Empire of Sylnovia
The Empire of Sylnovia, also known as simply Sylnovia, is a micronation located in the U.S state of Michigan. It was created on 16 April 2023 by the current Emperor William Brown after he dissolved his previous micronation, Terredepaix that same day. As such, Sylnovia is considered the successor state to Terredepaix. It is governed as a Benevolent Dictatorship led by the President, who was formerly known as the "Supreme Leader" before then-President Brown changed the leader title quickly after then-Woodlandia's inception.
Sylnovia has diplomatic relations with many micronations, such as the Second Kingdom of Paxaris, which is led by President Brown's best friend, THIM Xander I. On 30 April 2023, President Brown announced his exodus from the Micronational Peace Alliance (known as “Woodbye”,) which occurred on 1 May at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Woodlandia was a member state and High Council and Parliament member of the alliance before Woodlandia’s exodus and the alliance’s later collapse.
Empire of Sylnovia | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: “Long live the Emperor, our nation, and our people.” | |
| Anthem: “https://youtu.be/j3S8wdJhgac?si=AS5G5XB2E1d4z0SJ” | |
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| Capital | Twin Tree City |
| Official languages | English |
| Demonym(s) | Sylnovian |
| Government | Semi-constitutional meritocratic monarchy |
• Emperor | William I |
• Prime Minister | Xander Mintz (Acting) |
| Legislature | Imperial Parliament |
| Establishment | 16 April 2023 |
• Installation of the Empire | 1 October 2023 |
| Currency | U.S. Dollar |
| Time zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Date format | MM/DD/YYYY |
| Driving side | right |
Etymology
According to Emperor William Brown, Sylnovia is a shortened version of “Sylvanovia" which combines "sylvan," which is associated with woodlands and forests, with the "-ovia" suffix to give it a unique and appealing sound. This name reflects the nation's deep connection to nature.
History
April 2023
Sylnovia was created on April 16, 2023 at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time after President Brown decided to dissolve his previous micronation, Terredepaix, after he came back from a long break from micronationalism and decided to start over again. Immediately after that, Woodlandia began expanding its online presence, creating a Discord server and a Subreddit. It also joined the Micronational Peace Alliance (MPA) as soon as it was formed. Over the first few days of Woodlandia's existence, President Brown created government Ministries and organizations, as well as a state newspaper. On April 23, 2023 at 4:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, a new piece of land was added to the territory of Woodlandia, which consists of President Brown's Mother's property located a few miles east of the Woodlandian mainland. On April 30, 2023 at the Woodlandia 2023 MPACon presentation (which ended up being the only MPACon that year,) President Brown announced his intention and initiative to withdrawal Woodlandia from the Micronational Peace Alliance, which he referred to as “Woodbye.” The initial plan was for Woodlandia to leave the alliance the next day on May 1, 2023 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, however Woodbye set off a domino effect that eventually resulted in the dissolution of the MPA on May 1, 2023 at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Following the MPA’s dissolution, former MPA members decided to create their own alliances, hoping to fill the hole in which the MPA had left by dissolving, but these alliances were weak, decentralized, and didn’t get off the ground much at all. A solution was soon found to this problem, however, when a former MPA member proposed in the MPA server (now the Micronational Chat Server server) that a new, MPA-succeeding alliance that fixes all of the MPA’s problems that caused its downfall and eventual dissolution be made. After a few weeks of careful and planned out discussions and negotiations, the Micronational Diplomatic Alliance was formed on May 20, 2023, coincidental considering the MPA was also founded on the 20th in August of 2022.
May 2023
On May 27, 2023 after inactivity from the government due to the development of the Woodlandian constitution, a citizen of Woodlandia known as Darth decided to, with cooperation from President Brown, create the Citizen’s Committee For The Future Of Woodlandia (CCFTFOW,) a committee with the purpose of having the citizens of Woodlandia discuss what they want to see from the government so that non-government proper citizens of Woodlandia can also have a voice despite not being in Woodlandia government proper. The first act this committee made was having President Brown hold a poll for the Woodlandian citizens to see if they supported Woodlandia implementing a legislative body into the constitution, which would be officially implemented upon the constitution’s completion and adoption. The CCFTFOW never took off and the poll turned out to be a majority yes for the introduction of a legislative body, but President Brown decided against it as he continued writing the Woodlandian constitution, which is still under heavy development.
June 2023
President Brown realized he had more property than he previously thought, and so he decided to claim it for Woodlandia and add it to the Woodlandian territory on June 9, 2023 at 7:50 PM Eastern Standard Time.
August 2023
After a long hiatus, President Brown decided to return to micronationalism and Woodlandia when on August 25 he made an announcement on the Woodlandia discord server apologizing for his absence in Woodlandia and the micronational scene in general for the past few months. In this announcement he also declared that the national anthem of Woodlandia would be the song Rescued by the Foo Fighters, due to his enjoyment of the song and him thinking it was relatively fitting.
September 2023
After President Brown's promise to come back to Woodlandia and the micronational scene at large, he began talking more in the MPA and Woodlandia discord servers again, like he used to. On September 4, he announced his official presidential portrait, as well as celebrated the second Súkiad Dia (Paxaris Day) in the Woodlandia discord server. King Xander of Paxaris celebrated it there too. Both people made speeches regarding the event. A couple days later on September 7, President Brown showed the map of Woodlandia's new territory that it had gained in June. The map took a while to make because of the hiatus. On September 10, 2023 President Brown signed the treaty of the MPA, officially making it a part of the alliance once more. Also on this day, President Brown decided to give the Woodlandia discord server a makeover, putting emojis in text channel and category names, using different fonts for the channels and server title, etc.
October 2023
On Sunday, 1 October, Woodlandia changed it's name to Sylnovia and morphed from a benevolent dictatorship to a monarchy. Emperor William's coronation was set to occur on 11 Oct 2023, but has since been delayed for unknown reasons.
On Oct 21st, Sylnovia joined the Entente of Sovereign States after a discussion with Ridgeland and Paxaris about the decision.
Politics and Government
Woodlandia is governed as a Semi-Constitutional Meritocratic Monarchy, with the Prime Minister serving as the Head of State for most affairs, however the Emperor does have control over some. Those power differences will be sorted shortly.
Geography
Sylnovia consists of the Mainland, which consists of a sizable wooded area, with many trees and a creek, which is a primary hunting spot for Sylnovians, a large garden, some houses including the Imperial Palace where the Emperor lives and works, a barn, and a dirt driveway. The Mainland's border is marked to its west by the road, the north and east by the trees of the woods, and the south by a dirt path that separates the Mainland from another property that is a part of the state of Michigan. Sylnovia also consists of an Exclave which is a few miles away from the Mainland, which consists of the President's secondary residence. The Exclave's border is marked to its west by a wired fence, its north by the road, its east by trees, and its south by a fence. Sylnovia has open borders.
Culture
Sylnovian culture is heavily influenced by nature, music, religion and wildlife. Nature and wildlife is all around Sylnovia, and the nation has embraced that. There is an oak tree featured on the flag which is supposed to represent the two giant oak trees in the backyard of the Presidential Palace, as well as the oak trees that can be found all over Sylnovia, and the capital is called Twin Tree City in honor of two large oak trees that are located in the city. The citizens of Sylnovia love music, and oftentimes music can be heard playing on speakers that most Sylnovians possess. A lot of citizens love rock and heavy metal music, but the majority have an eclectic taste in it. A decent amount of the population is religious, with Christianity being what most religious Sylnovians believe in. These Christians belong to the Protestant denomonation most commonly, Emperor Brown being one himself. Several bibles can be found around the nation. Sylnovia does not have a national religion, however religion does play a pretty big role in the culture of the nation. There is also a sizable athiest population. Emperor William was one for a while until he converted to Christianity in late August 2023. However, in recent times, his religious views have been a bit complicated, and he has stated that he is presently trying to figure out what he truly believes in.