View from Benacia/Issue 28: Two New Baronies?
This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2004/11/issue-28-two-new-baronies.html at 11/10/04.
(Ed. Note: We apologize again for the late issue. But this time, it was the fault of the computer for locking up ten seconds before we could post a long and impressive issue. Sorry! We've reproduced as much of it here as we can remember.)
It is seeming increasingly likely that two new Baronies will be created in the near future... or, rather, that two old ones will be revived.
The trouble, as usual, started in Yardistan, where relatively-new citizen Moose petitioned Duke Greg to revive the Barony of Amity and Mirioth. Both Greg (formerly Baron of BAM) and the Kaiser seem very receptive to the idea, and now the main obstacle to the Barony's revival seems to be that of finding a second citizen willing to join in. Harvey had been Moose's first choice, but due to an odd legal loophole he is not a resident of ANY Duchy (having never chosen to return to Yardistan after being banished). Pressure thus falls upon the Count of So-Sara, who was formerly under BAM's administration.
Shortly thereafter, a second petition for a Barony was made, this time to the Duke of Brookshire. Newly returned citizen Fax Celestis, Count of Muad'dib, asked Duke Shyriath to reconstitute the Barony of Alexandretta, which would include Muad'dib under its new incarnation. Although the Barony was demoted as punishment in the aftermath of the Baroness' rebellion against the previous Duke, Shyriath is reportedly leaning in favor of the idea, given that new anti-rebellion laws have since been instated to prevent a recurrence of the episode.
Semi-Permanent Steward Appointed
Duke Shyriath of Brookshire was reinstated as Steward again on Monday by Imperial Decree #143. This makes the third time during the reign of Raynor XI that Shyriath has held that position, but it is likely to be the last, because this decree fixes Shyriath as Steward of Shireroth for the remainder of the Kaiser's reign. The Kaiser believed that the move was wise "Since I have been so busy recently, and it's easier to just have a perminent steward than to keep reappointing one".
Shyriath's first act as Steward was to immediate start living it up in style... although, as yet, he has not tried to make any more decrees about Imperial Crown Jewels or anything.
Praise Be Unto Spoon!
And also unto B'caw, for according to Baron Ari of Straylight, it was B'caw's Head Priest whose chance comments in the Temple inspired him to create a pantheon of Minor Gods for Straylight.
It is well known that there are a set of Major Gods in the Cedrist pantheon, whose worship is recognized everywhere throughout Shireroth; these great deities date back to Khaz Modanian times, and govern the great divisions of power in the universe. But it was realized that the existence of Major Gods implies also the existence of Minor Gods, and the Head Priest of B'caw was informed that these would most likely be deities of a more personal nature.
Baron Ari reported: "While that was not enough for my mortal mind to get the hint, B'Caw blessed me through the spicy chicken I ate today with this insight: If people could make minor gods for themselves, why couldn't fiefdoms do that, too?" Thus, he created a Straylightian Cedrist pantheon, composed of Minor Gods unique to worship in this marine Barony. These include, to name but a few:
-Gashen, the Ludicrously Big Elephant of Pressure. -Spoon, the Piece of Cutlery that isn't. -Malarbar, the Public House of Bad Spelling. -Toboldlygo, the Great Split Infinitive.
In Foreign News
-The View has reported previously on the nation of Coralia (formerly a Grand Duchy, now a Republic), which aside from its inconsiderate citizen-stealing has been a general source of headaches for the micronational community. One of these headaches, former Coralian Grand Duke and anti-communist David Redstone, turned Commie and founded a new nation by the name of the People's Democratic Federation of Britain. This nation, too, has been annoying people, one of which is our very own Warvoid, Senior Cartographer for the Micronational Cartographical Society and maintainer of the map of the micronational world. When this annoyance caused Warvoid to reject the PDFB's application to join the map, it looked as if another argument with the increasingly powerful Communist bloc might be just around the corner. In the past, certain actions taken by the MCS with regard to certain Communist micronations have prompted claims of rightist bias, but it appears that a renewed cycle of argument has been prevented for the moment.
-The Dinarchy (Empire?) of Antica has apparently been experiencing technical problems with their forums and site, due to exceeding bandwidth or somesuch. Offers of assistance were made by Talamthom, but according to Delphi Augustus, everything should be back up in the near future.
-Apparently, a brand new micronational tabloid has been established: the Micronational Enquirer. According to the announcement of its creation: "The Micronational Enquirer has just been established. It's aim is to become the most irresponsible micronational tabloid ever, reporting falsely and distorting the truth wherever it may go. Factual content <5%." Any help writing articles, according to the announcement, would be appreciated.
All I can say is... DUUUDE. *Thumbs up*
-The Kindom of Morovia is sponsoring an Intermicronational Cultural Fair. According to the announcement, "The Kingdom does now invite artists, writers, philosophers, orators, clergy, programmers, and those who work all manner of cultural arts to come to the first ever Intermicronational Cultural Fair in Briesk from December 5-December 11, 2004 to display your great cultural efforts. All entrees must be received by December 4th." The Morovian Ministry of Culture has provided more information at http://adamsweb.us/fair .
