Empire of Elysium

"Elysium" redirects here. For other uses, see Elysium (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Duchy of Elysium.

Empire of Elysium
Flag Greater Arms
Motto: Unity, Peace, Prosperity
National Animal Timber rattlesnake
Map of the Empire
Location	Located within the US
Capital	Josephina, Elyria
Official languages	English
Recognised regional languages	Scots, Polish
Ethnic groups	Franco-American, Scots-Irish Americans, German American, Irish People, Anglo-American
Religion	Presbyterianism unofficial
Demonym(s)	Elysiumite
Government	Federal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
• Grand Emperor	Robert II
• Chancellor	Elliot Doe
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Council of Imperial Delegates
• Lower house	Grand Senate
Establishment
• Founding of Elyria	1 July 2011
• Unification into Elysium	1 September 2015
• Republic established	8 July 2020
• Monarchy re-established	12 December 2021
• Last polity admitted	20 August 2023
Population
• 2020 estimate	270
• 2021 census	312
Currency	United States dollar (de facto) (USD)

Elysium, officially the Empire of Elysium, known as the Republic of Elysium from July 2020 to December 2021, is a self-proclaimed sovereign state commonly known as a 'micronation' to outside observers with claims in North America and Europe. Elysium's capital is the city of Josephina, an city located in the High Kingdom of Elyria.

The Empire was originally founded as the Republic of Elyria, a unitary and republican state, in 2011. The current federal model was created after the First Unification, in which various micronations in the Upcountry of South Carolina united to form the Empire of Elysium. Since then, Elysium has admitted a number of new members, although some did not join as new Commonwealths. Leo and Salibaic are the only major examples of a Commonwealth leaving the union, although both of these states are largely inactive now. The government is described as a mix of American federalism with a German-style semi-presidential system; in addition, the nation holds regular Senatorial elections. The nation is primarily Presbyterian and Baptist, with a strong atheist and Catholic minority. The culture of Elysium has been descibed as a mix of various western european and Dixie culture. People from Elysium are known as Elysiumites.

Elysium has operated under a system of a federal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchism since the restoration of the monarchy in late 2021. The head of state is a elected Grand Emperor. The head of government is a parliamentary elected Chancellor. There is six Commonwealths which make up Elysium. The various Commonwealths each vary in government, but the majority have a monarch as the chief representative and an elected First Minister as the chief executive. The Grand Senate is the lower house of the federal legislature that selects the Chancellor and formally executes nearly all legislative authority. Robert Smith II of Elyria serves as Grand Emperor and Elliot Doe is the Chancellor and a member of the National Democratic Party.

Etymology

Elysium is derived from Elyria, which was the predecessor to Elysium. When the many smaller nations voted to join a Empire and choose a name, Elysium was the most popular choice for the name of the union. It was proposed by delegates of Valor before the Empire was established, in order to recognize the significance of Elyria and create a common identity within the proposed Empire.

The official name of Elysium is the Empire of Elysium, although most documents just refer to the nation as Elysium. Internally, the “Empire of Elysium” is often times shorten to “the Empire”. Other names have been proposed to make the name less generic and more reflective of the Empire's culture, but these attempts are unpopular. In recent years there have been no major attempts or calls to change the name of the Empire.

History

Main article: History of Elysium

First Empire

On 1 September 2015, the Empire of Elysium was established through the unification of several micronations in the Savannah River area. Following this, Robert Smith was unanimously elected as its Grand Emperor, with Riley Nim being appointed Emperor's Hand. The early years of Elysium saw two "factions" being established: the Tilities, who supported the Minister of Defense, FPM, and the Rilites, who supported Riley Nim. Numerous forts were also constructed during this time, the largest of which was Fort Brim.

By early 2019, two political parties had been formed; the Tilities formed the Vox Party, which campaigned for Christian values and states' rights, while the Rilites formed the Democracy Now Party, which campaigned for constitutionalism and had centrist ideals. Following the formation of the office of Prime Minister, the Vox Party won the office, mainly due to accusations of Riley Nim calling for secession in Quincet, a member state of Elysium. During FPM's ministry, Elysium's organic culture was replaced with that from other nations, mainly the Byzantine Empire, while the construction of forts was paused. Towards the end of her ministry, a scandal broke out when the Vox Party removed Kyle Smith, a member of Elysium's legislature and an independent who had won the elections for Prime Minister, from office. The scandal, named Tillgate, resulting in the office of Prime Minister being replaced with an elected Chancellor and a national Parliament being created.

During Kyle Smith's tenure, a Discord server for Elysium was created in April 2019, which saw rapid growth in Elysium. In addition, a constitution inspired off of that of the United States was written. Following the 2019 I senatorial election, 3 Progressives and 2 Democratic Traditionalists were appointed to the Grand Senate; they would pass numerous major acts, including the Judiciary Act of Adam Johnston and Marriage Act, the latter of which ensured equality in marriage. During this period, Adam Johnston, as well as Spooky Johnston, would begin their careers in the Grand Senate.

In May 2019, Salibaic temporarily joined Elysium; it would leave following a referendum that the imperial government regarded as fake. As a result of the referendum, Adam and Spooky Johnston were removed from the Grand Senate, with Spooky having his citizenship revoked. Despite this scandal, Kyle was re-elected to Chancellor. Between this re-election and the following election, Tau Barclay joined Elysium and gained a reputation for being an active legislator.

In July, the Great Elysium Council was opened in response to Stanley Appleby calling for various reforms, which had resulted in the near-resignation of Robert as Grand Emperor. The Council resulted in major reforms being passed; afterwards, Tau's Libertarian Party and Adam Johnston's Progressives merged to form the Libertarian-Progressive Party. In August, a crisis ensued when a pro-Elysiumite government was installed in Clamatoa, which resulted in the resignation of Kyle Smith on 2 September. As a result, Tau Barclay became Chancellor.

Tau's ministry saw the first time that taxes were collected in Elysium, albeit optionally. In addition, he called for the formation of more private companies and saw Elysium apply to the Grand Unified Micronational, as well as the annexation of Leo and Greymont into the Empire. The September 2019 senatorial election saw Kyle Smith's DTs win a landslide; after this victory, Tau called for a snap election and left the Libertarian-Progressive Party to form the Reform Party. After this, he would write the second constitution of Elysium, which narrowly passed the Grand Senate. In early December, Tau announced his resignation as Chancellor.

Kyle Smith was re-elected the same month; his re-election was followed by plans being leaked for Vox Populi being used to eventually annex its member states into Elysium. Despite numerous micronations denouncing Elysium and its reputation being tarnished, none of Elysium's allies were lost in the process. However, Leo seceded during the scandal, resulting in Tau going into exile following backlash for doing so. During Kyle Smith's term, he created a Elysiumite military alongside Robert Smith and Brandon Mierzwa, also creating a citizenship application and localization quotas being introduced as a response to the population of local citizens falling. His fourth term, which followed the January 2020 senatorial election, continued the policies he put into effect.

In March 2020, the Reform and Progressive Parties merged to form the New Elysium Party; the NEP replaced Elysium's electoral system of single transferable vote with mixed-member proportional representation, as most seats contested had only one person running for them. In the following March 2020 senatorial election, the NEP won 95%, with the EVP - an enviromentalist party - winning the other 5%. Sometime following this, Tau and his followers were exiled again for planning to make Elysium a republic.

Kyle's sixth term saw him release the Imperial Development Plan alongside Robert Smith, which outlined numerous problems within the Empire and the beginning of a golden age of democracy. Following this, The Imperialist declared that a "minor conservative revival" was occurring within Elysium. However, on 14 April 2020, he resigned as Chancellor; he was replaced with Adam Johnston, who became the first openly gay Chancellor in Elysiumite history.

Adam's first term saw the Elysiumite government undermining Ringston - which had briefly joined Elysium in April 2020 - resulting in its eventual dissolution. In addition, given Adam's left-wing policies, the "conservative revival" eventually died out, with Elysium becoming more left-wing. The Transparency Act was passed during this first term, which required the Chancellor's cabinet to produce agendas and reports, as well as the introduction of Chancellor's Questions. However, this burst of activity died by late May, and a Second Great Elysium Council was called but failed due to gridlock. As a result, Robert Smith released an address that dissolved the NEP and called for the centralization of Elysium around its Southern commonwealths.

Following this address, the NEP split into 4 different parties, including the previous Progressive Party. In July 2020, Elysium became a republic following the ratification of a new constitution.

Republic

The establishment of the Republic was a spontaneous process led by the intellectual elites in the first Empire. Many, particularly those on the left, felt that as long as Elysium was governed by a monarch the nation could not realize the goals set to democratize the nation and make it more egalitarian. This led to the rushed passage of the Republican Constitution, despite the fact that polling suggests the majority of the public was against the reform. Abroad most of the Empire's allies also expressed concern with the sudden changes, but did not feel a need to pursue any action against the new Republican government.

Most of the Republic would be defined by the political structure between those who wanted to restore the monarchy, and those who wished to maintain the republic. The term 'Whiggamore' began being used toward the end of the Republic, and continued its use during the Empire, to describe those who wished to maintain the Republic. During most of this period the Progressive Party dominated politics, and Adam Johnston served as the Prime Minister of the Republic throughout its entire history.

The first parliamentary election in the new Republic was held on 18 July, 2020. The Restoration position was supported by the Democratic Traditionalist, Liberal Party, Yedinist Party, and a small faction of the Progressive Party led by Thomas Bainbridge. The Progressive Party firmly supported the Republican cause, and the Evolutionary Party never took a formal position on the matter. The Progressive Party won with just under 60% of the vote, and the opposition was spilt between the DT, Evolutionary, and Liberal parties.

The Progressives would continue to dominate politics without much opposition, primarily due to the lack of unity and leadership between Kylite democrats. While most had chosen to support the resorted Democratic Traditionalist, there was still considerable divisions due to the more moderate faction of the movement breaking off into the Liberal Party, which tended to support the Progressives in government. Even within the Democratic Traditionalist there was not a strong base of support, and the leadership was unsure of how to react to the new challenges presented by the Republic. In an attempt to broaden its electoral appeal the DTs entered into a political union with a third party, the New Libertarian Party. The two parties then formed the 'Party of Union-Democrats'. The appealed to liberals, libertarians, centrist, and conservatives who opposed monarchism, but wanted to make the Republic's political system more democratic.

The abandonment of monarchist principles led to a conservative rebellion within the Union-Democrats. Led by Elliot Doe, a then unknown Elyrian politician to most Elysiumites, a number of former Democratic Traditionalist joined together and formed the National Conservative Party of Elysium. The rebellion rapidly grew, and most of the former DT Senators and members defected to the party. Within a few weeks, after polling showed the new National Conservatives to be more popular, a merger was made and the Union-Democrats formally joined with the National Conservatives. Elliot Doe, who had to rely upon other Senators to lead the parliamentary branch of the party, was soon seated due to his victory in a by-election.

January to October 2021 would see the steady growth of the National Conservatives, later renamed to the National Democrats as part of a rebrand to strength the party's ties to Kylite democracy, but the continued majority governments of the Progressive Party. Also during this time the Liberal Party continued to decrease in popularity, as most Kylite Democrats fled to the National Democrats, leading to a change in strategy for the Liberals. The Liberals shifted to the left, while maintaining their various libertarian stances to distance themselves from the Progressives. Furthermore, the Liberals merged with various smaller parties in the Empire to form the Social Democrats. The formation of the SDP and renewed life within the National Democrats culminated in the Progressives taking considerable losses in the September Midterms. Furthermore, Elysium's largest Commonwealth, Elyria, voted to restore its own monarchy in a landslide victory. Additionally, Democratic Coalitions between the NDs and SDP in various Commonwealths led to monarchist controlling all but two Commonwealths in the Empire.

Seeing the weakened state of the Progressive Party and the Republican position, the National Democrats petitioned the federal government to include a non-binding referendum on the issue of restoring the federal monarchy. The Electoral Commission approved of this referendum, and scheduled it to be held during the upcoming general election, the resulting referendum resulted in the population approving of restoring the monarchy. The Grand Senate then formally voted to restore the monarchy via a constitutional amendment.

Second Empire

Johnston and Kümmel Ministries

The restoration of the Empire was announced by Johann Kümmel late in the evening of 29 November 2021, due to timezones, in European territories of Elysium, the proclamation was published around midnight of 30 November 2021. The new imperial system was extremely similar to the republican system, with the notable exceptions of an apolitical Grand Emperor replacing the Chancellor, the role of Prime Minister becoming Chancellor, the re-introduction of the office of Emperor's Hand and the introduction of a new upper house, the Council of Imperial Delegates consisting of chief representatives from the Commonwealths and appointed noble delegates. Kyle Smith would be appointed as the first Emperor's Hand under the new system.

Within days of the restoration, now-Chancellor Adam Johnston announced his resignation as Leader of the Progressives and that he would stand down as Chancellor in the next election. The subsequent leadership contest in December 2021 saw no candidate win a majority with Seán O'Neill becoming leader with a plurality of the votes. However O'Neill soon lost confidence of his party, threatened with a vote of no confidence he resigned on 15 December 2021. Thomas Bainbridge, his primary opponent in the leadership contest, would replace him.

As a result, Adam Johnston resigned as Chancellor on the same date as O'Neill's resignation, therefore the Grand Emperor called for early elections to occur in January 2022 and Pirate Party Leader Johann Kümmel would be appointed as an interim Chancellor forming a ministry consisting of all major political parties. However on 21 December 2021, the SPD left Kümmel's government, on 27 December 2021, the Grand Emperor revealed the new de facto flag and arms of the Empire.

National Democratic Ascendancy

The first elections under the Empire occurred on 31 December 2021 resulting in a National Democratic plurality. Therefore a cabinet led by Doe in coalition with the SPD and containing Progressive personnel was appointed. The new National Democratic government launched into a flurry of activity establishing one-year term limits for the Chancellor by February 2022.

Under the Commonwealth Enabling Acts passed during March 2022, all Commonwealth legislatures would be closed and legislative authority would be concentrated in parliament. In local elections that month, National Democrats would secure control over the executive branches of most Commonwealth Governments. The passage of the Government Transparency Act and Legislative Reset Act passed in April and June 2022 saw a massive rollback in Republican and Late Imperial legislation including specific protections members of the LGBT in the form of Grand Senate acts. The act was, however, only opposed by one Progressive member of the Grand Senate and was considered widely necessary.

In the May 2022, the National Democrats won their first outright majority, the first outright majority of any conservative party since Kyle Smith's Reformist Party in January 2020 allowing Doe to form a majority government with SDP and Progressive personnel. On 3 June 2022, it was announced that the Progressives and SDP would leave Doe's second ministry. Some Progressive and SDP Grand Senators rebelled against their party, however, and maintained their positions in government. Notably, Progressive Party chairman Sir Jayden Attlee decided to remain in government with the National Democrats.

Under the Satirist Relief Act, enacted in July 2022, the constitutional ban on satirical parties was lifted allowing parties such as the Rhinoceros Party to return. In response the Pirate Party was dissolved and the remnants reformed formed into to the Rhinoceros Party.

In celebration of the 11th year anniversary of Elysium, Imperial Elysium Studios released Elysium the Movie.

In September 2022, the National Democrats retained their majority, with the Rhinoceros Party sending it's first delegation to the Grand Senate following it's refoundation with O'Neill and Kümmel becoming the first Rhinoceros Grand Senators.

Geography

The Empire is composed of a number of non-contiguous areas on the U.S. eastern seaboard, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland. In particular Elysium has localities in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Quebec, and Fife. The exact location of the areas within the Empire is only known to certain members of the government, in the interest of personal privacy.

All of the Empire's territory is either rural or suburban. Even most suburban areas tend to be rather expansive and either include or are near natural features. The Empire, particularly in Elyria, is dotted with numerous smaller ponds and creeks. Another part of Elyria is adjacent to Lake Murray. There is also a number of dirt dams in Elyria to control the flow of water from one pond to another.

Government and politics

Elysium is a parliamentary democracy in the context of a constitutional monarchy, as described in its constitution. The nation is headed by the Grand Emperor of Elysium, with the successor to the imperial crown, being selected by the Council of Imperial Delegates at the request of Grand Emperor. The basic laws of the Empire are prescribed in the Constitution. The current Constitution was adopted in 2020, and amended significantly in December 2021 to remove the republican provisions from the constitution. The constitution divides executive powers between the Grand Emperor and the government of Elysium, officially the His Imperial Majesty's Government or simply the Imperial Government. The government is composed of various Ministers and Cabinet ranking advisors and secretaries. The Chancellors leads the cabinet, and is head of government, due to this the Chancellor is responsible for the day to day affairs of the Empire and enforcing the law. The Chancellor is aided by the Deputy Chancellor, typically an individual from another party, and his Ministers.

Structure

The Emperor is the head of state of the Empire and is represented through the legal institutions of The Crown and The Throne, which in turn is the legal embodiment of all aspects of the state including the executive, legislature, and judiciary branches. The Emperor approves of Ministers and other executive officials nominated to him by the Chancellor. The Emperor is advised on matters of state by the Chancellor and the Cabinet of Elysium. The Emperor is a constitutional monarch as the Emperor is subjected to the laws of the Empire. Traditionally, though constitutional, the monarchy exercises significant political influence, particularly in the early Empire when the Emperor outright endorsed candidates and joined political parties.

Serving at the pleasure of the Emperor is the Imperial government, which provides for the daily governance of the Empire and the well-being of its citizens.

Legislative branch

Main article: Grand Senate (Elysium)

The legislative branch is a bicameral institution comprising of Parliament composed of the Council of Imperial Delegates and the Grand Senate. The Grand Senate is made up of 15 (soon to be 13) Grand Senators, more commonly referred to as Senators, and elections take place using a system of proportional representation while the Council of Imperial Delegates consists of chief representatives of the Commonwealths and imperial councillors nominated by the Crown and approved by the wider Senate. The Grand Senate is also a parliamentary institution and as such the Prime Minister is the leader of which ever party, or coalition, has a majority in the Grand Senate. Following the September 2023 election, the National Democrats restored their control of the chamber, although defections to the Progressive Party have resulted in the National Democrats losing a majority but retaining a functional minority government. The Council of Imperial Delegates since it's inception has been dominated by the National Democrats.

The functions of Parliament include proposing, debating, and passing legislation. Upon the passage of legislation the act must be then signed into law by the Grand Emperor, veto's are a rare occurrence and usually only occur if the Grand Emperor believes the act to be unconstitutional or unfeasible. Other functions include electing the Speaker, approving Commonwealth Constitutions, passing resolutions, approving petitions, and impeaching officials. The Parliament may also be divided into various committees with the job of holding Ministers and civil servants accountable. The final major function of Parliament is to hold Grand Senate Questions, more commonly known as GSQs and PMQs, every other week. The Chancellor, Ministers, Opposition Leader, Shadow Cabinet, and various political party leaders may be questioned during GSQs.

Judicial branch

The judicial branch is composed of the Imperial High Court and of the Regional and Circuit Courts. The High Court's three justices are nominated by the Crown every four months and are approved by the Grand Senate. As of April 2024, the justices of the High Courts are: Johann Kümmel (Chief Lord Justice), Zecheriah O'Hair and Harvey Galloway.

Political parties

Main article: Politics of Elysium

Senatorial elections are active events due to everyone who has held citizenship for over two weeks being able to vote. Senate elections occur every three months, as such there is four elections in just one year. Until recently elections for the head of government occurred on a six month basis. Chancellor elections occur every two years although used to occur every six months until the monarchy was abolished. Most Chancellor elections, while a major cause of activity, are less active than Senate elections due to the incumbent almost always having a major lead by election day.

Political parties in Elysium are very active with a large emphasis on party poltics. The oldest existing party is the Progressive Party established on 24 April 2019, although the predecessors to the Nationalist Democrats where founded on the same day. Elysiumite political history is divided into Four Ages, namely: The Age of Independents (2011-2017), The Political Age (2017-2019) The Third Political Age (2019-2020) and The Fourth Political Age (2020-present). Since the third party age the political system has revolved around a major party of the left, a major party of the right, and various smaller parties.

Federal parties

Party			Logo	Party Leader	Membership	Ideology	Grand Senators	Imperial Delegates
Parties represented in the Grand Senate of Elysium
	Nationalist Democrats	ND		Elliot Doe	~25	Kylite democracy	7 / 15	37 / 64
	Progressives	Pro.		Sean O'Neill	~25	Democratic socialism, Left-wing libertarianism, Left-wing nationalism	7 / 15	0 / 64
	Agrarian Party	AG		Thomas Bainbridge	~15	Libertarianism, Parliamentarianism, Social democracy	1 / 15	0 / 64
	Rhinos	RP		Moustapha Hotiet Johann Kummel	~10	Pirate politics, Libertarianism	0 / 25	3 / 64

Economy

The first attempts to create an Elysiumite economy was during the chancellorship of Tau Barclay; it included the creation of a Ethereum token on the Ropsten test network known as ElysiumToken (or EYMT) in 2019.

Media

The earliest media outlet in Elysium was the Josephina Times, a newspaper that published its first issue in 2019. Later newspapers included The Unionist (also known as The Gazette), as well as political newspapers such as The National Tribune and the Liberty Papers (formerly The Worker's Post).