Willow Island/History

The following is a history of Willow Island, including all minor points, the most important events, and the more neutral events. Everything known to the Willowian people is documented in a mythical book, roughly translated as "The Epic History of Willow Island"; this history comes from that book.

Prehistory & Civilisation
Originally, Willow Island was a kind of archipelago with a flourishing penguin society. It also had lots of curious animals, such as a kind of predecessor of Norfolk Terriers. What little technology penguins knew then was quite advanced, and the little remaining cave-paintings, high in Mount. Pufferlo, prove that. Sadly for them, random rising water levels caused by nearby melting icebergs submerged most of the archipelago almost overnight (all 5 of its subsidiaries), killing half the archipelago population outright. This caused the original inhabitants to flee for a better life, out of possible dangers.

Nothing happened for a hundred years, when, at the estimated year of 470 A.D. - not too long after the end of the Penguin Empire - a random bunch of Ligurian explorers and sailors got lost in a storm. While several drowned, many survived, but they were in unknown waters. They sailed for a long time to the east, and found a mysterious island, covered in trees. They docked there, and found edible fruit. The captain got an idea, and declared it the sovereign nation of Willow Island. Shortly afterwards, he kicked a stone, and then carved a post roughly saying "WILLOW EYELUND'S NEW LEEDER WOZ HERE" where it fell. The penguins proceeded to build huts at the shores, and over time, the penguins, especially the chicks, got acquainted with the island, and decided to live there.

As they dared to delve further down their new homeland, more and more penguins arrived in their boats to permanently live there, or got to learn of it. At one point, a boat full of Candvian warriors docked and, due to speaking a similar language, they mixed well with the previous inhabitants. There was even once a docking full to the brim with puffles and a bunch of chicks, and soon, the Ligurian government got to know about them too and signed a document making the island a subsidiary of Liguria, but they kept it a secret, just in case some other power got jealous and tried to conquer the island off them.

This is what the mythology of Willow Island declares - with a few modern facts inserted - and most of it is likely to be true. For instance, there is proof that Ligurian sailors did start a civilization here: the very same post, complete with bad grammar, was found during the 2005 Civil War, when a bomb exploded on the same beach, and a citizen noticed a piece of old, rotting wood jutting out of the sand. It was immediately excavated, and sent to the National Museum, where it still resides.

Marino's Plan
After having built a few huts scattered on the beach, Marino, the leader of these sailors, sat on a rock and began thinking: how on earth is he going to have them all successfully in his power? He thought on this for a while, and decided that he had better improve his already-good reputation - fast. Another experienced sailor was trying to lead a group of penguins himself, and he was worried that he might snatch his power, right under his beak.

He began by consulting his closest ally, known simply in mythology as Signore, and he replied by saying that the more he moved in, the better respect he'll earn from his followers for showing bravery. Doing so, not only did he start the first agricultural settlements, he also earned the greatest respect from his peers, the Ligurian offices taking their bimonthly check-ups on the island, and even the aforementioned sailor. Inch by inch, he was flattening trees and the ground, and the more the others took him seriously.

At this point, what happened next is blurred by conflicting evidence and mythology, but at some point, he crushed a possibly near-fatal chick rebellion and established himself as Marino I, using his personal motto and (admittedly macho) family insignia as (flimsy) proof. It worked like magic on the penguins, however, and peace finally settled, for a while, at least. As for Signore, he eventually became Arch-Duke, and the Leader of the Willowian Independent Army.

Inner Tumult
As the population slowly grew, more and more penguins moved into the remaining undiscovered inwards, and a few regional languages were developed, namely their native Italian, as well as Czech, Dutch, Old Latin (now integrated into Italian), and a few regional varieties of Italian, for example Willowian Latin (a mixture of the Candvian and Willowian languages). Sadly, the aforementioned has largely died out due to globalisation, with only 5% of the total population able to even speak a proper sentence in the language.

As well as having a growing population, penguins with more status and land were increasing. Despite a monarchy already having been established by Marino and his chicks, this lead to having small, literate "tribes" of penguins and their puffles (if they hadn't drowned by then), owning at least twenty acres of land. This eventually lead into Marino being pushed by the others to lose control of his country, and ending up having his own kingdom. His was part of a large faction of lots and lots of small, unimportant kingdoms, and they all wanted more land and power. Regular battles were fought, and the weakest "tribes" were soon wiped out, forced to flee, or integrated.

One of the most famous of these power-greedy chiefs is Molly Trifle.

She was an Adelie penguin with Francterran ancestry, but spoke fluent Italian, and despite her size, she wasn't exactly a push-over. In fact, she was incredibly fierce and brave. One account from the time states that she once fought a tall Emperor Penguin flipper-to-flipper, and she won.

Her subjects tended to be frightened of her, due to her severity. However, as long as they kept quiet and obeyed her, she gave them a pleasant enough life, and if they were particularly good, she might decided to give them some small sub-kingdom to rule, which was usually only a thirtieth each. One lucky penguin got to rule an twenti-fifth-ieth, but it was at the cost of total submission to her. She was careful not to give too many penguins land, either, in case they decided to rise up against her. If they did show signs of rebellion, then she had a repertoire of unconquered but tough allies who could easily vanquish them.

As time flew by, she won more and more kingdoms, and her own kingdom - the Tribe of Trifle - grew and grew, until the entire tribe population had decreased from approx. 100 to approx. 5, including her own. The latter four, including that of Marino's, were having a hard time keeping up with her, so their leaders met, and agreed to unite to fight against the common enemy. They called themselves the "I Quattro Regni" ("The Four Kingdoms"). This open cheek angered Molly into a frenzy, so she sent messengers to threaten the chiefs with a horde of insults and their weapons, daily.

However, this was all so subtle, that anybody visiting Willow Island would have thought that peace was the only thing that existed. This is proven by an account by a Ligurian representative visiting around the same time, where he casually states that "all five kingdoms get on well with one another. They meet often, and exchange gifts of their traditional clothes and weapons, and gave my crew a good reception." This is why this part of Willowian history is called "the Time of Inner Tumult". It is suspected that they acted co-operatively, in order that excessive Ligurian power was not used upon them, which may have lead into them becoming a direct colony and with no independent leaders.

One night, however, not too long after this account, Trifle had had enough of seeing the other four tribes gloat at her. She openly declared war on them, and ordered the messengers not to go. Sadly for her, the other tribes had already prepared in advance. They had, at the same day, all united to become the "Uno Regno" - their leaders all became army leaders - and they ambushed the guards at Trifle's kingdom. They, being amateurs, were captured, tortured, and forced to work with them, meaning that they learnt almost all their secrets.

Trifle noticed almost nothing, and, at sunrise the next day, set out with her fearsome horde; they were quickly met by the enemy forces, and a horrible battle began. Sadly, Marino died within hours from a poisoned lance and an ex-leader was somehow captured, but they quickly overpowered her army. She and her remaining soldiers retreated into the forests, while Marino's war-successor, Signore, discussed the situation in their newly-conquered land. They executed/banished Trifle's most loyal subjects, and continued the attack.

At one point, it seemed like Trifle had a better chance of winning, but, as the parchment of the National History Book here has rotted away, it is impossible to know the reason why. Either way, she was eventually vanquished, the entire island was once again ruled by the Marino family, and she was banished forever, condemned to work by the sea, fixing the fishermens' nets. Peace had returned to the land.

The Three Kingdoms
"I'm better than you!"

- All three kingdoms

(Three kingdoms who said that "I'm better than you", but it didn't work out)

Fall
(How it didn't work out)

Queen Isabella


(Now two states, Isabella is now unwillingly warring against Ferdinand)

Easy Times
(Willowian culture flourishes)

"Battle of the Four Weirdos"
(Francterran sailors discover the island; a bunch of random Ligurian, Puffish and Alemanian opportunists arrive and have a fight)

Alemanian Rule
(Alemanians win; cruel colony but Puffish win it in another fight)

Puffish Rule
(Treated inhabitants like chicks but they built sanitation systems, etc.)

Fall
"In this land, you're going to get squares, colonisers, and weirdos. I'm a weirdo."

- Sergeant Goosebumps

(Orphan and rejected officer Sergeant Goosebumps is a turncoat)

(Nearly) Coup d'Ètat
(The government/capitalist bosses/whatever has been having a great time underpaying the citizens)

Paraffinta
("I know! Crush those rebelling weirdos with a dictatorship!"...remind you of anything?) (Likely to be renamed to something less obvious)

2008 Civil War
(Somehow nobody guessed that the citizens wouldn't like that idea..."Down with AI!")