Gosland
Gosland is a grand duchy established in 2015. It is ruled by The von Gosling dynasty. It sees itself as a nation created with the main goal of protecting nature. It claims the Adare peninsula in Victoria Land, Antarctica.
Grand Duchy of Gosland | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: “Gens, libertas, dux” | |
| Antarctica | |
| Official languages | English, Russian |
| Demonym(s) | Goslandian |
| Government | Constitutional monarchy |
• Grand Duke | Calvin von Gosling |
• Premier | Count Shane Bruton (appointed March 2024) |
| Legislature | National Assembly |
| Privy council | |
| Establishment | October 23rd 2015 |
| Population | |
• Census | 42 |
| Currency | Gosland Dollar |
| Time zone | (UTC: -6:00) |
The grand duchy of Gosland was founded in 2015. It was originally the Republic of Callachia for around a week prior to its official Independence Day on the 23rd of October 2015. It was founded by Calvin Gosling, the reigning duke with premier William Paxton, who held a number of roles at the time including defense minister and interior minister. The royal family is based in London at the Goslandic embassy.
Its National Assembly is comprised of citizens and the last reigning party was the nationalist party, the only party ever in existence, a privy council functions as the cabinet, made up of government ministers, and is the only wing of government currently functioning. Any legislation must be approved by the grand duke. The National Assembly hasn’t been active since the beginning of Gosland’s isolationist era.
Governance and the royal family
The nation was founded originally along a small stretch of Marie Byrd land in the unclaimed sector of Antarctica. A temporary constitution was written in late that year. In November 2023 Gosland changed its claim to the area surrounding the adare peninsula, south of the Adelli station in the zone claimed by New Zealand.
Under the Grand Duke, the upper house is the privy council, which consists of cabinet ministers, some aristocrats and advisors, as well as senior diplomats. All laws must be approved by the privy council in order to pass. The lower house is the National Assembly consisting of citizens who don’t hold office within the privy council. When active, the National Assembly’s role is to make laws, as well as represent the wider population. All citizens have the right to create and participate in party politics, with elections occurring every year. The premier is usually the leader of the ruling party. Due to the dissolution of the nationalist party, the cabinet ministers at this period in time are considered cross-benchers, meaning they have no party affiliation.
the Royal line of succession prioritizes first born children. With the current Grand Duke not having any heirs, the heir presumptive is currently the Duke’s younger brother, prince Orland.
History
On the 23rd of October 2015 Gosland declared its independence, inspired by Sealand and Molossia, as well as Flandrensis and WestArctica. on top of this it’s creation was also influenced by the environmentalist and conservationist views between the Grand Duke, and his close friends, some from school, others from elsewhere. After a coronation and a constitution a few days later, William Paxton was made the premier. In late 2015/early 2016 Gosland activated it's official Instagram account, from which It regularly interacted with other micronations, such as the republic of Luxe, and Italian Micronation ran by Luca Mirante, which became Gosland's main ally. The main land claims at the time were the portion of Marie Byrd land next to the Ross ice shelf, and then west Bir Tawil, known as the colony of Callachia.
Over this time conflict happened between micronations around Gosland in the general micro nationalist community. Both the former and the latter examples lead to Gosland's 2017 decree of peace and neutrality. This stated that Gosland would aim to enter relations with as many micronations as possible, staying out of any wars, unless our sovereignty was compromised, which has survived to this very day. Other micronations Gosland interacted with include Airedalandia, Beaulakerland, Elska, Verenium and JingKang just to name a few. Most of which have since became defunct.
In 2019, a few Goslandic aristocrats in the privy council began to miss the ''first era'', in which it was a nation ruled by the grand duke and his ‘in person’ friends and relations, despite the fact it had gained quite a few citizens online. The privy council voted in favour of isolationism, leading to the selling of the official foreign ministry ran Instagram account. The Grand duke at the time was in favor of this as by this point Gosland had quite a few external affairs to worry about and most of the government was beginning to get busy with examinations, with some leaving the country entirely. This led to Premier Paxton resigning, as well as the end of the newspaper publications. During the isolationist period, the Grand duke decided to drop the Bir Tawil land claim, which resulted In the Bir Tawil declaration. This resulted in the colony of Calachia ceasing to exist. During this period between June 2019 and June 2023 It was only the Grand duke and a few select relatives which kept Gosland alive in a severely declined state, which was compared to a patient on life support by the interior minister at the time. This decline was partly a result of the Duke’s friend group splitting up, and many citizens not willing to go on with micronationalism.
In November 2023 The territorial claim was changed to Cape Adare in Victoria land.
June 2023 revival
On the 18th of June, a national holiday for the Goslandic people, The Grand duke, then 20, started a twitter account in order to interact with other nations again and come back ''better than ever'' to quote the Grand Duke’s first ‘revival day’ speech. It started with a state visit to Thailand, as well as the release of a portrait on the Grand duke's birthday. Gosland entered swiftly into the Candrean imperial confederacy, a large scale micronational union in which the Grand duke was the culture secretary. The first alliances that were made was with the kingdom of Wannada, followed by the the empire of Arcadia. By the 9th of October 2023 Gosland had entered relations with over 15 micronations. These include west who, Wakoku, Angosvria and the kingdom of Berg. In late 2023, Gosland rejoined UMEC. The 18th of June was subsequently made into a national holiday, commemorating the beginning of Gosland’s revival within the micronational community.
On the 20th of February, count Bruton, a freind of the Grand Duke was appointed as defense minister. Such a motion started the restarting of government operations.
on the 25th of august, two new appointments to the privy council were made, with yihan wang, the first new citizen in almost a year being made ambassador to the Asia region and Yuri Boas appointed as Justice minister, restarting operations of the high court.
Nobility
Goslandic nobility consists of various different titles, usually given when the recipient has done something good in service of the Nation. For example, when a person is appointed to the privy council, or helped Gosland grow or develop. Such titles are signified by letters patent given by the Grand Duke. Titles include:
Duke - only ever given to members of the royal family, either by marriage or upon request.
Count - the highest form of nobility available to Goslandic citizens, usually only given to senior politicians and courtiers.
Baron - roughly the equivalent to a Lord title. Presented to people who have served gosland in other ways such as donation of a small sum to the treasury, or from being a diplomat.
Knight of the blades - given to people who are in the blades order, the Grand Duke’s bodyguard squad, or the military. Also presented to foreign leaders and dignitaries.
Most titles, excluding the Duke title can be purchased with a donation to the treasury of a sum negotiated with the Grand Duke. Having a title above knight May make an individual legible for privy council membership, providing they pass the vote
Geography
gosland claims the Adare peninsula in Victoria Land Antarctica and de facto claims a suburban house in London as its embassy.