Caseusopolis

Caseusopolis is a young and unbelievably thriving nation that's on an island. It is a democratic nation ever since it was founded. The currency is cheese - actual cheese, not coins or paper called cheese, with the base currency being cheddar cheese. Due to the market forces of supply and demand, as well as cheaper ways of creating cheese being discovered, the currencies are in a constant state of deflation and inflation, with the prices managed by the Bureau of Cheese. There has been a government scandal and a recession- dubbed the Cheesecession- which has caused the economy to decline. However, things seem to be getting better, as it has made allies with other countries, most controversially the Underworld which it exports much of its cheese to, and joined an economic, political and military union with five other nations.

The country is located between mainland Antarctica and UnitedTerra. It is part of the mostly Snowinian and Margatian led Western Union, which heavily helped Caseusopile economic growth and gave it pretty good military protection.

First Discovery
Though it may be a tiny island now with not a lot of penguins, it wasn't always that way. A long time ago, a person named Robert W. Cond accidentally crashed his ship into Caseusopolis. A rescue team was sent, and they also found out about the island. Many penguins then filled up the island until not another house could be built. One day, since the new island had no form on currency, a riot was started and Robert was hanged to death. But then he risen up as a ghost that is now known as The Condemner and condemned everybody who took place in killing him to die in 3 days. Other penguins wished to escape The Condemner and fled the island. The ghost was now satisfied and went to rest in the Underworld until he was called again.

Second Discovery (2011)
On April 22, 2011, another explorer found the land. Now, the plants had taken over and destroyed the former cities completely, so it was ripe for modern construction. Seeing as how there was no economy, almost nobody came to the island. Eventually, one penguin did come to the island with some cows and started up a farm. Now that there were dairy cows inhabiting the island, the few penguins there decided to make the currency cheese and named it "Caseusopolis" on the spot.

States
Caseusopolis has four states:

Wheyland
Wheyland is the largest state in terms of population. The capital, Cheese Central is located here. It is a very industrialized city, and has universal health care.

Curdius
Curdius is the second largest state, and the largest city, Port de Dairy is located here. Curdius is similar to Wheyland, in that it is industralized, but has a lot more environmental restrictions. The streets are much cleaner and there are several parks people can go to. It is a tourist hot spot.

Rennetton
Rennetton is a mostly rural area. It is the largest by area, but smallest by population. There is a large population of reindeer who live here, and many of them help grow crops. They are disconnected from the main government and vote for low taxes and gun rights, although they support farm subsidies. The state is relatively important in growing food, although this has declined over time. Currently they struck oil which has been important for the economy.

Caseinia
Caseinia is a landlocked state, which doesn't stand out as the rest but is pretty important nonetheless, fulfilling multiple roles. The largest airport in Caseusopolis is located in Caseinia, as are many military training bases. It sends many flights to the USA and UnitedTerra. Goverment is localized and the people vote on most laws that happen, which can be quite hectic.

Marzu Slums
Though not an official state, the economic deficiencies of Caseusopolis recently gave rise to slums, nicknamed by the community as "Marzu Slums" after their uncleanliness. Here dwells and poorest of the poor as well as many immigrants who have been unable to climb the socioeconomic ladder due to not being able to find a new niche to fill in the community. The presence of these slums have resulted in immigration to Caseusopolis severely declining as well as a small increase in emigration to other countries in the Western Union. Other than that, the most notable thing about the slums is that they are given most of the rotten cheese in the island for meals.

Government
The government of Caseusopolis is a representative democracy. Political parties are named after cheeses and have set values. The citizens elect their representatives through approval voting- they can vote for multiple candidates and whoever has the most vote wins. This is because "you shouldn't just have to pick one cheese". This form of voting allows for multi-party system and ensures representation better than other forms.

Representatives come up with certain laws and vote on them. Other laws, especially those concerning local governments, and voted on by the citizens through direct democracy.

Political Parties

 * Cheddar Party - the Cheddar Party is the first political party and most popular in terms of members. It is founded on the ideals of democracy. The party is centrist on economic issues and liberal on most social issues
 * Blue Cheese Party - The Blue Cheese Part is a conservative party, and the second most popular political party. Due to gerrymandering, they have more seats than the Cheddar Party.
 * Gouda Party - The Gouda Party is one of the two minor public relations parties. It focuses on solving construction problems. They work hand-in-hand with the Feta Party.
 * Feta Party - The Feta Party is one of the two minor public relations parties. It takes suggestions from the residents to improve their lives. They work and-in-hand with the Gouda Party.
 * Cream Cheese Party - The Cream Cheese Party is the external relations party. It contains the Goodwill Ambassador and Caseusopolis's representatives.
 * Lactose Intolerance Party- The LIP are a bunch of libertarians and anarchists who are against the concept of the government. They are a very minor party, having yet to win any elections. Their goal is the reduce taxes to nothing and get rid of all government programs.
 * Totally Unofficial Evil Chef Party - Led by Doom Chef, who himself was surprised to find his party had any supporters, this extremely minor party is composed entirely of dwellers from the slums who are unhappy with their situation and hope desperately that Doom Chef might save them from their situation. They discovered this party after one of Doom Chef's pamphlets fell off the Brie Highway and into the slums. They place their complete faith on him, despite his political party having no real basis or ideology behind it.

The Brie Highway
The Government is currently working on a new project which will be the biggest one in the tiny island of Caseusopolis. The Brie Highway will be an enormous road paved over a line of the cheese-related trash the residents have dumped over the years. Not only will this help penguins get around the island much easier than before, but it will also reduce the litter by at least 75%.

Early on in the project's life, it garnered many critics voicing concerns about the structural integrity of such a project and the smell. The only response from the government was to request people trust what they're doing and ban taxes and tariffs on air fresheners. To the surprise of absolutely everyone, the highway, though less expansive than it was originally planned, somehow managed to work. When asked about their success on the project, the government gave the same response. The highway, however, directly led to the rise of the Goodsinus Air Freshener Company and its monopoly over air fresheners in the island... not that they had much competition.

Military
The military of Caseusopolis is puny. The military was assigned to Vice President Mectrixctic but, due to her not showing up very often, the government had to use whatever they could find. What they do have is mostly cheese based. Due to the tiny size of the nation, an air force has not been established yet. Their most powerful weapon is the Cheese Nuke, which still does nothing but explode and send cheese flying on contact. However, ever since Caseusopolis joined the Western Union, countries such as Acadia, Margate, and United Provinces have given Caseusopolis weapons.

Due to the process of creating cheese, Caseusopolis has begun cautiously experimenting creating weapons based on bacteria and other microorganisms.

List of Weapons:
 * Yogurt tanks
 * Rocket Launchers (Sour Milk used as ammunition)
 * Stinky Cheese Bombs
 * Cheese Graters (Melee weapons)
 * Cheesesaber
 * Cheese Nuke
 * Bacterial Bioweapons (Still in development)

At the 2017 Western Union Congress when the topic of improving military forces arose, Mr. Cheddar revealed that along with cultural purposes, the reason Caseusopolis's military was the way it was in the case of a Civil War, that little real damage could be done due to their relatively small advancements in technology.

Due to internal deals, Caseusopolis has agreed to supply the rest of the Western Union with a very specific weapon: Ammoniacal Gas Explosives. These bombs are made out of the surplus of Caseuspolis's expired and rancid cheese. When questioned about the humanity of the weapons, Mr. Cheddar went on record to say it was only to be used as a last resort, and that they really just wanted to find a good way to get rid of their rotten cheese.

Geography
Caseusopolis is located directly south of a body of water known as the "Sea Cheese Sea", the only place in Antarctica known to have Sea Cheese. Sea Cheese is a rare type of cheese that only grows in underwater Sea Cheese Plants.

Economy
Unsurprisingly, the main product Caseusopolis is known for is cheese. The city is built on creating many different types of cheese which it exports, but also imports rare cheeses from other countries. They also make many cheesy products such as grilled cheese, cheesy puffs, cheesecake, and cheese pizza.

Originally they only had cheeses from Reindeer and Yaks due to the cold weather, but they eventually created buildings with temperature control, and imported other mammals such as cows, goats, sheep, and water buffalo. Because of this the nation also creates many other dairy products such as milk, ice cream, yogurt, butter, gelato, although none as much as cheese.

In addition to cheese produced from dairy, the country grows soy beans, nuts, corn, and grass. The former two they produce milk and create cheeses from while the latter two are used to feed the dairy animals. The corn and grass are largely kept a secret by the government, however, so as not to disrupt the cheese theme of the community.

As their livestock produce a lot of manure, the country is in no short supply of fertilizer which they use to grow their crops and export to other countries for profit. In 2019, Caseusopolis formally announced its intention to increase its exports and attempt a degree of agricultural independence so that Caseusoplis would be of more use to the other countries in the Western Union. In addition to exporting more cheese and other dairy products that are produced in excess rather than giving them to the slums, it also exports the above crops and manure. Plans for community gardens have been revealed to the public. Though they have not been popular due to straying from the concept of an entirely cheese-based country, the community opinion of the gardens is slowly beginning to warm up.

The Cheesegate Scandal
Despite being created to be unbiased and partial, the Bureau of Cheese has been accepting bribes from many cheese companies to artificially inflate the value of their cheese. several "studies" were done which strategically collected data that would show that certain cheeses are worth more than they actually are. Many citizens found out that their cheese wasn't worth as much as it should have been and went broke.

Eventually a whistle-blower leaked these bribes and everyone involved was convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison. The Bureau of Cheese was cleaned up and was forced to become transparent, but many lives were ruined already due to this corruption.

The Great "Cheesecession"
Economic problems still happened. Advances in genetic engineering allowed scientists to produce milk extremely cheaply, which was utilized by several nations to save money on cheese. This reduced the price of cheese significantly, causing massive inflation. One cheddar could only be work a fraction of its value by the end of the week. The government tried to stop production of cheese in order to stop the inflation, but the damage had been done. Vice President Mectrixctic ordered a bunch of reforms to keep the economy from going under. She demanded the Bureau of Cheeses to mass produce cheese and redistribute it through the masses in order to stop the inflation, and started pet projects to hire people so they would have jobs.

Demographics
The majority of inhabitants of Caseusopolis are penguins, as they discovered the town. However, it has a significant number of citizens whose species are not native to Antarctica, including reindeer, yak, and cows. Many moved into the mainland after being promised a lot of money for lactation services. Initially the majority of female non-native mammals were in the lactation business. However, as their children wanted to do other things with their life, and the fact that milk is readily available through gene spliced bacteria, the number is rapidly decreased, but there still is a market for it as certain types of cheeses need natural milk.

Ten percent of the Penguin population are composed of Demon Penguins. Due to the amount of cheese in the country, it creates a "Cheese Aura" which allows to here speeches from the POPE. Most Demon Penguins in Caseusopolis are good or neutral, wanting to live outside the Underworld.

In general, the people of Caseusopolis are usually friendly and good-hearted.

Culture
The citizens of Caseusopolis are obsessed with cheese. Cheese is literally a way of life for them. Cheese is a staple part of one's diet, at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and anything else. Many put cheese sauce on all their foods to taste more of it. Cheese making competitions are more popular than any other sports (which usually find some way to utilize cheese anyhow)

As of 2015 it is a law to be associated in any way with cheese from the moment you are born or a death sentence will be placed on you immediately. Somehow, this law has not been broken yet.

Relationships with other nations

 * Underworld - Excellent - Caseusopolis has a great relationship with the Underworld, and is the first country to recognize it as a nation. The Underworld is the main buyer of all of Cheeses in the country. This is probably due to The Condemner and Mectrixctic residing here.
 * United Provinces - Excellent - Snowiny (United Provinces) and Caseusopolis already had good relations during the first years of its existence. After the Winsburg Conference, Caseusopolis was admitted into the Western Union and this conference marked the beginning of an excellent relationship between the two nations. Also note, Snowiny was the first to recognize Caseusopolis as an independent nation.
 * Acadia - Excellent. Ever since they joined the Western Union, Acadia and Caseusopolis are best allies, and Acadia gives weapons to Caseusopolis. Acadia also buys many of Caseusopolis's cheeses.
 * Square Islands - Awesome - Sq. Isles provides Caseusopolis with various miscellaneous gadgets. Somehow, every time this happens, Caseusopolians manage to use it in some way related to cheese, whatever it is, even somehow creating cheese Binch Cookies. In return, the islands get Caseusopolis' top-notch cheese.
 * USA - Good - Caseusopolis has a good relationship with the USA, and ships them products.
 * Club Jellyfish - Good - Club Jellyfish has trouble producing cheese since it is underwater, and appreciates shipments from Caseusopolis.
 * Shops Island - Good - Shops and Caseusopolis are allies. Shops Island has pledged to provide military and economic assistance to Caseusopolis in the case that something goes wrong. Caseusopolis modeled their government off of Shops' Common Legislature. Cheeseland is a popular destination for those who live in Caseusopolis
 * Margate - Good - As fellow members of the Western Union, Margate and Caseusopolis are diplomatic partners and military allies. However, the main consumers of cheese in Margate - the Nexonans - are rather picky on the country of origin of the cheese which they purchase, preferring their cheese from Frankterre and even the German States (the latter primarily because of cultural reasons since many Nexonans have Alemanian ancestry). Because of that, Margate seldom purchases cheese from Caseusopolis.
 * UnitedTerra - Fair - UTR and Caseusopolis have a somewhat strained relationship since Caseusopolis is allied with the Underworld, a bane in UTR. There is also disagreements on what is better- cheese or cookies? However, the Caseusopolisian Internation Airport has been very important for UnitedTerra flights, and with the advent of Cheddar Cookies the debate has ended with taking the best of both worlds.
 * East Pengolia - Bad - East Pengolia looks down at Caseusopolis and never buys any of its products. In return, Caseusopolis does not like E.P's Government.