Regarding Zaolat, the past and the coming months
Joshua Ravenclaw, Pharaoh of Osiris It is often said in NationStates that public opinion, like its real life equivalent changes quickly depending on the actions and words of the people who hold influence. Like real life, NationStates has a mass of newspapers, rumour mills, gossip rags and other outlets for various purposes.
However, there are times when even a sensationalist newspaper (although I use that term loosely) would have trouble describing the events that happened in July 2013 with accuracy and understanding of why they happened and the effects they had on Osiris.
Zaolat was considered the spiritual founder of Osiris. He was the first legally elected delegate of the region and he took over from Wordy, Sichuan Pepper in November 2011 following an election on the NationStates forum, overseen by A Mean Old Man and beating several others, including Siam Meow (also known as The Grim Reaper) and Mahaj (the Chief of the Band for the United Defenders League) to the role.
Zaolat held office until February 2012, until Dalimbar took the delegacy in the first internal election Osiris had seen, although his reign was instrumental in passing the first constitution of Osiris, contained in the Book of the Dead.
The Book of the Dead: The loopholes contained in that book which allowed Dalimbar, Biyah, New Kervoskia, Minineenee and others to exploit Osiris for their own ends were created by the very people I have just named. I question now, for people who claim to be so experienced in the art of legislating, governing and all that it includes thereof, why did they not see the holes in these laws?
Perhaps, they sought an easy way to control Osiris in the future? They certainly had numerous opportunities to do so, and in December 2012, they used it. They expended their political capital (or did they?) on a completely inane plot to take the delegacy away from Mad Jack to “highlight the holes in the laws of Osiris”. Yet, I ask you again, how did the very people who wrote the laws not ‘realise’ the issues the laws had before they were voted on back in 2011?
Alas, Osiris was played. We were played well, and through our own inability to deal with our own problems privately, we allowed ourselves to be corralled like cattle by a small group of people who formed an oligarchy, even those involved in the “oligarchy” that was the executive were lumped in with the citizens who wanted nothing but Osiris to be the best.
Zaolat, the spiritual founder of the Kemetic Republic, was not immune to this. If anything, he was the key person in the region who was used as not just the sounding board for executive problems, but also found himself in the role of “horse whipping boy” as everyone decided that he had the answer to their problems… gradually, it begins to grate on you.
Gradually, as stress piles up in-game, you start looking for outs, ways and means to escape. Eventually, you don’t care or can’t find it in you to care about the damage, you just want out. I know how that feels, and in July, I felt the same and to judge someone for the exact same thing (only in their case, compounded by external stress) would be incredibly hypocritical of me.
Some things though, require time to recover from. In my case, I took a month and a half of rest and returned to Osiris calmer, rested with a fresh view and a lack of innocence regarding the actions of people I had to work with. In Zaolat’s case however, he was unable to return to Osiris, and conflicts began with Osiris and other regions where he resided or had been invited to reside in, for what Osiris felt were related to the our view that he had violated the Convention of Off-Site Property treaty with his actions, although it is a policy that Detective Figs did not maintain after he apologised for the events of that evening, and one that the Fraternal Order has not even considered revisiting (hypocrisy isn’t something I am fond of, nor was my predecessor, Venico). I believe that the original position we took on this was incorrect, and that it was a reaction born out of anger and embarrassment that such an event happened when we were fighting a war at the same time.
Following the events of July, Zaolat was declared persona non grata to any and all territories we held. Rightly or wrongly, that was the policy the Pharaoh decided, and it was one that we stuck to.
Therefore, as a conclusion to this rather lengthy recording of my thoughts, I would like to officially lift that status from Zaolat.
Sometimes, good people do bad things. Sometimes things get on top of us and we have no other ways to deal with it. Sometimes we find ourselves without choices.
One mistake should not damn someone for eternity, and it would be poor of Osiris to think otherwise.
It is my hope that Zaolat can become part of the future that we are forming from the desert sands of Osiris. Whilst there are some who have committed crimes beyond the pale against our Kingdom, Zaolat is not one of them, and to say otherwise would be an insult against anyone who has ever experienced prolong stress in relation to their NationStates commitments.
I think that this does serve as a lesson to us all, that NationStates is just as stressful as any real life venture, and that we need to be actively aware of the time we spend on this game and take steps to ensure that we put our own health first.
Pharaoh of Osiris, Nomarch of House Ravenclaw, Arch-Magister of Alexandria
