Metaphor: ReFantazio is an excellent Persona-like from Atlus about uniting a nation by participating in a competition to be the next bum on its throne. The JRPG is full of meditations on racism, inequality and how it's cool to be friends with a talking bat—we like it quite a lot. Indeed, we gave it a whopping 95% in our Metaphor: ReFantazio review.
But here's the thing: the road to winning the throne is a long one. 100 hours long, in fact. And you'll need to fight countless monsters, delve into numerous dank dungeons, and give lots and lots of speeches before you can call it a day. Wouldn't it be much simpler if you could just post a comment on social media explaining why you deserve to win the competition? Well, you're in luck, because Sega is going to make one person a noble, right here in the real world, just for doing exactly that.
Before you start splashing out on ermine cloaks and shopping for thrones, there is a significant catch: You'll be joining the nobility of Sealand, a micronation that sits in the North Sea. It's not a recognised country, only has one permanent resident, and the whole state amounts to an old sea fort.
Despite being a rusty WW2 offshore platform, Sealand has enjoyed a rather exciting and absolutely fascinating history. Here are a few highlights.
- Its royal family came to power in 1967 when Paddy Roy Bates ousted its previous occupant, a pirate radio station. Bates then declared the platform's independence, renamed it the Principality of Sealand, and gave himself the title of Prince Roy of Sealand.
- The British Royal Navy has made multiple attempts to recapture Sealand, and members of the royal family have been charged with crimes—specifically, shooting warning shots at British vessels. At the time, however, Sealand was in international waters, so the court declared it had no jurisdiction.
- Sealand has a rebel government living in exile, in Germany. It was created after a failed coup in 1978, orchestrated by Sealand's prime minister. The coup involved foreign mercenaries, who took Prince Roy's son, Prince Michael, hostage. He fought back, won, and then held the former prime minister prisoner for several weeks.
- The rebel government is alleged to have connections to drug traffickers and money launderers, who were funded by the sale of fake Sealand passports.
- As well as actual Sealand passports, the principality has created its own currency, stamps, a national flag, a national anthem and football teams.
- In 1987, the UK extended its territorial waters to include Sealand. The day before, however, Prince Roy declared an extension of Sealand's territorial waters by the same amount to maintain access to the open sea. The UK has made no attempts to reclaim Sealand since.
- In 2000, an internet server farm company was established in Sealand, but went belly up due to disagreements with the royal family. And in 2007, The Pirate Bay attempted to purchase the micronation to avoid Sweden's copyright laws.
- The world's blandest musician, Ed Sheeran, is a Baron of Sealand—one of several celebrities who hold noble titles in the micronation.
So, yeah, it's been a pretty wild ride for what is ultimately just a decommissioned sea fort. And if joining its nobility tickles your fancy, you don't even need to wait for Sega to pick your comment on Twitter or Reel on Instagram. Sealand sells titles for as little as £20. That'll get you the title of lord or lady. At the higher end, you've got a duke and duchess couples title, which will set you back £700. Normally it's £1,000, but there's a sale on at the moment. I wonder if they celebrate Black Friday in Sealand? Might be worth checking in again next month just in case.
What Sega is offering, however, is unique. It's created a one-off title for the competition: Hand to the Sovereign Prince of Sealand. Pretty fancy, right? The prince in question is Michael Bates, grandson of the original founder, Prince Roy.
"When my grandfather founded Sealand in the 1960s, one of his first actions was to bestow the title of 'Princess Joan' on my grandmother," said Prince Liam, son of Prince Michael and fourth in line to the throne. "In the more than five decades since, we've established several Noble titles, but never a Hand to the Prince. We've achieved a lot as the world's smallest nation but this partnership with SEGA and ATLUS to create a one-off title marks our first foray into the world of videogames, and it's a venture future Sealand Royals will look back on with pride."
I've seen some weird videogame marketing campaigns in my time, but I've got to give it to Sega, this is one of the better ones. Before you start planning your aristocratic future, however, do look over the terms and conditions first, which also includes full instructions on how to enter the competition. You don't have a chamberlain to do that for you just yet.
