User:FaxCelestis/Simulationist Micronation

A simulationist micronation–colloquially called a "micronation", though the use of that term outside the hobby is contested–is an effort by a number of people to create a simulated nation. This usually takes place on a number of different levels: some citizens prefer to flesh out the government; others a fictional history; still others a local language and culture.

Differences Between Simulationist Micronations and Other Micronations

 * Focus on online activity. Most simulationist micronations are completely online, and it is quite common for a nation to have citizens across the globe. It is also common for a simulationist micronation to focus most of its activity in forums.


 * Low membership count. Simulationist micronations tend to have low memberships. It is quite normal for a successful micronation to have 5-10 active citizens, although they also tend to a larger inactive population, usually in the 20-30 range. A factor of this is the use of forums. Forums allows micronations to prove how active their nation is, and it is frowned upon to have a huge amount of inactive citizens within a micronation.


 * A hobby, not a movement. A simulationist micronation, by definition, does not aspire for serious macronational recongition. They exist because micronationalists enjoy to participate in them.


 * Focus on fiction. Simulationist micronations, not being tangible offline organizations, tend to focus on fiction, such as a fictional military or culture. However, unlike role-playing games, micronations have real people who compete for fame, fortune and power, and engage in lively debate and entertainment.

The Micras Sector
A small fragment of simulationist micronations have allied together and agreed to a map, a world, and other commonalities. By definition, a micronation is part of the Micras Sector when it has joined the Micronational Cartography Society, a map of a simulationist world. It also can extend to mean the community as a whole that participates in the Micronations.net forums.

The Micronational Cartography Society
The Micronational Cartography Society–MCS for short–was originally founded to facilitate a unified cartography for several micronations classified as part of the Anglophone "Apollo Sector". These included such members as Shireroth, Machiavellia, Elpidos and others. This initial effort, although simple in design and function, laid the foundation for a much larger impacting organization to evolve in the future. The early MCS was prone to simple policies, large claims, and generally a loose organization of unwritten rules.

It's two original founders - Erik Metzler and Scott Alexander - managed the society for two years before a conflict with members nearly forced the shutdown of the group. Another ardent micronationalist, Ryan Caruso, took over management of the organization and instituted a number of reforms and written policies, building a strong professional administration. This was in 2002, and the MCS continues to be managed and owned by Caruso to this day.

Over the years, the MCS has evolved to specifically cater to those micronations who are based solely on the internet. In order to provide a single cartographic simulation for the multitude of internet micronations, and thus a common base for realistic interaction in an area otherwise lacking such features, the MCS fills this role superbly. Carefully refined rules and policies have allowed the MCS to continue to thrive as a bastion of internet-based micronationalism.

The MCS boasts major members of the micronational community such as the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, the Grand Commonwealth, the Viking Empire of Stormark, and many others. In 2005, Danny Wallace's Kingdom Of Lovely also joined the MCS, marking the entrance of the society into mainstream media. Lovely maintains its membership in the society to this day.

The MCS has created several maps, including political, physical, and a map of key resources. In addition, Micras' moon, Tarsica, has been mapped.

The Micronational Astronomy Society
Where the MCS manages the lands of Micras, the Micronational Astronomy Society–MAS for short–is dedicated to creating the night sky above Micras.

The MAS is a rather recent creation, founded by Shyriath Bukolos and James Raine, both citizens of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth. Currently, it is in the process of finding a suitable means of randomly creating a starscape, as well as charting out the solar system Micras is within.

KZFO
The four letters KZFO represent the fictional callsign for the first stable, long term micronational radio station.

Started by the Zulu 5 Oscar company, then led by Nicholas Leghorn (better known as Foghorn), the radio station produced three main programs, outlined below. It used an RSS feed to deliver the episodes in Podcast format from its website. The feed is still active despite the end of Radio Nafticon (below), its most popular show.

Radio Nafticon, named after the fictional capitol city of the Republic of Antica, was the main news and entertainment show, providing news from around the micronational world, as well as entertaining interviews and music. The first show was aired April 2, 2005, and included a synopsis of the hilarious pranks that were going on at the time. Guests on the show included the former leaders of Antica, prominent micronational leaders, and various citizens of Shireroth, especially during one episode, which was recorded during a Shirerithian journey to the United Nations building in New York City. Shows ranged from quick 5 minute updates to well over an hour, and towards the end developed running gags, such as the mandatory phallic object reference. The show ran for 65 episodes over the course of roughly 2 years before ending on a high note on April 1, 2007.

The Buffer, started after music was introduced to Radio Nafticon, provided around an hour of music and a little commentary in between songs. All of the songs were taken from the Podsafe Music Network, or PMN, and used with the artist's permission. The show eventually sprouted its own news break to inform listeners between the weekly Radio Nafticon broadcasts.

The Ben Gray Show, a wild success during its four episode run, was a witty English comedy show based on the current happenings in the English speaking sector. Using traditional English humor and ranting whenever possible, Ben Gray proved himself as a master showman once again. While the show only ran for 4 episodes, requests for more still flood in to this day.

Imperial Republic of Shireroth
Shireroth is, for all intents and purposes, a feudal nation with a supreme ruler.

The Kaiser

The Kaiser is the absolute monarch of the country, whose word is law. Traditionally, the Kaiser has issued his edicts in the form of Imperial Decrees, though there are also Imperial Proclamations that voice opinions but without the force of law. The Kaiser has the ability to appoint Nobles and Ministers, and his power is only limited by the Imperial Charter–which he can edit at any time.

The Landsraad and Nobles

Historically, the Kaiser has enlisted the aid of a council of Nobles known as the Landsraad as a voting legislature. The body exists at the Kaiser's pleasure and he can dissolve or restore it at any time for any reason. The Landsraad is limited in its power and cannot pass laws that violate Imperial Decrees.

Ministers

The Kaiser gives tasks and executive duties to his appointed assistants, known as Ministers. They perform many tasks that the Kaiser does not wish to be bothered with or which he does not have the specific knowledge to effect.

The Imperial Judex

The Imperial Judex serves as the Judicial system for Shireoth. It allows citizens to address grievences either amongst each other or with the laws without busying the Kaiser. Cases are judged by the Provost–there is no jury.

History

The Republic of Shireroth was founded on April 24, 2000, by Erik Metzler. In its original incarnation, it was a direct democracy, but this lasted only a few weeks before the country was absorbed into first Audentior, then Jasonia, and finally the Union of Apollo States.

After the last of these broke apart, Shireroth reasserted its independence. Erik Metzler, once again in charge, changed the government to an absolute monarchy under a Kaiser, and created a small feudal system with two Duchies, Brookshire and Goldshire. Shireroth soon became much more important than its youth would indicate as Patrick Foley chose to bequeath the remnants of the Union of Apollo States to it as the Duchy of Kildare. With a number of military-oriented citizens, Shireroth even menaced the largest power of the time, the Flying Islands of Jasonia. However, due to real life, Kaiser Metzler I disappeared for a while, and Shireroth disappeared with it.

When Metzler returned, he pulled the newly revived Shireroth into the Benacian Commonwealth with Hyperborea and Machiavellia. This soon led to the merge that became the Hegemony of Alexandros and later Tymaria, tying up Shireroth in larger nations until 2002.

When Shireroth reappeared after the Tymarian secessions of July 2002, it had managed to gobble up several smaller Tymarian states and gained the territories of Hyperborea, Yardistan, Jaris, and Akerbjorn, among many others. The feudal system expanded vastly to include a new level, Baron, and the Landsraad became a major organ of government.

Over the next two and a half years, Shireroth managed to dispel its image as being less serious and take its place alongside Babkha and Attera as one of the world's leading micronations. Through a series of diplomatic victories with Babkha, it gained a strong position in the international community despite a continued isolationist bent when nothing is going on that directly affects it. It also continued gaining citizens and territory, so much so that the Micronational Cartography Society has a rule that Shireroth can never gain any more land.

The Apollo Foundation
The Apollo Foundation is an intermicronational organization dedicated to recording, listing and, in some cases, preserving the heritage of dead micronations. Founded in late 2000 after the collapse of the Audentior Independent Nation by micronationalist Ryan Caruso, the original foundation was established to protect the AIN from the multitude of claimants that arose and disputed its remnants. The plan was simple and based on the Foundation series of novels by famed science-fiction author Isaac Asimov. That objective was to provide for a neutral protector over the dead (simulated) lands and ownership of the Audentior nation. The idea caught on, and eventually the Apollo Foundation was granted authority over a multitude of dead micronations. Unfortunately, in this early stage the foundation was obliged to protect the simulated lands of a micronation as well as its literary content (such as the micronation's name, cultural uniquities, etc). In this case, that simulated land was within the Micronational Cartography Society.

Eventually, the Apollo Foundation's holdings became too vast, and it was deemed impractical to hold so much land for dead nations when it could be put to better use for new and aspiring ones. Control over the lands were relinquished and the dead nations occupying them subsequently erased from the map. However, said literary content was retained in a registry. Thus no claims could be levied against those dead nations without the consent of the parties who registered them. This policy shift was loosely carried out without objection for well over three more years.

In August of 2005, the Apollo Foundation undertook a major revival effort and overhaul of its organization and services. A more professional attitude was adopted and registered micronations were re-registered with formal treaties and cosignees signing respective authorization for protection. This protection was no longer applicable to the lands of those micronations. Instead, the objective was focused on halting plagarism and intellectual infringement. Quite often, dead micronations are reclaimed by parties not of the original groups. In other cases, mere chance brings about a micronation with the same name as a previous one. The role of the foundation is to both stop that and, for new micronationalists, provide information–which is often non-existant in this case–of dead micronations.

Currently, the Apollo Foundation is focusing on two areas of development. First is its registry, which comprises those dead nations which have, upon closure, deemed their projects worthy enough to make a formal treaty of protection with the foundation. In effect, the dead micronation is placed in a "safety deposit box" of sorts where those who signed the treaty are the only ones who can withdraw that nation for restoral in the future. Second, the foundation is focusing on constructing a "microbase" or information on dead micronations. More often than not, many young micronations come into the hobby and then disappear, leaving only scant information about them for historians or other micronationalists. The goal of the microbase is to alleviate that problem, if at least in a small part.

Links and Sources
The MicroWiki

Micronational Cartography Society Website

Micronational Cartography Society Forum

Micronational Astronomy Society Forum

Apollo Foundation Website

The Imperial Republic of Shireroth's Website

The Imperial Republic of Shireroth's Forums