Ives Blackwood
| Saxber Lennox Blackwood, Baron Kavanah, Ph.D. Dred., K.I. M.E. | |
|---|---|
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| Blackwood's profile photo on Discord. | |
15 July 2020 | |
| Predecessor | Office established |
| Father | Anthony Blackwood |
| Mother | Gail Blackwood (née Gordon-Lennox Scott) |
| Born | 6 May 2001, Ireland |
| Religion | Christian (Church of England) |
Ives Blackwood (who has since changed their name to Saxber), also known as Mark Kavanah, was a Glastieven writer and statesman who was active in the community from 2015 to 2021. Blackwood co-founded the Republic of Skovaji with their brother in October 2014 and three iterations of Glastieve with their friends between 2017 and 2020. After Glastieve was temporarily dissolved, they considered the Abeldane Empire their main micronation until leaving the community in March 2021. Blackwood was a noted micropatriologist in their later career and a minor figure in micronational economics in their early days. They were also a wiki admin from 2019 to 2021 and a MicroWiki@Discord moderator in 2021. They left the community following a widespread negative reaction to a joke/troll wherein they had controlled a fictional persona called Beti which they used to start arguments. Since the revival of Glastieve in July 2022, they have been its national scrivener and one of its three High Councillors.
Skovaji and economics, 2015 – 2016
Blackwood joined the online micronational community in July 2015 as prime minister of the Republic of Skovaji, a micronation established in October 2014 in their family and the Acteriendian model countries sector. The nation was formally led by their brother, with day-to-day work and diplomatic relations delegated to Blackwood. After initially making an entry for Skovaji on MicroWikia, Blackwood was invited to MicroWiki by Ned Gunderson, and Skovaji became an ally of Nedland. Blackwood also negotiated for it to become an autonomous republic within the Empire of Paravia, although in January 2016, Blackwood's brother insisted that they reassert Skovaji's independence.
After making themselves known on the MicroWiki forums, Blackwood was invited by Anthony Clark to the micronational Skype rooms where most community activity then took place. In the community, they showed an interest in micronational economics. They became a supporting figure in the 2016 intermicronational economics boom after opening a Skovaji Stock Exch*nge, and they were invited by Henry Clémens to become a founding member of the Micronational Economic Group.
In the summer of 2016, Skovaji gained a second ally, the Shorewellese Empire, and Blackwood won election as the second chair of the Micronational Economic Group. However, their ambition to establish an academy for micronational economic theory never came to fruition as their activity in the community came to an abrupt halt in response to a family crisis. Lucas Campos seized control of the MEG in response to Blackwood's inactivity, and Skovaji was dissolved in October 2016.
Glastieve, 2017 – 2020
First period of involvement
In March 2017, they returned to the community, having founded Glastieve two weeks earlier. This was a group project with a number of friends, some of whom had become involved with Skovaji in 2016. Formally, Glastieve was a directorial state with no single leader or founder, but Blackwood was seen as its de facto leader and founder, particularly in the early days. They held a number of government posts, largely in relation to economics and communications.
They continued to persue an interest in micronational economics, publishing a white paper on the MicroWiki forums arguing that the inherent valuelessness of micronational currency could serve as an incentive to participate in a small m*rket economy, a strategy which became the Glastieven Model. They also founded a YAMO intended as a spiritual successor to the MEG, the Micronational Association for Finance and Economics. In this era, Blackwood became a citizen of the Abeldane Empire and was a figure in left-wing Abeldane politics, initially as communications officer of Edwin Farrar's Labour Party, and after spearheading its merger with SEPA to form Abeldane Social Ecology, as communications minister in the coalition Fourth Renwick ministry. For part of this period, they were also Prime Minister of Legatia.
Blackwood attracted widespread mockery and censure in August 2017 by attempting to organise a breakaway from MicroWiki, styled as the New Community. Attacking a perceived "class structure" where more experienced micronationalists looked down on newer members, and ostensibly in protest against the negative reputation of Nedland, Coria, and Mahuset (who distanced themselves from these claims), Blackwood tried to organise a movement to establish a more egalitarian community. For a period, they co-operated with Dylan Callahan and his allies, who charged MicroWiki with having an Austenasian bias and also sought to establish an alternative community. This co-operation would prove influential on Blackwood's later micropatriology. The respect was not mutual, and Callahan eventually expelled Blackwood from his chatrooms, calling them "toxic, destructive and a major disappointment".
After the failure of the New Community became apparent in October, Blackwood was instructed by the Glastieven cabinet to withdraw from the online micronational community.
Second period
Glastieve returned to MicroWiki in January 2018 and apologised for the New Community incident. Blackwood subsequently came to focus less on economics and more on micropatriology, developing a position they called New Secessionism. They also wrote as a journalist in both Glastieve and the community, in both cases through The Glastieven, which was at various times both a printed newspaper and a website. Except for their journalism, most of their engagement in this period was focused on trying to improve Glastieve's reputation, including negotiating a recognition treaty with the influential Empire of Austenasia and promoting New Secessionism and the Glastieven Model as its intellectual exports.
In June 2019, they tried to create an organisation to improve the standard of discourse in the community, The Statecraft Association, but initial interest failed to amount to anything. A significant factor in its failure was Blackwood's snobbish insistence on using the "more traditional" platform of Skype, as most micronational activity had shifted to Discord in 2018. They retreated from the community after the failure of Statecraft, focusing instead on driving up activity in Glastieve. This renaissance was successful but short-lived, and Glastieve was effectively dissolved in March 2020 at the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Abelden and micropatriology, 2020 – 2021
Home-made Crown Journal and micropatriology
Blackwood returned to the community following Glastieve's demise. They marked their return by writing an opinion article for Clémens' Messenger arguing for a renewed focus on micronational economics in response to COVID-19.[1] They had become a member of MicroWiki staff in May 2019, and during this period of non-affiliation with any micronation, they largely identified themselves as "a British micronationalist and MicroWiki administrator".
Four months later, Blackwood became a citizen of the Grand Duchy of Rai, a federal state of the Abeldane Empire. They revived the old title Baron Kavanah, which had been created for him in June 2017 by Stephen I and II during their previous Abeldane career. Blackwood also founded the Home-made Crown Journal, an Abeldane newspaper aimed at the wider MicroWiki community, and made an effort to recruit staff writers, including by absorbing Daniel Hamilton's MicroWeekly. Their involvement was limited before November due to an increasing workload outside micronationalism and distaste for the toxicity of MicroWiki@Discord.
After Jonathan I, Emperor of Austenasia attempted to close the Discord as a general forum in November 2020, they returned, and were briefly involved with the Kingdom of Brienia before being expelled for using profane language to characterise its alignment with Pavlov. Blackwood became a Discord moderator in January. Their micropatriological work in this period attracted some interest, with several younger members of the community praising it, but some more experienced members complaining behind closed doors about Blackwood's tendency to give too much weight to Glastieven examples and present their own opinions as fact when writing about general topics. Together with Zabëlle Skye, they created a micropatriological version of The Political Compass, the micronational compass.
Beti and Anthea
Meanwhile, Blackwood wrote a fictional spy report and released it to MicroWikiLeaks, hoping to establish a ludibrium (a hoax constructed as a puzzle to be solved) about a conspiracy theory in the community. They subsequently joined the community as Beti, a persona they had previously used to troll the Homestuck fandom. Beti created the Good and Holy Quadripartite Kingdom, but their main interest was in starting arguments by being obnoxiously 'woke' whilst clearly being narrow-minded and bigoted beneath the surface. Blackwood used the Home-made Crown Journal to 'unmask' Beti as the author of the original leaked report and encourage speculation about their true identity, again hoping to use the troll as a ludibrium.
Their final project was the 2021 attempt to create a community micronation, a collaboration with several others—including Sertor Valentinus—that yeilded the short-lived Glorious Anthean Republic. Newton von Uberquie critised the project for copying Abelden and for granting 'passive citizenship' to everyone in the community. Blackwood had Beti become a member of Anthea and found a radical left-wing political party called "Raditrans".
Beti was permanently banned from MicroWiki in March 2021, at which point Blackwood revealed them as a persona controlled by them, expecting people to be amused. Instead, there was a sincerely angry backlash, and Blackwood was sacked as Discord moderator and wiki admin. Brooklyn Hewitt dismissed them as unable to change and said their friendship with Ned Gunderson proved they were fundamentally just a troll.
Post-2021
Blackwood came out as non-binary in October 2021, taking the name Saxber.
Glastieve was revived in July 2022. Blackwood initially hoped to become involved with the community again, but realised they would not be welcome there after overseeing a conversation in which two experienced micronationalists expressed dismay at the prospect of their return.
Personal life
Born in Ireland, but growing up in south-west England, Blackwood holds dual British–Irish citizenship. They are a self-described "wannabe author" of both fiction and non-fiction.
Styles and honours
Blackwood was awarded Shorwellese and Essian honours in 2017. In the same year, they were also made Baron Kavanah in Abelden; this was during a brief career in the nation that both started and ended in 2017. Nonetheless, they revived the title when they returned to Abelden in 2020.
The University of Glastieve, reorganised as the Hallowhouse after Blackwood left the community, has awarded them a PhD and the title "The Honourable Societarian". This was originally awarded as "The Honourable Gentleman", changing when Blackwood came out as non-binary in 2021.
In November 2020, Blackwood's preferred style was:
- Ives Gordon-Lennox Blackwood, Baron Kavanah, Ph.D. Dred., Knight of the Imperial Feathers in Shorewell, Member of the Essian Order
Or, in abbreviated form:
- Ives Gordon-Lennox Blackwood, Baron Kavanah, Ph.D., K.I. M.E.
Peerages
Baron Kavanah, created 30 June 2017 by Stephen I and II.
Honours
Knight of the Order of Peace, awarded 8 June 2017 by Bilal I.- Knight of the Order of the Imperial Feathers, awarded 2 July 2017 by Bilal I.
Member of the Essian Order,[note 2] awarded by Henry Clémens.
Degrees
- BA (Hons) in Glastieven History, awarded December 2019 by the University of Glastieve.
- PhD in Micropatriology, awarded January 2020 by the University of Glastieve.
The Latin name of the University of Glastieve is Universitas Dredriae, and so the postnominal "Dred." is used with its degrees.
Other aliases
Ives Blackwood was the fifth name by which Blackwood was known on MicroWiki (so, inasmuch as anyone has cause to refer to them in retrospect, Saxber is the sixth).
When they initially joined the community with Skovaji in July 2015, they did so under the alias Kenneth Postbridge, which they used through to leaving the community in October 2016. In March 2017, when they rejoined the community as a citizen of Glastieve, they introduced themselves as Mark Kavanah to distance themselves from their previous career; their initial intention was to present Kavanah and Postbridge as different people, but Henry Clémens released that the two were the same person. Blackwood changed aliases again in January 2018, starting to use Will Campbell, which they said was short for William Michael Campbell. In 2019, they revived the Kenneth Postbridge alias in the consistent form K.M. Postbridge, using this alongside Will Campbell, to the extent that their MicroWiki entry was briefly titled "Will Campbell or K.M. Postbridge" and used "Campbell/Postbridge" each time they were mentioned.
They abandoned their prior aliases and decided to be known as Ives Blackwood in March 2020. After leaving the community, they came out as non-binary and changed their name to Saxber. Several months later, when briefly hoping to return, they updated their MicroWiki page to use their correct name and pronouns.
- 2015–16: Kenneth Postbridge
- 2017: Mark Kavanah (sometimes Mark S. Kavanah)
- 2018–19: Will Campbell, short for William Michael Campbell
- 2019: K.M. Postbridge
In Brienia, Blackwood used a 'Croatian version' of their name, Ivo Tončiović. There is no Croation translation of Ives, but in Western Europe, Ives is a variant of the name Ivo, which is also a Balkan name of unrelated etymology, so Blackwood chose to use Ivo as a pseudo-translation. Blackwood's father was Anthony Blackwood, and Anthony in Croation is either Anton or Tončio, hence Tončiović.
Blackwood also has a uniliteral code (a letter of the alphabet by which they are known) used in discussions about Glastieve.
See also
Notes and references
Notes
References
- ↑ Blackwood, Ives. "Opinion: Discord and COVID-19 have revived MicroWiki; Let’s revive micronational economics". Messenger. April 6, 2020. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
Further reading
- Blackwood, Ives. Introduction to New Secessionism. Starlight Green: Glastieven University Press, December 2019.
- Blackwood, Ives. The Glastieven Model. Self-published, November 2020