.

The flag (that blue thing with the colored stripes) links to Shireroth's home page, which is (oddly enough) www.shireroth.org . Beneath that is a banner proclaiming a few current events (in this case, the Jaris War), and directly under that is a banner that links to something you should probably take a good look at. It's the Guide to Shireroth, designed specifically for people who have never visited a micronation before.

The Evil Tree God, Malarbor, isn't really all that evil, as he sits at the top of our forums and decrys interesting notices from our country and others. This includes birthdays of citizens, important dates in history, and interesting events seen around the micronational world.

Malarbor stands atop a small bar with five links in it: each link will take you to a different micronational news source, including our very own View From Benacia, a newpaper written for Shirithians.

General Discussion should be pretty self-explanatory: anything that pertains to the nation as a whole, but doesn't go into another category, goes here.

The next forum is the Shrine of Controversy, our friendly neighborhood off-topic forum, where people discuss real-life meetings, their latest musical acquisition, computer problems, webcomics...you name it, someone's probably talked about it. Of course, that also assumes that most topics stay on-topic here in Shireroth...and that just doesn't happen.

The next five forums are the core of the Shirithian government. The Kaiser's Court is where the Kaiser makes Imperial Decrees and where citizens seek the ear of the Kaiser. If something's going on in this forum, there's usually something pretty important going on.

The Landsraad Front Gate is where non-nobles (and as a new citizen, that means you) can voice their opinions about legislature currently being discussed in the Landsraad.

To clarify: the Landsraad is made up of the Dukes of the subdivisions of Shireroth (Brookshire, Kildare, and Yardistan) and their subordinate Barons. They, and no others, are allowed to vote on legislature.

"But where do I come in?" you say. That's what the Front Gate is for: in it, you can pester your Duke/Baron, and hopefully get them to see the light.

If they don't listen to you, you can always try what the Yardistani are really good at: rebellion. But we'll get to that later.

The Imperial Judex is where trials take place. Don't worry, we won't lynch you. In it's five year history, Shireroth has only had two trials, one of which got thrown out.

And finally, the Landsraad Passed Bills forum is where old bills (passed ones, of course) are kept. It contains almost every law that the Landsraad has ever agreed is for the good of the nation. No, you can't start a topic in there. No, you can't talk about anything in there. It's a library, and nothing more.

The next group of forums, Ministry Row, is where Ministries practice their jobs.

The Ministry of Information has gone through several incarnations, but it appears to have finally settled on something: it is responsible for the website and administrative powers on the ShireWiki.

The Ministry of the Interior is quite possibly the most powerful non-noble position in Shireroth. It is responsible for maintaining the forums, user information, and creation and destruction of forums.

The Ministry of the Exterior is Shireroth's link to the outside microworld. There are other micronations out there, like Antica, Babkha, Gotzborg, and Attera...and that's just the ones that speak english. They're always searching for ambassadors, so if you know of another micronation and wouldn't mind being ambassador between Shireroth and them, just ask.

The Ministry of Trade has tried and tried again to get an economy going within Shireroth. The problem is, when you have no product to sell, there is no base for the economy. If you've got an idea, take it up with the Minister of Trade, and they'll see if they can implement it.

The Ministry of Immigration, Naturalization, and Tourism should be your first stop, if you haven't visited there already. Make sure you fill out an application for citizenship, or you'll never be able to have nobility or a nifty job within Shireroth.

The Ministry of Research and Education is in charge of both Shireroth's university and in charge of content on the ShireWiki. It also seems to have an interesting connection with "SSHIT", but we'll cover that later.

Finally, the Ministry of Military Affairs is responsible for Shireroth's fictional military. Right now, it's involved in a "rec-war" (short for "Recreational Warfare") with the Grand Commonwealth and Antica. The military is constantly looking for soldiers. If you're interested, check it out.

The next group of forums, Shirekeep City Center, are offices of the Ministries above, groups not linked to the government, and large projects.

SSHIT, the Shireroth Standardized History Initiative Team (remember I said I'd talk about them later?) is responsible for the fictional history of Shireroth. There are some pretty fundamental aspects of the fictional history that are set in stone, but you can still grab a piece and go

. The Sir John Metzler III University is where education takes place. That is, classes are taught here, and they range from basic programming to poetry. If you know something, teach it to us.

The Big Brother Census Department runs a bi-monthly (bimestrual) census of all citizens. Missing two censi in a row removes your citizenship status, so make sure you stay on top of things.

The Tony Au Memorial Library is where important micronational historical documents are. Interested in the history of how things have gone in the past? Take a look inside.

The BO0O/\/\ist Temple is the religious center of Shireroth, preaching our very own home-grown Cedrism. No, we won't make you convert, and no, it's mostly not a real religion. But it's fun to write about the followers of Mors, the God of Death, or Horjin, the Tiger-God of Hunting.

The Multi-Temple is reserved for every other kind of worship, ranging from Soloralism (another micronational religion) to real-life Christianity. Give a sermon, write an essay on enlightenment, whatever.

Finally, the Lukedu Center for the Exploding Arts is our testing grounds. If you're trying to figure out how your signature looks before going primetime with it, this is the place to test. You can start a new thread, or just grab an old one; it doesn't matter in here. Blow it up!

The Military forums are centered around SNARL, the Shireroth-Natopia-Antica Recwar League.

Fort Foley is where Shirithian military strategy takes place. Ssh. Tell no one.

The SNARL forum is where the rules for SNARL are kept. If you're interested in fighting for Shireroth, read up.

The Jaris War is the current war being run within the SNARL rules. Dive in, we can always use more soldiers!

JASO (the Jasonian Aeronautics and Space Organization) is where military research is taking place. It used to be a storehouse of fictional weaponry, but now we're planning on taking it in a more realistic direction: rocketry, telemetry, and others.

The Subdivisions of Shireroth mark the bottom of new content.

Brookshire is mostly made up of Shireroth's "old guard", the people who have been here forever, and who tend to be more traditionalist than the other two subdivisions. It has two Baronies at this point: The Barony of Elwynn and the Barony of Naudia'Diva. Elwynn is very literature-oriented, while Naudia'Diva is home to the Hunters of the Stag, the followers of the Tiger-God of the Hunt.

Kildare is traditionally the home of Shireroth's military, but more recently it has become the haven of those who are more reform-oriented in Shireroth. It has one subdivision: the Barony of Hallucination, a place where psychosis is a way of life, and home to the Temple of Ryvenna, the Goddess of Kink.

Yardistan is Shireroth's weirdos. These guys will annex your hair, your sister, your cat, your bed, and six square inches of your back yard, all in the name of the Yardistani Annexation Corps. They're generally fun people, if a bit insane at times. But it's a good insane. They currently have one subdivision, the Barony of Amity and Mirioth (affectionately known as BAM), which is home to the newly-formed Children of Mors, the followers of the God of Death.

And on the bottom of the page are the Archives, where threads go when they die.

We keep everything, so delving into the archives will show you a great deal about Shireroth's history, both fictional and real.

I hope this helps you ease into Shireroth. Remember: have fun, and if no one's doing it already, there's no reason you can't.

-James Raine, Minister of Immigration, Naturalization and Tourism