Grand Duchy of Navārdia

Grand Duchy of Navārdia
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Motto Pluribus unitus en pactum (Latin: Many united under one covenant)
Peachtree City, Georgia, United States
Capital city	Capital Province
Largest city	Pope Island
Official language(s)	English, Esperanto
Short name	Navārdia
Demonym	Navārdian
Government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- Grand Duke	Casper von Navārdia
Legislature	Parliament
Established	September 9th, 2019
Disestablished	December 31st, 2019
Area claimed	3.238 acres
Population	7 (as of December 2019 census)
Currency	TBA, US Dollar
Time zone	Central Navārdia Time (UTC-4:22)
National sport	Broomball
National drink	Eggnog
National animal	Whitetail Deer
Patron saint	Blessed Gerard (de facto)
This nation is a member of the LPN and ARU
Government website

Navārdia, officially known as the Grand Duchy of Navārdia, was a territorial entity which claimed to be sovereign state, often classified as a micronation. It was made up of three noncontiguous pieces of land in the deciduous forest region of North America, including two provinces and an honorary district. All of the landlocked territory of Navārdia was surrounded by the United States of America.

Navārdia was founded to establish a government that utilized modern ideals, give every citizen an opportunity to directly affect their nation’s legislative forces and create a tight knit community with hygge on the North American continent. Its culture was mainly inspired by that of North American and European nations; specific examples include the United States, Germany, Denmark and the Baltics.

Navārdia had a notably open foreign policy, and in late October of 2019 the nation began communicating with the greater micronational community. This led to Navārdia joining the League of Professional Nations and founding the Atlanta Regional Union. The organizations hosted some of Navārdia’s most notable allies.

Etymology

The name Navārdia comes from the Latvian term nav vārda, meaning no name in English. This name was picked by Grand Duke Casper himself time show the nation’s Baltic roots, and to symbolize coming from nothing; Navārdia was a large project taken on by a grassroots team and this name forever memorializes the passion of the first Navārdians.

History

Pre-Independence

Sometime in the beginning of September 2019, a certain Casper was reading the news when he came across an article on weird historical events. One of the events listed was Leicester Hemingway’s creation of New Atlantis, a 240 square foot raft that he tried to turn into an independent nation. Linked to that article was a document on the modern micronation phenomenon. Linked to that were the websites made by a handful of micronations’ governments. Before he knew it, Casper had fell into an internet rabbit hole.

Casper had become interested in politics when he was very young, and it seemed to run in the family. Around five of his relatives had dedicated their lives to serving in the United States government. In a strange sort of way, micronationalism was Casper’s way of continuing their legacy. That afternoon, Casper decided he was going to rule a nation.

The next day, Casper began researching countries big and small, styles of government, vexillology and even ancestral culture to inspire his micronation. A lawbook was drafted and a flag designed. The name of the proposed nation finally came to him on the ninth of September, and that night Navārdia was born and Casper assumed the title of Grand Duke. However, the original lawbook was rather flimsy, and would soon be trashed.

Post-Declaration

The first two weeks of Navārdia’s existence went as well as one would expect from a one-man nation. More research was done and legislation was proposed; despite population issues and lack of outside communication, all was well. Then, on September 23rd, tragedy stuck as the Grand Duke‘s great grandfather passed. Not only a notable member of the family, the man was a veteran and one of the five inspirational figures of Navārdia.

A funeral was quickly planned in the US state of Kentucky, and nearly the entire Grand Ducal family was soon making its way there. Despite the short duration and unfortunate circumstances of the trip, Casper had the time and opportunity to enjoy the local sights, sounds and cuisine. He fell in love with the state, and eventually decided to annex a patch land there in honor of his late relative. That land is known as Todge, the first honorary district of Navārdia.

Shortly after Casper’s return from his journey to Kentucky, the Grand Duke’s laptop broke. This started a chain of unfortunate technical difficulties referred to internal as the Computer Crises. All technological advances of the nation were limited to the capabilities of an iPhone which, although being a major inconvenience, ended up being of benefit for the nation. Three days after the crises began, the first genuine attempts to gain citizens were made.

Taking advantage of the unique abilities of the iPhone, an informational document was sent to a group of friends and acquaintances at a club of sorts. None of the recipients seemed to acknowledge their invitation to join the nation, but a dear friend of Casper’s joined over text. He is pseudonymously referred to as CIS1, due to his status as the first chief of the Internal Services Office, known at the time as the military (he was called CMO1 for a few days).

As the population grew, the government became interested in the local community of micronationalists, after learning of the Kingdom of Ruritania. After thorough research, it was discovered that at least two more nations were in the Atlanta area, the Star Kingdom and New Athens. A third was suspected to exist, as some acquaintances of Casper’s had shown interest in creating a nation of their own, and the name Unicornia had been thrown around a lot. This brought the total number of local area nations to four, maybe five. The Grand Duke realized that an organization to unite the locals could very well be of benefit, and asked some friends associated with the nation if he should follow through with his plans. Each and every one said yes, and formal planning of the organization began.

The last days of October brought a flurry of activity. The Internal Services Office, Navārdia’s military and police force, was founded on the 19th. A kind Capitalian resident began allowing Grand Duke Casper to use their laptop a few days later, resuming development of the national website. On the 23rd, the local Pope Island was claimed by the monarch in tandem with a newly accepted citizen and internal services officer, known as Egg. The day after that, Unicornia was discovered to be real. A meeting was held between its diarchs and Grand Duke Casper. A treaty was signed, establishing mutual recognition and a defense agreement.

October excitement peaked on Halloween night, with the first ever national gala, held at Capital. CIS1 lived too far away to attend, but Egg was able to. Dinner was made, tricks were treated and movies were watched. The two talked about government business and even visited Unicornia together, but political activity was low at the time and there wasn’t much to talk about. Egg left Capital later that weekend.

On the afternoon of November 10th, Grand Duke Casper created a Google account for the nation, to begin formal communication with other nations and members of the micronational community. The first successful communications were established with the Kingdom of Phokland. Tsar Charles, the monarch of Phokland, signed a mutual recognition treaty alongside Grand Duke Casper, and invited Navārdia to the League of Professional Nations. This offer was accepted, and followed by treaty signings with Lehmark and Ledilia, both fellow members of the league.

On November 27th, Charles contacted Casper about the newly founded East-Erica, offering to accept Navārdia as a constituent country. The offer was accepted, but later postponed to give the nations more time to plan the union and its functions. However, Navārdia joined a different kind of union on December 1st, when Grand Duke Casper and King Tyler of New Athens finally founded the Atlanta Regional Union. Between joining those unions, Navārdia gained two citizens. Yet another joined on December 3rd.

On December 10th, the national news service issued an announcement that Navārdia would join the Phoklandian Free State on New Year’s day. The announcement outlined several changes to the structure of the nation, mainly emphasizing that it would be a constituent or region rather than a nation state in its own right. Internally, the union members were searching for ministers to fill the national government. General Steelbottom, a friend of Casper’s, became a Navārdian citizen on December 14th to claim the position of Defense Minister.

Grand Duke Casper travelled to Florida on Christmas Day, and new citizen Lucky flew to England on the 29th. Abroad and at home, the citizens of Navārdia not only rung in a new year, but a new era, the Union Era; and a new nation, the Navārdian Free Land.

Politics & Government

This section be updated upon the release of the new lawbook.

Foreign relations

Navārdia’s foreign policy allowed it to recognize all nations and governments that exercise professionalism in their actions. It had unilaterally recognized many, even gaining tacit recognition from the highly respected Republic of Molossia, but only had formal relations with six. Among those were governments which Navārdia had signed treaties with and members of the Atlanta Regional Union.

• Unicornia
• Kingdom of Phokland
• Empire of Lehmark
• Principality of Ledilia
• Free Nation of New Athens
• Republic of Aswington

Unrecognized Governments

Navārdia had decided not to recognize certain nations and governments due to lack of freedoms, suspicious activity or violations of international law.

• Republic of Shrikailasa
• Kingdom of Catan
• State of Samizdat

Military

The closest thing Navārdia had to a military was the Internal Services Office. Officers mainly assumed the role of Navārdia’s police force, but were sometimes be deployed as soldiers. One example of this was the deployments to Unicornia - a treaty signed with the nation mandated that Navārdian troops had to defend the royal residence. Due to lack of staff, Grand Duke Casper usually had to take their place, so de facto state visits between the two nations were uncommon.

Citizenship

Navārdian citizenship was only open to those who have been personally invited into the nation by existing citizens, and whose applications the government accepted. This was not only to prevent criminals and other suspicious persons from associating with Navārdia, but also to ensure the it remained a tight knit community.

Geography

Navārdian policy on geography stated that the nation’s territory was to be divided into provinces and honorary districts. Provinces were either chunks of land inhabited by citizens, or islands not inhabited by noncitizens at the time of claiming. Provinces were considered truly sovereign territory. Honorary districts were any land, water or virtual claims of the nation that do not fit the definition of a province. They are considered culturally sovereign, which is generally defined as a level of sovereignty similar to that of a tribal government or British West Florida. A list of all claims at time of dissolution is kept below.

Name	Territorial Flag	Citizen Residents	Date of Founding
Provinces
Capital Province		2	September 9th, 2019
Pope Island		0	October 28th, 2019
Honorary Districts
Todge		0	September 29th, 2019