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Austenasian Times

Online news for the people of the Empire

Diplomabear arrives in Wrythe

Diplomabear, a well-travelled teddy bear which started its journey in August 2012, arrived yesterday morning in the Imperial Residence. The Diplomabear World Tour was started by Pierre d’Égtavie, leader of Egtavia, after said nation was annexed by St.Charlie in 2012. With Egtavia no longer in control of its own foreign policy, Diplomabear served as a means of forging unofficial, friendly ties with other small nations around the world, to which it was sent on condition that it would be passed on to the government of another. With the dissolution of Egtavia in 2013, Diplomabear became a symbol of diplomacy and friendship between small nations as a whole. In early 2015, Renasia – the country in which Diplomabear was then being hosted – dissolved, and Diplomabear was assumed lost forever. However, in August 2016, Emperor Jonathan I was able to contact a former Renasian official and have Diplomabear recovered and sent on to Überstadt, restarting the tour, this time under the direction of the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM). After some other stops, Diplomabear has now come to Austenasia, arriving at Wrythe yesterday morning. This is the second time that Diplomabear has been to Austenasia, having also been hosted at Wrythe in 2012, making the Empire the first destination which Diplomabear has visited twice. Emperor Jonathan I has published a photograph to Facebook showing him holding Diplomabear in Parliament Hall in the Imperial Residence. The Emperor is wearing the Egtavian Star, a medal presented to him by d’Égtavie while Egtavia was still independent. Some of the other twelve destinations visited by Diplomabear include Molossia, Landashir, Wyvern, and Zealandia.

James von Puchow made Austenasian subject at summit in London

James von Puchow, founder of Landashir and long-time friend of the Empire, became an Austenasian national earlier today at a summit held in central London. Emperor Jonathan I met at Mile End with von Puchow and with Richard Cunningham (a former holder of the offices of GUM Chair and Pope of the Proto-Cults), to be joined later by Sebastian Linden of Francisville. Pierre d’Égtavie of Renasia had intended to attend the meeting, as had Evren Filgert of the recently founded Austenasian town of Porthbokon, but both had to cancel. The Emperor, von Puchow and Cunningham visited the Tower of London and the British Museum before going back to Mile End to meet Sebastian Linden and his significant other. After refreshments, the group went to Mile End Park, where von Puchow was made an Austenasian national by the Emperor under the provisions of an Act of Parliament last week. Von Puchow now holds the status of a non-residential subject, and will soon be appointed Deputy Chief Ambassador to share the workload of the current Chief Ambassador, the Prime Minister Countess Eritoshi.  

MicroWiki bought by the Emperor

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Jonathan I has become the new owner of MicroWiki.org after buying it from former owner Pierre d’Égtavie. D’Égtavie, who has hosted the website since it became independent from the Wikia organisation in November 2010, announced via Facebook at the start of the month that he was “looking to transfer ownership of the site to someone who… [he felt could] keep it alive”. The Emperor put in a bid for the website, which was soon accepted in principle, with details of the transferral of ownership being discussed over several days. The transferral of ownership took place this afternoon, with the Emperor taking control of the financial and administrative management of the website. MicroWiki is a website that hosts a wiki and forums which are a major focal point for the foreign relations of Austenasia and many of the states with which it has the closest diplomatic relations, with a vibrant community of politicians and diplomats having grown up around it since the first incarnation of the wiki was founded in 2005. The acquisition of the website by the Emperor has already been welcomed by several individuals on its forums, as well as via Skype and Facebook.

“Apocalypse” caused by vodka

System operator of microwiki.org.uk Pierre d’Égtavie admitted earlier today that the reason for MicroWiki being offline yesterday was due to him having “a shot or two of vodka”. MicroWiki, the web-based wiki and forums which are a major focal point for Austenasia’s foreign relations, has hosted a diverse and vibrant community of politicians and diplomats since it was founded in 2005, with Prime Minister HIH Crown Prince Jonathan joining in late 2008. When he attempted to access the site yesterday afternoon, he was met with a countdown ticking away to 15 days, with ominous background music and a heading of “Goodbye”. Contact with other MicroWiki users via Skype revealed that the community was in a panic over what this could mean for the site, with Ultamian leader David Salapa declaring the apparent imminent closure of the site an “apocalypse”. A few hours later, the countdown was replaced with a message from M. d’Égtavie apologising for the inconvenience and announcing that normal site access would resume in several hours. The website is now back to normal, but not before worry and uncertainty spread amongst the community – several users advised others to join them in saving back-ups of articles using Google’s cache system, and administrator Alexander Reinhardt offered to buy the site should d’Égtavie wish to resign as system operator. Earlier today, d’Égtavie informed members of the Micropolitan Lounge chatroom on Skype that he’d “decided that everyone hated [him] and that [he] should close the site” after consuming some vodka – after putting up the countdown, he went to have a bath before returning to find the MicroWiki community in panic on Skype. Sober again, he reassured users that the website would not be closed, and stated that his actions were precisely the reason that he usually doesn’t drink. M. d’Égtavie has since informed users that there are several safeguards against a deletion of the site, including several regularly updated back-ups. Zealandian leader Haakon Lindstrom and Siroccan leader Daniel Anderson have both said they are “disappointed” with d’Égtavie’s actions. However, the Prime Minister has come out in defence of the system operator. Commenting on another news article on the situation, he urged people not to “forget all the hard work M. d’Egtavie has put into the wiki over the past two years – he is an incredibly competent admin, and nobody should forget that because of a single mistake”.