From the Cosa

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

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....

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.

[King John]

Estimescu Dama Miestra --

I wasn't the least bit annoyed at GV for calling.  As I remember, I was busy working that day, and didn't have much time to chat; but I certainly wasn't annoyed.  Nor am I annoyed at you or anyone else for NOT calling.  That last is just silliness.

Usually we don't inquire closely, when a public figure makes a speech or releases a paper, exactly who might have had a hand in the writing; and we certainly wouldn't accept the excuse of a President or Prime Minister who said, "Hey, don't blame me, it was my speechwriter who wrote that bit."  If Tom, Dick, or Mary writes something, and I post it, it's I who am responsible for the content.

I don't recall doing anything, ever, in Talossa out of "sheer spite".  Nor am I inclined to tantrums.  (Tantra?)  Of course if you'd called me you would have received a courteous answer -- whenever have I been anything but courteous to you, Dama Miestra?  We disagree a lot, maybe, but I've always tried to be civil about it.  Whether you would have considered my answers "satisfying" I can't say; you usually don't.

In brief answer to your two questions, I absented myself, as the Organic Law permits me to do, because for some time I hadn't been able to find time to handle Talossan responsibilities very well, because you and others had pointed out fairly forcefully that I wasn't holding up my end, and because I didn't want people's enjoyment of the country to be short-circuited by my ridiculously busy schedule.  I appointed a Regent, not in order to infuriate anyone, but because he was the most active of the citizens with whom I thought I share something of a "high" view of the Crown's constitutional role.

That's all.  Nothing sinister.   And as far as I can tell, most people weren't "infuriated".  You usually seem to be, but in general folks manage to get along without much in the way of fury.

Restéu voastra,

John Regeu

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

That's certainly a more courteous answer than I expected. Thank you.

But I have to reiterate that your course of action at the beginning of the 55th Cosa fatally damaged the trust that had been built between the Monarchy and the political majority during my first two terms as Seneschál. We are now living with the consequences of those actions. You must know that many times throughout history, monarchies have fallen because the monarch has taken on board a close advisor who stinks in the nostrils of their subjects.

I strongly advise you that the ball is in your court to rebuild some level of trust with the new Seneschál and his Government, and that won't (I believe) happen while "the Baron" has a senior role in Royal business.

[GV]

Estimescu Dama Miestra --

I wasn't the least bit annoyed at GV for calling.  As I remember, I was busy working that day, and didn't have much time to chat; but I certainly wasn't annoyed.  Nor am I annoyed at you or anyone else for NOT calling.  That last is just silliness.

...

That's all.  Nothing sinister.   And as far as I can tell, most people weren't "infuriated".  You usually seem to be, but in general folks manage to get along without much in the way of fury.

Restéu voastra,

John Regeu

Glad I didn't annoy you!  All is well with me, there.  As I recall, I believe I did call you on a weekday afternoon.

My longstanding gripe with you, @King John , should be known to you, but I'll reiterate somewhat succinctly:

With a single email, a single Witt post, or some other sort of communcation, even through back-channels (which might worked better anyway) during the years 2005-2011, you could have nipped 'Betrayed, Stolen, Kept' in the bud and surgically cut that cancer out of Talossan society.

Such a move on your part would have reveberated a thousand times over in Republic society.

You had the popularity, political power, and influence to singlehandedly bring the two Talossas back together.

You could have made this happen. 

You could have caused Kingdom society to accept the fact what we did in founding the 2004-2012 Republic may have been inorganic and traitorous (which it was), but it was also done under duress and under the most sordid set of circumstances in Talossan history.

You could have caused Talossan society to afford us at least a measure of grace, forgiveness, and 'slack'.

You could have societally and culturally forced the restoration of Wittenberg X and talossa.com to all Talossans.  (a shameful part of our leaving, I grant you).

It is no secret when the opportunity to take the Throne for yourself came about in the cultural and power vacuum that came about when Ben and Amy left in August 2005, you took full advantage as any good Diplomacy player would.  To have had us make our return to the Kingdom at that time, however, would have jeopardized that plan. 

You could have reached out to us in late-August 2005.  You could have reached out to us in 2006.  You could have reached out to us in a way such we would have been compelled to come back in 2007.  I imagine with a little campaign work on your side, John, you could have gotten quite a few of us Down South to actually vote or put pressure on the electors of the time to confirm you as King!

In protecting the way you wanted to do Talossa, you shirked your responsibility as a unifying symbol of the nation.  You failed to be the King you should have been.

John, for fourteen years, you have in your interpersonal dealings with many Talossans both publicly and privately refused to make Talossa whole - not de jure (which you countenanced), but what I call 'Reunision of the heart'. 

GV

[GV]

GV:

It is no secret when the opportunity to take the Throne for yourself came about in the cultural and power vacuum that came about when Ben and Amy left in August 2005, you took full advantage as any good Diplomacy player would.  To have had us make our return to the Kingdom at that time, however, would have jeopardized that plan.

This paragraph may have been true, but certainly I cannot 'prove' it.  I also should have taken you for having better motivations than that.  I do say you rode the crest of a tsunami, but the above wordings of mind inadvertently impugned your character as a Talossan, and for that @King John, I apologize.

I think it is quite clear on all this, I still have strong feelings.

As to the rest of my words, by way of the country hearing from you by your own keyboard/hand your honest feelings on everything I've talked about, please give me a reason to retract those, too. 

My motivation for bringing up all this dross (in no particular order) is simple: genuine Talossan fraternity.  We don't need to be buddy-buddy, but while we are still in an age of relative peace in the world, I want Talossan society to be as one and not the Neo-Pengo-Left vs. Trumpossa.

GV