Saltspill

Saltspill, officially the City of Saltspill and nicknamed Salts, is a medium-size city located near the coast of Eastshield, south of Snow José and north of Kingston. It is famed across the continent for its salt mines, the namesake of the city. Founded in the 1850s and 1860s as a mine city to extract the said salt, Saltspill has developed into a vibrant and diverse community and is a notable port city in the "eastern" parts of Antarctica, although it is often overshadowed by its northern neighbors. The population of Saltspill is around 280,107, with the metropolitan area being inhabited by around 553,452 penguins.

Saltspill is a major mining town and port city near the Eastshield coast (it is not on the coast itself - the area on the coast is called Eastshield Port). It is situated on the Alba river. Saltspill also managed to heavily develop the tourism sector of its economy due to the famous Saltspill Salt History Museum. Saltspill continues to grow as a city, with the natality being constantly higher than the mortality, with immigration helping the city's population growth as well. Saltspill also boasts of being one of the most environmentally friendliest cities in Antarctica and has often been compared to Club Penguin in that regard.

History
Saltspill was originally founded Saltsport in the 1850s and 1860s, the founder being Rocky Whitestone, a Snowinn-Antarctican merchant and businessman. Whitestone saw a major business opportunity in the region, and he believed that Saltspill could be turned into one of the biggest cities of Antarctica thanks to enormous wealth he envisioned the city would make from salt extraction. It was his first ever major investment of this kind. His dreams were shattered, however, as he ended up being utterly incompetent at planning the city and his bossy attitude, only so he could ensure the project is the best possible, made employees decide it was not worth it to continue with the project.

Ultimately, the city construction project was a disorganized mess, and as he his project was disorganized and its members fighting in-between, other companies soon started mining the salt without Whitestoner's permission. Additionally, an attempt to extract as many as hundreds of kilograms of salt once ended in several vehicles carrying it colliding and flipping, resulting in the spilling of the salt into the ocean, and thus the settlement came to be better known as Saltspill. Whitestone was devastated, and he died a few years after the project wrapped up.

After Whitestone's death, however, the employees organized between themselves and decided they could get the job done on their own. Together, they restarted the project and made a great plan for how the settlement should look like. This meant renovating, moving or destroying most of the buildings made under Whitestone's project. The new project was finished within nearly a decade and in 1877, the new City of Saltspill was officially opened, with Whitestone's town center retained, although renovated, so as to serve as a monument to Whitestone's great vision. Saltspill became one of the largest salt-exporting cities of Antarctica, although, unfortunately, it did not live up to Whitestone's vision of it being one of the wealthiest and largest cities in the continent.

Saltspill developed into a rather large city in the 20th century. This was mainly thanks to urbanization efforts by mayor Archy Flipscone. His most notable policy was the demolition of the city center in favor of turning it into a bustling business center, something that was largely unpopular with the population. Only after a few decades did his policies come to be viewed in good light thanks to the fact his project ultimately benefited the city as a whole, creating dozens of new parks, creating new greenery and bringing bustling life into a city that was previously a dirty city whose only purpose was to extract salt from the coast.

Economy
The city's economy relies almost entirely on the extraction of salt from along the entire coast of the city, although a big part of the economy also relies on the tech industry, partially thanks to the city's proximity to Snow Jose and Snow Freezecisco. A big sector of the Saltspill economy is also the tourism sector, especially during the Saltspill Salthood Festival that takes place annually in late June.

Culture


Saltspill has a culture that slightly differs from that of the rest of Antarctica. Saltspill's culture is a blend of immigrant cultures from all around Antarctica, especially the Snowinn culture, and traces of Snowinn culture can be seen all across the city and are primarily reflected in the architecture and the music. Saltspill also has a culture that centers around celebrating salt - it is at the forefront of the Saltspiller culture due to its high value in the city and the region it is located in. Every year since 1940, on 20 June, the city of Saltspill holds the famous regional Saltspill Salthood Festival, which celebrates the wealth salt brought the city and the magic power that salt has on penguins. During the festival, penguins dress in salt-themed costumes, most notably saltshakers, and incredibly salty products are sold at local markets and stands in the city square, although, obviously, this is incredibly unhealthy and a lot of incidents of overconsumption of salt are reported every year.

Transportation
Public transportation in Saltspill covers virtually all areas of the city by bus, tram, train or trolley, with a subway system being constructed as of 2019. However, the vehicles are rather outdated, and the city failed to reach its goal of switching entirely to electric buses by 2016 due to a lack of available funds for the effort. The city of Saltspill is now considering a deal which would result in the Antarctic government investing heavily into modernizing Saltspill's public transportation, although the deal might not have the support of the South Pole Council and therefore may not come into effect. Still, Saltspill's public transportation is considered rather average by national standards and it sees tens of thousands of commuters on a daily basis. The city is very easily navigable by feet and most residents do not use cars to travel to different points in the city, with most using them to travel outside of it.