Hmmm, a dangerous yet very intresting approach. I like it for now. Do know that this makes them rather dependant on other countries. But it seems you chose a good enough location for your tradeports. I'll take another look at your nation when you changed the population numbers and such.

I do want to note that Valhall will certaintly have an eye out for your nation. You said that your nation gathered a lot of knowledge and was a bit ahead on most countries when it comes to technology. Combine that will the proximity to Valhall, you'll certaintly have a lot of interaction with it. So you will need something to 'defend' yourself with. That means sensitive knowledge of goods that can only be produced by your people (or services) or war is inevitable. Just wanted to point that out because Valhall is still on a course to more or less conquer the world, meaning that you either declare war on them, get absobed by them or are allowed to survive as an ally because there is something special about your nation that Valhall can't copy.