Triparia
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| Counties | Allegheny, Beaver, Brooke, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Hancock, Lawrence, Marshall, Ohio, Washington, Westmoreland | ||||
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| Form of Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||
| Landsrið Votes | 20 | ||||
| Capital | Pittsburgh | ||||
| Founded | 19 February 1998 | ||||
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The Kingdom of Triparia is one of the Lands of Septempontia. It is a constitutional monarchy, and its Monarch is also, under the Imperial Constitution, Emperor of Septempontia.
Name
The name of Triparia is a reference to the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh, from the prefix tri-, "three", and the Latin riparius, "one who dwells by the bank of a river", or ripa, the bank itself.
Arms
Per bend azure and gules, six roundels counterchanged, fimbriated argent; on a bend sable fimbriated a mullet of five points argent.
The colors were chosen for their aesthetic value. The star represents the Monarch and the six roundels represent the other six citizens who founded the Kingdom.
History
Foundation
The Kingdom of Triparia was officially founded on 19 February 1998 by a group of seven citizens.
The original constitution of the kingdom provided for a strongly limited monarchy, working closely with democratic institutions. The monarch at the founding was Shawn. Three of the other founding citizens formed the first Senate of the kingdom, and the remaining three formed the first High Court.
The constitution provided for the appointment of a citizen as the Tanist, or successor to the Monarch. The first Tanist was Carrie, who together with Shawn performed the greater part of the work in development of a unique language, Triparic, for the use of the kingdom.
The kingdom's territory originally encompassed only Allegheny County, but there were various proposals to incorporate Westmoreland County, as the two leading citizens (Shawn and Carrie) grew up there. The future Electress of Kalmont, Gracie, also grew up in Westmoreland County, but would not meet the Triparians until after Septempontia was established in 2004.
During Shawn's reign, the kingdom established diplomatic ties with a number of other micronations, leading to cultural exchanges and a number of friendships around the world, some of which have lasted nearly two decades. Shawn's formal coronation ceremony (held some time after the Kingdom's constitution was actually ratified) was attended by dignitaries from two other micronations.
Transition
In 2000, after controversies which followed Shawn's marriage to his first wife, the two of them and Alan of Grønbjerg left the kingdom, re-founding the Triselene Imperium, with Shawn as its new Emperor. Following Shawn's divorce from his first wife, the Imperium was reconstituted as Septempontia in 2004.
After the reigns of several other Triparian monarchs, the kingdom's activity came to a virtual halt as the few remaining citizens ceased to participate in micronational activities together, relationships ended, and so forth.
Part of Imperial territory and culture
The last monarch formally declared the Kingdom defunct and gave the Empire permission to use the name for the territorial subdivision of the Empire which included the kingdom's former territory, and for the Triparic language to be part of Septempontian culture.
Restoration and federation
In 2010, during an Imperial parliament, the Emperor and the last former monarch agreed that Shawn should reclaim the throne of the Kingdom, and that the Empire would be reorganized as a federation, with Triparia as one of its member states and the monarch of Triparia to be ruler of the Empire as well. When this transpired, the entire territory allocated to the Imperial subdivision then known as "Triparia" became part of the kingdom.
Upon the restoration of the Triparian throne, Shawn reappointed Carrie as Tanist, now heir to the thrones both of the Kingdom and of the Empire.
Politics and Government
When the Kingdom had enough citizens to support the institutions of democracy, Shawn was very keen to share power with his countrymen and women (a tendency he has maintained, with varying success, as Emperor).
The legislature of Triparia, the Senate, was unicameral, had the power to override the monarch's veto, and elected to fixed terms by all citizens. The kingdom's leaders adopted the Single Transferable Vote system, also known as the Hare-Clark system, on learning of the system from micronationalists in Australia, where the system is used macronationally.
The executive ministers formed the Cabinet, headed at the foundation of the kingdom by a Prime Minister appointed by the monarch. Following a dispute regarding the monarch's constitutional authority to dismiss the Prime Minister, the position was ultimately abolished. The monarch then personally appointed, dismissed, and directed the ministers.
The kingdom had a High Court, which seldom had any official business. A much-loved and often-cited piece of Triparian culture, however, was that the High Court Justices were required to wear silly headwear (the details of which were left to the individual Justices) when performing their official duties.
Geography
Triparia is the most southwestern of the Lands of Septempontia. The kingdom encompasses twelve counties with a total area of 6,205 square miles, slightly smaller than the U.S. state of New Jersey. The capital city is Pittsburgh, in Allegheny County.
As the name implies, Triparia's most notable features are its rivers. The Three Rivers of Pittsburgh (the Allegheny and the Monongahela, which come together to form the Ohio) are the largest. The northeastern part of the kingdom is dominated by the Shenango and Mahoning Rivers, which merge near New Castle to form the Beaver River, which in turn drains into the Ohio.
While Kalmont's mountains are loftier than Triparia's, the Laurel Highlands do begin in Westmoreland County, dominated by Chestnut Ridge near Derry and Latrobe, and rise up to Laurel Hill at the kingdom's eastern boundary. Laurel Hill Tunnel, one of the Lost Tunnels, crosses the border; it is the only one of the Seven Tunnels not located entirely within Kalmont.
Adjacent lands
- Progenbund (north)
- Sylvester (northeast)
- Kalmont (southeast)
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