Aerius Island

Aerius Island is a small island, filled with oil, just south of Puerto Elanor. It was a former Yowien colony, traded to them by the Federal Republic of Polaris. When the Yowien Empire was disbanded in 2013, the Allies did not take the island, so Polaris inherited it again. Margate purchased the island for an undisclosed amount in January 2014. The Margatians quickly realized that the island was filled with oil, and was a viable trading port.

A port was completed after a series of delays caused by the Frosian War in 2014, and now serves as a alternative port of call to Puerto Elanor, much to the annoyance of Polaris. Generally however, the island's port is used more as a transfer point for the refinement and distribution of oil to North Antarctica from the Oil Archipelago and the island's offshore rigs than for general transshipment as more ships pass through Puerto Elanor or stop at mainland Polaris, with the exception of Margatian and some Western-owned ships.

The Nation of Naufragio (1899 - 1930)


Aerius Island was founded in 1899 by a group of Ligurian pirates from the famous port city of Yenoa who were looking for unexplored islands and treasure in the East Antarctic Sea, then an unknown stretch of water, far from the main trading routes of the present-day SABER. They established a base there, and went on to plunder coastal towns. The island soon became a major stopover point, famous for its Cream Soda and taverns. Naufragio's capital, Shipwreck City, was protected by tall stone walls and cannons, with only one major gate to enter and exit from.

Naufragio was conquered in 1914 by the Khanzem, but were liberated in 1917 by a rebel group named Naufragio's Saviors Militia, after the successful liberation of far-off New Westion from the Japalandese. After the liberation and the end of the Khanzem War, Naufragio soon became more than a small pirate nation; it became a thriving port nation that connected the Ninja Archipelago to the present-day Polaris, Eastshield and UnitedTerra. Thousands of refugees from war-ravaged nations fled here, hoping to seek their fortune after iron ore, gold, silver and oil was discovered just before the Khanzem were thrown out of the colony.

By 1920, the population reached 50,000, far more than today's population. Naufragio never became industrialized, but started to mine for gold and silver in the mountains; agriculture also became a major industry. The economy grew quickly, and the government decided to benefit from this. The government raised the military fund, and raised the taxes (before only the extremely wealthy paid taxes). Taxes were put on incomes, and on common things like swords, firearms, and tea that passed through the port, and nations started to put sanctions on the nation, reducing its economic growth. In 1926, Naufragio fell into economic recession

In the same year, Naufragio was attacked by an unknown nation; leaving the capital in flames. The government hastily blamed the nation that had been threatening military force: Frankterre. The next year the two nations' relations fell, and both were murmuring about war. In late 1927, a small war broke out between Frankterre and Naufragio. Naufragio's government asked help from other nations like Castilla, but none helped. As a result the government dissipated, turning into a dictatorship. Anarchy soon broke out across the country. The Frankish barely put any effort into the small war (known later as the "Shipwreck War") and quickly conquered the nation, killed its ruler and laid waste to it.

Thousands of citizens fled the island in fear, and by 1930, the island became uninhabited. In 1935, the Water Kingdom claimed the island as its own, and Frankterre didn't dispute the claim as the island was left abandoned.



Revival and Renaming
Aerius Island remained an uninhabited island until 2010, when Sancho Monte Captio bought it from the USA for 50 million coins. He named it Aerius Island for some odd reason. He built oil plants on the island, and created two more cities. In 2011 it became an island in the Polaris SAD, and remained that way until it was traded for Sanders Islands, after a deal with Yow Kingdom in December 2011. Yow instantly sent a small troop of soldiers to Aerius, and nearly 400 other immigrants. These immigrants brought the Yowien culture to the new "Royal Colony of Aerius Island". The immigrants were made up of chefs, scientist, construction workers, and more. Oil rigs were built 5 miles from Aerius City, and a military base was built on the two peninsulas guarding the island.

When Yow fell in the Great Yowien War of 2013, the Allies forgot about the small colony, so it was inherited by its former owners and continued under Polarian rule. Margate bought over the island for an undisclosed amount of money in 2014, and quickly but peacefully retook the island. Unlike that of the Rock Union, the Margatians allowed the citizen to keep their culture, but removed all traces of the Yow Kingdom. They finished building a port in late 2014 as work was temporarily stopped due to the ongoing Frosian War. Puffalia and Puffarus took over the island swiftly and set many of its citizens to work on the port. Contact with Margate was impossible as there was fighting in the seas between Shops and the Frosian Islands. The port was never finished, and the work was taken over by Margate once the war ended.

The Margatian government offered incentives and pledged an improvement of facilities to keep the people happy, but since then there have been rumors of an underground network siding with communist nation such as North Joseon and East Pengolia to revive Puffalia and Puffarus, and to set Aerius Island, which was closer the the Antarctic Mainland, as a base, to take over the continent...

Culture
Aerius Island has received cultural influence from Castilla, Frankterre, and Liguria. Most of the citizens' ancestors were immigrants from these countries that arrived after the devastation of the Khanzem and Castillan Civil Wars. When they were driven out of the island in 1930, almost all of them fled to the nearby Juno Islands. Their ancestors returned to the island. Many have carried on their old traditions and cuisines, importing foods such as pasta, pizza, potato gratin, milanesas, and empanadas to the island's cuisine. Many citizens of Aerius island are major soccer fans and enjoy playing and/or watching soccer games. A Margatian culture was later brought in, and today the citizens have a culture with a mix of Asiapelagoan and Ninja Archipelagoan traditions.

Fashion
Though Aerius Island's fashion reflects the rest of the Antarctic's, it has its preferences. Young teenage penguins like to wear loose clothing, like baggy jeans. It is noticed that male penguins wear dark colors, like black and dark blue. Women often wear skirts and brighter colors. Some believe that many of the immigrants on the island started this tradition by copying the already richer members of the Naufragiano aristocracy to blend in and assimilate into the culture.

Music
Traditionally, the popular music played on Aerius Island was classical music, and several small orchestras and very talented individuals used to frequently play in the local cabarets, restaurants, or town squares. Due to the large groups of lower class immigrants, folk music found itself popular among the middle and lower classes during the early 20th century. When Rock music was introduced to the exiled Aerius citizens on the Juno Islands in the 1950's, the concept became popular and won the interests of both the upper and lower classes of society. To this day, rock and roll has been the most popular music genre on the island with classical not far behind. As of the 21st century, the citizens of Aerius Island have also been attracted to the most popular songs in all of Antarctica as well.

Government
In its beginnings, Aerius Island started as a democratic Republic run by the Yenoese pirates, though it was rather corrupt. Anyone who wanted to become part of its government had to be in a relatively high social class with wealth and popularity. This helped to develop a large gap between the rich and poor when the many immigrants arrived in the early 20th century, and the aristocracy unfairly did not represent the growing number of immigrants of the nation. Though the island was close to having riots from the lower classes, Khanzem eliminated the aristocracy and gave a lot of power to the island's local Khanz Penguins. When the Frankterrans attacked and sacked the island in 1930, the government went into exile, and both the aristocrats and original inhabitants lived peacefully in coexistence with the citizens of the Juno Islands until 2010, when they returned. During the Yowien rule, true democracy was restored to the island. The governor was elected by the citizens, but the runners were chosen by the Yowien king.

Aerius Island under Margatian rule is governed by a Head Governor and a Council of 4 members, who take care of the citizen's needs and infrastructural improvements, since the colony has no representation in the central government chamber, thus making it much harder to implement mega-infrastructure projects such as a civilian airport or a new highway. Because Margate makes a lot of money from the usage of the port and the colony has no representation the citizens are not taxed, but they are also not allowed to vote during Margate's elections or for their governor, although an appeal of impeachment can be made directly to the government if necessary. While the citizens living on the island were unhappy about this reduction in terms of democracy, they had to acknowledge that the government had given in to their initial demand of "no taxation without representation" by repealing all tax laws.

Military
The Yowien military had originally built two bases on the island to defend it. Military personnel were withdrawn in 2012 to fight in the Great Yowien War and the bases were left abandoned until Margate bought over the island. They were subsequently demolished for the scrap metal and a single consolidated naval and military base was constructed on the island to defend the port and oil resources with capacity for several thousand troops and big enough to host aircraft carriers in times of war. In peacetime, only a few naval ships are docked and only a thousand troops are stationed on the island, most of them recruited from the local population. Up to the beginning of the Frosian War Margate had installed Triple X warheads which could be launched in a preemptive strike against Puffalia and Puffarus but were later removed by the MAF to avoid the Puffalians from seizing and using it.

Trivia

 * Naufrogio's national motto was "Keep Moving Forward".
 * The Margatian flag for Aerius Island is similar to the one original used by Naufrogio. This is due to Sancho Monte Captio and Polaris continuing use of the original flag, which could still be found on the island in 2010.