Richard Dalton

Richard Dalton
Citizenship	Abelden Atovia Beaconite Karnia-Ruthenia
Nationality	American
Political party	Liberty Front (Abelden) The Republicans (Tusmore) Atovian Solidarity Party (Atovia)
Other political affiliations	Libertarian (U.S.)

Richard Dalton, also reffered to in his Abeldane title as the Earl of Hayerling or by his Atovian title, Markgraf Edward von Verraland is a micronationalist statesman and politician most prominent within the Abeldane Empire and the Kingdom of Atovia. Dalton served his most prominent position as Vorsitzender of the Abeldane Empire from April 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020. Currently, he serves a number of positions in the Abeldane Empire and in the Kingdom of Atovia, serving primarily as Chancellor of Atovia.

Dalton's career as micronationalist started in late 2015 after discovering information about the Republic of Molossia and the Principality of Sealand. This would lead to further intrigue in the notion of micronationalism, eventually discovering MicroWiki and the Forums respectively. Dalton would go on to lead a handful of personal micronations in his career, often devolving and morphing into entirely new entities in their own right. It would not be until 2016 when Dalton established the Grand Principality of Custosia, that his micronational career would become more interactive. After three monarchical incarnations, experimenting with republicanism and eventually becoming a fief of the Thegn-Hold of Siar Fordell, the Custosian idea would collapse.

In 2018, Dalton renewed his personal interest in statesmanship, founding the Federated States of Transterra, largely regarded as Dalton's most successful micronationalist project. However, due to academic stress and inactivity, Trasnterra would eventually be absorbed into the Kingdom of Atovia in April 2019.

Dalton considers himself an "Abeldane-Atovian", working very closely with both micronations to this day.

Micronational endeavors

See: Kingdom of Custosia

Recreation of the original Edwardian flag

In late 2015, Dalton watched Tiny Spark and the six-part documentary comedy, How to Start Your Own Country. Dalton claims these two documentaries as crucial for understanding and inspiring his own micronational endeavors. On September 20, 2015, Dalton founded his first micronation, the Kingdom of Edwardia. The early micronation was founded as an absolute monarchy, claiming sovereignty over his home as Edwardian land. Around this time, Dalton shared his knowledge of micronationalism and his personal micronational pursuits with his school friends in a discussion dubbed, the "Workbench Conference". Enamored by the idea of micronationalism, two of his friends would go on to establish micronations of their own; the Kingdom of Cydonia, named after the song Knights of Cydonia by the English band Muse and the Democracy of the Long Isle, named after Long Island, New York.

On October 29, 2015, Dalton ceded the land claimed by Edwardia over to the Democracy of Long Isle for reasons unbeknownst at the time and to this day. This period in Dalton's personal micronational career is often referred to as the "Disarray Era", following many micronational incarnations. Of the micronations created, the Vlastist State of Luktonia stands out the most for its early achievements. The Vlastist ideology, regarded as a fusion of Fascism and Communism, was more or less "tongue-and-cheek" and not at all representative of either ideology. The Vlastist State was most successful for its experimentation with model rocketry. The first rocket launched, dubbed "Ayris I", successfully launched in late May–June 2016. Around that same time, the Vlastist State would be dissolved.

Custosia

Flag of the Third Kingdom, 2017

On July 16, 2016, Dalton returned to his micronational endeavors and established the Grand Principality of Custosia. A glimpse at potential stability, Custosia itself had some minor success in its lifespan. Following even more influence on the forums, the Grand Principality would eventually evolve into a Kingdom after acquiring more land. Following unstable reforms in Custosia, the first incarnation named the First Kingdom would collapse on October 7.

Royal portrait of King Edward I under the Third Kingdom

Dalton, then inspired by republican ideas, established the Republic of New Custosia. The transition from an absolute monarchy to a democracy proved to be challenging for Dalton at the time. Unable to attract new citizens, the Dalton's vision for a republic began to crack at the seams. Attempts were made to prevent New Custosia's collapse on December 30, 2016. Unfortunately, these attempts were futile and the Republic ceased to exist.

Faced with the collapse of the Frist Kingdom and the Republic, Dalton set out to restore the Custosian monarchy. Thus, the Second Kingdom of Custosia was established. Believing that the Grand Unified Micronational would be crucial for Custosia's stability, Dalton applied for membership. Unfortunately, the Second Kingdom's membership was turned down by the Quorum of Delegates which eventually lead to the collapse of the Second Kingdom out of sheer humiliation.

On February 20, 2017, Dalton reached out to the Thegn of Siar Fordell, Ser John Marshall, who offered Custosia fiefdom status in the Thegn-Hold of Siar Fordell. A treaty was signed between the two parties officially establishing the Fiefdom of Custosia. Dalton, now a Lord under the Fiefdom, was able to maintain a stable Custosian state. On April 23, 2017, Dalton declared independence from Siar Fordell, establishing the final incarnation of Custosia, the Third Kingdom.

Following independence from Siar Fordell, the Third Kingdom of Custosia was re-established as an absolute monarchy. Following minor reforms, Dalton adopted a constitutional system and called for elections. Following a line of inactivity, the Third Kingdom eventually collapsed, closing the Custosian micronational project.