I am structuring and operating my enclave how I think all monarchist enclaves should work. I will be speaking broadly and about mine interchangeably.
Here are the stages of enclave development:
• Gathering – The enclave exists solely on the internet
• Shelter – The king can commit to the enclave full-time
• Village – High lords can commit to the enclave full-time
• Metropolis – Subjects can live in isolated neighborhoods or compounds
• Nation – The enclave is an independent, internationally-recognized kingdom
My enclave is still in the Gathering stage.
Gathering Members
People will either join or they won’t. Don’t try to coax or persuade, but certainly remind people it’s an option they have in life. Simply be, and the right ones will come.
So, no capitalist tactics of offering deals or discounts for joining. No promises of grand rewards down the road. You’re making a better way of life, not entering a sweepstakes.
Joining should be a flat membership fee. That’s the tax, and it should be small. My tax is $3.04/month. That’s small enough to make membership possible for everyone who doesn’t live under a bridge. The tax should never be 0, because members need to meet some kind of minimum standard to prove they are serious.
Even if you have a small number of members for a long time, that’s still your team. You can all still work together to accomplish things.
And in truth, people are going to be reluctant to join at first, but once you start showing signs of success, membership will rise rapidly. People want to be sure it’s a safe bet, even men. If your enclave shows signs of success even if you only have ten members, people will still start flocking to you. My point is, don’t fret is membership is low for a long time. Just stay busy.
Get Used to It
Yes, it’s going to feel weird at first referring to your enclave, the people in it, and the means by which you live your lives, through monarchical verbiage (wording) and methods. Who cares? Do it anyway. Your leader is your king. And if you’ve chosen to follow him, then, well, follow him.
Even in our “precious democracy,” we still refer to judges as “Your Honor.” Addressing superiors with respect never went away, even in our current ridiculous age of egalitarianism.
So just get used to it. Start by referring to your enclave’s king as your “leader” first, if you need to.
Psychologically, it’s healthier for you to speak in more official, respectful terms often, anyway. Most of us these days live our lives rarely being in situations where we need to respectfully speak to superiors, and it increasingly reflects in our behavior. It makes us lazy, sloppy, and unmotivated to improve. Having someone to respect, even if we don’t like them, is still healthy for the mind. So just get used to it.
Resources
You need resources. That’s just an unfortunate inevitability. But the king is most likely not going to acquire resources primarily through tax. In fact, the tax should be seen as the means to acquire actual revenue. Metaphorically speaking, the tax should pay for the gas in your truck, but driving the truck is how you actually make revenue.
Years down the road, you’ll want your enclave to live somewhere, whether you choose to all live in the same town but spread out, or all on the same land, either way, you’ll need the means to make that a reality.
And most of all, you will want your enclave to be as self-sufficient as possible. The less you have to rely on the Empire’s fiat currency, the better. But for now, you still need that fiat currency to acquire resources and valuable assets.
Councilmen and Lords
A lord is any member the king has permitted to have their own subjects. Not all of their means of operating should be done through the crown directly – they can have their own social media, for example – but primary things, like a website, should be direct extensions of the crown’s infrastructure. My lords won’t be allowed their own websites; theirs must be extensions of mine. (For example: Archaeosophy.com/[lord’s name])
If someone wants to follow one of my lords, they’d go to their portion of the website, and click on the support button for that lord. Very simple and easy. That lord keeps 80%.
It’s beneficial to be a lord. You get the backing of the crown for whatever is your endeavor, and you only pay the crown 20% of your earnings in exchange. You get the prestige of people looking up to you as well.
Yes, lords can have their own lesser lords. It’ll work the same way.
Nobody achieves lordship without my approval, whether they are one of my high lords, or a lesser lord. The overarching rule with my entire hierarchy is: Obey those who outrank you. That should be obvious.
Now to discuss Councilmen. These are those who work directly for a leader (the king or a lord). In more commonly-known terms, these would be members of a president’s Cabinet, including figures like a Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. In corporations, these are Chief Officers, like the CEO, the COO, the CFO, etc.
Individually, they are called Masters, but generally, they are called Councilmen or Councillors. We call them Councilmen broadly speaking, because while they are the heads of specific areas of my rule, they do not truly rule, they manage.
A key difference between lords and councilmen is: Lords run their own operations, while councilmen assist their lord or king in his operations.
Fealty Economy
Every monarchical enclave should, like feudalism, have its most valuable currency be fealty (loyalty). The more you serve the crown, the more you’re rewarded.
All that you do for the crown elevates the entire enclave, and then you’re rewarded. It’s one of the reasons monarchy is the supreme order. Intentional, honest hierarchy makes everybody rise.
For my enclave, I keep a ledger of everyone’s “loyalty points,” which I will not make public. I gauge loyalty based on 2 metrics: Total financial contributions, and total time served. Where a member ranks in both categories combined, that’s where they rank overall in my enclave.
If you are exiled from the enclave, and by some miracle I allow you to return, your “points” are still gone. They never return from exile.
Simply put: The more you’ve contributed and the longer you’ve served, the higher your ranking in the enclave.
Final Thoughts
First and foremost, my goal is for us to no longer be an enclave, but rather an independent, sovereign nation. What kind of nation? Another Switzerland, in the sense that we are staunchly neutral.
We’d only deal with the outside world when we have absolutely no other choice, or when it’s highly profitable. We’ll deal with fiat currencies to this extent, but I’d want us to have a bartering economy as much as possible. Goods-for-goods, instead of the current system of debt-for-goods.