The Zeta Connections

The Zeta Connections is a diplomatic organisation consisting of political allegiances between 5 countries — UnitedTerra, Munijoch, Margate, Culldrome Isles and Magonia. Formed in mid 2015, the alliance aims to strengthen foreign relations between all countries involved while offering mutual political, economic and military benefits. All members are responsible for proposing agreements that are exclusive to participating nations. The organisation groups the nations together and maintains relevancy of each member in the ever-expansive Antarctica. The connections are carefully considered by the founding nation, UnitedTerra, in order to ensure that each member is able to bring a unique attribute to the table that will benefit the entire organisation. Their headquarters is in the famous Tops Tower located in New Club Penguin, UnitedTerra. The four colours associated with the Connections – purple, blue, red and grey – each represent the four major fields of alliance; political, economical, military and social. It has been compared to other Antarctic pacts such as The Axle Powers and Western Union.

Formation
The organisation came about after years of UnitedTerra cutting itself off from the rest of Antarctica due to it being able to sustain itself and function completely independently. Ninjinian was not fond of the image of UnitedTerra appearing as an anti-social country. As a result, a decision was then made by Terrain president, Ninjinian, to come out of its international relations drought and develop strong connections with fellow Antarctic nations and create a mutually-beneficial system.

Meanwhile the developing nation Magonia, located on Terrain soil, became an enclave for Nexonans and Zescoreans after Margatian and Munian signed a treaty with Emperor Kalieth the Great promising dual citizenship for the Nexonan and Zescorean diaspora living in Magonia (a Zescorean, for example, gets to be both a Munian and Magnus citizen). This was implemented in exchange for providing a workforce and investments by both nations' arms-manufacturing companies. Known as the REFORM Treaty, it contributed to the creation of The Zeta Connections. While UnitedTerra did not involve themselves in this, Ninjinian took note of this deal and saw it as convenient if UnitedTerra built relations with Munijoch. In exchange, Emperor Kalieth was forced to transform Magonia into an executive monarchy, which marked Magonia's first General Election in centuries.

Ninjinian realised how close Munijoch was to UnitedTerra in terms of distance and got into contact with Joseph Yslenski. Knowing that Munijoch's history extensively involved war and had the best technology around, it became an opportunity to become allies to aid Munijoch (in war efforts) and build a stellar relationship. In return for lending PULSE technology Munijoch were granted money from UnitedTerra's abundant income to fund for it.

Finally, after a series of meetings in each leader's residence, Ninjinian, Margatian President Frederick Mueller, Munian President Joseph Yslenski and the newly-elected Magonian Chancellor Slender signed the Connection Pact, officially establishing The Zeta Connections. Later, under the invitation of Mueller, Steven Snowen of Culldrome Isles also signed the Connection Pact and joined The Zeta Connections.

UnitedTerra
The National Land of UnitedTerra Territories have been labelled as one of the 'great powers' of Antarctica, thus it surprised many that they did not have any long-term, stellar alliances. The Zeta Connections changed this, and UnitedTerra had much to offer. During its development UnitedTerra became the epicentre of the automobile industry in Antarctica. Due to this, UnitedTerra formulated trade agreements with all Zeta members to export their trademark mobeels and turbo bikes. They also offer aid in war when necessary, natural resources and spy gear. While UTR already had trade agreements with Munijoch, the organisation cemented their relationship and resulted into more trade; receiving 500 PULSEBombs, 2 MJ-680 crafts and a MJ-Juggernaut fleet that they can claim. In return, Munijoch received funding for their PULSE project.

Munijoch
Munijoch itself existed for thousands of years, but has only recently began to express itself in Antarctic politics, becoming a country officially in 2000. Despite this, Munijoch had established itself as one of the leading Antarctic countries in technological advancement. Even though they were already a member of The Axle Powers, they did not turn down the opportunity to officially partner with UnitedTerra and take the nation to even greater heights. Their Zeta specialty is, but not limited to, the military contractor PULSE. The company supplies PULSE Guns, PULSE Flak Cannons, PULSE Engines, as well as build PULSE Airships/Warships, such as the MJ-680. Culldrome Isles, UnitedTerra and Margate all benefit from PULSE work orders.

Margate
Margate's popularity for trading resulted into an offer to join the Connections. Similar to Munijoch, they were also a part of another foreign alliance, Western Union, but also felt that the opportunity was too good to turn down. While Margate was allowed to purchased futuristic weapons from PULSE and spy gears from the Terrain Spy Union, it also marketed its industrial products and natural resources to UTR and the Munians. The huge populations of UnitedTerra and Munijoch meant that demand for Margatian goods was quite high, allowing the nation's GDP to rise, which in return allows them to finance several programmes to develop the MAF and purchase military products from the two nations.

Culldrome Isles
Culldrome Isles's mining industry was attractive to the organisation. But most notably, as of 2015 they were the only member of the Connections to have access to hyperspace, a privilege that UnitedTerra were working on with the increased financial support for UTOOSA. The Isles were already friendly with UnitedTerra, but Zeta brought them closer. In terms of their relationship with Margate, the two are very close allies and are both vital economic and political partners. They also both engage in military exercises and exchange high-quality goods.

Magonia
A rising economic power, Magonia’s economic and technological growth have primarily been spurred by its membership in the Zeta Connections and the Magonian government’s economic development programmes. The country became one of the alliance’s main suppliers of sophisticated consumer and industrial goods, exchanging them for far more advanced weaponry and natural resources that it lacks.

Economy and Trade
Per the Articles drafted by the Zeta Connections during it's formation, free trade is encouraged between the nations. Each nation exports their own goods to the countries, but Porcyal from Munijoch and Culldrome Isles were kept off the table, alongside top-tier PULSE weaponry.

There is no official currency between the countries, and trade is mostly done in the native currency, then converted to the country's currency if need be. Combined, the GDP of the Connections is roughly 32.837 Trillion Polarian Dollars.

Agricultural
While Margate, Munijoch and Magonia use novel agricultural methods such as “green towers" and vertical farming to increase crop yield, allowing for more crops within the same square footage, the other countries use the usual method of utilizing large farms to grow food like tomatoes, zucchini, and other fruits and vegetables. A strong push for organic foods, in part from Munijoch's health-oriented diet, has resulted in less chemicals being used. Drones are extensively utilised in countries such as Magonia and Margate to take care of crops more efficiently.

Energy
Several member states of the Connections, especially Margate, Munijoch and UnitedTerra, are coincidentally among the largest producers and exporters of various fossil fuels in Antarctica. This gives the organisation rather profound international influence when it comes to energy. Margate and Munijoch, both of which use environmentally friendly energy sources, have little demand for those fuels at their homelands. For this reason, energy is very cheap within the Connections since they are capable of exporting large amounts of them at low prices, resulting in an excess surplus of fuels. Ironically, gas prices remain high in Margate due to taxes charged on them.

Finance
Financial powerhouses like UT, Munijoch, and Margate frequently handle all outgoing and incoming financial transactions through all forms of currencies, including cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, commodities, and national currencies. The financial institutions, mostly based in their respective capital cities, allow the flow of more than $10 trillion Polarian dollars worth of goods each day. Countries allow other member countries to take loans out from fellow Zeta banks, but Munijoch has strict financial guidelines as to how each country can take out loans.

Any citizen of the Zeta Connections can create bank accounts in any of the other member nations' banks.

Manufacturing
Munijoch, Margate and Magonia employ the usage of machines and AI’s to manufacture any type of goods, including consumer goods, government goods, and general commodities. This keeps the cost down and allows consumers of the products to get a better deal. It also allows export costs to be significantly lower compared to other goods manufactured using actual labourers, while ensuring top-notch quality for each product. These countries are known on the Antarctic stage for manufacturing weapons (Munijoch), automobiles (Margate), industrial machineries (Margate and Magonia) and electronics (Magonia).

Minerals
UnitedTerra, who is lucky enough to be blessed with vast deposits of minerals, exports its notable phosphate rock and tritium to member nations. Meanwhile, Munijoch exports iron, gold, copper, steel (most notably its famed Munijoch steel, titanium alloys and quartz.

Energy-wise, Margate, Munijoch and UnitedTerra are by far the top exporters of oil and gas in the Connections.

International relations
The Zeta Connections, while appearing to be formal, frequently become the target of ridicule from multiple alliances, oftentimes decried for "being useless," or "a waste," by organizations such as the Axle Powers, of which Munijoch is a member of. Others, however, welcome the addition, with the Western Union not providing negative comments aside from a welcome to the world stage. As a whole, however, most countries respect the Zeta Connections' existence, yet many, such as countries like Zhou, do not respect their authority. Other countries, such as Shops Island, like to mock them for being weak in comparison to a single country like them, which while is false, is a painful blow to the Zeta Connections. Superpowers like the USA tend to not interact with the Zeta Connections, out of fear of causing an argument or a political debate. Each country as individuals tend to have positive relations with the USA.

This policy of "individual contact" often leads to rifts or disparity between groups, such as Munijoch's strict policy of anti-communism or totalitarianism governments, as well as Magonia’s and Margate’s friendly-to-all foreign policies (save for Duck Island in the former’s case). As a result, all countries create a list of "agreed upon allies," "potential allies," "unlikely allies," and "total enemies," based on each member's stances towards them. This policy results in convoluted relations with countries and other organizations, yet miraculously, progress and diplomatic talks frequently get completed in spite of the potential arguments between the countries about which countries are suitable allies. The Zeta Connections therefore has numerous allied countries and organizations, thanks to the efforts by UT and Munijoch to advance talks when the potential for stagnation appears.

Military

 * Main articles: UnitedTerra Forces, Munijoch Vanguard Force, Margate Armed Forces and Military of the Culldrome Isles

The combined military strength of the Zeta Connections is very noteworthy. With the second largest military of Antarctica, the UF Forces is relied upon for soldiers when certain Zeta nations are in need of fighters, most particularly Culldrome Isles and Margate. The most technologically advanced member is undisputedly Munijoch, boasting the possession of the second-best technology penguin-kind has ever created, succeeded marginally only by Ed Island. UnitedTerra's follows at a close second, while the Culldrome Isles' and Margate's artillery is relatively advanced. Magonia's military contribution to the organisation is undisclosed. This combination of soldiers and weaponry makes Zeta a force to be reckoned with.

It is considered on par with the military strength of The Axle Powers. The Connections have four participants in the top 11 militaries of Antarctica, while The Axle Powers have four in the top 10.

Education
Most, if not all, members of the Connections have some of the most comprehensive education systems in the Antarctic world. Each of these nations' universities specialize in a certain field, with UnitedTerra leading in 'cultural' subjects such as history, lingual subjects, music and visual art, Munijoch taking the lead in natural sciences and engineering, and Margate and Magonia specialising in social sciences and 'commerce' subjects such as accounting, business administration, economics, finance and law. Magonian and Munian universities are also noted for their reputation in computer science. It is not uncommon for universities from Zeta member states to have overseas campuses in other member states.

Pre-tertiary institutions in the Connections often offer student exchange programs to fellow members' schools, while higher level institutions also offer special 'Zeta Scholarship' to foreign students from member states. This scholarship, which is based on academic merit and extracurricular performance, usually covers all of the holder’s tuition fees and provides them with an annual living subsidy. Professional qualifications, especially those in law and medicine, from Zeta member states are recognised by each other.

Relations with Foreign Countries

 * NewUnitedProvincesFlag.png United Provinces — Excellent. The UP government embraces the idea of the Zeta Connections and proposed a trade agreement between the Western Union and the Zeta Connections.