The United Netherlands The United Netherlands Population 20,650,000 SINless Population (est.) 23% Per Capita Income 26,900 Below Poverty Level 35% Megacorporate Affiliation 46% Education: Less than 12 years 19% GED 46% 4 year degree 24% Masters or higher 11% Major Language Dutch (79%) Currency Euro Capital Europort The UNL consists of the Netherlands and Flanders, once the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The UNL is part of a region called the Low Countries, which also includes Wallonia (once the French-speaking part of Belgium) and Luxembourg (now part of the SOX zone). The country snuggles in between the AGS in the east, France in the south and a long stretch of polluted coastline in the west. Because of their location on the North Sea and with easy access to the rest of Europe, the Low Countries have a long history as traders and merchants. The UNL contains some of the main European ports, including the Europort (a five-city corporate megasprawl) and Antwerp. Even though almost a third of the country is uninhabitable thanks to the Black Tide, the UNL still has one of the highest population densities in the world. During the first part of the twenty-first century, frequent environmental catastrophes struck the Low Countries. The northern Netherlands was polluted after flash floods smashed their way through cities and countryside and left behind oily sewage in 2003. Then came two nuclear disasters: the Kent. UK meltdown in 2004, and the French Cattenom disaster in 2008. Though the Low Countries were not directly devastated, radioactive clouds from both disasters made their way to the Netherlands, leading to dozens if not hundreds of cases of radiation sickness. These catastrophes were small, however, compared to the Black Tide, unarguably one of the most important events in Dutch history. In the first week of February 2011, a hurricane with unprecedented power struck the coasts of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, flooding large parts of the region. When the water level dropped, a slimy toxic sludge was left behind, tainting much of the country - and some areas remain submerged to this day. Thousands of people drowned. Thousands more died in refugee camps from VITAS and famine. Huge stretches of polluted coastline in Flanders and the Netherlands were abandoned to the knee-deep toxic muck that was left behind. A major economic recession followed. as the Low Countries were in utter ruins and needed to be completely rebuilt. Instability, social unrest, magic and Goblinization created even more chaos. This provided the catalyst in 2016 for Belgium's peaceful split into the French-speaking Wallonia and the Dutch-speaking Flanders. The Low Countries reclaimed land and rebuilt at lightning speed in the 2020s. In the west, Rotterdam's foundations were used to build a new megasprawl: the Europort. Millions of euro were spent to construct a new harbor. an off-shore international airport and enough housing to accommodate thousands of refugees in the new city. These days, the economy is sliding badly, having reached its peak in the '50s. Social unrest has also erupted again thanks to SURGE and an outbreak of VITAS in the Utrecht; most of the populace finds horns and tusks strange enough without dealing with possibly diseased changelings that don't have a common outstanding trait between them. In an attempt to stabilize the country's economy, at least, the Dutch government approved a radical new set of laws in 2062 that put the corporations ahead of the game. Amsterdam is the most corrupt, scum-filled and flooded back alley in the world. Once known as a green tourist heaven, Amsterdam is now the place where the underbelly of the underworld resides. During the Black Tide, the lJsselmeer Dam broke, flooding much of the city in the toxic remains of the IJsselmeer. After most of its population fled to higher ground, Amsterdam slowly reverted to a state of chaos. Crime bosses, anarchists and other seedy low-lifers settled into the city.