....where have all the flowers gone"?

[Baron Fritz]

As Peter, Paul and Mary sang "Where have all the old Talossans Gone"?
Has no one noticed their absence from Wittenberg? In private e-mails, at the Talossan Round Table, in personal chats the same is always heard.
"Since the Kingdom moved to Colorado I've lost interest" or "Its not the same anymore".
To deny the lessons of the past is to deny the future. Dan Lorentz is trying to make everyone understand that to repeat the mistake we made with Ben's heirs by making someones kids our leader by birth was wrong then and is wrong now. Anyone who trys to sell you the line that it is better to have a leader chosen by chance (bloodline) that it is to let the people decide is at best terribly mistaken.
Too many Talossans think this is about our currently elected King John but it is not!
Most of the old school Talossans are not interested in a repeat of the past. We showed our wisdom in picking King John.

We can do it again!

Fritz von Buchholtz

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Sir Fritz, if this is how you feel, then why have you not taken action on this in the previous five months, during which appropriate legislation was being worked? Why hasn't the Conta championed legislation along these lines, as he intended and originally proposed? He hasn't tried to make anyone understand anything, not in months.

Of course we noticed your absence. We MISSED you guys! Sir Ian, the Conta, you... the Kingdom didn't leave you, you left it! Please do not think this is a lack of respect. It is, if anything, the opposite. You are esteemed and needed. I mean, for lord's sake, you have been gone so long your account appears to have become dormant! Then you show up, on the brink of legislation being passed, to imperiously pronounce it a mistake?

If you don't like this, if you want things changed, if you want the old sort of spirit back, then you need to be here and work for it! If you're bored and you leave, then naturally you will not have a say and things may well change. I understand being tired, but an almost total silence is quite different than simply taking a break from government.

Let me be perfectly frank: why should we care what the "old school Talossans" are interested in, if they don't even care enough to post? Come back, work to convince us, and let us work on a brighter Talossan future!

[Hooligan]

The Kingdom has not moved to Colorado. It has no more moved there now than it did the first time a Prime Minister from outside Milwaukee was chosen, which was long before any Coloradoan ever became a citizen. If John Woolley is at fault for being passionate about Talossa enough that he recruited others to join this great nation, or if those others are at fault for happening to live in the U.S. state of Colorado, well, there is nothing to be done about that. But Talossa is not in Colorado. It is in Talossa. Yes, there are some Talossans in Colorado, but there are also Talossans in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in California, in Wisconsin, in Brazil, in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in New York, in Iraq, in Singapore.

Talossa has not moved. Talossa is in Talossa.

As for the wisdom of allowing the throne to pass by blood (which it has never done; it passed by a claimed adoption), this has been the choice of Kingdoms forever, and it is a wise choice, as it lets He Who Shall Be King be trained by his parent to become just that -- King. The throne is not something to be campaigned for...ever.

If thirty or more years from now (God willing), when King John shuffles off this mortal coil, if his son His Highness Prince Patrick is not the best man for the throne, I have no doubt -- no doubt whatsoever -- that this nation will do whatever it takes to ensure that the best man takes the throne instead. This is how King John was elevated to the throne in the place of King Louis the Unknowing.

That eventuality, however, is decades away. The legislation before the Ziu ensures that no "arranged adoption" can interfere with the passing of our throne from one wise man -- King John -- to another -- Prince Patrick. As I say, if Prince Patrick is not wise, or willing, or able, when his time comes, this nation can and will survive. It will survive as a Kingdom true to itself and as strong in its traditions and way of life as any other Kingdom of the world.

The flowers have gone nowhere. Talossa has gone nowhere. The Old Guard was not driven away, and everyone here -- Talossans from everywhere in the world -- longs for them to remain active...and to actively recruit more citizens from the GTA!

Hooligan (who is truly overjoyed to see Sir Fritz able to post again!)

[Dréu Gavárþic'h]

why is this posted twice...

[Xhorxh Asmour]

agbdavis said:

... If you want things changed, if you want the old sort of spirit back, then you need to be here and work for it! If you're bored and you leave, then naturally you will not have a say and things may well change.

I deeply respect all the old-timers and Sir Fritz in particular, but I think Alex is completely right.
I'd like to mention that I myself spent a long time away from Talossa, though. I didn't like the way Ben was doing things and didn't really trust the new government in the beginning , so I decided to lurk for some time until I felt things were on the right track. But now that I feel I really belong here and we're a great team, even when I'm very busy at work or engaged in personal projects, I never let three or four days pass without checking out what's happening on Witt or contacting other citizens via GoogleTalk.
Everybody who is really interested in helping to build a brighter future for Talossa must start work right now, or at least keep in touch and let the others know you're still alive.
Ah, before I forget... Talossa is NOT the same as the U.S. It's made up of people from many different countries and cultures and none of them should be privileged or discriminated against here.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Well said, Xhorxh. I hope other citizens who have taken a "wait and see" approach since King Robert I abdicated will take your words to heart.

[Rajala]

I looked into Wittenberg on an evening where my old friend Fritz has by chance posted a message. What does it mean? His commentary provides an interesting twist. Perhaps Talossa has become a fleeting pastime.

To Fritz: Will we have a field for battle? Are the old warriors ready to field their troops once again?

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

If you guys come back for battle, I will fight you. I'm not even sure if we disagree about things, but if that's what it takes, we will take it to the floor. I'm going to start trying to offend you now, just in case that's what's needed.

Pancakes are ugly!
Precipitation is actually unnecessary!
Chevrolet is racist!
Lemmings was better than Tetris!

[Capt. Sir Mick Preston]

And I, for one...

Would like nothing more than to see Count Dan, Sir Fritz, and Rajala to once more take up the Sword and the Pen, and come back in full force.

We need their words, their ideas, and their comments to drive the Kingdom to the next level.

And I would really really like to see them create a new political party, because I really like a multi-party system.

[Rajala]

Hmmm. The question regarding a field for battle actually has nothing to do with the Talossan pastime. It has to do with finding another field for wargames. The field in the basement of Napoleon's has been lost since 2005. Fritz and I fought the last battle on the old field. What a joy it would be to fight again. Most of you have no idea what a sight it is to see thousands of colorfully painted 28mm miniatures on a wargames field. I guess it comes under the title of eccentricities. Maybe it will happen again?? It doesn't have much, if anything, to do with Talossa.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

grajala said:

Hmmm. The question regarding a field for battle actually has nothing to do with the Talossan pastime. It has to do with finding another field for wargames. The field in the basement of Napoleon's has been lost since 2005. Fritz and I fought the last battle on the old field. What a joy it would be to fight again. Most of you have no idea what a sight it is to see thousands of colorfully painted 28mm miniatures on a wargames field. I guess it comes under the title of eccentricities. Maybe it will happen again?? It doesn't have much, if anything, to do with Talossa.

Except that wargaming is the national pastime since time immemorial!

Nothing is better than bringing your Inquisitor and Space Marines down on the Xenos, and watching the demon and the orks under its control wither and get plucked up. Until the day when your girlfriend sits on your Inquisitor, and the carefully painted figurine has his psyker-blasting arm bent cruelly behind his elbow....

But yet, wargaming is fun, Warhammer 40k or otherwise.

[Ián B. Anglatzarâ]

grajala said:

Most of you have no idea what a sight it is to see thousands of colorfully painted 28mm miniatures on a wargames field.

I went to my first gaming convention in 1982 - Yikes! Time flies! - and the miniature tabletops were what impressed me the most. Unfortunately, I find fantasy or sci-fi miniatures very boring. It's the historical conflict simulations that I find fascinating.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

grajala said:

The field in the basement of Napoleon's has been lost since 2005. Fritz and I fought the last battle on the old field. What a joy it would be to fight again. Most of you have no idea what a sight it is to see thousands of colorfully painted 28mm miniatures on a wargames field. I guess it comes under the title of eccentricities. Maybe it will happen again??

Would that I could have seen those vast armies arrayed for battle, during the glory days of Napoleon's! I wish I had more wargaming experience than I do, and in particular I wish I had gotten into miniatures. I remember spending many hours poring over catalogs of unpainted miniatures as a kid. Sigh! If you do manage another battle soon, take some pictures for the rest of us!

It doesn't have much, if anything, to do with Talossa.

What other country of the world would have seriously considered annexing more territory from its neighbour, just to have sovereignty over its favourite wargame store?

[Ián B. Anglatzarâ]

Refight the Cone Wars and take pictures!

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

anglatzara said:

Refight the Cone Wars and take pictures!

You wouldn't need thousands of figurines for that! Let's see: Ben, Gary, Gary's mom, JJ, and Harry. That should do it.