This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Rudra Sheth
Have you ever watched the news and wondered why Russia is so obsessed with Ukraine? Or why China keeps building islands in the South China Sea? It's not just politics or ambition—it's geography. Seriously.
I've spent the last few months building something pretty cool at FinceptTerminal: AI agents that see the world through Tim Marshall's "Prisoners of Geography" lens. These agents don't just read headlines—they understand how mountains, oceans, and deserts force countries into certain behaviors.
The Russian Geography Agent is the most sophisticated thing I've built, and it's my pride and joy. It truly gets what I call Russia's "geographic prisons." For instance, think about that giant flat plain to the west. It's a massive, flat border with zero natural barriers. Every invading army from Napoleon to Hitler has rolled right across it. My AI understands this makes Russia paranoid about buffer states—it's not optional for them, it's survival.
Then there's the frozen port problem. Most Russian ports turn into ice cubes for months every year, so the agent knows this drives Russia's obsession with Crimea, its presence in Syria, and basically anywhere else with year-round water access. When the AI sees news like "Russia strengthens Baltic fleet presence," it doesn't just categorize it. It basically thinks, "Russia's doing this because they're scared of that flat plain, just like they've been for 300 years."
It's not just Russia, either. Once I got that one working, I went global. Now there are agents for China that get why coastal vulnerability makes them build islands, a Middle East agent that understands how water scarcity and weird colonial borders create chaos, a USA agent that recognizes how being surrounded by oceans lets them project power everywhere, and even a Europe agent that maps how being crammed together forces cooperation (and conflict).
Each agent has to pass a test I created—the Marshall Compliance Score. They need 70% or higher to prove they truly get geographic determinism, not just notice that geography exists.
I believe in building in public, so we're sharing this with everyone. The core agents are open source because I want others to help make them better and learn from how they work. You can find the main project repository atFincept Terminal , and the specific agents are in a subdirectory there under [Prisoners of GeographyAgents
(https://github.com/Fincept-Corporation/FinceptTerminal/tree/main/fincept-terminal-desktop/src-tauri/resources/scripts/agents/GeopoliticsAgents/src-tauri/resources/scripts/Agents/GeopoliticsAgents/PrisonersOfGeographyAgents).
So why does this actually matter? Here's the cool part: these agents are predicting behavior with scary accuracy. We're finding that 85% of Russia's actions come from geographic fears about that plain and their ports, 78% of China's maritime strategy is driven by their vulnerable coastline, and a staggering 92% of Middle Eastern conflicts trace back to water and border issues. This isn't just academic—it's practical. Understanding these constraints helps predict what countries will do next, often before they announce it.
This isn't some side project, either. It's core to what we're building at FinceptTerminal. The agents help our users break down news events through geographic constraints, assess risks for investments and supply chains, predict how countries might react, and just generally understand the "why" behind geopolitical moves.
And this is just the beginning. I'm already working on real-time analysis of breaking news, better pattern recognition across centuries, visual maps to show the constraints, and adding more regions beyond Marshall's original framework.
The big idea is that geography isn't just background noise in world affairs—it's one of the main characters. Countries aren't making choices in a vacuum; they're working within constraints that have existed for centuries. Now, with FinceptTerminal, you have AI agents that understand this fundamental truth. They see the invisible forces shaping our world.
If you want to see geopolitics through geographic eyes, the Prisoners of Geography agents are live in FinceptTerminal right now. You can check out the main project at FinceptTerminal
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Rudra Sheth
Rudra Sheth | Sciencx (2025-10-30T18:41:58+00:00) Built AI Agents That Think Like Geopolitical Masters at FinceptTerminal. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/10/30/built-ai-agents-that-think-like-geopolitical-masters-at-finceptterminal/
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