Philip Locke

Hyperborean active in Shireroth approximately from 2002 to 2004, famous for his strong commitment to democracy in the summer of '04.

Locke first gained intermicronational notoriety when he and his friend William Jesmer launched a terrorist attack against their home nation at the time, Tymaria, and deleted its forum. At the time, Shireroth was a Tymarian state, and it banned William Jesmer from holding citizenship in the country ever again but gave Locke the lesser punishment of a three month suspension of citizenship.

At the end of three months, Locke returned to Shireroth, now an independent country, settling in the Duchy of Hyperborea. Although he got along well with most of the other Hyperboreans, he quickly made several enemies, most significantly Erik Mortis and Gryphon Avocatio. Although they originally were upset with his part in the Tymarian attacks, they continued to be incensed by his loud and vocal support for a more democratic system of government. He was told to leave the country several times and dropped out due to inactivity on other occasions, but always ended up returning.

In July 2004, Kaiser Los II promoted him to Duke of Hyperborea in gratitude for his support during the War of the Wylthean Succession. Locke used his position in the Landsraad to propose a number of bills, many of which directly related to his support for more freedom and democracy among the commoners. Most of these bills were voted down, despite the presence of a strong ally for his cause in Duke Rakesh of Brookshire. Also around this time, Locke founded the political interest group PAST to promote his ideals.

Opinion on Locke's actions were mixed. While few Shirerithians agreed with him, many noted how he raised activity, got Shirerithians to take a good look at their government, and encouraged a flourishing political culture at a time when many nations were sliding into inactivity. Others thought his ideas were un-Shirerithian, and that he himself was an annoyance at best and a traitor at worst.

When Kaiser Raynor XI took the throne, he banned political interest groups and dismissed Locke's chief ally, Rakesh, from his position as Duke of Brookshire. Unable to continue his reformist plans, Locke faded into inactivity, despite Raynor's conciliatory gesture of making him an Imperial Advisor. He has not been seen in Shireroth for nearly a year, although he still talks to Scott Alexander about poetry on rare occasions.

In real life, Locke was known to be seventeen years old and to attend a Catholic high school in Rhode Island at the time this article was originally written.