Pengonia


 * Not to be confused with Pengolia.

Pengonia is a small Free Republic located in Sub-Antarctic waters, near New Ice Berg Island. It is comprised of three islands that were each small cities in the Sub-Antarctic Islands state prior to their annexation. Pengonia was founded by Dan Beronews in 2010, after his personal navy conquered Ice Berg Island, and he's been the President ever since.

Beginnings
It all started in March 2010, when CNIC Admiral Dan Beronews purchased an island in Sub-Antarctic waters from Flywish. It became the secret headquarters of the CNIC, and a secret city of the Sub-Antarctic Islands. This got Dan's conquering-blood flowing. By the end of the month, he had conquered the nearby Ice Berg Island. In April he requested a special title of Free Republic from the South Pole Council, for all of his islands, though he pledged to stay loyal to the USA. It was approved, and Pengonia (originally Danonia) was formed with Ice Berg Island as the capital.

Overthrow and Dan's Second Rule
Dan was too much of a goody-two shoes, so in the Summer of 2010 he was forced out of Ice Berg Island by a small band of rebels. Disheartened, he went back to Dan's Island. Though, he reorganized his scattered navy and army, and blasted the rebel army to bits with Snowball Guns in December 2010. He started to rule both of his islands with an iron flipper.

On a cold day in March 2011, a speck was seen on the horizon of Ice Berg Island. Little did the residents know that this was their worst fear, an attack by evil pirates. However, Dan's Navy defeated the 5 pirates with Snowball Guns. After that, the Pengonians realized that is was Dan who was trying to protect them, and they welcomed him as their President in open arms. Dan's army and navy became the official Pengonian army and navy a few days later.

In April 2011, Dan and his Navy conquered the last neighbor of Dan's Island and Ice Berg Island- Beaky Island, thus completing the present land of Pengonia. Shortly afterwards, Dan had the three islands connected with bridges, to make transport easier.

2012-present: Modern Times
Dan had stopped ruling Pengonia with an iron flipper after his citizens realized he was trying to protect them, and instead let democracy take its course. Though Dan was technically elected as President in April 2010 through a nation-wide referendum (after the nation became a Free Republic), he had the Congress pass a bill to require presidential elections every four years, to match USA election years. Pengonia's first official Presidential election took place in 2012, and Dan won as he had run unopposed.

In January 2013, President Beronews resigned from the CNIC, and started to focus on training Pengonia's Navy. After that was done, he began to take a much lower profile in Pengonia for unknown reasons, doing most things behind-the-scenes instead of in the public eye. The capital, Danton, hosted the July 2014 SATO Summit. Despite shying away from public events in recent years, Beronews was re-elected as President in 2016.

Places
There are three (3) islands in the country, Dan's Island, Ice Burg Island and Beaky Island.

Dan's Island
This island of Dan's was formerly owned by Flywish before being purchased in 2010. It is rumored by some of those crazy conspirators to be the location of the secret CNIC headquarters, and is also known to be the headquarters of Pengonia's military.

There is a strange, giant, boat shaped, office building RIGHT on the water. It has a no trespassing sign, but people always go in. They are never seen again.

All of the rumored CNIC workers are supposed to live here. The strange old coot down the street has also been seen here.

Ice Berg Island
The biggest of the three islands, Ice Berg Island is Dan's actual home, and the location of the nation's capital (Danton). This is where most penguins live and is more of a cultural hot spot.

Beaky Island
The smallest of the three, it is known as a resort island. It has all of the fun things, including a Puff Flags. No one knows how, when, or why this showed up. One day TSP was here, the next a Puff Flags was. It is the ONLY theme park even allowed on the island. No one knows why.

Military
The Pengonian Military started as Dan Beronews' private hired army and navy. Made up of experienced soldiers and sailors due to Dan's strict standards, they performed very efficiently. After they defeated the evil pirates in 2011, the Pengonian Congress passed a bill to found their own military, and attempt to hire all of the members of Dan's military. Dan encouraged them all to join the new Pengonian Army and Navy. For a time, the Pengonian Navy was considered the most experienced Navy in Antarctica, because most of the members had served in either the Antarctic Navy, Coast Guard or the CNIC. Despite being the national military, they are also allowed to serve Dan privately, under a different flag.

The Pengonian Army is slightly larger than the Navy, but is less experienced. Most of the leaders of the Army are veterans of foreign armies, but most of the soldiers have no combat experience, and have to rely on their training. Most of their equipment is older equipment that was sold to them after being phased out (mostly from the Antarctic Army), though some is modern supplies sold to them by allies.

The Pengolian Navy is average sized, and is larger than the navies of other similarly sized countries. They have many ships, though most are older ships that were purchased after being decommissioned from other Navies (mostly the US Navy, Coast Guard, and CNIC). It's led by some of the continent's most skilled and experienced admirals, including US veterans, former CNIC workers, and President Beronews himself at times.

Demographics
Though the islands were all small cities before being annexed by Dan, the population rapidly increased over the course of Pengonia's first year, being around two million citizens in spring 2011. After that, it has slowly but steadily increased, as Danton has undergone continuous expansion with new skyscrapers for businesses and apartments. Optimistic officials hope for the population to pass 2.5 million by 2020.