Hurmu in the MCS

[Daniel]

[dragons]

[Daniel]

To whom it may concern,

This is an enquiry, from Hurmu, into the status of what is, or what was, called New Brannum, which has large territorial significance for Hurmu. While we do not wish to contest another state's sovereignty, we are genuinely interested in the affairs of New Brannum and the territory it represents.

When Hurmu's era of the Republik ended and we became a part of the Menelmacari Imperium, Caras Menelmacar, was our capital and from where our laws came. We took part in the deliberations of the Conclave of Equals, respected the law of the Empire, and honoured the Elenaran. But the Empire fell, and Hurmu sought protection elsewhere, unable to regain the ancient capital of an Empire.

The islands of Feanoria were soon socialized, becoming known as the Red Antilles. Soon a war broke out among nations, leading the Dinarchy of Antica to occupy parts of the Antilles, including the ruins of Caras Menelmacar. A peace settlement was reached, Antica left the Red Antilles in return for gaining the territory of Caras Menelmacar, fittingly renamed New Brannum after one of their provinces.

Ever since then Hurmu has gazed upon the ruins near the Sirithil Straits in hope that one day be able to return to the ancient capital, a spiritual home. We wish to return to other spriritual homes of ours aswell, but all land that once was ours, that once had their foundations in our society, are held, rightfully if we may add, by nations foreign to us.

Now, we come now in good faith in asking what the status of New Brannum is. The case was that a few weeks ago, the Antican government informed the Society that it would retract large segments of its territory. A map was produced for the Society, in which territory that was to be kept Antican was shown. New Brannum was on no such map. However, that map also showed the territory of the Antican state that would be freed up. Again, New Brannum was not shown. Hurmu finds the situation on New Brannum in limbo, which we would very much like clarified.

Hurmu has never laid claims as expansions or in the like. On the contrary, Hurmu has reduced its territory in great magnitude when called upon to do so by this very Society. At first we voluntarily gave up ninety percent of our territory, in order to reach a deal of protection with Menelmacar. Later, we gave up three fourths of the territory of Lontinien in the Atkins reduction. And we do not wish to lay claims on New Brannum if it is the case that the territory remains Antican. We wish for the situation to be clarified.

But should the Antican government state that New Brannum is not bound to their sovereignty, Hurmu would like to solemnly regain that territory and place it under the rule of the Senate of the Lakes, so that history can be kept, that a spiritual home for us would be in our hands, and that we could keep beacon for future generations.

We have tried contacting our Antican friends in trying to resolve our questions on sovereignty. We have not been able to access the forums of the State, nor hold discussions of high character with officials of the Republic. Hurmu then resorts to this forum, where hopefully an Antican official will answer us, together with perhaps a chance for dialogue and discussions between our two countries, in where a deal possibly could be reached on transfer of sovereignty is a part, then we would rejoice and forever consider our Antican friends brethren by blood.

Yours faithfully

R. V. av Silmahamnum
Chairman of the Senate of the Lakes

[Daniel]

By Ari Rahikkala on the Jokerdom controversy in the MCS:

I read the Jokerdom's claim thread and figured I'd make a couple of notes that aren't really integral to that thread...

First of all, I'd like to point out that I've been reading the Jokerdom's forum, and... well, here's my opinion on them: They're hacks who can produce few things of quality above mad libs, they're second-grade punsters, they seem to barely understand sarcasm, and I'm afraid that they're too attached to simple randomness to ever understand creative subversion or dadaism. However, they are making a decent effort at running a micronation, and they are very much alive after a year of existence; I once tried to examine them several months ago and ended up believing they were a joke that was actually meant to be short-lived - having missed the earlier claim threads and other hints about their existence, I was actually somewhat surprised to see they were still around. Also, they did manage to get me to register on their forum, although I'm not sure if they got the reference in my only post over there... and while I didn't actually laugh out loud even once, I did crack a smile a couple of times, so not all is lost.

Some satirical nations do a much better job than Jokerdom did, IMO. Anybody remember Hurmu Republik? No, I don't mean the Principality of Hurmu or whatever it became after many people's (including, unfortunately, mine) hamfisted efforts to revive the original insanity turned it into a dull backwater protectorate of Stormark. I mean the Hurmu that went around advertising itself in broken English, the Hurmu that... oh, just read up about it yourself. Hurmu was irreverent, childlike, confusing, wholly inappropriate... but at the same time, it was skillfully crafted, weird in a meaningful way, and uproariously funny.

The fact is, you can fail at it, and you can succeed at it: Being funny is difficult, not trivial. Being funny for the sake of being funny, with no other theme - what the Jokerdom is apparently trying to do - is so difficult that I don't think even Ric (*) could pull it off.

In fact, let me just list all of the reasons why what the Jokerdom is doing is so difficult, and hence why they're failing:

- they *have* a decent theme to base a lot of their humour on, but *they're not using it*: Satirising micronationalism in general. I could see a lot of good stuff happening if, instead of being semi-isolationistic as they currently are, they encouraged their citizens to go out into other nations and bring back silly and ridiculous institutions to poke fun at.

- they really are simply trying too hard. The first thing you need to do in order to be funny is to lighten up. Not everything can be made funny. You shouldn't have "serious things" because others reject your nation offhand if you don't have them - you should have them because they provide some kind of basis, something that's not just noise, that you can recontextualise and ridicule and all that.

- People gauge the quality of humour based on their personal response. Was the Jokerdom's forum the funniest thing you've read recently? No? Then they must be doing a bad job. Flags, literature, calendars, all the other kinds of culture, on the other hand, are complicated matters, requiring critique from several people before it's considered OK to say "this is bad" or "this is good". I have already judged them unfunny - it will be very difficult for them to prove themselves to me... fortunately they don't have to

- As something of an anti-corollary... people just don't understand how difficult a job being funny is, inside or outside the Jokerdom. The reason why I'm making this post so dry and loquacious is that I'm not a great master of style and communication. If I were, I *would* compact all of these arguments into a few witty sentences. If the Jokerdomians were great masters of comedy, they *would* make a funnier nation, as it is, all they have is a whole bunch of honest effort with little to show for it.

Remember, being a micronationalist doesn't mean you're part of some kind of an intellectual elite. We're more often and easily ridiculed than respected. Anybody who's graduated from high school can draw a flag, describe a political system, run a sports simulation, participate in a recreational war - none of these things are really difficult. Being funny is. Even if you fail at it, to even try to do it shows uncommon courage (foolhardiness) for the micronational world.

All in all, I don't think I have really touched upon the reason why people seem to dislike this nation so much so far. The reason is that I don't understand that reason, and if I did, it would be a post for the claim thread, not here. Since Jeremy and Craitman have refused to explain what they think is so fundamentally wrong about the Jokerdom, I can't get into their heads and understanding their reasoning... hence, I call for everyone else who opposes having the Jokerdom on the map to air their grievances in the claim thread. This call was left unanswered the last time it was aired, but one can always hope...

(*) I'm *fairly* certain that the original Hurmu Republik was a a collaboration by RicLyon and, uh, someone else... I have no recollection who that other guy was , though:(.