Cheeseland


 * Not to be confused with Caseusopolis.

The Cheeseland Islandic Positions, Cheeseland, or the CIP, is a shared territory of Shops Island and United Provinces of Snowiny. It is located placed near Weddell, just northwest of the Antarctic mainland. It used to be a sovereign nation before being ceded to Weddell. During its time as a Weddellan territory, undefined borders brought up many disputes over land ownership.

Cheeseland used to be ruled jointly by Weddell and CIP's individual mayor, Jake M. Johnson II. During this time, sovereignty disputes caused many nations to claim it was theirs, such as the USA, Margate, Freezeland, Snowzerland, Waffleland, Puffle'and and the State of Eastshield.

Circa 2013, Cheeseland has become a joint territory of Shops Island and United Provinces. Its main purpose serves as a lookout area for enemy activity, and a military outpost for both nations. It has become a popular place for their forces to amass before commencing a military operation or invasion. After the fall of Shops in 2026, the United Provinces were quick to take over the Shopper territory of the island and just several hours later give independence to the country, with a declaration that it is 'under permanent protection of the United Provinces'. Several years later, it would join the Western Union.

Origins
The seas of Weddell started to be populated since 1984. Turtle Atoll was growing in population and Shield Island was just starting to develop. As Weddell was not deemed "part of Olde Antarctica territory", islands had no leader or ruler whatsoever. Jake M. Johnson I, born and raised in Newton Town, Trans-Antarctica, moved to Shield Island in opposition of the ruling government. He set sail on the Antarctic Peninsula coast.

On "the third day of the third month", as Johnson recalls, the ship suddenly steered off course, sailing at a compass bearing of 62 degrees rather than 13. The captain was unable to fix the flaw. At the time, iceberg disaster movies were common, which led to fear their fate would end up as such. All the passengers and crew but Johnson went onto the lifeboats and escaped the ship, never turning back to see Johnson. Miraculously (and obviously), the ship did not crash until three days later, when it apparently hit a huge iceberg and sank. Johnson went onto the remaining lifeboat and sailed away, hoping to find land. He eventually reached an island that would be his future brainchild.

Pre-Independence
At the time, several penguins inhabited the island, mostly Northern Kantas and Chantam Islands' variants. There was no official leader but they managed to maintain a stable relationship. At first, Johnson simply decided to settle in with the locals and live the rest of his life without a ruling government. But, as more and more penguins started to enter the island, hostility among locals grew. By winter of 1984/1985, the population grew from a mere hundred inhabitants to a village of ten thousand.

Fighting began between the new citizens and the locals. Seeing the disputes between the two parties, Johnson stepped in as mediator and persuaded both parties to get along. He eventually implemented a set of "Village Rules" that would form the basis of the constitution.

Eventually, a town was formed out of the village. Soon, the Village Rules no longer made sense to the developing nation. Johnson, the elected mayor, only had one route down to propel the island forward.

Independence
On January 14th, 1985, at the newly-built Town Hall, Jake M. Johnson I announced the island would be declaring sovereignity at midnight. Exactly at midnight, the new Constituition was signed and the Cheeseland Islandic Positions was founded. There was no clue as to why the name was chosen. Some believe Johnson's knack of words influenced his decision, while others pushed the blame to the abundance of cheese in the island based on the last estimate.

Johnson stepped up in ranking and became Prime Minister. He organised the CIP island to be a complete town, considering its land space to be approximately 50 sq km 2. The island began progressing with more start-up shops being built.

Throughout the years, however, they have never been fully recognised as an independence nation due to its distance from the mainland. At the time, radar technology had not quite developed and was unable to span further than the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula (from the South Pole). Therefore, the country's isolation led to a small albeit prospering economy. Rather, trade began individually between them and cities, as the kingdoms alone were underdeveloped.

Annexation of Islands begins
As mentioned above, isolation has deeply deterred the economy from progressing and resources were plummeting. At his island's expense, Johnson secured a land of space to the west for growth of resources, but to no avail. Fears that the economy would stall grew, and Johnson had little time to resolve the situation.

CIP's neighbours at the time were only villages and have no robust government or economy whatsoever. Many resources were missing from these places as they varied greatly in type. Some villages were close to volcanoes while others were close to mountains. The CIP would not discover any of them until 1989 when exploration ships were sent out in search of new land.

As the Winter Solstice approached, the CIP announced the annexation of an island close to the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula which would later adopt the name "Salad Island". Trade contact was also established with a nearby island that would be annexed only years later.

Colonial Antarctica Revolution
The STINC would later claim control of Olde Antarctica in 1990, and would only be overthrown a year after. With a new government and an orderly system, the CIP looked forward to diplomacy between the two great nations.

However, dreams and talks were grind to a halt when the king of Colonial Antarctica began taxing things heavily. This made the export and import of items extremely hard, which dampened the economy once more.

In 1994, penguins from nearby colonies, especially from the Little Penguin colony, started to travel to the CIP in search of political asylum. As the political situation got worse in the mainland, more and more sought refuge in the quiet and peaceful islands. Many of these refugees went to the island close to the Antarctic Peninsula. Eventually, their presence would help determine the name of the island which was left undecided since its annexation.

In 1996, as the civil war reached the neighbouring nation which the CIP made contact in 1989, the leader signed a deal with Jake M. Johnson to merge the nations. Since then, the island Biggy Island would be part of the archipelago.

A year later, the CIP acquired the Oprah Islets, a chain of islands off the coast of Cheesy and Salad Islands. The tribes living there were unaffected by the civil war and joined civilisation as the islands became made into tourist attractions. It was unthinkable as to why tourist attractions were built during wartime, but that's their logic.

Borders of Weddell
Eventually, in 2001, the Revolution was over and the Revolutionists had won the epic battle. As the country reformed into the USA as we know it today, the CIP saw a chance to start diplomacy with it. The agreement was signed later that year.

In 2002, the South Pole Council saw to it that the Weddell Sea had borders divided within three entities: the USA, Freezeland and New North Etana. As the line between USA and Freezeland was drawn, the council debated the status of the CIP which was only recently gained recognition from the Antarctic community. They eventually resolved to a solution of temporary borders.

The next year, the borders once again went undefined. Some council members debated that the CIP was within Freezeland's territory and was thus owned by them, while the USA claims it was within their judicrisation due to Salad Island's proximity to Antarctic Peninsula. Many council members claimed the nation was independent and never formally ceded to being part of either nation. However, the sovereignty of the island was debated as it had never officially declared independence according to Olde Antarctica and Colonial Antarctica records.

Other countries soon joined in the debate and it was shifted to the upper court - the United Antarctic Nations. Several more countries, including Sherby Hoodwounds sought to claim the island after gaining some territory near the Antarctic Peninsula section of Weddell. At the time, Sherby Hoodwounds was undergoing a major process with the newly-elected ruling party. Apparently, the party was Fascist and sought control and power.

Constant delays and bitter arguments proved it substantial for S.H. to begin annexing the island amidst the ongoing bickering.

Sherbian Missile Crisis
In January of 2004, Sherbian officials met with high-ranking CIP ministers to discuss the future of their relations. Sherby Hoodwounds proposed a merger in which the two islands, but the CIP refused due to vast cultural and political differences. Hoping to gain some control of the island, Sherby Hoodwounds proposed the construction of a military base on Biggy Island, in which the ministers of CIP agreed to. Little did they know they were part of Sherby Hoodwound's big plan for continental domination.

On January the 15th, Sherbian missiles, army tanks and other dangerous weaponary arrived at a small coastal port on the southwest shore of Biggy Island. Sherby Hoodwounds planned to use the missiles to bomb major port cities in The Happyface State and the Antarctic Peninsula. It took two months for the equipment to be set up.

At the same time, a USA boat patrolling the area noticed the strange sight and contacted PSA headquarters. Immediately, the USA dispatched boats to surround the southwest coast to prevent the missiles from launching. As Sherby continued to plant missiles around other coasts, the USA troops blocked the area where they had placed it. Eventually, in April of 2004, Sherby Hoodwounds surrendered and focused on the Sub-Antarctic instead. Relations between the USA and CIP dampened but misunderstandings cleared up after Jake M. Johnson I, who was about to end his twenty year-long reign, realised the big plan.

Elections and "Annexation" into USA
On April 16th, 2003, CIP residents would gather at local polling stations to vote for their next prime minister and ruling party. By replacing his autocracy with a democracy, he allowed residents more freedom and expression in the future of the Cheeseland Islandic Positions. A list of the parties are provided in the 'Government' section below.

Eventually, Jake M. Johnson II, the son of Jake M. Johnson I, was elected the next prime minister while the ruling party, who apparently had close relations with the Johnsons, was elected to be the Democratic Alliance.

Four days later, the CIP and USA signed a deal in which CIP would be "annexed" into the USA while still remaining self-governed. However, the deal was not formally signed and there were many flaws within the contract, so it was quickly abolished. Still, however, the USA claimed control of the small nation, which led to disputes among South Pole Council members that still continues to this day.

Re-occuptation

 * See Fall of Nexon

Cheeseland was occupied by the Shoppers and Snowinians via a healthy deal with the USA during the war against the empire of Nexon. Cheeseland was purchased as a strategic military base with links to all key points in Antarctica; the Ninja Archipelago, the Antarctic mainland, the Yowien Sea, Snowiny, and much more was in close range of the island. The Shoppers and Snowinians were quick to colonize the island into their respective images. Cheeseland remains under their control to this day.

Geography
Cheeseland is a small archipelago of numerous islands within the Weddell Sea. Many of the islands are far too small to inhabit, so only four are actually used by the population for meaningful purposes. When named, the Johnson's were quite creative with their titles, resulting in quite obscure names for each of the islands.


 * Cheesy Island - The island in which Johnson I settled in and declared independence at. Originally a seaside town of about a hundred, it grew to an enormous bustling city spanning the entire island. Currently the capital of the CIP, it has the second highest population next to Salad Island.


 * Salad Island - Founded in 1989, the island was relatively closer to the Antarctic Peninsula shore. As a result, during the Colonial Antarctica revolution, many refugees sought asylum in the CIP, while living at Salad Island. This in turn caused a soar in population, thus being the most populated island in the chain. It's name "salad" was based on the diet of the refugees, which were seaweed and fish salad.


 * Biggy Island - Originally a nation founded in 1987, it was annexed by the CIP in 1996 after the war was brought forth to the island. It was named after the Eniox-Korean speaking leader, Chi NBi Gysan. Two penguin settlements are in the island: Higgly Biggly City, a vastly-spread out town with Chi Nbi Gysan as the mayor, and a town close to the seashore.


 * Orca Islets - The Orca Islets are a chain of islets off the coast of Cheesy and Salad Islands. Founded and annexed in 1997, the islands became a tourist attraction with ferries linking them together. One of the islands contains an amusement park while another contains a large ski slope. They're known for their abundance of whales, which is why they were named the Orca isles.



Demographics
A majority of Cheeseland is made up on English-speaking Penguins who originate from places like Puffle'and, Frankterre, and the USA. Immigrants from Pengolia and Rusca also built a baseline for the Cryllic language of Tatar to be invented.

Cuisine
Cheeseland enjoys many culinary delicacies commonly found in the Weddell Sea. Wild crabs and/or oysters are common dishes in the area. In contrast to its name, Cheeseland does not have a healthy cheese making industry, nor do they pride themselves in the making or consumption of many dairy products. The Ruscans and Pengolians are responsible for bringing over some of their special dishes, while Puffish and Frankterran delights have faded away in time.

Language
English is their main and official language, which is used by the majority of the population. But, many penguins immigrated from East Pengolia and Rusca over time, so Tatar is a frequently spoken second language. In some cases, English and Tatar are used together to create a complicated mixed language called English-Tatar. For example:

I like cheeseburgers (English)

педоыкдподкопуокоап (Tatar)

I ыкдпод cheeseуокоап (English-Tatar)

English-Tatar is mostly spoken by those who are poor in English and good in Tatar.

Government
Cheeseland is ruled over jointly by both of its occupiers, Shops and Snowiny. The islands' governor has seats in both nations' government assemblies. The two nations that rule over Cheeseland give shares of each of their liberties to the locals. Cheeseland's government has taken a form with a very high resemblance to that of Snowiny's.

Economy
The economy is quite stable and depends on its fruits to produce a steady income. Books are also printed here as timber is used, but this has slowed down a bit as companies have decided cut down less trees in an effort to protect the environment.

Currency
Cheeseland uses three currencies: The Shopper WB$, the Snowinian Goldy, and the USA's Fish. The former currency, Pebbles, are somewhat accepted due to the fact that the economy is going through a transition stage. Shops and Snowiny however, intend for Pebbles to be eradicated in a short period of time.

Transporation
Because Cheeseland is mainly an archipelago, boat travel is quite common around the islands, and it also serves as the main form of transportation in the islands. Travel by aircraft is moderately used for travels between widely-spaced islands. Road travel, however, is a rarely used luxury due to such small islands and a lack of bridges connecting them.

Trivia

 * Rumors have it that Shops is planning on removing Snowiny's influence from Cheeseland.