One of things that separates Shireroth from many other online micronations is its citizens' willingness to get together in real life, even if only for a couple of days a year, and meet one another in the flesh. Starting in 2003, Shireroth began organizing more-or-less annual conventions at its capital in Sonoma, California. Since then, people from all over the United States have attended, and the tradition of ShireCons (as they are sometimes called) has spread all the way across the Atlantic to the European-Shirerithian population.

In late May 2003, Kaiser Raynor X inaugurated the ShireCon tradition with ShireCon 2003. Eleven people attended, and while about half lived at Sonoma already and only had to walk a couple of feet to their neighbors' dorm, at the other extreme Duke Harvey of Goldshire showed up all the way from Michigan. The highlights included a brief visit by the Kaiser, a demonstration of the Shireroth NeverWinter Nights mod, a game of Vampire: The Masquerade, and the brief but intense relationship between the Duke and Duchess of Goldshire.

Despite a few smaller gatherings of Shirerithians, it was not until the next September that Kaiser Los II called ShireCon 2004. Again held at Sonoma, Shireroth managed to break its attendence record by a couple of people, with over half the citizen body showing up; no one from outside the state of California managed to make it, however. Highlights included an excursion to a Nightwish concert in San Francisco, the distribution of Shireroth t-shirts, the passing of the throne to Kaiser Raynor XI, and, of course, the first live session of the Landsraad.

Want to come to a Shireroth convention? If you're an American, you'll have to watch this space to see if another convention will come to Sonoma this year. If you're a European, the Duchy of Hyperborea is planning EuroCon 2005 in Dublin for Shireroth's fifth birthday on the weekend of April 24th; email scott@shireroth.org for more information. Shireroth conventions don't cost any extra money to attend beyond what it takes to get to and stay at the city where they take place.

Photos from ShireCon 2003

Photos from ShireCon 2004

Photos from other micronational meetups

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