Draft:Vinterorden

Sovereign Military Order of Winter Selvstanig Krigisk Vinterorden
Flag
Motto: "Aaskaa, kjaajmetje!"
Status	Active
Official languages	Vinterisk
Religion	Pan-European paganism
Demonym(s)	Vinterer
Government
• Deodan (Leader)	unknown
• Lögman (Lawspeaker)	unknown
• Spreker (Spokesperson)	Snövolk
Legislature	Council
• Upper house	Ordensting
Establishment
• Foundation	unknown
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy

The Sovereign Military Order of Winter (Vinterisk: Selvstanig Krigisk Vinterorden, ᛋᛖᛚVᛋᛏᚨᚾᛁᚷ ᚳᚱᛁᚷᛋᚳ Vᛁᚾᛏᛖᚱᛟᚱᛐᛖᚾ), more commonly known as Vinterorden or sometimes The Order, is a religious military order. Though it possesses no official territory, the order considers itself and claims to be a sovereign entity under international law. The Order owns land within the territories of recognized European macronations but considers these properties as real estate that can serve as a foothold or to finance its activities rather than as its national territory.

According to the Order's own claims, it was established somewhere in Western Europe decades ago, on the roots of a family speaking their own dialect. The members of the order name this initial entity Vinterkün (Winter kin/clan). Unlike the Vinterkün, the members of the Vinterorden are not necessarily linked by blood ties, but by a vow that each must take upon joining the sovereign order.

Name

The name Vinterorden translates to "Winter Order" in Vinterisk, a Germanic dialect originally spoken by the family known by the members as Vinterkün, extended to their entourage, and later formed the basis for the Order. The full form, Selvstanig Krigisk Vinterorden, meaning Sovereign Military Order of Winter, draws its inspiration from chivalric military orders, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and even the older and pagan Jomsvikings.

While the Order operates in a rather militaristic manner, the inclusion of "military" in its full name is mostly retained for tradition. The term "Sovereign" however, holds significant importance, symbolizing their independence from any other state, both in terms of citizenship and diplomatic relations.

History

It is difficult to ascertain exact and verifiable information about the Vinterorden's origins given the high level of secrecy in which it engages in order to shield itself. As with many other communities, the Order shrouds its history in mystery, creating a mythical narrative for its origins and development. In the end, nothing is really certain about the Vinterorden.

Politics and government

The Order is led by the Deodan, who presides over a members' assembly called the Ordensting, or ting. During ting assemblies, each member can vote. The Lögman is responsible for the law, ensuring that everyone adheres to the code and that votes proceed correctly. In times of war, the Ordensting may vote to grant the Deodan full powers to facilitate decision-making.

Leader (Deodan)

Although the role of the Deodan as Head of State and leader is known, his identity is not publicly disclosed, as it is known only to the members. The external representative of the Deodan is his spokesperson, known as Spreker.

Lawspeaker (Lögman)

The lawspeaker (Vinterisk: lögman) is an official responsible for reciting and interpreting the law. The lawspeaker plays a crucial role in the Order's assembly (Ordensting), acting as judge and advisor in legal matters. However, the power of the Lögman is quite limited in times of war when the Deodan obtains full executive powers, and therefore no longer goes through the assembly to make decisions.

In Vinterisk, the Lögman's feminine name would be Lögkvin, but according to publicly disclosed information, no woman has held this position.

Spokesperson (Spreker)

There is a position within the Order called the Spreker, who serves as an official spokesperson for the Vinterorden. The Spreker is the primary, and often the sole, representative of the order to the outside world. His role is to convey the official message of the Deodan, thereby serving as a diplomat to nations, micronations, and any external organizations contacting the sovereign Order. The first to publicly claim to be the group's Spreker was Voltür Apas, an artist and composer from France. Voltür was followed by Kilma Kaldrafen as Sprekerin (the feminine form of the word Spreker), who held the position from 2017 to 2019, she has been described by Vinterorden insiders as now occupying a more spiritual role within the order. Subsequently, on the blog of the Owls of Winter (Vintersulen), a group affiliated with the Order, the claim was made that the group's member Ljufa Hortung was the Vinterorden's Sprekerin, this blog became defunct shortly after that. In January 2020, a member named Snövolk appeared claiming to be the new Order's Spreker.

In 2021, the self-proclaimed Sprekerin from the "Owls of Winter" branch, Ljufa Hortung was reported missing in Norway.

Military

The exact military organization of the Order is not publicly known. According to the limited information made public, especially regarding Operation Witches Brew, it appears that the head of state (Deodan) commands the actions himself with certain members serving as officers. An officer of the Deodan is referred to as a Hirdman.

Involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Since its foundation, the Order has been actively supporting the Ukrainian cause, maintaining contacts with some volunteers on the front during the War in Donbas, before the Russian invasion of 2022.

From in July 2022, the Vinterorden has been participating in activities with the NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organisation), particularly engaging in OSINT (Open-source intelligence) and contributing to fundraising efforts to provide Ukrainian soldiers with military and medical equipment. Members of the Order also participated in fundraising for the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade.

In October 2023, rumors surfaced on various Discord servers, especially the Franconations community, claiming that members of the sovereign order were fighting on-site among international volunteers, but no official statement from the Vinterorden has ever confirmed these rumors.

Even on the micronational scale, several hostile actions carried out by the Order have targeted micronations actively supporting Russia, Russian-backed separatists, or campaigning for a return of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to power.

Operation Witches Brew (Operasjon Vitkensbru)

On 30 April 2022, an election was held within the Franconations micronational community to determine which nation would lead the community for the coming year. A group of dissidents, named the Communards, staged a coup and managed to seize full power before the end of the election. On 3 June 2022, a small group called the Frankish Union (FRU), formed within the opposition, managed to stage a counter coup, to overthrow the rebels, and organized new democratic elections. Six months later it was revealed that the counter coup was carried out by the Vinterorden at the request of the Frankish Union, who had secretly sought their assistance. According to the admins of Franconations, the action had been named by the Order "Operation Witches Brew" (or "Operasjon Vitkensbru" in Vinterisk).

On 3 June 2023, a celebration called Witches Day (French: Jour des Sorcières) was organized on the Franconations Discord as a tribute to the Frankish Union and the Vinterorden having restored democracy within the community.

Operation Rainbow Nights (Operasjon Renbog Naten)

On 12 January 2024, the Vinterorden conducted an operation against the micronation Rosemary People's Republic, which identifies itself as communist and pro-Russian. The Order, which claims that the RPR had financially supported Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, launched a cyber-attack on several Rosemarian's networks, notably infiltrating the Discord server that Rosemary considered its administrative capital. After a brief period of questioning Rosemarian citizens about their activities and ensuring that the micronation was populated only by adults, the Order forced the Leaders to officially and permanently dissolve the Rosemary People's Republic.

The conflict, named "Operation Rainbow Nights" (Operasjon Renbog naten) by the Order, lasted only a few hours in its entirety. It was later described as a "Blitzkrieg" by a former citizen of Rosemary recounting her experience of the event on Reddit.

Foreign relations

The highly private and secretive nature of the Vinterorden means that it has very few diplomatic relations with other micronations. However, it does happen that the Order acknowledges the existence of a nation during a war if they ally with it. It is also known that the Order refuses to recognize several nations for ideological reasons, especially those against which it has actively fought. However, official statements from the Spreker regarding international relations remain very rare.

Unilateral recognition

• All European Union member states
• Albania
• Armenia
• Georgia
• Iceland
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Norway
• Serbia
• Switzerland
• Ukraine

Mutual recognition

• Frankish Union

Culture

The culture and spirituality of the Order are based on a Pan-European syncretism, described by them as a "European way of life" for culture, and as the "modernization of the Indo-European spiritual heritage" for the spiritual dimension. This entails an adaptation of the archetypes common to all Indo-European and pre-Christian mythologies, and a worldview compatible with current scientific knowledge. The ideological and religious concepts of the Vinterorden are summarized in the manifesto called the Silver book although it is very difficult to find for the uninitiated, with only very rare copies circulating on the internet. The authorship and origin of the Silver book is debated, but it is most likely a manifesto written by a member of the Vinterkün and the first Deodan of the Order.

Symbolism

The Order employs several recurring symbols, including the White Sun (or Silver Sun), the owl (or owl wing) and the Francisca. The colors of the Order are White-Black-Green; their meaning has never been officially given, but several possible interpretations exist based on the ideas of the Silver Book. According to the most common interpretations, green symbolizes nature, black represents obscurantism and the dark period in which the world currently finds itself (related to the notion of Kali Yuga and Ragnarök), and white represents the European people fighting against this darkness, sometimes also associated with the light of science and knowledge illuminating the way.

Language

Vinterisk is a Germanic language with some Celtic, and to a lesser extent, Latin and Slavic influences. It can be written using the Latin alphabet or its own runic alphabet (Vintersrunan) derived from the Younger and Elder Fuþark.

Holidays

The Order uses a Lunisolar calendar, with several holydays distributed throughout the year, the main ones being at the solstices and equinoxes.

Date	Name	Remarks
21 December–1 January	Julblot (Jul/Jultid)	Period from the December solstice to the start of the new year, celebrating the rebirth of the Sun and the return of longer daylight hours.
20 March–1 April	Ostrablot (Ostra/Ostratid)	Period from the March equinox to April, celebrating spring. In Vinterisk this holiday is sometimes called "Luvtid" meaning "Love time".
21 June–1 July	Lidablot (Lida/Lidatid)	Period from the June solstice to July, celebrating victory, history and culture.
-	Alfablot (Alfatid)	Autumn holiday, honoring the ancestors, dead people and death itself.