped on Port-des-Vents; of its current population of around 11,000 people, about 6,000 are active servicemen and their dependant families. Of the remainder, about 1,500 are civilian port workers, 2,000 work in the fishing and sealing industries, 1,000 work in accommodation, entertainment and other service industries, and around 500 are government or other civilian administrative personnel. The vast majority of the population lives in Port-des-Vents proper, with perhaps a thousand or so living in small hamlets strung along the coast to both the east and west of the town.
The sheer remoteness of Port-des-Vents has meant that, beyond the fishing industry, the town is dependent on supplies from Savam proper or from Ascesian countries for most of its food, as well as almost all other essential supplies. Subventions from the Quesailles treasury make up by far the greater part of the territory’s annual income, and the fishing industry still receives hefty investment from the metropole.