MicroCon retrospective video from West Who

West Who recently posted this video over on YouTube - a nice little retrospective of MicroCon, including a good shot of our delegation (in all of our gala finery) at about 0:43.  The video's literally only a minute long, perfect for those of us with busy days or short attention spans!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDr1rZ38OXg&ab_channel=WestWho 

Pamphlets available for download from MEDALS

Five years ago, I established MEDALS, the Microphalerist Educational Archive and Library of Slabovia.  That site (and the physical collection) documents the wide variety of medals, honours, and awards bestowed by various micronations.  As part of this, we've created several different pamphlets that we distribute at MicroCons.  And, as of today, these pamphlets are available for download (PDF format, English only) from the MEDALS website under "Printable Materials".

The first pamphlet, Introduction, (which we first made up for MicroCon 2019) provides an abridged history of phalera (decorations) and the field of phaleristics.

The second pamphlet, Storing and Displaying, (which was premiered at MicroCon 2022) provides the reader with thoughts about storing, caring for, and repairing their decorations and honours.

The third pamphlet, Standardization (new for MicroCon 2023) proposes a standard size and materials for decorations, and gives some suggestions for how to present awards.

If you're at all interested in micronational awards, feel free to go to the MEDALS website and browse around!

MicroCon photos!

 My thanks to Adrienne Baugh, First Lady of Molossia, for these photos.  The first is a picture of me with the President and First Lady of Molossia, and the second was taken during my cyber warfare talk.

Another MicroCon is done...

 Another MicroCon is in the books... and in some ways, this was Slabovia's best ever!

Slabovia gave two amazing (but VERY different) talks during the conference - Our chancellor presented the recent "Zenda" mission as a photo essay with accompanying commentary, while We spoke on cyber warfare as an existential threat to micronations and steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.

Related to the latter talk, We also proposed that individual micronations sign the CHICAGO (Cyber Hostility Intervention Comprehensive Agreement Governing Offense) Accord that We'd authored, which prohibits the use of offensive cyber weapons or cyber attacks by signatories.  The leaders from24 micronations signed the accord on Saturday, out of approximately 40 micronations in attendance, so the proposal was very well received.  Notable signatories included Molossia, Westarctica, Ruritania, the Aerican Empire, and Aigues-Mortes.  All signatories were presented with a special challenge coin that was created just for the occasion, shown below.

We were also able to present a number of awards while We were there.  We gave out patches to a number of delegates who'd attended all of the first five MicroCons, We presented Queen Carolyn of Ladonia with the Order of Slabovia for organizing a successful MicroCon, and We awarded the Make George Cross to Commodore Jonathan Miller of Molossia for his repeated attempts to get Us to give him a Coke Zombie award.  (Details on both of these awards, as well as all of the others that Slabovia awards its citizens and others, can be found here.)  We also presented five "King's Mark of Friendship" mini-medals and one "King's Mark of Merit", to the Sultan of Slowjamastan.  

The commemorative patch for the attendees of all of the first five MicroCon events is shown below - it lists the host nations and their flags for each of the five MicroCon events.  The patch was designed by Our chancellor based on an idea We came up with, and We think it turned out quite well!

Finally, We got to reveal the location of MicroCon 2025 and introduce its hosts - this event, which marks ten years of MicroCons, will be held in Montreal, QC, Canada, and will be hosted by three micronations, including the Aerican Empire, the Newgraviate of Saint-Castin, and the Principality of Sancratosia.  It's currently scheduled to be held the last weekend of June (subject to change based on the world situation at that time, of course...), and We hope to see everyone there!  We're already planning some interesting ideas...