[ZRT CONVENTION SPEECH] Owen Edwards

[Óïn Ursüm]

The Chair gives the floor to guest speaker Owen Edwards.

[Owen Edwards]

Thanks for the welcome. Sorry for the delay. I don't intend to "speak" at length here - I don't want to bore you, and in all honesty, I confess to not quite knowing what the ZRT would be interested in hearing from me.

I haven't been as active in Talossa the last few months as I would have liked to have been. This has chiefly been practical; I have no Internet access at home. I've checked in, I've voted, I've occasionally Gtalked with Iusti. I haven't had the time or opportunity to throw myself at the political game.

But that just makes me consider more what it is, as Talossans, we share - why is it we bother talking to each other? Is it simply a pseudo-legal fiction, a shared forum space, which binds together a whole array of interests - language freaks, politics geeks, history...uh, dreeks - into one community?

Do I share a second nationality with Miestra, with Ian Anglatzara, with King John - just because Talossa is a an umbrella organization combining King Ben's interests? I mean, political simulation, monarchy, conlanging...those were Ben's interests. Now, it's proven we can survive and thrive without Ben - Talossa is not Ben. The interests are more powerful magnets than Ben ever was. I should say I don't claim that Ben has formed our interests and activities as they currently stand - but I find it hard to dispute that most of our shared interests find their roots with Ben.

But the fact remains - if the interests are all that link us, then though Talossa has survived the loss of Ben (and thrived because of it), it still exists as an accident of his joys. The fact I share space with Charlie, Jeff, Hool, and the rest of you all...we're ships passing in the night, lit only by the light of a moon - the ghost of Ben glowing down on us eternally, beatifically.

That's if our hobbies are all we share. If they're all we share, then presumably when I am absent due to IRL reasons, my Talossanity is rather like an unused gym membership; it is a club I am not attending for practical reasons. One might say any nationality is the same. It's all accident.

Yet I propose that I am Talossan - feel Talossan - even in my absence. I feel British, too. I don't believe that's simply a habit of mind inculcated by the amount of time spent on Witt, or in Britain. I think it has to do with identifying myself with something more numinous, more irreducible, than shared hobbies, shared resources, or shared physical space.

What is irreducible, what is numinous, what is absolute about Talossa that I share with you? Why is it we keep soldiering on after pointlessly unpleasant elections? Why have some Talossans weathered even more abuse so as to fight for Talossa and Talossanity - Ben's emotional bullying, or even the recent letter sent to Tim's former religious order?

Let me suggest it is something that may be music to the ears of some of my readers. This is what I believe binds us together: Dare Something Worthy.

If it's only Ben's interests that bind us together, there is reason for those interested in one theme to dismiss those interested in another. "I love Talossa because I love creating languages - those guys who are interested in heraldry and monarchy and stuff are weird Renaissance Fayre freaks who are forcing my conlanging to exist under the auspice of a fake King..." or again "I love this chance to imagine and experience this weird, bizarre monarchical system with its frippery and fanciness - those people calling for a Republic are taking this way too seriously, like it's a politics simulator to them..."

But what stands behind a desire to create a language - to experience a different way of thinking, of being, of being ruled - to work for a better political settlement than your own country? What do the conlangers, the history buffs, the budding politicians, all have in common?

Dare Something Worthy.

It is a desire to create, to expand, to go beyond - to model the development of language, to put aside the pseudo-democratic opinion of the majority and try monarchy, to make better, juster laws - it is, essentially, a shared "imaginative aspiration". We all aspire.

Sometimes we dismiss or attack the aspiration of other Talossans - I think that repulsive, because in dismissing it, we not only attack the very heart of our brother or sister (abhorrent enough), but we ascribe ourselves to a doctrine of self-negation, of self-dismissal. We cannot, in good conscience, do that - because we ALL aspire to not just dare something worthy, but to MAKE something worthy.

How can I dismiss the Republicanism of my fellow citizens? I can dispute it; I can even, in an informed manner, reject it (as I do, in Talossa and in Britain). But I cannot dismiss it, because Republicanism shares the same spirit, the same aspiration, as Progressivism. The fact I can return to Talossa, not as to my abandoned gym, but as to my home, is because conservatives and radicals in Talossa are, by their choice of citizenship, necessarily far more akin than conservatives and radicals in any other country. They chose Talossa because they dare something worthy. You all share my heart because of that - and I share yours.

Equally, of course, ZRTers can be guilty of the same crimes. In both private and public conversation, I've known Republicans dismiss the post-KR1 Kingdom as a childish fantasy, an indulgence in frippery - well, by their own words are they condemned, of course. I come as a guest here to rejoice in what we share - what remains when Witt and politics and every other visible sign is gone. I ask you to rejoice with me. Ignore those who slight you - but have integrity, and indeed self-respect...do not slight others and so yourselves. Now that - that would be an example of daring something worthy.

Well, that wasn't so short. I am so pleased that I share so much with you. I hope you feel the same. Now rock on and be excellent to one another.

[Óïn Ursüm]

The Chair thanks S:reu Edwards. The floor is now open for any responses to these remarks.

[Owen Edwards]

*Edwards leaves the convention chamber, sobbing*

[C. Carlüs Xheraltescù]

It was a good speech, and I'd like to thank S:reu Edwards for his time.