Shireroth

The Imperial Republic of Shireroth, or simply Shireroth (Shirithian English: ['ʃaɪɻ.ɻɑθ]; Yardistani: Širo ['ʃi.rɔ]; Written Halluci: sgaæaæaæg) is a monarchist micronation founded in 2000 by Erik Mortis. It is particularly old. Over the years the nation has fluctuated in size and activity, but it has endured in great part because of its loyal citizenry. The nation has a rather novel system of government, unique amongst most micronations (what evolved in naming it a Shirocracy), which its supporters claim has allowed it to survive all these years. However, in spite of repeated calls from disgruntled citizens and outsiders alike, Shireroth has historically been very resistant to calls for a more democratic system of government. The nation is culturally rich, its large number of territorial subdivisions contributing to a vast array of people and traditions. Overall, Shireroth is very diverse and has a well-seasoned history, making it a very distinctive micronation.

History

The Republic of Shireroth was founded on April 24, 2000, by Erik Mortis. In its original incarnation, it was a direct democracy, but this lasted only a few weeks before the country was absorbed into first Audentior, then Jasonia, and finally the Union of Apollo States. After the last of these broke apart, Shireroth reasserted its independence. Erik Mortis, once again in charge, changed the government to an absolute monarchy under a Kaiser, and created a small feudal system with two Duchies, Brookshire and Goldshire.

Shireroth soon became much more important than its youth would indicate as Patrick Foley chose to bequeath the remnants of the UAS to it as the Duchy of Kildare. With a number of military-oriented types like Daniel K and Greg Russell, Shireroth even menaced the largest power of the time, the Flying Islands of Jasonia. However, due to real life issues, Kaiser Metzler I disappeared for a while, and Shireroth disappeared with it. When Erik returned, he pulled the newly revived Shireroth into the Benacian Commonwealth with Hyperborea and Machiavellia. This soon led to the merge that became the Hegemony of Alexandros and later Tymaria, tying up Shireroth in larger nations until 2002.

When Shireroth reappeared after the Tymarian secessions of July 2002, it had managed to gobble up several smaller Tymarian states and gained the territories of Hyperborea, Yardistan, Jaris, and Akerbjorn, among many others. The feudal system expanded vastly to include a new level, Baron, and the Landsraad became a major organ of government.

Over the next two and a half years, Shireroth managed to dispel its image as being less serious and take its place alongside Babkha and Attera as one of the world's leading micronations. Through a series of diplomatic victories like the Mango-Camel Pact with Babkha, it gained a strong position in the international community despite a continued isolationist bent when nothing is going on that directly affects it. It also continued gaining citizens and territory, so much that the MCS has a rule that Shireroth can never gain any more land.

The Government

Shireroth is, for all intents and purposes, a feudal nation with a supreme ruler.

The Kaiser

The Kaiser of Shireroth is the absolute monarch of the country, whose word is law. Traditionally, the Kaiser has issued his edicts in the form of Imperial Decrees, though there are also Imperial Proclamations that voice opinions but without the force of law. The Kaiser has the ability to appoint Nobles and Ministers, and his power is only limited by the Imperial Charter -which he can edit at any time with the consent of the Prætor and the Arbiter.

The Landsraad and Nobles

Historically, the Kaiser has enlisted the aid of a council of Nobles known as the Landsraad as a voting legislature. The body exists at the Kaiser's pleasure and he can dissolve or restore it at any time for any reason. Initially the body was a small council composed solely of Dukes, but it later grew to include Barons, the class of noble below a Duke, and, with some restrictions, ministers. It has now reverted to a body with only Dukes. The Landsraad is limited in its power and cannot pass laws that violate Imperial Decrees. Laws passed by the Landsraad are amended to the Lawbook, a document which contains all of the laws of the nation except for Imperial and Ducal decrees.

Shireroth is divided up into a number of territories known as subdivisions. Each subdivision is ruled over by a noble who has absolute control over the subdivision, provided that he or she does not violate Imperial law and that he or she does not opt to use a non-feudal government within the subdivision. Dukes are the highest level of noble below the Kaiser and they control a teretory in Shireroth known as a duchy. There have been many Duchies in Shireroth, including Brookshire, Elwynn, Kildare, Straylight, Yardistan, Goldshire, Hyperborea, Lothlaria, and Arminy.

Brookshire and Goldshire were the original Duchies; the others are formed from other nations which chose to join with Shireroth or were created from other land that Shireroth controlled. Duchies may be divided up further into Baronies under a Baron, and those Baronies may be divided up further into Counties, under a Count. Dukes and Barons are officially recognized as legitimate nobles by the Imperial Government; however, Counts are not.

Ministers

The Kaiser gives menial tasks and other executive duties to his assistants, known as Ministers. They perform many tasks that the Kaiser could not be bothered with or which he does not have the specific knowledge to effect.

The Imperial Judex

The Imperial Judex serves as the Judicial system for Shireoth. It allows citizens to address grievances either amongst each other or with the laws. Cases are judged by the Arbiter. There is no jury.

Culture

Shireroth is a recreational micronation, and although it claims Sonoma County, California, where most of the population once resided, it is not seriously secessionist. The Yardistani Annexation Corps, however, can and does annex anything that strikes its fancy.

The national animal is the mythical, rare Shirerithian Blue Moose, the national fruit is the mango, and the national guard is the sheer ugliness of the forums, topped off by Malarbor, a menacing evil-tree-guy-figure in the background.

Every Duchy also tends to have its own specific culture. Some duchies, such as Brookshire, seem to have a culutre that strongly resembles the culture of the nation as a whole. Others, such as Hyperborea, have a strong and developed culture that has developed independently of Shireroth. Shireroth is also home to Cedrism and its more famous sister faith Boomism.

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More extensive histories of Shireroth can be found below

A Brief History of Shireroth By Scott Alexander Siskind

Written 972 ASC

Not intended for those unfamiliar with basic Apollonian history or conventions. Please see ApolloHistory.doc for more information. This essay merely expands on Shireroth’s specific history to someone already familiar with the broader picture.

Chapter I: The Very Beginning

Part 1: Founding

This history ought to begin at the beginning; that is, the founding of Shireroth. Unfortunately, exactly when that was is unclear. The official history of Shireroth fixes the date at twelve midnight on April 24, 2000. Since Apollo Standard Time had not yet been invented, we must assume this refers to the Pacific time used by Kaiser Metzler. The forum records back this up after a fashion - a post entitled "The Republic Of Shireroth is Founded" is dated 4/23/00 11:37:56 pm - not midnight, but close. The first post on the Shireroth forum, though, is April 21. And the Alexandros record lists Shireroth as founded 264 ASC, which translates into April 26 on the Gregorian calendar. My guess would be that the forum was created on the 21st, and an official proclamation made on the 23rd, which was then rounded off to the 24th. And the Alexandrians just didn't know what they were talking about.

Part 2: Sequential Events

On the first day of Shireroth's existence it was greeted by the Istvanistanis and Hyperboreans. It will also be noted that the Hyperboreans pointed out the first of Shireroth's spelling errors (the word "discussion") on that day. Hyperboreans pointing out Shirerothian spelling errors was later to become a grand tradition. Erik then left for two days, during which Shireroth's early history more or less stopped, since at that period he was the only citizen. The next important event of this period was the acceptance of a treaty with the Great Automatic Peoples' Republic by a 4-0 margin, in which both vowed never to attack each other. Shireroth was also recognized by Blackrock, Jasonia and Istvanistan

Part 3: Provisional Government

The government during this time was the Provisional Government. Erik was to be a President with dictator-like powers until the Republic gained its fifth citizen. At that time, a more representative government would be established. Shireroth joined Audentior before that could happen. The only actions of Metzler's government were to appoint a Citizenship Minister and to create a currency. The Citizenship Minister was John Sager, who said he would make a citizenship form (he never did), and the currency was the €, although there is no record of the name Erb until much later. Speaking of Sager, he tried to form a party called the Popular Front of Shireroth to bring Automatic ideals into the country, but he never really got around to completing this.

Part 4: Analysis

Shireroth didn't do very much in the pre-Audentior days. It didn't have enough time to. The First Republic's major impact on history was to provide a base for future incarnations to work off of, to set the flag and currency, and to help facilitate the Audente merger negotiations, in which it played a major part and was one of the strongest voices for unity.

Chapter II: The Audente Age

Part 1: Shireroth In The Merger

The age of the First Great Merger is a very misunderstood one, but unfortunately I cannot get into it here. Shireroth, ironically, was probably one of the most pro-merger countries in the whole bunch. It was mainly small nations who were willing to agree to the merge - in the beginning, Shireroth and Hyperborea. The addition of Tapfer as a small nation was also helpful. The large nations in the merger process, who were very conservative about the possibility of creating a new country, were Jasonia and the Automatics. With Shireroth, the small nations just managed to have a majority in the proceedings, and eventually Jasonia (though significantly, not Automatica) gave in. On May 14th Shireroth became an official Audente province. Greg Shaddinger, who was strongly anti-Audentior, threatened to resign, but President Metzler said that this was a new nation and he didn't have to participate in Audente affairs if he didn't want to. John Sager, who had his own reasons for being anti-Audentior, did emigrate.

Part 2: General Politics

The Tetrapole Representative from Shireroth was Erik. He also won in a national election the Legislative Chair position, a victory which he celebrated in his infamous thread "I am got the chair!." His main policies in the Tetrapole were pushing for direct democracy and supporting anything Bill Dusch of Tapfer opposed. Another important political issue here is that Daniel K, also known as VH Fenrir, joined Shireroth for the first time.

Part 3: The Manifold Conflicts

Shireroth in the AIN was, unfortunately, probably best known for causing a lot of trouble. The first bit of trouble was the Direct Democracy Riots. These riots were the first time that Shireroth used its infamous smiley bomb, forcing Executive Chair Scott Siskind to declare martial law. This just got the Shirerothians angrier, and would have split the country had a last minute agreement not been brokered. What did end up splitting the country were the riots that occurred when Bill Dusch was elected President in a vote evidently run by the same people who did Palm Beach. These riots too were led by Shireroth.

Part 4: Shirerothian Secession

Shireroth seceded, as mentioned above, after the tainted elections during which Bill Dusch was chosen as Audentior's first President. This was on July 11th 2000, after the three Shirerothian citizens of the period (Erik, Daniel K, and Greg Shaddinger) approved. It was then discovered by the Audentes that secession was not, technically, illegal. President Dusch decided it was important to keep the nation together anyway, and attacked Shireroth. Well, sort of. What he did was post a map of Shireroth that included an Audente attack force. The Shirerothians laughed at him and challenged him to resolve the matter by a game of StarCraft. Dusch continued his unorthodox tactics, which were mockingly called "GifWars", but Audentior fell a few days later, and he chose not to pursue the war further.

Part 5: Culture During The Audente Era

Shirerothian culture during the Audente Era was primarily focused on Boomism (more properly called BO0O/\/\ism). This was both a religion and a political party. It began with the game of StarCraft, in which it was, in the words of Erik, a philosophy that "anything that's not Terran should go BOOOOM!". However, it evolved into a general pro-explosion way of thinking. The Boomist Party was for peace through armed strength and opposed the Demesos Party in Audentior's virtual two-party system. Of the Boomist religion little has survived except the knowledge that the single holiday, La Fiesta De La BOOOM, was celebrated on July 26. The Boomist symbol was a nuclear mushroom cloud.

Chapter III: The Jasonian and Apollonian Ages

Part 1: Integration With Jasonia

Why would Shireroth merge into a monolithic nation controlled by Jasonians when it had just angrily seceded from a monolithic nation controlled by Jasonians? While it would be nice to say that the archives held the answer, any appropriate threads were either deleted or never in existence. Luckily, we have a thread from the Jasonian side, which allows us to date the merge at July 13 (making Shireroth independent for all of two days). And here Erik gives his answer to the question posited above:" Shireroth never lasted long enough before the AIN merger to develop. Now that we are free again. I see no reason why would should bother trying to develop. We are basically just the same thing as FIoJ, just smaller and less organized.(if that is even posible.)" [myriad spelling/grammar errors fixed] Shireroth joined Jasonia, it may be said, out of laziness.

Part 2: On the Activities of Shireroth, Or Lack Thereof

Shireroth was completely inactive during the Jasonian age. All states that were part of the Flying Islands were. The one burst of interesting news was that the Shirerothians seceded on September 24 and then unseceded two hours later before anyone noticed. This was due to Erik's anger at being put on trial for spamming, but apparently he changed his mind and decided not to dig himself deeper. Erik was the only really active Shirerothian-Jasonian, although Dan K popped up from time to time. Both took the Hellish side in the Infernal War but were content to rejoin Jasonia after the Treaty of the Gods.

Part 3: The Apollonian Era

Shireroth, as a part of Jasonia, was not involved in the formation of the Union of Apollo States. It may be remembered by the student of history that Jasonia did not actually join the Union but rather sent a "dummy state", New Jasonia, to participate. Thus, Shireroth remained technically a part of an independent Jasonia, although all the action took place at the UAS. Not a single purely Shirerothian action or post can be found from this era, so it's safe to say nothing really happened.

Part 4: On the Revivication of Shireroth

I am happy to say I can pinpoint the exact moment in which Shireroth was revived. It was December 18, 2000, in an ICQ chat between this historian, Jason Steffke, and Erik . Erik was complaining about how much he disliked FIoJ, and Scott suggested "I wouldn't mind seeing Shireroth again. It was one of the few micronations I ever liked". The Kaiser’s exact response, one for the history books, was "MUAHAHAHA! SHIREROTH SHALL RETURN!" It is a very interesting piece of historical trivia that Jason Steffke was offered the Kaisership of Shireroth in that chat, and he declined. Other names were thrown out, including John Sager, Daniel K, and (may Gahg have mercy) Eoin Dornan, but in the end, everyone thought that it had to be Erik. Which brings us to:

Chapter IV: The Direct Democracy Constitutional Monarchy of Shireroth

Part 1: Formation

The information here is taken from ICQ transcripts between Scott Siskind and Erik. The new Shireroth originally was to use the same Provisional Constitution as the Old Republic and, significantly, would ban dual citizenship. Originally decided at the last second not to create Shireroth after all, but then he got "new information" which he refused to tell me and which I suspect was just him changing his mind without wanting to admit it, and he started a vote to free Shireroth from Jasonia at 9:39 PM on December 19. The vote was almost ruined by Thomas Hubert's opposition, but Erik threatened Hubert and he changed his mind. At 11:00 PM the same day, Erik stated he wanted Shireroth to be a combination direct democracy and constitutional monarchy. It was decided that King was too bland, and Baron, Shah, Czar, Prince, Pope, Big Kahuna, Pharoah, God-King and even Ayatollah were all considered before Erik decided on Kaiser due to his German background. (although it was all that Scott could do to keep him from choosing "Lizard-KING!".)

Part 2: Government Specifics

In the words of Erik, Shireroth was a "direct democracy constitutional monarchy". The Kaiser appointed ministers who were confirmed by the people. The people voting directly formed the legislative branch, and a judicial branch was planned by never realized. The first minister was Daniel K, Minister (or Miniter, according to the forum) of Immigration. Patrick Foley tried to become head of the military without being a citizen, but was rebuffed (he did become the CinC after the Kildare annexation). There was no foreign affairs minister, but the Kaiser took care of it, and Shireroth had mutual relations with Jasonia, Babkha, and Treesia at the time.

Part 3: The Duchy System And The Mass Annexations

The Duchy system started off very simply: Daniel K. was Duke of Brookshire, and the other Duchy, Goldshire, was vacant. It was then that the UAS collapsed, and Shireroth was all too happy to pick up the pieces. What it got from the Apollo Republic was the main land mass (which became Kildare, under Duke Patrick Foley) and the islands surrounding it (which became Gong Li, under Tony Au, who was originally an honorary citizen but then joined officially) With Patrick Foley's joining, Norfolk was added to the Shirerothian holdings, and became part of Gong Li.

Part 4: Culture During This Period

Little to none. There was some remnant of the old Novi Dalmacijan culture for a while, but no one except Stjepan understood it, and it died fast. Its one lasting contribution to Apollo Micronationalism was the famous golden Zlatni Rat, which turned out to be a beach, to Scott's extreme relief, but which was later found in mousetraps all over the land. Economics prospered, thanks to "Economics God" Tony Au. The Erb reached a record high of 5.5 on the ICEO, which everyone was very happy about, and the stock market had the usual brief flurry of activity before disappearing never to be seen again.

Chapter V: The Seventh Republic And The Seeds Of Benacia

Part 1: The Amity Crisis

The seeds of the Amity crisis go back to before Shireroth even existed. Jasonia wanted a space program, so they created JASO, the Jasonian Aeronautics and Space Organization, and gave its command to Erik. It needed a base, so Erik "discovered" the island of Amity, along with nearby Mirioth, and set up operations there. When Shireroth seceded from Jasonia, it was unclear whether Amity went with it. The Shirerothians apparently assumed it did, and the Jasonians assumed it didn't. On December 23, the Kaiser of Shireroth "politely demanded" that it be given to the Shirerothians. The Jasonians said no, and the Kaiser said he respected the Jasonian decision. On the 27th, Shireroth occupied Amity anyway, causing an international incident. Jasonia threatened Shireroth, and Shireroth laughed off the threats. For a while, it seemed like war was inevitable. But on January 3, a compromise was reached between Jasonian foreign minister Greg Nordman and the Kaiser. Jasonia would sell Amity to Shireroth for 225 erb. Although the Jasonians grumbled a little, the deal was accepted, and war averted.

Part 2: The Seventh Republic

The Seventh Republic, the name given to the Shireroth government around this time, is widely considered the Golden Age of Shireroth. On January 18th, Shireroth was accepted to the League of Micronations with a 14-1 vote. This was mainly thanks to Patrick Foley, Shireroth's many-talented foreign minister of the period. This was also the age of the Shireroth Boomers, champions of the Intermicronational Football League, for what it's worth. And of mass annexations and the Micronational Cartography Board. But it came to an end around the first day of February, when the Kaiser's sporadic mental illnesses reared their ugly head once again. Erik fainted due to some kind of problem and had to start seeing a psychologist, and decided that continued involvement in micronations would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, this was only revealed in mid-March, so for the month of February people just sat around doing nothing and wondering where the Kaiser had gone. This would be enough to destroy most micronations, and it did destroy Shireroth. Until the fateful day of March 26, 2001, Shireroth lay inactive and abandoned, the greatness of the Seventh Republic all but forgotten.

Part 3: The Crisis And The Seeds of Benacia

Jasonia, decided, out of the goodness of their hearts, to make the dead Shireroth a protectorate so that "no one could snatch it up and add it to their empire", ironically enough. The Rasinate noticed, and had the same idea - make Shireroth a protectorate of the Rasinate so Jasonia couldn't take it (though to be fair, the Rasinate had Eoin Dornan as their Prime Minister, so they really can't be held accountable for their actions). And finally, a new nation called Machiavellia, newly arrived from that fertile source of micronations called the Apolyton fora, decided to claim it so that neither Jasonia nor the Rasinate could. And they had a secret weapon - General Trantor, a man who claimed to be a former Shireroth citizen, although he refused to give any more information and there was certainly no former Shirerothian citizen named General Trantor. Jasonia gave in pretty quickly, but the Rasinate and Machiavellia seemed ready to go to war over the issue. The Rasinate even made a lot of threats and began to rally its various allies. Then General Trantor revealed that he was none other than Kaiser Metzler I of Shireroth, recovered from his ills (well, as recovered as he'd get) and come to usher in an Eighth Republic! The Rasinate quickly backed down, and Shireroth and Machiavellia signed a lasting alliance.

Chapter VI: The Benacian Age

Part 1: The Gap In The Records

There is an effective gap in records between late March and early June. It is my belief that Shireroth unofficially merged into Jasonia at this time, but the historical evidence of this is sketchy. It is based only on my personal recollection of events and some obscure references in the Jasonian fora. It seems to make more sense than anything else I've come across, though, so I'll let it stand and leave it for future investigation. Some evidence points to Benacia being formed before the Paramount War (May), but nothing concrete, and the Benacian fora were made on June 2, so I'll consider that the official date of Benacia's formation.

Part 2: The Paramount Wars

Whether Shireroth was independent, part of Benacia, or part of Jasonia during the Paramount Wars, it certainly played a major part in them. The first Paramount War was precipitated by Paramount declaring war on Jasonia because it wanted certain territories that had formerly been Paramountian back (although this was the official reason, the unofficial reason was that John Sager hated Jason Steffke and wanted to harass him). Shireroth and Machiavellia took the side of Jasonia, and used spamming techniques to spam Paramount out of existence. Unfortunately, Paramount, never having really been too much in existence anyway, didn't care, and John, with his usual obstinancy, declared that he had won and Paramount was perfect. The usual disputed-lands-go-to-the-Foundation compromise was reached, but just weeks later, the second Paramount War started. The Paramount Demolition Duo, as Kaiser Metzler and Prince Conway called themselves, went to work again, but it was revealed after the end of the war that it was just a ploy by Steffke to build activity. After this the Benacians got very angry at Jasonia and hoped for its downfall, which sure enough happened a month or two later.

Part 3: The Structure Of Benacia

Benacia had three members - Hyperborea, Shireroth, and Machiavellia. It was governed by a council of the three heads of state, and one of them each month was the Chair, who presided over the meetings. Kaiser Metzler was the first chair. The council usually met in ICQ or AIM chats.

Part 4: Shireroth During The Benacian Age

Not much happened. There were a few foreign relations things - the Benacians entered treaties with Babkkha and the PUR, and went through the bimonthly ritual of threatening Thomas Hubert only to have him back down at the last second. Patrick came back and left again. Yeah. That was about it.

Chapter VII: The Hegemony of Alexandros

Part 1: Formation of the Hegemony

The best answer for "Why did the Hegemony form?" is probably "Because of the cycle". The Apollo Sector (and Shireroth too, although it's not technically in it) tends to have large mergers every so often, and at the time of Alexandros, it was overdue. Originally, it was going to be a strengthening of Benacia without changing the basic culture or theme. However, when a chat started which included Jason Rhode, the new Prince of Machaivellia, although not, significantly, Kaiser Metzler, the participants found they all like ancient Greece and, specifically, Alexander The Great. Thus, it was decided that the merged nation would be the Hegemony of Alexandros rather than just Benacia (Hegemony was added because it was much more original than "Kingdom" or "Republic" or "Empire"). There was some debate over who ought to be the leader, but eventually Jason Rhode was decided upon.

Part 2: Structure of the Hegemony

The Hegemony's government was based on four high officials, with the Hegemon as a fifth high official above all of them. These were the Archon, in charge of the site, the fora, and general information related stuff; the Polemarch, in charge of war and the military; the Kristarch, in charge of economics; and the Strategos, in charge of foreign affairs. During the Hegemony these were Scott Siskind, Erik, Tony Au, and Edward Conway, respectively. There was also a Landsraad, the classicists' single concession to a more Shirerothian naming system and a Demes, a direct-democracy house of the people. All kinds of complex interactions were supposed to take place between them, but in reality the five officials together made all the policy and the Demes went and approved it.

Part 3: History of the Hegemony

The Hegemony expanded pretty quickly with some mass annexations. Tapfer was annexed at the request of Bill Dusch, since Jasonia was fallen by this time. They also took some of Ryan Caruso's old territories, including a place called Cimmeria. There was a minor conflict when Caruso demanded greater rights for Cimmeria and it looked like he was threatening the government, but it turned out he wasn't and everything was fine. Thomas Hubert tried to take back Rulzcentia, but the Hegemony claimed it and Hubert gave in after some tense moments. There was also a revolt over the colors of the forum. That was about all that had time to happen before the Hegemony joined with Tymaria.

Chapter VIII: The Pax Tymaria

Part 1: The Formation of Tymaria

The formation of Tymaria was a minor miracle. The Free Republic and Interland were going to merge, and the Hegemony of Alexandros decided they might as well merge with them, which brought the Rasinate in, leading to the biggest merger in history. It was managed at a Constitutional Convention that lasted from late September to late October 2001, and the final draft of the Constitution was agreeable to all delegates, and on October 31 (or thereabout) the United Republic of Tymaria was proclaimed.

Part 2: Shireroth's Place In Tymaria

Shireroth was one of eight original states in four original regions of Tymaria. Each state got a different number of votes depending on its regional distribution, with Shireroth getting only one. As a state, Shireroth had considerable control over its internal affairs, but could not print its own money nor conduct foreign relations nor war.

Part 3: Changes And Revolutions

On November 25, Shireroth was annexed to its own Duchy, Yardistan, and its Duke, Nick the Yardistani, who had joined about a month before. Why the change? In the words of former Kaiser Metzler, "Shireroth didn't fall. I simply find Yardistan more fun." However, the reversed situation was soon set right again with the acension of Kaiser Gaelen II to the throne. Unfortunately, Kaiser Gaelen too left, leaving the throne vacant. It passed to Ari Rahikkala, but he faked his own death, making James "Fax Celestis" the steward. Then another Yardistani revolt happened...

Part 4: Culture

This was a great time for Shirerothian culture. In a posts like "History and Culture of Shireroth" and "Kaisers of Shireroth", Kaiser Metzler fleshed out the formerly deficient background of the nation. It was formerly a group of warring chiefdoms before the first Kaiser started the Republic 2000 years before the founding of the Sector. There was also some stuff on Goldshire and name origins, some of which are in the appendix.

Chapter IX: The Mors Restoration

Part 1: Kaiser Mors I

When Erik returned after his long absence, he did so as Kaiser Mercator Mortis I (Merchant of Death) or Mors for short. He bore an ancient Shirerothian sword called Vengeance which marked him as the true claimant to the throne. Both Fax Celestis and Nick the Yardistani, who at the time were in a civil war for power, gave up their claims in favor of Erik's new avatar.

Part 2: Decrees And Changes

Kaiser Mors made a number of decrees and radically reshaped the Shireroth government. Among the decrees were to kick all foreign (which means the Tymarian government and other Tymarian states) armies out of Shireroth, a decree to make James "Fax Celestis" the new heir, a decree taking Shireroth unilaterally out of the Hegemony of Alexandros, and a decree to create a new Duchy, Straylight, for former Kaiser Ari Rahikkala. He then tried to convince the House of Nations to give Shireroth another Senate seat, which resulted in another debate over proportional representation. Also, he revived the old forum and the Landsraad and started construction of a great temple.

Part 3: Conclusion

And that's where we are today.

Appendix A: Name Origins

The name Shireroth came from the Shire, the home of the hobbits in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, added to Azeroth, the name of the gameworld in the WarCraft series.

The name GoldShire came from the Shire in Shireroth plus gold for the fact that there used to be gold mines there.

The name Elwynn came from a corruption of “Elven”. It was later made the name of a goddess in the Treesian religion.

The name Amity Island came from the island where the shark lived in Jaws

The name Mirioth Island was just plain made up.

The name Kildare came from an old name for Ireland

The name Straylight came from David Brin’s Uplift series of science fiction

The name Brookshire was made from the Shire in Shireroth plus brook because there were brooks there.

from here and here.

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History of Shireroth

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