Toxic Island

Toxic Island, also known as the Toxic Atoll is a small group islands located to the far north of the Culldrome Isles. It is known for its military uses. Toxic Island, which is an overseas territory of Culldrome, is actually a coral atoll and consists of many islands. Despite this, it is often referred to as just one large island.

Founding
Toxic Island was an entirely uninhabited island, until 1973. The conquest for oil drove many explorers and oil companies north of Culldrome, where large oil fields were found. With this large amount of explorers, many found Toxic Island. It is unknown who originally discovered the island, but the existence of it has been found in many ship records and crew journals. It was often thought of as insignificant and worthless, so it was entirely ignored. However, in 1973, the Culldrom Navy sailed a single ship to the island to claim it.

Toxic Island was officially claimed as a territory of Culldrome on October 14 1973. It was originally named Oil Island since it was located several dozen miles south of the large oil fields. The naval ship brought along some supplies and set up a small settlement, known as Atoll Village. The Culldrom government wanted to turn the settlement into a via point for the oil ships traveling to and from the oil fields. So, a large dock was created as well as a warehouse complex. Throughout the 1970s, hundreds of ships stopped over on Oil Island to refuel and restock their supplies. The far away island territory of Culldrome was a very important outpost.

Oil Discovery
During a scouting mission by the Culldrom navy, who had now created a small naval base on the island, a small deposit of oil was discovered. The discovery was announced and proceeded to make headlines around Culldrome. Oil companies rushed to the atoll to extract the oil. By 1980, three oil wells were constructed on top of the tiny oil deposit on the island. Also in 1980, more oil was discovered in other various places around Oil Island, which now lived up to it's name. Within 5 years, more oil wells were constructed.

With the massive amount of oil wells, this produced a large amount of pollution, both air, land and water. The coral atoll was ravaged with the pollution. Soon though, all of the deposits of oil on the island were all used up. The oil companies, now having finished their job, took down the oil wells and set off for more oil deposits. The end result was a heavily polluted wasteland. By the late 1980s, the oil rush of Culldrome had stopped. Oil was now coming in by the tank load at a normal rate, but Culldrome had grown in the past decade. The oil ships stopped traveling north to the oil fields, so the via point was now useless. Oil Island, which was then renamed as Toxic Island in 1991 due to the state it was in, was only a distant Culldrom territory with no use.

Science and Military
The only item of interest on Toxic Island was the naval base, which housed a dozen ships. The base, functioned as a far off launching point for ships in case of wars or battles. In 1992, the Porcyal War struck the Culldrome Isles. During the early battles, a large portion of the Culldrom Navy was destroyed, and the Toxic Island Naval Base helped to supplement the navy. The war ended in 1996. The sectors of Culldrome's military forces decided that Toxic Island could be used as a larger military base. In 1998, the Toxic Island Army Base and the Toxic Island AIr Force Base were both established on the island. Since then, the three military sectors conducted army games with each other as well as with other nations.

Toxic Island was also found by the Culldrome Scientific Research Agency to be of their interest. They found it a very suitable place to conduct research and testing, as well as a launching point for space bound rockets in the future planned space program. They conducted talks with the government and military and was eventually given permission to build their own facilities on the island.They established a large complex, including laboratories and warehouses. The prime facility though was the launch complex, capable of launching spacecraft. In 2003, TEWT also managed to open up their own facilities, which were dedicated to weapons manufacturing and testing.

Today, Toxic Island is dominated by the military and sciences. It is a small and distant territory of the Culldrome Isles but nevertheless has played an important role and will continue to do so. The location of Toxic Island is also strategically important - it provides easy access to the Culldrome Archipelago, Ed Island, the Antarctic Peninsula, the Sub-Antarctic and the Yowien Sea.

Map and Locations


The Toxic Atoll consists of 7 islands. In decreasing order of size they are:


 * Toxic Island
 * Atoll Village - This is the capital of the territory. The village consists of a a small town center, which includes a town hall, a small market, a library, a Telenacle and a post office. There are a few wooden houses in the village, where the few dozen civilians live. There is also a large dock and lighthouse located on the coast, which remain from the early days of the island. The dock is also where most of the penguins and supplies come in from mainland Culldrome.


 * Toxic Island Air Force Base - Taking up most of the island is the large air force base. It is one of the largest air force bases in Culldrome, and houses hundreds of fighter planes as well as dozens of bombers. The base also includes a 12,000 and 10,000 foot long runway, the latter of which also serves normal civilian planes. There is a small terminal, which caters for the civilians that arrive and depart. The runways are also used to launch CSRA equipment, most notably the A-Wing spacecraft.


 * Atoll Island
 * Toxic Island Space Center - See Space Center.


 * Reef Island
 * Toxic Island Army Base - The army base on Toxic Island is one of the largest military bases in Culldrome, despite being located far away from the mainland. Many soldiers are sent here to be trained, and the training complex is the most advanced in Culldrome, offering all kinds of basic and elite training. Training here can range from simple classroom lessons to strenuous large scale boot camp style training.


 * Toxic Weapon Facility - The Toxic Weapon Facility is a joint facility, shared between the CSRA and TEWT. Here, many kinds of weapons are manufactured, designed and tested.


 * Coral Island
 * Toxic Island Naval Base - Located on the coasts, the naval base incorporates a large dock complex in it. This dock is the home port for many naval ships and submarines. The base also acts as a refueling point for some Culldrome's active naval vessels, as well as the odd civilian ship.


 * Core Island
 * Core Monument - The Core Monument is a small monument located in the middle of the Atoll. The monument is a big statue of four penguins, representing the involvement of the army, navy, air force and scientists on the island. There is also a big glass prism on the top of the monument, which spreads light around the Atoll from the Light Island Lighthouse.


 * Dark Island
 * Dark Island Prison - The Dark Island Prison is Culldrome's most notorious and highly guarded prison. High security prisoners are often held in the Dark Island Prison's cells. The entire island is dedicated to the prison and is closed off by a barbed wired concrete wall. The only way in and out of the prison is through a single road bridge, which is under heavy guard.


 * Light Island
 * Light Island Lighthouse - On the tip of Light Island lies the Light Island Lighthouse. Built in 2005, the modern lighthouse guides ships in through the narrow channel in between it and Dark Island. The Lighthouse also doubles as a vantage point for the nearby Space Center. Many spectators of rocket launches often gather at the Lighthouse.

Space Center
On the northern side of the atoll is a rocket launching complex, called the Toxic Island Space Center. To date, all rocket based space launches by Culldrome have been launched at this complex. The large complex houses the many facilities needed for the space center. This includes the state of the art mission control room, an astronaut training complex and a few laboratories for the testing of rocket parts. There is a single launch pad at the space center, which has (as of June 2013) launched seven rockets. The launch pad also offers a small turn around time compared to those of other countries, meaning that many rockets can be launched in a much shorter time period.

Many things go into a rocket launch. The rocket parts are brought along via barge to a dock at the complex, and are then moved to a large warehouse. Here, the rocket parts are stacked up to form the final rocket. The payload (eg. satellites), is also loaded onto the rocket. The assembled rocket is then rolled out to the launch pad by a train. One the rocket is put in place, it is loaded with fuel and is readied for launch. When the date of a rocket launch draws nearer, many scientists, engineers and technicians temporarily flock to Toxic Island to oversee the launch, raising the population to nearly 2500. The launch also draws a small number of tourists, which can watch the launch from a watch tower located in the southern part of the island, far from the rocket. The rocket then launches and delivers it's payload into space. After a launch has finished, the all of the visitors leave, shrinking the population back down to normal levels.

Since 2015, the Soaring Star rockets have been converted into intercontinental ballistic missiles. With this, the Space Center has been decommissioned. The complex is expected to be entirely repurposed into a launching point for larger, more advanced spacecraft (such as the Exclamator-Class Space Cruiser) by 2020.

Trivia

 * Toxic Island is the smallest state and territory of Culldrome.
 * The majority of the population consists of those who live in the military bases.