History of the Region of Clyro

Main Article: Region of Clyro

The Region of Clyro has a rich history stretching back to late 2011. It has been under various forms of Government, and has leaned from the left wing to the right over the passage of time, starting with near-autocracy in 2011, and currently a feudal aristocracy. The Region of Clyro is a an Administrative Region of Mercia.

The St Peters Republic (20th September 2011 - 1st October 2012)

The St Peters Republic (SPR) was the brainchild of Richard Hytholoday who, after nearly two years of being aware of Micronationalism and it's communities, used the opportunity of his UK school's AS Level Extended Project to work on creating a Micronation and be graded on his success. A few of his friends were roped in to form a Council, and with Cunningham as President-of-State, the St Peters Republic was officially formed on the 20th September 2011.

There is some skepticism as to the exact date of the SPR's foundation. The reason for this is that the date of the official declaration of independence of the SPR has been forgotten by its' citizens (both current and previous), as there was much work preparing council and national work before and after the nation's foundation. The 20th September is accepted as the day of foundation as that is when the original St Peters Republic Government website went live.

The foundation of the SPR led to the creation of a pair of rival countries, the Ormiston Rivers Republic (ORR), and the Autocracy of Dieter. The ORR lasted officially little more than a week before it's leader (and only citizen) dissolved the nation, admitting that he only formed the ORR to try and spite the SPR. The Autocracy of Dieter lasted officially for 3 months, inactive totally after the first fortnight of it's independence. The Autocracy dissolved on the 29th November 2011 when the SPR's Defence Marshalls (the then Marshalls Thompson and Beard), under direct command of President Hytholoday, threatened action against the Autocracy if it did not either dissolve or make good a trade agreement that had been signed on the 28th September 2011.

Up until the 10th February 2012, the St Peters Republic had updated it's news feed almost daily, and by 1 January 2012, the nation had grown from 5 citizens to 12 citizens and 5 honorary citizens. However, inactivity became prominent in the SPR after the President-of-State's birthday celebrations, and the last news update on the St Peters Republic Government Website was on the 27th February 2012, stating that the SPR was fourth in the world rankings of the Virtual Micronational Soccer Board. By 1 March, the SPR was almost completely inactive.

President Hytholoday did attempt to remotivate the citizenry between March and October 2012, with the purchase of badges for Defence Marshalls, an attempt to create paper currency, and the entering of the SPR into the Confederate States of Prosperity. However, none of these attempts were successful.

The August Reforms (August - October 1st 2012)

At a unspecified date in August 2012, President Hytholoday began to plan cultural and political reforms that would attempt to reinvigorate the SPR, and to re-motivate the citizens, who had been in a state of inactivity since February. These 'August Reforms', thanks to education and business within the Confederate States of Prosperity, actually dragged on until early October, when the St Peters Republic was renamed the St Peters Transitional Dominion on October 1, and then the Independent Daenningas Regional Dominion of Burnham & their Lands (IDRDB&L) six days later. The political system of the nation undertook a brief rehaul during the time of the Transitional Dominion.

The Confederate State of the St Peters Republic (April 2012 - 1st December 2012)

The St Peters Republic became a member state of the Confederate States of Prosperity (CSP) when the Confederacy was formed unofficially in April 2012. During the time between the unofficial creation of the CSP and it's public formation on the 26th August, President Hytholoday was elected President of the CSP, as party leader of the Imperial-Corporatist Order of Gustavus Party, winning with 15 votes to the 14 and 12 from the other two political parties (the Guild For Hope Party and the Order of the Penguin Party respectively). This time was generally agreed to be the 'golden era' of the St Peters Republic.

However, by late November 2012, the CSP had become inactive, divided, and generally ungovernable. Several factors were behind this; the return of the macronational school year, a flood warning in both Amager and Agnorr, a series of cultural reforms that had led to heated debate, and a month long religious argument that distanced some of the Confederacy's leadership from the rest. On the 1st December 2012, the CSP was unofficially dismantled, and two member nations (the St Peters Republic (now Clyro), and the Knoll Empire (now Nolland)) of the Confederacy became autonomous member states of the Würtige Empire. This was consummated on the 10th December 2012, when the CSP was transferred to the authority of the Technocratic Capital of Würdigeland.

The IDRDB&L (6th October 2012 - 31st May 2013)

The Independent Daenningas Regional Dominion of Burnham & their Lands was formed on the 6th October 2012 as a result of the August Reforms. The Presidential Council was renamed the Consul Gorsedh (the Cornish word for 'assembly'), and the Counsellors became Consuls, with President Hytholoday becoming known as First Consul Hytholoday from hereonin.

The IDRDB&L as a motivator of citizenry was, ultimately, a failure. Activity did rise in the first couple of weeks, with a new paper currency being produced (with horrible results that were immediately ditched) and a series of organisations being founded (such as the Order of the Nebra Disk). However, beyond this point, the nation lapsed back into the same sort of inactivity as the SPR had done, with only a brief surge of activity following the first Consul Gorsedh meeting on the Christmas Eve (December 24) of 2012. The only notable event in the IDRDB&L during early 2013 was the foundation of the Burnham Micropress, the nation's online news outlet. Only one article was published on the Micropress before the Theodorist Revolution.

Member State of the Würtige Empire (1st December 2012 - Present)

Following the Independent Daenningas Regional Dominion of Burnham & their Land's integration into the Würtige Empire, the officials of the nation (many of whom were also involved in the Knoll Empire (now Nolland) and the former Confederate States of Agnorr (now a Nollandish territory) and Amager (now the Commonwealth of Hobartstown and Victoria, the Union of Libereco and the Ashukov Federation) began to get heavily involved in both national and international politics. It was at this time that First Consul Hytholoday (as Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Empire) argued the case to allow the member nations of the Würtige Empire to be member nations of the Grand Unified Micronational, independent of each other.

During this time, Burnham was a main participant in the Freedomian Aggression, which carried on from December 1, 2012 well into the opening months of 2013. On the 11th December 2012, First Consul Hytholoday presented the evidence against the Freedomian monarch in the controversial Mark II Trial on the 11th December 2012.

First Consul Hytholoday also represented the Würtige Empire during the 2012-13 GUM leadership scandal of the Christmas and New Year of those years, when the Security Council unceremoniously removed the State of Sandus and the Kingdom of Juclandia from the organisation. It is known that Hytholoday voted for the removal of the two nations. The Empire's stance on the scandal changed after the collapse of then-Chair Yaroslav Mar's administration, and when First Consul Hytholoday became Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational on the 13th March 2013, one of the first actions in his Chairmanship was to address the State of Sandus with an official apology on behalf of the entire organisation.

The Theodorist Revolution (31st May 2013 - 3rd December 2013)

By May 2013, activity had still not increased. First Consul Hytholoday had dedicated his micronational activities to the Chairmanship of the Grand Unified Micronational, and therefore the nation had waned. In desperation, Hytholoday and a couple of his close micronational associates (Tsar Thomas I of Nolland and Kyng Second of Slin) discussed a new political direction for the IDRDB&L. First Consul Hytholoday looked further afield into foreign ideologies, and settled upon Theodorism; the political ideology that had, during the summer of 2012, prompted a spate of (failed) revolutions in many UK Micronations such as Palasia, despite it being an ideology made in the Empire of Austenasia. The ability to have the citizens actively involved in a socialist diplomatic process, while First Consul Hytholoday could still keep power as a cultural protector of Socialism until the final transition to a Socialist utopia, was a major motivator to the events of May 31.

On the 31st May 2013, the IDRDB&L changed it's name to the Theodorist Regional Dominion of Burnham and its Land (TRDB&L), and First Consul Hytholoday ascended to the role of monarch, coronated as Justinian I, Basileus (monarch) of Burnham and protector of the Socialist and Theodorist Principles. A Burnham constitution soon followed, as did the first Supreme Soviet Gorsedh of the Theodorist Dominion, and a rise in the activity of the Burnham Micropress. On the 8th July, Justinian I was given the title of 'Vanguard Monarch of Theodorism' by Emperor Jonathan I of Austenasia.

On the 26th July 2013, Justinian I, assisted by President Vera Hewitt of the Ashukov Federation, announced the release of an essay entitled Red Summer: An Essay on Justinian Theodorism, which formalised the divergence of Burnham's Theodorism from the traditional, 'Orthodox' Theodorist ideology founded in Austenasia. This was followed by a second essay under 48 hours later, this time entitled The Transition to Classic Socialism: An Essay on the Clarification of Justinian Theodorism. This second essay provided answers and retorts to a series of questions and criticisms to the 'Red Summer' essay.

The Month of Emergency (December 2013)

On the 3rd December 2013, the first Burnham General Election was supposed to occur. However, because of inactivity of the candidates and parties, no such election took place. Basileus Justinian I used his constitutional right and took emergency power over Burnham on the 10th December. The People's Commons was kept on hiatus during this time, and the only significant public action from the Basileus was the reinstitution of the Order of the Nebra Disk, a forgotten institute from the days of the IDRDB&L, as the State Culture Service.

Privately however, the Basileus was in collaboration with other prominent Micronationalists, particularly from the Noble Republic of Lurk to merge Burnham with another nation to create a stronger political class. This came to the fore on the 19th January with the Clyro Reforms.

The Clyro Reforms (19th January 2014)

On the 19th January, Basileus Justinian I published a Decree in the People's Commons of Burnham at exactly 12:00PM GMT. The summary of the Decree was the following:

• Basileus Justinian I would be known from now on as His Lordship Richard I, by the Grace of God, Lord of Clyro, Lord of Mercia. In addition, a Nobility would be formed from prominent Burnhamite politicians, to replace the dissolved People's Commons and political parties and candidatures.
• The Theodorist Regional Dominion of Burnham and its Land would from now on be known as the Region of Clyro, with His Lordship Richard I, by the Grace of God, Lord of Mercia as its ruling Lord.
• Counties would be renamed as Shires, and Settlerships would be renamed as Parishes.
• The Mercian Protestant Lay Church was to be founded, with Lord Richard I being its Lord Spiritual.
• Gorsedhs and Services would remain under their current management.
• Clyro will soon merge with a Kraj of the Noble Republic of Lurk to form a nation known as Mercia, with President Alex White of Lurk (also known as Karl Friedrich) becoming Lord Temporal of the nation.

Following this declaration, which was received by the Grand Unified Micronational, the Würtige Empire and all significant former Burnham rooms, work began on reforming the legislature and the services so that their names and structure would conform with the new system. The Clyro Reforms have since been expanded upon and reformed in the years following their decreeing; the positions of Lords Temporal and Spiritual are known in common parlance as 'the Diarchy'. Parishes are now referred to as Hundreds, Shires have become Counties once more, and the Mercian Parliament House has become a unicameral legislature of democratically elected members chosen from the Nobility. Furthermore, the Mercian Protestant Lay Church has become the Mercian Christian Church, an Episcopal Baptist body that focuses on catering to the needs of all Christians within the Diarchy's realms.

Mercian Hegemony (9th February 2014 - Present)

The Region of Clyro formed an alliance of crowns with the Archduchy of Loringia and created the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Council of the Diarchal crowns of the Disciples (known as Mercia) on the 9th February 2014. This began a time of shared culture and collaboration between Clyro, Loringia and the Noble Republic of Lurk, which shared Loringian lands in condominium.

The Holy Empire of New Israel, formerly an enemy of Clyro (see the Freedomian Aggression), agreed to join Mercia as a territorial concession on the 7th October 2014, closely followed by the Republic of Covanellis on the 13th. Covanellis signed the Treaty of Concession on the day it agreed to join, and New Israel signed the Treaty on the 18th October 2014. However, both nations ended up leaving the Mercian sphere of influence, Covanellis first, and then New Israel after unconstitutionally trying to leave the Würtige Empire, of which it had been elevated to being an Autonomous Member State. New Israel was unceremoniously removed from the Empire by the Reichsrat's 'Expulsion of New Israel Bill' which passed unanimously and was ratified on the 9th September 2015.