Polar World Archive

The entrance to the mostly-underground facility

The Polar World Archive (PWA) is a secure facility constructed by Metzetta on the continent of Australis adjacent to their research station there. While constructed and maintained by the Metzettan government, the facility is open and free for any nation to use. The facility comprises three sub-facilities; the Polar Seed Bank, the Global Memory Project and the World Literature Anthology. The facility began operation in 2004.

Polar Seed Bank

By far the most extensive of the 3 projects in terms of scale and required maintenance, the Polar Seed Bank aims to collect seeds from as many species of plant as possible to prevent extinction in case of natural disaster, disease, sabotage or mismanagement. Symbolically, the first seeds placed in the vault were the various national trees, flowers and fruits of the nations of the world. The seeds are securely stored in plastic packages at −18 °C with a low-oxygen environment preventing metabolic activity to preserve the seeds for as long as possible. Many millions of seeds are now stored in the underground unit, some of which are exceedingly rare. Food crops are the most numerous among the samples, with various cultivars of potato being especially well represented.

The procedures developed at the Polar Seed Bank were refined for use in a similar project at the International Nature Preserve.

Global Memory Project

The Global Memory Project is a digital preservation project which aims to safeguard the cultures of the world by storing important documents, images, video clips and sound recordings on digital film with a shelf-life of 500-1000 years. The data is not connected to the internet. The Metzettan government started the project off with digitised versions of the Iyagi-seda, a recording of Atop Mount Riwa by the Hanzeong Symphony Orchestra, the only filmed footage of Emperor Yonzi known to exist. Other nations have been encouraged to send their most important cultural records for preservation in the vault.

Contributions to the GMP by country

Country	Data
Aciria	Historic texts, award-winning art pieces and photographs portraying both the upper- and lower classes, a map of Aciria and its various points of interest, guide to cultivating wine, genetic code of both the Emperor and the seed of the Emperor, an Acirian-Metzi dictionary, voice recordings of all Emperors from the past century.
Faneria	Large numbers of historical texts both relevant to world history and Fhainnin history, the Bible and dictionaries in Fhasen, technical specifications for numerous industrial and computer-age machines, educational material in chemical and engineering sciences, the collected writings of Callac Cananach and other republican thinkers, genetic samples of roughly 560 species of various flora and fauna, including 130 endangered species, samples and instructions for 17 types of alcohol, and numbers of maps detailing geological formations, major cities, national boundaries, and other relevant details.
Metzetta	Digitised historical texts (Iyagi-seda, etc), family trees of the imperial family and noble clans, national anthem and early classical recordings, all recorded Emperor's speeches, photographs of notable Metzettans, maps of the country including subway maps, footage of various important figures, statistics about Metzetta in the year 2004, many issues of the Sinmun-seda, an extensive Metzi-English dictionary, high-resolution scans of notable art and portraits of some low-ranking government officials.

World Literature Anthology

Unlike the GMP which is reliant on computers to function, the WLA stores written documents on extremely hard-wearing ceramic tablets which, properly handled, could last millions of years without becoming unreadable. The downside of this method is that only text can be stored; the first tablets were inscribed with the works of Atrius, the Holy Bible and the Iyagi-seda. Metzetta covers the cost of tablet engraving when other nations submit documents for preservation provided they meet the criteria of being culturally significant given the greater volume of space required for the tablets. Thousands of the tablets have already been catalogued, with more arriving every year.

Contributions to the WLA by country

Country	Works
Aciria	Mountaineer Tales, all works of Niccolo of Trossera, Tazi ris me Rai, the Book of Beatrice
Metzetta	Iyagi-seda, Iyagi-ingan, Iyagi-segye, Holy Bible, Metzi dictionary, complete transcript of Iseul v. Ministry of State case hearing, first issue of Sinmun-seda, The Aquiad, The Oneiro, The Nerosseus, Mina, The Histories of Tikos, The Acts of The Imperators, Description of Istroya, An Istroyan Tale
Kiravia	Coscivian Book of the Dead, Analects of Shafto the Wise, Holy Bible with Deuterocanon (in High Coscivian), Liturgy of Sts. Javorius & Messena, Song of the Sea, The Thousand and One Greentexts, The Badger and the Mushroom, V.R. Sarosten's Wee Teal Book, Seven Drunken Nights, Streetlamp on the Edge of Forever, The Divine Mathematics of Tsargosys, The Albatross, Parthotren Comprehensive Dictionary of Classical Coscivian, Fundamental Statute of Niyaska, A Kelper's Perennial Almanac, a recipe for hot water.

See also

Emperor's Gardens

Australis Research Facility

International Nature Preserve