About
“You have power over your mind, not outside events.
Realise this, and you will find strength.”
Marcus Aurelius.
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.”
Seneca.
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
Epictetus.
Founding Emperor
Nicholas I
A Message from the Founder
I founded the Vigorian Empire in 2014 because, eventually, dreaming about a better future is not enough. At some point, you have to begin building it.
My own life has never followed a perfectly straight path. I was raised in a grounded working family, influenced by the discipline and resilience of my parents, and became the first generation of my family to attend university.
Education opened doors for me, but it also taught me something more important: lifelong learning can be one of the greatest forms of personal freedom.
Throughout my life I have been drawn to science, medicine, philosophy and understanding how people and systems work. Over time, I also became increasingly conscious of the patterns that societies seem to repeat inequality, conflict, instability and division appearing generation after generation. Once you begin recognising those patterns, it becomes difficult simply to ignore them.
I have always been drawn to nature and to my Scottish heritage. Exploring my ancestry and my connections with woodland in the Highlands strengthened my interest in ecology, land, sustainability and the idea of leaving something meaningful behind for the generations that follow me.
For many years, visions of better societies existed for me largely in science fiction: communities where people cooperate, continue learning, use science intelligently and work toward improving themselves and the society around them.
Eventually, I asked myself a very simple question:
Why must that remain fictional?
It does not.
The Vigorian Empire is my attempt, together with others who share its principles, to begin turning that aspiration into something real.
Our aim is not perfection. It is progress.
We seek to build a community in which merit, contribution, education, responsibility, individuality and cooperation matter; where people continue developing throughout their lives; where citizens are encouraged to think independently; and where we deliberately build the culture, traditions and institutions that bind a community together while avoiding the destructive mistakes of the past.
Heartland is where that vision begins to take physical form.
The Vigorian Heartland Estate will become the founding centre of the Terra Vigorian network: a working estate combining agriculture, woodland, education, research, sustainability, alternative living, health, longevity and community.
Project De’ Oceano will ultimately extend that same vision beyond land and onto the world's oceans.
These projects are not intended simply for my lifetime.
That is where legacy becomes fundamental.
I want the land we acquire, the institutions we create, the knowledge we generate and the productive assets we build to continue benefiting Vigorian citizens long after the Founder is gone.
My responsibility during the Founder Era is therefore not merely to establish an organisation.
It is to establish something capable of surviving its founder.
The citizens who contribute today, whether through money, knowledge, skills, time, research, enterprise or patronage, are helping create the first chapters of that history.
Their contribution should not simply disappear into a bank account and be forgotten.
It should become productive.
It should build assets.
It should educate people.
It should fund research.
It should preserve nature.
And wherever possible, it should continue generating value for generations.
That is why the idea of the Vigorian Legacy matters so much to me.
We all leave something behind.
I want what we leave behind to remain alive.
To continue growing.
To continue helping others.
To continue building.
Whether what we are doing is immediately understood or supported matters less to me than finding people who genuinely share these values and want to build something peacefully, lawfully and deliberately. That is the spirit expressed throughout the founding vision of the Vigorian Empire.
If not now, then when?
If not us, then who?
Nicholas I
Founder Sovereign Emperor
The Vigorian Empire
Founded 2014
Vision
Why does it have to stay fictional or a dream?
It doesn't!
What I’m working toward with a close group of fellow humans is simple in principle, even if complex in execution: A merit-based system, where people contribute, grow, and work together toward something better. Not perfect, but better than what we continue to repeat. Think Star Trek or The Orville Sci-fi shows on TV. It's not perfect, but it's getting there.
The initial rules are defined and agreed upon, then ratified into being the foundations of Vigorian Empire.
I know people still like pomp and ceremony, and strong cultural traditions bring feelings of well-being and community for all. Hence, the Vigorian Empire, and I, naturally, as the Founding Emperor, have started such traditions to start with and build upon.
This is the start of our history, culture and traditions. All made by us, the citizens. This identity is important to cohesion, and it can be designed by us, for us, whilst avoiding all the negative and destructive trappings of the past.
Personally, like many others, I'm now at a stage in life where hesitation matters less because I'm getting on.
"JUST DO IT".....
Whether what we do is understood, supported, or criticised is secondary; I don't care. I'm just interested in making genuine connections with like-minded individuals and organisations who share similar values, and with whom we can grow peacefully and lawfully.
If not now, then when?
If not us, then who?
My Beautiful Ancestral Land in the Highlands
