Archet

Archet is an area of the Happyface State between the Freezelandian Border and a large forest that mainly severs it from the rest of the Happyface State. It is higly populated by High Penguins and Sroots, with Archet being one of the last areas where this strange race of penguin is located. The area of Archet has been populated since the 400s, and has been mostly unchanged since then. Penguins of Archet do not typically consider themselves to be Freezelandian or Euphoric, and family geneology is used to distinguish penguins. Most High Penguins consider themselves descendents of the Bondes/ They typically fly under the radar of the USA's government, and most of them time are ignored. The Archetians are perfectly content with being ignored, because it seems every time that they aren't ignored it winds up in trouble. Archetians are not fond of drama, trouble or change. They prefer quiet, peace, and decency.

Archet has managed to remain a thriving outpost of High Penguin civilisation, despite the wars and turmoil that plagued the area in the past. It is the only land in Antarctica where High Penguins and Sroots dwell together in harmony and the town of Combe is an important hub of those who are trading goods or travelling to or from Freezeland.

Geography
Archet is a lowland with a small river (Called the "Rushing" by locals, although there is no official name for it on the maps) flowing through the centre and a forest in its southern part. The climate is moderately cold and dry. The common tonque of Penguinian seems to be preferred speech here, although English and Gaelic are also spoken.

Archet is about two-hundred and fifty kilometres in diameter. There are three main roads leading into Archet. It can be approached via the Mammoth highway, coming out of Southern Freezeland, and from the Combeway from either the north or the south. The Combeway is an important economic trade route between the USA and Freezeland. It runs past the village of Combe. Most locals tend to stay away from the Combeway, as often unruly foreign characters travel through it.

Towns
The main town is called Chetwood, while other villages in the area are St Finwe's Draw, Combe, Staddle, Midgewater, and Blackwold.

Combe
Combe is a busy village in Archet, located in the west. Numerous adventures await travelers who pass through Combe, as well as opportunities for crafting, or buying and selling to various vendors. Weary travelers can relax and drink in The Comb and Wattle Inn tavern. The Combe station master provides travel by sled to numerous nearby areas.

Combe can be found west down the road from the Combe Lumber Camp, northwest of the Stump Field, north of the Crumbled Court, an ancient ruin, and the Staddle-Combe Gate. Combe is located next to the Combeway, a trade route used by the USA and Freezeland. Most locals tend to stay away from the Combeway, as often unruly, undesireable characters are seen on the road.

Staddle
Staddle is a small settlement located east of Combe, north of Chetwood. It has a significant population of Sroots, and is indeed the largest Sroot settlement in the continent. On the south edge of the town center lies the Little Staddlemere, a quiet pond, and to the west stands the Staddle Gate leading into Combe. North of town lies the Crumbled Court, an ancient ruin, and the Big Staddlemere, a larger lake that feeds into the Midgewater Marshes. East of town lies numerous farmsteads.

Midgewater
Midgewater is a village in northern Archet. It is located on the edge of a marsh, in fact, one of the only marshes in Antarctica. To the north of the village is a lake known as the Pool. Midgewater is known far and wide for their popular tavern, The Golden Perch. Midgewater is known for their many craftspenguins.

Blackwold
Blackwold is located east of the Rushing river. The Sroots and High Penguins living in Blackwold grew the Archetian forest to sever their ties with the rest of the Confederacy. Blackwold is bordered in the north by the Blackwold Gate, the only entrance to Blackwold near the Bridge. There are a variety of Quests that are in Blackwold or are in Blackwold. Blackwold is home to the infamous gang, The Blackwold Brigands, and because of that there is quite a bit of crime in Blackwold.

Chetwood
Chetwood is the largest town of Archet. It was said to have been founded by High Penguins who came from Valnor. After the High Penguin Confederacy, Chetwood became an independent city without any central authority or government for almost a century. Then the Freezelandian government set it up as the capital of the Freezelandian province of Archet. After Happyface conquered the province, it reverted to it's simple community. Chetwood is the main hub of activity in Archet.

St Finwe's Draw
This village is home to mainly High Penguins. It is located in north-east Archet. Most penguins there speak Early Modern English, and are known for their art and cuisine. Triskelle and his army stopped here for a few weeks in October 2010 during Twilight and Shadow.

The Crumbled Court
The Crumbled Court is an abandoned ruin located on a hill in Archet northeast of Staddle, east of the Combe Gate, west of the Big Staddlemere, and south of Combe. It has long since fallen out of use by penguins, with the exception of the occasional penguin that likes to explore, and is now only roamed by a family of rare puffles.

Overhill Yards
The Overhill Yards are where the penguins of Archet harvest their lumber from the nearby forest. There is also a sawmill there.

The Grange
The Grange is a granary for storing grains located in St Finwe's Draw.

The Party Field
This well kept field has long been known as a place where festive occasions can be celebrated by the penguins of Archet. Standing on the outskirts of Chetwood, it can be seen for quite some ways, and during festivities it is often hung with dozens of bright streamers and lanterns providing a cheery atmosphere for most any event.

During seasonal festivals, Penguins from all over Archet gather at the Party Field and set up feasting tables, special games and actitivies to enjoy during the celebrations. Some penguins hold their birthdays here.

The Quarry
To the east of Staddle can be found a small but important quarry, used by Penguins for a variety of building projects. It is said that the quarriers at times happen upon rare and wonderful artefacts in their digging, although where these treasures originated remains a mystery to all who hear the tale.

Miners recently broke through a hidden chamber in the quarry and released a swarm of spiders that have taken over the quarry and cave system.

Bolestones
The Bolestones are a collection of caves and outcrops currently in use as a set of dens for a family of puffles. They are in the northern part of the forest. It is rumoured there may be treasure in them.

Demography and Politics
In 2009, the Happyface State did a state census. There was an Archetian category, with two subcategories; Archetian High Penguin and Archetian Freezelandian. In the region, 74% identified themselves as Archetian - with 53% for Archetian Freezelandian and the rest for Archetian High Penguin. Another separate category, called Archetian-Europhic, reported that 7% would describe themselves as that. 1.2% fit into the 'other' category. The rest are Europhic settlers.

Those who identified themselves as Archetian HP or Archetian Freezelandian were sent another census. It was identify where their loyalties lie - with Freezelandian republicanism or Europhic unionism. The result was almost the majority supporting independence.

However the Happyface State government stated in response to the survey;

"Archet is the Happyface State's and ours only! If the Archetians have a problem, tell them to move to Freezeland"

- A Spokesperson

However the information is somewhat outdated; Freezeland isn't the superpower it used to be ever since it was taken over by Snowzerland - twice! Recently, a private poller, called YourSayCP, which usually operates around Club Penguin, took 1000 random Archetians of different areas in Archet and asked them on their views on the subject. 66% stated that they currently supported Europhic unionism while the rest supported Archetian independence to join Freezeland. Even more surprisingly, people write in the 'other statements' section that Archet should be an autonomous republic or something similar still within the USA (a majority of 89% said this).

99% stated that Archet needs more representation on Federal, State, and Regional levels, and that they should have a seat in the South Pole Council, more representation in the state government, and that a devolved parliament should be created for them (as opposed to the judicial system of the USA). Recently, the proposal for the parliament was bought up in a Happyface State meeting by the Archetian Independent Party and the Archetian National Party.

It was rejected, and after the results of AJEL v. State, it doesn't seem to change.

Political status of Archet

 * See also: AJEL v. State

The status of Archet is a strange one because of its history, location, and residency. It is somehow denied certain privelages and perks of being part of USA.


 * For example, the court system seems to disfavor Archet. While Archet has good-size cities, certainly enough for a Municipal-level courthouse in at least one of them, the entire division is administerd by one Rural-level court that funnels into a major city court far south of them. This means that Archetians seeking to appeal might find themselves fighting before a judge that doesn't understand or like their views. Or, internally, penguins in one part of Archet have different opinions from another. When they must go to court, though, all end up in the same courthouse before the same judges.
 * Even moreso- and this is one of the most-hated practices -the weird status of Archet results in judge selection by non-Archets. Of all the eighty nine (O_O) judges in the Archetian Rural Court Circuit, only two- count them, two -judges come from Archet.
 * Archetians cite this as a denial of proper justice.
 * Eighty nine judges is also seen as totally unnecessary.
 * Normally, judges are selected amongst the people of their jurisdiction (AKA the people select their local judges).


 * Furthermore, Archet is seen to be denied any legislative representation as well, especially on national level. They do not have a seat on the South Pole Council despite being larger than many districts on the Council (Turtle Island, for example), and when they ask, no one listens. Since they are in the USA and subject to SPC law, they seek representation heavilly.


 * Archet also receives ignorance in the state government. Happyface State is well-known for having a much more seperated government, with an established State Legislature that is independent (unless conflicted) of the courts. There, too, do Archets recieve nothing but a mention by delegates that they don't even know or send.


 * Archet also sees itself as "radically different" from the rest of the state. Even if they were to get a delegate to the State, that wouldn't be enough, because no one else "gets" them. Even if they were allowed to alter and fill their courts with Archetian judges, that still leaves the higher appealates denying them justice (a survey of Euphoric high courts reveals that none of them have heard of Archet).

Archetian Petition of Reform
Archetians made an attempt to use the current process to give themselves more rights. They drafted up the following suggestions to be sent to the State Legislature (Archet has no devolved local/county/province legislature like most HF areas, another injustice) for approval.
 * Archet deserves fair, free elections of its own judges in a circuit that is compacted to serve the Archetians only. Or, Archet deserves the right to have Archetian governments, like cities, appoint their own Archetian judges that know and care about the interests of the Archetian penguins.


 * Archet deserves to, on appeal, go to state appeal circuits, not to some city-slicker court of first instance. They deserve the same appeal rights and systems as the rest of their state, and it's just discriminatory not to give it to them.


 * Archet deserves, like every other county in HF State, to have its own devolved local/county legislature and a fair amount of seats in the Happyface State Legislature.
 * Archet deserves a seat on the South Pole Council. (They notably wrote "Pingko is an unoccupied wasteland and has a delegate, but we, with populations of thousands, don't?! What's up with that?!")


 * Happyface State should treat Archet as a state county and not a conquered territory. It should send police to so that the Archet Rangers don't have to be vigilantes. Or, Archet Rangers should become recognized police so that the cops that do show up stop arresting them for being vigilantes.


 * Happyface should cater further to the interests of Archet and stop controlling them from the highest state level. Local and municipal governments above a town mayor should be permitted to convene so that Archetians may govern themselves.


 * Archetians deserve the right to govern themselves to the exact same degree as every state. They either want everything governed like Archet or Archet governed like everything.


 * Change the name of their first court to reflect Archet. Archet is not "whatever" or "the territory that no one remembers the name of".


 * Failure to comply with these simple demands, they wrote, would lead to extreme unrest and the possibility of secession, independence movements, or armed confrontation.

They were ignored. The legislature didn't even consider the bill, despite unanimous support from Archet.

Archet formed a group to sue for their rights, but they were ultimately defeated by the Supreme Court (the referendums of the citizenry) by 90%.

Population
Archet is inhabited by both High Penguins and Sroots. About 75% of the population is High Penguin, while 25% is Sroot. There are about 100,000 penguins living in Archet.

Law Enforcement
Typically police from the Happyface State would enfore the law here, but there are no police officers in the region. Instead, law is enforced by the Archet Rangers, and are led by Amdir. Archet follows the laws of the HFS, but has their own regional laws.

Quests
Archet is well known for it's Quests, which are quite similiar to the Quests of Freezeland or the Missions of the rest of the USA. Quests can be performed by an adventurer, a title one can acquire by helping out locals. Adventurers are usually from out of Archet. Adventurers gain ercognition of the locals and they often call upon them for help. Some of the quests an adventurer can preform are:

(This is a list of the quests of story mode in chronological order.)

{| class="stocktable collapsible collapsed" width=590px !style="text-align: left; padding-left: 10px"| Story Mode

Archet Quests
1.Quest: Jail Break

2.Quest: Amdir's Request

3.Quest: Captain Brackenbrook

4.Quest: Honing Your Skills

5.Quest: Seeing to the Defence

6.Quest: Remedy of the Old Kings

7.Quest: The Spies

8.Quest: The Captain's Son

9.Quest:The Roost

10.Quest: The Assault on Chetwood

11.Quest: The Assault on Chetwood Part Two
 * }

(These following quests are not in story mode)

Quest: Beyond the Bulwarks

Quest: Fresh Supplies

Quest: The Jailor

Quest: Question the Prisoner Quest: Spiders at the Walls Quest: Stolen Treasures

Quest: Old Redtusk