The Norden-Cambria Conflict

The Norden-Cambria Conflict
I’m here in the center of total chaos. Norden’s economy has collapsed and the people are out of control. I spoke to a college student here in Norden, who discussed with our crew, her family’s struggles over the last few years.
Student: My father owned a bank that has been in the family since his grandfather settled in Norden. My great-grandfather started the first local branch in Larsberg with money the family made from farming when the town was developing its first paved road.
Journalist: And what happened? You said he used to have the bank, so…what hap__
Student: We ended up selling it, and luckily, we have enough money to hopefully keep us safe until things settle down here. What’s interesting is how we ended up with that money—how we ended up getting more than we expected.
Journalist: So how did you manage to sell it when even the major banks couldn’t pay their loans? I can’t imagine how a small, or sorry, modest bank could sur__
Student: Sure, sure. That’s what we were thinking. The loans that were crippling the bigger banks are precisely why we got out of it all ok.
At his time, an enormous bomb had gone off, no more than two or three kilometers from us. That is what the pop was on the audio that you heard. Let us now return to the student’s story, central to understanding the collapse of the Norden economy, and the beginning of the Norden-Cambria conflict.
Journalist: Did your father not have these crippling loans?
Student: Exactly, exactly. My dad needed to sell the bank in the first place because he just couldn’t compete with the major banks, and all that money they were making selling these giant loans to other banks. The majors felt like they could keep buying as long as the loan market kept expanding the way it was. None of them ever thought it would end, or if it did they never wanted to consider when and where it would end. Guys were making millions every week selling these gigantic, unimaginable loans in every sector you can imagine. My dad was too scared to get involved in the buy-up because he couldn’t back it up with the few assets his bank had. He would never be able to repay a 4 billion dollar loan to weapons manufacturers if he had to first get the money from a larger bank. The larger bank would come knocking and our family business would be over, so we struggled. Our bank was doing all right, but it wasn’t worth that much.
Journalist: So, how did you make any money then when you sold it?
Student: The majors were all in the hole millions of dollars. My dad’s little bank was one of the few that had no debts and a handful of assets. Once he put it up for sale, the majors were practically stepping over each other to buy us out. They needed the assets I guess.
This is where my brief interview with the girl ended. Just beyond the Larsberg district, there was gunfire and shouting. The young girl asked me to keep her anonymous because of her father’s wealth. She explained to me that the rioters and looters would kidnap, rape, and ransom her in an instant if she exposed her name to any radio network.
Larsberg, only a few years ago, was considered one of the prime real-estate areas in all of Norden. At one time, her neighborhood had a modest population of only one thousand people, give or take a dozen, but contained 70% of the nation’s total capital. After the invasion of the Cambrian militia, the neighbors were very quickly wiped out, either financially or existentially. Those that were wise enough to anticipate the fall of the Norden economy left early, and moved their wealth to more tropical countries halfway across the globe.
Our crew caught up with the former Norden Director of Warfare in Buenos Aires, two weeks into the Cambrian invasion of Norden. The former director had been staying in a hotel downtown, and agreed to meet us in the lobby over lunch.
Journalist: Director Thordendal- excuse me- former Director, you were recently interviewed by Cambrian journalists in an investigation concerning whether or not you had prior knowledge of the attack. Would you care to elaborate on this issue?
DirectorT: Nothing new. This is nothing new. Every country throughout history immediately looks to the commanders of war as suspects in a coup.
Journalist: So, what do you say to those who point to documents suggesting Cambrian military sent memos to your staff containing coordinates that correspond to the first breaches of the Norden border in the first hours of the conflict?
DirectorT: I will tell you the same thing I told the others. These were coordinates that spies leaked to us in order to put in place the necessary forces.
In between sips of a Corona cervesa, Director Thordendal assured me that his young successor, Director Havenstrom, was more than capable of handling the Cambrian Militia. I asked him about the reasons being discussed, in the opening weeks, for the invasion of the Cambrian militia immediately following the financial collapse of the Norden economy.
Journalist: Mr. Thordendal, many people have questioned the reasoning behind the Cambrian attack following the economic crash in Norden. Can you help our listeners to understand why this happened, and why now?
The whirring sound you hear in the background is a combination of the wind hitting the former Director’s beer bottle and some intermittent whispering between Mr. Thordendal and two men that had brought him his lunch along with a credit card and a few pieces of paper. There appeared to be a short squabble over the bill before the former director reluctantly gave a signature to the waiter while a man in an expensive looking suit waited patiently a few feet away. The former director sat back down and grabbed at his new icy beverage containing two colorful toothpicks and one glass straw.
DirectorT: Look, I don’t have all the answers. That’s what the new guy is supposed to figure out. Now if you please, I have to get back to my lunch.
With only a few days left before our story was to be finished, our crew returned to Norden for some answers from the new Director of Warfare, Tomas Havenstrom.
Journalist: Director Havenstrom, can you tell us what you have discovered about this conflict since you took over Director Thordendal’s position?
Director: Lady, I don’t have time. You know how sometimes a boxing match in Vegas can be rigged so that the guys in the front row can make a killing—and their blonde wives are getting spit and blood sprayed onto their faces—meanwhile their both smiling at each other, gettin’ turned on with all that money, anger, and blood floatin’ around?
Journalist: Are you saying that__
Director: I’m not finished. Well, you know how the suits are sittin’ there lickin’ their lips while the tired black guys are beatin’ the hell out of each other—the same guys that would be rotating their tires, stealing their car stereos, selling them cocaine, or …
Journalist: So, if I can just guess here what you are trying to__
Director: If I can just finish my thought—Look, the boxers know. These half retarded laborers-turned-boxers know. Both of them know. They still gotta fight lady. They still gotta fight. So place your bet, and get the f__k out of my way. Now if you’ll excuse me.
The profanity that was bleeped out at the end was not essential to the story. However, if the listeners are interested in a full transcript of each of these interviews, please log onto our website where you can purchase the full story (credit cards only). This program is made possible by Liberty Mutual and The South American Primary Bank.