Envardian Republic
Envardian Republic Most Serene Envardian Republic | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Official languages | English Envardian |
| Demonym(s) | Envardian |
| Government | Unitary directorial constitutional republic with significant devolution to local authorities |
| Population | |
• expressing an interest in becoming citizens census | Seven |
| Time zone | Envardian time (UTC-2 in winter and UTC-1 in summer) or Envardian time (UTC in winter and UTC+1 in summer) |
Envardia (/ɛn'vɑːrdɪə/, Envardian: Évánia, /ɛə'vɑːniə/), known officially as the Envardian Republic (Envardian: Polítán Énvánia, /'pɒlɪtɑːn ɛən'vɑːniə/), ceremonially as the Most Serene Envardian Republic, and poetically as Aervarnia (/'ɛərvɑːniə/), was a proposed federal micronation that would have had territories across the United Kingdom, planned by Glastievens in 2019. From the collapse of the Second Republic of Glastieve in January 2019 to an event called Glastievemoot in September, a period of Glastieven history known as the Starlit Night, Glastievens E, T, X and δ worked as the Envardia Planning Board, later renamed to Tsenvinke Énvánia nús Komréna, on founding an Envardian Republic as a new micronation project to replace Glastieve. These plans were abandoned in October 2019 and the idea of creating an Envardian Republic — the so-called "Envardian Dream" — became a political idea in the Holy Glastieven Commonwealth, declining sharply in importance over the next few months.
The Envardian Republic would have been made up of provinces, each of which would have been a New Secessionist federated state based on a pre-existing friendship group and its culture. "Envardia" as a whole was a subculture of creative, socially-marginalised friendship groups that E, T, X and δ already believed existed in the United Kingdom, and the intention was that the Envardian Republic would take on friendship groups as provinces that were already culturally "Envardian" in nature, including Glastieve and the two other groups that had joined it in the constituencies model, the Manchunians and Northllando. The proposed state would had a written constitution, which gave direct authority to a Supreme Court and a directly-elected National Council, which was both the legislature and the collective head of state. The two institutions which gained their authority directly from the Constitution were then expected to delegate power to provincial governments, provincial courts, and a central bureaucracy, the Ministry.
Toponymy
Since the beginning of the project the planned name of the country in English has been Envardia, and it is proposed that the most common official name should be the Envardian Republic, although other variants with varying degrees of proposed use and recognition exist. The poetic name for Envardia is Aervarnia, which will not be used in official documents but is found in the preamble to the constitution and is proposed to be used in the national anthem. Both of these names derive from the Envardian language name Évánia (pronounved in the same was as Aervarnia), which in the vocative case marked as a possessive declines to Énvánida; the Envardian language is a constructed language being created for use in the country.
The most commonly used official name for the country will be the Envardian Republic. In some formal or ceremonial contexts, the state will also be called the Most Serene Envardian Republic (abbreviated to MSR Envardia). Both of these names will be officially recognised, as Article 4 of the proposed Constitution of Envardia states "the name of the state is the Envardian Republic; the official description of the state is the Most Serene Envardian Republic, and the proprieties for the use of either term in formal affairs are to be determined by law".
History
Envardia originated in January 2019 as a project of Glastievens T, X and δ, all of whom were unsatisfied with Glastieve and the way it was organised. The three planned to spend several months developing resources that would create a new micronation with a developed government, economy and civil society from the beginning, and then to form an Envardia Planning Board in July that would recruit citizens and prepare to sign a declaration of independence in September 2019. E also became involved in the project later in January, and the four worked in-person and through a Slack workspace to create a group of potential citizens.
Politics
Governance
Following independence, the country will be governed under the Constitution of Envardia, which establishes the executive and legislative National Council and the judicial Supreme Court of the Envardian Republic. The directly-elected National Council will delegate the majority of executive powers to an executive Government of Envardia, which will be composed of seven Ministers of State and three administrative officers who will collectively comprise the Statecraft and Administration Executive. Both the Supreme Court and the National Council will additionally delegate significant powers to local authorities, which will have the power and funding to establish their own executive and legislative bodies.
The seven Ministers of State will be: the Minister for Territory and Local Government; the Minister for Culture and Heritage; the Minister for Revenue and Expenditures; the Minister for Business and Industry; the Minister for Scholarship and Refinement; the Minister for International Relations and Trade; and the Minister for Public Safety and Law Enforcement. Each Minister will derive their powers from legislation, and will not have any powers not also held by the National Council. Ministers will be permitted to establish their own departments by hiring support staff and establishing internal infrastructure.
There will be five members of the Council, who collectively are the supreme rulers of the Envardian state and have the power to overturn any decision made by an authority exercising delegated powers. In ordinary circumstances, the Council's responsibilities will be to debate and pass laws, to set the political direction of the state as a whole, and to oversee and liaise with the republic and nation as a whole. Just as all executive and legislative authority is ultimately derived from the National Council, all judicial authority is derived from the Supreme Court. There will be three Justices of the Supreme Court, whose responsibility will be both to preside over cases and to provide legal advice to the Government and the Council.
Foreign relations
The foreign relations of Envardia will be managed by the Minister for International Relations and Trade. The Minister's powers are expected to derive from the draft International Relations Act, which gives the Minister the authority to negotiate international agreements on behalf of the Envardian Republic but requires the National Council to vote to sign to agreement. Members of the Envardia Planning Board participate in the MicroWiki Community and the Intermicronational Community. The first is a large community of micronationalists based around MicroWiki and its forums, the MicroWiki@Discord server, and to a lesser extent the traditional micronational Skype rooms; the second is a much smaller community centered on a Facebook Messenger chatroom comprising representatives from Delvera, Karnia-Ruthenia, Quailia, Fristehen, Nossia and Lifreia.
The draft International Relations Act proposes that all international agreements would be drafted and agreed in Standard French, with section 4(a) of the Act citing the "prestige and tradition associated with the use of the French language in international relations". Treaties would be referred to in English by their French language titles, for example, section 1(a) of the Act states "in this Act, an ‘international agreement’ has the same meaning as a ‘treaty’ does in the Convention de Vienne sur le droit des traités", and in the case of contradictions between the French and English-language versions of an agreement, the French-language version would take precedence.
Additionally, the draft Act makes provision for the Minister to draft the Diplomacy (International Conventions) Regulations, which would be a list of international agreements to which the Envardian Republic shall consider itself to be bound, regardless of whether it is recognised as a party to that agreement under international law. This would be a mechanism for ensuring that Envardia obeys international law as though it were an internationally recognised sovereign state.
Geography
Envardia will be divided into a number of provinces, each of which will be associated with a cultural group and will have its own distinct territory; as such, the country as a whole will have a non-contiguous territory. The planning board recommends that these territories be areas of public land that are of significance to the cultural group, be within walking distance of the UK homes of most citizens of that province, and that they do not include any UK businesses or the residences of non-Envardians, meaning that the majority of territories will be parkland or countryside. It is planned that Envardian law will require all citizens to have at least a formal residence within the territory and that this residence be safe to theoretically spend a clear summer night in.
As of 7 March 2019, only a single province, Glastieve, has been proposed. Glastieve's proposed territory is the same as that of the former Republic of Glastieve on Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. Bounded to the south by the Transmoor Road (known in the UK as the B3357 and the B3212), the proposed territory stretches across the open moorland of north-western Dartmoor but does not encompass any settlements or farm fields, covering an area of around 181 km2 (69.8 sq mi). This would probably be the largest territory in Envardia, and is too far away from Exeter to conform to the planning board's recommendations.
Time zone
Which time zone Envardia will be in is a topic of significant disagreement within the Planning Board. E and X feel that Envardia should simply use the same time zone as the UK (GMT in the winter and GMT+1 in the summer), while T and δ feel that Envardia should use 'Envardian time', which would be GMT-2 in the winter and GMT-1 in the summer. The Republic of Glastieve formally used GMT-2 after campaigning by the same T and δ , but this was both poorly-observed and frequently-criticised. The proposed rationale is that while UK time puts 12.00 midday at around the middle of the solar day, 12.00 midday in Envardian time would be at the middle of the waking or working day.
The argued advantages of using an unusual time zone are that it would help Envardia to become a part of the everyday lives of its citizens, that it is more logical regardless, and that it would encourage Envardians who worked or were in full-time education to see the later parts of the day as equally important, therefore increasing activity in the micronation on the assumption that work towards Emvardia would take place mostly in the afternoons of weekdays and on weekends. X and E dispute these supposed benefits, and feel it would simply be confusing and inconvenient, and might drive potential members away from joining Envardia.
Economy
Envardia's economy is planned to be a flagship feature of the new nation; work began on the nation partly due to dissatisfaction with how the Glastieven Model worked in practice, and the initial planning meeting focused on how a strong economy could be created. The Envardian currency will be backed by the British Pound and all citizens will have to pay a tax equivalent to £2.00 a month, essentially requiring Envardian citizens to pay the state £2.00 a month in British money unless they earn enough in wages that their tax can come out of that. Political responsibility for the domestic economy will be shared between the Minister for Business and Industry and the Minister for Revenue and Expenditures.
Infrastructure
In opposition to the majority of online-focused micronations, the Envardia Planning Board hopes to ensure that Envardia is rooted primarily in physical infrastructure. All Envardian citizens will be required to have an official residence within Envardian territory that the state accepts would be safe for a single overnight stay in clear weather; it has also been proposed that all citizens would need to have a (potentially shared) physical mailbox within Envardian territory that would allow for the existence of a territorial postal service. Will Campbell has campaigned within the Planning Board for the Envardian state to rent office facilities in a city or town close to a number of state employees. Other members of the Board have claimed that spending a significant part, possibly up to three-quarters, of the state's budget on renting a physical office is a waste of money, especially given that members of Envardia will be distributed throughout the UK in a diasporic fashion.
Market and currency
Envardia will have its own currency, which will be backed by the British Pound. The currency has not yet been named, and in development has sometimes colloquially referred to as Envardiacoin (also EnvardiaCoin and envardiaCoin). From an economic perspective, money will be created whenever a citizen gives British Pounds to the Envardian state and receives Envardian currency in return, and will be circulated to Envardian citizens through payment of the citizenship tax and the subsequent payment of salaries and grants by the state.
The plan to establish an Envardian market economy blends ideas from three previously successful micronational economies: the Republic of Glastieve, Adammia, and Delvera. Broadly speaking, the 'Glastieven' element of the economy will centre on encouraging the use of the Envardian currency as medium of exchange and unit of account for friendship-group-based transactions, such as lending someone a favor or giving them food during a lunch break. In contrast, however, the 'Adammic' and 'Delveran' elements are centred more on encouraging the development of meaningful industry and business within Envardia and using either the Envardian currency or simply British Pounds to buy and sell these goods and services.
It has been suggested that the first proposed Envardian province, Glastieve, continue to be permitted to use the Luach for its existing but somewhat stagnant market economy.
Demographics
Languages
Naturally, the first and primary language of Envardia will be English. It has been suggested that a constructed language, the Envardian language, be created and used; work is currently ongoing on creating the grammar and vocabulary of this language. The proposed province of Glastieve already has such a ceremonial constructed language, the Evonian language. The draft International Relations Act proposes that French be used as the official diplomatic language. Of the seven people who have expressed an interest in becoming Glastieven citizens, all speak English, three speak French with a fourth learning, two speak Spanish, one speaks Slovak, and one each is learning Irish and Swedish.
Religion
Whether or not Envardia will have an official religion is a topic of significant disagreement within the Planning Board. Ulf Misaki and Will Campbell both argue in subtly different ways for official recognition of Christianity; the atheist Robert Catcheside and the Christian Tom McMillan both argue for state secularism or religious neutrality. Will Campbell states that the state should be allowed to 'behave as though Christian beliefs are true, just as a secular state would behave as though scientific beliefs are true' without any mention of a state religion; Misaki instead states that Christianity should be formally enshrined as the official religion of the state.
Of the seven people who have expressed an interest in joining Envardia, four are Christians, two are athiests, and one is a Taoist. Two of the Christians are Anglo-Catholics, one is a Pentecostal, and one is an non-denominational Protestant.
Internet presence
The various provinces of Envardia will be connected through the Internet. It is planned that state-sponsored Envardian chatrooms and fora will be established on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and Skype. Presently, the Planning Board uses a Slack workspace, and the citizens of the proposed province of Glastieve use a Facebook Messenger chatroom with no formal link to Envardia. Members of the Envardia Planning Board participate in the MicroWiki Community and the Intermicronational Community. The first is a large community of micronationalists based around MicroWiki and its forums, the MicroWiki@Discord server, and to a lesser extent the traditional micronational Skype rooms; the second is a much smaller community centered on a Facebook Messenger chatroom comprising representatives from Delvera, Karnia-Ruthenia, Quailia, Fristehen, Nossia and Lifreia.
Culture
Literature and media
It is hoped that literature will be a significant part of Envardian culture. In the proposed province of Glastieve, three people are working on novels to be published, and written poems and short stories have been a rich part of the cultural fabric of the nation. It has been proposed that the Minister for Culture and Heritage could establish an Envardian National Library to collect writing by Envardian citizens from both before and following independence. X and δ have stated that they wish to establish a news company within Envardia, which would publish two newspapers each week and would provide livestreams, possibly on YouTube or Instagram, at a set time each day, comparable to the BBC News at Six in the UK.
Mythology
Envardia already has plans for a detailed, complicated mythology. The Planning Board has proposed that every province should have at least one physical feature that connects it to Envardian mythology, and that stories and paracosms written and created before a province joined Envardia should be integrated into the wider Envardian mythological tradition, giving each province its own distinctive version of Envardian mythology. In practice, the mythology would likely be used a roleplaying world and as a setting for writing, cosplaying and drawing; the Planning Board has expressed a desire, for example, to spread interest in Envardian mythology beyond Envardia through Amino and TikTok.
The proposed province of Glastieve already has its own mythology, Glastieven mythology. While the pre-Envardian Maiestas timeline of Glastieven mythology was somewhat similar to Envardian mythology, it clearly constitutes a distinct tradition. Since the formulation of the outline of Envardian mythology, a new timeline for Glastieven mythology has been created that aligns it roughly with the worldview of Envardian mythology whilst also being a faithful revival of many older parts of the Glastieven tradition that had been left out of Maiestas. Additionally, the imaginry world of Aerrastia created by Ulf Misaki and Will Campbell with input from Robert Catcheside is sometimes considered to be a distinct tradition within Glastieven mythology, and is called Mikaran or Lanataic mythology.
The narrative of Envardian mythology is divided into three cycles, which in development are being called 'Fantasy Maisraln', 'Neo-Frontier' and 'Mission-Aerrastia', in reference to their rough counterparts in the Glastieven and Lanataic traditions. The first is a magical world with technology roughly similar to Early Modern Britain but divided into a number of humanoid species. The second is a development of that world following the creation of interstellar travel, in a hypothetical period of celestial exploration and colonisation. The third is the present-day cycle, and focuses on the existence of an underworld-like alternate dimension with a mixture of magic and modern technology.