The Bay countries are a thouroughly corporate pair of countries that despise their socialist pig neighbours to the south. The confusingly named Upper Bay (to the south) and Lower Bay (to the north) are run by a few conglomorate companies who would like nothing better than to drive the others out of business, and who put particular emphasis on ruining the fortunes of their crossbay counterparts.
Given the recent increase in pirating along the coast, the once bustling ports of west Lower Bay have seen a dramatic decrease in competitveness, and while the northern ports are not nearly as affected, those are frozen over nine months of the year. As a result, Lower Bay shipping companies have been forced to run their orders through the thankfully friendly city-state of Yupp. Yupp, which is officially the capital of both Upper and Lower Bay, is the seat of the democratic government that once administered the unified Bay; today, however, the authority of that government spreads little farther than city limits and Upper and Lower Bay are de facto, though not de jure, independent. While Yupp has long been the go-to connection point for shipments coming from Jaawi Ruusih and other eastern countries, it is now also gobbling up trade from the western continent and Áaa, with which Lower Bay trades its northern ice for exotic southern sand.
Although there are plenty of port cities in Upper Bay which are far closer, and thus theoretically cheaper, to send western shipments through, the continued rivalry between the Bay countries means that Yupp continues to benefit the most from Lower Bay's pirating difficulties. However, there have now been a number of surreptitious explosions on Yupp-bound cargo ships near Umur Island, which have forced a few unfortunate Lower Bay companies to run their shipments through Upper Bay's safer ports at an even more unfortunate surcharge. Upper Bay has of course blamed these unfortunate events on the socialist terrorists that infest the desolate lands accross the pond, but Kluk is one of the friendlier southern countries and many wonder where these terrorists, if they even exist, are getting their funding from.
In the midst of these antics, Lower Bay also has to deal with continual uprisings on Soap Island that have persisted ever since the island was annexed by Yummy Oil Incorporated (stylized Yo!) some twenty years ago. Yo! never did find oil on the island, but they maintain their claim to the land because their corporate intelligence shows that Upper Bay's Straits Up! knows
something about the shores around it and they're sticking around until they find out what. In the meantime, Yo! and the mercenary forces of the Lower Bay Security Coalition (LBSC), of which it is a member, spray some tear gas every Friday to keep the pesky Soapers in line.
