Blackrock
 | |
| Official language | English, Irish Gaelic |
|---|---|
| Capital | Blackrock Nua City |
| Largest cities | Curragh, Blackrock Village |
| Website | Blackrock Website |
| Forum | Blackrock Website |
| Number of citizens | 10 |
| Number of active citizens | 0 (Nation Inactive, annexed to Shireroth) |
| Date founded | Early 2000 |
| Government | Presidential Republic |
| Current leader | President Shane Odlum |
| Currency | Blackrock Credit (©) |
| National animal | unknown |
| National fruit/food | unknown |
| National drink | unknown |
 | |
| Map versions | 4.5.5 - present (as a province of Shireroth) |
The Republic of Blackrock was founded in early 2000. Originally called Ceres, it was at first an entirely offline micronation, based in the town of Blackrock south of Dublin, Ireland. Eventually it expanded and got a website and EZBoard; around the same time it changed its name to Blackrock to commemorate its town of origin.
Blackrock was a military republic under the rule of Secretary-General, stodlum. Despite its somewhat formidable military government, it also had a Seanad (senate) for which elections were held every few months. Technically a one-party state under the National Party, in reality other parties, such as the Political Do-Gooders Party and the Spartan Party, were allowed to proliferate.
Blackrock's foreign relations were few but fruitful. Its chief ally was the Federated States of Bellatoria, a micronation from the American South. It also participated extensively in the old Apollo Sector, and stodlum was one of the leaders of a provisional government of Audentior at one point.
The country was most famous, however, for its military. stodlum was an accomplished programmer, and created the first spam cannon, a program capable of filling any forum with spam (and destroying all of its real content in the process) in just a few minutes. He continued to improve the basic design, increasing its speed and circumventing the latest spam blocks. Although Blackrock never shared the most powerful version of the cannon with foreign countries, an intermediate model ended up, with stodlum's blessing, in the hands of Shireroth, who leveraged it into a premier military position during later eras. Stodlum also created several flash games for "training", in which the player took the role of a Blackrock soldier and attacked the country's various enemies.
The country's longest-running struggle was with the oddly-named Purple Bunny Federation; originally brought in as peacekeepers in a dispute with Automatica, Blackrock believed the PBF to have violated the terms of the peacekeeping treaty, and this ballooned into a rivalry that lasted almost a year. Mindful of international opinion, Blackrock never used the spam cannon against them, but attacked mostly through propaganda and frequent spying.
Blackrock's other arch-enemy was Thomas Hubert, the former dictator of Treesia, who tried to annex Blackrock territory when he was too inexperienced to know it was a bad idea. Although he eventually backed down, Blackrock continued to hold a grudge against him, and along with discontented Treesians and Jasonia's intelligence service, effected a coup while Thomas was away on vacation. Treesia became a Blackrock protectorate under Eoin Dornan.
The culture of Blackrock was a series of odd, disconnected elements that were considered some of the most original in the sector. Religion focused on Triangulon, a triangular deity with the motto "Three sides, three angles, one God" and "Foldar, god of folders (formerly binders)". The Blackrockers often did offline activities together, including, on one occasion, hanging the Republic's flag from the top of the Blackrock post office.
On October 14th 2000, stodlum, having grown bored, disbanded the country at the height of its power. The end of Blackrock was completely unexpected and sort of traumatic for some, leading to the institution of Blackrock Day, celebrated every October 14th. The observance of Blackrock Day has since been mostly forgotten.
Blackrock Nua
Some Blackrockers and friends of Blackrock attempted to restart Blackrock without stodlum, calling the attempt Blackrock Nua (New Blackrock in Irish). This never really got off the ground, and eventually joined the Union of Apollo States. It was Blackrock Nua that later joined Shireroth along with the rest of the Union, leading to Shireroth's claim of Blackrock; however, it should be made clear that despite the similarity in names, the actual political entity of Blackrock was ceded to the Republic of Ireland and has no official micronational heir.
With the destruction of Blackrock, Treesia became an independent country under Eoin Dornan. It donned a fantasy theme, and thrived as a medieval Barony until around 2005, when Eoin left and tried to close the nation. His Chancellor, Iain de Vembria, then reopened it against Eoin's wishes under an arrangement of questionable legality and, after a series of mishaps, merged it with Aerlig to form the United Baronies of Aerlig and Treesia, where it remained until its decline along with the rest of the Grand Commonwealth.
In Shireroth and Jingdao
During the period in which Shireroth held possession over the Duchy of Kildare, Blackrock was part of that dutchy as Blackrock Nua. From 1534 AN onwards, Blackrock Nua was also the capital of Kildare. During the period when Kildare gained independence as the Apollonian Republic, and was later hijacked by Jingdao, it lost its position as capital to Apollo City. During the period of the Jexit Kingdom, the city was abandoned. It was not restored after the restoration of the Jingdaoese Empire.
Cultural Impact
Micronationalism's most prestigious prize, the Shane Odlum FNORD Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, was named for stodlum, who was remembered very fondly by most of his former colleagues.
