During the past two days, the method of apportioning the citizenry of San Dover among its ten island claims has been hammered out by the nation's interim leaders, Violette Clingersmith and Nicholas Kaos. It was eventually decided to distribute the citizens using the Huntington-Hill apportionment method, based on the land area of each of the ten islands. The Huntington-Hill method is currently employed by the United States to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, and was chosen by San Dover's leadership because of its simplicity and pre-knowledge of how it functions.
A spreadsheet has been commissioned to list the first one thousand available slots. New citizens can either elect to choose an available slot (helpful for keeping families together), or simply be placed in the next slot in line. Current citizens are free to change slots, thus internal immigration is possible. In the unlikely event that all one thousand slots are filled during the pre-settlement phase, a second set of one thousand slots will be made. The number of slots available to each of the ten islands is as follows:
Each island will be managed by a Democratia: a direct democracy with an elected Head of State. This Head of State will then represent that island in the national government, a system that is de facto in place already.
0 Comments
Inclement weather postponed the annual visitation to the Drew Star Line Memorial today, to celebrate San Dover's fourteenth anniversary. While it is a major disappointment to not conduct such a tradition, it's not the first time the weather has hampered celebrations. Last year Hurricane Florence, which made landfall on 13 September 2018, prevented visitation of the Memorial for an entire month. Leader Violette Clingersmith hopes to be able to make the journey on Monday, before the arrival of another hurricane or tropical storm currently brewing in the Atlantic.
San Dover will mark their anniversary today by confirming their territorial claims, officially (though declared temporarily) dropped last July in compliance with a GUM ordnance that member states could not make certain land claims deemed too excessive or in violation of another entity's sovereignty. The territories in question are:
Together these territories have a land area of 8331 square kilometers. They all reside in an isolated section of the southern Indian Ocean, and all except the Prince Edward Islands are considered part of the continent of Antarctica (the former is part of Africa). They all share a similar, sub-Antarctic climate not unlike that of Iceland or the Faroe Islands, and all lack permanent inhabitants. Additionally, Clingersmith has expressed her desire for San Dover to become an imperial power, both currently and in the past, and has looked to another set of sub-Antarctic islands of nearly identical size and geography. Lying in the souther Atlantic Ocean, and with a total area of 8259 square kilometers, these additional claims are:
With the addition of these western islands, San Dover has an de jure area of 16590 square kilometers, about the size of nation of Eswatini (former Swaziland). The overall plan for San Dover is to make an attempt to settle these lands by the year 2040, an idea that has not changed. Both claims were made official earlier today through a decree shared within the nation's Discord server. Clingersmith is planning on creating a new flag to reflect the additional claims, and is working on a system of dividing the ten islands into smaller constituent parts. Tomorrow, 13 September 2019, marks fourteen years since the foundation of Drew Star Line, the original name of the Sovereign San Doverian Order. DSL, as it is commonly referred to as, was created by six friends with the idea of creating a town they could all live in together one day so they could never be apart. Sadly, only Violette Clingersmith, the current Leader of San Dover, maintains this spirit of friendship. But that's not to say that she's given up hope.
As always, the anniversary of DSL's founding will be accompanied by a visit of the nation's leadership to the DSL Memorial in Gilmoropolis, the site of the former capital building. For the least five years this has been a solemn occasion, marked by a reflection of the past and a look towards the future. But San Dover has fallen on hard times in recent years, and it is apparent to many that the country is no longer the bulwark it once was. So, what future, if any, lies in store for the Sovereign San Doverian Order? Clingersmith has announced plans this week through the nation's Discord server that the country will readopt the Democratia system of government, an experimental direct democracy that failed to turn heads between 2015-2016, which Clingersmith feels confident will help to reenergize her small populace. Clingersmith also announced this week, also via Discord, that San Dover will official readopt its territorial ambitions that were dropped last July to conform to GUM land claim policies. These reforms may come as early as tomorrow. Certainly a new vitality seems to be growing, as Clingersmith told Nicholas Kaos, the former Prince of Pacem, "[I]t's about time I start managing San Dover like the country it is." One reform that has already passed muster is the celebratory flag for the fourteenth anniversary. It is identical to the Starland GOY (green-orange-yellow) that was used between 2009 and 2015, but with a small white Legacy Seal in the center left. While not replacing the state or civil flag, this celebratory flag will serve a cultural banner for San Dover. |
VioletteCurrent Leader of San Dover. Last active founder of the nation, circa 2005. ArchivesCategories |