A Whirlwind of Greatness
Awarding the Violet Jewel of Atum - 30 July 2014
As I was compiling our history of honors to create the new Shrine of Honors, it once again struck me as it has in the past that there is a glaring omission. While all of those who have been honored since inception of the Osiris Fraternal Order are quite deserving of the honors they have received, none, and perhaps no one in the history of Osiris, are more deserving than the person I have the pleasure of honoring today. I had intended to wait until the Festival of Osiris on August 4, but this is an honor that is already long overdue and shouldn't wait a day longer.
Astarial, or Detective Figs I if you would prefer (and she would!), has served as Pharaoh of Osiris, but to this region and this community she has been so much more than that. She first served in Osiran government as a member of the Sepatarchy, the elected legislature of the Kemetic Republic, at a critical point in Osiran history following the December 2012 coup d'etat by Empire. With her fellow Sepatarchs, she proposed radical reforms to the Osiran government, reforms for which the region wasn't ready. She nonetheless vigorously debated in favor of these changes, chief among them the transition from an elected legislature to an assembly, from Sepatarchy to Deshret.
Her service to Osiris following her time on the Sepatarchy can only be described as a whirlwind of greatness. From reluctant running mate in June 2013, to wartime Kai Repat (Vice Delegate) throughout July 2013, she was my closest advisor during my first term as Pharaoh, and at times the loyal and private, but fierce opposition. She was right and I was wrong on more occasions than I would care to admit. During her time as Kai Repat, her commitment to doing what she believed was in the best interests of Osiris never wavered.
When I was forced by personal real life tragedy to take a leave of absence in August and finally to resign in September, she stepped up in a way that I could not have anticipated and would never have expected. She didn't do what some stifling document written in 2011 mandated, but rather what Osiris needed. She left the aptly named Book of the Dead to its rightful death and she dissolved the Kemetic Republic of Osiris, paving the way for reforms that had stalled in constitutional convention. In so doing, she showed more courage than any Pharaoh who preceded her, many of whom knew as well as she did that the government of Osiris was fatally flawed at its core but were too afraid to do what was necessary.
Conflict erupted shortly after the Kemetic Republic was dissolved. Conflict had always been inevitable. At first enthusiastically supportive of the dissolution, the core group of Empire quickly turned against the new interim government. Their iron grip on Osiris threatened by destruction of the institutions that had guaranteed their hold, institutions they had hand crafted with intentionally designed flaws they could exploit, Empire began to demand "structure" and "authority" when they could see that the Reformation of Detective Figs would not become the Empire of Osiris. Through their relentless siege of obstruction and their petty intimidation tactics, Asta would not submit to their demands. Indeed, she did not even do so in her resignation, selecting Venico rather than a member of Empire to succeed her.
Even after Asta's departure from Osiris, her legacy lives on. The nation Detective Figs has stood ready to protect Osiris for more than a year, serving as the nation of three Pharaohs: Asta herself, Ambroscus Koth, and Severisen Montresor. The Deshret that she championed now stands as the centerpiece of the Osiris Fraternal Order, a far more democratic government than its predecessor, the Kemetic Republic. Her goal of a minimalist security council whose sole responsibility is to protect this region has been realized in our Atef. Checks on executive power, entrenched rights of citizenship, a functional judiciary, and an active community invested in its own future -- all reforms for which she fought, all institutions that have begun to flourish in the Osiris Fraternal Order.
It is not an exaggeration to say that, if not for the contributions Asta made to Osiris, the Osiris Fraternal Order would not exist today. The Deshret of Osiris may not exist today, and certainly not as the fully empowered legislature that it has become. Respect for the rule of law, for due process, for basic mutual respect and community self-ownership, concepts totally foreign to the Kemetic Republic of Osiris, are now taken for granted by citizens of the Osiris Fraternal Order. You, and I, have Asta to thank for that. None of this would have happened without her. None of the rest of us who preceded her were courageous enough, strong enough, to stand up for what was right for Osiris and to stand against what was wrong with Osiris.
That is why, while I thank my predecessor Severisen for awarding me the Violet Jewel of Atum, I can't let another minute pass in which I am so honored and Asta is not. She is far more deserving of such an honor. As Pharaoh of the Osiris Fraternal Order, I hereby award Astarial, Detective Figs I with the Violet Jewel of Atum, the highest honor of the Osiris Fraternal Order. Should she ever return to citizenship in Osiris, honored citizenship will await her. Additionally, I grant her the Seal of Vigilance, the highest Pharaonic honor of the Osiris Fraternal Order, and should she return to Osiris in the future I bestow on her the title Nomarch of al-Qāhirah and Lady of House Dion-Diablessa in Osiris.
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