The proposal is that the existing Standing Orders of the General Assembly be amended to read as follows, to bring them into line with the 2021 Constitution:

Quote1. Any citizen may propose a draft of a bill or of a resolution to the General Assembly, and leave it for discussion for as long as they want, revising it as often as they want. A Bill is a proposal for a new law, or for an amendment to an existing law; a Resolution is a simple statement of the views of the General Assembly with no legal effect, a ratification of an election or the confirmation of a nomination.

2. Once they like it, they submit the draft for official publication. An officially published draft of a bill or of a resolution shall be denoted by the word PROPOSAL: at the beginning of the subject line.
       
3.1 Once officially published, citizens have 7 days to officially publish an amendment to the bill. The Bill may go directly to a FINAL VOTE if all citizens indicate that they have no amendments for the bill in question. Any amendment shall be published in the same thread as the original bill, and be denoted by the word AMENDMENT: at the beginning of the subject line.
3.2  Seven days after publication of the draft, the Túischac'h calls for a vote on the amendments in a new thread denoted by the words AMENDMENTS VOTE: at the beginning of the subject line, and last for seven days. At the end of the seven days, if for each amendment more për than contrâ votes have been recorded, it shall be passed. Otherwise, the amendment shall not be passed.

4. Once all of the amendments have been settled and applied, the Túischac'h calls for a vote on the final version of the bill, which lasts for 7 days. A final call for a vote shall be published in a new thread denoted by the words FINAL VOTE:. at the beginning of the subject line. At the end of the seven days, if more për than contrâ votes have been recorded in the case of a regular Bill or Resolution, or at least twice as many per as contra votes in the case of an amendment to this Constitution, the bill or resolution shall be passed. Otherwise, the bill or resolution shall not be passed.

5.  In any voting phase, all the votes of the citizens shall be open and public. A citizen may change his or her vote at any time up until the final voting deadline.

6. Votes of Confidence, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 10.2 or Fiôvâ Const. § 10.3, shall proceed in the same way as resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and shall proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as a citizen officially submits a request, in a thread denoted by the word VOC: at the beginning of the subject line, to the General Assembly. Votes of confidence shall end as soon as all citizens have cast their vote or seven days have passed, whichever comes first. Votes of confidence may contain no provisions not directly related to confidence in the official in question.

7. Elections of the Túischac'h and Secretary of State, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 3.1 or Fiôvâ Const. § 9.1, shall proceed in the same way as ordinary resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as a citizen officially submit a candidature, in a thread denoted by the word CANDIDATURE: at the beginning of the subject line, to the General Assembly.

8. Confirmations of judicial nominations, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 8.1, shall proceed in the same way as ordinary resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as the Cunstavál's decree of nomination, in a thread denoted by the word NOMINATION: at the beginning of the subject line, it is published. Voting on Confirmations shall end as soon as all citizens have cast their vote or seven days have passed, whichever comes first.

9. Once a bill has been passed, the Túischac'h shall submit it to the Cunstavál for promulgation as law, in accordance with Fiôvâ Const. § 7.2. A resolution does not need to be presented to the Cunstavál.

10. Any citizen may propose a question for formal answer to the Praisidïeu or to any other Minister. Such a question shall be denoted by the word QUESTION: at the beginning of the subject line. If the member of the Government so addressed is a citizen, they shall reply personally within seven days; if not, then the Praisidïeu shall transmit a reply on their behalf.

11. The Túischac'h, or one of his deputies, is responsible for enforcing these Standing Orders, and for keeping a civil and appropriate tone of debate in the General Assembly.

12. All citizens shall address their statements in the General Assembly to the Túischac'h.

So where we were?

We were deliberating the following, to make it possible for Talossa to sanction citizens who commit infamous crimes outside the nation:

Quote7.2.10.  Bringing Talossa into disrepute. Any Talossan citizen who has been convicted by a credible foreign court, which has been deemed to abide by Talossan values, of a crime established at trial to have involved fraud, harassment, bribery, physical or sexual violence or threats thereof, has committed the crime of bringing Talossa into disrepute to the following degrees:
7.2.10.1.        A felony if sentenced to penal servitude of more than 2 years.
7.2.10.2.        A serious misdemeanour otherwise.

And we were also deliberating improving El Lex G.6 to establish a higher hurdle before criminal cases (just felonies? felonies and serious misdemeanours) can come to trial:

Quote6. Criminal Law: In the interest of providing the accused with the rights granted to them by the Ninth Covenant of Rights and Freedoms, the following rights shall be considered to be inalienable and shall be afforded to all citizens in civilian trials:

    6.1. The Ministry of Justice, on behalf of the Crown, shall submit a charging instrument to the Clerk of the Cort identifying, in plain language, the charge to be brought against the accuse, and the factual allegations to be proven to support said charges. Nothing in this section shall limit the Ministry of Justice from relying on unpleaded allegations provided such does not prejudice the accused.

    6.2. Upon receipt of the charging instrument, the Clerk of the Cort shall refer the matter to the appropriate tribunal of the Crown as defined by law.

    6.3. The tribunal of the Crown shall test the sufficiency by making a prima facie determination that if the factual allegations contained therein were proven true beyond a reasonable doubt, then the accused would be guilty of the crime as alleged. Jeopardy shall only attach if the tribunal of the Crown accepts the charging instrument as sufficient. If the tribunal is not satisfied of such, then it shall reject the charging instrument as insufficient on its face and jeopardy shall not have attached.

    6.4. The accused must be informed of the charges against him by the Crown within seven days of said charges being accepted by the Tribunal of the Crown.

    6.5. Such notification must be submitted to the accused in writing, by either an electronic medium such as email, a typed letter, or by a handwritten letter. A copy of every such notice shall be archived in the Royal Archives by the Royal Archivist immediately after he receives a copy of said notice. If the notice is given in the form of a hand-written letter, the Royal Archivist shall make a copy of the letter in an electronic format, such that it may be added to the Royal Archives.

    6.6. The Prosecution shall have up to 90 days from the time of notification of the accused in which to prepare its case. If a case is not prepared by the Prosecution within the allotted time, then the matter shall be dismissed, unless the Prosecution can show that such delay is through the fault of the accused.

    6.7. If a case is not prepared within the 90-day limit, then the Prosecution may request up to an additional 30 days to prepare its case, which shall be granted or denied by the tribunal assigned to the case. This section takes precedence over G.1.6.

    6.8. The decision shall be based on the legitimacy of reasons given by the Prosecution in the interests of justice, equity, and efficiency.

    6.9. If a matter is dismissed for failure to prosecute, then final jeopardy shall attach unless the Prosecution is able to provide new evidence against the accused with which to build a case. A new case must meet the same statute of limitations for any offence.

    6.7. The Prosecution may withdraw a charging instrument upon good cause shown to which jeopardy shall not attach.

Last I heard, AD suggested beefing up sections 6.3 and 6.4 above. Our aim: a means to punish Talossans for infamous crimes committed outside Talossa, with sufficient safeguards to prevent malicious prosecution (for this or other criminal offences).

Please proceed.

Quote from: King John on August 04, 2021, 10:04:28 AM
The Distain said it.  "Silly and paranoid."  If she had any *actual* doubts about my existence (instead of this silliness she's trying to foist off on wavering MCs), she would have sent me a text message

When the King "disappeared without leave" in the last Cosa term, Senator Válcadác'h got the King's phone number from me so GV could do just that - perform a "welfare check". By GV's report, the King was very annoyed at being contacted by anyone from Talossa. Now he's very annoyed that we're not checking up on him all the time.

The King is obviously checking up on Talossa and can become active when anything affects him personally. The question of to what extent he's "delegating" those royal functions in which he's not interested to the unelected and unaccountable "Baron" is an open one....

Quote from: King John on August 04, 2021, 10:04:28 AM
Sure, I've accepted some help preparing various posts.

... or perhaps not that open. When one person prepares a document for another person to sign, we may wonder who, exactly, is speaking to us.

This is what the current Talossan monarchy means - the whole nation hinges on what one grumpy gentleman feels like doing on any given day, or what his "trusted advisor" is given licence to do for him.

I am very grateful by the implied licence given for, not only the Government, but for the whole country to contact His Majesty directly as and when necessary or helpful. But so much of the animus between the Monarchy and the current political majority could be put aside if His Majesty could answer two questions:

• Why did you go "absent without warning" during the 55th Cosa?
• Why did you appoint as Regent the person you knew would infuriate the political majority the most?

I believe I know the answer to both those questions: "sheer spite at the political majority, a Royal-sized political tantrum"; and that is why I believe the King's time is at an end. I really doubt that, should I have rung the Woolley household in the last year or so and asked those questions, I would have gotten a courteous and satisfying answer.

Quote from: El Lexhatx H.1.1Following each General Election there shall be an official "State Opening of the Ziu". At the start of the State Opening, the new Seneschal shall be sworn to the office publicly. The Sovereign shall then deliver a speech outlining the Government's legislative agenda and program for the term. The contents of this speech shall be communicated to the Sovereign by the incoming Seneschal prior to the ceremony. The Seneschal may announce Cabinet Ministers during the ceremony. A rebuttal by the Leader of the Opposition shall follow, which may be followed by a further rebuttal by the leader of the third largest party. When practical, the State Opening may include an official Living Cosă (and 'Living Senats') in which food and drink shall be featured and as many Talossans as possible shall be invited to attend. The event shall be organized and conducted by the Speakers of both Houses of the Ziu, working in coordination and cooperation with each other.

I know that the new Seneschál has drafted up a Speech from the Throne and is sending it to the King, so we've got that part sorted out. What we need to organise from here is:

- a date/time/setup for a live video conference featuring the Seneschal, the King and the Leader of the Opposition;
- an Opposition Leader, lol.

As to the latter:

Quote from: El Lexhatx H.23. Members of the Cosâ who (in a given session of the Cosa) have voted NON on the most recent Vote of Confidence, or intend to do so on the next Vote of Confidence, shall be known as El Contrapharti Fieir da Sieu Maxhestà, or "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition" in English, or in short "El Contrapharti / The Opposition". Unless and until the members of the Opposition decide otherwise by majority vote, the "Leader of the Opposition" shall be the leader of the party with the most Cosa seats assigned to MCs who voted NON on the last Vote of Confidence.

... but the problem is we haven't had a VoC yet; unless you count the Seneschál election. The party tallies for votes against the current Seneschál on the VoC were:

NPW 11
Tafial 5
KLüP 11
DIEN 14
Balançéu 17

So, if we take that as the equivalent of a VoC, then X. Pôl Briga is the Leader of the Opposition and gets to do a rebuttal at the Speech from the Throne? And M. Tresplet is the "third party" leader who can also make a speech if desired? Do we need to modify the law on the Leader of the Opposition to cover this case in future?

Quote from: Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial on July 25, 2021, 05:40:39 AM
I hate misspelled names. I hate them so much that I wrote a blog post about it, albeit in Talossan... anyway, the rampant misspellings that float around on here are the bane of my existence, especially considering that the correct spellings are not recorded in one place. The Database, the Wiki, Talossa.Net and of course Witt all have different flavours of misspelled names, making it impossible for laypeople to figure out which one is actually correct!

In that case, it sounds like we need a programme to make sure the correct spellings are used on the Database, the Wiki and talossa.net. This sounds like something the Ladintsch Naziunal, @the Secretary of State and @the Minister of STUFF should be getting their heads together on, ASAP.

The Coalition Agreement states: "Any further fundamental Organic Law reforms, including the question of a unicameral Ziu or a "Real Cosa", will be referred to a Standing Committee of the Ziu representing all elected parties."

This is that Committee, and I hope to see all 8 (!) parties represented in the Ziu commenting here. The goal of this Committee is that we don't want to run the Ziu aground on struggles over future OrgLaw reforms, so let's try to come to a consensus on fixes before writing up a bill and Clarking it.

Without further ado, here are some suggestions I want to raise:

• That old chestnut, the Real Cosa. Organic Law IV.1 to be changed to: "The Cosa is the national legislative assembly, and is composed of seats apportioned among political parties based on their performance in the General Election. The number of these seats shall be set by law, except that it shall be no fewer than twice the number of Senators, minus one. It may administer itself as it sees fit."
• Write the Túischac'h into the OrgLaw. The Mençéi is an Organic post, why not the President of the Cosa?
• Possible further fixes to the Seneschál election. My top two questions: do we want to make it possible to abstain? Do we want to continue to require MCs to name two preferences?

The floor is now open for further vague suggestions.

It is proper to let the people of Talossa know what will be happening with 55RZ21, the Talossa Shall Choose Its King Act (aka the Historic Compromise), adopted by the requisite margin in the last Cosa but vetoed, ¡qët 'n supriça!, by the King who doesn't want to get unchosen.

The recent election of the Cosa gave 120 seats to parties committed to supporting the bill - not the 2/3 majority required. Therefore, for the bill to have any chance in the new Cosa, some kind of "Compromise on the Compromise" was necessary.

First of all, the Free Democrats exercised their mandate to form a Government. This was a different task than pushing forward the Constitutional issue (for example, MC M. Tresplet pledged his support and help with a FreeDems government while being 100% opposed to changes to the monarchy). Our first choice of partners was the League of Centre Conservatives (LCC), who - while having differences with us on precisely what kind of monarchy reform is necessary - were clearly the most enthusiastic of the other parties for the hard work of government, and with whom we had a pretty good relationship on a personal level.

We were also approached, without solicitation, by the leader of the Talossan National Congress (TNC), volunteering his services as part of a new Government. We accepted this happily, although it was not necessary for a Cosa majority, because a broader-based government would be more stable and have more resources.

The new three-party Government then discussed where to move on monarchy reform (for which we would still require at least the other two pro-55RZ21 parties to consent, i.e. the Peculiarists and the Tafialistàes).  The preferred option was to find some kind of fresh bill which could get the necessary 3/4 margin to start from scratch but still override the royal veto.

To this end, the LCC (chief proponents of the Compromise on the Compromise) engaged in talks with the "King Lüc Party". Certainly, the pro-compromise parties could have totally gotten behind King Lüc I. But the course of these discussions revealed that - a) the KLüP was not prepared to actually put their flagship policy into action at this time; (b) after a week or two of delays, we found out that no-one had actually asked Lüc da Schir, who actually does not want to be King of Talossa. So that went nowhere, and the KLüP's voters might wonder what they actually voted for.

The next step would have been to create some kind of sequencing. The plan was that the LCC would support 55RZ21 now, long enough to elect a new King, and then the Ziu would enact the LCC's preferred compromise - of a mechanism of triggering Votes of Confidence in the monarch, rather than regular 7-year renewals of the mandate. In theory, this got support from the other pro-Compromise parties. But the TNC leader insisted in Cabinet that he couldn't agree to this without seeing details of the "revised compromise" bill in advance. The LCC pointed to their current proposal in the Hopper (which the FreeDems don't support in its current form, but is at least a basis for beginning discussions). The TNC did not reply to this.

The next thing we learned was that the holder of the TNC's Cosa seats had broken Point 1 of the coalition agreement by not voting for Txoteu Davinescù to become Seneschál. Our Seneschál-candidate sent a message to the TNC leader about this, saying in part: "I need to hear from you directly by noon TST tomorrow or I will be forced to remove your party from the coalition". The TNC leader's response to this was to... quit the coalition, on the justification that the Seneschál-candidate had "threatened" him - and to not respond to any further communications from either FreeDems or LCC leaders after that.

While cxhn. Davinescu could certainly have phrased his please-explain letter in a less confrontational way, bear in mind that he is brand new to the highest echelons of Talossan politics and is still learning the proper modes of communication. Senator Itravilatx could be certainly excused for taking offence, but cxhn. Davinescù has subsequently apologised, both privately and publicly, for his hard tone - to no avail. You could see this as a huge overreaction from the TNC leader; or, alternatively, as an escape hatch from a situation of government which was harder than he had anticipated.

Senator Itravilatx's  withdrawal has not only required a last-minute Cabinet reshuffle, but ended the negotiations that were underway to get 55RZ21 through (and the King replaced) in return for a "reform of the reform" later. As to the first, the Government, now comprised of two parties, welcomes Francal I. Lux MC on board to take up the Cabinet posts abandoned by the TNC.

Meanwhile, if the TNC no longer wnt to talk, there is no point in further negotiations on "cunning plans" to get monarchy reform through. Our last, best hope is now that the LCC will at least abstain on this bill, if they cannot in good conscience support it - and that the TNC will stick to their pre-election pledge to support it.

The Free Democrats will thus go straight to reintroducing 55RZ21 on the First Clark. In the event that it fails to get the 2/3 of the Cosa necessary, we will revert to our manifesto position - "to enact the result of the Ranked Choice referendum, i.e. an elected Head of State", through some yet-to-be determined means, at a time when the electoral calculus is better.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Praisidïeu of Fiova have elected @C. Carlüs Xheraltescù as Capitán (chair of the Praisidïeu, ceremonial leader of Fiova). ¡Qe la moart vient ischpiramint à sieux enemící!

Things that are already crimes under indigenous Talossan portions of El Lex A:

• "knowingly accept or hold citizenship in a blacklisted micronation" (A.9.3); "anyone holding an office mentioned in A.9.5. to provide false information about his/her micronational involvement." (A.9.7); "or the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Minister of Interior to seek, accept, or hold citizenship in a micronation (A.9.8)
• "makes any fraudulent or dishonest claims or statements on his or her application for citizenship"; (A.16.1); "uses another person's identity or uses an identity that creates the impression of another person to post or convey messages via email or on any public forum in the Kingdom of Talossa." (A.16.2); "creates, for purposes of claiming citizenship or with the intent to deceive or mislead other Talossans, more than one identity for use in the Kingdom of Talossa, excepting name-changes that replace an earlier name previously held by the same person." (A.16.3)
• running a bogus "official Talossan" website, which is sedition or treason!!! (A.20)
• unauthorised use of "any official seal" (A.22)

In addition, certain things which are criminalised in Wisconsin are given increased penalties in Talossa, namely: "unlawful use of computerized communication systems"; "harassment"; "attempted computer crimes". But wow, that is a very small list.

What strikes me is that A.16,20,22 all seem to come under the headings of "perjury or counterfeiting", which are some of the things which I was assured we needed Wisconsin law to deal with. Harassment (at least the definition thereof) and bribery would of course need local definitions. A small list of additional offenses that need defining were suggested by a Talossan off-Witt:

Quote"treason, embezzlement, perverting the course of justice, identity theft, theft of property belonging to the state, computer hacking with intent"

To some degree these are covered above (ID theft and computer hacking), but that's somewhere to start. Perhaps in some places, if all these are in the Wisconsin code right now, we can "copy and paste" the definitions if they're simple enough.

Just freshening the old document up to align it with the new Constitution.

Quote1. Any citizen may propose a draft of a bill or of a resolution to the General Assembly, and leave it for discussion for as long as they want, revising it as often as they want. A Bill is a proposal for a new law, or for an amendment to an existing law; a Resolution is a simple statement of the views of the General Assembly with no legal effect, a ratification of an election or the confirmation of a nomination.

2. Once they like it, they submit the draft for official publication. An officially published draft of a bill or of a resolution shall be denoted by the word PROPOSAL: at the beginning of the subject line.
       
3.1 Once officially published, citizens have 7 days to officially publish an amendment to the bill. The Bill may go directly to a FINAL VOTE if all citizens indicate that they have no amendments for the bill in question. Any amendment shall be published in the same thread as the original bill, and be denoted by the word AMENDMENT: at the beginning of the subject line.
3.2  Seven days after publication of the draft, the Túischac'h calls for a vote on the amendments in a new thread denoted by the words AMENDMENTS VOTE: at the beginning of the subject line, and last for seven days. At the end of the seven days, if for each amendment more për than contrâ votes have been recorded, it shall be passed. Otherwise, the amendment shall not be passed.

4. Once all of the amendments have been settled and applied, the Túischac'h calls for a vote on the final version of the bill, which lasts for 7 days. A final call for a vote shall be published in a new thread denoted by the words FINAL VOTE:. at the beginning of the subject line. At the end of the seven days, if more për than contrâ votes have been recorded in the case of a regular Bill or Resolution, or at least twice as many per as contra votes in the case of an amendment to this Constitution, the bill or resolution shall be passed. Otherwise, the bill or resolution shall not be passed.

5.  In any voting phase, all the votes of the citizens shall be open and public. A citizen may change his or her vote at any time up until the final voting deadline.

6. Votes of Confidence, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 10.2 or Fiôvâ Const. § 10.3, shall proceed in the same way as resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and shall proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as a citizen officially submits a request, in a thread denoted by the word VOC: at the beginning of the subject line, to the General Assembly. Votes of confidence shall end as soon as all citizens have cast their vote or seven days have passed, whichever comes first. Votes of confidence may contain no provisions not directly related to confidence in the official in question.

7. Elections of the Túischac'h and Secretary of State, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 3.1 or Fiôvâ Const. § 9.1, shall proceed in the same way as ordinary resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as a citizen officially submit a candidature, in a thread denoted by the word CANDIDATURE: at the beginning of the subject line, to the General Assembly.

8. Confirmations of judicial nominations, as provided in Fiôvâ Const. § 8.1, shall proceed in the same way as ordinary resolutions, except that there shall be no amendment phase, and proceed directly to a final vote (as in section 4 above) as soon as the Cunstavál's decree of nomination, in a thread denoted by the word NOMINATION: at the beginning of the subject line, it is published. Voting on Confirmations shall end as soon as all citizens have cast their vote or seven days have passed, whichever comes first.

9. Once a bill has been passed, the Túischac'h shall submit it to the Cunstavál for promulgation as law, in accordance with Fiôvâ Const. § 7.2. A resolution does not need to be presented to the Cunstavál.

10. Any citizen may propose a question for formal answer to the Praisidïeu or to any other Minister. Such a question shall be denoted by the word QUESTION: at the beginning of the subject line. If the member of the Government so addressed is a citizen, they shall reply personally within seven days; if not, then the Praisidïeu shall transmit a reply on their behalf.

11. The Túischac'h, or one of his deputies, is responsible for enforcing these Standing Orders, and for keeping a civil and appropriate tone of debate in the General Assembly.

12. All citizens shall address their statements in the General Assembly to the Túischac'h.

Hello,

I recently wrote a fairy tale and I am wondering: would you be interested in translating it to Talossan and publishing it? I attach its English text to this letter.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Best wishes,
Evgeny Khvalkov

===

Alrond and the magic fox

Have you heard the story of Alrond and the magic fox? I can tell it you.
After all, magic foxes still live in some places in the world to this day. It is almost impossible to catch them because they are very strong in magic. And sometimes, when such a fox runs through the forest and touches the branches and bushes with his tail, sparks fly from the tail to the sky and fall back to the ground; people call these sparks shooting stars. However, sometimes magic foxes appear among the people. This is what our story will be about.
Once upon a time, an old knight lived at Cape Bertoari, and he had three sons. When the old man died, the eldest son inherited the castle and all the land, according to custom, the middle son inherited the parish in the village and the post of a priest, and the youngest, Alrond, only got his father's sword and an old horse. The elder brother gave Alrond a loaf of bread and a ham for the journey and told him to go away to seek his fortune somewhere else.
Alrond got ready for the trip and thought about going to Adtiarn to the court of King Taravon. He, people say, pays the brave and clever nobles handsomely. And Alrond went to the city of Adtiarn.
Some time passed, Alrond grew tired and hungry and sat down to eat at the edge of the forest. Lo and behold, a fox's face poked out from behind a bush of viburnum. The fox looks at Alrond, and Alrond looks at the fox. And the fox said to him:
"Good afternoon, young man! Nice ham you've got there. Would you share a piece?"
And though Alrond had no other food left but that bread and ham, he was a good fellow, so he gave the fox a piece of ham and told him how his brothers had treated him and that he was going to Adtiarn to the court of King Taravon.
- Look, - said the fox, - maybe I should go with you to try my luck too? You are a good fellow, I see, but you are very simple-minded, and I am well versed in all sorts of tricks, and perhaps I can also serve you. And when we get to Adtiarn, you'll join King Taravon's guard, and I'll be an interpreter for Chancellor Berengar. I know all sorts of languages: Garegin, Adelnian, and even the language of the Igerulds.
"Well," said Alrond, "it's more fun on the way together. Come with me!"
And they went to the city of Adtiarn. Then they came, and King Taravon took our Alrond as his personal guard, for the captain of the guards was an old friend of the young man's late father, and Alrond took after his father in face, courage, and intelligence. And the fox settled down at the chancery and surprised everyone with his knowledge of languages: the scribes, the councilors, the chancellor, and the king himself were surprised and amazed by the fox's wisdom.
The king had a marriageable daughter. As soon as she saw Alrond, she fell madly in love with him; the young man was also not indifferent to the princess. But it was a custom in the kingdom that not only could the princess choose the man to whom her heart lay at her discretion, but even the father-king himself could not, as is the case in almost all kingdoms, woo the daughter according to his own opinion. There had to be a great contest, and whoever came out victorious in it must also receive the princess's hand. And since the princess was a marriageable lady, and the only daughter of King Taravon, and the king himself was already in his old age, the chancellor and the councilors began to bother him so that he would soon arrange a contest and marry the princess.
"We want," they say, "to have a suitable successor to you – a glorious, valiant, intelligent, and in every way worthy prince or a knight; we do not need any other kind of king!"
The king had to give in and arrange a contest. Alrond came back home from the service sad, and the fox asks him:
- Why are you so sad, my friend? Why are you hanging your nose?
- How but to hang my nose! – answers Alrond. The king has declared a contest, and whoever wins it will receive the princess's hand, and my beloved will go to the foreign prince or knight.
- Why don't you take part in the competition? - said the fox. Although your father was a poor knight, and you are even poorer, but your family is noble and your pedigree is not inferior to the kings. Moreover, you are a man of strength and ingenuity!
- True, said Alrond, - but I feel that the tests there will not be the usual ones: not to fight with spears, shoot with a bow and fight with a sword.
- But you have me! I'll help you through the royal trials," said the fox.
Alrond thought about it and agreed. And the fox waved his tail, and golden sparks fell on the young man – and although Alrond had been handsome before and such a daredevil as there were few, now he shone with a magical light, and he had the strength of thirty strong men.
When the time came for the contest, kings, princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights from all over the West Coast, and some even from the islands of the Archipelago, came to Adtiarn. The first three days were spent in tournaments, hunting, and feasting, and Alrond was ahead of the others in all things: in spear-fighting, sword-fighting, archery, cross-bow-shooting, and dancing, and he was behaving so courteously – as a true suitor for a princess! But the royal trials were more difficult than the court dances.
It was time for the first test. And the king said:
"The Duke Larhelm of Moremont gave me last year some wonderful seeds that produce a harvest of five hundred, and bread made from that wheat has such wonderful properties that one small piece is enough to feed an adult man. My peasants sowed this miracle grain in the fields, and indeed, the harvest was unprecedented. However, there is a misfortune: someone comes at night and eats wheat. And when I send the guards to catch an unknown thief, they all fall asleep. Which of you, glorious knights, will protect my fields with wonderful wheat, and at the same time, catch the mysterious robber and bring him to me?
All the kings, princes, dukes, earls, barons, and knights were perplexed, and so was Alrond. He came home and told the fox about the royal mission. And the fox said:
"I know who steals the wheat – it's the proboscis monster. Listen to me, get a good night's sleep, and let's go watch the thief at night. Just don't forget to plug your ears".
So they did. And when at night all the kings, princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights went out to guard the field, the proboscis monster came up to it and sounded in his trunk – then everybody fell asleep. Alrond covered his ears, as the fox had told him, and did not fall asleep. As soon as the thief began to graze on the royal fields, Alrond and the fox began catching the proboscis monster. For a long time, they could not cope with it until the fox jumped on the monster and threw a rope on it.
In the morning, Alrond brought the proboscis monster to the king. The king was surprised and praised and thanked Alrond. The foreign kings, princes, dukes, counts, barons and knights, became envious: they slept all night while Alrond and the fox caught the monster! And they plotted against Alrond, but they did not show it.
It was time for the second test. And the king said:
"Last year King Aethelstan of Damyria gave me a flock of golden-fleeced sheep. Now it's time to cut them. Their wool is pure gold, but I must say that these sheep are very skittish, and so far no one has managed to shear them. Which of you, glorious knights, can shear the sheep and gather the golden wool and bring it to me?
All the kings, princes, dukes, earls, barons, and knights were perplexed, and so was Alrond. He came home and told the fox about the royal mission. And the fox said:
"That is not difficult, my friend Alrond. Listen to me, get a good night's sleep, and tomorrow we'll go and cut the golden-fleeced sheep.
In the morning, the pretenders to the princess's hand began to catch golden-fleeced sheep, but the sheep were very quick and skittish, and no one managed to shear a piece of golden wool from them. It was Alrond's turn at last. Then the fox, his faithful friend, sat down on a hillock where the sheep were grazing, took out his flute, and began to play. Oh, if you could only imagine what kind of music it was! All the sheep had gathered around the fox and listened to the magic music as if they were enchanted, and now it was easy for Alrond to shear them.
And not only were the sheep enchanted! The clear sound of that music enchanted the king, the courtiers, the retinue, and everybody who were there; they all fell silent and listened as if in a daze. Wild forest animals came out of their holes and dens to listen to the wonderful music of the fox. The lion, the king of all beasts, dared not growl lest he should interrupt the wondrous music, the wolf forgot his howl, and the aurochs forgot his roar. Even old Greta, who lives at the Break-in-the-Moat and is famous for the worst character (she can't be with the others for a minute without scolding), so even old Greta herself came out and listened to the music. The melody that the fox produced from his flute turned everything into a temple of music.
The King was thrilled that Alrond had completed the second task and doubly thrilled that he had heard such magical music. He sincerely thanked Alrond and the fox, and the foreign kings, princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights almost burst with envy and anger. And one of them, King Gerneb of Lothirod, said:
"If this knight passes the third test, he will have the princess, and we will leave unrewarded and even disgraced, and some poor soldier will be higher than us, crowned heads! We'll ambush him tomorrow morning before the third trial and kill him, and thus we won't have to suffer dishonor".
They all decided to do so. But they did not know that the fox was standing behind the curtain at that time and heard everything. He came home and told Alrond about the insidious plans of the foreigners.
"What should I do then?" - said the young man.
"Trust me," the fox replied, "but just remember that we have both to defeat our enemies tomorrow and to pass the last test!"
It was time for the third and final test. And the king said:
"I want my future son-in-law to treat me to a sumptuous dinner in his own castle, and this reception has to be royal! I will not give up my daughter for a beggar".
Foreign kings, princes, dukes, counts, barons, and knights were alarmed. Of course, they had magnificent palaces and castles in their region – but you can't take a king there in one day, nor can you bring these palaces and castles to Adtiarn, no matter how hard you work! However, the four richest kings hired a hundred masons each and ordered them to build castles near the capital at once – but you can't build a castle in a day! Alrond looked sad, too, but the fox nudged him and said:
"I'll go and get you a castle for the king's party, and when you go hunting now, keep away from the foreigners!"
And the fox ran in the direction of Cromorgan Castle. And I must say that this castle was owned by a terrible troll, evil-despicable, cruel-former. Many travellers who passed by Cromorgan Castle ended up in the teeth of that ugly ogre. But the troll ate humans and not foxes, so our dodger had nothing to fear; besides, the troll was not at home at that time – he had gone out to hunt. First of all, the fox decided to get rid of the troll's servants who guarded the castle; those were gnoll Graw, goblin Grow and gremlin Grahaham. He ran to the gate and shouted:
- Alarm! Escape! Here comes the king with his army and brings with him a hundred wizards: they will incinerate you all with lightning!
The troll's servants were alarmed. What should they do? And the fox told them:
- Hide quickly; maybe the king and his army and wizards will not notice you!
The troll's servants were cowardly, so they left their guard posts without a moment's delay. The gnoll Graw hid in a beer jar, the goblin Grow hid in a wine barrel, and the gremlin Grahaham hid in a calvados barrel (the troll was very fond of calvados). Then our fox closed them all, rolled them out on the fortress wall and threw them into the moat – let them swim there!
Meanwhile, the evil troll, the master of the house, returned and was quite surprised that his servants had disappeared and that a strange fox had appeared out of nowhere in his own castle. But our fox was an extremely courteous gentleman, so he had no difficulty in charming the troll. Knowing that the troll is very fond of flattery, the fox began to describe in every possible way the merits of the troll and the fame that goes about him in all the surrounding kingdoms.
And I must say that this troll had two heads, and they often quarreled with each other. And here's what the fox came up with – he repeatedly gave more and more colorful compliments to one or the other head, until finally, they quarreled so much that they locked in a deadly battle. Then the fox crept softly to where the troll had his sharp, curved sabers, like those which camelmen use in the desert for a fight, and with a deft blow cut off both of the evil troll's quarrelsome heads. And since then, no one has ever captured or killed travelers in those parts!
Meanwhile, King Taravon hunted with his courtiers, retinue, and foreign kings, princes, dukes, earls, barons, and knights, who, as you will remember, plotted to kill Alrond. In pursuit of the deer, Alrond broke away from the entire retinue and was left alone, and then the foreigners began chasing him. Their swords were drawn, their crossbows loaded, and that would have been the end of the young man if he hadn't had his fox!
And the fox, after taking possession of the magnificent castle of the villain-troll and order to prepare a real royal treat there, hurried to the forest where the hunt was going on. At that time, there was a very old, dilapidated bridge in this forest. So, when the enemies were persecuting Alrond and were shooting at him with crossbows, the fox (and he was a magic fox after!) briefly transformed his friend into a fox shape and hid him in a hole, and the fox himself turned into a young man, just like Alrond, you wouldn't even discern between them! The foreign kings, princes, dukes, earls, barons, and knights rushed after him, and the fox in the guise of Alrond leapt from his horse and ran across the old bridge to the other side. The foreigners, thinking that their victim was in their hands, rushed after him to the dilapidated bridge, and the bridge collapsed, so they all perished.
Meanwhile, the king was hungry and was waiting for dinner. The fox restored Alrond to his human form and himself to his fox form, and they returned to the king.
"Your Majesty," the fox said courteously, "Sir Alrond has the honor to invite you to dine at his castle.
The king was surprised. "How come, Alrond? Your father's castle is ten days' ride from here, and it belongs to your elder brother by right of the entail."
"I assure you, Your Majesty," the fox hastened to say, "that Sir Alrond has a castle, and a most magnificent one".
And the fox led Alrond, the king, and the entire king's retinue to the castle of Cromorgan, which had once belonged to the evil troll, and now it belonged to the fox's friend, the knight Alrond. When they reached the castle, the king was overjoyed, for Cromorgan Castle was as good as a royal palace, and the reception that the fox and Alrond provided for the king and his retinue there was truly royal. The king was quite charmed, and at the same dinner, announced the betrothal of Alrond and the Princess, and appointed Alrond as heir to the throne.
What about the magic fox? And the fox, when the wedding was over, took his leave and ran off into the forest; after all, he was still a wild animal, although later he sometimes came to visit his friend.
That's it, my friends! Alrond did not spare the last thing he had for the fox, and in the end, he became king.

Pursuant to the Constitution of Fiova 3.1 and Standing Orders 7, I officially nominate @GV as Provincial Túischac'h (Chair of the General Assembly, in charge of carrying out the Standing Orders).

All citizens have 7 days to vote PER, CONTRA or AUSTANÉU on this.

I am sad to announce that @Adam Grigoriu has expressed his wish to resign as Interior Minister, having found that his heart really isn't in politics. I am happy to announce that cxhn. Grigoriu has expressed the wish to resume his former role as Permanent Secretary for Immigration.

To whit, under El Lexhátx C.1.1, as Seneschál and acting Minister of the Interior, I recommend to the King that @Adam Grigoriu be appointed to the role of Permanent Secretary for Immigration, with a job description as follows:

QuoteProcessing requests for immigration to Talossa, which includes:

    Sending form emails to immigrants
    Posting applications and approving new Wittenberg accounts
    Terminating applications and disabling accounts
    Updating the database of immigrants and new citizens
    Other duties as directed by the Minister of the Interior

See raw votes here, under "Summary of Provincial Votes" / Fiova

Total votes: 11
Quota for a seat on the Praisidïeu: 2.76

First Preference votes:

Miestra Schiva 5
Gödafrïeu Valcádac'h 5
C. Carlüs Xheraltescù 1

Schiva and Valcádac'h are elected.

Count for the last seat progresses.

HA HA HA HA lolwut?

The FreeDems did better than I expected but not as well as I hoped. I am surprised that Balançéu didn't do better with their vigorous campaign, and that the TNC and Dien did so well. I would like to congratulate the LCC on sticking to their principles even though taking an electoral beating for it; and commiserate with Marcel T on getting an extra vote and his whole shtick being ruined. Glüc and Eric also certainly existed :D (just joking guys, I love you, well done)

The four parties who supported the Historic Compromise as contained in 55RZ21 got 120 seats, short of the 2/3 majority to push it through. However, as mentioned before the election, discussions have been going on with the monarchist parties and I think there is still a good chance that Talossa will choose its king, this term - in one way or another.

As for the Senäts, the result in Cézembre is unexpected but gratifying: the result in Florencia is hilarious, but I believe since one of the candidates is also Florencia's premier, he gets to break the tie in favour of himself :D

Free Democrats have a mandate to take the lead on forming a new Government, and making Txoteu Davinescù the new Seneschál; but there needs to be a lot of discussion before we finalise who will be in that government. I don't get a final say in anything, but I'd really prefer a Cabinet of People Who Will Actually Do The Work this time - which might include people from all across the political spectrum. We shall all see.

The Free Democrats of Talossa would like to dispel some misconceptions that have arisen as to our attitude to the Historic Compromise between monarchy and republicanism in general, and our attitude to the current honours system in particular.

There were two aspects of the recent investiture ceremony presided over by King John, back from "absence without leave", which were not just offensive to the Free Democrats, but seemed designed to provoke, annoy and infuriate us, our partners in Government the New Peculiar Way, and the political majority in general.

The first was the granting of a hereditary peerage to the outgoing Regent.

If there were a competition for "Most Divisive Person in Talossa", now-Baron Alexandreu Davinescu would certainly come in one of the top 2 positions. He is extremely strongly identified with support, some would say sycophancy, towards the Monarchy, and an extremely combative and personally pugnacious attitude towards the Free Democrats and other pro-reform parties. The Baron's insistence on defending not the monarchy but the current occupant of the throne - who has by his actions become the best advertisement for Talossa not to have a life-term monarchy - further cheapens this defense. One Free Democrat (not currently in our party's leadership) describes his record as "sowing divisiveness, spreading doubt, fear mongering , and baiting political opponents".

None of this is to say that his performance as Regent was anything less than competent – indeed, it was a real and welcome improvement upon the King's recent performance. But the award of a Barony glosses over the question of why the job needed to be done at all. The King was giving one of the highest awards in the land to one of his closest political supporters for cleaning up a mess that he, the King, created himself, for absolutely no reason at all that he dares explain to his Kingdom.

Merely serving as a placeholder is not enough, we believe, to deserve elevation to the nobility. Even worse, this "cozy" arrangement between King and King's most loyal follower bears the nasty smell of a "quid pro quo". There is no way of knowing whether an actual bargain was made – service as Regent, and therefore complicity in the King "going AWOL", in exchange for a peerage – which would be a scandal, if true. The mere suspicion cheapens the entire system.

Given all that, this peerage was interpreted as a direct "middle-finger" gesture to our party and our allies. It is to be noticed that the bestowal of a Knighthood upon this same person at the time of Reunision did not attract much opposition, precisely because it was balanced by the same award granted to the other candidate for "Most Divisive Person in Talossa". If the King had deigned to talk his business with us, we might have suggested ways to reward the Regent's service that took account of our sensibilities.

The second, the question of the well-deserved knighthood granted to Sir Gödafrïeu Valcádac'h, is a more nuanced issue.

The Government originally gave the King a recommendation for Sir Gödafrïeu to receive the Order of the Flag (UrB). Under El Lexhatx F.40, the UrB is a National Honour "granted on the advice of the Government" as opposed to the senior Dynastic Honour, the Për la Naziun (UrN), which is wholly in the gift of the King. We had no power to recommend GV for the UrN.

The Government – including the authors of this law – assumed that "granted on the advice of the Government" meant that the King had no discretion, that the King would do what the Government said. This is clearly not how His Majesty interpreted the law. Even worse, based on comments from the Regent, it appears that there has been a deliberate decision by the King not to give any new awards of the Order of the Flag; and therefore, that no recommendations from the Government for this award will be followed.

It was the opinion of some in the Government that the King had broken the law by awarding Sir Gödafrïeu the UrN rather than the UrB, and the possibility of a Cort case was discussed. However, this was rejected, as the last thing we wanted to do was to spoil Sir Gödafrïeu's "special day" or sully his well-deserved award, whatever the initials.

We decided instead to approach the whole subject "obliquely", as the King likes to say. To avoid looking churlish or resentful, we decided to raise the question in principle of whether the King should be required to co-operate more closely with the elected Government on the questions of peerages and honours. That was, for us, the real issue – that the King had shown contempt and disrespect to the elected Government that could have been avoided through prior consultation, or even mitigated by being given some warning.

Instead, this issue has been spun by Baron Davinescu in particular as evidence of some kind of hidden agenda, of bad faith, of sneakiness, or proof that the Compromise is some kind of low-down trick. We might add in passing that the Baron's behaviour here is par for the course from him, and is precisely the reason why we don't think he was the right person to receive a peerage.

After discussion with friendly political opponents, we understand that our "oblique" approach was a blunder, and we should have simply been honest about why we were upset about the recent investiture of honours. We hope that this statement clears a lot of issues up – no doubt the people who were already angry at us will still be angry, but at least for good reasons this time.

Esteemed members of the General Assembly of the Free Province of Fiova:

This is going to be long, so bear with me.

According to the Constitution of our Province as just adopted, elections for a three-person Praisidïeu (standing committee of the General Assembly) will be held at the same time as every Cosa election. That is, if I understand the national electoral calendar correctly, this election will run from May 15 to June 1 this year, i.e. starting in 10 days.

Under our new Elections and Referendums Law, Title I Section 3, as Secretary of State I am required to submit to the General Assembly the rules by which I will carry out this election.

Therefore, I hereby declare that the rules for the upcoming election of the Praisidïeu will be as follows:

1. Nominations for the Praisidïeu (Title III Sections 1-2) open immediately and will close 1 week from now.

Under Title III Section 2.1, such a nomination includes the candidate's full name; their party affiliation (if any); and a statement, no longer than fifty words, of the candidate's aims and objectives (optional).

Please make these nominations in this thread, or by personal communication with myself, no latter than seven days from the date of posting of this message!

2. The period between close of nominations and start of voting (Title III Section 4) will therefore be only 3 days, as determined by the Chancery's timetable for the national elections.

3. the actual process of voting and the production of the "ballot paper" (Title II Section 2) will be delegated to the National Chancery, whom I have asked to use the same voting mechanism as used for Senäts elections. This will allow "write-in" candidates (Title III, Section 5.3.1): the voters may give any citizen, not just the officially nominated candidates, a preference.

4. Once the Chancery reports all the votes, I will count them using the OpaVote website using "Northern Ireland STV" rules. I certify that this will provide a result as close as makes no difference to that set out in our law. (Title V, Section 12).

Questions? Comments?

Esteemed Mençéi and Túischac'h and all the Senators and Members of the Cosâ:

Votes on the last Clark have now been tallied, and soon the 55th Cosâ will be dissolved – assuming that Baron von Privy Council reminds the King he has to do so. I stand before you today to give what I hope to be as balanced an account of the outgoing Government – a coalition between the Free Democrats and the New Peculiar Way - which I have led in this term.

The outgoing Government stands very proud of the following achievements:

• The successful Ranked Choice Referendum on the Constitution, which led to the Historic Compromise recently passed by this Ziu.
• The Second National Activity Survey in which an increased number of citizens gave their honest, anonymous opinions as to the way forward for our nation.
• The complete revamping of the National Webspace and the creation of talossa.net, our very own social network – all the work of the indefatigable Senator Eovart Grischün.
• A successful campaign for "voluntary taxation" / stamp and coin sales which netted $US65, doubling the income from such sources over last year. Although not as successful as we hoped, this is a successful "trial run", and in future it may be possible to make this our main source of revenue, removing the need for registration fees for Ziu elections.
• A Talossan digital art show.
• A successful legal reform programme, in which almost all the laws pertaining to the various Government Ministries were updated, streamlined, stripped of obsolescence and made fit for purpose.
• A successful National Honours Investiture, capped by the King returning from his *cough*vacation*cough* to issue the recipients of honours with very classy looking Letters Patent, at no cost to the Government – for which he, or the former Regent, deserves credit.

Just like last term, though, the Government failed to carry through a lot of our programme – particularly in the Cultural area. The Burgermeister of Internal Revenue is probably glad of that, as our full Cultural programme would have cost a significant amount of money, wiping out our gains in income. But the principle of voluntary taxation is that the Government may spend, as long as the people are willing to fund it. The power of the purse remains in the hands of the Talossan people.

But the area I'm most disappointed in is our failures in the area of citizen activity. It's not that we haven't gotten new citizens, but when we have gotten new citizens, they don't stick around and do anything. And existing citizens are hard to motivate as well.

The Free Democrats have made this the central plank of our programme for the election, if you want to give that a look. Of course – as my opponents have been saying for so long – maybe the crisis of activity is our fault, and we can't do anything about it unless we "resign and become inactive", in which case presumably dozens of conservative Talossans will suddenly leap out of the woodwork and become active again. Interesting theory. How about you guys try to beat us in the election and we'll see if that happens?

But I must admit that I, personally, am burned out with the work of administration, tired of chasing up semi-active members of the Government and officers of State to carry things out, and fresh out (personally) of different things that I could try to promote activity. Accordingly, this will be the last time (for at least a while) that I stand before the Ziu as Seneschál. Other people in Talossa don't seem to have any shame or compunction about just dropping their responsibilities and "going bush", as we say in the Antipodes, when things get too boring or hard. If we're very lucky, they at least nominate a replacement when they vanish. Perhaps I should learn from that.

The motto of the Free Democrats has always been Get things done, have more fun. But there's a limit to how much you can get done, and how much fun you have, unless all the members of the Government team not only carry out what they promise, but promise only what they can carry out. That should be a lesson that my successor as Seneschál should look at closely, when the time comes for him or her to create their programme for government. When I am free of the duties of the Seneschlalsqåb, hopefully I will have much more time to return to my first love – the Talossan language – in terms of both translation and creating learning materials.

The recent leadership renewal of the Free Democrats is an experiment to see whether our party is a real social movement with its own vision for the future, and not a Miestra Schiva fan club. I look forward to serving under our new Party President, Txoteu Davinescu, in the next Cosa – and if the voters give us the opportunity, and if he thinks I can still do a job, in the next Government.

At this point, it is proper to say a few words on The Return of the King, to quote from the classics.

It is said that, when the House of Bourbon was restored to the throne of France after the Revolution and the Napoleonic era, they had "forgotten nothing, and learnt nothing". Which is why the French people overthrew them again within a matter of decades. It would be a real shame if having the better part of a year away from Talossa has not led his Majesty to reconsider the way he does Talossa.

Something that the King, and many other Talossan conservative-monarchists, have never understood, is that Talossan Republicanism and reform-monarchism are often not primarily based on political principle. Very often, they are based purely on the behaviour of the incumbent. Simply put: if the behaviour of the Monarchy is repugnant to majority opinion (not just contradicting the majority, but choosing to troll and annoy that majority), majority opinion (including convinced royalists) will support putting curbs on the monarchy, in order to prevent that behaviour happening again. It is that simple. This is only a problem if you believe in the divine right of kings, or you somehow believe that Talossa owes its existence to the Lupúl monarchy, rather than the other way around.

Let's be very clear. Ián I Lupul quit his responsibilities without warning – naming a replacement whom he knew would be guaranteed to outrage the Government and Cosa majority – and has just resumed his responsibilities, equally without warning, or apology, or explanation. His first job in resuming these responsibilities was to give that replacement the unprecedented title of "Baron von Tollbooth" or whatever it is, which he also knew was a middle finger to the rest of us.

This is precisely the attitude of "come at me, bro" towards the Government and Cosa majority which has firmed up the determination of that majority to make the monarchy accountable. Conservative opinion in Talossa seems to be that it is the right of the King – on the basis of a vote taken 16 years ago, and on the basis that they, personally, agree with him - to blockade and troll the democratically-elected authorities, and we should like it or lump it. To quote Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction, "It's miéida like this that's gonna bring this situation to a head, man."

I agree with my monarchist compatriots that the Head of State of Talossa should be a long-term, non-partisan role, and should be invested with not only constitutional "reserve powers" but with defending the very existence of our ImagiNation. Our Head of State should also have a major role in representing Talossa in the outside world – including acting on behalf of our nation under the laws of the Big Neighbour and other, large nations.

But this is not the path that Ián I Lupúl has chosen in office. Instead, it has been a course of constitutional brinkmanship with the elected Government; as if his main care in Talossa is not preserving the Nation and representing it to the world, but maintaining his own prestige and his own unilateral powers. This is the King who sparked off the "Proclamation Crisis", vetoing an inoffensive Organic Law amendment admittedly as a "warning shot" – just to show he could. It took two Uppermost Cort cases to show him he couldn't just get away with exploiting a loophole which would allow him to keep the Organic Law from being amended, ever.

Even when we took that loophole away from him, he continued to use his veto power of legislation – not for any purpose of defending Talossa or its institutions – but to just to annoy a Ziu majority not to his liking. His insistence on leaving his vetoes until the very last minute meant that every Clark – including the one just gone! - turned into a show of power causing needless anxiety in the elected Government and legislature just to make us aware that he could do so. Yes, it was legal to do so. But if the benchline for acceptable behaviour from the Head of State is "there's no law against it", then good will and basic decency are no longer features of the Monarchy.

I'll never forget the time he vetoed the repeal of a long-obsolete law on the grounds that (I'm paraphrasing here) "these laws do no harm, and a lot of people had fun writing them". This had nothing to do with defending Talossa. This had everything to do with defending the legacy of the RUMP party governments of 2006–2014, of a Trump-style refusal to acknowledge the political defeat of the King's favourite tendency. It was saying: "Your democratically and legally-established government and legislative majority bears no legitimacy as far as I am concerned." (Let's bear in mind once again that this is someone who has been involved in Talossa eight years fewer than I have; five years fewer than Senator Sir G. Valcádac'h.)

I would have had no qualms with leaving the life monarchy undisturbed had it been politically depowered, on the model of any decent European constitutional monarchy. Or, if the King were to show respect and courtesy towards the legitimate political aspirations of my section of the Talossan political spectrum. But that was the least popular option in the Ranked Choice referendum, so the parties in the Ziu had to come up with something else. The LCC opposition preferred the Monarchy having political powers to having a guaranteed life term, and I honour that choice.

The fact that he granted the title of Baron – a hereditary title! – to one of the most divisive figures on Talossa, and moreover named that person to his Privy Council, certainly doesn't make it look like he's learned how offensive this kind of "hútsch-tu, I'm the King" attitude is to the current majority of Talossan political opinion. The King seems to be back to his old tricks of taking sides, with a few cronies, against the majority of the Talossan people itself – a fight which, given our Organic Law, must sadly be re-fought in this election, then in the Ziu, then in a referendum afterwards. By, I must reiterate, the King's very decision.

I make a prediction. The Talossan monarchy cannot survive, in its current form, with Ián I Lupúl on the throne, unless it endorses the Historic Compromise or something very like it. If a National Convocation as contained in 55RZ21 decides that the incumbent should get another seven years in the job, as he sees fit, that's fine and I personally can live with that. I'm honestly tired of the constitutional struggle. But the struggle will continue, under different leadership, as long as the Head of State of Talossa, the way they are chosen and the way in which they behave is not accepted by a wide supermajority of the whole nation. If the King does not like it, then maybe he should have thought different before he did... well, virtually everything he's done in the last five years.

A Talossan friend of mine, who is currently a political opponent, told me he rejects compromises in principle. But for me, there are only two solutions to political conflict: either compromise, or a war to the political death, with unconditional surrender on one side or the other. In such situations, especially after a long, dragged-out battle like this, I much prefer a fudgy, slightly disreputable compromise.

The King had a choice. He could have surveyed the electoral field, noted that 4 parties out of 6 support the Historic Compromise (and a further one is divided), and realized that he didn't have great odds of holding back the tide. He could have let 55RZ21 go to referendum, submitted himself to the National Convocation, and most probably got another 7 years on the slightly battered throne. Instead, he chose (with his Privy Councillor the Baron von Wormtongue whispering in his ear, no doubt) to fight to the bitter end.

Choosing a battle to annihilation over compromise might be considered noble, or at least quixotic. My opinion is that it ruins everyone's fun by needlessly stretching out a hopeless conflict. But schi Allà volt, it will all be over quite soon in the upcoming Cosa term.

Anyway, see you at the polls.

Sa vivadra Talossa! 40 års pü!

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF FIOVA, pursuant to Standing Order 4, that the Fiovan Elections and Referendum Law shall read in its entirety as follows:

Part One

Part Two

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF FIOVA, pursuant to Standing Order 4, that the Constitution of Fiova shall read in its entirety as follows:

Article I — [Name and territory]
1.1
The name of the Province is la Provinçù Liveradă da Fiovă, or in English, the Free Province of Fiova.
1.2
The territory of the Province consists of two cantons in south-western Talossa, with the Manaweg as their western and southern border, named (from north to south) el Cantôn Cüféir (Cooper Canton) and Las Înaltàns Maxhéstici (LIM, Majestic Heights). Precise borders shall be those set by the Ziu.
1.3
The capital of the Province is the Mitchell Building in LIM Canton.

Article II — [Symbols]
2.1
The flag of the Province shall be as below:

2.2
The motto of the Province shall be Desfisetz qualsecosă denă (Dare Something Worthy).

Article III — [The General Assembly]
3.1
The supreme authority in in Fiovă is the General Assembly of all citizens. The Assembly shall be chaired by a Túischac'h elected by the Assembly.
3.2.
All debates and votes of the General Assembly are public except in the case of national or provincial security, or involving sensitive personal information.
3.3.
Unless otherwise stated in this Constitution, the General Assembly may set its own rules for making decisions, including a quorum for any decisions.

Article IV — [Provincial Executive 1]
4.1
Executive power in Fiovă is exercised by a Standing Committee, or Praisidíeu in the national language.
4.2
The Praisidíeu shall consist of 3 members, elected at large by all citizens, by secret ballot and by principles of proportional representation.  Precise details shall be included in law. The Praisideu shall choose a Chair who shall be given the honorable title of Capitán.
4.3
Elections for the Praisidieu shall occur simultaneously with every national Cosă election, or earlier in case of a Vote of Confidence  or the Secretary of State declaring the Praisideu to be vacant. In these latter cases, the Secretary of State may choose a date for an earlier election, or failing that one may be set by resolution of the General Assembly.

Article V — [Provincial Executive 2: Praisideu and General Assembly]
5.1
On any issue where the Praisideu and the General Assembly differ, the will of the General Assembly will prevail.
5.2
The Praisideu shall, as part of their functions described elsewhere in this Constitution, submit legislative proposals to the General Assembly as and when necessary or useful.

Article VI — [Provincial Executive 3: Government]
6.1
The Praisideu may delegate any executive powers to Provincial Ministers. The Ministers are nominated by the Praisideu and confirmed by the Cunstavál. The Ministers are collectively and individually responsible to and may be dismissed by the Praisideu or the General Assembly. The Praisideu and Ministers are collectively known as "the Government".

Article VII — [Legislation and Law]
7.1
Provincial Law consists of (in order of precedence) the Organic Law of the Kingdom of Talossa, the laws of the Federal Ziu (except in matters reserved to the provinces), this Constitution, the Laws passed by the General Assembly, decisions of the Landsdoom, and Executive Orders. Executive Orders are issued by the Cunstavál in the name of the Government and must be co-signed by the Capitán upon the advice and consent of the Praisideu before becoming law. They may be overturned by the General Assembly.
7.2.
The Cunstavál shall promulgate all Amendments to this Constitution passed by a 2/3 majority in the General Assembly, and all other laws passed by a simple majority.

Article VIII — [The Landsdoom]
8.1
Judicial power, including jurisdiction over any dispute relevant to this Constitution, is exercised by a Landsdoom, consisting of one or more adjudicators nominated by the Cunstavál and approved by the General Assembly, as and when necessary. Decisions of the Landsdoom may be appealed to Kingdom Corts.

Article IX — [Secretary of State]
9.1
Elections and maintenance of provincial governmental and electoral archives are conducted by a Secretary of State, elected by the General Assembly.
9.2
The Secretary of State may only be a candidate for the Praisideu if there would otherwise be only two or fewer declared candidates.

Article X — [General Provisions for Officers]
10.1
Any officer empowered by this Constitution may nominate a Deputy to fullfil their functions in case of absence, or to act as a provisional replacement in cases of resignation or dismissal.
10.1.1.
Any officer empowered by this Constitution shall be considered absent if they fail to confirm their presence to the General Assembly within seven (7) days of being called upon to do so.
10.2.
All officers empowered by this Constitution may be removed by the General Assembly by means of a Vote of Confidence, which shall require a simple majority to succeed. The Praisideu may be subject to a Vote of Confidence only collectively, not as individuals
10.3
An officer empowered by this Constitution, including members of the Praisideu, shall have vacated their office if they resign, lose their Talossan citizenship, are removed by a Vote of Confidence by the General Assembly, or are absent within the meaning of 10.1.1. above for 30 days or more.
10.3.1.
If a vacancy arises in the Praisideu the remaining members may co-opt any citizen to the vacant role in the Praisideu, subject to ratification of their choice by the General Assembly. If two or more vacancies arise in this way simultaneously, the Secretary of State shall declare the Praisideu to be vacant.
10.3.2.
In a vacancy arises in other any office created under this Constitution, the Praisideu may appoint an Acting holder of that office, who shall function until confirmed or replaced by the Assembly.