EO drives south through the Caucasus. PCU drives north through Mesopotamia. Between them: Anatolia, Iran, Iraq, and the Central Asian corridor — fragmented before the Upheaval, catastrophically so after. Istanbul is the hinge.
EO drives south through the Caucasus. PCU drives north through Mesopotamia. Between them: Anatolia, Iran, Iraq, and the Central Asian corridor — fragmented before the Upheaval, catastrophically so after. Istanbul is the hinge. The Sons of the Serpent control the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates. The PCU introduced a fracture in those headwaters. The Bosphorus Compact has the cable intercept proving it.
The Shatter Belt is what happens when two large factions press toward each other across a geography already fragmented before they arrived. EO drives south from the Eurasian Steppes through the Caucasus. PCU drives north from the Gulf through the Mesopotamian river plain. Between them: Anatolia, Iran, Iraq, and the Central Asian stans — politically complex before the Upheaval, catastrophically so since.
Istanbul is the hinge. The Bosphorus Compact controls the crossing and charges both EO and PCU for passage. Its neutrality is sustained by knowing too much about everyone to be safely removed — 18 years of reading faction communications through seabed cables beneath the strait.
The Tigris-Euphrates headwaters are in eastern Anatolia. Whoever controls them controls water for 60 million people. The Sons of the Serpent have protected the highland watershed infrastructure for 11 years. The PCU introduced a controlled fracture in the dam structure — reducing flow slowly, below emergency threshold. The Compact has the cable intercept confirming PCU authorization. They have not told the Sons.