JJ or Dan Lauriér second in Talossa's development only to Ben? I beg to differ.

[GV]

XV. The Renaissance. 6-9.1981.

   Renaissance! Return! Royalty! Screamed banner headlines in the 22nd July 1981 issue of Ben Wu, proclaiming the end of the Interregnum and the beginning of the Renaissance. The Interregnum--during which Talossa had died an unnatural death at the hands of its founder--had lasted only eight days. The national death had occurred because King Robert I feared for his reputation out there in the 'real world.' Talossa owed its return to the profound realisation that not only did Ben Madison have every right to his own quirks, but that people 'out there' were not all the dullards he supposed them to be.

   Case in point: Frédéric Corïu. The impending arrival of Monsieur Corïu was hailed in early 1981 by the Talossan press. Finally a cultured European would set foot on Talossan soil (or floor); he and the King had both joked about politics in their introductory letters to each other that spring, and it seemed like a friendship might genuinely develop. However, Madison wondered about the wisdom of hitting Corïu with Talossa--might it be too strange?

   After Corïu's arrival, the ex-King avoided the subject of the now-dead Talossa, but the Talossan "Blutfahne" remained aloft inside its one-room national territory, and Corïu inquired as to what it was and meant. As best he could, the embarrassed Madison explained Talossa--and Corïu was enthralled, showering the erstwhile King with compliments on his unique ingenuity. After a week of thinking and talking, Robert Ben Madison decided to reactivate the world's smallest country.  Corïu would later be granted citizenship on the same terms as Dan, Bob, Josh, Harry and Dawn. Corïu's encouragement (plus a shot in the arm for world monarchism by the recent marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, the King admits) had put the Kingdom of Talossa back on the map.

- from The History of the Kingdom of Talossa, Volume I: The First Decade, by R. Ben Madison