Micronational Cartography Society

The MCS, organization in charge of micronational mapmaking.

History

The MCS was Founded by Erik Mortis and Scott Alexander near the fall of the Union of Apollo States. It was created to design a standardized system of maps, of an accepted quality, to be used by the entire micronational community. Its original members consisted of Shireroth and Hyperborea; shortly after Treesia and The Flying Islands of Jasonia joined the MCS. Metzler and Alexander served as the Society's co-leaders until the Menelmacari Civil War. When the two tried to divide up Menelmacar's land fairly between the two sides, both groups were outraged that the Society had failed to see things their way, and both helped tar the MCS leadership as unfair and incompetent. Annoyed with the effort of defending themselves, the two, while continuing to officially be in control, left day-to-day operations to Ryan Caruso and Ardashir Khan. Although Metzler and Alexander still technically run the organization, these days it is entirely Caruso who updates, makes decisions, and sets policy. Since its humble beginnings with two countries on a single continent, the MCS Map has gone to seven-ish continents and twenty members, and become a chief way in which micronations learn about each other and interact. The Micras Sector is the name given to the countries that interact through their presence on the map, which many people call Micras. In 2004, Caruso chose to add another continent and a few extra islands to the map in order to add space. Detractors argued that there was enough space already and that the new landmasses violated the Society's chief policy, that of cartographic consistency. Eventually, Caruso outlasted his opponents, and although not everyone is exactly happy, everyone agrees that for better or worse the new continents are indeed a part of the map.

Caruso is noted for standardizing much of the map's administration and adding a great deal of additional features to the map, such as the legend, numbering system, original MCS website, scales and conversions, and other such factors that had previously been left undefined. He also helped push for the organization of Micras' solar system, Atos, and designed the map of the moon, Tarsica. He was also interviewed, in May of 2007, by the Palais de Tokyo when they were running an exhibit on micronations, culminating in a wall-size map of Micras being placed on display in the museum.

Around 2008 Caruso retired from serving as Administrator-General and passed the reigns of the organization on to VC Vehendi, a prominent Belgian micronationalist. Vehendi ran the MCS for a year or two but then retired from the hobby himself. At this point Craitman (Adam Perryman) was chosen as Administrator-General and has served as head of the organization until present times (as of 2016).

Policies

The MCS will grant land to any micronation with at least three citizens, but larger countries get proportionally larger land grants. Nations can apply to expand their territory if their fortunes increase, but nations primarily get land from annexing others as colonies. The MCS is very big on cartographic consistency, and these days refuses to add any extra islands or to change the physical layout of the map to suit someone's needs. However, it has relaxed its policy on land swaps, and now allows countries to move places if it would be convenient for them.

Links

MCS Website

MCS Political Map

MCS Forum

Archive of Micronational Exhibit at Palais de Tokyo