Atropia (fictional country)

Atropia is a fictional nation created by the United States military for training purposes.^[1] Atropia serves as a fictional "pro-Western dictatorship"^[2] where U.S. military personnel must operate in accordance with international law.^[3]

Atropia was first developed in 2012 by the US Army's training command.^[2] The country is supposedly located in the Caucasus, with borders that roughly coincide with Azerbaijan.^[2] The country's neighbors include "Limaria", "Kemalia", "Donovia", "Gorgas" and "Ariana".^[2]

The name "Atropia" has been used for a complex of 12 mock villages built at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California’s Mojave Desert.^[4] The movie Atropia is named after this training center.^[5]

The Atropia setting has also been used in battlefield exercises at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana^[6] as well as Fort Bragg, North Carolina.^[7]

Atropia has also been used for computer-based miltary simulations^[8], including one published under a Creative Commons license in 2014.^[9]

The following is an overview of Atropia as described in the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE).^[1]

Atropia is described as being a "neutral, Western-leaning oligarchy."^[1] The country has very few personal freedoms, and the government rules like an autocracy.^[3] Atropia is located in the Caucasus.^[1] Corruption within the government is widespread.^[1]

Atropia's main sources of wealth come from their oil and natural gas resources.^[1]

Atropia's military is separated into four main branches: army, marine corps, navy, and air force.^[10] There are also two other paramilitary branches, the national police and the border guards.^[10]