Pen Island (Ultima)

A crude map of Pen Island and a few surrounding areas

**Pen Island** is an island located in the northern Makiric Ocean, administered by Nogodrick as part of its National Island Territories.Pen Island is named so for its distinct resemblance to a ballpoint pen, although the omission of the space has caused confusion in the past for its perceived lewdness.

The largest settlement on the island is Port Phal-Lux. The highest point is Mount Vazdefrins, at 2,316 meters above sea level, while the lowest point is Herpy's Crater at 14 meters below sea level.

## History

Pen Island was discovered in 1870 by a merchant vessel that had veered off course in order to avoid a storm. Since the vessel was Nogod, the government quickly filed to have the uninhabited but mostly arable land recognized as its territory.

Pen Island was a major target for the Southern Accord during the First World War (1937-1946) due to its proximity to Urraka Island. The Accord's attempts to seize the island were stopped in the First and Second battles of Pen Island, the latter of which caused the "Decisive Naval Victory at PENISLAND" headline scandal.

In 1946, Pen Island erected a statue of BNS Admiral Spre, who was less than amused at "the rising number of these horrific, gag-inducing statues all over the world now that the war is over.

In 1951, Pen Island suffered an outbreak of Bovine Milk Deficiency Syndrome and Bovine Mouth disease, preventing most newborn cattle from suckling. The crisis was mitigated by importing milk extracted from the wood bark of the Juhc tree on Urraka Island.

The World Chess Championship of 1963 was held on Pen Island. Several famous players including Grandmasters Jakob Fisch, Robert d'Lancit, and Paul Bation competed. In the end, the winner of the competition was Grandmaster Bation, with 8 wins, 2 draws, and no losses.

In 1980, Blilzer Lagoon Oil Works proposed to build an oil pipeline that would connect Urraka Island with the oil-rich area surrounding Pen Island. BLOW's proposal was initially very popular, but the environmentalist leadership of the Island rejected the proposal. However, the seed had already been planted, and many made the argument that if the government did not listen to BLOW, jobs would be lost as the company began to move its offices elsewhere. Due to the of executive members of BLOW feeling completely shafted by the government's negotiation cock-up, the company leadership sought help from the Granish Federation. The Federation, seeing an opportunity to undermine the Nogod government, penetrated the island's economy, sabotaging multiple oil wells in an attempt to force the government to support BLOW, lest they go out of business. However, during one sabotage operation, an oil well exploded, spurting enormous amounts of oil into the sea. The clean-up effort began immediately, and the Federation was forced to withdraw.

In 2014, two testes for the NSE World History exam in an island-based school were accused of cheating after it was revealed they had acquired the answers from the Ultranet. The result was a month-long investigation by the NAI that led to the discovery of an underground test-selling group based in the nation of Aritas. The already tense relations between the rest of the world and Aritas were only exacerbated by the nation's refusal to extradite or even charge those responsible.

In modern times the island has become a travel destination for people around the world. A popular tourist activity is to fly around the island and take a selfie when the pen-shape is visible, often holding up a notebook or a piece of paper as if to jokingly have the island itself write something on it.

## Name and Controversies

The inventor of the ballpoint pen, a Norldian man by the name of Joesph Wickers, had a cousin serving as the captain of the vessel that first discovered the island. As a personal favor, the name "Pen Island" was chosen, as was wholly appropriate, considering the island's shape.

Due to the removal of the space causing the name to appear as PenIsland, or "Penisland", there has been some controversy in the past. The *IU World Encyclopedia* edition published in 1963 accidentally misspelled the island's name as PenIsland, causing many complaints from residents who learned that the island was now a name-based tourist attraction.

In the infamous incident occurring after the decisive second naval battle at Pen Island, the BNS's public relations department accidentally omitted the space while transmitting an all-capital message to the press, causing newspapers to report that a decisive naval battle had been won at PENISLAND. The ensuing media disaster led to the naval service formally restructuring its transmission regulations.

An all-capital sign print in 2011 also unintentionally omitted the space, producing several road dozen signs labelled PENISLAND. Production was quickly discontinued, causing existing examples to become prized collectibles after employees stole and sold them before the signs could be scrapped.