Gindra

This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series.

Gindra
Population	5 million (approx.)
Area	553,000 km2
Government	Military junta
Head of state	William Weah (President)
Languages	French, other indigenous languages
Ethnic groups	Gundas, Boias, Urbas, Toreros
Products and resources	Gold, diamonds, uranium, manganese, nickel, other rare metals

Gindra was a small country in Central Africa. Ethnically diverse and economically underdeveloped, it was the location of two major international crisis events - the Outer Heaven Uprising in 1995 and the Galuade Incident in 2002.

History

Gindra was "discovered" by French explorers around the late 19th century, resulting in its colonization. During its colonial period, Gindra was a frequent topic of legislative discussions due to repeated outbreaks of violence resulting from forced labor in farms run by French businesses in the country. Gindra achieved independence in the aftermath of World War II, when the Brazzaville Convention of 1944 under Charles de Gaulle's Third Republic set the former colonies on the road to independence. Certain remaining inequalities, such as the lack of right to French citizenship, were later removed by the Overseas Territory Law, and Gindra achieved full independence in 1962. At that time, Gindra was fairly poor and uneducated. Foreign capital steadily decreased with the fall of the dollar, and Gindra's national debt ballooned as a result. In addition, various developed countries usually exploited the people for wealth and otherwise would not help them under normal circumstances.

Gindra received substantial international attention in 1995 due to the terrorist activities of Outer Heaven, a budding "mercenary nation" that established a new political regime in the country in the late 1980s. Commanded by a "legendary mercenary", the regime was centered around a fortified stronghold of the same name, located in a mountainous region of Gindra. It was brought down during Operation Intrude N313, which saw the death of Outer Heaven's leader and destruction of TX-55 Metal Gear, a nuclear-equipped bipedal tank.

Following the aftermath of the Cold War, and the resulting development of infant democracies in the Third World, Gindra, like other African nations, had its traditional rivalries gain more significance and escalate into major internecine warfare. In addition, the country was under the rule of a military junta since at least 1997, after Commander William Weah, an ethnic Gunda, took power via a coup d'état and made himself president for life.

Under Weah's regime, the Boia ethnic minority faced the threat of genocide, before the charismatic "General" Augustine Eguabon, a former mercenary of Outer Heaven, arrived to turn the tide in 1997. Eguabon took control of the Gindra Liberation Front, a struggling separatist rebel movement fighting for the political autonomy of the Boias. Under Eguabon's leadership, the GLF rapidly grew in military strength, and its political goals were extended to include the removal of exploitative Western influences from Gindra. Headquartered in the fortress of Galuade, built on the ruins of Outer Heaven, the GLF initiated a civil war against Weah's regime to become a self-sustaining nation.

In 2002, roughly six months after UN peacekeeping forces were deployed to Gindra, the GLF were involved in the hijacking of a U.S. Army transport plane carrying a prototype Metal Gear unit en route to South America. This marked the beginning of the Galuade Incident.

Overview

Geography and climate

Geographically, Gindra was located inland, about 1,000 kilometers away from the nearest coast. Most of the country's landmass was a plateau at around 600 to 700 meters above sea level, but there were several mountainous regions as well, consisting of mountain chains as high as 1 kilometer, with the fortress of Galuade being located in one such mountain range.

Gindra's overall climate was subtropical for the most part, and roughly divided between the hot rainy season and the cold dry season. Winter ran from May to August, and could have its temperature drop as low as minus 26.8 degrees. Summer ran from September to November, with its mean temperature being around 85 degrees, although its daytime temperature could occasionally get as high as 104 degrees. Its rainy season lasted from October to April, and its annual precipitation was approximately 650mm. Because of its largely ambivalent weather, its schedules were made to take into account of the weather: the work day began at around 7:30 AM, schools and banks closed for the day at 12:30 PM, the populace took siestas between 12:00 and 15:00 (12:00 PM and 3:00 PM), with businesses resuming around 15:30 (3:30 PM) and close shop for the night at 19:00 (7:00 PM).

Demographics

Containing a total area of 553,000 square kilometers, Gindra had a population of approximately 5 million, with around 2.25 million (45%) people living in the cities. Its desert- and mountain-based communities were relatively underdeveloped. Like most African states, Gindra was home to various ethnic groups, including the Boias, the Urbas, the Toreros (all of which, alongside other minorities, comprised 40% of the country's total population); the Gundas formed the majority group, at 60% of the population. As a former colony of France, the country's official language was French, but many indigenous languages existed as well. 50% of its populace followed the dominant indigenous faith, while 20% were of the Muslim religion, and Catholics and Protestants were 15% each. Differences in faith had contributed to the ethnic conflicts throughout the country's history.

The most serious illness in the country was Malaria, with its local strain virulent enough to resist preventative medication. Its symptoms include a high fever between 100 and 104 degrees for two to three days, accompanied by nausea and chills, extreme fatigue, and a lack of an appetite.

Economics

The GNP of Gindra was $1.5 million in 2002, placing the country among the more affluent African states, although the disparity of income was extremely high. At that time, Gindra's total export amounted to 55 billion CFA Francs. Major export items included diamonds, gold and rare metals such as uranium, manganese and nickel; most of the export was destined to France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the United States. Diamonds in particular made up 40% of the total export revenues, with over 600,000 carats processed each year. However, Gindra's most substantial export did not appear in any official statistics: Gindra was a major producer and exporter of narcotics. Gindra's total import at that time was 95 billion CFA Francs, mostly consisting of machinery, medical supplies and food products from the United States, France, Germany and Japan. Many of these basic necessities had to be imported due to Gindra's lack of a domestic production infrastructure. These goods were also relatively expensive, due to Gindra's landlocked status. While freshwater fish was widely available for consumption, extra measures needed to be taken when cooking it in order to get rid of parasites.

Cars were an absolute necessity in Gindra, with new cars being preferred due to Gindra having scarce amounts of spare parts for older car models.

Industry

Gindra's main tourist attraction were its nature preserves, which were fairly numerous in number and served as popular hunting locations, provided the hunters had acquired a permit. However, because of growing conservation efforts, hunting permits had become very difficult to acquire.

Souvenirs included ivory and wooden objects and exotic butterfly samples, the latter of which were legal to purchase as long as they were not subject to the Washington Convention of Endangered Species' list of endangered animals. Despite technically having listed prices, haggling on the customers' part was expected in these souvenir shops.

Galuade

Galuade's location in Gindra.

Galuade was a fortified military installation located in the mountains of the eastern portion of Gindra, where Outer Heaven once stood. Rebuilt from "the gutted shell of Outer Heaven and improved upon the original", the fortress served as the main headquarters of the armed separatist group, the Gindra Liberation Front. In order to prevent the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces and the Gindran government from infiltrating it, the facility was upgraded with several state-of-the-art security measures, which made the fortress nearly impregnable.

In 2002, Solid Snake infiltrated Galuade in order to destroy the U.S. Government's black project, Metal Gear GANDER, which had been hijacked by the GLF en route to a field test in South America. The planned method of Snake's infiltration was by a HALO jump 3 kilometers south of Galuade at around dawn.

Facilities

The southern-most portion of the base was an area that presumably acted as a shipment area, which contained various crates, trucks, and some Strykers as well as miniature warehouses. The area was also separated by various chain-link fences with some of the doors secured by keycard locks. Furthermore, some of the buildings were presumably warehouses. One of the warehouses contained a small entrance to a duct that acted as an alternate entrance into a watch tower.

The drainage duct would flood whenever there's a squall, necessitating that personnel within the drainage duct relocate from the ducts until the squall and the flood died down.

To the north of the loading area was a watchtower. It was two stories high, and had gassed rooms and various crates.

To the northeast are barracks used for the comfort of the personnel, as well as a prison for various VIPs, and to the north was a power plant that supplied power to the facility. It was also secretly the place that Metal Gear GANDER was stored. The way to the barracks were guarded by a special door system that necessitated that the personnel press the consoles operating the door in a specific order. Trucks were stationed here, and attack dogs also patrol the area alongside soldiers and some birds. The area was surrounded by a nearby cliff.

The barracks were two stories high with a basement and contained various storage containment facilities for the storage of supplies. In addition, a conveyor belt system was utilized that monitored the color of cardboard boxes and placed them in the necessary storage containment area. The storage areas were also marked with A and B, with 4 rooms within each. To the northwest of the first floor of the barracks was an exit that led to the Maintenance Base. To the west and north of the Barracks was the Power Plant.

The power plant was a two story building with a first basement floor. The first basement floor also the place where the generators that power the facility were located, although they were surrounded by an electric floor, presumably to ensure no one tried to sabotage the generators. It also contained a warehouse on the first floor, and the first basement floor was prone to flooding if a squall was severe enough to overflow the drainage duct and cause it to leak, which heightened the risk of the resulting puddles being hit with electricity. The plant had four structural weaknesses that would cause it to collapse.

The Maintenance Base was protected by a mountain wall to the south, as well as an artillery unit installed on the mountainside. The Maintenance Base itself was the same building as the one that formerly contained TX-55 during the Outer Heaven Uprising. It also contained a cargo elevator and a runway for GANDER.

Security systems

• Electrified floors
• Infrared sensors
• Cyanide gas

Behind the scenes

Gindra is a fictional country that serves as the geographical setting of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Unlike the country's original location somewhere in southern Africa, as depicted in Metal Gear, it is retconned as being located in Central Africa.

Several references to Galuade (and Metal Gear: Ghost Babel in general) are made in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, during some of the Colonel's strange transmissions to Raiden, as he traverses the inner sections of Arsenal Gear. Another reference is made in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where the Five-seveN pistol is mentioned as having been used by Solid Snake during his mission in Galuade.