Theme of Avrilía

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Theme of Avrilía
Theme
Flag of Theme of Avrilía
KingdomFree Kingdom of Nicaea, Despotate of Neo Tsimproún
ThemeAvrilía
FoundedC. January-June 2019 (first incarnation), 1/6/2024 (current incarnation)
Founded byAlexandra I Irikladis
DemonymAvrilianós
Time zoneCST
Nicene Postal Code
AV

The Theme of Avrilía is a Theme within the Free Kingdom of Nicaea. Its location has changed over the years, but it is now generally located in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri with its planned capital in Poinsett County in Arkansas, where it is expected to stay.

Etymology

Avrilía is Greek for Aurelia, which refers to Aurelia Dingle, a character from the series Inazuma Eleven that Alexandra was admittedly infatuated with when the province was first named in Cimbrun's earliest years, when Alexandra was a minor - evidence from early micronational period maps suggest that the province was originally named Dingle (it should be noted that the name was chosen when Alexandra was 17 - assuming Inazuma Eleven Ares, the anime that was ported to the West around this time, is a Japanese high school setting, then Aurelia Dingle was around Alexandra's age at the time.) It is now commonly accepted that the name honors the Roman emperor Lucius Domitius Aurelianus.

History

The province was first created in 2019 or 2020, though the proclamation of creation is lost to time and the only evidence of this existing is an old historical map[1]. It is assumed that this first province, known as Dingle rather than Avrilía, claimed a ghost town in Kentucky, an unrealistic claim because the Basileia lived in Oklahoma at the time. It was dissolved, though it is unclear when soon after.

It was then recreated during the Fall Reforms of August 2021, claiming Picher, Oklahoma, though the claim was unsubstantiated, and no effort was made to convince the town's 20 inhabitants to join the Empire, likely in part due to the toxicity of the town itself, with it being a part of the Tar Creek EPA Superfund site[2]. The area where this claim would have been located is now a part of the Theme of Vyssiní. It is also unclear when this iteration of the town was dissolved, but it must have been sometime before the Regal Divorce of January 2022 as Alexandros was much more interested in Basilissa Shantiriya than the Doux of Avrilía, Synaftokrátoras King.

In its final incarnation prior to Royal Decree XXIII, the province was recreated as a Polis claiming the Poinsett County lands ceded to Cimbrun by the Second Republic of Ethosia on May 20, 2022 as part of the Treaty of Mikrá Elláda, with rule temporarily assigned to Polemarchos Jacob Atkinson as Commissar until a proper appointment could be made with the advice of the Archon Eponymous. Luci of Malus was offered the title of Governor on May 23, 2022 by the Basileus, and Avrilía was promised to the Confederation of Malus should they be completely erased from Long Island as a means of ensuring their independence as a protectorate, with the eventual plan to return them to independence once Long Island would be regained, on May 28th. This was later revoked but would cause problems with Ethosia in June of 2023 as it showed, in their eyes, that Nicaea did not care for the Bauwer citizens living within it. As this took place during the Months of Sorrow, Nicaea quickly ceded the land and temporarily gave up its ambitions in northeast Arkansas.

Royal Decree XXIII[3], given the Boule's approval on January 6th, 2024, would revolutionize both the governance of Nicene claims, which up to this point had been highly unrealistic and highly indefensible, as well as, for a time, diplomatic relations with the Bauwers. It especially affected Avrilía, which was massively expanded with the promise that the Treaties of Mikrá Elláda and Nikopolis would be respected. To this effect, the treaties were stated to only apply to areas both nations owned and controlled, with the map included in the Decree being a guide for future endeavors. Portions of this decree would be abrogated upon Ethosia's annexation by Libertalia with the argument being that the Ethosians could no longer hold Nicaea to any promises made regarding trade, but as a matter of honor those sections that would forbid Nicaea from infringing on Libertalian sovereignty were kept. Its capital, the Komiteía of Alexandrinós, was designated as such on July 8th, 2024.

On October 1st, 2024, per Royal Decree XXVI[4] the vast majority of the land within the Theme would be ceded to the Despotate of Neo Tsimproún, while notably staying a part of the Theme as the Theme itself was not divided, with the land simply being claimed by Neo Tsimproún as a part of its crownland, and it would be decreed that a letter would be sent to the Republic of Libertalia formally demanding them to release Ethosia as independent - as the Bauwers were considered a Ozark people, and the Libertalians, as a people from Florida, were not.

Geography

The Theme is dominated geographically by Crowley's Ridge, the smallest geographic division of Arkansas, in the south, and in the north by the Missouri Bootheel. It borders the crownlands of the Despotate of Neo Tsimproún (and by extension, the Special Polis of Pigés Evríka) to the west and the Polis of Óros to the northwest.