Rockvalley

Rockvalley is the capital city of Peteria, and county seat of the Outer Rockvalley Dominion in South Peteria Island. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,026,961, with 6,951,230 people living in the Rockvalley-Groggia-Flattywood Metropolitan Area.
== History ==
=== Ancient History ===
Around 9000BC, a group of tribal men found the island. They built houses built like penises out of a still unknown material, and worshiped penis gods with penis rituals. These were known as the Pissguys, a group of tribes who roamed around islands around that time. Remarkably, some of these ancient "Penis Houses" have survived to the present day, scattered throughout the Rockvalley region. These structures, considered important historical sites, exhibit a mysterious phenomenon: they appear to shift position slightly each year, moving approximately 5 cm annually. Fragments of the unique material used in the construction of these houses, referred to as "Penis House Tissue," can be found on display in the Rockvalley General Museum. Nobody knows how these people dissapeared or where they went.
=== The Herschewitz Expedition ===
South Peteria Island was first discovered in 1874 by British Jewish sailor Francis Herschewitz. In his writings, Herschewitz would describe the island as "a perfectly preserved natural habitat, devoid of any human tampering" and "almost like a Garden of Eden on Earth". 
In the following years, Francis would gather a small crew of dedicated Jewish sailors, inspired by a recent wave of antisemitic laws passed in Britain at the time, and attempt to colonize the island. Herschewitz himself was not Jewish by religion, however he had faced severe discrimination due to his ethnically Jewish features and surname. 
The Herschewitz expedition would become the first settlement on the island, however, due to reasons that continue to be debated, the settlement was abandoned, and all colonists went missing and are yet to be found. The theory most accepted by contemporary analysis suggests that a massive rogue wave wiped out the fledgling settlement in its early days.
=== Early Colonization ===
In 1877, three years after Herschewitz and his crew disappeared, an Austro-Hungarian convoy landed on the southeastern part of South Peteria. They created a settlement called Talfelsenstadt (eng. Valley Fortress City). At it's peak, the township had a population of 13,000 people, mostly Austro-Hungarian males who were escaping the Great War. The settlement was strategically located next to a ravine, and its primary industry was coal mining, which became the cornerstone of its economy.
==== The Felsenklamm Earthquake ====
On October 3rd, 1889, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck near the settlement of Talfelsenstadt. The seismic activity triggered significant erosion in the surrounding ravine, compromising its structural integrity. As a result, numerous mining huts and residential buildings collapsed into the ravine, leading to the tragic loss of 249 lives. One survivor, Adolf Schatzi survived and eventually became the first Mayor of Rockvalley.
In the aftermath of this disaster, the settlement was abandoned and relocated to the west, to an island then known as Coa Island, now called Rockvalley Island. Some of the abandoned buildings still stand, most of them rotting, as silent witnesses to the past, alongside a monument erected in 2020 to commemorate the victims of the earthquake.
==== The Beginning of Rockvalley ====
On April 25th, 1890, Rockvalley was officially registered as a city. That same year, a group of British explorers and scientists relocated to the island and became active members of the city council. Among them were Charles E. Barley and Chester Tromp, who rose to prominent positions within the city's leadership, notably high council members. In honor of the growing English population, they decided to rename the city Rockvalley, a translation of the original Talfelsenstadt, in order to make the new citizens feel more welcome. In some old leaflets and newspapers, the city is named Rockville due to a spelling mistake that The London Times made while reporting on the new city. Tromp would later serve as the city's Vice Mayor during Schatzi's term and as the Minister of Defense during the early days of the city. 
The city's first building was built on the 8th of May, 1890 when the Community House was constructed. The walls were made of pink tinted concrete, a newly invented material at the time. The concrete was tinted with a mysterious substance found under the building, later identified to be a Pink Soft Substance from the ancient Penis Villages. This tissue knows to spread it's color around wherever its situated. Through the 1890s the city grew significantly, with the city regaining it's peak Talfelsenstadt population in 1893 and then exceeding 35,000 citizens in 1897. Captain Corps relocated from the North Peteria city of Cleave in 1898, making Rockvalley an important naval city for the island. The Captain Corps shipyard was the cities main source of income along with fishing and dye production (mainly pink dye). In 1902 Captain Corps built the RMS Petoria, which increased immigration by almost 200%. By 1905, the city had reached 80,000 citizens and by 1910 it had passed 120,000 citizens. It's worth mentioning that by this time Rockvalley was still an independent city, not being part of any nation state. Austria-Hungary still held the land around Talfelsenstadt and turned it into a mining village, though it never went near its peak population.
=== Peterian City State ===
In 1912, Jim Hopkins recognized the need for a formal government in the city due to rising crime and inflation. A government was 
established formally named the Democratic Peterian City State, formally creating a city-state, with Hopkins serving as the first and only president. He held office for two terms, which concluded in 1920. This was the first official state on the PGBR Islands since the Pissguys almost 11000 years prior.
During this period, significant waves of Croatian immigrants arrived in Peteria, drawn by the region's flat land and agricultural potential. By 1920, Croatians made up 36% of the population, which stood at 234,000, including residents of Rockvalley and surrounding municipalities. The government collapsed after British occupation in 1921, due to the Election of 1920 being forgotten about.
=== Soviet-American Occupation ===
In 1924, both America and the Soviet Union laid claim to the Petorian Islands. The British gave up their claims due to bigger issues in India and Africa. This led to both sides sending troops in order to justify their claims, leading to a tense 4-day standoff between the Soviet Army and United States Army, with deadly skirmishes occurring in the Caldera Mountains. Eventually, however, the situation was de-escalated by the Krasnodar Agreement, establishing American control over South Petoria Island.
For 70 years, Rockvalley was the site of the Hoover Air Force Base, as well as the Woodrow Wilson Radar Center.
Around this time, a change in culture happened after the bird of Francis Griffin, a famous activist for the countries independence. Due to his Irish accent, Francis pronounced Peteria as Petoria. Eventually, the term Peteria got completely replaced by Petoria.
=== March For Liberty, and Independence ===
In 1991, after the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, America continued to hold on to the island due to its strategic location and usefulness as a military command centre for Northern Sea operations.
On February 28th, 1993, peaceful protests erupted demanding an end to America's presence on the island. These protests, known as the "March For Liberty", quickly erupted into widespread rioting and violence. Riot police used live rounds to disperse crowds, as well as Neuropathodymin-3, a type of tear gas which causes severe itching, rashes, and discomfort, and is internationally banned for use in war.
On March 26th, Bill Clinton and Horace Langley (the de-facto president of the Territory of Peteria) held a meeting in which they agreed to allow Peteria self-determination rights for three years, before fully transitioning to independent rule.
On March 26th, 1996, the red-cyan-green banner was raised over the Administrative Palace for the first time, marking the independence of the PGBR Colonial Empire. The country was an absolute monarchy until 2017 when tribes took over the country, marking a civil war that lasted almost 3 years. The occupation of the tribes created a new shortly lived state with Tribal leaders at the helm, but activist and comedian Odie Dog later became a key figure in winning the war and became the first President of the PGBR Empire on May 30th 2020.