Pacary

Pacary, Micronation of

Pacary was a micronation, founded on the principles of peace, that existed for almost, if not more than four years, from end 1998 until October 10th, 2002. (The exact founding date is unknown).

History

A relatively accurate history, taken from Mattias Dyble's "The Official History of Pacary".

The history of Pacary is not described in detail, as there are no other resources but memory. The information on this site may not be accurate.

Pacary started as a one man, inactive, unattractive, inefficient nation and had no contact with other micronations. After it was put online, it was neglected for about 6 months. After those six months, Pacary got a new site. After seeing the sites of other nations, it was clear that some work was needed.

Some nations were contacted, some citizens came. Then, the first elections began (end 2000, begin 2001). They took a lot longer than expected, but the first government was formed (called the reformation). We changed the site again. Not long after that, the site was completely renewed, and transfered to [Geocities. But it was clear the government did NOT work.

On proposal of the ADPP, which once was the promoter of the abancial government, we changed the form of government to a direct democracy (called the transformation). And not long after that, 03/21/2002, the people of Pacary accepted a law preposition to reorganize the government like so many times before. This proposal, "the Locke Proposal", was the start to the second transformation.

A bit after that, Locke became inactive. And another few weeks later there was a terrorist attack on the Tymaria forums by... Philip Locke. He and his companion William Jesmer both lost citizenship.

That's how Pacary comes to be like now. The history of Pacary is quite vague, as no written documents of former days are available.

Introduction

The history of Pacary is one of glory and despair, tragedy and hope, victory and despair. A historian's nightmare because of lack of documents and a storyteller's dream for the same reason.

Pacary is a lesson in perseverance and determination. After its humble beginnings as a one-man island, Pacary remained quiescent for quite some time. Suffering from inactivity and a lack of organization, the nation floundered until early March of 2002. Around that time Philip Locke stumbled upon a link in his first nation(1) that he had neglected to take when posted. The link took him to a small, semi-active board with a very bad color scheme.

Locke soon became interested in the tiny nation and requested citizenship. The request was granted and soon he and Sander Dieleman began having regular conversations. This was the beginning of the Second Reformation(2), the period of Pacarian past that this history focuses on.

The Locke Proposal

Within a week or so Dieleman and Locke were friends and were contemplating the future of Pacary. After looking about boards some more, Locke posted what is now known as the "Locke Proposal". Although the original document has been lost, its contents are still remembered.

The proposal outlined a plan that called for a total reformation of Pacary, from the forum to the government. Sander liked the plan and opened it up for public discussion. It soon became apparent that the few active citizens were fully for the plan, and so, on March 23, 2002, the Locke Proposal was put into effect.

Early Reconstruction

Sander took the initiative to redesign the Pacarian forum. On a suggestion from Locke and few others, he deleted most of the board and froze the rest of it. He seemed to suddenly regain a certain sense of fashion and spruced up the boards until it looked quite nice. While it still lacked the colorful graphics it now possesses, as well as the ticker and the interesting emoticons, it looked good enough to be the representation of a respectable micronation.

Locke advised Sander not to make to many forums until there was a greater population. So, at first there were only a few forums: General, Peoples' Congress, and the Department of Migration (then called the Office of Immigration). Soon after the Department of Interior was created.

Meanwhile, Locke began to write up the new constitution(3). He discussed what type of government Pacary would have and the two considered many options including a monarchy and a republic. It was finally agreed upon that direct democracy would be the name of game in Pacary. This went over well with the public. Soon after Locke posted the first copy of the constitution. Sander moved it to the Peoples' Congress for review and editing. After a few days, Locke called for a vote of ratification. The vote was supposed to last 72 hours but the entire electorate voted long before then, approving the document unanimously.

The original constitution was considerably different from the current Pacarian constitution. It created a handful of departments run by secretaries. These secretaries carried out day-to-day activities that pertained to their department. It also created a High Court run by High Magistrates. The military was to be controlled by the Strategos. The constitution called for the chancellor to appoint a Polemarch, which would rule in his absence and take care of minor duties that fell under control of the executive branch.

The original constitution, like that of todays, had a clause that established timed direct democracy. The old constitution also had articles that forbid the establishment of nobility and ruled out the possibility of Pacary being subdivided into states of any kind. As one can see from reading the modern constitution, the older one was much longer and much different.

Since the March Ratification the Polemarchship has been eliminated, the title Strategos is no longer used, and many articles (such as those which forbade nobility and subdivision) have been eliminated. On whole, the constitution of today is shorter and less detailed then its predecessor.

It would be wise to note at this point that during the ratification process Pacary had an influx of immigration(4). It was during this time that Liam Sinclair showed up on the scene, as did several others whose names escape me but very focal in the early Reconstruction.

The Early Reconstruction was the time of the first printing of the Pacar. At the time it was called the PD (Pacarian Dollar). Other economic and social events took place during this time, including the first mention of taxes and discussion about a possible Pacarian language and calendar. The old Yellow White and Red was created during the Reconstruction and has not been altered since. That is probably the only truly unaltered 'item' that remains from the Reconstruction.

This era in Pacarian history, the Early Reconstruction(5), was a time of much activity and excitement. While Pacary had not yet truly come out of its figurative shell, it was already begin to become more powerful. The board had be remade and beautified and the constitution ratified. Immigrants were flooding in. Well, flooding as much as immigrants can flood in micronations. And so, soon after the ratification, at the very end of March, it was declared that elections would be held in the near future.

The First Elections and Later Reconstruction

Elections were to last for three days, and all citizens interested in running for Chancellor were to fill out applications of intent as soon as possible. Sander and Locke conferred and created an elections forum to facilitate the upcoming event. The elections caused a good deal of excitement and were very good in boosting morale, for citizens took this as yet another sign that Pacary was progressing as planned.

Meanwhile, the people bestowed upon Sander the position of Interim Chancellor. Graciously accepting the office, Sander's first move was to fill up government positions. Scott Alexander was made Strategos and High Magistrate. Dieleman appointed Locke Secretary of Interior, Chief of the Economy, Speaker of the People, and Director of Elections.

Meanwhile, a few citizens established businesses. Carree created a hotel that was the best (and only) hotel in the nation. William Jesmer/Burke joined and was made Secretary of Exterior. All of these newly appointed officials immediately set to work.

Those busy days before the first election constitute most of the Later Reconstruction. During this time Locke set the stages for the later Pacarian economy, created a citizen’s application, moderated the Peoples’ Congress, and participated a lot in general. William Jesmer/Burke forged relationships between Pacary and other micronations. Sander worked voraciously to improve the nation and brought in several new citizens. Dieleman’s leadership qualities shined during the Later Reconstruction even more then they did during the Early Reconstruction. Liam Sinclair got to work building up the Pacarian military and did a bloody good job. His work back then made PI and PM what it is today. Other citizens worked hard in their respective positions. Lena Larsson needs to be mentioned at this point, as she was an good, active citizen.

Days passed and things continued to go smoothly. Sander Dieleman announced that he would run for Chancellor. Locke did the same and the nation watched. Philip, realizing that most of the citizens were dreadfully loyal to Sander, decided that he’d have to make a few good speeches to turn the tide in his favor. He made a few lengthy posts, “speeches”, if you will. Most of them were bad but there were a few gems, well, more like dull pebbles, but still.

Sander countered this with ease, skillfully rebuttaling all of Locke’s points. On the day of the elections Locke came close to conceding, but decided to stay on just to make the whole process a tad more democratic. Sander won in a landslide(6) and Locke was happy to see this. It is good to remember that the entire electorate voted in the first election, yet another example of the level of activity at the time. 100% voter turnout is a beautiful thing.

The newly elected Dieleman made the normal ‘I’d like to thank all of my supporters’ speech and changed his title from Interim Chancellor to Chancellor. He made Carree Polemarch and had a friendly post-election chat with Philip Locke. The nation celebrated.

The EzBomb and Early Achievements of Dieleman

Since this is a history of the Reconstruction, not much can be said about Sander’s reign as Chancellor, since most of his term was after the Reconstruction. However, Dieleman did have a few early achievements in what could be considered the Later Reconstruction.

Sander opened up relationships between Pacary and a slew of other micronations. He created an EzBomb and sold it to the PDU for a sizable amount of money(7). During the virgin weeks of his term he built up the forum, encouraged activity, and with Sinclair, nourished the Pacarian Military.

The main early office highlight of Chancellor Dieleman was that he set several precedents. The first is one of amiability with defeated political opponents, for he did not even confiscate Locke’s positions during or after the election. The other precedent set by Sander was one of activity. Many times leaders disappear without warning and in doing so shatter the nation that they are supposed to protect. Sander did exactly the opposite: after elected chancellor he became more active!

The End of an Era

The Reconstruction did not end on a certain day or following a certain event. Rather, the Reconstruction ended when the Reconstruction mentality was lost. What exactly this ‘Reconstruction mentality’ was is hard to pinpoint. It was a mixture of hope for the future, fear of relapse into inactivity, and about one million ideas that all began with ‘oo-oo, this will make Pacary a much better place!’. Pacarians of today live in a secure nation with a strongly entrenched government, an active military and intelligence agency, and a reputation in the micronational community. The Pacarians of the Reconstruction had none of that for there was a constant threat of annexation, inactivity, and revolution.

The Pacarian Reconstruction was a glorious age! It was a time of great activity and movement, a time of apprehension and joy, a time of victory and progress. Although few documents remain from the era, there is little need for them for the Reconstruction was not about words or slogans, but about change, progress, expansion, and patriotism!

Always remember this: The Spirit of Reconstruction dwells in the heart of every true Pacarian!

Foot Notes:

(1)The nation was the Imperium of Akerbjorn (2)The Second Reformation shall be known as the Reconstruction (3)Before that there had not been one, but simply a government consisting of judges, diplomats, or rulers (4)Citizens that arrived during that time but are no longer here include: Briar Goldye, Ktshellz (5)The Reconstruction Period is divided into Early and Later Reconstruction (6)Locke only received one or two votes (7)It was later fear that the PDU would use the weapon and that upon Pacary the wrath of the attacked would fall. Of course, this was not made public, but muttered in higher circles. (8 ) Sander created a testing board for smiley bombs and such but this ended up in a TOU violation and expulsion for EzBoard. Pacary was transfered to another message board host, only to return later to Ezboard.

The end of Pacary, also taken from Mattias Dybles "The Oficial History of Pacary".

On June 29th, 2002, Pacary gained a new forum. None suspected that it would be the last. The golden age was reaching its peak, with the military being one of the most formidable in the micronational world. The daily post count was breaking 80, and on some days, 85. But what no one could see was that it couldn't last.

In the middle of August, the first signs of demise were showing. More and more posts were coming up as spam, and fewer had any meaning at all. There was an influx of new citizens, few, if any, who contributed to anything. The post count was hovering at 80, no longer passing it.

Soon September hit, and things got worse. The post count wasn't passing 80, and some citizens, the active ones, were leaving. Its assumed that Sander first realized that Pacary was doomed at this time, but no one else did. They all thought it was just going through a dry spell. Near the end of September, Pacary had its last government election. Sirithil nos Feanor was defeated by Matias Dyble for the position of Secretary of Culture.

October was among the world, and Sander told the world Pacary couldn't survive. He called a vote whether it should survive, with new, inexperienced citizens, spam, and without prominent figures like Sander and Liam Sinclair. Or, it could end, preserving its image as a dominant micronation, and being annexed by the Republic of Baracão. The results of the vote are controversial, some claiming that it said Pacary was to stay alive, others stating it was to be annexed. Sander, being Chancellor, upon the advice of Sinclair, used his power to declare the end of Pacary.

So, on October 10th, 2002, at approximately 4:00pm GMT, the Micronation of Pacary was shut down. All missed it, but it was the best thing to do. The forum was immediately closed, and Baracão took control of Pacary.

Today, it is a province of the Republic, to be preserved as long as possible. Future aspiring micronationalists will hopefully try to found micronations with goals of being as great as Pacary was. After all, it was a great nation founded by a kid with goals of making it like one of the greats.

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Links

Pacary's first Ezboard Pacary's second Ezboard