Is it possible to communicate two containers with an empty linux bridge

I created a simple Linux bridge
auto vmbr1
iface vmbr1 inet manual
bridge-ports none
bridge-stp off
bridge-fd 0
but even if I bring it up with ifup vmbr1, it’s always down
ip link show dev vmbr1
38: vmbr1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000

the idea is to use a bridge to communicate several containers using a private bridge, no need to have an ethernet port
This is common in Hyper-V
Is this even possible in Linux? I use kernel 5.15.53-1
I need a virtual device that is always up even if not connected to any ethernet port.

eth2@if38: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state LOWERLAYERDOWN group default qlen 1000

Yes, in LXD it can create and manage this for you using:

lxc network create <network name>

I am using plain LXC. Is there a way to do this manipulating /etc/network/interfaces?
I sort of achieved it with an ovswitch but struggled with it until I realized that it needs to have an IP address or snot fully up.
auto net0
allow-hotplug net0
iface net0 inet static
address 192.168.0.1/24
ovs_type OVSBridge

first you need install: apt install openvswitch-switch
then you may add new macvlan interface to many containers and they can talk to each other.

lxc.net.2.type = macvlan
lxc.net.2.macvlan.mode = bridge
lxc.net.2.flags = up
lxc.net.2.link = net0
lxc.net.2.name = eth2
lxc.net.2.l2proxy=1
Is there a better way to do this, with less overhead?