Syn's Resignation as Nathran of Huruk-Rah
A Plague Upon Us
The following is a transcript of Syn's resignation as Nathran of the clan Huruk-Rah. This speech was given before the Sejm of Falleen Clans early in the morning on Year 14 Day 27.
Fellow Nathrans, associates, friends--
It is with great sorrow that I stand before you this day, for what I fear shall be the final time. I have spent much of the past several years at Ylesia in the Cha Raaba system, where I received regular visitors and deliveries of supplies. It was unknown to me that one of the sentients delivering some bacta to me had arrived directly from such a delivery on Derra, following the recent breakout of senseless and tragic violence there, and had in the process become a carrier for the Metamorphosis Plague.
I began to suffer symptoms only days after his departure from Ylesia. Xylah, my faithful personal medic over the last few decades and a lesser clansman of Huruk-Rah, diagnosed me with a slow-acting strain of this plague. Although I stand before you appearing as I have for centuries, if perhaps somewhat paler and weaker of constitution, the plague continues to ravage my body and has begun to leave me bedridden many hours of each day for this last week.
Fortunately I can assure you all that I am no longer contagious or I would not have risked your safety in coming here this day, but I know not whether I will survive this ordeal in the end. Only one fact I do know: this plague directly and irreparably alters the DNA of its victims. I know not whether I will be alive or dead, but in the end I will be no Falleen, not as I once was.
Huruk-Rah is a proud and noble clan. We descend from the four Falleen kings of old and we place much value on our history and on our standards, and these attributes cannot ever be taken from us by those who would seek to do us harm. Moreover, we value our purity. None can formally marry into Huruk-Rah, as even the strongest spiritual bond does not truly bind as blood; only the offspring of a Huruk-Rah clansman can truly call himself Huruk-Rah. To lose one's genetic purity in such a way previously believed impossible, if not altogether inconceivable, is to lose one's identity, one's history, and one's purity of blood.
In this state, and in whatever state the future may hold for me, I can no longer be called a true descendant. The blood tests upon which we rely must speak the truth, and my respect for and faithfulness to my people whom I have led since the death of Nathran Jace Meridan at the Battle of Beta demands that I honour our standards and our way of life. Our history and our purity of blood must remain intact, above all else. We must instill in our culture a sense of continuity and loyalty. I see that I must turn my back on all that I have held dear over the years if I am to honour our proud heritage. I must walk away from my own family, the only family that I have known, because it is all that I have left to give. My position of cultural leadership demands such a decision, even as my love for my people mourns it.
To matters of the Huruk-Rah, my beloved family: It seems only fitting to leave leadership of the clan in the hands of its Tizmarat, one of my long time trusted Ta'Shirs and friends, Jado Dur`rik. Between his tutelage under Prince Tholin and his work with the Falleen Federation, I have no doubt that he will uphold all that Huruk-Rah stands for--all that I shall myself continue to stand for as well, until I draw my last breath. Traditionally our people may challenge the reigning Nathran for this position by bloodshed, but since the days of Prince Meridan, we have come to practice peaceful understanding. Perhaps enough Falleen blood has been shed.
I know not whether I can remain the heir to my royal line or whether blood ties can be broken by disease and mutation, but such is not a decision for the Nathran of past, one connected to the heart of this very matter, to rule upon, but instead for the Nathran of future. I do as I must and as is best for us all, whether as a trusted elder or as a once-princess cast out. I shall accept such matters with dignity and grace, as I have always done.
Lastly, I beg all of you not to underestimate these matters most grave. Forget not our past: the biological and genocidal experiments carried out by the Galactic Empire on Falleen Prime itself, those decades when the soil ran dark with the blood of our ancestors, our friends, and our brothers. One of our own--the half-breed Tembre Fe`ll of Huruk-Rah and my own husband before he was taken by the madness--was the result of such biological experimentation, and countless Falleen met their demise at the hands of the Empire. Notice, as you will, that the Empire alone, of all of the galaxy's expansive governments, remains free of this plague. This can be no coincidence, for a government renowned for its biological experimentation and xenophobia over the centuries to surreptitiously rear its ugly head and reveal yet again its deceitful and bigoted nature by repeating such tragedies generations later. But we are long-lived and must not forget. We were victims once before and we cannot stand idly by without holding the hated Empire responsible for its devastating actions that prove threatening yet again. This will never end until that evil institution perishes once and for all.
With those final thoughts, it is with the heaviest of hearts that I must bid you, the Sejm--my peers, my family--farewell. I cannot remain here among you. My continued presence would be but a farce; an echo of an august past. Know that you may call on me for any assistance or favours that I might have the capacity to provide, and I will remain a faithful ally of Huruk-Rah and of the Falleen people for all my days, however they may yet number.
And, please, take care of yourselves until this emergency passes. We have already lost enough.
