September – December
2010 is known as the Year of Three Emperors. At this point in our story, Terry I has abdicated, and Esmond III is on the Throne. It is time to introduce the third Monarch to reign in 2010: Declan I.
King Declan I ruled over the Kingdom of Moylurg, a nation based in Wilton, Wiltshire, some seventy miles to the west of Carshalton. After getting into contact with the “MicroWiki community” online in February 2010, Declan became good friends with Jonathan in May, and Austenasia and Moylurg officially established mutual diplomatic recognition on 7 June.
On 19 July, at Jonathan’s behest, Calum divided Orly into two separate kingdoms: the Kingdom of the Grove to the west, and the Kingdom of Copan to the east. Calum retained control over the Grove as King, but the throne of the Kingdom of Copan he gave to Declan, on the condition that Jonathan would rule in practice as Viceroy.
This arrangement was approved by Esmond. He had no qualms about dividing Orly in two, considered the title King of the Grove to be more apt for Calum’s position, and was happy for Jonathan to have his own kingdom to administer given his awareness of how much control of Austenasia he had taken away from him. With Jonathan physically present in Copan to govern it as Viceroy, both Esmond and Calum assumed that Declan’s position as King would be an empty title, the real power to be held by Jonathan.
However, that was not to be the case. By now very close friends, Jonathan and Declan communicated daily over social media, with the latter kept well-informed on affairs related to Copan and easily able to relay commands via his Viceroy. Upon the start of the summer holidays, Esmond also became acquainted with Declan after joining some of the social media venues used by the “MicroWiki community,” although they soon developed somewhat of a friendly rivalry.
On 7 August, Jonathan and Declan met for the first time when the former visited Wilton along with members of the Imperial Family on their way to a holiday in Devon (the same used by Princess Caroline to serve her week in “exile” from Austenasia). The opportunity was taken to hold an Austenasian state visit to Moylurg, and a treaty of alliance was signed by the two national leaders.
By the time the students of Stanley Park returned from the summer holidays in September, then, Declan I as King of Copan was as much a Carshaltonian monarch as Esmond III or Calum I, despite living over seventy miles away.
With school returning after the holidays, Esmond’s Imperial Court was able to reconvene properly, and on 10 September, he was presented with three Acts of Parliament, giving Imperial Consent to legislation for the first time since before the summer. The two most notable were Act 125, which renamed South Kilttown to Zephyria in an attempt to give it a fresh start after the civil war, and Act 127, which gave the Emperor the right to issue Imperial Edicts, laws that although limited in effect to Crown lands and unable to overrule Acts of Parliament gave the Emperor the right to officially legislate independently of Parliament for the first time (Act 126 contained various miscellaneous minor provisions).
With the Imperial Court back in session, perhaps Esmond’s ego was boosted to the extent he said something provocative, or perhaps there was no connection at all. Whichever was the case, 11 September saw Declan announce in various Skype groups participated in by Esmond that he would no longer recognise Austenasian suzerainty over Copan.
When Calum had divided Orly in two, one of the provisions in his edict was that should a throne fall empty, either of the Grove or of Copan, the other monarch would temporarily hold power as Regent until the Emperor, as the ultimate source of all political authority, would permanently fill the vacancy by naming a new monarch. Declan quickly clarified that he would still respect this right of the Emperor, but simply refused to regard him as his superior in any feudal or vassal-like sense. This was acceptable to Esmond, who referred to Declan’s announcement as just one more element of the friendly rivalry which had developed between the two monarchs.
It is likely, however, that the King of Copan having openly refused to acknowledge him as his direct superior made Esmond feel rather insecure and desirous of emphasising his authority. The events of the following two months would certainly seem to support this theory. 18 September saw Esmond visit Wrythe and hold an impromptu coronation; on 11 October, he founded a satirical religion named “Legatism” which he used to give titles to members of the Austenasian Army and Imperial Court; and on 17 October he announced the titular re-founding of the defunct local micronation of Rushymia after recovering from high in a fence a bottle said to grant its retriever said right, before proceeding to tour none other than Copan. In retrospect, these actions do seem consistent with the idea that Esmond wished to somehow regain the respect he felt had been lost with Declan’s announcement.
Meanwhile, Declan and Jonathan were becoming even stronger allies. They met again on 25 September in Basingstoke, accompanied by members of their respective families, and on 19 October, Declan even appointed Jonathan joint King of Moylurg. He had appointed subordinate monarchs before, but this time the titulature used implied that Jonathan was nominally equal to him. However, on 10 November, Moylurg underwent significant reforms by the demand of its populace, as part of which the country was renamed to Wilcsland and Jonathan was removed as joint King.
Just two days later, one of the most infamous incidents in Esmond’s reign took place. On 12 November, during lunch at Stanley Park, Jonathan fetched Esmond some chocolate cake and was rewarded with sovereignty over the Grove. Upon receiving the cake, sitting at a cafeteria table, Esmond announced that Calum – who had been nothing but loyal to Esmond, and reigned competently since the creation of the kingdom – was no longer King of the Grove, and was henceforth replaced with Jonathan as Lord Regent. This was almost certainly premeditated and at least in part a genuine attempt to compensate Jonathan for having lost the Moylurgian throne. However, it became remembered as Esmond bestowing a crown and a kingdom on a whim. Declan’s decision to openly reject the Emperor’s direct suzerainty suddenly looked rather wise.