Kernow, the Duchy of Greater Cornwall, is an independent state, in what was once the south west of the UK, covering Cornwall and areas of Devon. It was founded by the actions of one man, a very entitled man with great resources and connections, who led Kernow in its infancy.
Background
MV Trek Commando was a South African registered floating armoury ship owned by a UK mercenary company, Pan-Global Security Solutions, and operating out of Durban to support anti-piracy action off the Horn of Africa. She was stationed in the Red Sea to supply vessels with security personnel and high end weaponry without the legal restrictions of land based facilities. When the outbreak came many of the ship guard mercenaries rendezvoused with the MV Trek Commando. Pan-Global Security Solutions was owned by retired UK army officer, Sebastian “Mad” Mann, who contacted the ship telling them that a vaccine was becoming available at home. Mann ordered it to head home to the UK where a high proportion of the mercenaries were from. The small South African crew objected but they did not get a vote. The MV Trek Commando illegally passed through the Suez Canal ignoring Egyptian customs that were desperate to stop any ships docking and not interested in boarding vessels leaving Egypt. Sailing on through the Mediterranean as matters worsened the mercenaries kept on for the UK passing through the Straits of Gibraltar till their ship was damaged in a storm in the Bay of Biscay. Barely seaworthy the MV Trek Commando limped in to Falmouth harbour where Sebastian Mann and a motley crew of volunteers waited for them and the extensive ship’s armoury.
Sebastian St. John Mann was the third son of an impeccable West Country land owner and investor who was happy to indulge his son’s wayward and eccentric tendencies. Following Sandhurst and a career with the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry, Sebastian stood for parliament but his lack of diplomacy scuppered him. He decided to set up Pan-Global Security Solutions and ran it with a ‘devil may care’ attitude that earned him the “Mad Mann” nickname and ongoing investigations by the UN. Sebastian used his family connections to get hold of a shipment of vaccine and offered it to those who would follow him and save the day. Unsurprisingly he gathered a large number of volunteers from whom he selected his ‘huscarls’ and formed his own private army. They set about restoring order in Cornwall and the arrival of the MV Trek Commando, with her very amply stocked armoury and well trained mercenaries, they really got things going. Large areas of Cornwall, Devon and even Somerset joined ‘Mad Mann’ in the vacuum caused by the collapse of central authority. He said that he was done with the weak civilian rule of corrupt politicians and he appointed himself Regent on behalf of the Duke of Cornwall until such a time of the Duke’s return. Sebastian made a very good warlord and his followers trusted him as a benevolent ruler; those that opposed him did not fare so well.
The UK Government had been lucky to gain access to a vaccine early in the outbreak but even still it lost control of much of the country. The larger cities span out of control with the infected running wild and law and order collapsing. Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland had their won devolved parliaments and ran their own affairs as best they could. Several regions set up their own mini-states to protect their citizens; some succeeded and some did not. The Isle of Wight Council had great success while Free Dudley fell quickly. Within two years the central UK Govt. wished to re-assert control and began bringing regions to heel. After an extensive a bloody campaign East Anglia was reincorporated and many of the smaller polities re-joined. Yorkshire refused and a brutal two year long campaign was fought to bring the far-right rulers down and to free the remaining ‘interned’ ethnic minority groups.
By the time the Western England Regional Government (WERG) attempted to expand in to the West Country they found the well-established Duchy of Greater Kernow waiting for them. As Kernow had left England well alone it had been mainly ignored while England fought bloody unification wars in East Anglia and Yorkshire. Offers of assimilation were declined and threats of conquest were ignored. The Warden, Sebastian Mann, had established links, via a proxy, with the Irish and Welsh who covertly supported his regime with weapons and even volunteers. By the time English forces crossed the border to begin the assimilation of Kernow lands, they were meant by a furious response at the Battle of Dartmoor. Mad Mann led the Kernow forces himself as he cavorted around the battlefield on his scramble bike. A motely and argumentative force, of Kernow fighters and Irish volunteers decisively defeated the WERG forces. Weary after years of war and under pressure at the Isle of Man talks, the English Government sued for peace and recognised Kernow. Then after his victory Sebastian Mann vanished, some say he was murdered by one of his own Kernow factions while others believe he is in cryogenic sleep beneath Tintagel Castle, waiting to one day awake when he is next needed.
© Copyright Winwick Pig Publishing 2023
