(You need to have Santa's factory there somewhere...)

Would you have any advice for me as to how to set it up? I've got a basic plan: rim neutral SCs to start conflict, and neutral SCs in the Arctic to finish out the game on. Any rough suggestions for overall design, or important things to keep in mind?

I like the concept. The map covers a geographic region never before seen in VDip, and I can't off the top of my head think of any variants quite like it, in terms of the dynamic of colonizing a wilderness area. To emphasize that dynamic, maybe make holding the North Pole to be a win condition. That way, all powers have to compete for the middle, and you can't win just by moving around the edges.

You say that this design features "Canada," but the map shows the starting SCs are actually in Alaska (i.e. the U.S.).

One thing you might want to tweak about the current map is that Scandinavia and Russia start a lot closer to one other than Canada. So Scandinavia/Russia will more likely than not end up at war, while Canada quietly grows in strength. Perhaps a fourth/fifth power can be added. So maybe add both Canada and the U.S., and either China or Japan (who are fighting for the Arctic for access to coveted trade routes for shipping their manufactured goods, slowly opening up due to global warming melting the polar sea ice).

Another potential feature would be Summer/Winter seasons and freezing & melting sea ice. Not sure how that would be coded, but it might be fun!

@Amwidkle Nice idea on the melting/freeing, I have floated the idea and thought it was pretty nice on the mock-up I did. I'm adding Canada and a two-centre power, China. This power will have a few centres around it to make up for that though.

Interesting. I have been thinking about a science-fictiony variant set in a future arctic for a long time. Perhaps I will take that up after I finish Dawn of the Enlightenment, the global variant I am currently working on. I look forward to seeing how your variant develops, and drawing lessons from it! :^)

Don't take lessons from me, dude. Take it from someone who knows what they're doing.

You could possibly have several icebergs which act like the tornado in the Pirates! variant (But only confined to water). Not sure if it would be possible to increase and decrease the number of Icebergs based upon season.

LOL Ikaneko. I like to think I DO know what I am doing as far as variant design is concerned. But that doesn't mean I can't learn more and get better at it.

I would suggest adding four more countries to the variant : China, Japan, America, and England. 3 countries only does not make interestibg diplomacy

*interesting