The Official Website of the Slobovish Republic

This guide is intended to help those who are unfamiliar with the hobby of micronationalism gain their footing. It is necessitated by the simple fact that, while this hobby can be greatly enjoyable (not to mention, addictive) once an individual has become accustomed to its intricacies, it is often the case that people are overwhelmed by the immersion or simply don't make it to the interesting parts. The purpose of this guide, then, is to help with bringing reason to the madness and bringing new participants as close as can be without experience to an understanding of how things work and where any points that might interest them may be met.

Micronationalism

A micronation, for the purposes of this micronation, is a community of individuals who join together and organize themselves in a manner resembling a nation state for recreational purposes. It is essentially a combination of part online community and part role-playing game, although most micronations tend to favor a certain degree of realism (though this does not mean that all micronations prohibit fantasy elements, nor does it mean that the ones that don't encourage them discourage them).

The hobby incorporates elements of similar hobbies and games, such as political simulations, construction and management simulations, play-by-post role-playing games, real-time strategy games, turn-based strategy games, creative writing, worldbuilding, (in some cases) the development of constructed languages, etc.

Manifestations of the community side of the phenomenon include elements such as interactions between micronationalists within the context of the hobby side of micronationalism (members a particular micronation typically have to interact with each other in, more or less, every element of the hobby, and members participating in the military and diplomatic aspects of the micronation always will have to interact with members of other micronations), cordial, off-topic, interactions between both members of the local micronation and visiting members of other micronations in the micronation's general discussion forums (which can encompass a large variety of topics and can often produce small social networks), participation in social networks and cliques within the general hobby that formed via the previous process and which can be manifested by adopting certain chatrooms as haunts and adopting other micronationalists as buddies on instant messaging services (also, given a certain degree of development, this has often led to real-life meetings and conventions), etc.

Micronationalism appeals to certain types of persons, while others might find it boring or (since it really is little more than a glorified and even more nerdy role-playing game) socially repugnant. It's difficult to classify individuals who would most likely not fit in with micronations, as this is mostly based on individual factors (such as whether or not that person finds anything in the hobby that might draw their interest), but certain groups of people may be more likely to find micronationalism interesting than others:

Role-players are more likely than most of the other groups to enjoy micronationalism and tend to be more likely to be involved in all of the various aspects of the hobby and community than other persons;
Politicos (persons who are active in party politics) may often be attracted to the political, diplomatic and socio-economic facets of the hobby, as well as the soapbox that the general discussion forums give them for discussing their real-world political views;
History buffs and anachronists may be attracted to certain micronations, as certain elements of those micronations might remind them of a historical period which they might be interested in;
Military buffs and wargamers may be attracted by micronational recreational warfare (recwars), which tends to mimic real-world warfare and wargames in its tactics and "equipment" lists;
Members of other online communities may often be drawn in by the element of micronationalism that functions as an online community, and from there often find themselves drawn into the hobby;
Casual political and social philosophers may be attracted to micronationalism as a platform upon which they might test their theories and ideas;
Megalomaniacs may be attracted to micronationalism by the opportunity for self-aggrandizement that the hobby's tendency to use titles resembling those found in a state (such as "King" or "Emperor") provides;
Artists may be attracted by opportunities that the hobby provides for them to utilize and perfect their skill, particularly:
- Graphical designers may be attracted to the parts of the micronation's bureaucracy which are devoted to the production of graphics, as this provides them an opportunity to practice their art form, and
- Creative writers may be attracted to micronational armed forces (as recreational warfare's play-by-post style provides a perfect opportunity for collaborative creative writing), as well as to the agencies responsible for cultural development (as this also provides an opportunity for them to write);
Worldbuilders may be drawn in by the opportunity, both within the context of the cultural themes of individuals micronations as well as the context of intermicronational work, to partake in worldbuilding (in the former case, through the construction of fictional cultural elements; in the latter case through participation in such organizations as the Micronational Cartography Society);
Conlangers (individuals who create constructed languages) may be attracted by the opportunity that the fictional cultural elements mentioned above provide for them to work on new constructed languages; and, among several others,
Web designers and information architects may be attracted to the services of the micronational government responsible for maintaining such aspects as the micronation's forums, website, etc., as this gives them an opportunity to practice and further perfect their skill.

There are two things that should be noted, one of which seems like it goes with the territory while the other seems quite odd. The former is that the majority of micronationalists overlap several of the above categories. The latter is that, despite the fact that many women fall into the above categories, micronationalism is notoriously devoid of females; while there are some women involved in micronationalism, they tend to be heavily out-numbered (at the time of writing this, I only know of two women who are currently in the Micrasian sector).

Some suggest that women are simply not interested in micronationalism and others still hold to the ancient mantra that there are no women on the internet (a claim which knowyourmeme.com handily points out is complete bull). The Slobovish position on the matter is that both of those attempted explanations are impossibly sexist and that a more plausible explanation is that most micronationalists who are not founders of micronations are brought into the hobby upon recruitment by those who are. Since most micronationalists have the expectation that women would not enjoy the hobby, they would naturally not try as hard to recruit female friends as they would in recruiting male friends. Moreover, it can be imagined that the skepticism females in micronationalism often endure regarding the question of the veracity of their stated gender can be quite offensive.

Slobovia

Slobovia is a micronation that was originally founded by Tregh Tomsohnd and a small group of friends in 2000. Originally Slobovia existed as an offline group, but, by the autumn of 2001, Tomsohnd was the only person remaining who had interest in the project and he brought it into the forum-based world of the Micrasian Sector late in the summer of 2001, when Slobovia became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Babkha.

Slobovia's original theme from 2000 was based on the German Empire and this theme it returned to in April 2003. However the monarchy was abolished later in the year and Slobovia began to wander more towards having a unique theme not based so much on real world examples - it still retained it's Germanicness but ceased to be German themed. Instead of using German in certain ceremonial functions, Slobovia began to use its own language, Slobovish, in those situations. The Second Slobovish Republic even spawned its own unique political movement, Arwakungism, which was based on democratic socialism and a push for closer ties to other Germanic micronations on Micras.

In early 2004, the Arwakungists' Pan-Germanic agenda was fulfilled when Slobovia, Cranda and Northworthy joined together to form the Arminian Community. However, divisions soon resulted from the Crandish and Northworthian desire for a monarchy; most Slobovs were at the time opposed to monarchy and Slobovia left the community, which later became the United Kingdom of Arminy. The Slobovish Republic continued to exist for a number of months until the Gobbler Attacks resulted in Slobovia's old ezboard being taken over by a hostile party and thousands of posts deleted. After that, Slobovish republicanism waned for a while, but so did the nation itself, which descended into þie Wehzieðe ("the Time of Woe").

There was a brief interlude to þie Wehzieðe in 2005, when the Kingdom of Slobovia was founded on an invisionfree board. Eventually bad decisions folded the Kingdom, and Slobovia again entered þie Wehzieðe. In 2007 Slobovia was revived as a republic, and managed to eek out an existence from then until late 2008, when disaster stuck again and the invisionfree board's posts and user accounts all suddenly disappeared. At that point Slobovia descended back into dormancy, only to be revived in late 2010.

Slobovia has always been first and foremost a recreational micronation, which also had social, political and economic faces. A large part of the social and recreational faces center around simulating the trappings of a nation/state, but this simulation is less simulation in some important areas. In the culture and the general community, Slobovia is defined by its participants rather than by the simulation. The nation's motto is Þu Woltsch, Þu Kantsch (roughly translating as 'If you will it, You can do it', although it more literally translates to "Thou Willt, Thou Canst").

The one great simulated aspect that is absolutely important to Slobovish culture is the Slobovish Language. As a constructed language it is very much simulated, and as a ceremonial language it did not serve very much as a functional aspect. However, the Slobovish language is a defining factor in Slobovish culture, and a source of pride for many Slobovs.

Beyond the simulated aspects, there are some very real cultural elements, such as Slobovish cuisine, Slobovia's symbols, Slobovish poetry and lyrics, etc., which are more or less real because they are real manifestations of the mix of cultural influences brought to the table by the individual members of the community. Moreover, the community itself has usually tended to be very real; Slobovia was always the sum of all of its members.

How to Join

One of the first things that any person who is interested in joining Slobovia should do is register for a posting account on the forums. It may be wise to select a Slobovish name (or a Nardish name if you plan to be a resident of Posnon-Sabria or Vapnia-Nabreckia, or a Kunnish name if you plan on being a resident of the Kunnish areas of Bochburg or Eucia-Varinia) before doing so though, so that you don't have to worry about changing your username on the forums. The registration page for posting accounts on the forum can be found here.

If you didn't do so before registering, you should probably choose a name you wnat to use in Slobovia immediately after registering. This may require some knowledge of the area you wish to be associated with though. While there are no concrete regulations on what naming systems are permissible in what areas, Slobovish names in the Kunnish regions of Bochburg and Eucia-Varinia, as well as in the entirety of Vapnia-Nabreckia and the southern and western two-thirds of Posnon-Sabria are discouraged. Likewise, Kunnish names in the Slobovish areas of Eucia-Varinia and Bochburg and in the entirety of Chattia-Fosia, Cheruscia-Sicambria, Ovia, Posnon-Sabria and Vapnia-Nabreckia are discouraged and Nardish names in Bochburg, Chattia-Fosia, Cheruscia-Sicambria, Eucia-Varinia and Ovia are discouraged. The Slobovish language is a Germanic language, so Slobovish names will have a more Germanic touch to them; the Nardish language is a Slavic language, so Nardish names will have a more Slavic touch to them; the Kunnish language is a Turkic language, so Kunnish names will have a more Turkic touch to them.

When selecting a province to be a resident of, take care to pay attention to the thematics of the province. This is important so that some amount of consistency can be maintained with the themes, but also so that everyone ends up where they want to be. It may become necessary at a later date to select a more specific location, but the provincial level is good for now.

The next step after the web of registration, name province or visa versa, is figured out is to wander to the application form and fill it out. Keep in mind, however, that, since the form is integrated into the forum system, you will need to be logged into your posting account in order to use it. Don't worry about anything that it asks you, personal information will not be shared with anyone and it will be expunged as soon as its purpose has been fulfilled.

After that, you should start finding topics and posting on the forums, so as to activate yourself and introduce yourself to the community. This can begin immediately, as you do not need to be a citizen to post in the majority of the forums. This will also give you something to do within Slobovia until your application is either accepted or denied, which should take between an hour and a week. Once your application has been accepted, you can begin bringing yourself into the hobby side of Slobovia.