Memeraeus
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| Empire of Memeraeus Αυτοκρατορία του Μιμραιώς (Greek) | |||||
| |||||
| Motto: Ad Hoc Latin: To this | |||||
| Anthem: Oh Qazaqstande facto bitch lasagnade jure | |||||
| Piraeus, Greece | |||||
| Capital | Kylikeio | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official language(s) | Greek | ||||
| Demonym | Memerian | ||||
| Government | Imperial Council | ||||
| Ministers | Moderators | ||||
| Chiefs | Administrators | ||||
| Established | 28 March 2019 | ||||
| Disestablished | 6 February 2020 | ||||
| Population | 1.4k (December 2019) | ||||
| Currency | Euro (€) de facto Memerian denar (👌) de jure | ||||
| Time zone | GMT +2 | ||||
| Succeeded by |  State of Zenia | ||||
Memeraeus, officially the Empire of Memeraeus (Greek: Αυτοκρατορία του Μιμραιώς), formerly known as the State of Memeraeus (Greek: Πολιτεία του Μιμραιώς), was a semi-satirical micronation based in the main facility of the University of Piraeus, in Greece. It was founded on March the 28th 2019 as an immediate effect of and a response to the growing censorship on social media platforms, namely Facebook, as a result of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, approved by the European Union 2 days earlier, and the new Facebook hate policies, decided one day earlier.
The abdication of the Moderators from the Imperial Council led to the decline, and eventually the fall of the Empire in February 2020. Its remnants were eventually reorganized into the State of Zenia.
History
Early History
Memeraeus traces its origins to a Facebook meme group established by students of the University of Piraeus. The group was founded as the "University (Dank) of Memeraeus" (Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο (Dank) Memeραιώς) on the 31st of May 2018 and renamed itself to the current "University of Memeraeus" on the 22nd of October of the same year. As is common with many meme groups online, however, censorship had always been a growing concern. To avoid the inevitable banishment of accounts, a large part of the group's members created a Discord server on the 31st of January of the next year, where such censorship rules do not apply.
The passing of the EU Copyright Directive and the establishment of new policies regarding hate speech on Facebook in March 2019 posed a great problem for the group's members, with several posts being taken down or muted as a result of supposed copyright or hate speech policy violations. Given this situation, three members of the group spontaneously decided the creation of a new state where such rules do not apply, thus giving birth to the State of Memeraeus.
Civil War
For a brief period in late 2018, a Civil War broke between the Tribes of the Nation of Memeraeus. The fight was really intense, as there were little to no alliances formed; each party served their own causes and people. As the days advanced, the meme flow was rapidly increasing, with the addition of videos as means of propaganda / attack. A peace treaty was formally signed by Warlord Alexander B., leader of the DS Army, on the 29th of November of the same year. The final chapter of the Civil War was sealed by the Digital Systems side forming a peace agreement with the rest of the Tribes, meaning that the power that prevailed didn't cease to be the D.S. Although there will always be some form of tension, the general agreement is never to return to such state of absurdity and wrongdoing. Colonel P. Dimi later showcased the unity between the Tribes with a state-propaganda video on the Armed Forces of the State of Memeraeus.
Six-Reaction War
Since the establishment of the state, there has always been a large debate on post reacting; the majority of people tend to react based on what others have chosen to 'click'; on the other hand, others choose wisely, no matter how the others have reacted. There is this heroic minority that reacts with the only reaction that applies on the post (e.g. all hearts etc.). And then, there is a large number of people who love to play mind tricks; people who just press the default 'like' button or react with 'sad' for no reason in particular. Although 'like' is usually believed to be the most annoying of all (when not fitting with the content of the post and/or the rest of the reactions), in some cases, there have been reports of an opposition to 'sad' reactions, when people choose to act as pricks randomly, yet consistently. In any case, it's always the 5 remaining reactions against the 'outcast', whether it is the 'like' or 'sad'.
Every day there is a chance of a small clash regarding said matter, although some times there is a comment-section-expansion, leading to even more conflict that resembles the beginning of the Civil War. Yet again, this might seem normal; after all, things will never settle down between the Tribes.
Generalissimo Konrad Hirsch coined the term in mid-October 2019, inspired by the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab allies (United Arab Republic [Egypt and Syria], Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan - all in support of Palestine).
Empire
Up until late October 2019, Memeraeus was officially using the term 'State' to describe itself, despite the ever growing population. With the group reaching the 1.000 member milestone (not to mention surpassing it) in less than a month (from roughly 750 members), the council decided to utilise a designated term to describe the state. Hence, it is formally classified as an 'Empire' starting from the 1st of November 2019. It was at that point that the government was upgraded to an Imperial Council.
Fall
After the gradual resigns of the group's moderators (January 2020), the remaining administrators (and members of the now de facto defunct Imperial Council) were forced to try and negotiate to no avail, thus left with the option of wiping out the so called 'inactive members', leaving almost no fake profile presence, yet not touching some former mods. The act is known as "The Purge" and was conceived as a result of a larger group's method of trolling members who didn't really post anything. As if moderators were invisible, it became apparent to some people two to three months later that such changes were made; nevertheless, it was at this point that the State of Zenia had already been established and people had moved on, without feeling any concern regarding their former allegiance.
Aftermath
The establishment of a new micronation in fieri was enough to wipe out any doubts about the seriousness of the citizens-in-exile. By stripping them off of their citizenship, the former moderators were free to act on their own and thus form the State of Zenia on the 6th of February 2020 in Athens, Greece, not far from where the territory of Memeraeus lies. Based on the principles of stoicism, the principal aim of the newly established micronation was to bring a new chapter of rebirth through the ashes of the former entity that included citizens with different perspectives on how to administrate a facebook group.
Politics
The state is yet to compose a constitution. Suggested ideas include the creation of a council consisted of the group's administrators and moderators and additional councils where membership is decided based on the monthly list of top 8 or top 10 most active members.
Government
The governing body of the state has always been in the form of a Council; nowadays, the body that consists of the administrators (admins for short) and the moderators (mods for short) is responsible for the main organisation of the way the state works. Although there is this distinction, all decisions are made collectively in a democratic manner. The newly formed Imperial Council consists of seven nobles, each of whom are representatives of an Eastern Roman Imperial House. All of them are eventually members of the Imperial House of Memeraeus.
Administrative divisions
The Empire of Memeraeus is currently controlling a number of territories that are de jure in the jurisdiction of the Principality of Piraeus.
Divisions
The Empire of Memeraeus is divided into the following 4 divisions:
- Kylikeio (Municipality of Kylikeio, officially Δήμος του Κυλικείου) is the capital.
There are also 3 minor divisions:
- Venizelos Governorate
- Androutsos Entity
- MaS Township
The largest settlement is the University of Piraeus Special Administrative Region, which also contains the capital, Kylikeio.
In the afternoon of the 20th of November 2019, two members of the government decided to claim a place that can only be named here as MaS as the de jure safe space of a certain number of Memerians, whereas it is considered the de facto co-capital of the Empire.
Political parties
The first political party established in the nation was the Jewish party, only to be disestablished one minute after its foundation. A Conservative party was founded in its stead a few minutes later. As of September 2019 no party is active except for the factions mentioned below.
Demographics
The Nation of Memeraeus consists of four main sub-nations: Economics, Business and International Studies (EBI), Maritime and Industrial Studies (MI), School of Finance and Statistics (FS) and the School of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Each of these structures contains several tribes;
EBI
- Economics, Department of
- Business Administration, Department of (aka DA)
- International and European Studies, Department of (aka IES)
- Tourism Studies, Department of
MI
FS
- Banking and Financial Management, Department of (aka BFM)
- Statistics and Insurance Science, Department of (aka SIS)
ICT
The whole existence of the Nation of Memeraeus seeks to become the embodiment of "E PLVRIBVS VNVM", since plurality is the main characteristic of every aspect of the mere structure of our Empire. The Statistic Agency has yet to collect data on the exact number of people for each tribe, but for now we can only speculate.
The Factions that were created at some point have nothing to do with the tribes and/or sub-nations and, therefore, are in fact international entities that have brought together people from different departments. This "coming-together" concept skyrocketed after the formal end of the Civil War conflicts between each department.
Factions
Memeraeus is largely influenced by two rival and heavily gendered factions, namely "Dishwasher Judges" and "Tea".
Dishwasher Judges
The "Dishwasher Judges" were formed in late April 2019 as a boys' club in Memeraeus for the conversation of sensitive topics, even though topics soon included other subjects such as politics, memes or raids against other groups. A large part of the events happening in Memeraeus are one way or another influenced by the DJ, for instance the appearance of the SPNLS and KRS cult or the coordinated exploitation of copypastas. Lately, it has been reported that most of the members have started playing the bass.
Currently, the fiction's influence exceeds the borders of Memeraeus as it has been a defining factor in other events unrelated to the State itself, such as the General Assemblies of the Students' Association of the University of Piraeus.
Tea
The "Tea" faction rose to prominence around the same time DJ appeared, essentially as the female version of the DJ, with the discussed topics, however, being less diverse. Tea also influenced a great deal of Memeraeus' events, though that influence has been recently greatly reduced.
In the Council of Admins
As of September 2019, there seems to be an over-representation of DJ members in the Council of Admins, as 4 out of 6 members belong to the DJ faction and only one to the Tea faction.
Other factions
ByzGang
During the first couple of months of activity in the Nation's ranks, a duo of ambitious Roman throne claimants emerged; soon-to-be Colonel P. Dimi and Warlord Alexander B., two brave warriors and dank memers. It is not clear who or what initiated this, but it appears that both individuals hold unlimited passion for the Roman and the Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine) Empire, their history, politics, geography and tradition. To them, 1453 AD (and 1461 AD for the Empire of Trebizond) are not the end; just the beginning of a long interval, between the collapse and the rebirth of the Empire from its ashes. There came a period when their main meme material orbited around the retaking of Constantinople, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire and claiming the throne as Emperors (before Alexander retiring from the throne claim and focusing on the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch). Of course the opposition was strongly mocking their cause, but this didn't stop them from promoting their agenda; even before the crucial Elections of the University, Alexander's campaign was a Byzantine promo, mainly inspired from a fictional party from some Greek TV series of the late 1990s.
Yet, those two are not the only members of the ByzGang; Manu II, a true descendant of Constantinople Greeks, joined the cause, making him the only member of the ByzGang with actual ties with the City of Byzantium; the New Rome. Hence, the ByzGang is now more than a cult; a trifecta of equally passionate cross-bearing servants of the Empire. There have been numerous attempts to add more people to the cause, but the criteria they need to fulfill surpass their ability to understand the noble cause of the three founding members. As of October 2019, their main ally is D.S.I.S., which provides them with formal support, as well as military intel and strategical advice.
Law and justice
The national police force of the Empire of Memeraeus was established on the 29th of March 2019, one day after the establishment of the micronation itself. Highly skilled and specially trained officers are members of the agency with a wide range of responsibilities. On the 8th of April of the same year, the Nation's members decided to revamp and modernise the force with the addition of one more unit: the Thot Patrol. On the same day with the police force, the Border Control of the Empire was also established, in order to maintain peace, defend the growing borders of our micronation and also work as counter-terrorist corps.
Military
The Memerian military is divided into the Land Forces, Navy, and Air Force. There is also an independent arm of service: Aerospace Defence Force. Because of the high risk of the Empire's situation, it is mandatory for all citizens to be constantly stand-by for action. Every citizen of Memeraeus is automatically filled in the ranks of the Armed Forces, without their gender or age affecting the draft.
Economy
The economy of the state is described by its members as a "mixed meme economy", where the distribution of memes is free but moderated in order to avoid reposts. The Ministry of Economics of Memeraeus considers a meme to be equal in value with a typical Freddo Cappuccino, i.e. €1.50. Under the current formula, memes increase in value by 1 euro cent per additional reaction. Discord reactions are considered more valuable, and as such each is considered to instantly add 10 cents to a meme's value.
The currency of Memeraeus is the Memerian Denar and equals to one meme, or €1.50 in value. Its symbol is the ok sign emoji (👌), making the Denar the first ever currency to use an emoji as a symbol. A subdivision of the Denar are the "reacts", with 150 reacts being equal to a meme. At the moment, the most expensive meme is valued at 2 memes and 31 reacts (1 Denar intrinsic value + 181 reactions (= 1 meme and 31 reactions) = 👌 2.031 = €3.31).
For the sake of simplicity, the Euro is used in day-to-day transactions.
Memeconomic theory
The memeconomic theory is the economic pillar of the Empire of Memeraeus. According to microeconomic theory, the utility of a good or service stems from its ability to satisfy a human need, that is, to offer satisfaction to its user. Therefore, each meme meets a need for memes. In order to quantify this satisfaction, there should be a measure of comparison. From research conducted by the Ministry of Economics, the conclusion that a meme generates satisfaction equal to a coffee arose, whose price was define as €1.50. From the research it also appeared that the law of diminishing marginal utility does not apply to memes, since saturation does not exist, even though this law does apply to coffee. Hence the rate of 1 meme = 1 coffee is absolute and applies to 1 separate unit at a time. Simply put, 1 meme equals 1.50€. This analysis results in the value of the Memerian Denar (👌) being 1 MD = 1.50 € at a fixed exchange rate.
Not all memes are of equal value, however. Some get more value because of the interaction with it, while others do not. This leads to the assumption that each meme receives additional value from the reactions it collects. Therefore, each reaction increases meme value by 1 cent of the euro. In addition, Discord memes have a higher value increase, since they require more interaction, so each increase costs 0.05 euros.
Space exploration
The Space Force of Memeraeus is an experimental unit that is set to help in exploring the universe. The provisional force is currently under development and hopefully will be established in late 2019. As of April, the budget of the Empire is focused on other fields -including merchandise-, thus enforcing us to sadly delay the hiring of employees.
Religion
The majority of Memeraeus' population are either Orthodox Christian or atheist. However several homegrown cults have emerged and are highly popular among the state's general public.
SPNLS - KRS Cult
The exact date of creation of the SPNLS and KRS cult is unknown and possibly predates Memeraeus, however its popularity has been greatly increased post April 2019. The cults initially developed independently of each other, though syncretism proved that they shared several common aspects.
The Cult worships but also greatly respects two dark deities called SPNLS and KRS. Even though their names are known, the general practice is to have them shortened in Judaistic fashion, as pronouncing them risks the release of several curses. The effects of a curse can also be magnified if one says "dark" before pronouncing one of the names (for example "Dark SPNLS").
There have been several verified cases in which the mere pronunciation of one of the names causes great suffering. For example, saying KRS in a risky situation might prove disastrous for the person receiving the curse.
Tavlipulius - Skakipionius cult
Another cult highly related to SPNLS - KRS is the cult of Tavlipulius and Skakipionius. Unlike the previous cult, there seems to be a clear good vs evil fight between Tavlipulius and Skakipionius.
Tavlipulius emerged in late August 2019 after being summoned for the first time by a believer. In his first appearance, he did not utter a word, though in the second he pronounced incomprehensible words written in the Phoenician alphabet. Soon another follower of the cult summoned Tavlipulius' nemesis, Skakipionius. In his first appearance Skakipionius clearly presented himself, speaking in the Greek language.
Tavlipulius is known to release curses at will, which generally appear whenever he utters a word. It is so far the only known deity to release curses by simply speaking. The general consensus is that Tavlipulius does not speak a human language, though there have been two questionable instances in which he appeared to speak in Finnish and Greek.
Skakipionius is also known as being the only deity to have a unique characteristic, namely bipolar disorder. A defining characteristic is his attempt to deflect curses by Tavlipulius, as well as mostly speaking in human language. However his disorder often leads him in aiding Tavlipulius' goals by allowing the curses of the latter to fall on humans, as well as making him occasionally speak in non human languages. An unproven speculation is that Skakipionius used to be an aide to Tavlipulius who revolted in defense of humans, though his former self sometimes suppresses his good intentions. Such speculations however are difficult to confirm as so far no text describing the duo's motives has emerged.