How might a fantasy world handle micro-nations?

How might a fantasy world handle micro-nations?

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City states?

Try smaller.

Village-states?

I had an idea for something like that where, lets call him Jerry, inherits his father's micronation of what consists of a cabin and a medium sized rock due to an oversight when drawing borders. Jerry's dad was very friendly to the other nations leaders so they let him have his own nation just because. His bastard son Jerry shows up one day that he didn't know he had and takes over as leader after his death. However, due to a loophole in a treaty between nations, Jerry's nation qualifies for "disaster relief" after losing half his population, meaning a minimum of 500 troops from each nation to help out. Jerry now has a personal army of 2000 soldiers to do what he wants with.

>is a recognized principality and enjoys semi independence like the Kulaks
>is ignored because it's in bumfuck and doesn't pose a threat to the divine providence of the Nobles
>is considered a peasant rebellion and will be burned then resettled by loyal serfs

Most probably don't have anything approaching the proper military power to defend itself against the expansionist drive you see a lot of fantasy empires have, so they would likely end up semi-autonomous vassals or protectorates to nearby city-states

...

>magic borders

How do they work?

...

A wild wizard's tower is basically a micro-state. It's called 'we can't be bothered to enforce laws there.'

Sort of cute, would invade.

>that thing
>cute
user please get help, I think you might have brain damage.

Look into how Germany was before the unification. You had a few medium powers, and a giant pile of tiny ones all interconnected by treaties and marriages and disputes. The common factor being of course language.

In fantasy this would be pretty much the same, but some of the smaller ones might be based around a freindly-ish Dragon, or a wizard-conclave, or a druid grove, or any another powerful organisation that:
1) is interested in maintaining control of a physical area,
and 2) is capable of amassing power that lasts longer than a generation by whatever means.

Passing down that power could be by hereditary, apprenticeship, re-incarnation (eg Dali-Llama), or simply being mostly immortal.

Isolated mountain stronghold/monastery.

Don't worry, I am well aware of the brain damage.

but can i touch her cuntry?

>Please feel free to touch country
I smiled

If you don't have nations, you don't have micronations. Baron von Tinylunder is the closest thing you get to it.

Micro-nations exist in the modern world due to the way the UN treats nations, where recognition is equivalent to to legitimacy. A nation like Iraq exists on paper but nowhere in reality, but appeared cessation are kept due to the UN. In ye Olde times this was the result of personal relationships between rulers, so dumlund could exist due to its ruler marrying the niece of Importastan.

>touch the country
>do it now

Someone stabs him and they split his land up.

These motherfuckers are literally agents of chaos.

Does she get naked and fuck a rock later in the video?

Cause this totally looks like a porn video.

due to some ancient curse or blessing or object of power a village is a bastion against attacks from monsters, demons, or whatever is a dangerous non-huma enemy, or from rival countries.
But that only as long as the village exists as an independent entity.
So all the bordering countries leave it free because its presence gives them protection on that side.

Not that the village itself protects them, it's far too weak for it, it's its existence that does.

Vassalization or conquest

Unless the micro-nation has a powerful enough military or some kind of cultural or religious significance protecting it, it would be naturally taken over by a larger, more powerful force

It's a lot more feasible for a micro-nation to have this sort of protection in a fantasy setting where the nation could be anything from a mage college to a cathedral of some deity or a dragon's lair but the underlying principles are still the same

Assuming the micro-nation is non-hostile, trade agreements and treaties would likely be made. Perhaps it would become semi-autonomous or if remote or isolationist enough, simply ignored. If it is hostile, then foreign powers presumably send a subjugation force of either their military or adventurers

I could see several ideas for adventures come out of the concept

>Disaster Relif Protocols consist solely of gifting a fixed amount of soldiers to the lands' leader.

Unless your disaster is being 500 soldiers shorts of something, this is stupid

>Free States, plural
>There's two rocks

Holy shit

for instance

the king or a powerful wizard of an ancient nation created a powerful item in order to protect his country and his country's friends. The artifact enables people to use some powerful or useful magic powers, that is used all over the world.
A tiny village where the artifact resides is the only remnant of the ancient country, and were it to disappear or be conquered the artifact would stop working.

So no country dares conquer it, and in fact they work together to protect it against the dark forces that try to destroy it like they did the rest of the country.

This was an easy one though. More interesting would be to work it out with a curse laid on the village.

>These motherfuckers are literally agents of chaos.
Is the rock tainted then?

youtu.be/BpvNg-wrTkk?t=208

Not porn, but close: [spoilers]Vice Media[/spoilers]

>obsidia
>they're made of obsidian

>vice
nah, they get no clicks from me

It always amazes me how Oglaf applies to whatever the hell we discuss here.

>weebshit saying anyone has brain damage
ironic

>that bicubic non-smooth compression on the duck

Ugh, it hurts the eye

>full name is "Kaotic Ambulatory Free States of Obsidia"
nice

it might be non-smooth bit's never non-smug

Feels good INC

Easy enough to destroy

See, I have an idea of mine that deals with adventuring guilds. A government could put out what is called a Masterwork Contract, a quest that is of upmost important to the crown (like the retrieval of a national relic, or defeating high ranking enemies to the crown). Completing a number of these (maybe three or so?) would grant the adventurer a number of rewards, from money, a title of nobility, or the crown's writ to fulfill whatever the adventurer asks within reason. One of the rewards, however, is a charter to the scantly explored New World, granting them a sizeable section of land, ability to expand their borders as they see fit, trade nations that were previously barred from, etc.

>Try smaller.
Fiefs?

Cool.

Shit, you're right. I didn't realize that when crappily making it on MSPaint, but now that you said it does look awful.

The rock's pretty cute though.

>fantasy micro-nations
That's basically what the classic "wizard living in an isolated tower" trope is.

can a corporation be a country?

in-a-bottle-states?

Disney has sole law enforcement rights in Disney World iirc.

Why are Redditors always triggered by other guys not finding all women attractive?

>NO WAY FAG

Thinking about it, it's probably also valid for :

I meant :

I find that difficult to believe.

She's like...very slightly below average? something about her looks slightly unpleasant, maybe her skin and somewhat flabby facial features.
What is attractive about her? Genuinely curious.

Body is ok, but her face is straight ghoulish.

SHADOWRUN
A
D
O
W
R
U
N

Like a murderhobo handles a kobold.

I could definitely see an eccentric wizard declaring his tower a soverign micro-nation. The local lord would probably be too scared to cross him or see no real benefit of not letting the magician have his fun.

>Please feel free to touch country
That's adorable.

Of course, the Dark Angels live there after all.

She definitely needs to wash her face. Honestly I don't fucking know. Maybe its because she looks like the kind of girl that has no self esteem and would let you get away with anything just for saying she's pretty.
TL;DR, when in doubt fuck it, at least you have a story to tell.

>premodernish setting
>clearly defined and agreed upon borders
>all states butting up against other states
>no non-statelike groups on the fringes

They survive on having extremely low taxes, allowing rich people to evade the larger taxes that actual states employ because they have public services to maintain.
Alternatively, they have almost no regulations on commodities and are used as smuggler havens/dens of depravity for the rich and affluent.
Alternatively, they are just a freak result of Great Game geopolitics between great powers.
Oh, wait, you asked for fantasy.
Maybe the race is obsessed with tradition/law and kept microstates that are remnants of the feudal era independent simply due to legal continuity.
Okay, okay, I'll stop with describing the real world.

It can control free economic zones inside a country where special laws are valid.

>looks like we got a criminal here
>yea, real scum
>we caught him selling DVDs of Looney Toons
>take him to the Alice in Wonderland ride, the Red Queen will look after him for the rest of his stay

goblin teeth

I use to work at Disneyworld and honestly, that's not too far from the truth. If you've never been, Disneyworld is sort of like a state within a state. It's this huge area of land with all the parks and hotels inside it. So the security force is pretty much big enough to count is their own police force.

And they're not just mall cops either. They've equipped with a fleet of police-like SUV with the Disney logos on them. They've got sharp uniforms too. They've got a red stripe running down their pant legs like they're the US Marines.

Main difference between Disneyworld security guards and real cops is that can't legally arrest someone and send them to jail (if only because there's no prison in WDW.) So once the WDW security guards catch someone, they call the Orlando PD, who comes down to pick them up.

Disneyworld also has their own fire brigade. They camouflage the fire trucks so they don't scare the tourists.

> They camouflage the fire trucks so they don't scare the tourists.

For future use, Commissar Obscurius Smugduck has never failed to serve with distinction.

Most fantasy worlds are pre-Westphalia, so the notions of nation-states and an overarching and binding international legal framework are anachronistic.

What you're describing is either early-stage feudalism, traditional city-states, or just the recognition that certain races plus magic users have super-human power and abilities. Those abilities give them de facto privileges beyond those of normal humans (like traditional aristocracy but far far more powerful and rooted in a real and fundamental difference in personal power). Those de facto privileges would eventually evolve legal and cultural recognition as a superior class or series of castes.

Basically, micro-nations involves a series of assumptions about international rule of law and what is important in the world, assumptions that aren't supported in a fantasy/medieval setting. You're pasting modern legalisms into a world where they're so out of context as to be meaningless.

Depends on fantasy setting.

Personally, both the Junkhounds and some Bugged societes form a micronation. Which is then able to compete with proper kingdoms without much of a sweat because ork-tier not!Outback architecture/literally magical wizard towers exactly filling the nation's borders allows for population growth on par with most kingdoms.

Assuming standard decentralized power structure, there is literally nothing that can be done to stop seaworld style fuckers.

You're doing the emperor's work, user

ahahahaha

Thats how the vatican works

That's become an increasingly important question in my world as Draconic Freeholds are established. Sure, random adventurers might be able to slay a powerful dragon if they're strong enough (the overwhelming majority aren't), but if all a dragon is doing is saying "everything in one mile in every direction is mine", that's not really a good enough reason for them to risk their lives, especially if the dragon isn't killing anyone to enforce this.

Of course in some cases the draconic freehold is larger than just a mile around some random cave or tower. A few dragons have actually flown up to some villages and said "look, your local noble is inept, abuses you, and taxes you. I'm powerful, have like all the gold already, and really just want the occasional cow. Want to throw your lot in with me instead of him?"

There's a sneaking suspicion that dragons are up to something long-term here...

>>but if all a dragon is doing is saying "everything in one mile in every direction is mine", that's not really a good enough reason for them to risk their lives, especially if the dragon isn't killing anyone to enforce this.

Huge treasure hoards are reason enough to slay dragons.

They get incorporated into states capable of defending themselves, just like in real life. (What the hell do you think a County is, anyways?)

Working with one for my setting/novel. The plan is for the main character to buy one recognised by the UN in passing, and use it along with his mercenary company and arms dealing corporation to turn himself into a principality.
All so his adoptive daughter can be a priness.

Look up the nation of San Marino. They relied on guile and subterfuge to appease larger nations and maintain autonomy. The worlds oldest republic can't be wrong if they've survived into the new world.

You also have things like the Phoenician city monarchies. These were absorbed into one empire after another, but retained their autonomy by giving large gifts and lending out their vast networks of informants.

They also look baller as fuck

That's not Guile, that's Mr.Bison.

He's not the one jacking off to drawings of naked children.

I want that outfit where 2c

Honestly surprised people stopped posting it here really, though the recent years have not been kind to Veeky Forums.

The Vatican's an actual state with its own laws and shit, though I take that as meaning they hand criminals over to Italian police as part of some special relationship or something.

>he is applying European medieval assumption to all fantasy
Stop it, user.

Italy has seperate judicial systems for each of the various small regions of italy - Vatican City is no different, and handles its own policing (though mostly what they do is toss people out of the country).

Hey, isn't that the BDSM micronation?

>user can't count

No, it's somebody's Gender Studies project.

>chaos undivided in its flag
>daemonette representative
>filthy rock probably from the warp

Exterminatus is the only right answer

She actually kinda reminds me of a slightly flabby Cultist-chan.

I want to steal her obsidian and knap it into an axe or knife, then sell that weapon for profit.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

A knapper.

>I'm going to make a conceptual stateless state
>(exclusively for the purposes of furthering my own ideological and political goals)
>(using a rock I stole from my ex fuck him all men are evil now I'm gay)
I didn't need to know this existed, I didn't need this shit.

Y'all can do what you want with the obsidian, I'm peacefully immigrating to her 29-foot sailboat and taking off into the sunset.

>Completely open immigration
>29ft sailboat
So by her laws, I can just walk onto the boat and live there?