Home - History and Archive
Welcome to the archived Grand Commonwealth website
(for the original homepage click on Home)
About this Archive:
This site is the original Grand Commonwealth website, published with Blogger, and originally hosted at the now defunct MN Centre, but now relocated to Blogspot. All internal and external links have been restored or updated where possible, and all essential images have been either restored or replaced. The original message board is no longer available, although remnants of it may be found at the Internet Archive (see the index on the left).
The History of the Grand Commonwealth:
Genesis
The concept of a new large micronational union was first thought of in October 2004 when the then leaders of the Republic of Aerlig and the Sovereign Order of Treesia (respectively Lachlan Powers and Sir Iain de Vembria) considered the state of the MCS micronational world, realised that it had been a long time since the last great micronational union, and looked at the possibility of trying something new and doing some proper empire-building of their own.
Treesia had also recently been restored to the MCS map following the earlier swift and controversial removal of the Apollo Foundation territories (of most of the former Apollo nations), so it was also considered an opportunity to try and restore as many of those territories as possible as part of a functioning micronation.
More details of this period can be read here: Beginnings of the Grand Commonwealth
Evolution
Aerlig and Treesia soon invited the Empire of Lemuria to join them, the latter being the latest in a long line of micronations founded by Sander Dieleman, which led to one suggestion (later discarded) of creating most of the new empire out of all the former "Sandernations". A secret forum was provided by Lemuria in which to hold the discussions.
Extinction
A citizen of Aerlig, Joe Sendler, stated that he would support it joining this new union if two other micronations could be persuaded to join, so after some research Antica and Arminy were approached and invited. However, by the end of the year, both had decided against the move, and the project was looking extremely dead. Ironically, Arminy later spent an unsuccessful few months as part of the Republic of Shireroth before fading away forever, while its leader, Johanns von Klosso, had already written the Articles that became the basis of the eventual Charter of the Grand Commonwealth.
Resurrection
In January 2005 inspiration struck Treesia, and the surprisingly moribund Kingdom of Babkha was invited to join. The initial response was enthusiastic, as the proposal was seen as a means of much-needed domestic revival, as well as an interesting new direction to head in. It led to a federal Babkhan-style government being used for the Grand Commonwealth, as it was the most complete system available of all the members' governments at the time. Babkha's Persian theme was also the inspiration for the Persepolis theme adopted for the forum and this site, as well as the later introduction of the Sol Invictus cult.
Ascension
At around this time the Empire of Lemuria's forum experienced a fatal database failure, which led to a loss of most data, so a new secret forum was used, Failte House in Treesia. In March 2005, a close friend of Treesia, Alteria, agreed to join the union. The target number of five nations was thus finally achieved and preparations went ahead for the eventual launch of the Grand Commonwealth on 28th April 2005.
Incredibly, although the intelligence services of other potential micronational competitors had been aware of the initial involvement of Arminy and Antica, they were completely unaware of any later developments until less than a fortnight before the final launch, and only then thanks to the careless talk of an errant Babkhan.
Revelations
The first few weeks and months of the new Grand Commonwealth were, to say the least, interesting. The new supermicronation was seen as a great enemy of most neighbouring established micronations, thanks mostly to an inspired propaganda campaign that was masterminded by Emperor Diga of Attera, and enthusiastically implemented by Scott of Hyperborea, a former Treesian and Apollonian, keenly followed by other old Apollonians such as Bill Dusch. This swiftly resulted in the Grand Commonwealth being called "The Great Satan".
Over the next year or so, the Grand Commonwealth gained new members and protectorates in the form of Calundy, Hurmu, Istvanistan, Karnali, Interland, Novaya Zemlya, Oscland and Treithar, while Lemuria left and Treesia and Aerlig merged, reviving the United Baronies name used by Treesia between 2001 and 2004, the new full name being the United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia (or UBAT).
The arbitary reduction of some of the Grand Commonwealth's territories on the MCS map as part of its infamous Atkins Plan in 2006 was the final catalyst in the sequence of events that led to the controversial establishment of the rival Geographical Standards Organisation.
For the most significant news stories about the Grand Commonwealth up to its second anniversary in April 2007, please read the Apollo Fireball V's Grand Commonwealth Archives.
Exodus
Finally, in the summer of 2007, the new leaders of the United Baronies, Lachlan Powers and Liam Sinclair, decided that the Grand Commonwealth had served its purpose and withdrew, though not without a struggle, as the Grand-Commonwealth government tried to ensure that the United Baronies left in accordance with the terms of the federal charter. In parallel, a growing independence movement in Babkha, supported by Oscland, generated absurd levels of activity, and generally prospered through the simple expedient of mostly ignoring the federal government.
In September 2007, Powers and Sinclair, who still administered the federal forums, are believed to have taken advantage of the vacation period and closed the forum when no-one was looking, thus conveniently and immediately ending all realistic functioning of the Grand Commonwealth. The forum remained in that locked-down state until Powers closed the MN Centre hosting account about a year later, which also resulted in the loss of the by then neglected United Baronies forums and the sudden closure of the long-standing and popular Micronations.Net forums, which later reappeared as an archive hosted by Sinclair.
Coda
The only known surviving former members of the Grand Commonwealth are Babkha, Istvanistan and the United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia (as Imperium Incognita).
Babkha's hyperactivity after it sabotaged the Grand Commonwealth inevitably waned over the next year. At the beginning of 2009 the Kingdom reinvented itself somewhat differently, as a non-micronational members' club of dubious repute and doubtful provenance, known as the Villainous Order of Babkhan Blackfriars, the mainstay of which was forum-based pub banter and occasional visits to pubs in London. While this strategy met with limited success, nostalgia for the old days and old ways eventually started making itself felt, and the inevitable return to being a micronational kingdom occurred in August 2010.
Istvanistan continues in much the same way as it had before, namely the intermittant and somewhat surreal conversations in its famed Off Topic forum.
United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia: following its succession from the Grand Commonwealth in the summer of 2007, the interest of the remaining government comprising Powers, Sinclair and Ardashir Khan gradually reduced. At some point, instead of formally closing down the nation, a series of fake technical problems was introduced to render its forum inaccessible and inoperable. A brief revival attempt by former Treesia Chancellor Sir Iain de Vembria in the Spring of 2008 was unexpectedly brought to a halt when these technical problems were reintroduced.
The nation remained moribund until October 2008, when it was caught up in the infamous incident where Powers and Sinclair, having secretly decided to retire from micronationary, one night immediately removed all the micronational sites that they hosted, including both UBAT and Micronations.Net. The latter returned as a website only within a week, thanks to the efforts of de Vembria. Meanwhile, reusing a nearly-new forum that was once intended to be used by a breakaway Treesia, UBAT was united with the almost defunct New-Empire to form Imperium Incognita (named after the Jasidog Terra Incognita SMF theme), which was formally launched at the beginning of 2009, thus regaining a foothold on the MCS map after an absence of almost three years.
While the complete UBAT forum is believed to remain in the private possession of Sinclair, the original forums and websites of its eleven constituent nations can be accessed via the Historical Index.
Afterthought
One has to wonder what might have been if the Grand Commonwealth had not been brought to its untimely demise by the sabotage from within of those who had benefited from it the most.
(for the original homepage click on Home)
About this Archive:
This site is the original Grand Commonwealth website, published with Blogger, and originally hosted at the now defunct MN Centre, but now relocated to Blogspot. All internal and external links have been restored or updated where possible, and all essential images have been either restored or replaced. The original message board is no longer available, although remnants of it may be found at the Internet Archive (see the index on the left).
The History of the Grand Commonwealth:
Genesis
The concept of a new large micronational union was first thought of in October 2004 when the then leaders of the Republic of Aerlig and the Sovereign Order of Treesia (respectively Lachlan Powers and Sir Iain de Vembria) considered the state of the MCS micronational world, realised that it had been a long time since the last great micronational union, and looked at the possibility of trying something new and doing some proper empire-building of their own.
Treesia had also recently been restored to the MCS map following the earlier swift and controversial removal of the Apollo Foundation territories (of most of the former Apollo nations), so it was also considered an opportunity to try and restore as many of those territories as possible as part of a functioning micronation.
More details of this period can be read here: Beginnings of the Grand Commonwealth
Evolution
Aerlig and Treesia soon invited the Empire of Lemuria to join them, the latter being the latest in a long line of micronations founded by Sander Dieleman, which led to one suggestion (later discarded) of creating most of the new empire out of all the former "Sandernations". A secret forum was provided by Lemuria in which to hold the discussions.
Extinction
A citizen of Aerlig, Joe Sendler, stated that he would support it joining this new union if two other micronations could be persuaded to join, so after some research Antica and Arminy were approached and invited. However, by the end of the year, both had decided against the move, and the project was looking extremely dead. Ironically, Arminy later spent an unsuccessful few months as part of the Republic of Shireroth before fading away forever, while its leader, Johanns von Klosso, had already written the Articles that became the basis of the eventual Charter of the Grand Commonwealth.
Resurrection
In January 2005 inspiration struck Treesia, and the surprisingly moribund Kingdom of Babkha was invited to join. The initial response was enthusiastic, as the proposal was seen as a means of much-needed domestic revival, as well as an interesting new direction to head in. It led to a federal Babkhan-style government being used for the Grand Commonwealth, as it was the most complete system available of all the members' governments at the time. Babkha's Persian theme was also the inspiration for the Persepolis theme adopted for the forum and this site, as well as the later introduction of the Sol Invictus cult.
Ascension
At around this time the Empire of Lemuria's forum experienced a fatal database failure, which led to a loss of most data, so a new secret forum was used, Failte House in Treesia. In March 2005, a close friend of Treesia, Alteria, agreed to join the union. The target number of five nations was thus finally achieved and preparations went ahead for the eventual launch of the Grand Commonwealth on 28th April 2005.
Incredibly, although the intelligence services of other potential micronational competitors had been aware of the initial involvement of Arminy and Antica, they were completely unaware of any later developments until less than a fortnight before the final launch, and only then thanks to the careless talk of an errant Babkhan.
Revelations
The first few weeks and months of the new Grand Commonwealth were, to say the least, interesting. The new supermicronation was seen as a great enemy of most neighbouring established micronations, thanks mostly to an inspired propaganda campaign that was masterminded by Emperor Diga of Attera, and enthusiastically implemented by Scott of Hyperborea, a former Treesian and Apollonian, keenly followed by other old Apollonians such as Bill Dusch. This swiftly resulted in the Grand Commonwealth being called "The Great Satan".
Over the next year or so, the Grand Commonwealth gained new members and protectorates in the form of Calundy, Hurmu, Istvanistan, Karnali, Interland, Novaya Zemlya, Oscland and Treithar, while Lemuria left and Treesia and Aerlig merged, reviving the United Baronies name used by Treesia between 2001 and 2004, the new full name being the United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia (or UBAT).
The arbitary reduction of some of the Grand Commonwealth's territories on the MCS map as part of its infamous Atkins Plan in 2006 was the final catalyst in the sequence of events that led to the controversial establishment of the rival Geographical Standards Organisation.
For the most significant news stories about the Grand Commonwealth up to its second anniversary in April 2007, please read the Apollo Fireball V's Grand Commonwealth Archives.
Exodus
Finally, in the summer of 2007, the new leaders of the United Baronies, Lachlan Powers and Liam Sinclair, decided that the Grand Commonwealth had served its purpose and withdrew, though not without a struggle, as the Grand-Commonwealth government tried to ensure that the United Baronies left in accordance with the terms of the federal charter. In parallel, a growing independence movement in Babkha, supported by Oscland, generated absurd levels of activity, and generally prospered through the simple expedient of mostly ignoring the federal government.
In September 2007, Powers and Sinclair, who still administered the federal forums, are believed to have taken advantage of the vacation period and closed the forum when no-one was looking, thus conveniently and immediately ending all realistic functioning of the Grand Commonwealth. The forum remained in that locked-down state until Powers closed the MN Centre hosting account about a year later, which also resulted in the loss of the by then neglected United Baronies forums and the sudden closure of the long-standing and popular Micronations.Net forums, which later reappeared as an archive hosted by Sinclair.
Coda
The only known surviving former members of the Grand Commonwealth are Babkha, Istvanistan and the United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia (as Imperium Incognita).
Babkha's hyperactivity after it sabotaged the Grand Commonwealth inevitably waned over the next year. At the beginning of 2009 the Kingdom reinvented itself somewhat differently, as a non-micronational members' club of dubious repute and doubtful provenance, known as the Villainous Order of Babkhan Blackfriars, the mainstay of which was forum-based pub banter and occasional visits to pubs in London. While this strategy met with limited success, nostalgia for the old days and old ways eventually started making itself felt, and the inevitable return to being a micronational kingdom occurred in August 2010.
Istvanistan continues in much the same way as it had before, namely the intermittant and somewhat surreal conversations in its famed Off Topic forum.
United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia: following its succession from the Grand Commonwealth in the summer of 2007, the interest of the remaining government comprising Powers, Sinclair and Ardashir Khan gradually reduced. At some point, instead of formally closing down the nation, a series of fake technical problems was introduced to render its forum inaccessible and inoperable. A brief revival attempt by former Treesia Chancellor Sir Iain de Vembria in the Spring of 2008 was unexpectedly brought to a halt when these technical problems were reintroduced.
The nation remained moribund until October 2008, when it was caught up in the infamous incident where Powers and Sinclair, having secretly decided to retire from micronationary, one night immediately removed all the micronational sites that they hosted, including both UBAT and Micronations.Net. The latter returned as a website only within a week, thanks to the efforts of de Vembria. Meanwhile, reusing a nearly-new forum that was once intended to be used by a breakaway Treesia, UBAT was united with the almost defunct New-Empire to form Imperium Incognita (named after the Jasidog Terra Incognita SMF theme), which was formally launched at the beginning of 2009, thus regaining a foothold on the MCS map after an absence of almost three years.
While the complete UBAT forum is believed to remain in the private possession of Sinclair, the original forums and websites of its eleven constituent nations can be accessed via the Historical Index.
Afterthought
One has to wonder what might have been if the Grand Commonwealth had not been brought to its untimely demise by the sabotage from within of those who had benefited from it the most.
