Honouring Deceased Talossans

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

When I die I want to still be a Talossan.  So clearly I must interact sufficiently with the realm – still be in contact with it.

But the words "When I die I still want to be a Talossan" have another, deeper, meaning.  When I have died I still want to be a Talossan, even though I cannot then interact with it.  Outside of Talossa I am also a citizen of Ireland.  When I die I shall be a "deceased citizen of Ireland" – my Irishness is not taken away from me at my death, I will still be Irish.  Many, many realms on Earth are like that – death does not change your nationality.  Why cannot Talossa be like that too?

Yes – I have heard various off the cuff statements about our already having degrees of citizenship – so get on with it Ian, and stop complaining.  What already exists cannot be changed.  So there.

But wait – we already honour our citizens with marks of status, and labels of quality of achievement in this or that.  Why not also bestow upon a deceased citizen a formal title like "LDT" (Loyal Deceased Talossan) or "HIT" (Honoured In Talossa) – it's up to someone who knows our language in detail to produce the right term, the right letters.  And someone who is "HIT" (or whatever we choose) will no longer be obligated to respond to a census or vote at an election – that will not (cannot!) be counted against him or her.

Come on, lads and lasses – let's discuss this and create legislation to implement it.

[Tric'hard Lenxheir]

I like the general idea but I see a potential problem. Citizens who experience a sudden unexpected death may never get that recognition as it is possible...even likely that they will have no one to pass on the news to anyone in Talossa and so we would never know about the passing and assume they just chose to leave.

[Breneir Tzaracomprada]

This is really a beautiful idea. Tric'hard brings up an important but perhaps not fatal problem. I hope we will be able to put this into practice. It would be great to give people like Xhorxh Asmour the LDT or HIT title.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

Difficult problems are not insurmountable. 

Yes, we would (will!) not know about some Talossan deaths - but we could consider some suggestions.  For example, I have an email address (idkk@idkk.com) and I, personally, am reasonably prompt about responding to questions in my inbox.  In my individual case, therefore, it might be reasonable to send me a string of e-mails - once a week for three months - and if there is no response you can assume that I have passed on.  We can think of other techniques of probing for information about other "missing citizens" (we are an inventive group).  Of course we will have errors here too, but possibly in the other direction.

The system does not have to be perfect, but "good enough": good enough to honour those about who's deaths we are certain, and good enough to show our citizens (and prospective citizens) that Talossa really cares about its people - that Talossa never abandons you.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

Perhaps we could create the Talossan equivalent of GNU, which - maybe - we would post as a message once every month, adding more names as they become (sadly) relevant.  The circuit of recipients, round which the message would flow, would start at the Monarch, pass through each of the major administrative offices, and once through each region, and return to the Monarch for the next round. Our signal would, of course, have to be in El Glheþ, and I have insufficient knowledge to be of use in this choice: perhaps BNR for Beric'tår Non-Recordar Repaxhar? (though I've probably got every word wrong there).