Mount September

Mount September is a sovereign nation located in the -,+ quadrant. It was founded as a spiritual successor to the now defunct Mount Augusta. It seeks to preserve the openness and culture of Mount Augusta albeit as a fresh nation and not an identical copy. The city proper of Mount September occupies the northern half of an island formerly settled by the Maltovian territory of Compton.



Geography
Mount September encompasses, from west to east:


 * Two nether islands, nearly halfway to Gabon;
 * A large island, which comprises the city of Mount September, (sometimes this island is informally referred to as Mount September, though the other claims are also part of Mount September as well);
 * Spratly Island (contested with South Augusta); and
 * The majority of the continent of Augusta, including most of the city of Mount Augusta.

Mount September maintains underground rail connections to Mount Augusta, Westminster, Varkonia, Gabon, Lusitania, and more.

Foundation
By August 2020 activity in Mount Augusta was at an all time low. The city state had officially moved to servers to CivRealms causing its CivClassic counterpart to be without a subreddit, constitution and eventually, discord server. Squareblob and Godomasta intended to revive CivClassics' MtA by slowly derelicting property, starting by HPOOM blvd. However, the effort it would have taken to acidblock and rebuild some of the infrastructure was deemed too high, and the prospect of a fresh start was too attractive. Construction in Mount September began on August 11th 2020. By September 2020 the basic forms of the downtown canal, roads and voter tree had been constructed.

Another debate was the legal one: the Mount Augusta constitution was deemed by some to be too complex and stale, so a change was seen as necessary; there was some doubt as to whether it would be better to write a new constitution from scratch, or condense Mount Augusta's into a more friendly format. The r/MountSeptember subreddit was banned on September 3rd 2020 (The "sunken park" was built in honor of this event), and the former was deemed as a better alternative. The original constitution was drafted by AllenY, which after a brief revision period was ratified on October 5th 2020.

Creation of the Mall and the Septem
On October 22nd 2020, the Mount September Mall officially opened, and was followed six days after with the creation of a local currency: the septem ($), worth seven diamonds, and its subdivision, the yiseptem (￥), worth 1/64th of a septem. The MtS Mall slowly but surely grew and now includes over half a dozen shops, selling building materials, food, enchanted items and various other things.

Most shops in the MtS Mall use the septem as currency.

December Revolt
On December 23rd, 2020 an event that would forever change the September political landscape occured. What started as an innocuous road naming ceremony evolved into pure chaos after South Augusta's leader, TheOrangeWizard murdered squareblob, who was then mayor. The crowd in the event was launched into a frenetic chase that led to the eventual pearling and subsequent freeing of TheOrangeWizard, who angered at this act immediately pearled ChickenWingGeek. Three brave ill-equipped Septembrians rushed to reclaim TheOrangeWizard's pearl but they were all pearled. Negotiations between South Augusta and Mount September soon started, inducing a strong backlash from the more critical sectors of society - the leader of this dissent, AllenY, was promptly pearled; thus crushing all opposition. The deal was to be sealed in Fort Briggs, however, AllenY removed Godomasta from groups mid-deal and locked TheOrangeWizard in the vault.

The ordeal ended when Wingzero54 teleported to TheOrangeWizard and accidentally let him through one of the doors, after which point he pearled Minemaster933 - Cooliomoose jumped in the vault and pearled TheOrangeWizard shortly after.

Lunar New Year
From the 12th to the 25th of February 2021, the lunar new year was celebrated in Mount September, drawing in attendance players from across the map. A special map art of the Chinese character 福 was created for the Lunar New Year. It is traditionally hung upside down during the Lunar New Year, and so the map art, rotated in an item frame, could be seen on many houses and public areas, such as the voter tree

For the duration of the celebrations, the voter tree was decorated with red floating lanterns and a large group of people gathered on the evening of the 25th to do various activities while drunk on Lusitan wine, such as parkour, as well as talk in a voice chat and run around the voter tree.

Godomasta's Mayorship
On the 28th of February Godomasta was elected Mayor, becoming the second Mayor of Mount September, succeeding Squareblob. The new mayorship came with a modified Cupboard, including the creation of a new Cup: the Cup of Defense, a position held by former mayor Squareblob. While the Diplomat position was not changed by Godomasta, Thraldrek, longtime Diplomat of Mount September, tended his resignation on March 17th, 2021, and was replaced by RedDevel on April 4th 2021.

Godomasta would go on to fulfill another term, following in Squareblob's footsteps by completing two terms. As such he was made ineligible to run for a third term after his last one, and an election to replace him ended in the victory of Thraldrek.

Thraldrek's Mayorship
Thraldrek was elected Mayor on July 17 2021, winning with just the first choice votes. He presented his cupboard the next day, appointing a total of seven cups, making it the largest cupboard in Mount September history. Thraldrek was the first Mayor of MtS to belong to a political party, the Augustan Democratic Party (or ADP). The ADP platform relied on six main points: Stability, Transparency, Reform, Economic growth and partnership, Diplomacy and Growth.

Mount September Ice Road Conflict
Main Article: Mount September Ice Road Conflict

In late August 2021, a conflict erupted in Mount September which would pit the Augustan Federation and the UDF against one another. This conflict started when minemaster933 sued SirTwiggles for harassment after the latter had supposedly purposefully set off @everyone snitches near Nebuland's bunker. During the trial, the UDF-owned Boomer Iceroad was brought up in the argument that using the iceroad set off the @everyone snitch, and UDF members interpreted the end of the trial, finding SirTwiggles guilty, as a threat to their use of the iceroad. Tensions peaked on August 26, when a large group of armed UDF members appeared at the ice road, seemingly ready to attack Nebula's bunker. However, tensions cooled as no side made a move towards the other, and UDF members eventually left. While KingOfTheMochas, NebulaSSR and Minemaster933 remained banned from the iceroad, the situation was dealt with without major armed conflict.

The conflict strengthened the perceived need for MtS to have a more advanced defense system in place and renewed efforts were made to achieve this.

KingOfTheMocha's Mayorship
Thraldrek did not seek reelection following his first term, leaving no clear successor as no member of his cabinet ran for his position. KingOfTheMochas, a relative newcomer to MtS who was serving as a Judge at the time, received the most votes and was elected Mayor on September 17th, 2021. KingOfTheMochas has shown to prioritize the militarization of MtS, overseeing a rapid increase in military infrastructure, including focusing significant effort on the completion of the AF Vault. Interestingly, KingOfTheMochas reduced the size of the cupboard significantly, centralizing many roles, notably defense, into the Cup of State. Politically, KingOfTheMochas has been more vocally opposed to "World Police" compared to his predecessors, but has also overseen increased diplomatic communication with the world's alliances, such as the CES and the UDF.

KingOfTheMochas successfully ran for re-election in the end of the November 2021 under the banner of the Septembrian Labor Party, however his second term has proved tumultuous for him.

It was during Mochas's second term that Gabon and Lusitania decided to leave the Augustan Federation, in late November and early December 2021 respectively, after multiple incidents. Both countries perceived the Federation as being nontransparent and not neutral, despite its claims to be. A recall vote was called by NebulaSSR and several by Minemaster933 to remove Mochas from the position of Mayor, but did not succeed.

Supreme Court
In Mount September, there are at most three judges who together form the Supreme Court of Mount September. The Supreme Court "has the power and responsibility of interpreting the law of Mount September". The Supreme Court is elected through direct universal suffrage. It may judge cases brought before it and may enact court sentences.

Mayor
The Mayor of Mount September is elected through direct universal suffrage. With little official legal power, the Mayor essentially acts as a figurehead head of state, though the fact that they hold the groups to all public property is considerable. Traditionally, the mayor appoints trusted, hard working individuals to a "cupboard" with specific responsibilities.

Voting System
Mount September uses a Ranked Voting System. Voters may rank all candidates for a certain election in the order they wish. Only registered voters, as defined in section 10 of the Constitution, are allowed to vote in elections.

Direct Power of the People
All Residents can propose bills (including amendments) or propose recall votes (a vote that removes from office any government member) in the MtS discord server (#bills and #elections respectively), and all registered voters may vote on it. This system in which citizens may propose legislation and recall votes is the reason why Mount September is often called a semi-direct or direct democracy, or a minarchy.

Culture
Mount September's owes its cosmopolitan nature to the presence of many expatriates, newfriends and oldfriends alike. It has inherited many elements of Augustan culture and society, including some aspects of its political system such as direct democratic participation.

Flag
The Mount September Constitution describes its flag as: "a rectangular field, divided by a straight line from the bottom left corner to the upper right corner, the upper division being red and the lower division being blue". The color scheme is borrowed from Augusta's, and the diagonal division reminisces of Compton's flag (which uses black and green instead).

PacStatue
Main Article: PacStatue

PacStatue is a statue located in Mount September that has become an iconic structure amongst Septembrians.

Currency
On the 28th of October 2020, the septem ($) and its subdivision, the yiseptem (￥)was created by AllenY. While still technically a private venture, the septem is widely accepted as the semi-official local currency. The septem is used in various shops inside the Mount September mall.

Squareblob's Discord Profile Picture and the Squarist Deep State
Squareblob's discord profile picture is very recognizable in MtS, and a customized version was adopted by Metriximor, which made the dog blue and added a black "M" on it's forehead. Since early 2021, a trend was formed around making a custom Square discord profile picture, and this in turn led to running joke about there being a "dog deep state" or "squarest deep state" in Mount September since many government members adopted variations of the Square profile pictures.

Foreign relations
Diplomatic missions in Mount September