Image credit: Sirocco Times
The Commonwealth of Austenasia was established during a one-hour Discord call on 3 June 2025 during the midsts of my no-confidence vote, involving myself—then Prime Minister of the Empire of Austenasia—John Gordon, who was serving as Deputy Prime Minister, and Jonathan Austen—the founder and former Emperor of Austenasia. Our primary aim was to revitalise the Empire by introducing new “lore” and fostering renewed interest, as it had been running on little more than inertia for quite some time. At its core, this was a coordinated public relations effort intended to breathe new life into the project.
A less charitable—though internally acknowledged—motive was to exert pressure on Emperor Aggelos, who was widely regarded as an unsuitable choice for the throne, to abdicate in favour of Crown Prince Shiro. It is important to note that Shiro had no involvement in this plan and was not made aware of it at the time.
It’s Treason, Then
Whilst Jonathan did express some reservations, he stated in the Discord call that the plan sounded “fun”, but outlined a few conditions to make himself more comfortable with it:
Immediately after I lost the motion of no confidence in the Austenasian Parliament — which meets on Discord, occasionally — with these boundaries agreed, John Gordon and I spoke about the next steps:
Had I known that the New Virginians would be reinvited after gaining a reputation for causing drama and harassing those they dislike, I would never have agreed to this plan in the first place. This is the main reason I broke one of the conditions—“don’t claim any Austenasian territory”—because I cannot blame anyone for not wanting to be associated with that bloc. Ultimately, territory belongs to whoever controls it, not to Austenasia.
John Gordon even shared a screenshot with me of Emperor Adam of Adammia contemplating a trip all the way to Tetbury to ‘claim’ a field that was most likely full of cows, affirming that the stunt was working. Had Adam actually tried, I imagine he’d most likely have been gored by a bull, so I’m thankful he didn’t.
While there has been some “spin” about what actually occurred, I can confirm a few facts: I did not ‘seize’ any Austenasian websites—I in fact owned them. I did not remove anyone’s access to Austenasia.com, as no one besides myself ever had access. Even on the Austenasia.news site, both Jonathan and Mick Griffin still retain login access, which has never been revoked.
The Empire Strikes Back!
With the plan underway, I asked in the MicroWiki administrator Discord server what this “shift” would mean for the Austenasian Times’ accredited status, and was informed that the status is tied to the domain name itself by Carson (User:Strubber), who is in charge of managing and approving accredited media requests. Upon being informed of this by me, Jonathan proceeded to rejoin the server—despite having resigned some time earlier, only occasionally popping back up to wage his one-man crusade against a micronation called Malus—and subjected Carson to such intense pressure both in the admin server and the public MicroWiki Discord server that he took a break from his administrative duties.
Growing frustrated with this “dispute” being dragged into MicroWiki administrative spaces, Karl Friedrich, the current owner of MicroWiki, demanded to know what was going on and what the nature of the public relations effort actually was. Jonathan denied that it had been a PR stunt altogether—a claim Karl found unconvincing, having already been presented with contrary evidence by myself.
Karl did, however, create a Discord group chat including Jonathan and myself to ask for further clarification on the matter:
After misleading Karl, Jonathan sent me the following message to apologise:
Jonathan released a video titled “Word from the Founder,” in which he denounced the Commonwealth, claiming it “didn’t exist” (although, in hindsight, one could argue that about any micronation). This was perfectly fine, as it was all part of the plan:
At some point, however, it appears that Jonathan chose to abandon the plan alltogether—without informing me—and instead proceeded to email everyone he could contact in an effort to discredit me. Whilst I wish I could say I was surprised by Jonathan’s sudden change of stance, having known him well, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. This aspect of his character is fairly well known among the ‘Old Guard’ of MicroWiki, of which I am a part. On a related note, a word of advice: when trying to influence someone, it’s best to be mindful if they have knowledge of sensitive matters—and hold a position where they could make those matters public. After all, it’s rarely beneficial to have hidden issues brought into the spotlight.
I was due to represent the Commonwealth of Austenasia at the Micro Euro Summit due to be held in August, portraying a tongue-in-cheek Cromwellian challenge against the Imperial Government of the Empire of Austenasia, with the intention of generating renewed interest in Austenasia among the media and other more prominent micronationalists attending the summit. This was before Jonathan proceeded to email the organisers on behalf of John Gordon. The contents of the email were unknown to me, but it resulted in a formal request that I attend solely as a representative of MicroWiki. Had Jonathan approached me privately and spoke about his concerns, I would have gladly withdrawn my attendance. He did not.
This announcement unintentionally sparked a significant backlash, with one Austenasian going so far as to create a disturbingly realistic AI-generated image of my likeness and advocating for my murder, as well as other harmful comments said by others speculating that I have “Multiple Personality Disorder”.
The Founder Question
Jonathan Austen undoubtedly founded Austenasia, just as Colonel Sanders founded KFC. And like Sanders, Jonathan eventually walked away from his creation. It’s worth noting that Colonel Sanders got sued by KFC — and lost. Founding something does not entitle you to control it forever. Likewise, the McDonald brothers named a small, little-known restaurant after themselves, but it was Ray Kroc who turned it into an empire.
Legacy is not ownership. Having something named after you does not confer ownership. For something to thrive and endure beyond its founder’s shadow, the founder must let it go and accept that it has been entrusted to others. Failing to do so will inevitably lead to its demise. I believed I had the vision to ensure its survival and relevance, as did Jonathan himself during his appearance on the Dracul “Micro Improvement” podcast before he stepped back.
So, while this was originally intended purely as a publicity stunt, due to this deception towards me and attempts to defame me, I’d now like to formally declare that it fully claims to be the lawful successor (or government-in-exile, depending on your politics) to the Empire of Austenasia. I’d also like to announce that the Commonwealth of Austenasia will be changing its name to the Commonwealth of Austenasia — now officially named in honour of the famed novelist Jane Austen — who is welcome to try to claim ownership based on being its namesake, although I don’t imagine she will.