Knuffeldierland

Knuffeldierland
Flag The nazar (official emblem)
Capital	None official
Official languages	Afrikaans Dutch English German
Religion	Christianity (Church of Knuffeldierland)
Demonym(s)	Knuffel
Government	Presidential republic
• Eternal External Ruler (ceremonial)	Eddie
• President	Stephan Greys
• Vice-President	Zabëlle Skye
• Prime Minister	Fluffy Smith (suspended)
• Prime Minister	Casper Greys
• Head Minister, Speaker of the House	Chloe Greys
Legislature	The National Council
• Upper house	Ruling House
• Lower house	Room of Peasants
Establishment	1 September 2023

Knuffeldierland, known unofficially in the MicroWiki sector as Newer Eiffel, is a simulationist micronation—a bedroom nation and plush nation—located in the upstairs London bedroom of Zabëlle Skye. Established on 1 September 2023, it has about 70 citizens, most of whom are stuffed toys (plushies).

Etymology

The name is derived from Dutch knuffeldier ("stuffed animal toy; an animal plush toy or plushie") + the English suffix -land ("used to form the name of a territory, macronation or region"), which can be translated as "plush animal land". Coined by founder Zabëlle Skye on 1 September 2023, he chose Dutch over English to avoid the name's meaning being directly obvious, and because he liked the Dutch word for plushie, knuffel, which also means "hug".

Until 29 August 2024, the official, formal name of Knuffeldierland was the Micronate of the Principality of Newer Eiffel, the Bedroom Nation — the State of Plüschtiere (Knuffeldierland). The name was originally conceived by Skye to be as unnecessarily elongated as possible, and he took inspiration from a prior micronation attempt by him, Harmonia, the Forest Nation — the State of Vrede, which he conceived on 24 May 2023.

Micronate referred to a micronation as a hypothetical system of government. "Principality of Newer Eiffel" referenced the erstwhile Principality of New Eiffel, a micronation founded by Skye that existed between 11 August 2018 and 1 November 2020. The State of Plüschtiere is the only state of Knuffeldierland, which thus constitutes the entirety of the micronation; Plüschtiere is the German word for "plush toys". Skye repealed the official name after having grown to dislike its unnecessary length, and in order to distance it from New Eiffel, which he does not believe is in any way related to Knuffeldierland.

History

Zabëlle Skye's previous micronations

Skye initially became interested in micronationalism in late 2017, and established the Republic of New Finland on 31 December. Originally claiming land in Pretoria, South Africa, Skye laid claim to his residence in London, England on 4 January 2018. New Finland transitioned into a monarchy on 4 June, and became dormant in mid- or late July. Between 28 July and 3 August, he headed a short-lived plush toy micronation that claimed a portion of his (now former) bedroom. Its name is believed to have been lost. On 11 August, he established the Principality of New Eiffel as the successor state to New Finland, which inevitably existed until its dissolution on 1 November 2020. Throughout its existence, it had been considerably influential in the MicroWiki sector.

Knuffeldierland

The Church of Knuffeldierland

On 1 September 2023, Skye officially proclaimed the micronation of Knuffeldierland. On 29 February 2024—to mark the leap year—he created a nanonation within Knuffeldierland called the Divine Sovereign Animist Micronate of Newest Eiffel. Dedicated to Animism, it claimed a makeshift shelf in west of Ruhiger-Ort Province; Skye dissolved the nanonation on 31 August, worrying it might be blasphemous. On 24 March, Knuffeldierland founded the United Nanonations (UN), a humours intermicronational organisation that's membership is excluded to nanonations. Notably, Newest Eiffel never became a member state of the organisation. On 16 April, Knuffeldierland laid claim to the former territory of mainland New Eiffel (save for the territory of Knuffeldierland itself), designating the area as the unincorporated State of Old Eiffel.

Since 24 August, Knuffeldierland has been hosting the 2024 Micronational Rock Paper Scissors Tournament in association with the Micronational Olympic Federation. With 32 attending micronations, it is the largest micronational sporting event in history by number of micronations participating. Measured by individual participants, the 2020 MOF Games hosted by the Gymnasium State is the largest with 52 athletes representing 19 micronations.

Geography

Knuffeldierland claims a single bedroom, roughy 5.55 m² (60 ft²), in size. The room itself was constructed in June 1936.

Provinces

Knuffeldierland has a single state, the State of Plüschtiere, which constitutes the entire micronation and contains four provinces:

Flag	Province	Location
State of Plüschtiere
	Oben Province	A standing bed, the bed's headboard and bedside table.
	Niedrig Province	The foyer, two shelfs of various objects, office chair, table, basket, dehumidifier, coat rack and radiator.
	Ruhiger-Ort Province	The underside of the standing bed, with various shelves, storage units, containers and boxes.
	Collective Exclaved Provincial Entities of Blackwood, Kunstland and the Upper Obens – Die Vier Regale	Four exclaved shelves; two above Niedrig Province and two above Oben Province.