Micronational musings

[Shyriath]

I've been having ideas for new micronations lately, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps when Ryan posted about his ideas a while back, it set something to work in my head? (Thanks a lot, Ryan, if you're reading this. *Shakes fist ineffectually*)

I don't intend to go off and start my own micronation, mind you... I am too loyal to Shireroth for that. But in lieu of this, I have to do something to keep the ideas from cluttering up my head. But of course! I will make them public, so I can get some form of reaction to them.

The one I'm going to describe here is one I'm not sure has been attempted before, or at least not in this way: suppose there were a micronation built around the theme of monasticism?

The inspiration for this came from Ryan's concept of a knightly order, which I thought sounded nifty in its own right, but of course it would have a less martial bent. In a way, it'd be a little like pre-invasion Tibet, in that the country would be dominated by powerful monasteries. Each monastery, and its associated monks, would have immediate rule over an area and set the tone of its culture; but not all monateries would be alike, in that even though they would share a basic set of tenets, they would be divided into a number of sects differing on other points.

Political and religious activity would therefore be less distinct than in, say, Shireroth, because the civil laws and the religious laws would blend into one another, which could prove an interesting cultural aspect. In particular, since each sect would essentually be its own subdivision, one could create a new one by coming up with a new set of tenets and getting enough people to profess it. And there could be religious wars between different sects, and all sorts of nifty things!

The form of government of each sect would largely be left up to them, though within the restraints of the religion as a whole. As for the national level, the legislative body would consist of the gathered sect leaders (or representatives, if appropriate) in something like one of the old ecumenical councils from the early Christian church... that is, a meeting meant to bring some for of standardization and codification to things affecting the whole religion, except that the actual councils were done only as needed, whereas this would likely be a more permanent or regular structure.

As far as a national executive or administrative branch, here I'm not sure. A problem with having a bunch of sects squabbling with each other over doctrine is that, realistically, none of them would want the head, or maybe even a member, of another sect to be supreme over them. I'm thinking that either the leadership rotates among the heads of the various sects regularly, or that there's a leadership separate from the sects... a religious head whose public persona is not affiliated with any one group, even if the actual person belongs to one (like how the Kaiser's persona is usually different from their everyday-citizen persona). Perhaps both systems could be used in conjunction somehow... I'd have to think about it some more...

The geographical situation of the micronation would be skewed toward relative difficulty of living... mountains, desert, icy (or, more fantastic... caverns?). The kind of place you would almost expect to find distant monasteries, using their inhospitable situation as a focus for contemplation. But that's not to say they'd restrict themselves completely to harsh realms... history is full of examples of powerful religions expanding their influence, moving away from their simple cores and into more worldly realms.

Annnd... well, that's all I've got for now. More speculation later, maybe.

[Kaiser Alejian II]

I like it!

[Bill3000]

I had planned on doing something like this with Elpidos. Problem with is that the religion would have been Soloralist, and thus no one would want to participate in it.

[Scott of Hyperborea]

How would you simulate monasticism in a way that prevented the monasteries from becoming just like provinces are in other nations?

[Shyriath]

I'm not sure. I know that it would be boring if they just ended up being like provinces in any other nation, but on the other hand, if they got too monastic... I mean, religious schooling and theological discussions have the potential to bore as well, if not done right. There's got to be some way to strike a balance in there, but I'm not sure what it is.

Of course, a lot of it depends on the actual religion, too. If it's new enough to be interesting, but not so strange that it confuses people, that could be a major boost. Dammit, maybe I should've kept the background material I wrote for Shirlan after all, it finally would've come in handy here...