A bit about MicroCon

I've mentioned MicroCon a couple of times here.  Maybe I should talk a bit about what it is, and why it's a "good thing" for micronationalism.

Basically, it all started back in 2015, when Kevin Baugh of Molossia put out the word that he was hosting a get-together of micronations at the Anaheim Central Library in Anaheim, California.  Slabovia made the decision to attend, to try to put faces to some of the names we were dealing with in the micronational groups on Facebook.  There's a great write-up on the conference (and lots of photos) here, but in short it was a day of talks, of meeting with other micronational leaders, and of generally having fun.  It even included a "live steel" medieval combat demonstration by the Lamia Knights of Shiloh (who unfortunately disbanded the following year).  We were privileged to be able to speak at the conference, and presented a retrospective of what We'd learned in 25 years of Slabovia - which We hope the attendees found both informative and amusing.

That evening, a MicroCon Cotillion was held, to include a dinner (in this case, tacos), award presentations (which We irreverently refer to as the "gong show" due to the many medals being presented), and a dance.  This essentially "set the tone" for future MicroCon events - a day of talks, followed by a formal dinner and awards.

In 2017, a second MicroCon was held, this time hosted by Ruritania in Atlanta, Georgia.  Again, a wonderful write-up and pictures can be found here.  This time, Slabovia sent a larger contingent, including not just the Monarch and the chancellor, but their respective families as well.  And, again, Slabovia was able to provide a talk for the itinerary - in this case, "How to host a MicroCon", which was our way of announcing not only that MicroCons would be held on a regular basis going forward, but also that Slabovia would be hosting the next one, in 2019.  We're sneaky that way.  :-)

True to form (and following what had been established two years before), that evening a formal dinner and awards ceremony was again held, this time at a local restaurant.  Unfortunately, due to space and time limitations, there was no opportunity to finish the evening with a dance.

And that brings us to 2019, and our own version of MicroCon.  We would estimate there were 100 people in the room this time, a considerable growth from the 30 or so who attended the first MicroCon only four years previously.

This time, we had a variety of talks on topics such as micronational conflicts, citizen engagement, the history of micronationalism, and even an overview of Asian micronations (provided by Minsung Kwon of the Jusin Republic).  Despite a minor glitch with the air conditioning (which is less than ideal on a hot and humid South-western Ontario summer day), the conference was a rousing success overall, carrying on the MicroCon tradition in fine form.  We were privileged to address the conference three times that day - to deliver the opening remarks, to provide an update on MEDALS, and to introduce the hosts of MicroCon 2021 - which will be held in Las Vegas (dates TBD) and c0-hosted by Westarctica and Shiloh.  We cannot stress enough Our gratitude towards our citizens who helped with both the organizing and running of the conference; much of the "smooth sailing' that occurred that day is doubtless attributable to their tireless efforts.

And, of course, that evening was the formal dinner and awards ceremony.  We were happy to bestow awards on a number of Our micronational colleagues, and We were Ourselves honoured to be recognized by many of the same with numerous awards and honours, a few of which are shown below.

Overall, being the host nation for MicroCon was a wonderful experience, and one that We are not willing to repeat any time soon due to the stress, aggravation, and other issues that accompany such a task.  We do wish both Arch Duke Travis (Westarctica) and King Timothy (Shiloh) all the best in their efforts, and look forward to attending it in 2021!

About medals, and MEDALS

One of the trappings of micronationalism that fascinates Us is the phaleristics - that is, the medals and awards that micronational rulers award to themselves, their citizens, and other micronational rulers.  Slabovia has a large and well-established ecosystem of awards, but We are certainly not the only ones doing it, and Our way isn't necessarily the best way.  Indeed, We have made a few mistakes over the years that have somewhat limited us after the fact.  (Hint: while standardizing on one ribbon width is strongly recommended, We cannot endorse 1-3/8" as that standard width, due to the relative scarcity of ribbons of that width.)

In order to document our own lessons learned, as well as to educate the public about the splendor of micronational awards, We ordered and endowed the creation of the Microphalerist Educational Archive and Library of Slabovia, or MEDALS, as a site where micronations can submit their awards to be documented.  Hopefully this will inspire micronationals to create more beautiful and meaningful awards, prevent duplication (accidental or otherwise), and help the public to see the wonderful work being done by micronations in this field.

The main rules of submission are:
1. Anything submitted to the site must exist in the real world, no "virtual-only" awards.  This isn't to disparage virtual micronations (I'm sure some people would consider Slabovia to be one of those), it's so that a) We don't get inundated with submissions that only exist in the fertile minds of their creators, and b) We can create a travelling exhibit and someday even have museum exhibitions of micronational awards.

2. No awards that are awarded by a "macro-state" or other non-micronational entity should be submitted.  This goes back, in part, to concerns about stolen valour.  Not to single anyone out, but We have seen micronationals wearing macronational medals that they could never have been awarded in real life, including high awards for military valour.  Quite honestly, We feel that this disparages and cheapens the hard work being done by many micronationalists, and can only hurt the field as a whole.

Of course, We prefer that people contribute an exemplar specimen of their awards for the archives (for the travelling exhibit opportunities mentioned above), but photographic evidence can also be submitted to the archive.

So it's been a few weeks... Err, months

Huh.  It's December.  How'd THAT happen?

So, what's been going on in Slabovia?

Well, MicroCon went off in July without a hitch - huge props to Our Chancellor and the organizing committee for all of the hard work that went into this event, We really can't thank them enough.  The event itself ended up being hugely successful, with a hundred people in the room (some coming from as far away as Europe and Korea).  We made new friends, renewed other friendships, and generally had a wonderful, if exhausting, weekend.

There's a fairly good video that was shot at the event, available here.  And We are in it a fair amount, so We can't complain about the coverage.

After MicroCon finished, We were invited by the Sôgmô of Sandus to submit an article about developing honours systems and making medals to their art and design journal, prole-nounce.  That ended up being two articles, sort of "theory vs practice", and they were submitted a little while ago, and should be going live at some point.

In August (while We were working on the articles), we had a visit from Arch Duke Travis of Westarctica.  We showed His Grace how to "blow things up real good" playing Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator.

In early November, the royal couple found Ourselves in Montreal, where We visited with Emperor Eric of the Aerican Empire and his fiance Jenny.  We are looking forward to returning to Montreal for their impending nuptials in February of next year.

And that's about it - just an international conference, a couple of articles, and a couple of royal visits.  A fairly normal year, really.

So what's a Slabovia, exactly?

As mentioned before, I'm the king of a micronation called Slabovia.  You won't find us on any maps - the only territory we claim is the ground under our feet and the sky above our heads (and, uh, a few hundred acres on Mars).  As far as Slabovia is concerned, the rest of planet Earth is a big nature preserve, where all of the flora and fauna of this planet (including humans) can live out their days in peace, without fear of intergalactic predators feasting on their brains.  Okay, I might have made that last bit up just now.

We've actually been around quite a long time as far as micronations go - our archives go back to at least 1988, and the official history dates the founding of the nation a few years before that.  But, for most of our existence, we were pretty much doing our own thing - it's only a few years ago that we became aware of the greater micronational community.

Oh, and when I say "we", that's not just the royal sense of the word ("We are not amused.").  Slabovia has somewhere around 50 citizens, mostly in Canada but some in the USA and even in Australia.  Trans-national weirdness is probably a reasonable approximation of what we do.

So, in this blog, I'm hoping to give you more of a glimpse into the life of micronational royalty (not nearly as glamorous as it sounds), discuss micronational philosophies (including what works and what doesn't, at least in my opinion), and maybe entertain you for a while.

What's a Microcon?

I mentioned in my first post that Slabovia will be hosting Microcon in July of this year.  So what is that, exactly?

Basically, it's a gathering of micronationalists from all over the USA, Canada, and beyond.

This will be the third Microcon.  They are held (at this point) every two years.  The first one, in April 2015, was held in Los Angeles and hosted by Molossia, who organized the conference  as a venue for delegates of micronations around the world "to share their ideas, dreams and worlds with each other."

The second on, in June 2017, was held in Atlanta, Georgia, and was hosted by Ruritania.

Slabovia not only had the privilege to send delegations to both of these conferences, but has been accorded the honour of hosting the third one, and the first to be held outside of the continental United States.

I may post more about Microcon as we get closer to July - currently we're in a organizational flurry, trying to get all the moving pieces to come together for what we truly hope will be an awesome event for all attendees!

King Who of What, then?

Greetings from the Throne!  I'm King George 2.0 of Slabovia.

I'm sure most of you have never heard of either Slabovia or me, so let me dissect that for you.

Slabovia is a "micronation", which can be defined as "an entity that claims to be an independent nation or state but is not recognized by world governments or major international organizations."  There are several fairly famous micronations out there, including Sealand, Molossia, Hutt River, and others.

And I am its ruler, King George 2.0.

There, that wasn't so hard, was it?

Anyway, I've decided to start this blog to share my views on micronationalism (including the running of a micronation), the upcoming Microcon (which Slabovia is hosting), microphaleristics, and anything else I think is interesting or relevant.

Stay tuned!