GV's thoughts on the 2004-2012 Republic of Talossa's twentieth anniversary

[GV]

First of all, my life outside of Talossa has been incredibly hectic in the past year, owing mainly to helping in taking care of my father, whom our family and with his voluntary blessing put into assisted living at least on 19 May of this year.  He is doing very well there, and I've moved into a friend's guest-room for six months to a year.

Hence the reason why today almost passed me by.

"A Nation Sundered" describes Mad King Ben in March 2004 accusing another Talossan citizen, Kane Cavier, of domestic violence, a charge I continue to believe to be utterly false, even if his long-ago record of petty crime to that point might give a different impression cosmetically.  I still believe Kane.

Ben by doing this wanted Kane out of Talossa, and he figured things would get so hot for Kane he would flee the country and the greater Talossan nation altogether.

Ben did succeed in driving Kane out of the country, but ten of us and more soon thereafter went with him to form the 2004-2012 Republic of Talossa.

Unfortunately, mistakes were made.  We never should have kicked everyone but us off of Wittenberg X.  Only Ben and Queen Amy needed to have been tossed out.  Had we done things that way, I think we would have gotten far more sympathy from far more people, but at this time, no-one was thinking with a clear head.

Moreover, talossa.com was in the hands of "one of us" and was redirected from the kingdom and to the Republic's new webspace. This should have been done with far more sensitivity, to be sure.  It is late, and I do not have the time to fully discuss that point other than to say we should have done something different with talossa.com

Both these mistakes affected innocent people, and for those mistakes, we have continually been sorry they occurred.

The colossal edifice of the history of the Republic vs. King John and so much else will be best told by others.  Moreover, even the Republic itself was anticlimactic.  When Ben falsely accused Kane of domestic violence online in a public forum, the situation became fully untenable, and "old Talossa" was irreparably damaged.

The healing of Talossa began on 1 June 2004, and it continues today.  In fits and starts, perhaps, but since Ben left, no Talossan has appeared with the same level of vindictive spite Ben Madison had toward those he didn't care for, even with his many, many good qualities both as a Talossan and as a person outside Talossa.

The 2004-2012 Republic of Talossa is a cautionary tale that ended miraculously with Reunision on 20 April 2012.  I still find it unbelievable so many of us "down south" came to the Kingdom who had never been in the kingdom before, and in my mind, Reunision was a nigh-on complete success.

May Talossa live on, and may it continue to be free, fun, and fair. - GV