The Gatun Foundation, is an emergent nation-state, created from the ruins of the collapse of The Federative Republic of San Marcos. It formed following the double punches of the 3024 Small War and its follow-up 3025 Pandemic, and the nuclear devastation of the capital and its subsequent national disintegration. Today, this nation-state is a loose confederation between the two controlling towns of the Gatun Canal, and their occupying paramilitary forces.

Gatun Canal : The Gatun Canal is an artificial canal of locks and fresh-water lakes that provides passage to cargo and most military ships between the Atlantis Sea to the south-west, and the Sea of Tragnar in the north-east. The canal has been a holding of The Federative Republic of San Marcos for more than a hundred years, but has since fallen into independent control.

While The Republic of Buntar has long looked on the Canal as a potential source of revenue and military control, even at the height of their recent invasion of San Marcos territories, the location remained out of reach. The problems associated with controlling and absorbing Petrópolis, further restrict their interest in the region.

Today, the Canal remains an important part of the regional infrastructure, allowing the passage of goods and personnel from coast to coast across the Ithmus of Colón, and provides the basis for the entire economy of the nascent nation-state.

The Towns : The towns of Colón (to the north-east) and Balboa (to the south-west) are the only notable communities in the region, each controlling one end of the Canal, and possessing the technical support required to keep the Canal in operation. The two have since joined forces under the protection of their occupying militia, largely former Policia Militar that have become unified in their support of the emerging civilian government of the region.

Both port towns are host to cargo cranes for large-scale loading and unloading of container products, typically the Standard (5-ton) Cargo Containers found everywhere cargo moves from ground to sea, or space to ground. Additionally, the locks at each port hold two multi-purpose berths for dealing with larger, sea-going vessels. Located near each town is a small hydro-electric plant, each damming a fair-sized river, the Kampia and Madden (respectively), which give the communities almost unrestricted access to electrical power for the local industries, as well as their own lock systems.

La Palma : The region between these two towns, is known as La Palma, and is a very warm river basin that sports scattered fishing villages and little else. Military patrols using a handful of Monitor Naval Vessels, which constantly patrol the river and ensure traffic moves safely through the region. Independently-owned civilian boats are the most commonly used methods of transporting people and small cargoes across the region.

Outside of these handful of civilian boats which use the Canal, there is little traffic inland. Roads are virtually non-existent away from the lowlands near the Canal, and this makes traffic into the highlands above the Canal both difficult and sporadic. A handful of independent buses exist, known locally as “Diablo Rojos”, but there is little else in the way of public transport beyond a handful of private or military vehicles.

Darien Highlands : The Darien Highlands are the rough, thickly forested regions above the Canal, that are cooler and host to many small independent villages. While the lowlands farm corn and fish, the highlands raise goats and rice, and are fairly self-sufficient for everything beyond the usual luxury goods of salt, munitions and fuel oils.

The Economy

Agricultural surpluses have always led to the export of fish and corn from the region, but the influx of refugees in 3025-6, has largely “eaten” these reserves away. While there are a few noted gold and copper deposits, they are insignificant and have never attracted the investment requires to try and develop them. In short, outside of supporting the local population base, there is nothing of international value to the nation, other than promoting trade through the Gatun Canal.

The primary means of bulk trade is general barter of goods and services, though the traditional “Brass Tax” is also increasingly popular, trading bullets for small purchases of goods. San Marcos currency is not accepted and considered worthless, though some trading companies are moving to the C-Bill standard when dealing with international markets.

Given the nascent nation-state’s location between Buntar, Tragnar and Peregrine, it has become an increasingly popular place to exchange goods between these potentially hostile nations. Both port towns are popular places for agents from each nation to sell goods and seek resources for transport to their own nation’s markets. As a result of this, transport companies from these nations are commonly encountered and increasingly prevalent in the port towns, as well as shipping goods along the Canal. Shipping has therefore actually increased over the last couple years to the point it is an economic boon to the region, providing jobs and welcome influxes of foreign capital in supplying these shipments.