Empire of New Providence

Empire of New Providence
Flag Coat of Arms
Motto Explōratōrēs Sumus, Impavida et Audāx Explorers are We, Intrepid and Bold (English)
Kerguelen Islands, France
Official language	English
Demonym	New Providencian
Government	imperial confederation
- Empress	Violette I
Formation	1 February 2018
Area Claimed	8380 km² (3236 mi²)
Population	2
Date format	dd-mm-yyyy
Time zone	UTC+5:00

The Empire of New Providence, commonly shortened to New Providence, is a secessionist entity that aims to control and colonize the Kerguelen Islands and other nearby Southern Indian Ocean islands. It was founded by long-time micronationalist Violette "Suzuki" Clingersmith on 1 February 2018. The Empire itself is treated as a confederation of semi-independent states united under a common cause and government.

Etymology

New Providence gets it name from the 1988 picture book New Providence: A Changing Cityscape, by Renata von Tshcarner and Ronald Lee Fleming. The book was discovered by Suzuki Leōcor in a 1993 elementary English textbook, Don't Forget to Fly, published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. The name New Providence was originally proposed by Leōcor during the foundation of Drew Star Line in 2005, but was not supported by the majority of the micronation's creators at the time.

History

New Providence was founded on 1 February 2018 by micronationalist Violette "Suzuki" Clingersmith, the fifth micronation she had a hand in creating since 2005. Her original plans were to create a sovereign state on the sub-antarctic Kerguelen Islands, similar to the scrapped plans for the micronation of Sunþrawegaz, also created by Clingersmith. These plans were all abandoned on 1 March in favor a federation of household republics. This plan fell through by the summer, however, and New Providence was left without direction for several months. In September, Clingersmith announced that she would be overhauling the entirety of New Providence. She proclaimed herself Empress Violette I on 13 September, the 13th anniversary of her debut in micronationalism through the co-founding of Drew Star Line in 2005. Planned imperial decrees were postponed due to the impact of Hurricane Florence in Clingersmith's hometown, but the first, issued on 2 October, reaffirmed the original territorial ambitions towards the Kerguelen Islands. The same imperial decree also established the empire on a federation basis, with regions of the Kerguelen Islands to be granted to "deserving citizens of the Empire."

The federational land grant system was met with failure to garner enough active support from both inside New Providence and in the micronational community as a whole. In November 2018, Clingersmith, Nicholas Kaos of Pacem, and Shiro Mephistopheles of Zenrax, got together in an attempt to merge their three micronations. By December it was obvious that the merger was a nonstarter, but many of the details envisioned for the merger were incorporated into Mephistopheles's new micronation of Dragos. By the end of 2018 there Clingersmith made many statements to the effect that she was unsure of what New Providence's future would be, or if it would continue into the next year. However, on 29 December, she hit upon a revised governmental system that allowed individuals to be granted small plots of land in return for giving service to New Providence's imperial government. A system of incentives was put into place which allowed individuals to expand their land grants on the Kerguelen Islands, land that would legally be theirs upon settlement. The new government, described as an imperial confederation, was unveiled to the public on 30 December 2018.

Government

According to Imperial Decree Number One, New Providence is headed by an emperor or empress. The currently reigning Empress is Violette "Suzuki" Leōcor, who crowned herself Violette I on 13 September 2018. New Providence is divided into 28 regions, each of which is to be granted over time by Empress Violette I to "deserving citizens of the Empire." These "deserving citizens" will be styled as Imperial Governors, and will have full right to form whatever government they choose within their given region provided they obey the laws of New Providence as a whole. These Imperial Governors also have the right to form an Imperial Council, which is tasked with advising the Empress and issuing its own imperial decrees affecting policy. Provisions are also in place for a democratically elected parliament to form after all 28 regions have functioning governments and the Kerguelen Islands are colonized.

Internal Divisions

New Providence is a confederation of various micronational entities, which are grouped into three main categories: Dietary Estates, semi-independent realms with their own cultural, economic and political agendas; Imperial Estates, dependent realms which are managed and represented by the Empire directly; and Imperial Territories, realms set aside for future usage. Both Dietary and Imperial Estates have elected representation in the Imperial Parliament, but only Dietary Estates are represented in the Imperial Diet. Imperial Estates are caucused together to elect a single official to represent their interests in the Imperial Diet.

Dietary Estates

Flag	Name	Formation	Pop.	Merit	Capital	Dietitian	Parliamentarian
	Oíche, Principality of	30 December 2018	1	50	Loinnir	Nicholas Kaos
	San Dover, Principality of	30 December 2018	1	50	Hadlow	Violette Clingersmith