The Anglean Republic

[Helios.]

think russian vegetables: beets, turnips, potatoes, and other root vegetables capable of surviving the cold winters. i don't think its like arctic up there all year around, just... well a lot of the time

[Carn]

I think it plausible that they could have some kind of high tech farm to grow things

[The Mann]

It is known that Angleans live within anchient cities build into the ice.

They have been known to reverse engineer technologies such as the Zeus Weaponized Coil.

I see no issues with them making a furnace to cook or melting ice for plant cultivation.

[Helios.]

they are technologically the wealthiest nation (except maybe chaledon, but not in all the same areas of expertise, so its hard to compare.) Creating the zeus weaponized coil is the coup de gras of archeo-tech understood and concepts used to create new machines. their lack of natural resources or arable land means that while they likely have water from either desalinization or melting the snow, they must either grow the food in short growing seasons in the summer, or have vast underground greenhouses. either or both is likely the reality they would be forced to adopt to supplement their 'aquired' supplies from neighboring cities and towns

[Silver Corsair]

Possible Heavy infantry

[Helios.]

it certainly looks pretty warm! it looks a little heavy to allow for fast attacks to unsuspecting cities, getting all the stuff they need and then rabbit. but who knows maybe they need to rob a armory or something

[Silver Corsair]

Not for again and run. But somewhere you would take heavy infantry.

[Clockeye]

Ok, so I'm totally new to the lore, but I'm trying my best to learn.

When I hear about frozen wasteland and underground cities, I can't help but think of
Krieg Corps from Warhammer 40k. Living on the planet so destroyed they sometimes spend whole lives
without taking their gasmasks. Their hive-cities lay underground and they are the masters of defence.
(Of course they are also based on WWI germany, so your photos only made me even more convinced of similiarities)
You'd think with nothing but technology and power, they really should be masters of defence. THey have to protect the
technology they salvaged, or else they would win fairly quickly, being outnumbered by fractions with more resources.

I can see their borders as nearly unpassable, with high-tech turrets and underground(underice?) tunnels connecting various
defence structures. Of course they dig a lot, they have machines and manpower for it. Also, digging in ice is more resource-friendly
than building ontop of it.

I also had an idea for farms and such. They could be subturrean, placed in like, big caves under glaciers.
Think of this: http://elephantwords.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/icecave.jpg
They would have that minimum of sunlight that's needed for plants to grow. Of course they would be mostly eating plants that don't
need much light, but the warmth is not a problem. Big brass pipes running around those plantations would heat the air around them enough for plants to grow. The ice above wouldn't melt, becouse outside is freeze-to-death below zero degrees, and the ceiling would be far enough not to get a direct heat. I also tought of glass ceilings for plantations, but I figured glass would be far too expensive i the land with no sandy beaches.

[Helios.]

the agnleans are technosavvy to be sure, but their bread and butter for acquiring resources isnt farming, its raiding. they go out and TAKE the iron they need for their weapons, they go out and TAKE the food the need to survive. some surely are farmers, but its likely they woudl be looked down on as weak by the raiding fleets that bring back TONS of food and materiel.

[Clockeye]

Alright, I'm hereby sorry for trying to use our salvages and reengineered technology to save few of us from starvation.
I'll fuel my ship right up and make sure to pay the iron price for the food I bring back from those Yeshan fools flying too far north.

[Skymonger]

But y know,the secrets of the past are simply buried under a mile of ice.
Its definitely within the realm of farming if angleans got creative with the equipment they dig up.

Ancient engines to power and warm their homes.
Crude automaton to brave the blistering and perilous Blizzards that rock anglea day by day.
Ancient weapons and metals that no one knows how to recreate anymore.

Whose to say that making a habitable biome for plants isnt possible with the miracle tech that comes out of the ground?
Raiding keeps the family well fed, but the excavations could slowly eliminate such needs.

[Helios.]

nobody is really well fed in anglea though, everyone is just barely holding on, suffering is very common (without suffering is the closest translation in anglean for our word 'happy') so its not like they are finding miracles under there, they are holding on barely at all times. the raiding is what allows them to survive. even if they managed to keep their greenhouses warm, it still doesnt mean that the sun is going to come down directly enough to grow very much, especially if you have to be underground to grow it

[HamsterIV]

I would compare the Angeleans to the Valhallans of 40K. Their over world is cold not toxic. They could have cities in giant glacial catacombs where ancient mirror arrays funnel light from the surface through a transparent ice ceiling to the habitable chambers below. Crops could be grown in these chambers as well as livestock that has evolved for a subterranean life style. Due to the limited space the population could never expand beyond a certain point. Fortunately the Angeleans have found a perfect solution for that, War.

Every child but the first born enlists in the fleet or army and goes off to win glory for The Republic. Raiders live off the supplies they raid or get killed, either way they don't drain the limited resources of the home territory. Particularly successful raiders are allowed to return home and live lives of wealth and acclaim. This is done to extol the benefit of raiding on the next generation.

Slaves are rarely brought back to the home cities unless they posses skills useful to the Angelean population to warrant their room and board. Instead they are dropped off at satellite colonies so isolated from the outside world they have to stay put and gather/harvest food just to survive. The Angeleans don't administer these colonies so much as raid them for their food surplus at random intervals.

Periodically other factions discover Angelean Satellite Colonies and try to rescue the inhabitants. However, considering the extreme danger of flying ships overladen with noncombatants  through Angelean territory, such rescue missions are so infrequent that they has not cause the Angeleans to rethink this practice.

[Helios.]

people keep equating raiding with slaving... Given what we know about the scarcity of resources in the anglean cities, whether they be above or below ground, and that we know they have some kind of clockwork automotons to do labor and the fact that they already HAVE the most advanced archeotech, and the people who best understand it, it would be absurd to steal people that they would then have to feed... livestock: yes. people: no point.

[Silver Corsair]

Maybe they don't feed their slaves.