Name: Het Geuzenverbond

Flag: De Prinsenvlag

Map: Leo Belgicus

Head of State: The Princess of Orange, Alexia Juliana van Oranje-Nassau

Anthem: Slaat op den Trommele

National Focus: Naval

Population Sheet: 2030 Census

Technology: Napoleonic

The notion of armageddon had always been there in the minds of the Dutch, be it holed away in the farthest corner of their collective consciousness. Try as they might to prevent it, they knew that someday, the dykes would break, the enemy would come, and their world would be no more. Such a view had grown prevalent amongst the Dutch, as hope and optimism had been thoroughly beaten in the decades preceding the ‘Heiljaar’. In 1940, the German Wehrmacht had crushed the fortresses of the Waterlinie under their leather boots, and so it was shown that there was no defence against the invader. In 1953, the isles of Zeeland were drowned by a biblical flood that had breached the dykes in the dead of night, and so it was shown that there was no defence against the sea. In 1962, nuclear hellfire incinerated the green fields and red rooftops of Holland, and so it was shown that there was no defence against fate.

But just as dead fish rise to the surface of the pond, so did the Batavians eventually emerge from their basements and shelters, to find a country that was so enormously different, and yet the same. The blue sky was still filled with towering clouds, the green grass had once again reclaimed the fields and meadows, and the Maas and Waal still gently flowed down to the cold North Sea. And so, with desperation and determination hand in hand, the people started to rebuild. Like a dog lost in far away lands, they started to flock towards the places they had once lived, and cities with great sentimental value, such as Amsterdam and Utrecht, were soon bustling with life once more. And as the Dutch went back to their old towns, so too did they go back to their old ways.

The countryside was still filled with unexploded bombs, corpses, craters the size of a polder, and so the people started commuting via the great rivers, the canals, the ditches and the lakes. Mastery of the winds became a skill sought after in the men and women of the country, as the ships and barges had regressed back to the age of sail. The Dutch marriage to the sea was renewed and stronger than ever, and just like every American owned a car, so did every Dutchman own a boat, for it was one’s connection to his culture and his countrymen. And it was to the backdrop of this cultural revival that a new political class emerged. Small groups of youngsters, often collectively owning a sloop sized vessel and a host of antique firearms, appeared at the scattered homesteads and towns of the Netherlands, demanding tribute and loyalty. They would call themselves “Geuzen”, after the heroic bands of outlaws that fought the Spanish during the revolt, and would see themselves not as thieves or robbers, but as patriots, restoring unity to a nation in anarchy.

As time went on, regions started solidifying around their local group of Geuzen. The leader of said group, oftentimes the captain of the largest ship, was honoured with the title of Bestevaer, the nickname of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. At the twilight of the second millenium, the nation had centered around seven of such Bestevaers, who would often fight small skirmishes with each other. It was not uncommon for towns to rebuild stone walls and earth ramparts, so as to protect themselves against the ever looming threat of a raid. Old fortified towns, such as Bourtange, Naarden, and IJsselstein saw an influx of immigrants, and became prominent political and military centers. The town of Brielle in particular, the location of the first Dutch victory against the Spanish, gained cultural sentimental value amongst the Geuzen, though still significantly smaller than the large, pre-war cities.

The situation remained in this warlike state up until the start of the 2020’s, when a girl proclaiming to be the great-granddaughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard rose to fame on the political stage of the Netherlands. Alexia Juliana van Oranje-Nassau, as she called herself, had spent all of her life in England, where her family had fled after the nukes started flying. Yet, as all her predecessors had dreamed of before her, she eventually returned to the Hague in the spring of 2023, welcomed by the local population in a ceremony akin to the Landing van de Prins two centuries earlier. Orange banners reappeared in the streets of the former capital, as Alexia started building a cult of personality and gathered a group of fanatical followers around herself, who would come to be known as the Oranje Garde. The Princess of Orange quickly gained control of the Hague, and obtained massive influence amongst the cities and Geuzen of Holland.

In 2025, she used her political prestige and her image as rightful suzerain of the Netherlands to call a meeting between all seven Bestevaers in the town of Brielle. There, under the old Prinsenvlag, and the seven banners of the attending regions, she convinced the squabbling Geuzen to form a confederacy under her rule. The proclamation signed at that fateful date, and the state as a whole, would come to be known as het Geuzenverbond. Though owning the smallest army, and ruling over the least territory, the Princess of Orange was nonetheless the most powerful figure in the state, as she gave legitimacy to the entire organisation. Her status and prestige could raise thousands of people to her cause, from all over the country, and indeed, it probably was the threat of such a conflict that made the Bestevaers agree to her proposals.

Once more, the country looks out to sea, and for the first time in a century, does so with pride, confidence, and wanderlust, eager to see what’s to gain on those grey, unforgiving waves.