Transia


Transia is a fictional European country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is one of several fictional countries in Eastern Europe created for Marvel Comics.
In nearly all story lines, the Republic of Transia is located between Romania and Serbia. More than 90% of its people live in one large town and a number of smaller villages located at the base of Mount Wundagore. The country is presented as mainly Slavic, with a Muslim minority in the western province Romani. President Russoff was a Secret Police Official in the communist era.
Within the Marvel Universe, Transia is where Chthon is imprisoned, and where the men of the Russoff line were afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy. It is used as the birthplace of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. It is the base of operations for the High Evolutionary, and the source of the "radioactive clay" used by the Puppet Master.

Publication history

The first appearance of Transia may be a flashback in X-Men #4 or in Avengers #33. However, it is not named in either comic.
Transia also appears unnamed in Thor #133-135 in which is it is established that Mount Wundagore is in a small country located in the Balkan Mountains. Transia's first named reference may be Avengers #36, in which it is mentioned as a village at the base of Mount Wundagore. Later issues attribute the name Transia to the entire country that encompasses Mount Wundagore.
The country has since appeared in several other comics, including Iron Man and continues to appear in Marvel Comics and other media.

Fictional history

Transia was a former section of Wallachia before that country integrated with Moldavia in 1857 to form Romania. Transia broke with the two larger countries and established its status as an independent state, and was recognized 20 years later as an autonomous, neutral nation. Transia is governed by an elected official who is bound by law to follow the country's constitution to the letter. The nation's main source of income comes from the uranium found in and around Mt. Wundagore — Herbert Edgar Wyndham funded a national non-profit trust with the money gathered from his uranium mine that still provides money for Transia to operate its government programs, and thus they have no need of outside investors or a tourist market. This, along with the negative international image, keeps many foreigners out of Transia. Transia is a later a focus of pro-mutant rights versus anti-mutant hatred. The Transian president has offered safe haven to mutants as part of a trade deal. However, many citizens are violently against this.