View from Benacia/Issue 3: Monday, the Sixth of September

This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2004/09/issue-3-monday-sixth-of-september.html at 09/07/04.

Long Live the Kaiser

In a move that utterly failed to take his subjects by surprise, Los II, Kaiser of Shireroth, abdicated the throne yesterday. Before taking his leave of the palace, His Majesty issued several final decrees. Decree #118 finalized the long-awaited switcharoony of Lunaris and Kitanus Fields; Lunaris, formerly part of the Duchy of Goldshire, shall be made part of the Duchy of Kildare, and Kitanus Fields, once of Kildare, will become part of Goldshire. Yay!

Decree #119 gave out several awards to various folks. New inductees were admitted into the Orders of the Dragon, Griffin, Living Dead (aka Phoenix) and Chimera; the recipients were Renee Reavis, Sander Dieleman, Steve Musal, and Noelle of Sonoma respectively. Harvey Steffke was made an Honorary Citizen of Shireroth, and three of Shireroth's lovely ladies (Jadie, Alexandra, and Eriana) were given Kaiserial commendations for stuff they did during ShireCon. Congrats to all the recipients!

Decree #120, believing there to be a need for a physical and tangible center of government to compliment the cyberspatial capital in Shirekeep, the Kaiser declared Rohnert Park, California to be the "meatspace capital" of Shireroth, in which all those things that have to be done for Shireroth off the Internet can be done. I, for one, have no idea where Rohnert Park is, but I'm assuming it's in Sonoma County, since that was also recently claimed as Shirerithian territory.

The last two decrees, #121 and #122, established Erik, Count of Monty Crisco, as heir to the throne, and then proclaimed the Kaiser's abdication. The Kaiser also gave, as his last act, a long but very nice farewell speech, whereupon he promptly disappeared and was replaced by Scott of Hyperborea, the Minister of the Exterior. We would ask him where he's been, but he doesn't seem to know either... so, there you go.

Stay tuned, because the nation waits with baited breath to see what the new Kaiser, presumably Raynor XI, will cook up.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Several other changes occurred while ShireCon was being held this weekend. Duchess Jadie of Goldshire, formerly the Ruling Noble of her fief, passed on that status to her husband Ruhan Zarathustra Erudinzadeh, herself becoming an Honorary Noble.

A real-time session of the Landsraad was also held, at which several bills were passed; these included a treaty with Talamthom, a claim to Sonoma County as Shirerithian land, and the banning of abstentions as a legal form of Landsraad voting (leaving only Yea or Nay). Also possibly something about naming the family and children of the Kaiser. I'm not sure, really, I'm getting a lot of this secondhand.

Also, Eriana Moon announced her intention to leave micronations forever, but was promptly held back by the pleading of those who wished her to remain. And if that turns out not to be enough, this editor wishes to announce that he is preparing a "bring-Eri-back" posse to track her down and drag her back if she tries leaving again. So there. :p

Welcome, Newcomer!

Shierroth celebrates the arrival of its newest prospective citizen, lcplaztec... also known by the less unpronouncable moniker Alex Wolf. A friend of the Baroness of Lunaris, Eriana Moon, Alex seems intent on joining that Barony. He hasn't been accepted yet, but hopefully this will be resolved soon... without any silly arguing, please...

This is the End, My Only Friend

Wait... "friend"? WERE we friends with them? Wow, news to me.

Anyway, Baracao, according to the (apparently still alive) Malarbor, has died yet again... and, I have to admit, he seems to have the facts on his side. Following disputed elections in the Cuban-style socialist republic, an attempted coup was instituted during the President's absence. Retaliation by pro-government forces caused an exodus of the opposition from the country. The remaining citizenry, caught up in university and other real-life issues, has largely become inactive.

President Alarico Veto Julia chose to exercise his powers to declare a state of emergency and rule by decree, and said in a statement that Baracao was being mothballed for the immediate future. All Baracaoan forums are gone, and the main board has only a Castro-looking dude saying "Adios". Adios indeed, you weirdo commies... we'll miss you, in some small satisfied way.

We're Nationwide

And, finally, it seems that our application has been accepted: the View has been added to the Micronational News Network's newsfeed! Our humble publication has joined the many others available to the whole micronational world. Thank you, MNN!

But our loyal readers should rest assured that this new status will not change our style or content. The View from Benacia remains committed to bringing you the most important Shirerithian news you need to stay informed, while flavoring it with that slight lack of seriousness and respectability that a newspaper needs to keep itself from turning into the visual equivalent of old oatmeal.

And to our new and undoubtedly vast foreign audiences, we at the View give a big hello, and hope you will enjoy our publication. (Keep in mind that the articles and opinions in the View do not necessarily represent the opinions of the government of Shireroth; if they did, we would only be thoroughly embarassing ourselves, for many are humorous by design... you stodgy old furriners.)