Fiction:Area of Total Control (Quadrants)

"We posit that astrographical, economic, political, and military factors have conspired to create an area of total control, stretching east to west across the most heavily trafficked, coveted, and contested region in the galaxy. Whomsoever controls this space rules Quadrant 82. However, this is a poisoned chalice."

- Battle for the Quadrants, 2818

The Area of Total Control (ATC, French: Zone de contrôle total) is a geostrategical theory coined by Jacques Abril, a scholar of French jeune garde geopolitics, and Marsilius Lacasse, pioneer hyperspatial naval theorist of the French school. In their joint publication released in 2818, Battle for the Quadrants, they sought to explain the Gorge Dispute in geopolitical terms -- exploring how the contemporary layout of territorial and non-territorial space in the Quadrants impacts the security concerns of the major Quadrantian powers and drives them into conflict with each other.

In Quadrant 82, the Area of Total Control is a region of open space stretching from the Wormhole Plateau to Yudumarth which borders Rambo Nation, the French Empire, the Hutter Kingdom, the Drodo Empire, the Farengeto Trade Coalition, the New Cyrannian Republic, the Allied Terran Republic, the Heer Stekeveel Territories, the Lizardians, and the Creckel Kingdom. It contains a number of independent planets under the protection of Rambo Nation, many of which are members of the Lianna Initiative. It is also a critical area of transit and trade, home to hyperlanes, wormholes, and outposts which provide access to the Quadrant's major powers. Due to a convergence of astrographical, economic, political, and military factors, it is a region that multiple powers desire control of and access to as a major component of their security:


 * For RamboflagII.png Rambo Nation, it is the connection between the Outer Colonia Sector, the Badlands, and the core Rambo territories. Anyone else who seizes the ATC will be able to isolate Rambo Nation from these territories. It is where many of the Lianna initiative states are, which equates to most of their trade, legitimacy, and reliable alliances. It also allows them to police who comes in and out of the Quadrants through different wormholes. Having control of the area also would allow it to successfully contain perceived threats from the Neutrality Zone and the Hutter Kingdom.
 * For the Flag of France.png French Empire, it is the door to trade with Lianna and Rambo markets. It is also a significant buffer zone within which its command-of-space navy can operate, a buffer which is especially valuable in light of the fact that French power in the Quadrants hinges on a single fortified wormhole. If France is forced to only defend the territorial Neutrality Zone, it will be far harder for it to fend off an attack.
 * For the Hutter Kingdom Flag.png Hutter Kingdom, it consists its access to its outpost of Therellia and the Heer Stekeveel Territories, a source of potential allies. It is also an important area of contestation in its rivalry with Rambo Nation, as control of it would allow the Hutters to isolate the Outer Colonia Sector.

Control of the ATC by any other major power makes these states and those aligned with it understandably insecure.