Sandila

Sandila is an archipelago to the southeast of the United Provinces, whom used to own the territory. It has a population of around 60,000 penguins who are scattered throughout the main island and the surrounding archipelago. The small territory is known for its complex history, rich culture and a (formerly) booming salt-mining industry.

History
Long ago, Sandila, just like the surrounding areas, was inhabited by tribes known as the Oslovens. The Oslovens held onto power peacefully in Sandila for almost one thousand years, longer than anywhere else in Antarctica. However, in 1857, Snowinians from the Kingdom of Snowiny overthrew the last Osloven stronghold and took Sandila as part of the Kingdom of Snowiny, where it would stay for over 150 years.

During this time, Sandila's population and economy expanded greatly; mines popped up throughout the little archipelago, most notably mines which produced a special grade of salt which would not be found in the oceans, only in Sandila and Snowiny. This type of salt was ideal for cooking and condiments, and soon salt mining became the main industry of Sandila, having its products shipped across Antarctica.

In 2013, when Snowiny jumped onto the Antarctic stage in a big way, Sandila followed closely behind. Sandila fought in the Fall of Nexon and the Plague War as counterparts to the Snowinians, not subjects. These military plunders gave Sandila a large sum of money to rest on in cases of financial hardship, which the Snowinian government promised not to interfere with. When the Snowinian Revolution occurred and the United Provinces was formed, Sandila stayed quiet and toed the line softly behind.

In 2015, when a Shopper-induced financial crisis swept through Antarctica, the United Provinces cut off Sandila to lower costs. Because of this, the islands enjoyed a brief bout of independence before a trade war over salt erupted between Sandila's former occupiers and the small territory, causing Sandila itself to go bankrupt; the UP seized Sandila's backup funds in a special-operations raid. In 2016, Sandila was bailed out and purchased by Shops Island who took it over as a territory. Since then, there has been a large backlash from the Provincial government, which has resulted in fortifications being built throughout Sandila.

Geography
Sandila is a small archipelago which, even though it has spent most of its life as a colony, is split into administrative districts. These districts include:


 * Bellgrad Capital District - The central administrative district which contains the capital of Sandila. Almost half of the population lives here, along with all of Sandila's government and military headquarters.
 * North Sandila District - The northern half of the Sandilian mainland, which consists of the city of Vishconsine and many of Sandila's salt mines. It is sparsely populated, only hosting the one city and a select number of mining camps.
 * Peninsula District - The southern half of the Sandilian mainland is more densely populated, housing the special cities of Klakov, Nagrov and Ethopia. The southern part of the peninsula also contains salt, coal and diamond mines.
 * Cloud Islands - The collection of islands to the east of Sandila are largely uninhabited and currently inaccessible by land travel; they can only be accessed via aircraft and by the water.

Much like the nearby United Provinces, Sandila is mostly flat with many meandering rivers and a slightly colder-than-usual temperature (compared to the general area). Sandilian land is not fertile, however, and largely relies on imports for food. The flat lands have made building easy and inexpensive, especially when it comes to mining developments.

Economy
For years, the economy of Sandila has been primarily based around the mining, refining and export of various minerals, mainly salt from mines in both the northern and southern mainland. Due to its crystal structure and texture, Sandilian salt became well-known for its quality in cooking ingredients and became a niche demand throughout Antarctica. This all changed, however, when the United Provinces attacked. The UP initiated a trade war with its former colony and ended up undercutting Sandilian salt by a whopping 300% margin. Nowadays, it is the United Provinces which is known for its copious amounts of salt. Since then, the Sandilian economy has never fully recovered; the little archipelago relies on financial aid from Shops Island to stay afloat, while the territory still dabbles in coal and diamond mining. The Shopper government has made an investment in promoting manufacturing in Sandila, in hopes to jump-start the economy once again.

Infrastructure
Sandila has most of the services and infrastructure that can be expected in any modern Antarctic country: Water, electricity, telecommunications, internet, sewage and roads. All of these were provided by the Snowinians when they inhabited the archipelago; it has since been maintained by independent Sandilian companies.

While infrastructure within Sandila's cities is up to the grade that should be expected of a modern Antarctic country, outside infrastructure is not. Highways between cities hardly exist except for back roads - the Interland Highway System was supposed to have a subdivision connecting Sandila together, although this never happened. Power generation is also not fully developed as in other countries; each settlement has its own power plants and supplies, ranging from diesel generators on small outposts to hydroelectric dams on the outskirts of cities.

Culture
Sandilian culture is much like that of its neighbor, the United Provinces. The official languages of Sandila are English and Serbian, although Serbian is spoken much more commonly than even in the UP. Sandila is also unique in its position of ancient Osloven culture; Osloven traditions and rituals still hold a major place in Sandilian society, especially in more rural and disconnected communities. Both the governments of the United Provinces (past and present) and Shops Island have tried to settle down this "barbarian" culture during their respective times in control of Sandila.