Well HECK this got out of hand.
Here is a vaguely realistic take on my Nationstates country circa 2008. Instead of a huge number of islands as the region was I've just written up my main nation.
Republic of Tyrylya
(Tyrylyan French: Tarilie, English: Taurilia)
Anthem: Husynn Styne
Settlement: 853
Republic status: 1999
Named for: the Norse god Tyr
Capital: Syohaven
Biggest City: Syohaven
Official Languages: English, Tyrylyan
Religion: 71% Christian, 17% None, 12% Neopagan
Demonym: Tyrylyan
Government: Unitary Parliamentary Republic
President: Sveyn Beauchamp
Prime Minister: Tycho Harrison
Tyrylya (French: Tarilie, English: Taurilia) officially “The Republic of Tyrylya” is a nation that covers an archipelago of islands in the North Atlantic, roughly on the mid-Alantic Ridge. Geographically isolated it is roughly 1500km west of Ireland, 3000km east of Newfoundland, Canada and 1500km south of Iceland. Despite this it is linked culturally primarily with Europe.
Like Iceland and the Azores the Tyrylyan islands are volcanic and it is located on a rift between tectonic plates. Tyrylya’s geologic activity includes Geysers and volcanic eruptions. Climatically the islands are temperate with a climate similar to the British isles as they are warmed by the gulf stream
Having been long rumoured by traders along the western coasts of Europe Tyrylya was discovered by vikings in 853 in an effort. Underwhelmed by the chain of six or so islands the islands were none the less settled by Vikings as a source of fish, whaling and volcanic glass, which soon became popular as jewelry in Europe. The name comes from the norse god Tyr. Common Tyrylyan mythology says the captain of the ship who found the main island lost a hand in a storm that brought the ship here and he took that as a sign to form a shrine to Tyr. Although sometimes called Vestway, the name of Tyrland or in latinised maps, Tyria, (the land of Tyr) however there isn’t a lot of evidence how this became the Modern Tyrylya. By the time of Spanish settlement of the island 700 years later the name Tyrylya was well in place. However, travel to Tyrylya remained difficult and the community there, never more than a few thousand at most, remained isolated.
Several explorers over the next century sought to travel west from Tyrylya but with no luck. It would later be found that Tyrylya was in the middle of the the prevailing westerly winds, meaning anyone sailing to the new world would have to make a much further southern route from the azores or canaries across to the carribbean. Despite this, the Italian born explorer John Cabot would stop at Tyrylya on his return trip from what we now call Newfoundland in Canada. While further attempts would be made to reach Tyrylya from Europe it was found the winds weren’t reliable enough and a more northerly or southerly route was necessary. Despite that Tyrylya became a stopping off spot for ships returning from the New World, notably Jacques Cartier on all four of his voyages. At this point Tyrylya was still technically a free territory linked only by its church to Norway. Until this point Tyrylya was mostly an oddity, mostly ignored by Europe. Seeing it as a potential useful territory in its exploration the New world, in 1542 the Spain carried out a small scale invasion of the islands, seizing the capital of Sjohavn and making the elected chieftain of Tyrylya swear an oath of loyalty to Philip II. However Spain would lose Tyrylya to France following the Franco-Spanish War of 1636-1648. From then on Tyrylya would technically be part of the French colony of Cartieria(1) although the island remained primarily old Tarylyan. When France lost the Seven years war it gave up all its continental American possessions and many Nouveau Francais people would move to Carteria but some would move to Tarylya, increasing the population and leading to a greater mix of Tarylyan and French cultures.
With the French Revolutions of the 1790s the King would flee to Cartieria. A revolutionary mutinee would occur in 1797 amongst sailors at Sanctuaire (as Sjohaven was called by the French) and the Republic of Tyrylya would be declared. With the Revolutionary wars being waged across Europe the French Republic didn’t have the ability to support Tyrylya. The island was seized by the Royal Navy. It was a bone of contention between the restored French Monarchy and the United Kingdom that Tyrylya remained a British possession.
Tyrylya would grow with the end of the age of sail. With the move to steamships the island was much more easily accessible from Europe. It became a regular stopping off point for ships traveling across the Atlantic and the population and economy grew with a Royal Navy base being established on the north side of the island by the town of Steinpont. The Barracks at the HM Naval Base Steinpont having the reporting name HMS Thor. The islands would be laid siege to multiple times during the Second Universal War (1893-1901) with the Royal Naval atlantic fleet being based there and the islands being a key thorn in the side of Franco-Iberian efforts to blockade Britain.
From the 19th century onwards the islands saw a resurgence in pre-Franco British Tyrylyan culture and with it a slowly building desire for independence. During the 2nd Universal War there were multiple protests and riots against the attacks on the islands. It was during the turn of the century that revivalist works such as Thomas Torvald’s “False Haven” and Ulrfic Delavigne’s spiritual work “Njord’s Land”.
Following the three day war of 1951, Britain begun the process of granting varying degrees of independence to its various colonies and in 1955 Tyrylya was made a commonwealth with King Henry IX as the head of state, this remained until the republic referendum of 1998 where 61% of islanders voted to replace the British monarchy with a directly elected president. However controversially the new republic kept up the agreement of having a royal navy base on the main island. Anglo-Tarylyan relations are a continued point of contention in the country, most recently during Queen Mary IV’s state visit to the islands.
Today Tyrylya is a relatively wealthy country with a population of 311,000. Primarily located in the cities of Syohaven and Steinpoint. It is a regular stopping point for transatlantic shipping and has extensive dockyards for ship repair. It is a centre for research into renewable energy, namely geothermal, wave and wind power, something that is the result of Tyrylya’s Green Party having a continuously strong presence as the nation’s main centre left party as well as the Islands being the birthplace of Omnimunda Industries, one of the world’s leading companies in renewable energy, biofuels and genetics research (2). It is also a successful tourist destination, primarily for its beaches, volcanoes and wildlife.
- Newfounland, also named because Carteria was one of the other Nationstates names
- In the original game they purchased an entire island. Here theyre a theoretically altruistic company who probably have terrible business practices.