Saturday, July 15, 2006
Commentary: The Lichtenbad Crisis
Some of our readers have been asking me, since the Interview with Emperor Edgard II of Alexandria, about the Lichtenbad Crisis, which was mentioned in the article. I felt it would be a good idea to present our first commentary on this most recent of Micronational enthrallments.

The Archduchy of Lichtenbad was a very short-lived micronation. I realize that's nothing new, since many projects fail rather quickly. What made Lichtenbad unique was that it's founder, Archduchess Marie-Valtraude, has been in micronations now for a few years, and has begun no less than 8 different micronational entities. That, in itself, isn't really too remarkable, but each project begun by her have faded away much sooner than they should have.

In order to help encourage participation by it's citizens, the Archduchess began elections for public office. The plan worked, as around half a dozen people began to campaign feverishly. At first, I was quite impressed and happy to see that the nation not only had a good base of interested people, but that the democratic process was going so well. There were banners, adverts, debates - everything you would expect from a healthy election period.

As the elections went on, I had a chat with the Archduchess. She mentioned to me that the elections were entirely controlled by her, with the results, etc going the way she wanted them. At first, I thought to myself - "This is a really clever idea. It brings about activity by way of 'campaigning', and gives everyone something constructive to do." What I didn't know, however, was that the people of Lichtenbad who were really real - you know - the ones who are actual people trying to build a country? Those people didn't know about the way the election was to be fixed. They were honestly trying (at least some - the ones I talked to) to get elected so they could do some good and move Lichtenbad along. When I found that out, I was bothered a bit.

Now we move on to post-election. There were some people whom the Archduchess professed not to like very much - yet she had no choice but to allow them some sort of governmental position. Even though she role-played the results, and determined the winner, those who lost still gained seats in Parliament. This was the result of few people, and many positions. In order to remove a couple of the more "agressive" political figures, the Archduchess staged a terrorist attack, which occurred during a Parade. Obviously there was no such attack, it was merely a tool for eliminating those she didn't want in government.

My biggest problem with this lies in the fact that terrorism is a very real, very frightening aspect of our macronational lives. It's a serious matter, not to be tossed about lightly in role-play. Being that the attacks were role-played, the people who were subsequently blamed were, of course, innocent of any wrongdoing. But that didn't stop the newly appointed Chancellor from pressing charges, and having people arrested. The Archduchess turned over full control of the government to the Chancellor, who wasted no time in abusing her new found powers.

The people arrested were Lichtenbader patriots in the sense that they joined the nation, and participated quite heavily. Their viewpoints and such may not have been in line with the monarchy or those in the Archduchess' inner circle, but isn't that part of what makes a micronation more fun, and truly democratic? Varying points of view and opinions are neccessary in order to properly fuel the population into participating. The enjoyment of participation, however, was removed from these people by the actions of the nation's founder.

Enter complete and utter chaos. One of the shunned government officials formed up his own army to combat the Chancellor and the martial law she'd instated. Then other nations, some at the behest of the Lichtenbad government, and some just for the sheer fun that comes along with invading another nation, joined in the fray. Before the situation could be concluded though, the Archduchess basically took her nation and wiped it off the face of the internet, on her own, in one fell swoop. Just like that, The Archduchy of Lichtenbad, and all the hard work of her people was gone. No trace remains aside from some posts in other nations: in Alexandria about the Crisis: and a few posts in Stormark from the Archduchess. There may be others, but that's about it.

So ends the saga of Lichtenbad. I have little doubt that most will have forgotten this little piece of Micronational history before too long - but it was still an interesting story that bore repeating.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer only, and are not indicative of any official position(s) held by the Emperor or Government of the Viking Empire of Stormark.
 
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