Principality of Beacon City
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Principality of Beacon City and its Associated Dominions and Wards | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Capital and largest city | Beacon City, Capital Region |
| Official languages | English |
| Demonym(s) | Beaconite |
| Government | Unitary constitutional monarchy, parliamentary direct democracy |
• Prince | James |
• Chief Minister | Asm. Stephen Freayth |
| Legislature | Beaconite Municipal Assembly |
| Establishment | 14th of January, 2012 |
| Population | |
• (successful citizenship applications) census | 20 |
| Currency | None |
| Time zone | UTC, UTC+1 |
The Principality of Beacon City and its Associated Dominions and Wards was a micronation located primarily in the West Midlands region of Great Britain, with some non-contiguous claims further north and outside of the British Isles. Beacon City first formed as the Empire of New Winterdown on 14 January 2012 and became the Beaconite state on the 22nd of December, 2014.
Beacon City was a constitutional monarchy governed by Prince James I with the assistance of a unicameral Beaconite Municipal Assembly. The Municipal Assembly was composed of citizens of Beacon City, of which it had 20 at its peak, located mostly around the contiguous claims.
In April, 2018, the monarchy was disestablished and the Serene Beaconite Republic was formed, moving the capital to Isambard.
Etymology
Beacon City shares its name from the Capital (and only) City, Beacon City, which is so named to show that it is a guiding light for the nation and its people.
History
The Undeclared Diarchal Empire of New Winterdown (Early 2012)
New Winterdown was founded by James Frisch, following his investigation into the idea of building an island and claiming its sovereignty. After researching into the matter and discovering micronationalism, he founded the Undeclared Diarchal Empire of New Winterdown and crowned himself Emperor. New Winterdown was originally founded as a Diarchy, with his friend Susanoo as the other Emperor, but with Susanoo's inactivity and lack of contribution, Frisch established a monarchy and renamed the Empire to the Eternal Empire of New Winterdown. Susanoo responded by founding the Empire of Ancient Shadowual, a nation with land claims bordering New Winterdown. The two nations signed a treaty for co-operation and non-aggression. Emperor James I created various legal and Roman-inspired cultural objects during this time, including a flag, a rudimentary constitution, a national calendar, a currency, and various national symbols, very few of which remained in use beyond that time. New Winterdown was at that point a highly secessionist micronation with unrealistic goals, including but not limited to extrasolar claims, but these extreme aims also subsided eventually.
Nemkhavia and the Ancient Shadowuali aggression (Mid 2012)
Upon joining the micronational community, Frisch had received a message offering membership in the Nemkhav Federation, and he applied for an observership. Around this time, Susanoo extended Ancient Shadowual's land claim to encompass a large part of New Winterdown, including the capital. The Emperor responded by taking advantage of an Article from their treaty, and requested that experienced members of the community vote in a poll concerning who the land belonged to. New Winterdown won this vote with only one opponent. Many people, including the heads of both nations, regarded the debacle as rather childish, but found it necessary in order to protect the sovereignties of the nations.
Frisch decided that New Winterdown needed to break off the treaty with Ancient Shadowual in order to remove any obligations to them; however, he wished to do it within the confines of the law, and the only way to do that would be to wait for its expiration date to pass. New Winterdown joined the Nemkhav Federation a few days after the Ancient Shadowuali events. This was done in part to break the treaty, as Member States could not control foreign affairs, but also in order to bring New Winterdown more closely into the micronational community and for Frisch to learn how to run an efficient serious micronation. Regardless, New Winterdownese citizens expressed a desire to leave the Nemkhav Federation, and after a referendum New Winterdown amicably left the Nemkhav Federation.
The Confederate States of Prosperity and the Würtige Empire (Late 2012-Late 2014)
New Winterdown was able to run its own foreign affairs again, and as well as reestablish relations with other nations, it also became a part of the trade association PROSP-R. Ancient Shadowual was reestablished as a more peaceful nation known as Novadal, and a New Winterdown Senate was formed. PROSP-R led into secret talks concerning an at-that-point unnamed federation, which on August 12 of 2012 became officially became the Confederate States of Prosperity. Both New Winterdown and Novadal joined as States. Frisch was the main source of activity in New Winterdown, though with his attention focused more primarily on the running of the Confederate States, the Senate became inactive, and New Winterdown with it.
The Confederate States slowly became inactive, and on the 10th of December, 2012, it was dismantled. Daenningas Burnham and Nolland became Autonomous Member States of the Würtige Empire, whereas New Winterdown and Freedomia opted for independence. The other two states, Agnorr and Novadal, became a part of Nolland and New Winterdown respectively. New Winterdown and the Würtige Empire maintained strong and healthy relations, with many Würtige citizens serving in the Senate (later renamed to the Imperial Assembly) and New Winterdown supporting the Würtige Empire in the Freihetian Aggressions. New Winterdown made multiple attempts to encourage activity and involve citizens. One such attempt was making a cartoon chicken Emperor and passing other deliberately silly and satirical laws in an attempt to interest citizens. Some actually did become interested, but not as many as hoped, and it was decided that this decision hindered progress more than it did help, and as a result any laws through that period were unmade.
Eventually, New Winterdown decided to join the Würtige Empire, as their shared history and diplomatic involvement led to them being highly close anyway, and New Winterdown's inactivity meant that it could achieve very little alone. Activity still did not increase, and New Winterdown remained inactive for the better part of a year. An attempt at a reform eventually led to the Emperor announcing his intention to show that the Eternal Empire of New Winterdown was inaccurately named, and to dissolve it. On the 22nd of December, 2014, New Winterdown was officially disestablished, and the Beaconite Empire (named after the capital, Beacon City) took its place.
The Beaconite State (2015-)
The Decrees of 22/12/14 disestablished New Winterdown and all of its corresponding legislatures and bodies. The New Winterdown Assembly was not entirely removed from existence, as the Assemblypersons remained in an advisory body known as the Beaconite Empire Transition Council, affectionately abbreviated as Betsy (from its acronym, BETC). The Transition Council assisted with the writing of a Beaconite Constitution, inspired by the Japanese Meiji Constitution, and its members are official countersignatories. The Constitution went into effect on the 10th of February, 2015. It enshrined democracy into law and fully set out the powers of the Emperor and the new Imperial Assembly (New Winterdown's laws had been very vague in this regard). The Decrees of 23/02/15 carried these further, creating a Law of Election and an official electoral process. Following a failure for the elections to take place, the Imperial Assembly became a direct democracy composed of the citizens of the Empire. The Imperial Assembly soon thereafter managed to meet and pass laws. Noting the Beaconite Empire's position as a vassal to another Empire, the Würtige Empire, the Imperial Assembly passed a bill demoting the Beaconite Empire to a Principality, creating the current Principality of Beacon City. The Imperial Assembly became the Municipal Assembly, and first elected Assemblyman Richard Hytholoday of the Würtige Unionist Party as Chief Minister due to a lack of leadership. Later, following a citizenship drive, it elected Assemblyman Horatio Eden, of the WUP's successor party, Lighthouse, who won the vote 5-3 against Assemblyman Thomas Cassidy, of the Social Democratic Party.
The new Municipal Assembly quickly worked on the establishment of vital services for the Principality, including a Treasury and a national media service. The system of administrative division was replaced, with autonomous regions becoming known as Dominions, with a new Dominion being founded in Ecuador known as the Dominion of Han'an. This time also saw a change in attitudes towards the Würtige Empire, with Nolland seceding from the Empire and Mercia beginning to make a move towards independence, due to inactivity in the Technocratic Capital and failures to revive the Empire. Baron Fionnbarra Ó Cathail, First Minister of Mercia, gave an address to the Municipal Assembly in an unprecedented move to support Beacon City working to dissolve the Empire entirely. Though dissolution was pursued, the Technocratic Capital was unwilling to co-operate, causing Beacon City to assert its own Sovereignty and leave the Empire.
Geography and administrative divisions
The Principality of Beacon City comprised 2 types of administrative division: Dominions and Wards. Wards were minor divisions within the City, and Dominions were governed with a degree of devolution awarded to them by the Municipal government.
| Wards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ward | Description | |
| Imperial Ward | The location of the Princely residence and government bodies. Bordered the Inner City Ward and Dominion of Novadal. | |
| Inner City Ward | The centre of Beacon City proper, formerly forming the Capital Region of the Empire of New Winterdown, and also contained Twin Trees Park. Bordered the Imperial Ward, the Outer City Ward, and the Dominion of Novadal. | |
| Outer City Ward | The largest Ward of Beacon City, surrounding a large part of the Inner City Ward. The New Winterdown Canal was located here. Bordered the Inner City Ward and the Dominion of Novadal. | |
| Civetian Ward | The Civetian Ward was located further north from the rest of Beacon City, and bordered no other parts of it. | |
| Brooklawns Ward | The Brooklawns Ward contained the Brooklawns Forest and two parks. It did not border another Ward, but was close to the Outer City Ward. | |
| Longbridges Ward | The Longbridges Ward became part of Beacon City when it first transferred to the Beaconite state, as a large grassland and waterway for the nation. It bordered no other Ward, but was near to the Outer City Ward. | |
| Zenorfiveli Ward | The Zenorfiveli Ward was Beacon City's first claim outside of the island of Great Britain, being in North America. As a result, it was not near any other part of the City. | |
| Dominions | ||
| Dominion | Description | Head of government |
| Dominion of Novadal | Novadal was originally a separate rival state to New Winterdown, but later joined as an autonomous region. It continued to enjoy a degree of autonomy under the Principality. The head of government was an absolute monarchy headed by a Ruler. It bordered the Inner and Outer City Wards and the Imperial Ward. | Ruler Susanoo I |
| Dominion of Han'an | Han'an was a Dominion operated under a Provisional Governorate with full executive and legislative power, with no constitution ever enacted. Han'an wa located in Ecuador, being Beacon City's second claim outside of Great Britain and first in South America. | Provisional Governor Ana Alemán |
Government and politics
Beaconite Municipal Assembly
Beaconite Municipal Assembly | |
|---|---|
| Eden Ministry | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | 1 |
| History | |
| Founded | February 10th, 2015 |
| Leadership | |
Prince | James |
Chief Minister | Asm. Horatio Eden, Lighthouse since November 29th, 2015 |
Leader of the Opposition | Asm. Thomas Cassidy, Social Democratic Party since November 29th, 2015 |
| Structure | |
 | |
Political groups | Government
Opposition
|
| Elections | |
| Direct democracy, all willing citizens are members | |
| Meeting place | |
| Beaconite Municipal Assembly Skype Room | |
The Beaconite Municipal Assembly was the unicameral legislature of the Principality of Beacon City, led by the Chief Minister. The Municipal Assembly was directly democratic; any willing citizen could become an Assemblyperson. It put forward and voted on any bills and motions that would affect the Beaconite people and state, and was responsible for electing the Chief Minister. Members of the Municipal Assembly were known as Assemblypersons.
Current Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet
| Name | Party | Post | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asm. Horatio Eden | Lighthouse | Chief Minister, Home Minister | |
| HSH Prince James | Lighthouse | Treasury Minister, Justice Minister | |
| Asm. Richard Hytholoday | Lighthouse | Deputy Chief Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister, Defence Minister | |
| Asm. Thomas Cassidy | SDP | Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Justice Minister, Shadow Defense Minister, Shadow Culture Minister | |
| Asm. Anthony Clark | SDP | Shadow Deputy Chief Minister, SDP Chief Whip, Shadow Foreign Minister, Shadow Commerce and Industry Minister | |
| Asm. Patrick Renwick | SDP | Shadow Home Minister, Shadow Immigration Minister | |
Foreign affairs
As a member of the Würtige Empire, the Principality of Beacon City was closely related with its other Autonomous Member States:
Technocratic Capital of Würdigeland, Technocratic Capital of
Mercia or the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Council of the Triarchal Crowns of the Disciples
The Principality of Beacon City had treaties of mutual recognition with the following nations:
Tsardom of Nolland, Tsardom of