To many in Golarion, Alkenstar is synonymous with the devastating firearms and advanced machinery, but the city-state is so much more. Even by the Impossible Lands' unique standards, the technologically-advanced Grand Duchy of Alkenstar is an impossible nation, a clockwork anomaly amongst archmage-founded empires. Alkenstar maintains a prosperous if precarious existence within the mag-ruined Mana Wastes, where wellspring surges of magical energy make spellcasting an incredibly difficult prospect. Without reliable access to spells to master their environment, Alkenstar has adapted to their chaotic surroundings by utilizing lab-forged science and soot-stained engineering. Unlike neighboring Geb and Nex, where supernatural coteries dominate politics, the Grand Duchy is a constitutional monarchy, where a High Parliament of mortal representatives elects the titular Unknown. As increasing numbers of Gebbite and Nexian warmongers ready enchantments and forge monstrosities to renew their ancient hostilities, Alkenstar's gunslingers and inventors hone their twin disciplines of cannon and clockwork in vigilant pursuit of detente.
Alkenstar might seem like a tiny beacon of civilization at the mercy of dangerous landscapes, robing monsters, and godlike wizards. However, it exists as a nation because of these challenges, not in spite of them. The Mana Wastes' magical storms might boil the earth in acid-blossoms and freeze the sky with lightning-snow, yet they're also cosmic forges, shaping the land into useful minerals and unknown substances for Alkenstar experimentation. The Mana Wastes' mutants and monsters might mount habitual attacks, but their raids also provide a clear and present existential threat, rallying the Alkenstari toward cohesion and unity. Even the systemic disenfranchisement of their neighbors provides enrichment for Alkenstar. While may societies in the Impossible Lands stake their stability and wealth upon magic privilege, such as Geb's heirarchy favoring the undead or Nex's scholarly mage-bureaucracy favoring the arcane, Alkenstar flourishes by opening its doors to their displaced migrants, such as living Gebbites or Nexians dispossessed of spellcraft, who in turn direct their valuable talents to benefit the Grand Duchy's industries and operations.
These examples showcase how Alkenstar transforms challenges into opportunity, but they don't explain how the city-state developed this resilient attitude, its tendency to meet daunting adversity with finesse and grit. Alkenstar's propensity to direct community efforts and individual innovations toward overcoming threats is a hard-earned tradition that goes all the way back to the city-state's founding. Many Alkenstari are proud of their people's ability to accomplish tremendous feats under pressure. They believe that incorporating the efforts of their smaller communities into the larger system will lead to their nation's success and stability.