Fyrinian Republic

Fyrinian Republic

Czech: *Fyrinijská republika*
Czech:	Fyrinijská republika
Czech:	Fyrinijská republika
	Flag
	; Location of Fyrinia in Europe Location of Fyrinian Republic (dark green) – in Czechia (green & dark / middle grey); – in the UMCE (green)
Capital	Benešov
Largest city	České Budějovice
Official languages	English · Czech
Demonym(s)	Fyrinian
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Lukaş Çursık
• Vice-President	Daniele Longobardo
Legislature	National Assembly
Establishment history
• Independence	1 December 2017
• Joined UMCE	26 December 2017
• TSA established	20 August 2019
• Transition	1 November 2019
Area
• Total	2,746 km2 (1,060 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 estimate	▲ 321,880 (174th)
• 2011 census	296,988
• Density	117/km2 (303.0/sq mi) (73rd)
Currency	Euro · Czech Koruna
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Driving side	right

Fyrinia (/ˌfɑːɪrɪˈniə/ (listen); Czech: Fyrinie [fɪˈrɪnɪjɛ]), officially the Fyrinian Republic (Czech: Fyrinijská republika [ˌfɪrɪnɪjˈskaː ˌrɛpuˈblɪka]), is a self-proclaimed micronation in Central Europe, located mainly on the south of the Czech Republic. It is bordered by the Czech Republic to the north the and east, Austria to the south and Germany to the southwest, while also sharing a border with the Mapper Duchy. Its closest known micronation outside its borders is the Gymnasium State which is located about 20 km northwest to central part of Fyrinia. It is a landlocked micronation with a hilly and mountainous landscape that covers an area of 2,746 square kilometres (1,060 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate. It used to be a simulationist entity, with de iure parliamentary-democratic system. The rule in the micronation was temporarily transferred to the Transitional State Administration (TSA) in order to change Fyrinia into a realistic micronation was fully completed by the transition of the power to democratically elected bodies within an unitary presidential republic on 1 November 2019. The claimed area has a population of approximately 320 thousand inhabitants, while Fyrinian citizenship is held by tens of people only. Its capital is Benešov, with 17 thousand residents. The largest city and the de iure administrative centre of central Fyrinia is České Budějovice; other major cities are Český Krumlov, Prachatice and Kaplice.

Fyrinia declared independence on 1 December 2017 and subsequently became one of the most active micronations at the Czech MicroWiki. It joined the Union of Micronations of Central Europe on 26 December 2017 and joined most of the UMCE organizations. It started shifting towards a simulationist entity in 2018, claiming to be a simulation of a state system, with a built made-up culture based on a story about the multicultural society caused by migration to the area from the Middle East in 17th and 18th century. The simulationist period smoothly continued into 2019. Fyrinia's main creator and editor Lukaş Çursık started to consider the transformation of Fyrinia into a realistic micronation after several other simulationist entities at the Czech MicroWiki dissolved themselves, leaving Fyrinia as the only remaining simulationist entity within Czech community. In August 2019, Fyrinia's main page at MicroWiki was proposed to be deleted, with other pages directly deleted. That culminated the previous thoughts about transforming Fyrinia.

From August to October 2019, Fyrinia was under rule of the Transitional State Administration, with the main goal to transfer Fyrinia into a realistic micronation. The transformation concluded on 1 November 2019 when the power was be given to the democratically elected bodies headed by President. General election took place on 25–27 October 2019.

Fyrinia is currently one of the most active and one of the longest existing micronations in the Czech sector. It is a part of the Central Europe Four, a group of four most developed micronations within the Czech sector and the UMCE – Fyrinia, Mekniy, Radoslavia and Lurk. It keeps friendly relations with UMCE members mainly but also declared itself to be a mediator during conflicts in the Czech sector. Although it stood by the side of the Gymnasium State in the Gymnasian-Bohemian Crisis, it later enjoyed friendly ties with Czechoslovakia.

History

Fyrinia was founded on 1 December 2017. However, it was preceded by several similar micronational projects formed by Lukaş Çursık and other people. The first micronation considered a predecessor of Fyrinia was founded in May 2016, year and a half before the foundation of Fyrinia itself.

Pre-Fyrinia period

Frihed

Lukaş Çursık, the founder of Fyrinia, founded the first micronation in May 2016, following the popularization of Liberland in the Czech Republic. He named the micronation as Frihed (freedom in Danish). Later, other people were recruited to the project. Frihed expanded its area to residences of the citizens, reaching a top peak of 16 exclaves (called communes) in August 2016. At that time, the micronation claimed area of approximately 0.8 hectares. In August 2016, the number of communes declined to 15. Frihed also changed its government system, from republic to suóra, a direct-democratic government system which made the system of political parties unlawful. Shortly after, however, Frihed was suspended. On 1 November 2016, the micronation was renewed and claimed all 15 communes. 10 communes later left the micronation as the interest of the members of the project did not continue. The claimed area, therefore, decreased from 0,8 to slightly over 0,1 hectares. The micronation was once again suspended in December 2016 and renewed in January 2017. Frihed was dissolved in late January 2017.

Geofictional Fyrinia

The first micronation called Fyrinia was founded in January 2017. It was a geofictional virtual micronation formed by people who were formerly members of Frihed project, including Çursık, who became its Prime Minister. Following coup d'état by then Fyrinian President, the micronation was dissolved in February.

Modern Fyrinia

Simulationist period

The current Fyrinia was founded on 1 December 2017. During December 2017, first articles about the micronation were published on Czech MicroWiki. On 26 December 2017, Fyrinia joined the Union of Micronations of Central Europe. Since the beginning, Fyrinia had simulationist trends, as it had its own fictional culture and political system based on a fictional story about the multicultural society based in the area, formed predominantly by waves of immigration from the Ottoman Empire and other parts of the Middle East, beginning in the time of Austrian-Ottoman wars. Therefore, the micronation had an elaborate fictional structure, including the culture, population, and political system which was claimed to be a liberal-democratic parliamentary republic, led by the Government Council and Prime Minister. In fact, however, the micronation was led by Lukaş Çursık and other persons for all of the period.