Whoops! I was supposed to have a post ready...

 Oh look, someone forgot to have a post queued up again!

In my (rather weak) defense, I'm in the middle of another cybersecurity competition, keeping my skills (skillz?) tuned up for the defense of the cyber realm.

But that got me thinking earlier this week that Slabovia has more of a military presence than we really claim to. If you believe our outward statements, we mainly just have a Navey (sic) and a Maroon Corps. But we also have SCENTDROP (our cybersecurity force), drones, a trained and capable space force in BARFleet, and a nascent Space Maroon capability.  We're currently seeing in various world conflicts that drones are rapidly changing the face of combat, the US military has created a "Space Force" to prosecute war in that domain, and a couple of years ago Canada created a separate Cyber Command within their military structure (led by Major General Dave, who I've known since he was Officer Cadet Dave).

What I'm driving at, I think, is that micronations can't compete with macronations in the traditional military space - the cost of a single destroyer would collectively bankrupt pretty much all of the micronations, much less being able to pay to fuel and arm it. But where we can maybe "compete", or at least be near-peers, is in the emerging military sectors of cyber, drone, and space. 

The ship's crest of the USS Don Quixote,
the flag ship of BARFleet

The First Slabovian Crown Jewel?

Long time readers of this blog might recall that 2024 was a double jubilee year for Slabovia, marking both its 40th year of existence and my 25th year as its ruler. To mark the occasion, during that year I acquired this ring which symbolizes both my own 25th jubilee (via the silver making up the ring itself, since silver is a traditional 25th anniversary gift) and Slabovia's 40th jubilee (by way of the ruby, which is traditionally the material that marks a 40th anniversary).

Excuse the cat hair - the royal mouser sheds EVERYWHERE

We are still planning other official crown jewels, including a crown, a scepter, and an orb, but this piece marks the start of the collection!

Well, it certainly makes a statement!

 I'd previously blogged about my search for a throne... Last week I spotted this one on the Merchoid website. Given the state of the royal coffers right now, I might need to crowd-fund it...

Does it look comfortable? Not sure...

Administration - What am I working on this week?

 "And I discovered that my castles stand upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand" (Coldplay, Viva la Vida)

Although, in this case, you can substitute "plans" for "castles"...

So I don't think I'll be able to do the Great Lakes Regional Micro-Summit this year. Between a lack of action on the part of someone who was supposed to get back to me, and my own life "stuff", it's just not going to come together in time.

But I've already got two new ideas to replace it that I'm working on! (Neither of which, sadly, is any sort of event, in-person or otherwise.)

First up, Slabovian Geographic: I'd mocked up a cover a few years ago (see picture), and I used Slabovian Geographic as a "backstory" for my expedition at the end of last year. Now, I think I want to figure out how to make a "zine" using Slabovian Geographic as the theme/title. If nothing else, it might make an interesting giveaway at the next MicroCon-type event. Although, to do it "right", I'd want glossy printing, which would be expensive. Sigh. Big ideas, small treasury, as usual. 😖

The Slabovian Geographic cover I mocked up

The other idea I had sort of harkens back to my childhood. I was growing up when the "Choose Your Own Adventure" (CYOA) books became popular, and today I came up with the idea of doing a MicroCon-themed CYOA. The idea would be that you're attending your first MicroCon, and you are presented with various choices about who to talk to and what to do, and based on those choices you end up with a good or bad experience at MicroCon. I'm still workshopping the idea a bit, but I think it's got potential. I might even do it as an online experience using Twine, "an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories" which would hopefully allow me to embed pictures from previous MicroCon events as part of the story.

A peek behind the throne, as it were

 I've mentioned before that I've tried (twice) to get Google Adsense activated on this blog, but both times Google's feedback (without explanation) was that it was a "low-content blog", whatever THAT means. Why am I doing that? Well, I'm not trying to do this to get rich, but it would be nice to cover some of the expenses. 

Here's the high-level statement of account for the royal coffers for 2025:

Line Item	Amount
Balance as of 1 January 2025	$1,605.73
Income for 2025	$421.50
Expenses for 2025	$1,536.64
Balance as of 31 December 2025	$490.60

The "expenses" mentioned are largely related to MicroCon 2025 - fortunately that only happens every two years. Even then, that line does not include personal expenses related to MicroCon, such as travel, hotel, food, or uniforms. It's related to the souvenirs we gave away, as well as a sponsorship of the event itself. We also spent $142.60 on postage, $33.27 on photocopying, and $98.35 on printing (i.e. Christmas cards). This is an expensive hobby!

Currently, we have one semi-regular source of income - a tax of 50% on all regnal lottery winnings. That is, I play a weekly lottery game or two, and if I win any money, then half of the winnings goes into the coffers. If I ever win a large prize, Slabovia will benefit.

So, yeah, given that I still don't have full-time work in the so-called "real world", I've been trying to figure out how to monetize this hobby without selling things (other than myself), which is why I've been working on building up a social media presence, although it's not exactly taking off like wildfire. I feel that maybe this is because I'm not exactly controversial, but, well, how can I put this? Royalty shouldn't be controversial (other than their mere existence, which some people feel is controversial enough) - as I've stated before, the monarchy endures, which means it shouldn't really comment on the political controversy of the week.

This lack of funding is something that every micronation eventually faces. In alchemy there's the concept of a prima materia, or first material, the material from which everything else is constructed. Well, money is basically that - with enough money you can realize your micronational vision, whatever it is. But it's important to remember that every other micronation is in the same situation - none of us has excess money just lying around, so trying to make money off of other micronationals is pretty much doomed to failure. Some micronations do make a bit of money off of each other by selling stamps or currency to those that collect it, but this is a small subset of the overall (already small, maybe even micro-sized) community.

Unfortunately, I don't have any answers on this as to how a micronation can make money. Macronations can tax their citizens, impose tariffs, and have various other financial instruments to fill their coffers. Micronations mostly just hold out an empty cup and ask for "Spare change?" (That raises the idea of setting up a Ko-fi page, but I'm undecided on soliciting donations from the public.)

The current state of the royal treasury...

A couple of older videos about micronations (for certain values of "older")

I just rediscovered this video that was published during the pandemic lockdowns, and heavily features Slabovia (and yours truly). It's on the "This Exists" YouTube channel:

That video also references this one, on the "Not Exactly Normal" YouTube channel - he came to MicroCon 2019 in Hamilton:

Enjoy!

Micronational militaries?

My thoughts on "micronational war" (being a very silly concept) are, I think, well known.

And, as documented here recently, I don't think micronations really need "intelligence agencies".

Thus, it might surprise some to learn that (with certain caveats) I think that a micronation should consider having a military!

I'll precede the rest of this with a pair of caveats: first, as I've discussed before, you want to beware of "stolen valour" (or valor, for the Americans) accusations, so avoid using any real-world uniforms or insignia. And, second, I will remind you again that micronational war is a silly idea, and therefore you certainly shouldn't be running around in the woods playing "silly bugger" and risk being mistaken for a "militia".

With that out of the way, yes, I think your micronation (if large enough) should consider having a military. Why? Well, for several reasons, actually!

First, with a military you generally get uniforms, and having several people representing your micronation all wearing the same uniform establishes a "look" that (in my opinion) heightens the apparent professionalism.

Slabovian Navel officers (plus the queen-consort) at MicroCon 2025

Second, having that body of uniforms to draw on can be handy to provide a visible presence. For example, we had a number of Slabovian navel (sic) officers on hand for MicroCon 2019, as well as providing a uniformed presence for the treaty signing and transfer of equipment for Operation Pole Dance in October.

A few of our Navel officers "hamming it up"
with Grand Duke Travis of Westarctica at MicroCon 2019

Slabovian Navel personnel provide security for the signing of the
Micronational Space Cooperation Treaty from West Who

Third, within the context of Slabovia, we often portray group outings, camping trips, and road trips as military missions, building the nation's history and backstory as well as strengthening our friendships within the nation.

Additionally, depending on the circumstances of your micronation, your military can also form the core of an emergency response plan in the event of natural disasters, etc.

Just remember that these are volunteers; you shouldn't be ordering them around as a dictator or you'll quickly find you have fewer citizens (and possibly fewer friends).

MicroCon 2025 Commemorative Book

 I'd previously mentioned the MicroCon 2025 commemorative book here, and from there you can access a PDF copy of the book. However, I'm very much an old-school, "dead tree" type of person, so I had to order a physical copy. It arrived last night!

The MicroCon 2025 Commemorative Book

Slabovia gets "name-checked" several times in it, and my photo of the audience (a MicroCon tradition I've been doing since the first one back in 2015) made it into the book. Also, if you haven't read the abstract for my presentation (which is in the book), you should go check it out at the link above. As a reminder, you should be able to see the talk itself here.

Patchwork micronationalism

One of the things Slabovia has become known for over the years is our patches. And, full credit where it's due, a lot of that is due to the efforts of our chancellor, Rankin. Here's a few that might be of interest:

 

The patch for the recently-completed Operation Pole Dance

The patch for Operation Pole Vault, which got the flag poles from Chicago to Montreal earlier this year

The patch for the Micronational Outer Space Taskforce (MOST)
This was a joint taskforce operation involving Westarctica, the
Aerican Empire, and Slabovia during the pandemic

The Micronational Anti-Squirrel Task Force
If you know Grand Duchess Mortitia of Ruritania, you'll understand.
Otherwise, well, you had to be there.