Grand Vandarch Canal

The Grand Vandarch Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in the Internalion Canal Zone between Nahe and Faneria, connecting the Kilikas Sea to the Vandarch through the Pervalian Isthmus. In 1959, the canal and its route were narrowly approved by a League of Nations resolution. Construction of the canal lasted from 1959 to 1975 and took place under the regional authority of Yonderre. The canal officially opened on 17 November 1975. Its length is 225 km (140 mi) including its northern and southern access-channels. In 2020, more than 18,500 vessels traversed the canal (an average of 51.5 per day).

History
From the Carolina Grand Canal's opening in 1880 until the Grand Vandarch Canal's opening in 1975, the nations along the Carolina Grand Canal enjoyed a monopoly on maritime shipping to the landlocked countries, and major port cities of the Vandarch. Because it was controlled by and run through the Holy Levantine Empire's countries of Urcea, Kronenia, and Hollona and Diorisia it gave the Empire, and Urcea specifically, a disproportionate level of economic power in that region. The beginning of the Grand Vandarch Canal followed the formal dissolution of the Holy Levantine Empire, the end of the Great War, and by extension the reduction of southern Levantia's crushing hold on much of the continent. It was celebrated by all northern Levantine nations, at the time, as a demonstration of modern, self-determinist northern Levantia. In southern Levantia it was met with mixed reviews. Nations along the Carolina Grand Canal were obviously not pleased to have their monopoly broken and the loss of considerable revenues in the form of passage fees and taxes. While it was loudly protested in Urcea for this reason, the economic loses would be stymying in Kronenia, and Hollona and Diorisia, who had faired far worse in the Great War and whose economies were not big enough to absorb the blow like Urcea's.

A northern Vandarch Canal had been considered as an option since before the Grand Carolina's construction. The ideal location contained parts of the Ostmark region of Prevalia and Gleathan in Faneria. It was an underdeveloped border region between the two states, but more importantly it spanned the narrowest part of the isthmus on the northern bank of the Vandarch.

The ground of the modern Grand Vandarch Canal was first broken by the North Levantine Architects' Guild on behalf of the Fhainnin government in a bid to allow warships from the Vandarch Fleet to reinforce its Kilikas and Nordska fleets, with a project being initiated in 1929 and preparations being made in 1934 by means of the occupation of parts of the Ostmark. Initial surveys and redesigns saw partial work performed on laying out the path of the canal and building infrastructure, but in the waning years of the Great War the focus of the project shifted from attempting to complete the project with haste to a longer-term civilian role as an inability to dedicate enough wartime labor before the perceived end of the conflict was compounded by a growing fear of uprisings at the conclusion of the war if soldiers came home to high unemployment rates. Many countries looked to such titanic infrastructure projects as a way to, at least temporarily, give thousands of jobs to the returning service men, and at the conclusion of the war, and following the inconclusive end of the Great War the newly formed League of Nations sought proposals for peacetime efforts to bond nations together.

In 1958 Faneria's initial canal design was adopted and altered by the Committee for Global Prosperity and Improvement, an ad hoc committee that had been established to select projects in the immediate post-war period. It was put to a vote in the League of Nations General Assembly on the final agenda before the winter recess and passed by a narrow majority. There was some minor resistance from Urcea and the delegation from the Deric States. They had expected support from their close allies in Burgundie, hoping to vote as a newly formed Levantine Union bloc. Burgundie saw this as an opportunity to extend good will to northern Levantine countries with whom they sought trade deals. Seen as a another example of Burgundie putting commerce ahead of a southern Levantine solidarity it strained the Levantine Union almost to the breaking point. Caphiria and its allies voted in favor of the resolution to reduce Urcea's power in northern Levantia. The Vandarch-locked countries and Faneria voted in favor of the resolution to celebrate their new agency and for economic gains. Kiravia voted in favor of the resolution to gain direct access to the heart of the Levantine economy. The remaining of the members of the LoN voted in in about a 50/50 split, leaving the yays to take the day.

The construction contract was eventually given to Ladvner Construction who subcontracted much of the work out to the O'Shea Corporation. Ladvner would oversee strategic control, materials ordering, and hiring. O'Shea would conduct the day to day construction, receiving, and would be retained as the operations administration for 10 years after the completion of the canal, training the next generation of administrators. The canal was projected to hire, employ, house, and feed 15,000 workers and their families over the span of 10 years. Smaller, local construction companies from Prevalia and Faneria were hired to build worker housing and commissaries along the canal route and the rail lines of both countries were contracted to extend to the canal zone to expedite worker travel and the shipment of materials.

This grand vision was almost immediately halted when in 1962 after only three months of preliminary construction, funding became an issue. Member states who had pledged funding to the Committee for Global Prosperity and Improvement's projects balked when the time came due to actually pay. The international effort ground to a halt despite local housing and rail line construction continuing. Caphiria and its allies cooled to the idea of keeping its their commitment of 1.5 billion Aureuses as the Occidental Cold War grew into a larger part of its approach to post-war Levantia. Burgundie, who had committed to paying 700 million Thalers over the duration of the project, found itself embroiled to stop a pro-communist coup in Kandara that would eventually expand to the massive Operation Kipling. It reduced its commitment to 500 million Thalers over 30 years, regardless of when the project was completed, which reduced investor confidence in the success of the project. For much of the mid 60s the project stagnated, directly coinciding with the worst of the Lean Years.

While the Southern Levantine nations continued to focus on their existing rivals as if the Great War had never ended, for the countries of Northern Levantia they found that without the Holy Levantine Empire their were boundless new economic and political opportunities in Levantia and abroad for them to explore. The nations of Faneria, Fiannria, Hendalarsk, Nahe, Wealdland, Yonderre, and Yytuskia-Helvana found this a time of optimism and economic growth. By 1967 many of these nations had made commitments of their own that almost filled the gaps left by the Sarpedonians and Burgoignesc backing out or reducing payments. In 1969 enough funding had been secured to resume full schedule construction. The pause, while costly and a waste of time, had however allowed technology to catch up the scale of the task. What was projected to take 8 years took only 6. Massive crews of men in mechanical diggers and boring machines carved through the isthmus at an incredible rate. The progress of the canal is considered on of the first satellite time lapse sequences to be completed, taken by Caphirian spy satellites and declassified in 2018 after the conclusion of the Occidental Cold War.

In total, over the course of the 15 years of construction, the project cost 8.7 billion Thalers, employed 640,034 people, and is estimated to have fed and housed 1.5 million workers, families, and persons who provided on-site goods and services. Financially, it was, like most other grand infrastructure projects, poorly managed, inefficiently run, and wasteful. However, it is touted as a massive human success. Service men and women coming back from the far flung battle fields of the Great War and were given stable employment, a roof over their head, and three square meals a day for the duration of the time they worked or lived in the canal zone.

Canal Born Children
The question of citizenship for children born to parents living in the international canal zone, Enfants nes della canal (ENdCs) (Eng: Canal Born Children (CBCs)) became a major issue for workers. For children with parents from the same nation with citizenship, the question was moot. But for parents of different nations or from nations with laws the question was of major concern. In 1970 an Office of Canal Borne Children for Repatriation was formed as part of the International Red Cross and International Red Crescent. Volunteers were sent to the Canal to help parents work through citizenship laws and determine where they could go with their children when the work was complete. For the majority if the workers there was time to sort through the myriad hoops and red tape but for families of workers who were fired, invalided, or killed, the situation was more dire. A refugee camp developed nearer to the end of the project as tens of thousands of people realized they had nowhere to go. This lead to what has been coined the Vandarch Diaspora. The term refers to the children born in the canal zone between 1959-1975 and their descendants who often live in countries whose cultures and identities are not their own. This also coincided with the development of multinational unions with more restrictive collective immigration laws, worsening the issue.

Canal Crisis
In May of 1992, the ethnonationalist fringe group GaelWind staged an armed takeover of large segments of the Canal Zone and the Ostmark in a bid to seek legal recognition and a plebiscite on annexation into Faneria. In response, the Prevalian and Fhainnin governments launched a major combined military operation to suppress the uprising, marking both the first major deployment of Fhainnin troops since the Great War and a shift in Faneria's government following the subsequent purge of GaelWind politicians from public politics. The incident also spelled the end of Pan-Gaelicism as a motivating factor in Faneria's geopolitical policy and significantly improved its ties with other Vandarch nations, which had believed Faneria would instead seize the canal after being emboldened by unconfirmed strategic weapons tests.

2015 Faucilh Sageta Obstruction
In the summer of 2015 the Bulkhan flagged vessel (Eng. Rapid Arrow), operated by Sempre Lines LLC, a subsidiary of the Burgundian North Levantine Trading Company, grounded in the Grand Vandarch Canal. The 400 m (1,312 ft 4 in) container ship was the first of its class and the largest ever to pass through the canal system. The grounding took place in the La corsette della sirene (Eng. The Mermaid's corset) portion of the canal, known to be the narrowest part of the waterway. A notable high cross wind was observed by the Canal Authorities during the time of the grounding. The was loaded to 95% load capacity, drafting 19.7 meters. The crew was based in Peshabiwar with a captain from Umardwal. The load was mostly inexpensive consumer goods from a number of countries in Audonia bound for three ports in the Vandarch.

Certifications, licenses, and bill of lading
was completed in 2014 and had passed inspection upon receipt by Sempre Lines LLC. The ship had conducted 7 trans-Levantine crossings since her launch by the time of the grounding and had reported no unusual maintenance or conduct issues. Her most recent servicing was 8 months prior and the engine work had been certified by the dry docking company in Levantx Chantiers Le Fontal Lenvantien. The bill of lading was mostly inexpensive consumer goods from a number of countries in Audonia and had been certified as evenly distributed by the originating port authorities in Antilles. The crew and captain all had certified in at least basic maritime Burgoignesc, the lingua franca of the nautical world. Initially it was determined that all of the crew and the captain were rated for their positions but later examination determined that the chief mate had forged his credentials.

Arrests
The first arrest made was of the Chief Mate who was found to have only 348 days on his Able Mate's license (365 are required to be rated as a Chief Mate), and 48 fraudulent days on his Chief Mate's license. He was however found not to have been at fault for the grounding and had acted admirably under the circumstances. He was arrested for fraud, reckless endangerment, and impersonating an officer representing the nation and crown of Burgundie on the high seas. For the first two crimes he was sentenced to 10 years hard labor and for the latter death by keelhauling at the conclusion of his initial sentence.

Alternative Routes
The Carolina Grand Canal is the only other waterway that connects the Vandarch to the international waterways and its shipping lanes.