Geography of Arcerion

Arcerion is a Occidental country located in the Southeastern Cronan Peninsula. It consists of a large number of rivers, mountains, and islands, giving it a diverse climate and geography. These rivers feed into the agricultural industry, and are comprised of the Cochrane, Upper Cochrane, Leigh, North Innis, Lower Innis, West Innis, and Dale. Islands in Arcerion are all located within Foxhey Governorate, in the Malentine Sea. Arcerion is one of the largest nations in South Crona, and the only mainland AEngle-majority country.

Arcerion's landscapes are varied, and consist of wide lowlands plains in the central Arcer Heartland, the Aileach Mountain Range to the South, and Northumbraeland Mountains to the North. In Foxhey, volcanic islands with lush farms and fields give way to black sand beaches, making it a popular tourist destination for Occidental peoples. Temperatures in the Arcer Heartland commonly fall below 0 °C, and rise above 30 °C depending on the seasons. Conditions vary from wet and cold in the mountains to hot and dry in the lowland plains depending on season, but the climate is generally classified as temperate inland, where cool temperatures and frequent cloudy skies are typical for the moderate four seasons, but mountainous and arid high desert climates occupy the sparsely populated areas and have more varied temperatures and weather.

The vast majority of Arcerion's landscape is economically useful, especially the fertile and arid Arcer Heartland, owing to freshwater rivers and effective irrigation strategies. Generally, the population is dispersed along the major rivers and along the Songun and Malentine coasts, the traditional landing and settlement points from the Carnish Colonial settlement. 70% of Arcerion's population is located within the coastal governorate of Moorden and the Heartland governorate of Northlea. Kurst and Kinnaird respectively are the most populous metropolitan areas.

The nation is situated on the Southeastern Cronan Peninsula, which it shares with the Kiravian nations of Paulastra, and the Cape to the South, the Indigenous nation of Washakara to the South-East, and to the North the Occidental nation of New Archduchy, and Indigenous nations of Telokona, Kelekona, and Titechaxha.

Overview
Arcerion is located in the Southeastern Cronan Peninsula, and is overlaid by the Tropic of Cancer. It is a wide and relatively flat country, with a total area of 1,538,478 km2. Arcerion consists of three major regions - the Arcer Heartland, the Northern and Southern Mountain ranges, and the islands of Foxhey. The Arcer heartland gives the nation a 'breadbasket' moniker in the global community as it has vast swathes or irrigated, fertile land from which to farm. The Northern and Southern Mountains respectively gives a significant amount of natural mineral resources to Arcerion. Arcerion maintains an Exclusive Economics Zone (EEZ) that extends both into the Malentine and Songun Seas, with a disputed area between Malentina and the Foxhey Governorate.

Extreme Points
The phrase "Arcer Heartland" can be used to either describe the physical region within Northlea, or encompass the entirety of Arcerion's sovereign territory.

The following points are the farthest cardinal points in Arcerion's sovereign territory.
 * The northernmost point is Camp Brown in the Northumbraeland Mountains;
 * The southernmost point is Port Winslet in Moorden Governorate;
 * The easternmost point is Fort McCallan in the Arcer Heartland;
 * The westernmost point is Fleck Point in the Malentine Sea.

Mountains, Volcanoes, and Glaciers
Arcerion is dominated by two major moutntain ranges, those being the Aileach Mountains and the Northumbraeland Mountains. Arcerion has a limited amount of volcanic activity, most of it occurring in Foxhey Governorate. There are two major glaciers in Arcerion, the Aileach Glacier, located at the Eastern edges of the Aileach mountains, and the Northern Heartland Glacier, in the Northwestern portion of the Northumbraeland Mountains. In general, Arcerion is a country of lowland plains and moorland, with little to no volcanic activity. It has 12 peaks of more than 3,000 metres, the majority of these being located in the Aileach Mountains. The closest nation in terms of surpassing mountainous geography would be Arcerion's neighbour, Paulastra. Highest point (?)

Political Geography
Arcerion has land borders with six countries. In the North, it is bordered (from East to West) by Telokona, Kelekona, Titechaxha, and the New Archdudchy. To the South, it shares a border with Paulastra and Washakara. Its Exclusive Economic Zone borders that of Malentina's, and the Howland Governorate's closest neighbour is the Alpachnee Confederation and Kiravia.

Arcerion does not have any formal disputed land claims, however it does maintain a certain amount of sovereign de jure claim to watersheds that feed into the Arcer Heartland, as well as the Warrington Straits, between Arcerion and Istrenya.

Arcerion proper is divided administratively into four major governorates (the fifth being Howland), the largest of these being Northlea Governorate. They are historical evolutions of settler expansion along the Malentine Sea coast, and inroads made for colonization up the river basins into the Arcer Heartland. There is several smaller regional administrative divisions that are technically equal in status to governorates (ie. the Kurst Capital Region or KCR), however for the purposes of common reference only the five major governorates would be considered provincial-equivalents. Governorates are primarily responsible for regional infrastructure, policing, taxation, civil authority, and daily governance issues. Governorates are each subdivided into counties respectively, ranging in size from quite large (ie. Yale County is bigger than some islands in Foxhey Governorate), to extremely small and barely populated.

All islands in the Malentine Sea are administratively under the jurisdiction of Foxhey Governorate, even if from a cultural or historical standpoint they are more closely related to other entities, ie. Norham Governorate.

Population Geography
See also: Demographics of Arcerion The population of Arcerion as of 2019 was estimated at 89,863,541. The coastal regions of the country are the most densely populated, owing to their location and being part of the original Carnish colony, accounting for almost three-quarters of the Arcer population. Moorden Governorate itself accounts for a vast majority of the population, owing to it being the oldest and most densely populated area of Arcerion. Moorden and Norham are equal in terms of total population growth, both accounting for 60% of all immigration and new births. The small remaining majority of indigenous peoples in Arcerion predominantly live in the more remote Northern portions of Norhlea governorate, with small populations in Arcerion's three major cities (Kurst, Kinnaird, and Chester-on-Moore). Arcerion is a predominantly rural country, with urban centres being mostly localized along major rivers and waterways, and coastal areas. Of the total Arcer population 24.48% amount live in the top ten major cities. With three-quarters of Arcers classified as rural or 'semi-rural,' the focus of the country inevitably shifts to an agrarian or traditional rural focus, as is seen in Arco Determinism. This also means that as of 2019, Arcerion's population density was approximately 58.41 inhabitants per square kilometers. Arcerion's population are largely defined by three major trends, their predominantly AEngle and Gaelic immigrant origin, the ongoing process of cultivating and adapting to Arcerion's climate, and their relationship with non-Arcer peoples. This also plays into the religious, cultural, and economic distribution of Arcerion. Wealth is most equally divided in Northlea due to its primarily farm and agriculture-based economy, with the widest wealth gap in Arceiron being in Kinnaird, the major financial and banking centre of the nation. Arcerion's AEngles are predominantly found along the coast and Foxhey Governorate, with there being a relatively equal mix inland of Gaels and AEngles.

Religion stuff (IxCalvs? Catholics? Who knows).

Arcerion's most widely spoken language is AEnglish, spoken by 87.4% of the population as its primary or daily tongue. Second to this is Gaelic at 11.70%, followed by indigenous (0.06%) and other spoken languages (0.84%). Dialects within are not uncommon, with sub-dialects of AEnglish such as Arcer AEnglish being common in the Arcer Heartland due to its rural location, itself a blend of Gaelic and AEnglish. Other regional accents aside from Arcer Heartland are common, as Easthampton and Foxhey both have distinct local flavours to AEnglish. Culturally due to the flow of settlement (South to North, with steady inland or Northeastern immigration) meant that the culture of Moorden and Norham closely resemble pre-revolution Carna, which means that culturally Arcerion is close to Alstin.

Agricultural Geography
See also: Economy of Arcerion

Large swathes of Arcerion are considered arable or suitable for farming, the largest portions of these being in the Arcer Heartland, the vast majority of which has been undergoing controlled deforestation (with re-forestation efforts elsewhere to offset this) and irrigation projects since initial inroads were made into Northlea Governorate in the 1800s. As the world's largest per-capita exporter of grain products, Arcerion's farming industry mainly focuses on subsistence and staple crop farming, with a smaller portion of the industry focusing on pastoral farming and livestock breeding. This trend has shifted, as the primary farm type in the late 1700s and early 1800s was livestock farming as herding and raising cattle allowed for a stable diet of protein and other animal-related products. However with increased inland settlement by the mid-1800s and advances in irrigation and the introduction of riverboats and barges to the Arcer Heartland, there was a considerable shift towards the cultivation of wheat, rye, barley, corn, maize, and other bumper crops. Arcerion's proximity to multiple watersheds, fresh water rivers, high soil quality, seasonal rainfall averages have all played defining factors in its agricultural growth.

As recently as 2024, almost 68% of Arcerion's land was being used for farming or livestock-related activities, with planned increases intending to bring that number as high as 75% by 2030. The amount of farmland has steadily increased since 1790 and initial settlement.

Arcerion has had an abnormally low amount of pests or other vermin that have traditionally been obstacles to farming on an industrial scale. Pest control and the destruction of farming-adverse species such as mice, rats, and rabbits also has been a major focus of Arcer farmers, with hunting parties and hunting for sport being a widely accepted part of Arco culture. Of note, a major trend from the 1960s onwards has been the growth in the population of the Cronan Muskrat, which nests and breeds adjacent to rivers in wetlands. To combat this the government has begun programs to drain wetlands, and the Ministry of the Interior has worked to improve natural and non-natural pest control methods to curb the spread of this destructive species.

The vast majority of Arcerion's climate change emissions come from farming-related activities and mineral refinement. As such, Arcerion has been slow or chosen not to observe certain climate change agreements made at the international level, as this would have significant impacts on the Arcer economy. The primary emissions are greenhouse gases, notable methane and nitrous oxide.

Droughts are a major threat to Arcer agriculture, as farmers not geographically near major or minor waterways, or irrigation canals are at greatest risk of low crop yields or having stunted crops due to low rainfall brought on by climate change and Acerion's heat as a result of the proximity to the equator.

Natural Hazards
Natural hazards in Arcerion vary by climate and region. One the coast, heavy rainfall or tropical storms have occasionally brought about significant damage, but the Malentine Sea is relatively calm and these are abnormal circumstances. Along the coast, storms can affect shipping, but the most common natural hazard is flooding from heavy rainfall, which can swell rivers or water basins and damage economic infrastructure and residential areas. Inland areas such as the Arcer Heartland regular experience flooding during the rainy season, although the adverse effects vary widely from county to county as emergency services, Search and Rescue organizations, and existing drainage infrastructure all play a role in minimizing effect. In the Aileach Mountain Range to the South, and Northumbraeland Mountains to the North, avalanches are common in the more remote areas during periods of heavy snowfall and thaw. In the spring due to heavier rainfall, these areas can also have higher occurrences of rock and landslides, although areas where this is a high risk are usually targeted by the Ministry of the Interior for revettment or reinforcement to protect critical economic infrastructure such as major roadways or the Arcer National Railway Service. The Ministry of the Interior has endeavoured to conduct reforestation, increase weather monitoring and statistical data-based weather forecasting, building more stop banks and dams to prepare hill and lowland counties for adverse conditions brought on by rainier periods during the Spring and Autumn in Arcerion. Arcerion does not have an unusual amount of earthquakes relative to the rest of Southern Crona, however in the areas bordering Washakara, lower magnitude earthquakes (M2 and below) happen several times a year for little effect on major cities such as Easthampton. Droughts remain a natural hazard not only to wildlife and livestock, but also farming in general. Rainfall predictions usually help to offset the effects, but there is usually several small droughts in the Arcer Heartland per summer, but they vary wildly in degree and location. Wildfires remain a major threat during the dry season and into the fall/winter months, especially in Northlea Governorate. As such, the Royal Arcerion Fire Service (RAFS), is most well-equipped and trained federal fire service in Crona, and is a leader in Ixnay in research, development, and fire-related operations. Wildfires account for tens of millions of Arcer pounds worth of crop destruction and tens of millions in residential and commercial property damage every year. Arcerion has seen a rising trend in wildfires, rating them from a 1-5 (one being a localized brush fire of less than 2km², five being a major multi-country wildfire) scale since the introduction of data cataloguing for occurrences in 1967. Global climate change is having a significant impact on Arcerion, with the increase of forest and wildfires becoming more prevalent year-over-year.