History of Gapla/Lesson 1

Warning:

While Wyatt Baek is recognized as the founder of modern Gapla, Ian Shin was the dominant figure in Gapla-Phoenix, serving as its first President.

Gaplan Prehistory (2015–2018)

1.1     The Establishment of Gapla-Phoenix

United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix     On 24 August 2015, two first graders at Cypress Village Elementary School, Wyatt Baek and Ian Shin, founded the first known predecessor of the Federated States of Gapla, the United Republics of Gapla and Phoenix (comonly known as Gapla-Phoenix). Gapla-Phoenix was established in "Room 0"—an oddly numbered classroom—and was declared an "imaginary country," as the Wyatt and Ian were unaware of micronationalism. At the time of Gapla-Phoenix's establishment, Wyatt and Ian were good friends, and the country was split into the Republic of Gapla—Wyatt's province, the etymology of which is unknown—and the Republic of Phoenix, —Ian's province, deriving its name from the mythical bird of the same name.

The First Territories     Gapla-Phoenix’s claimed territory combined the imaginary and the personal: three fictional islands, a Secret Base on the school grounds (see Section 1.2 below), and the birthplaces of its two founders.

The Local Context     Cypress Village Elementary School was located in Irvine, California, an affluent, mid-sized suburban city in the United States. In 2015, the city had a population of approximately 250,000. New communities within the city (known locally as neighborhoods) consisted of small parks, apartment complexes, business centers, and schools, and were rapidly being developed during the 2010s to accommodate for the city’s increases in population. One of the newest communities of Irvine at the time was Cypress Village, and its elementary school witnessed the establishment of Gapla-Phoenix in its second-ever school year.

A Serious Project     Despite the clearly fictional nature of Gapla-Phoenix and the young age of its founders, Wyatt and Ian took their project very seriously, and did not treat the project as simply a game of “make-believe”, where actions did not have real-world consequences. They called Gapla-Phoenix an imaginary country as they recognized that it had fictional elements and were unaware of micronationalism or the micronational community, not because they lacked seriousness. Gapla-Phoenix was more advanced than any game of “make-believe,” and conflicts within Gapla-Phoenix would lead to real-world consequences for its members and its competitors. What began as a childhood project was taken seriously by its members and, in retrospect, represents the first serious predecessor to the modern Federated States of Gapla, now a thriving new country project by the Danube.

1.2     The Secret Base, Institutions, and Identity

The Secret Base     The Secret Base was a small, unsupervised corner of Cypress Village Elementary School, and was the central physical location of Gapla-Phoenix. It was a remote area with large stone walls and scattered electrical equipment, remote enough that most students and many staff did not notice it. Within the Secret Base, Gapla-Phoenix held daily meetings, stored documents, planned activities, and  manufactured official documents, such as I.D. cards, currency, maps, and laws.

I.D. Cards and Currency     The founders of Gapla-Phoenix designed and circulated I.D. cards crafted from paper, sharpie, tape, and markers, and even created a form of currency, the Gapla-Phoenix Coin. The I.D. card became a symbol of Gapla-Phoenixian identity, membership, and status: those who carried I.D. cards were recognized as compatriots, and those without them remained outsiders.

Hierarchy and Loyalty     Gapla-Phoenix developed a complex system of hierarchy and loyalty. It rewarded loyalty through highly coveted prestigious tiers of membership, earned through loyalty to its founders. Gapla-Phoenix’s I.D. cards prominently conveyed status within Gapla-Phoenix by listing the tier of membership the citizen belonged to—citizens in higher tiers often carried highly decorated, shiny I.D. cards created from metallic Sharpie markers and drawings of mythical creatures. Finally, citizenship in Gapla-Phoenix was selective and prized. It required demonstrated loyalty to the country’s leadership and to its wider community. Those who succeeded gained status and the opportunity to participate in daily governance, those who did not were excluded.

1.3     Competition from Iceecia

The Iceecan Union     The beginning of the 2016–2017 school year saw the rise of the Iceecan Union, a neighboring “imaginary country” similar to Gapla-Phoenix. Founded by Lucien Song and based near the boys’ bathrooms near the Secret Base, the Iceecan Union (commonly called Iceecia) became Gapla-Phoenix’s principal competition within Cypress Village Elementary School.

Gapla-Phoenix and Iceecia     Although its founders would have vehemently denied it at the time, Gapla-Phoenix and Iceecia shared strikingly similar characteristics—similar to Gapla-Phoenix, Iceecia prized secrecy and strict citizenship requirements, and both countries maintained admission processes that were exclusive and that rewarded loyalty to their leaders.

From Competition to Conflict     Although Wyatt and Lucien considered themselves enemies prior to the establishment of Gapla-Phoenix and the Iceecan Union, relations between the two countries quickly deteriorated, quickly turning into organized competition and sabotage. Records (such as those pictured above) suggest that Gapla-Phoenixian spies, led by Wyatt, attempted to spy on and even infiltrate the Iceecan Union from within. The rivalry between these early micronations introduced the first “international” conflicts in what would become Gaplan history, establishing a precedent for diplomacy and conflict resolution in the new country.