Nordskan Sea Flashes

The Nordskan Sea Flashes were a set of three unidentified double flashes in the subarctic waters of the Sea of Nordska (grid coords here) on June 3rd, 1983. All three flashes were captured by the Caphirian Satellite Caelo Oculus 4, and the initial two were detected by the Urcean Satellite OPMV-183.

Event

Each double flash was characterized by a bright initial light immediately followed by a longer secondary emanation similar to the effect seen in the special weapons tests of the then-nuclear armed nations. The first flash occurred at 3:10 AM, the second at 3:12 AM, and the third at 4:01 AM, each larger than the last. The initial two flashes were relatively similar in scale, with the third being noticeably larger. The events were consistent with tests for low-yield nuclear warheads. Such a phenomenon is also possible by accident or as a result of meteorite impacts, but the occurrence of at least two recorded by multiple (opposed) sources precludes the possibility of random chance or fabrication.

Caelo Oculus 4 was set in geosynchronous orbit over the area and continued to observe the region throughout the event, transmitting data collected from its triplet of silicon radiometers consistently. Satellite OPMV-183 utilized an early low-definition camera system in addition to other tools, including one radiometer similar to Caelo's, for intelligence gathering and operated in a low orbit, and as a result suffered minor permanent damage to its camera from the flashes. Its other systems remained operational and the satellite was later deserviced in (year).

Directly following the detection of the second flash, a nearby Burgundian patrol (details on patrol makeup here if desired) was rerouted to the site at 12:49 PM and searched the area for vessels; several vessels were detected in the area but the area was sparsely travelled and the response to the event was abnormally slow, leaving the older patrol ship alone for several hours until an Urcean frigate, the (name), joined it. Neither vessel was informed as to the reason for their detours from their previous courses until the day after. Urcean, Burgundian, and Fhainnin surface vessels were all operating in the area at the time, and the area is within range for submarines from both Levantia and Crona.

Response and Accusations

The incident created a brief news stir but was overshadowed by the considerably more dramatic (insert some event, maybe in the Velt); by the time the issue was brought to the League of Nations Security Council in November, no state had the proof (or possibly the desire) to seek a sanctioning. None of the nations seriously considered as potential culprits were signatories to any nonproliferation pact, either, as the suggested (some attempt at a treaty by pacifists in the 50s-60s) had been rendered effectively worthless after the Varshani and Corrumnese programs bore fruit.

The current consensus in Occidental intelligence circles is that one or more states, most likely one/s without existing nuclear arsenals, tested a trifecta of nuclear devices in the Sea of Nordksa. The data recovered from both Caelo Oculus 4 and OPMV-183 suggests that if the flashes were from nuclear detonations, then the yields would have been roughly one, two, and thirty kiloton-yields. Often it is conjectured that this is the result of two conventional fission and one Hydrogen/fusion bomb constructed minimally, although it is also entirely possible for all three to have been fission weapons.

The chief parties typically blamed are Varshan or Fhainnaeran, with other accusations laid at the feet of The Cape, Corumm, Caphiria, Kiravia, or even Roseney or minor Cronan states for assisting or benefiting from a collaborative nuclear program. Corumm had had a successful nuclear program since the early 1970s. Fhainnaeran did have a nuclear program since 1961, but the initiative was barely funded and heavily compromised by foreign intelligence services, leaving it little more than a placeholder and think tank until 1985. The Cape and Roseney both have no know nuclear weapons or power plants; Kiravia had a nuclear program but already openly posessed nuclear weapons and staged its tests with advance warning. Varshan similarly had a nuclear stockpile but was and remains extremely secretive with its tests and research.

The accusations against Fhainnaeran are backed largely by the revitalization of the Fhainnin Civil Nuclear Service and the completion of the first nuclear power plant in Fhainnaeran in 1987; for its part, the Fhainnin government insists that it has never conducted nuclear weapons tests and that its program is purely peaceful. Fhainnaeran purchases a significant proportion of its raw uranium from The Cape, and was at the time emerging from two and a half decades of painful recovery from the Great War, leading many to theorize that a nuclear program may have been pursued as a joint effort between the country and its allies, the closest of which all fall outside of the traditional Kiravian/Caphirian/Urcean/Varshani quartet.

(paragraph here saying ofc Varshan could be guitly, they're batshit crazy)