User:Baleener/sandbox

Qwghlm
Qwghlm is a fictional part of the British Isles, located between and to the north of Ireland and England. Every aspect of its climate, language, and culture are exaggerated, both for general humor and in order to satirize the tendency of people - especially people in small and/or isolated communities - to take fierce pride in aspects of their community that may look ridiculous or negative to outsiders. Qwghlm's main products are wool and guano. The language uses a runic alphabet and is incredibly difficult to understand even among native speakers, and its anglicizations are ridiculous (cCmndhd=Smith). Its climate is absurdly harsh, and its only real wildlife is in the form of skerries, small rodents who are good jumpers. It is divided into Inner and Outer Qwghlm, whose inhabitants despise one another. Supposedly Julius Caesar's attempt to conquer Qwghlm ended in resounding defeat.

In the story, Lawrence is sent to Qwghlm in order to put up an appearance of monitoring U-boat transmissions. He is there when the Royal Navy discovers a beached U-boat containing several plot-advancing items. Later, when he ends up in Brisbane, he stumbles across a community of Qwghlmian migrants. His roommate explains that the English use Qwghlmians the way the Americans use Navajo windtalkers.

Kinakuta
The Sultanate of Kinakuta is a fictional island in the middle of the South China Sea, where Randy and company, together with Goto Engineering, are attempting to set up a data haven. During World War II, Kinakuta was occupied by the Japanese, who oppressed the native people, and when the Allies arrived and interned the Japanese in POW camps, they were non-lethally overpowered while the natives massacred the Japanese prisoners. Kinakuta has little presence in the WWII storyline, but Randy reads about it in a memoir as research before he travels there. In the present-day storyline, the sultan argues that the incrementalist approach to data regulation has come to obstruct activity, and the time has come to start over.