My fellow Talossans --

For several years I have hoped and gone on hoping that I would be able to regain the engagement and spare time for my beloved country that I once was able to sustain, but I must sadly accept that my other responsibilities simply do not allow me to be the King that I have been in the past, that I would want to be, and that you deserve.  I had initially thought that my pastoral duties as a Deacon of the Holy Orthodox Church would diminish over the last couple of years, but instead they have redoubled as I have recently been moved to an even more active position.  Despite my best hopes, it is time for a change for the Kingdom.

When I first immigrated to Talossa, I found so much here that I loved -- an extraordinary and rich language, a vibrant community, and an intricate simulation.  I also found a domineering leader who was afraid to let Talossa outgrow him.  I will not become such a King.

We speak now to our Ziu, the legislature that speaks for the people.  We request that you set into law procedures by which we may choose a successor.  We readily accept that the Ziu and the nation will have a voice in these procedures, and our advisors inform us of good and necessary legislation.  We call for its swift passage.

We declare that it is our intention to abdicate our throne.  When we are satisfied that there will yet remain to our Kingdom a monarch to safeguard her honours and her majesties, we will lay down our Royal honours, and remain *very* happy to continue to enjoy the high honours we share with all of you -- the honours of a citizen of the Kingdom of Talossa.

-- John Regeu

I am more than happy to appoint Sir X. Pol Briga to the Electoral Commission.

-- John R

WE, JOHN by the Grace of God King of Talossa and of all its Realms and Regions, King of Cézembre, Sovereign Lord and Protector of Pengöpäts and the New Falklands, Defender of the Faith, Leader of the Armed Forces, Viceroy of Hoxha and Vicar of Atatürk, greet the Kingdom and her citizens and Cestours.  We are pleased and proud to act on the advice of Our Squirrel King of Arms, his pursuivants, and the other members of the College of Arms to affirm and announce publicly the Royal honours granted to four worthy citizens of Our Kingdom.

WHEREAS there have come before Us certain honourable and dutiful citizens of Talossa requesting Our favour, which loyal subjects have humbly petitioned that We, by virtue of the Royal power conferred only unto Us, might grant and confer unto them, and their lawful heirs, a coat of arms; and

WHEREAS We derive from Our Royal grace and favour both the commission and the power to confer achievements of arms as a gift from Us, and to issue in such matters a Royal proclamation with the Great Seal of the Kingdom; and

WHEREAS We are particularly inclined toward these citizens, whom We have always found ready in the service of Our Kingdom; now

THEREFORE, with the Royal powers cited above, upon ample consideration, good counsel, and proper knowledge, We have recognized the favours described herein and have conferred upon these citizens that they and their legitimate heirs should hereafter be bearers of the following coats of arms, and that they should therefore have these arms as right, as is Our privilege and custom, without leave or hindrance by anyone.

Quote from: King John on August 29, 2023, 04:48:30 PM

Appointment of the Seneschal

We JOHN by the Grace of God King of Talossa and of all its Realms and Regions, King of Cézembre, Sovereign Lord and Protector of Pengöpäts and the New Falklands, Defender of the Faith, Leader of the Armed Forces, Viceroy of Hoxha and Vicar of Atatürk, do hereby appoint our well-beloved Bråneu Excelsio to the office of Seneschal del Regipäts Talossan, with all appropriate congratulations and thanks for agreeing to serve Us and the nation in this exalted capacity.

Done under Our hand Royal at the last possible moment, at the city of Centennial in Colorado, this thirty-first day of October being the Vigil of All Saints, in the year of salvation 2023, of the independence of Talossa the forty-fourth, and of Our reign the eighteenth.

-- John Regeu

We, John Regeu, etc etc, do hereby

1)  Acknowledge the long service of Çesli da Chilseu as Our Cunstaval for Vuode, thank her for her time as Cunstaval, and relieve her of the office;

2)  Appoint S:reu Txec da Nordselva to the now-vacant Cunstavalsqab da Vuode, with thanks, and the assurance that he is unlikely to find his new duties particularly burdensome;

3)  Relinquish the Cunstavalsqab of Florencia, which We have for some time held in Our own right;

4)  Appoint (or actually reappoint) Dama Litz Cjantscheir as Our Constable for Florencia.

Given under Our hand Royal at the city of Centennial in Colorado this ninth day of October in the year of salvation 2023 being the Feast of Saint Denis and his Companions, Martyrs, of the independence of Talossa the forty-fourth, and of Our reign the seventeenth.

John Regeu

I vote PRESENT.

-- John R

I hereby accede to this unfortunately necessary request.

John Regeu

I've read some really good SF recently, most notably:

1.  Redshirts, by John Scalzi.  I knew this was going to be funny, given a couple of reviews I'd read.  I didn't realize how thought-provoking or how moving it would be.  Terrific book.

2.  A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine, who no reader will be surprised to discover is a scholar of late Byzantine diplomacy.  I've been recommending these to anyone who'll stand still for a minute.  Great stuff (although I have a few technical quibbles about the behaviour of ships in free fall, and the encoding of messages for radio transmission).

3.  The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi.  A huge complex book, set in Bangkok in the not-very-distant future.  Ecological disasters, technological collapse and recovery, racism, economics, the preservation of threatened cultures -- it's all here, with a large cast of interesting characters.

The cognoscenti will note that all these are winners of the Hugo Award.  Only three to go, and I'll have read all the Hugo winning novels (and with another six, all the Nebulas).

I'm currently reading the great Connie Willis's latest, The Road to Roswell.  It's a kind of madcap comedy, to which I prefer her more serious writing -- Doomsday Book, Lincoln's Dreams, Blackout and All Clear, Passage, that kind of thing.  But if you're a Willis fan, you'll find a lot to like in Roswell.

John R

We JOHN by the Grace of God King of Talossa and of all its Realms and Regions, King of Cézembre, Sovereign Lord and Protector of Pengöpäts and the New Falklands, Defender of the Faith, Leader of the Armed Forces, Viceroy of Hoxha and Vicar of Atatürk, having thought fit to dissolve this present fifty-eighth Cosa of the Kingdom of Talossa, do to that end publish this Our proclamation royal, hereby dissolving the said Cosa accordingly; and do discharge and excuse the Members of that Cosa from their meeting and attendance thereat from the conclusion of this August instant. And We being desirous and resolved for the better governance of these Our realms to have the advice of Our people in the Ziu assembled, do hereby make known to all Our loyal commons, knights, and nobles Our royal will and pleasure to call and assemble a new Cosa, and do hereby further declare that We have given order that Our Chancery and Secretary of State do forthwith issue out writs and ballots in due form, and according to law, for the election of a new fifty-ninth Cosa as well as Senators for Cézembre, Florencia, and Maricopa in their regular rotation.

Further, We desire at this time most heartily to thank and congratulate, on Our own behalf and that of the entire Talossan nation, the citizens who served in this now-dissolved fifty-eighth Cosa, especially thanking S:reu Breneir Tzaracomprada for his faithful service as Our Seneschal during this last Cosa, and all the other members of the Government who so generously give of their time and effort for the good of our nation. Further thanks are due to el Seneschal and to S:reux Ian Tamoran and Txoteu Davinescu, whose present distinguished terms of service in the Senäts will end with the upcoming election.

Given under Our hand Royal at the city of Centennial in Colorado this twenty-ninth day of August in the year of salvation 2023 being the Feast of the Decollation of Saint John the Baptist, of the independence of Talossa the forty-fourth, and of Our reign the seventeenth.

—  John Regeu

Would the Squirrel King and/or the Dean do me the favour of convening a Court of Chivalry with the purpose of revoking the privilege of Cauvesc Carlüs Xheraltescu to bear and display Arms in the Kingdom of Talossa? Let this be done at your earliest convenience, and let the Armorial reflect the action of the Court (without actually removing the graphic of the said Arms).

Thank you.

— John R (and Blanc Wolf Herald)

Heartfelt sympathy to my dear friend Manus Hand (Lord Hooligan) on the death of his younger sister Laura, from ALS, a few weeks shy of her 56th birthday.  God grant her Paradise, and consolation to those who love her.

-- John R

Regarding 58RZ1, the Dandelion Seedling Registration Act,

el Regeu en volt.

-- John R


Regarding 58RZ2, the BHAID Aid to Türkiye & Syria Act,

el Regeu en volt.

-- John R


Regarding 58RZ4, the Symbols of the Ziu Act, the King suggests that a Grant of Arms from the College of Arms might be a better way to handle these Heraldic thingies; nevertheless since folks wanted to do it this way and there's no strong reason not to,

el Regeu en volt.

-- John R

FWIW, I'd be glad to be the registered agent, for purposes of dealing with the United States, so long as I don't have to handle any of the money.  :-)

-- John R

Quote from: Breneir Tzaracomprada on March 10, 2023, 04:09:02 PM@King John Thank you for enjoying some of Kentucky's finest.
Have you tried 1792?
That is among my Bourbon favorites.

I haven't tried 1792,no.  I'll definitely look for it.

I think the entire nation owes a huge vote of thanks to those who have worked so diligently to put the recent technical glitches behind us.  Lüc, Dama Miestra, Sir Txec, Danihel, others I might have missed -- you guys totally rock.  (Note the old dude's feeble attempt to sound "with it".)

This kind of thing is horribly frustrating, but hey, that's why we have computers.  I spent an entire career *counting* on the fact that machines can mess things up hugely.  Ask Lord Hooligan about the script he wrote one day to recover lots of disk space by going from machine to machine all around the company, logging in with basic "God" permissions, and deleting useless files on each.  The script was spectacularly successful, in the admittedly limited sense that it DID recover LOTS of disk space.

Crises can seem huge at the moment when they're happening, but we can (usually) take comfort in the thought that in a few years we won't be able to recall for sure even what year this happened in.  And in 40 years, this whole thing will be nothing but an answer in a Talossan Trivia contest.  (With maybe a brief mention in a This Month In Talossa History broadcast.)

Anyway, a heartfelt THANK YOU to all those involved in the recovery efforts!

-- John R