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.