The Atlas

How the Atlas works

The map works in two parts. The base is a choropleth, the same countries carrying a different set of numbers: risk bands from the Jurisdiction Risk Index, private wealth from the custody map, or spheres of control from Influence Zones. On top of any base lie the overlays: the financial centres and havens as gold markers, most of them too small to see on a world map; the seven chokepoints as numbered markers; and the arteries as lines, the shipping lanes, pipelines, data cables from the cables instrument, and rail corridors that carry the world's trade and power. The overlays are the same on every base, so you can read them against whichever fill you choose.

That pairing is the point. The chokepoints are the pinch-points on the arteries, and a family reads them together with the fill: a wealthy country behind a chokepoint a rival can close, or a contested zone sitting astride a pipeline, is a different proposition from the same country read on risk alone. The Sovereign Family states the household version.