Tarsicia

Editor's Note: This article was written in 2004 or early 2005 for the MicroWiki and may be out of date. Tarsicia (variously 'Imperial Republic of Tarsicia,' 'Kingdom of Tarsicia,' 'Principality of Tarsicia,' 'New Holy Roman Empire (Tarsicia),' 'Empire of Tarsicia,' 'Holy Empire of Tarsicia,' 'Republic of Tarsicia,' and 'Tarsician National Authority')was a micronation founded by teenager Peter Luckett on Good Friday, April 21, 2000. Went through a number of changes in name, title of the Sovereign, designation of the legislature, and system of government until its eventual dissolution in June of 2003. One of the constants of Tarsicia is that, for the majority of its history, it was a monarchy. The sovereign (whose official title was constantly changed according to his own wishes) was semi-absolute ruler by divine right. Since for its first year and a half of existence it was a de facto Catholic theocracy, Luckett claimed to be the Papal deputy to the nation, thus able to issue religious decrees that his Catholic subjects were obliged to follow. The head of government, titled the Supreme Chancellor, was another constant of the nation's government. In theory, the Chancellor could propose laws, represent the nation to other states, countersign legislation that is passed to him before handed to the sovereign for its final approval, and form state policy. In practice, the Chancellor was more of a red herring for Luckett, on whom he could blame a goodly deal of what went wrong. Legislatures in Tarsicia were always somewhat of a formality, which often provided another convenient scapegoat for Luckett in case one of his plans never came to fruition. The first legislative/consultative assembly of the Tarsician nation was known as the "High Council," which was a group of five ministers who were theoretically popularly elected. The duties of High Council members were to exercise semi-independent jurisdiction over their respective ministries as well as to vote on legislation that the sovereign suggested. Later legislatures would be entirely theoretical, with Luckett, as sovereign, exercising absolute authority under the guise of democratic process. During the final months of Tarsician history, the government was a provisional administration with Luckett, now titled President of the National Authority, being the Steward and future monarch of the Tarsician nation. A constitution based heavily on the Fifth World philosophy of Cesidio Tallini mixed with inspiration taken from Germanic and Nordic tribal systems was created, perpetuating the monarchy but limiting its power to the decisions of a Council of Elders, which could depose the monarch. One unique feature of this draft constitution was its elaboration on the right of challenge, under which any citizen over the age of sixteen could, with a good deal of signatures on a petition, challenge the Monarch to a ritualized duel in which the victor would either assume the throne or continue his reign depending on who won. If a Monarch's throne was unchallenged, royal succession was to be through appointment and, if possible, heredity. The nation would be subdivided into units called tribes, which would be internally self-governing but still owe allegience to the central monarchy. Recent plans to revive Tarsicia with a symbolic monarchy and fully-functioning legislature fell through when Luckett lost contact with former Tarsician foreign minister Giorgis Tsilis and when all of the former citizens displayed a lack of interest in reviving the project.