Ankara
Ankara, located in the foothills of the Southern Alps, is the center of the southern lumber industry. It boasts a large pulp and paper industry, as well as a large magnesium mine. Ankara also manufactures fernwood products, including furniture and prefabricated buildings. Severe anti-pollution laws have forced the local factories to keep their toxic emissions down to a negligible level.
Ankara is also the headquarters of Southern Rail, the state railway of the Southern Republic. Southern Rail is notorious for constantly being involved in labor disputes with its employees. Over two dozen unions represent various factions of Southern Rail workers. On average, two to three of these labor groups will be on strike or protesting in some other manner. Southern Rail usually handles these disputes by hiring scabs.
Ankara is famed for keeping up one of the most ancient traditions of Earth: batte (pronounced batt-hey). Batte is played on a diamond shaped field with a bat and a small ball. The object of the game is to hit the ball as far as possible with the bat, allowing teammates to score additional runs for points. The city boasts at least six little league batte teams, and twenty adult ones. The Pennant Races of both the adult and children’s leagues attract record numbers of tourists from the cities in the Southern Republic and other allied leagues every year.
Many inhabitants of Ankara are the proud owners of cabins in the Southern Alps, to which they go during their winter holidays to benefit from the snowy peaks of the mountains. A few resorts also make winter sports available to those tourists who are willing to pay the exorbitant price they demand.