Nostra:Circassia

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Circassia Iberia {{{image3}}} National Information Full Name Grand Principality of Circassia Towny Name /n list Formed 16th of June, 2026 (town) 25th of August, 2026 (sub-nation) National Anthem "My Song" Motto "Honour before life!" Population 29 (26/10/2026) Chunks 730 Towns 4 Capital City Anapa Largest City Anapa Oldest City Anapa Region Caucasus Language(s) English (official), Adyghe (ceremonial) Religion(s) Majority Islam (but other religions are allowed) Discord Government Information Political System Constitutional Monarchy Grand Prince Hatuqay Prime Minister Lip Minister of Agriculture Bjedugh Minister of Infrastructure Mango Minister of Treasury KingGod Chief of Intelligence Intellectual King of Iberia King Gogicho II {{{leader8name}}} {{{leader9name}}} Executive Legislature Khase-Parliament of Circassia Constitution Economic System Provinces Army Size Part of Historical Information Circassia was formed as an autonomous principality when the town of Circassia (now Anapa) bought a neighboring town and became a multi-town entity • Establishment as a Soviet town June 16, 2026 • Joining Iberia July 27, 2026 • Sub-nation status August 25, 2026 • • • • • • • • •

The Grand Principality of Circassia is an autonomous principality located in the North Caucasus region in Terra Nostra, a sub-nation of the nation of Iberia. The principality is modeled after the historical country of Circassia and was founded to build their homeland in the game, though over time members of other ethnicities also joined them.

History

The Idea for Circassia

Chat records dating back to 2022 confirm that the initial concept for a Circassian nation in the EarthMC Minecraft server was discussed by players of Circassian origin. However, these early plans were never fully realized. For the most part, historical Circassian territories on the server were consistently occupied by random players with no connection to Circassia, a fact known to players who would go on to create the Circassian subnation years later. Fragmented archive data from older server iterations confirms that a town named "Circassia" did briefly exist at one point. However, this early settlement played no significant geopolitical role, and its ultimate fate remains unrecorded.

In 2025, the concept of establishing a legitimate Circassian nation was revived, however at the time they considered the project practically impossible to execute, viewing it as a dream. Everything changed with the launch of the Terra Nostra 2026 iteration, as once the news broke that the map has been reset, the Circassians planned to join and build Circassia. The Circassians logged in at May 2026 and started working for the town of Circassia, which would later evolve into a large autonomous principality.

The Swim and Early Settlement

A screenshot of the early Circassian embassy in Venakhi, taken 30th of May 2026. The embassy was later destroyed.

Circassia was first founded as a town. What is now the capital of Circassia, Anapa, was the original town; it was simply named "Circassia". The founders, including Hatuqay (formerly known as Patli) and Bjedugh, initially intended to build the town near the Kuban River near the IRL Adygea region. However, this territory was already occupied by another town, attempts to communicate with the mayors of that town revealed that they did not like Circassians. The founders thus decided to change their strategy and chose the Taman peninsula as a possible location. Lacking the gold to establish a new town, Hatuqay contacted leaders from the nations of Georgia and Iberia, assuming both of them to be led by IRL Georgians, who were the only other Caucasians in the game at the time. The leaders of the nation of Georgia were unresponsive. Iberia responded positively and invited him to their territory. The founders Hatuqay and Bjedugh received a plot in the Iberian town of Venakhi, located in Azerbaijan, where they built a temporary embassy and received starter gear to start them off. The founders collected gold through daily server voting and mining. Eventually other Circassians like Lip, who would go on to become a major player, finally joined and helped.

Since the amount of chunks a town can claim depends on the number of residents they have, however there is also something called a nationbonus; towns which belong to populated nations naturally have a higher nationbonus, allowing them to claim much more chunks. This meant that a totally independent Circassian state would mean a very low nationbonus, which deterred the Circassians. They considered joining Iberia, however deals between nations at the time placed the entire North Caucasus under the claims of the Soviet Union, so the founders negotiated with the central Soviet leadership in Moscow and agreed to establish their town under the Soviet Union temporarily as the "Circassia Soviet Socialist Republic". To avoid detection in the map, Hatuqay and Lip swam underwater across the entire Black Sea from the coast of Georgia to the Taman Peninsula. During their swim, they managed to avoid PvP hunters targeting new players. They passed the town of VigNation along the route, not knowing that this impressive town would later be annexed by Circassia.

Soviet Era

A screenshot from the map showing Colchis seeking colonists, the screenshot was taken before Colchis joined Byzantium.

The town named "Circassia" was established on the 16th of June 2026 by Hatuqay, and Lip was the first other member. The town instantly joined the Soviet Union and developed basic infrastructure, including houses and a government building built by Bjedugh and Hatuqay, as well as an underground cave base settled by Lip. Circassia utilised the Soviet Union's massive nationbonus to rapidly expand its territories.

During this era, the Byzantine Empire established a neighboring outpost named Colchis next to Circassia, with the stated intention to establish a colony, implying future expansion. Although the Circassians were vary at first, even considering an alliance with the Turks to fight the Byzantines, the Byzantine Empire eventually abandoned Colchis, and Circassia annexed the ruined outpost. Circassia also annexed the friendly town of VigNation after its owner became inactive. During this time, many others joined the town.

Joining Iberia and Autonomy

A screenshot from the map of when Sochi was first established.

An early view of Circassia when it was a small village. July 15th, 2026.

The residents of Iberia and Circassia had a friendly relationship at this point. Over time, the leaders of Circassia realized that the Soviet capital of Moscow was simply too far away, and too uninvolved in the region. The Soviet Union's slow but steady decline in power and population was another factor, as it meant a lower nationbonus. In the 27th of July, the town left the Soviet Union on good terms and officially joined the Kingdom of Iberia, as was originally planned. Circassia had previously held the status of a Soviet Socialist Republic, making it an autonomous territory, this status became unclear when they left the Soviet Union to join Iberia. Circassia remained de facto autonomous although it no longer held the title of a republic - it was a town of Iberia. During this time, Iberia was at war with Georgia, thus putting the town of Circassia in war with Georgia as well. Some Georgian players attacked Circassia from time to time and even managed to kill a citizen.

While collecting wood, a town member was ambushed by hostile players using invisibility potions and bows. Assuming the enemy to be Georgians, town mayor decided to mount a counter-offensive to take revenge and fight for their nation. Despite not being a good PVPer, he decided to try his luck and purchased some cheap combat gear and potions and started patrolling the Caucasus. Tracking a Georgian target in a Georgian outpost located in southern Azerbaijan, he launched an attack. The operation was a success; yielding three kills.

Circassian players established positive relations with the newly formed Crimean Khanate. The Khanate was founded by HasanHasa who prior to founding the Khanate had established the town of Sochi, spending over 1700 gold for claims. He subsequently gave the town to a Turkish player to cover a 1500 gold debt from earlier. The new owner of the town intended to flip the town for profit, setting the price at 2000 gold. On August 24, following negotiations, Hatuqay acquired Sochi for 850 gold, paying 425 himself, while half of it was paid by another player who became the mayor. This purchase was considered an economic win by Circassian players, as manually claiming the region would have cost Circassia over 1700 gold.

Following the acquisition on August 24, Sochi was immediately renamed to "Tuapse-Circassia". Simultaneously, the original town of Circassia was renamed to "Anapa-Circassia". This restructuring transitioned Circassia from a single town into a multi-town entity. The mayorship of Tuapse was given to a major Anapa player by Hatuqay.

Iberia-Circassia sub-nation accord.

The confusion regarding Circassia's status finally ended when Circassia reclaimed its autonomy, this time not as a republic but as a Grand Principality, a title historically used by Circassian rulers, under the Kingdom of Iberia: on August 25, Circassia officially achieved sub-nation status within the Kingdom of Iberia, while mayor Hatuqay was declared the Grand Prince of Circassia. This political elevation was formalized through a treaty:

• Article I: The leader of Circassia pledges fealty to the King of Iberia and receives a formal royal title.
• Article II: Circassia retains self-governance to choose its leadership, who serve as the sole representatives in official channels.
• Article III: Circassian territorial claims align with Iberia; any unauthorized towns built within these borders will be investigated.
• Article IV: Circassia operates under Crown Protectorate, with the Royal Guard managing defense upon request from Circassian leadership.
• Article V: Iberia handles all foreign diplomacy while keeping Circassian leadership updated on relevant international affairs.

During this time, Hatuqay struck a deal with the mayor of Osogbo, an African town, which allowed him to set up a shop there without having to pay the 5 daily that he would need to pay in order to make Anapa open for public spawn. He set up a TNT shop that over the coming months would become one of the largest TNT businesses in the server thanks to his extremely agressive marketing. Relations improved with the Khanate of Crimea, and when the Khanate was eventually sold to Claus who became the new Khan, the amicable relations continued.

Overhauling of Anapa

Following a discussion with other members of the Iberian nation, Circassia's leaders finalized their plans for the newly renamed town of Anapa's future. They decided completely destroy the existing, organically built village and rebuild it entirely from scratch as a planned, well-designed city. Citizens traveled to various cities all around the world, traversing manually or utilizing teleportation for extreme distances, such as visiting the Americas. They took notes and studied the layouts of these global cities, gathering inspiration for the future city.

Two buildings from early Anapa, both were later demolished for the Anapa overhaul.

To fund the planned city rebuild, Circassia established the Circassian Mining Corps and launched an underwater mining operation. By utilizing the Nether to travel immense distances, the miners accessed completely isolated, previously untouched caverns. Simultaneously, the town formed the Exploration Corps. This group embarked on long-distance expeditions to the extreme corners of the world and various exotic locations. Upon reaching these distant milestones, the Corps established a tradition of leaving signed markers to permanently document Circassia's presence across the globe.

To build the new planned city, the original village was leveled using TNT and fire. Salvaged materials were securely stored, and blueprints for the new city were finalized. Following the demolition, construction began on the city's first plots, which coincided with the arrival of Circassia's first new citizens.

Long-term infrastructure planning also began, including a grand metro line intended to connect Anapa-Circassia and Tuapse-Circassia to inland regions of the nation such as Poti, and extending further into the Crimean Peninsula. Production capacity was heavily expanded with the construction of dedicated sugarcane and leather megafarms. This output supplied a new network of Circassian-owned shops worldwide. Economic ties were established with the African town of Osogbo, where Circassia acquired property and opened a dedicated storefront.

Additionally, Circassian traders executed a highly profitable market manipulation during the server's "Moon Update". Traders bought large quantities of nether stars the moment the update was announced and resold them during peak demand. The inventory sold out completely, yielding an immense profit and further securing Circassia's economic strength. This also served as a promotion for the TNT business.

Major Expansions

Using the money acquired from the Moon update and the TNT sales, Circassia expanded its territory with the founding of a third town, Abzakh-Circassia. The mayorship of this new settlement was granted to Lip. The autonomous principality's expansion continued eastward into the historical Kabardia region, also known as Eastern Circassia, with the establishment of its fourth town, Khabez-Circassia. The eastward expansion of the principality into the Kabardia region was driven by strategy: Georgia had begun acquiring territory near the Kabardia region. Their methods included founding new settlements, utilizing the controversial town-sniping tactic, and, in one notable instance, purchasing a town from an Iberian mayor who sold the land to Georgian forces. During this phase of expansion, an official naming convention was implemented across the entire principality. All settlements were restructured to place the local name before the sub-nation identifier, standardizing the territories as Anapa-Circassia, Tuapse-Circassia, Abzakh-Circassia, and Khabez-Circassia. Shortly after, a fifth town, Terek-Circassia, was founded further to the east by a rogue mayor without the Grand Prince or the ministers' consensus, despite being nowhere near the real-life Terek region, which is further east.

A screenshot from the server chat records of the moment the Georgian PvPer was killed.

Circassian-Crimean Friendship Agreement.

Hostilities with Georgia persisted, characterized by the aggressive behavior of some Georgian players. Tensions culminated in a major border standoff between Iberian forces, which included members of Circassia, and Georgian players across two adjacent towns. While no physical combat occurred, the factions engaged in a lengthy exchange of banter via chat. This is when Circassian players noticed that the Georgian forces were deeply fractured. Observations revealed infighting and arguing among some of the Georgian players. In one notable incident, a group of Georgian raiders entered Circassian territory attempting to annoy the residents by throwing items, drinking potions and demanding fights in the chat. The Circassian citizens ignored the provocation, which eventually resulted in the raiders leaving. The harassment was later temporarily halted when he was engaged and defeated in combat by a citizen of the broader Iberian nation.

Alongside established revenue streams such as trade, animal husbandry, and scavenging collapsed towns, Circassia expanded its domestic economy by introducing beekeeping and honey production. This roleplay-focused initiative successfully recreated the historical economy of real-life Circassia. Urban development also progressed steadily. Planners officially cleared the necessary space for the construction of the new city center. Even before the central district was completed, a new wave of residents arrived and proactively began constructing their own houses. Simultaneously, engineers drafted new plans for the national metro and subway systems to improve connectivity.

In a diplomatic move, Circassia formalized a friendship treaty with the Crimean Khanate, a sub-nation of Ukraine. The treaty was drafted after the Grand Prince of Circassia and the Khan of Crimea held a discussion. This treaty solidified their positive relationship and committed both entities to long-term peace and collaboration on common regional projects. Meanwhile, military vigilance remained a high priority on the eastern borders. When a Georgian scout was discovered snooping around the Circassian towns of Terek and Khabez, Hatuqay eliminated the trespasser, maintaining the security of the Kabardia expansion. The scout dropped stacks of TNT, which turned out to be purchased from Hatuqay himself earlier. Hatuqay sold the TNT back to the scout, thus managing to sell the same TNT twice.

Regional stability was temporarily disrupted when a player founded a new town in Sochi as part of Iberia (not to be confused with the earlier Sochi, now known as Tuapse). When Circassian leadership informed him that he was encroaching on their territorial claims, the player responded agressively. Circassian citizens ambushed and killed the player, with the mayor delivering the final blow. Following his defeat, the player defected to the enemy faction of Georgia. However, later talks with the player revealed it was a misunderstanding and the two sides exchanged apologies; the town however remained as part of Georgia, making it the closest Georgian town to Circassia and a way for Georgian players to teleport near Circassian territories easily; which later proved to be costly when some Circassian residents were killed by Georgian hunters while gathering resources.

The Cold War

Screenshot of the Anapa castle, before and after being covered in dirt. The castle was later demolished.

On September 25, a major political schism occurred when the local leadership of Tuapse and Terek declared their secession from the Grand Principality of Circassia due to a disagreement with the leadership. Both settlements completely severed ties with the principality, although they had to remain under the overarching banner of the Iberian nation. Tuapse was renamed to "Suayp", while Terek was rebranded as "Kyzyl-Yurt". Circassian leadership rejected this secession and officially refused to recognize the departure of the towns, formally designating both Suayp and Kyzyl-Yurt as illegally occupied territories, though they remained technically allied within Iberia.

Both sides had their own arguments: the Circassians argued that they paid for half of the town's cost and are natives to the region, thus the town must belong to them; while the mayor of Suayp argued that he paid half the price and bought it fair and square, thus a cold war started between Circassia and the town of Suayp, with trolls and bitter exchanges happening at the town border. To quarantine the capital from the settlement of Suayp, construction began on a giant castle wall. This barrier was designed to eventually encircle the entirety of Anapa-Circassia; in response, the castle walls and the national flags were covered in dirt by the mayor of Suayp. This led to a series of disputes and prank wars between the two factions, which were primarily conducted through written signs placed along the territorial divide.

The tank prank.

The prank war reached a physical peak when the mayor of Suayp constructed a military tank directly on the border, positioning its barrel to aim directly into Circassian territory. In response, Circassian citizens constructed a massive replica of the Suayp mayor's in-game character head directly in front of the tank. This resulted in the tank aiming point-blank at the mayor's own likeness. The Suayp mayor modified his structure by raising the tank's barrel to aim over the initial replica. Circassia countered this move by building a second, higher character head directly in the new line of sight. This architectural standoff effectively rendered the tank useless, as any further vertical adjustments would result in the tank pointing at a 90-degree angle. Other minor pranks and exchanges also happened during the cold war, although the tensions eventually rose from a mere prank war to an actual dispute.

After acquiring large quantities of necessary materials including quartz purchased from Cascavel, construction officially began on a giant national mosque in Anapa. The grand structure was formally named the Tughuzhuqo Qizbech Mosque, honoring the historical Circassian hero. Despite the cold war, the mayor of Suayp respected the mosque construction and did not raid its building materials despite having the chance to do so.

Success of the Grand Metro

The capital of Anapa experienced a population boom, while territorial growth continued unabated as the expansion of Khabez was officially completed. Beyond internal growth, Circassian players sometimes engaged in hostilities with neighboring Georgian territories. Some raids resulted in significant amounts of dropped loot and gold for the Circassian treasury.

Underground, the highly anticipated grand metro project saw major progress. After discussions with the leaders of Ukrainian and Turkish metro projects, as well as wih Iberian leadership, planning for the central station officially commenced. The metro system was designed to utilize ice boat technology, guaranteeing ultra-fast travel. To supply the necessary materials, the Circassian mining corps spent grueling hours in the earth's coldest regions harvesting raw ice. This was compressed into blue ice, the fastest and most expensive ice variant available. The tunnel excavation was an incredibly daunting task due to it being in deepslate level. At one point, a mercenary was hired and promised handsome compensation to help with the digging. However, the sheer scale of the project caused the worker to quit mid-job, refusing the gold payment entirely. Consequently, the excavation was completed 100% by Circassian citizens with minimal outside assistance.

The completed blue-ice line successfully connected Anapa to Crimea and Turkey. This connection established a scale of single-line infrastructure virtually non-existent even in Iberia proper. Travel between Crimea and Circassia was reduced to mere minutes, bringing a heavy influx of Ukrainian tourists to Anapa to view landmarks like the nearly finished Tughuzhuqo Qizbech Mosque. Every Circassian city would eventually receive its own dedicated metro station, while a tunnel connecting Circassia to Poti was finalised. Simultaneously, a mysterious railway was discovered cutting through the Caucasus Mountains and ending abruptly. Investigation concluded that this was built by Soviet citizens. Negotiations to connect the two transit systems ultimately broke down when Soviet representatives started making demands regarding Iberian policy.

During this time, a new town, Maykop, was also established to ensure Circassia's control at the center of Circassia. In Khabez, citizens constructed a mapart platform. This canvas was used to build a Circassian flag mapart. Upon its completion, citizens were able to mass-produce and place in-game map items displaying the Circassian flag across the region's homes, streets, and government buildings.

End of the Wars

On the 11th of October, the cold war between Circassia and Suayp came to an end when both sides raised the white flag at the border. Following tense but ultimately successful negotiations on the price, the town of Suayp was officially purchased by the Circassians for 800 gold. As part of the acquisition agreement, every structure within the town was completely demolished, allowing Circassia to absorb the territory as an entirely empty plot of land. Following the purchase, relations between the two parties normalized, and the acquired land was officially renamed back to Tuapse. Both sides agreed to go their own ways.

Despite being delayed due to a lack of immediate strategic necessity, the town of Abzakh was finally brought to completion. This milestone was achieved following a massive, dedicated gold-mining effort to fund its final stages. Simultaneously, Circassia launched a highly ambitious urban project with the founding of East Anapa. Due to game mechanics, expanding a pre-existing massive town requires gathering many new residents. To bypass this and take advantage of the free chunks granted to new towns within a large nation like Iberia, East Anapa was established as technically a separate town. However, in practice and governance, it functions entirely as an extension of Anapa. This marks the beginning of a grand multi-town metropolis project, with future plans to establish Northern and Western Anapa using the same mechanical strategy, ultimately creating one colossal, unified city. The aggressive pace of expansion took a severe toll on the economy. To survive this harsh economic climate, citizens engaged in extreme amounts of mining across both the Overworld and the Nether. Additionally, numerous previously held items were liquidated and sold off to maintain town upkeeps and fund ongoing projects.

On the 13th of October, Georgia surrendered and the nation of Iberia officially reached a peace agreement with Georgia, bringing an end to the ongoing war. To mark this monumental occasion, a grand victory celebration was held in Poti. Citizens from all across Iberia gathered to commemorate the victory and the newly established peace.

UPDATED 26.10.2026

Towns

Anapa (in game: Anapa-Circassia)

Established 16th of June 2026. 24 Residents. 200 chunks.

East Anapa (in game: EastAnapa-Cir)

Established 18th of October 2026. 1 Resident. 82 chunks.

Tuapse (in game: Tuapse-Circassia)

Established 2nd of August 2026; integrated into Circassia 24th of August 2026. 1 Resident. 112 chunks.

Abzakh (in game: Abzakh-Circassia)

Established 2nd of September 2026. 1 Resident. 112 chunks.

Khabez (in game: Khabez-Circassia)

Established 12th of September 2026. 1 Resident. 112 chunks.

Maykop (in game: Maykop-Circassia)

Established 10th of October 2026. 1 Resident. 112 chunks.

Government and Culture

Many members prefer manual exploration over teleportation, because it is more fun. Some residents often travel on horseback across the Eurasian Steppe and further, visiting regions including the Balkans, Kazakhstan, Samarkand, Astrakhan, Dagestan, and as far as Siberia. Because members carry basic gear in these campaigns, they suffer zero financial loss when killed by heavily armed players. During these expeditions, members scavenge unique biomes and abandoned towns for loot, rare animals, and abandoned town banners as trophies. Circassia utilizes the Nether for long distance travel. Members study the Nether to build/master secret tunnels. Sometimes, members ride on horseback to neighboring settlements to deliver small gifts, maintain positive relations, and invite other towns to join their nation. The principality maintains positive relations with most neighbors, with the strict exception of toxic players.

Despite operating under the banner of the Kingdom of Iberia, a nation widely recognized for its formidable PvP capabilities, Circassia maintains a distinct cultural identity. The principality is not PvP-focused, prioritizing development, roleplay, community building and economic growth instead. However, Circassia remains a loyal constituent of the crown, supporting the Iberian army and the broader national war effort. Internally, Circassia adopted a zero-tolerance policy regarding security and law enforcement. The government systematically outlawed all known scammers, criminals, toxic players, and major figures from enemy nations. Furthermore, Circassia universally honored the ban lists of the overarching Iberian nation and its fellow allied towns. The sheer volume of outlawed individuals grew so vast that it evolved into a meme, with citizens joking that Circassia was attempting to set the server's "outlaw world record."

(Some names have been shortened or replaced with names that sound similar, while some names have not been given at all, to protect privacy and block them from appearing on google searches.)