Welcome to Verdis, population 400—a postage-stamp nation wedged between Croatia and Serbia that is smaller than most golf courses yet issues its own passports, cabinet posts and currency.

Daniel Jackson, a 20-year-old digital designer who by day makes virtual worlds on Roblox, planted his flag on a 125-acre strip of Danube-side forest nobody wanted. The spot, locally nicknamed “pocket three,” has since been ranked the world’s second-smallest country, nipping at Vatican City’s heels.

“Verdis was an idea I had when I was 14,” Jackson told reporters. “It was just a bit of an experiment at first with a few mates. We all dreamed of creating something crazy.” Four years later, on 30 May 2019, the experiment became a micro-state.

The republic’s constitution is brief enough to fit on a napkin, but it already boasts English, Croatian and Serbian as official languages and the Euro as legal tender. Entry is strictly by boat from Osijek—unless Croatian border police spot you first.

That, unfortunately, is exactly what happened last October. Officers detained Jackson and several settlers, deported them and slapped the president-for-now with a lifetime ban from Croatia. “They said we were a threat to homeland security,” Jackson shrugged, now running what he calls a “government in exile” from Belgrade, where Serbian officials have proved more tolerant of his paperwork.

Undeterred, Jackson continues to hand out Verdisian passports to carefully vetted applicants—doctors, cops and other “in-demand skill sets” move to the front of the line. More than 15,000 people have applied; 400 carry the burgundy booklet that warns, in fine print, “probably don’t try this at immigration.” Some, he admits, have bluffed their way across borders anyway.

“I’m not interested in power,” Jackson insists. “If we ever get back on the land, I’ll step down and call an election. I just want to be a normal citizen.” Until then, he logs on to Roblox by day and dreams of the day he can log off inside his own country—where the trees are tall, the neighbors are cranky and the Wi-Fi, one hopes, is excellent.

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20-Year-Old Creates Verdis, World’s Second-Smallest Country, After Finding Unclaimed Land