History of Gapla
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This page is a brief overview of the History of Gapla.
Prehistory (August 2015 - February 2019)
United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix (August 2015 - October 2018)
The United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix was Gapla's predecessor state.
Role-playing game era (October 2018 - January 2019)
After Wyatt Baek, Gapla's restorer, remembered the United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix, a micronation he had made back in 2015 (its territory was a "secret base" inside the school), when he discovered its I.D. card, he was in awe and had feelings of nostalgia. He remembered the activity and fun he had and decided to revive the Republic of Gapla. He told his friend, Shaun Madillo, about the nation and he created an independent "Republic of Snakaris."
The two actively role-played for quite a while, usually in the library or at recess, pretending to be world leaders. A notebook was also written on, which contained statistics and symbols about the two nations.
After a few months, the nations became largely inactive until Wyatt discovered micronationalism through the website of the Principality of Sealand on a school project and recreated Gapla as a micronation.
The very beginning (January 2019 - February 2019)
The Federated States of Gapla was inspired from the Principality of Sealand, which the founder found out after a school project on nations with disputed sovereignty. He looked "disputed countries" up on Google and was quite intrigued by Sealand. After browsing through the website, he was quite interested, and - after being interested in creating his own nation, but not knowing how to - declared the now-defunct Principality of Gapla (the predecessor state of the Federated States of Gapla). He was in awe to know that anyone could declare their own country, as the entrance of countries into the world was not governed by any organization, as he previously believed.
Previously, the founder did have a micronation (although he didn't realize it was a micronation, as he didn't know what it was) called the United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix, which was founded in 2015 with no government or laws, however, it did have a flag, I.D. card (drawn from crayons and sharpies), and a territory, a "secret base" located in Cypress Village Elementary School.
Early Gapla (February 2019 - January 2020)
Founding days (February 2019 - April 2019)
The Credits Shop
Wyatt had previously built up quite a reputation in the classroom as the founder of two projects that circulated throughout the class: the Credits Shop, a free marketplace with its own valuable currency, the Credit, and WRUSA, a conglomerate company that allowed anyone to create a subsidiary and participate in the economy of the Credits Shop.
The Credits Shop had a fiat peg, users from almost every student in the class, a website, and even a copycat shop (who later merged into the Credits Shop, becoming one of Wyatt's important business partners). The shop was made from a cardboard box and was carried around by Wyatt at recess and lunch and sold everything from origami to slime to Rubik's cubes.
Dozens of transactions were processed daily and around two thirds of the class created their own subsidiaries. It was very notable and is regarded as an important and inseparable part of the class's culture, as Emma Bunnell was quoted saying "Do you remember Gapla? The Credits Shop?" in her letter to the teacher of the classroom where Gapla was founded in on her retirement. While banned several times by the administration and later by Hubbard, Wyatt refused to cooperate and claimed that closing down the marketplace violated free expression and free market rights.
The revival of Gapla and the Principality of Gapla
This large, in-class economy with several corporations and users created a very unique and ideal position to create Gapla's economy. When Wyatt announced Gapla, people were also interested because he had made several previous successful projects. Gapla soon captured great interest inside the classroom it was founded in after Wyatt announced that he had plans to create his own country. The founder asked two of his closest friends to create their own principalities - the Principality of Snakaris and the Principality of Phoenix. At this time, they were independent and not part of the Principality of Gapla, and they were both converted to micronations. Many people had applied to become citizens, and after the Credits Shop de facto closed down, all existing credits and companies were transferred to Gapla's economy (with the credit being exchanged to the Gapla Dollar at a 5:1 ratio).
Wyatt and Shaun reportedly worked tirelessly on the nations, creating websites, flags, laws, and symbols during recess, as they were working on their goal to create their very own countries. The two had a lot of fun in the beginning and enjoyed their work as leaders of Gapla and Snakaris. For the first few days, Gapla and Snakaris coexisted as two separate micronations with a close alliance in a group they called the "United Micronations," formed together with the Principality of Phoenix, the remnants of the other half of Gapla-Phoenix.
The Emeralkian conflict
Soon after Gapla became popular, Emma Bunnell and Tessa Huffmire requested to the Admissions Office of the United Micronations that they wished to create a new principality. The United Micronations, afraid that admitting Emeralkia would result in a large amount of other requests, and thereby making owning a principality common (as it was with WRUSA subsidiaries), did not wish to admit Emeralkia until they had established set requirements and guidelines.
They were quite determined to create their own principality, as they argued with the current president of the United Micronations, Wyatt Baek, created their own flag, declared their own territory (their collective bedrooms) and requested membership multiple times, eventually saying that they would be a micronation rival to those of the United Micronations. As Emeralkia was slowly gaining some members, the United Micronations (Gapla, Snakaris, and Phoenix) were afraid that Emeralkia was gaining too much influence and that their own influence was deteriorating.
A emergency meeting of the United Micronations was called, with the two representatives from the Principality of Emeralkia invited for lunch under the playground. After some periods of negotiation, all of the current members of the United Micronations as well as Emeralkia would merge into one country as the Principality of Gapla, with each of the former nations becoming states of the principality.
The growth of the nation (April 2019 - July 2019)
This period is known to be very important as tremendous growth happened during these four months. Regular meetings were held on school property, and the Principality of Gapla was renamed to the Federated States of Gapla. States also formed alliances and treaties during this period.
The Snakaris pact
The Snakaris pact could be seen as a major event in Gaplan history due to its prominence as the first interstate conflict and major event since the Emeralkian conflict. A while after Gapla and its foundations were set up, the Duke of Snakaris, Shaun Madillo, wrote a declaration of war to Kingdom City's duchess, Serena Ali. Serena seemed quite disturbed and worried about the invasion, as Snakaris was quite powerful. According to her, Snakaris "powering" over her "country (sic.)" was illegal and wrong.
However, Kingdom City received unprecedented support from other states. Throughout the next few days in the science lab and at recess, Kingdom City received support and aid, while Snakaris was condemned. Likely due to peer and social pressure, Shaun signed the Treaty of Surrender days after and Kingdom City won an unprecedented war.
Chickenopolis and Syopolis
Renaldo Chang, while interested in Gapla, decided that he would make an independent kingdom as another micronation. While Wyatt urged him to join Gapla, he stood by his original decision until his nation fell inactive. During yoga (PE's substitute on a rainy day), Wyatt managed to convince Renaldo to make Chickenopolis, which is now Folia Tail, into a Gaplan state.
A while afterwards, Vera Sy decided to create her own state. She held a naming contest for it (the prize was custom made and decorated origami boxes from her company, Box-It). The winner was Grace Tan, who took Vera's last name and joined it with the suffix "opolis," which was likely inspired from Chickenopolis. Chickenopolis had a large following and culture already, even with its own form of greeting (the "chicken greeting").
Syopolis grew to a large state that gained the #1 spot after the fall of Snakaris. Snakaris then rose again and Vera was forced to sign a Treaty of Surrender by Shaun, which Vera still recalls as sad.
The first session begins
Throughout the first few months, Gapla gained many states and citizens. Through its website, referrals to other classes and schools, and many of the students in the class joining, it reached a population of almost 100 citizens and 14 member states, when the influx of new states stopped.
Gapla also introduced a program called "interstate sessions," which would allow Gaplan states to compete with each other without war. This was very successful in raising activity and numbers, as a large chunk of the class were Gaplan citizens, but was not successful in its original purpose, as shown through the Emeralkian invasion of Kingdom City that followed. Various alliances and treaties between states occurred.
Because of the heavy session advantages given to Snakaris and Phoenix as founding states, the leaders of Emeralkia petitioned to the then-president Wyatt Baek to give them founding state status at the Friday free time break held for students with none or few pieces of missing work. The result was a designation of "superior state" (for notable and powerful states) and a removal of special privileges for founding states.
Emeralkia and "Highway 81"
Only a few months after its initial invasion, Emma Bunnell and Tessa Huffmire declared that Emeralkia would be invading Kingdom City. This is often attributed to Emeralkia becoming a growing colonial power or the personal drama between Emma and Serena that had been going on for some time. Due to the existence of the latter, states would not back Kingdom City and with a devastated Serena, the state fell to Emeralkian forces.
To satirize the colonized state, Emeralkia renamed Kingdom City to "Interstate 81" and eventually "Highway 81." The usage of the term is seen as an Emeralkian patriotic gesture, even today. This was and is seen as an inside joke of early members of Gapla, one later citizens such as Chelsea Chen and far later Nicolas Caiazzo did not understand or experience. Many attribute the success of the invasion to Wyatt's favoritism of the state, as he publicly admitted that Emeralkia was his favorite state and that he had a crush on Emma.
After the Emeralkian victory at Kingdom City and other colonies, it grew to be an unstoppable state with a monopoly on sessions.
The Emeralkian civil war
Shortly after the invasion of Kingdom City by Emeralkia, the state delved into an internal crisis. They had realized that, while at the founding of Emeralkia, they chose to be a kingdom, they did not choose which of the founders would be the monarch. This would ultimately end in each side fighting in a war and trying to appease Wyatt into recognizing their side through titles.
While Wyatt, according to himself, did the best he could to back Emma, Tessa ultimately won the war and was crowned Queen, although Emma would later illegally take back the position after Tessa had leaves the school two years later. Emma later claimed that she was jealous because Wyatt had "greatly favored" Tessa with titles.
Joshua Tan, the National Choir, and the end of the school year
The school year was ending, so Gaplan officials invited several Gaplans into a Google Hangouts chat so they could continue with Gapla throughout the summer as well as communicate. Gapla would continue following the next school year, in which the class would reunite.
Joshua Tan, governor of Nunbrickland (now Great Gryffin) sang 'Amazing Grace' to a crowd of over a hundred at the end of the school year talent show. It was nationally acclaimed and Joshua struck a deal with Wyatt to create Gapla's national choir. A national orchestra was made soon after, rehearsing after school in the music room in an agreement with the school, and a national concert band was created in 2021.
Throughout the summer, Gapla was not very active, but its leaders were working on creating a new brand for Gapla in the external micronational community. A Micronations Fandom page was created, Gapla joined a few micronational organizations, made allies and even had its first trade deal. These things helped Gapla have an identity in the wider micronational community, later going on to join the Grand Unified Micronational and becoming an observer in the Cupertino Alliance.
Gaplan Revolution (July 2019 - October 2019)
The Gaplan Revolution was the first and only (to date) conflict that Gapla was involved in as a fight for its sovereignty and right to operate.
Post-revolution Gapla (October 2019 - January 2020)
After the revolution, the FSG continued to hold meetings and advance its territorial claims by adding new states into the union. Pegasus, Musicland, and Asmiland were created during this period. Although the MicroWiki page was created during the Gaplan Revolution, it became an active source of information during the Post-revolution Gapla period, when Gapla was beginning the switch from Micronations Fandom to MicroWiki.
During the period from Joshua's performance until the end of this period, Emeralkia held a record long monopoly on sessions and was incredibly powerful, having activity every school day and devoting their breaks to furthering Emeralkia.
"Hubbard Sucks"
Over two-thirds of the entire class joined Hubbard Sucks, an organization connected to the Gaplan Revolution, that condemned their new teacher.
The Duchess incident
While Gapla was founded as the "Principality of Gapla," it was actually a kingdom (with a King as the monarch) before Wyatt learned what a principality was, as the name was taken from Sealand. Soon after this was realized, the monarch was now a prince and the former princes and princesses were dukes and duchesses, and so on and so forth. Therefore, at the time, each state was a duchy.
Shaun Madillo was the first to come up with the idea of the sale of peerage, and, not aware of the changes of Gapla's monarchy, sold the title of Duchess of Snakaris to Anusha Sharma for an undisclosed amount. After the rest of the class found out, Shaun was mocked, as he was now legally married to Anusha in Gapla. They later filed for a "divorce" and a settlement was made.
Shaun pleaded to Gaplan authorities to remove this part of Gaplan history from the books and clear his citizen record, but this only made the situation worse. This event is now a major part of Gaplan history, as Shaun was consistently mocked by his opponents, creating a constructed language for the purpose, which included Shaun's forms of communication and common phrases ("Shaunese") such as "You know perfectly well..." in his signature tone and the stomping of the foot while saying "argh," amongst others. Classes in Shaunese ("Shaunese 101") were provided by Emma, Tessa, Vera, and Wyatt outside of the classroom, and enrollment rates skyrocketed.
The princess protests and marriage proposal
After the reformation of Gapla's monarchy was publicized through the duchess incident, many Gaplans had claimed that they worked for the title of princess for the title itself, not as a noble rank. They protested the change on the grounds that Gapla was now the "Federated States of Gapla," as it had been renamed. Eventually, Wyatt was declared "Sovereign Prince" to the Emperor (God), and the old title system returned.
It is speculated that many Gaplan citizens had fantasies of becoming princesses and being given a crown, and that this was the main driving force of the protests.
Shortly after the princess protests, Serena, governor of Kingdom City, asked for Wyatt's hand in a Gaplan marriage, likely for the title of Sovereign Princess, which she is known to have greatly desired. It is unknown if she had any genuine feelings for Wyatt. After Wyatt rejected, Serena kept trying to convince him to agree, saying that "you shouldn't care about what other people think of it."
After Emma criticized her for her greed and explained to her the importance and seriousness of marriage as well as consent, Serena reluctantly stopped asking Wyatt. Although Emma and Serena have claimed a year later after the incident that they are over their "childish drama," two years after the incident, Emma, while in different schools with Serena, has warned Wyatt strongly against Serena and bitterly criticized her, indicating that the drama could possibly still be ongoing.
Gaplan Renaissance (January 2020 - November 2020)
Ozzah and Xadia days (January 2020 - March 2020)
Background
Until January, Emeralkia maintained a monopoly on interstate sessions for quite a long time, and the states that ranked top were all one of the first states (Phoenix, Snakaris, Chickenopolis, Syopolis, and Emeralkia). However, in January, two very new states arose which, contrary to what everyone else expected, overthrew Emeralkia's monopoly.
Rises of Ozzah and Xadia
During January, two powers, Ozzah and Xadia (officially New Xadia), rose up and created their own interstatal alliances. Xadia was made up mostly by many of Aditya's puppets, which barely had any activity. After the Xadian collapse, many of these states remained states. Two examples of these states that still exist today are Destruction and Cloudland. Similarly, Ozzah collected allies through their "friendship circle."
Xadia essentially garnered power by its founder, Aditya, asking his very large friend group to make states and grow Xadia's empire as an alternative to war, which he did not believe in. Their state grew to astronomical levels before falling at around the same time as Ozzah, although they had a short feel of power later before falling again.
Xadia had a complex governmental structure with knights, peers, a military, and government employees. Its head musician and commander of the Armed Forces was Bright Li (associate concertmaster) and it was noticed as hilarious when he was seated next to Chelsea Chen (concertmaster), head musician and commander of the Armed Forces of Ozzah, who was seated next to Katelyn Chen (principal second violin), a close friend of Chelsea's, who was seated next to Wyatt Baek (assistant principal second violin), founder of Gapla, who was seated next to Irene Kim (assistant principal viola), governor of Ozzah. This was an almost impossible coincidence known as the "Gaplan first row" in an orchestra with close to 100 members.
Ozzah's strategy was essentially the same, except that they also included large investments and new ideas into their state, including a state website, and they treated it as if it were its own micronation.
Carmentown and Littletown
During this period, "little towns" became increasingly popular. These were small Gaplan "towns," usually a part of other states, that would generate revenue in Gapla Dollars for the states. The two most famous of these were Carmentown (inspired from Suite from Carmen, a piece played by the school district's honor orchestra), built on an entire table with its own Google Document that its users would interact and build on, as well as Littletown. Both of these towns were built with classroom items such as paper, glue, bottle caps, etc. and generated money for the national and state governments as they had a lot of activity as well as a 90% revenue to the state and a 10% revenue to the Government of Gapla.
These towns became increasingly popular. Carmentown was first part of Ozzah and then Elemental, and Littletown was funded by Xadia and integrated into Emeralkia. Poshstate was also an example of one of these "little towns." Wyatt Baek was the only person who worked in both of those competing towns.
Decline of Xadia
During the election in February, Xadia had its leader, Aditya, and Ozzah had Emma of Emeralkia to represent their state. After an extremely close victory by Emma during the Deputy Presidential election (who was just a popular setup to pass the position to Irene, because Irene was powerful, yet not popular within the general public), Aditya stopped being active and the state of Xadia basically collapsed - however, it is still in existence today. Xadia is said to have "rage quit" Gapla after the election, and it is still a meme in Gapla today.
Decline of Ozzah
Ozzah declined after it fell in the interstate rankings of the 2nd session. Because of this, the founders of Ozzah blamed Gapla for being a "toxic community" - no reasons are known, other than that their state dramatically fell in the interstate competitions during March 2020.
Another possible reason for this quit was that the President and the then-Vice President, Irene Kim, one of the founders of Ozzah, did not get along during office. Constant arguments between the two leaders eventually caused her to resign, to be replaced by Chelsea Chen.
During March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck in the school that Gapla was located in, and it was closed. Due to this, Gapla actually became more active, finally creating a Discord server and having bi-weekly meetings on Google Meet, and then Zoom after it was authorized by the Executive Council. Previously, the council used Google Meet due to security concerns with Zoom.
During this period, the focus was mainly on Elemental, which, for most of the period, had no main contestant, which was slowly growing its empire and having a monopoly on interstate sessions until the resurgence of Folia Tail in August.
Great Rise of Elemental
After both Ozzah and Xadia had dramatically fallen, Gapla was in need of a new power. While several states such as Snakaris, Phoenix, and Emeralkia had tried to claim the throne, a then small and unknown state named Elemental, governed by Chelsea Chen, was forged as the next clear power.
After Gapla had been greatly digitalized, states who stuck to the old-style sessions such as Emeralkia, Snakaris, or Phoenix were never quite able to become powers again, and their activity levels drained down. However, Chelsea worked tirelessly on making Elemental number one, creating websites, verifying land, and composing music. She is seen as a subset of people who treated Gapla as a career and not just a side hobby. Due to this, Elemental retained this dominance until Folia Tail rose as its competitor.
Acquisition of Mogollon
Also during this period, Mogollon joined, giving Gapla's first piece of land that was not a house, previously located in the American state of Arizona. This was a significant addition to Gapla's territory. To this day, there are only two territories that are not houses: the Gaplan Antarctic Territory and the city of Mogollon in Elemental.
Mogollon was acquired from Eovnia Pual, who transferred her territory in her Elysiumite province to Mogollon.
Discord era
Gapla started its Discord server during this period, which was filled by many diplomats and Gaplan citizens. A communication system for those unable to use Discord, called the Communication System for Underprivileged Individuals (CSUI) was also created. Some members of Gapla actually preferred to use CSUI rather than Discord, but the system was reserved for those unable to use Discord.
Gapla's previous Google Hangouts group was very reluctant to move to Discord at first, but today, the group is almost never used and the Discord server remains the primary means of communication.
The Kingdoms of H and J
As an expansion of the Discord era, Bright Li brought along an older friend to Gapla, who wished to contribute to Musicland, Bright's state. He added his friend group, styled as a kingdom, called the Kingdom of H, into Gapla. This was significant as the kingdom had around 30-40 members, and Musicland became a very popular state.
The members of the kingdom constantly posted memes and random, uncivilized comments (the most famous of these being the poptarts sequence, which goes: poptarts1, poptarts2, poptarts3, etc.) in general and official venues (such as embassy channels). This led to a lot of diplomats leaving due to unprofessionalism and many of the members of the kingdom being muted or banned, although some are still in the server today.
A similar kingdom called the Kingdom of J, created by a friend of Justin's (King of H) was created. It had around ten members, signing a "peck tweaty" (peace treaty) with Gapla and ultimately also becoming a Musiclandian city.
Resurgence of Folia Tail (August 2020 - November 2020)
"Wyatt's police does not exist"
After falling very inactive for quite a long time, Renaldo largely criticized the Federated States of Gapla, calling it a "fake nation" with "no purpose" and that "Wyatt's police doesn't exist." He repeatedly made fun of the country over Zoom, but was largely ignored by the Gaplan authorities.
However, a few weeks later, Renaldo contacted the Gaplan government on how to be active in Gapla again. Renaldo's previous criticism is likely due to not knowing how to be active and taking an alternative approach. The government welcomed and celebrated Renaldo back, and he soon defended the country in the school Zoom meetings. Renaldo then renamed his state from Chickenopolis to "Delsgade," as he thought it was a more proper name for the state. Notably, Vera Sy was extremely upset at this decision.
The great resurgence
He eventually renamed his state to Folia Tail after the rise to power, which, through the help of former Xadian states and some hard work, consistently caught up to and even defeated Elemental in a session. Along with Chelsea Chen, he was the first funders of Gapla, buying titles, a crown, Gapla Dollars, and more.
Renaldo was accused of sending messages that undermine his education, such as "Folia Tail defeating Elemental > Schoolwork" and "Folia Tail > [The rest of] Gapla > School." The effects of this are unknown. Some people have called Renaldo a Gaplan nationalist due to his excessive pride of being Gaplan, and especially a citizen of Folia Tail, however, he is also known to display this for his other citizenships, especially Brazil and Taiwan. He has commented that Gapla should be recognized by the international community and that it is the "best country in the world."
He later tried to deny that the criticism of Gapla at the beginning of the year happened, and then grew ashamed after after he was disqualified for the award of the Leaflet of Gaplan Fortune (LGF), an award dedicated to those who are loyal to Gapla, because of his prior actions.
First modern era (November 2020 - November 2021)
Second Christmas days (November 2020 - February 2021)
The first half of the Second Christmas Days consisted of the adjustment to the competition between Folia Tail and Elemental. During this period, like the name, Gapla celebrated its second Christmas since independence. Another event is that Folia Tail was dominant during this period, however, later, Elemental became more dominant consistently, but not to an extent of a monopoly.
A new era for Gapla
The second half consisted of a new era for Gapla - sales in titles and Gapla Dollars increased dramatically due to the growing popularity of Gapla and the demand for these items. Gapla's economy soared, and the country had enough money to fund flags, crowns, government seal stamps, new graphic designs, better paper, branded stationery, and more.
Important funders of Gapla included Chelsea Chen and Renaldo Chang. Mainly through a visit to New Gaplastovia, they bought a variety of items such as Gapla Dollars, titles of nobility, crowns, etc. that allowed Gapla to operate further and with more goals and plans. This is also how Renaldo Chang was promoted to a Grand Prince of Gapla after previously being a baron.
After the events of the Folian resurgence, a period of constant active sessions and great activity was made in Gapla during its next few months. These months are often called the "second Gaplan renaissance," but this is not an official designation.
Winter conspiracy theory
There is currently a conspiracy theory in the Federated States of Gapla that says that great Gaplan revolutions, renaissances, and periods of mass activity and growth are near the months of December, January, and February, therefore being called the "Winter conspiracy theory." This is supported by the following years, according to its adherents:
- 2015: after Gapla-Phoenix was founded, it had a mass income of citizens
- 2016: the Iceecas and their empire fell, leading Gapla-Phoenix to have a "monopoly" over the school
- 2017: the Iceecas reform, but Gapla-Phoenixian intelligence becomes notoriously advanced and traces down its movements
- 2018: while nothing in Gapla was significant, Wyatt's previous endeavors such as WRUSA (which would later become important in Gapla's economy) soared, and so did other Totoro subsidiaries
- 2019: the United Republics of Gapla-Phoenix was revived as the Principality of Gapla
- 2020: the Gaplan Renaissance occurs, Ozzah and Xadia lead Gapla into great activity and stretch Gapla's potential and relevance
- 2021: the second Christmas days and the great funding for Gapla that was achieved
- 2022: the 2022 Gaplan presidential election incurred a breakthrough of political progress in Gapla, during and in preparation for it
They also believe that significant advances in the Aeolian revolution will be completed by January or February 2023.
Critics accuse adherents of cherry-picking, amongst other accusations.
Advance of the session (February 2021 - June 2021)
During the advance, Gapla started actually applying the purchases it bought in the second Christmas days, as well as creating a new currency design backed by gold. Mainly, this consisted of Elemental and Folia Tail (and their allies) going into a Zoom meeting every day to argue and conduct the interstate sessions, so sessions constructed during this period were extremely active, however, were dominated by Elemental.
The era of great activity
Continuing along with the previous era and further supporting the winter conspiracy theory, the era of great activity was a period in Gaplan history when several Gaplan states, mainly Elemental, Emeralkia, Folia Tail, and in some extent Phoenix, Daisy, and Asmiland, had a soar of activity through the Zoom classroom breakout rooms. The teacher allowed for free time during these meetings if one had completed all of their work, and a large proportion of Gaplan citizens joined in the so-called "Gapla breakout room" to discuss plans, conduct sessions, and more.
During this period, all of the states were incredibly active, making movements and negotiations every day. Gapla's economy, interest in Gapla, and much more soared throughout the classroom and Gapla was recognized as part of the classroom's culture. Interest in its monarchy took a soar, which it had not done since Serena's proposal of marriage to Sovereign Prince Wyatt Baek.
In addition, Gapla applied the purchases from the money and items it acquired during the second Christmas days.
Proposed second rise of Folia Tail
Renaldo Chang, governor of Folia Tail, reportedly had started devising a plan to become the dominant competitor in interstate sessions after Elemental was constantly narrowly winning (however, Folia Tail did have a few victories). He spent some money to develop his state and ultimately emerged to be a very competitive state to Elemental.
Colonial ages (June 2021 - October 2021)
The colonial ages was the start of the rise of Folia Tail which surpassed Elemental in September 2021.
"Fire dragon" and "water dragon"
During this period, Folia Tail strategically planned the "fire dragon's return" and the "water dragon's return," and the state government released a statement that said that the dragons mentioned were literal, that they shoot fire, and that they will destroy Elemental. Today, these are often seen as the same thing as the proposed rise of Folia Tail done earlier.
However, it was discovered that this was used for secrecy reasons, and the actual plan was to discuss Folia Tail's plans without leaking it to Elemental, and for Elemental to completely ignore it as a joke. This seems to have worked, as Folia Tail has completed its plan and have successfully been narrowly declared as the session leader.
Inter-Gaplan Venado-JTMS rivalry
After a multitude of citizens moved to different schools, most notably Venado Middle School and Jeffrey Trail Middle School, leaders in both schools, considered to be Emeralkia (backed by Folia Tail) and Elemental, were devising plans to increase Gapla's popularity in both of these schools. Emeralkia's attempt was noted as successful, as many students from Venado joined Gapla and were later seen as influencing factors in the 2022 Gaplan general elections (not the 2022 Gaplan presidential elections) in August 2022. The two schools, inside Gapla, have been seen as rivals and representations of Venado and Jeffrey Trail.
A part of the colonial ages, they were also a start of an era where Gaplan states collected schools throughout school districts, including the famous Orange County School of the Arts. Dozens of schools across a few school districts have been "colonized."
Second rise of Emeralkia (October 2021 - November 2021)
During this period, the Grand Kingdom of Emeralkia broke away from Elemental's alliance in the session, leading to a dramatic decrease in Elemental's strength, as Elemental has allocated a lot of its resources to the Grand Kingdom of Emeralkia. This was a result of Tessa Huffmire wanting to be out of the Elementalian Federation and to create a new independent Grand Kingdom of Emeralkia. After its rise, containment of allies, and victory over Folia Tail in the 9th session, it has become a leading power in the Gapla and is considered to be a "major power" along with Elemental and Folia Tail.
Tessa Huffmire, who had thought that Emma had abandoned her state for the year she was gone, was determined to make Emeralkia a new, independent power, although, the lasting effect of this was not very great. It, however, retained its strong independence from Elemental. Emma had later compromised by making Tessa Queen and herself Prime Minister.
It was incredibly active throughout this period and reported to the Session Administration nearly every day.
Although Elemental has been damaged by the GKE's independence, Elemental has regained strength through its lands acquired through verification, and is predicted to continue being a major power, although Folian news networks falsely stated that the Federation had dissolved. These reports garnered controversy in Gapla, however, Renaldo Chang refused to comment.
Second modern era (November 2021 - March 2022)
"Red Wave" of Gapla (November 2021 - December 2021)
During November 2021, many citizens from Excelsior and elsewhere came with a predominantly left-wing tilt, empowering the formerly minor party of the People's Liberal Party after this wave and a merging of that party and The Progressive Movement, a former center-left party. Eventually, this empowered the right-wing of Gapla, formerly without significant competition, to merge into one party. A moderate-libertarian right-wing party called the Free Rightist Party was created in opposition to the People's Liberal Party and Gapla effectively became a two-party system, each merging in order to combat the other.
While Gaplan politics were contentious previously, the addition of more left-wing citizens raised Gapla into a very competitive two-party system, with increasingly active political discussion and debate in the Discord server. This showed a large push in Gaplan activity and the increasing pressure for the then-majority of the right to react and compete against the left.
However, this is ironic because one of the founding ideals was to avoid the "red and blue" two party system, and Gapla had ended up that way due to increasing political competition. it is likely that Gaplan parties made this decision in haste instead of forming alliances, which is what often happens now (FRP and CRP, PLP and SRP de facto). The "red wave," 2022 Gaplan presidential elections, and Ote Land are often seen as more evidence for the winter conspiracy theory, a theory that alleges that significant progress in Gapla always happens during winter.
2022 Elections and Ote Land (December 2021 - February 2022)
See the article 2022 Gaplan presidential election for information on the 2022 Gaplan Presidential Election.
Ote Land was a new Special Administrative Region (SAR) currently de facto led by Dheer Patel.
It was from a group of high schoolers that were invited to Gapla from Northwood High School. After a period of rebellion and disturbance, Ote Land was integrated into the Ote Land SAR in January 2022. Some people, most prominently from the Gaplan left, say that Ote Land was an "election rigging" tool used by the FRP, however, evidence has proven that Ote Land came independently of the 2022 Gaplan Presidential Election.
Ote Land was a large controversy, as the 2022 election was very contentious and seen by many as incredibly important to Gapla's future. After its members were submerged into the greater Gaplan community. It is now a free part of the Federated States of Gapla that mostly sides with the right, however, a large majority of their members are in the satirical Kim Jong Un Party, which is supposedly far-left.
The New Reform and the Emersyos (February 2022 - March 2022)
In around February 2022, Sovereign Prince Wyatt Baek and President Chelsea Chen jointly announced a large reorganization plan for the government. However, some activists greatly disapproved of the suggested reforms and took control of the Deputy President's and Secretary of State's Gaplan portal accounts to declare a state of emergency. This caused immediate nationwide panic throughout Gapla as well as throughout the United Federation of the Terra Excelsior Republic, which was considered closely tied to Gapla and its actions. Emergency actions were being taken and the situation was eventually resolved.
These activists were called the "Emersyos," who impersonated the two officials. They took control of Gapla's assets and declared themselves the true government of Gapla. A government-in-exile for the old government was created as the "Royal Federation of Gaplanaya." They (the "Emersyos") appear to be far-right and have been criticized by the government and many citizens.
The Emersyos declared war on Excelsior, however failed to do any damage as the assets were soon returned to Gapla as the bug was found. The Emersyos whereabouts or identity are unknown, but the Intelligence Agency of the Gaplan Federation claims to know. The reforms were stalled because of this conflict, and at its peak the Emersyos controlled several cities, including New Gaplastovia. Today, the Emersyos are largely defunct and order as returned, but the Aeolian revolutions seem to be delayed.
The Aeolian revolutions (April 2022 - August 2022)
The first reforms (April 2022 - June 2022)
After the Emersyo incident, the Gaplan government proceeded to enact a variety of reforms including governmental reforms, reforms in branding, states, sessions, and Gapla's general image. These reforms are scheduled to be completed by late 2022 and hope to make Gapla more prosperous, active, and professional. The Aeolian revolution is one of the largest reforms in Gaplan history beside the Gaplan Revolution and Gaplan Renaissance. So far, significant governmental reforms including a new legislature, electoral system, and more are being adopted, while other reforms are expected to follow.
While at first posing as a crypto-positive and blockchain-based stance, members of the Gaplan left opposed this, and a compromise was later reached after protests. The Aeolian Convention, which happened at MicroCon 2022, is predicted to be a large factor in creating the "big revolution" that many citizens are hoping for. Wyatt Baek and Chelsea Chen, who attended the convention outside the gates of the Red Rock Ballroom in which MicroCon was hosted, claim that it is going to create a "big revolution" and that real change is coming, however, some citizens are skeptical.
Adherents to the winter conspiracy theory claim that this will again happen somewhere between December 2022 and February 2023, however, the government has not confirmed or denied any date or even any "Aeolian revolution" taking place: it is considered a construct by many Gaplan citizens.
First Aeolian revolution and MicroCon (June 2022 - August 2022)
During this period, Gapla was in the middle of a series of reforms. Due to the risk of applying them to Gapla directly, Nicolas Caiazzo suggested that a new dominion, the Dominion of Astraya, be created. The goal is to use a micronational philosophy aimed at guaranteeing the maximal success and activity of a micronation through logic. This process was sped up by Chelsea Chen encouraging members of Astraya to read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, which unexpectedly had a considerable application on micronationalism. Throughout this process, a presentation has been created and the first members of Astraya, Chelsea, Wyatt, and Nico, have attended a Zoom meeting to view the presentation.
MicroCon 2022
Gapla was represented at MicroCon 2022 in Las Vegas with two delegates representing the country, Wyatt Baek and Chelsea Chen. They attended MicroCon in Las Vegas in the Red Rock Ballroom and conversed with other micronationalists and listened to their presentations. Both delegates were present for the diplomatic reception, main conference, gala dinner, and awards ceremony, with only Wyatt present for bowling.
At MicroCon 2022, Wyatt and Chelsea conversed outside of the ballroom for privacy about the future of Astraya and how the micronations at the conference inspired them, as well as some discussions for how Astraya would be established. This is commonly called the "Aeolian convention." Both delegates remarked that the conference united, enjoyed, and inspired them personally and gave them a greater understanding of the micronational community. A photo of the Gaplan delegation with the Queen of Ladonia was also taken, after an invitation by the Prince Consort.
2022 Gaplan general election
The Astrayan revolutions (August 2022 - March 2023)
Pre-Astrayan era (August 2022 - October 2022)
With the departure of Wyatt Baek from Venado Middle School to Lakeside Middle School, Venado was less of a center of influence and most of Gaplan activity moved to Jeffrey Trail or Lakeside, and activity became much more physically decentralized than ever before.
Lakeside, a predominantly FRP school, was quite a small school for Gapla, as the only people who were in the school notable enough to even have their names mentioned on government media were Renaldo Chang, Serena Ali, and Vivian Kim. However, reflecting on his previous failed attempts to introduce Gapla into Sierra Vista Middle School over the previous summer and his only semi-successful attempt at Venado, Wyatt decided to try a new approach that would spark a positive connotation about Gapla even before the main recruiting mission started.
In addition, significant progress in Astraya occurred, with a roadmap for launching the project by December 2022 being created.
"What makes a country... a country?"
A presentation titled "What makes a country... a country?" was given by Wyatt Baek in his period 1 English class as the beginning of this mission. Other than Vivian, no person in the room knew what Gapla was before the presentation. It was by far the longest and most praised presentation in the entire class, receiving unanimous applause and inquiries about Gapla after the presentation. According to Baek, he designed the presentation so that the idea of Gapla would appeal to middle schoolers and discouraged comments such as "you're a fake pointless nation," which was common in previous attempts.
The presentation was a grand success, with not only the class, but many of the students outside of the class knowing about Gapla, wanting to join, and having a positive view of it. Wyatt noted being greeted as "prince," his official title in the Monarchy of Gapla, as well as inquiries on citizenship and one student asking if they could become the President of Gapla.
Glimpses of Astraya (October 2022 - December 2022)
The Astrayan Blueprint
A blueprint called the Astrayan Blueprint was developed by the government. This document seeks to greatly increase Gaplan activity through programs such as the League of Heralds, MicroWiki corps, expansion of government jobs, and the National Academy. Many citizens were in demand of jobs from the government but internal government planning made shortages common and many people being unemployed for large periods of time.
The blueprint also stated that it would be beneficial for Gapla to claim a piece of terra nullius with ample justification (contrasted to just calling commonly known terra nullius Gapla's) to create a bigger purpose to eventually expand into a city state, and to create a roadmap for people to contribute to an exciting project that creates a new country and government.
A local micronation known as the Union of Democratic Republics, or the UDR, expressed interest in joining the Federated States of Gapla as a special administrative region.
This then furthered the idea of the "Royal Licentiate" by the Gaplan government, which were a group of around seven people who were highly dedicated to working on Gapla. The requirements were that Gapla was the micronation they were most focused on and that they really cared and would persevere for Gapla beyond normal ranges, and the addition of the UDR, who seemed like dedicated micronationalists with an activity problem (similar to one Gapla had previously but resolved through another idea in the Astrayan Blueprint), could be beneficial for both Gapla and the UDR as the UDR could take advantage of the established interest of Gaplan citizens and Gapla getting possible new members of the Royal Licentiate.
Into November and December, a wave of students from Lakeside Middle School were applying for citizenship and joining the Gaplan Discord server, with some citizens even considered to be very good assets for Gapla's new Astrayan reformation. Some citizens even bought bills and enquired about titles of nobility, and others enquired about government positions.
Irene Kim crisis
A ruling by the Federal Court of New Gaplastovia, which served as a replacement for the Supreme Court while it remained vacant under the Emma Bunnell government crisis, ruled that Wyatt Baek was to be fined for illegally using the Intelligence Agency of the Gaplan Federation to remove his political rival, Irene Kim, from office to replace her with his then-ally Chelsea Chen. This also prompted the current Deputy President, Chelsea Chen, to be removed by Irene Kim.
The issue with this was that Irene was active in Gapla only in early 2020 and was greatly inactive in modern Gapla. This prompted Irene Kim to resign and asked to be replaced with her predecessor, Chelsea Chen. Her request was granted and her term lasted eight hours.
Gaplan-Juniperian War
On November 8, 2022, Invictus declared war on Gapla, followed by Juniperia (now the Commonwealth of Juniperia) and its allied states.
This war saw little fighting, other than a brief Juniperian expedition and threats from both sides. After many threats back and forth, many of Juniperia's allies found out what caused the war and withdrew from the conflict. After its last ally, Invictus, withdrew from the conflict, Juniperia, Idiocia, and Al-Bustan were the last standing members of the conflict and shortly withdrew from the war, leading into a de facto draw but a de jure Gaplan victory.
Rise of the AMASH Party
The former founders of the Kim Jong Un Party, seeking to revive the party, renamed the party as the "Anti-Monarchist Asian Superhero Hot Dog Rocketship Cowabunga Plant Cleaners and Kim Jong Un Number One State Republic Party." This created quite a chaos in the Gaplan Discord server, as they were constantly pushing requests to lengthen the party name and were constantly chatting about events unrelated to Gapla in their channel, #amash-party (formerly known as #crazy-party because the server administrators could not find a way to even fit the abbreviation into a channel name).
After a significant figure and member of the National Assembly, Diti Patel, expressed her interest in rejoining the AMASH party and leaving the Free Rightist Party, this caused widespread panic in Gapla as she was one of the candidates for the upcoming presidential election. Quite shocked at what was happening, the Gaplan National News Network revoked its calling of the special election for Diti and instead insisted on a borderline constitutional approach of delaying the ballot to Emma Bunnell for ratification, something that is being tried in court as of December 2022.
Federation era (January 2023 - April 2023)
The UDR and the AMASH Party
Throughout January 2023, the process of integration of the Union of Democratic Republics, a federation of two republics called Raptom and Redtree, took place. As a local micronation finding out
about and joining Gapla, representatives from both nations including the President, Prime Minister, and one other officer of the Union of Democratic Republics as well as a representative from Gapla (Wyatt Baek) met at an elementary school to discuss micronational goals, finances, and the process of federation.
The AMASH Party also became a more serious right-wing competitor to the Free Rightist Party, which was not as strong as its earlier months. Support for the satirical AMASH Party grew not only on grounds of satire but also on their policy positions as a proposal for a right-wing republican form of government
The modern federation
Due to the unsuccessful first Astrayan reformations, the Gaplan government commissioned a task force called the Second Astrayan Commission to investigate these issues and revamp the Astrayan reformation. The commission found several errors in the implementation of Astraya and plans to use mechanisms to fix these errors.
Soon afterwards, the Federated States of Gapla received a wave of applications for annexation after several new micronations in the Irvine sector and micronations previously affiliated with Gapla heard about the annexation of the UDR and the positive effects it had. In all, six countries were annexed at the end of the annexation spree, including the UDR: New Olympia, the UDR, the Newlands, Tzuanov, Scalonia Allies, and Vallarosia.
Throughout this, the Kingdom of Juniperia condemned these annexations and claimed that these annexations invaded the territorial integrity of Juniperia, despite the fact that no annexations took place from Juniperia or Juniperian territory.
Continuity and change (April 2023 - present)
The first months (April 2023 - June 2023)
The first few months of the continuity and change era were marked by many plans to finally initiate the reforms planned in the past several months. April and May 2023, as well as part of early June 2023, marked an era of relative silence while the government prepared to rebrand and adjust to new conditions.
As the discoveries that some members who served Gapla in its early ages, such as Wyatt Baek and Chelsea Chen, were moving out of the area that Gapla was founded in, the country cancelled interstate sessions, a milestone that had been speculated but never acted on for a long time. The country hopes to replace it with a new indicator of activity, which according to the government, has already been found and is planned to be implemented through July, with an estimated completion date of August 16, 2023.
Gapla reorganized to its new status as a practical federation rather than one just in name, as the annexation requests were halted and the government was swiftly reorganized.
A new era (June 2023 - August 2023)
Princess Day (June 18) marked a pivotal change in Gapla's identity. On 16 June, it had claimed the Princess Islands, two islands along the Danube river (although it had claims of terra nullius before, it was not formalized and defined). The government started a very popular vote, known as the Princess Island Referendum, that would decide which princess that was born on Princess Day (either Chelsea Chen or Emma Bunnell) would be named after the island. After a very competitive vote, with friends of both parties voting in an election with very high turnout, the Princess of Emeralkia (Emma Bunnell) won the election with 53% of the vote.
In addition, many of Gapla's offices and government structures were renamed to change Gapla's brand into a more practical system. A plan to turn Gapla's culture into a more activity-focused and monarchy-centric country having five principalities (the former dominions) and all other states merging as cities of the dominions is proposed and highly likely to pass, bringing many new changes to the country.
Through the ideas and plans garnered in the Aeolian and Astrayan revolutions, the government claims that it is now slowly initiating those ideas, and that many of them will come to light in July 2023. According to preliminary reports, some of the first changes to be implemented is a secure national portal, a new way of measuring activity which will replace interstate sessions, electronic ID cards, a mobile app, passports, and a redesign of the currency's bills and coins. In addition, a new Coat of Arms has been commissioned from Chris Ramsay, who is reportedly replacing Nicolas Caiazzo as the King of Arms.
A new identity (August 2023 - October 2023)
August 2023 marked a number of changes in Gapla, albeit slower than expeted, including the creation of a new Coat of Arms, national seal, and federal website. Multiple federal websites were revamped later into this period, and Gapla sought to have a more professional identity.
In October 2023, Gapla introduced its Nationbuilding Council, a council of dedicated Gaplans who would help build the physical country on Gapla on Greater Danubia, with a possible exile civilization on purchased land by the Gaplan government if things do not go to plan. This marked a transformation of Gapla from its previous state as a regular micronation to one that seeks to actually inhabit land and create a new country. The admission of the then-Kingdom of Cristus as a Gaplan dominion was also marked in this period, in an effort to gather more dedicated people into the project of Gapla. Several plans have been drafted for the Nationbuilding Council, it is set to begin in December 2023.
Notably, the Dominion of Unionland was formed from a union of Snakaris and Phoenix, the two original states that have been slowly falling into inactivity as Gapla progresses.
The Gaplan government has claimed that more upgrades, such as professional coins, medals, license plates, and the like are coming, as well as an upcoming expedition to Greater Danubia in July 2024. The goal of the expedition is to assess its terrain and suitability for creating a nation, as well as planting a Gaplan flag.
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