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Population passes 100 with the annexation of new Town
The population of the Empire of Austenasia has passed 100 for the first time in its history, now standing at 102.
This comes as a result of a new town, Nahona, yesterday being annexed alongside the registration of three residents for the hitherto uninhabited crown dependency of Trebizond.
Nahona consists of a 21.2 acre property which has been declared independent from the U.S. state of Texas. It is home to King William I of Gradonia and his mother.
Despite being home to William I, the property has never been claimed by the Kingdom of Gradonia, a state with which Austenasia entered into mutual recognition in June last year.
William I has been appointed Acting Representative of the new Town, the annexation of which has increased the number of Representatives in Parliament to ten.
There were previously ten Representatives between January 2015 and September 2016; this remains the record highest number.
Unfortunately both of these records are unlikely to last for long due to the upcoming secession of New Virginia on February 11th.
Dionisiy I and Lord John Gordon confirmed as general election candidates
Emperor Jonathan I yesterday confirmed two candidates for next month’s general election.
Prince Dionisiy I of the Fatherland Party will be standing against Lord John Gordon of the Whig Party.
Lord Gordon is Representative of Palasia, and Prince Dionisiy is Representative of Theodosiopolis.
The Whig Party espouses classical liberalism, but Lord Gordon is on the left-wing of his party, and will be running on a platform of socially liberal ideas.
The Fatherland Party’s candidate, Prince Dionisiy, is running on a platform of social conservatism and the promotion of Roman and Christian culture.
The general election will take place on 12 February, and will elect the country’s fourth Prime Minister.
The incumbent Prime Minister, Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy, has been in office since March 2015 but is stepping down due to the secession of New Virginia.
Lord Gordon previously ran for Prime Minister in 2013 as a Marxist, but lost to Countess Eritoshi with one third of the vote. He then served as her Deputy Prime Minister until her own electoral loss to Lord Admiral Kennedy in 2015.
Lord Gordon has held positions in Cabinet, serving as Home Secretary from November 2013 to May 2014 and as Minister of Defence from February to July 2018. He also serves as President of the Iceni Democratic Republic, an independent state located near to Palasia.
Prince Dionisiy, who also reigns as sovereign of Montescano, joined Austenasia upon the annexation of Theodosiopolis in March last year. He has since been instrumental in the expansion of Austenasia in the old Roman East, personally claiming Laranda, Seleucia ad Cilicia, Chalcedon, and Trebizond for Austenasia.
New Virginia to secede on 11 February
Yesterday saw an Act of Parliament passed establishing Tuesday 11 February as the day on which the majority of New Virginia will secede from Austenasia to become an independent state.
As announced at Christmas, the City of New Richmond and the Towns of Terentia and Augusta will be leaving Austenasia to form the Commonwealth of New Virginia.
An uninhabited part of Augusta will be retained by Austenasia as the Territory of Fraternitas, which will be administered by Lord Admiral Joseph Kennedy as its Governor.
Lord Admiral Kennedy, the incumbent Prime Minister, will remain in office throughout February 11th and 12th, with the latter due to see his successor elected in the upcoming election to take office on February 13th.
Lord Admiral Kennedy will retain Austenasian nationality alongside Lady Vice Admiral Eryn Lewis and Lord Riley Kennedy, the three Representatives of the towns in question. The other residents of New Virginia will lose Austenasian nationality, bringing Austenasia’s population down to the mid-seventies.
Furthermore, the Imperial Navy – the modern iteration of which was based entirely in New Virginia – has by the same Act of Parliament been disbanded.
The legislation authorising the creation of the Commonwealth of New Virginia states that “maintaining a close and special relationship with the Commonwealth of New Virginia… [will be] a top priority of the Austenasian Government.”
Crown Dependency of Trebizond founded
A new Austenasian Crown Dependency has been founded, consisting of territory formerly belonging to the Empire of Trebizond.
The Empire of Trebizond existed between 1204 and 1461 as a break-away state from the medieval Roman Empire, begrudgingly recognised by the latter in 1282.
The new Crown Dependency of Trebizond consists of a small farm near the Turkish city of Trabzon (the medieval empire’s former capital).
The crown dependency was claimed for Austenasia by its landowner, Prince Dionisiy I (the Duke of Lycaonia, whose Principality of Montescano was recently recognised as sovereign by the imperial government).
Prince Dionisiy has been appointed governing commissioner of Trebizond, with the title of Despot. He is a descendant of the medieval Trapezuntine rulers through his maternal ancestry.
Trebizond does not have any permanent residents, but may in future be rented out to tenants, who would be made aware that they were living on Austenasian land.
This annexation represents a further expansion of Austenasia in the former Roman lands of the East.
IGS Expedition to Tarsus
The Imperial Geographical Society yesterday conducted an expedition to Tarsus, the biblical hometown of St Paul the Apostle.
The expedition was comprised of Lord Dionisiy Tezdzhan-Smahin and his wife Lady Mariia.
It was the first expedition to take place outside of Europe, and the first to not have included Emperor Jonathan I amongst its participants. This is a major step for the IGS, which since 2017 has been aiming to conduct an expedition not requiring the personal direction of the Emperor.
Tarsus is an ancient settlement, dating back to the Neolithic period and named by the Hittites.
The expedition first encountered the Danyal Makami or Mausoleum of Daniel, one of several claimants to be the tomb of the Prophet Daniel. This site is thought to have been identified as the prophet’s tomb by the Caliph Umar (r. 634-644).
The expedition then continued past a Roman section of the city walls to Saint Paul’s Well, a well situated next to the ruin of a Roman house claimed to have been that of St Paul himself. The well is twenty metres deep and still yields drinkable water. It is supposed that St Paul would have drunk from the well during his lifetime.
The Duke and Duchess continued by car to the Tarsus Waterfall, where the expedition concluded with lunch.
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