Valruzia

[Aethan]

State funeral of Szymon Nowik

Nowogard streets flooded by mourning citizens on the last farewell for Valruzia's modern architect

January 5701

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From the first hours of the morning, a quiet, steady rain fell over Nowogard, softening the sound of footsteps and blurring the flags that hung at half-mast across the capital. It was not a storm, nor a downpour – just enough to slow the city, to force heads downward, to turn the farewell into something intimate and solemn. Valruzia woke up that morning knowing it was about to say goodbye to the man who had shaped its modern life more than any other, one that many, perhaps childishly, thought was gonna live forever. But maybe in a certain way, he will.

After two days lying in state at the Sejm building, where hundreds of thousands – and by some estimates, over two million – citizens filed past his coffin in silence to pay their respects to their former Chancellor, queueing for hours from morning until dusk, Szymon Nowik's final journey began shortly after mid-morning. The square outside parliament, guarded discreetly by police and ceremonial units, had long overflowed. People stood shoulder to shoulder, wrapped in coats and umbrellas, holding flowers, photographs and handwritten notes bearing a single word repeated endlessly: "Dziękuję", thank you.

The coffin, draped in the Valruzian flag, was carried slowly down the steps of the Sejm as bells rang across the city. No chants followed, no slogans, only applause, rising and falling like a tide, punctuated by moments of complete silence. For many, it was the same silence they remembered from his farewell speech decades earlier, when he spoke not as a ruler but as a citizen preparing to step aside. For others, it simply was an overwhelming sensation, wrapped in the most solemn atmosphere, of bidding farewell to a person who generated a social consensus that will probably not be repeated for a long time.

The procession moved through streets transformed into corridors of mourning. From their balconies and windows, citizens leaned out to watch; some crossed themselves, others raised their fists to their hearts, others threw flowers. Trains and buses across the country paused for a minute at noon. In rural towns, church bells rang in unison with sirens. Valruzia, for just one day, moved to a single rhythm, beat like a single heart.

At the national memorial grounds, the ceremony followed a state protocol accompained by personal remembrances from those who knew him. President Urszula Pawlik, Chancellor Krystian Barela, , the Marshall of the Sejm, former chancellors, national and regional deputies and Marshalls of the Voivodeships and a great number of distinct Valruzian authorities from very diverse worlds such as scientific, arts, labor or diplomacy were joined by distinctive foreign delegations, including Kalistan's Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto and Her Highness, Princess of the Empire Nicolette Ananto-Collins along with her husband Sir Andrew Rohrbach; Bianjie's Premier Niohon Dusan; Lodamun's President Robert Hartman; Vorona's Chief Secretary Damion Lee; Imperial Majesty, Emperor William XI and Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Victoria Mary on behalf of Luthori and Mordusia; Premier Metok from Xsampa and Istalia's Empress Eleonora and Prince Consort Marco, among others, perhaps a reflection of the international breadth of Nowik’s legacy.

"We always like to say something that is true: that Valruzia does not forget. And that can be applied today, too" said President of Valruzia Urszula Pawlik. "Valruzia will not forget the legacy that Chancellor Szymon Nowik brought to us, nor we will forget those that, today, decided to accompany a nation in mourning to share our pain and sadness".

"When I think about him, I see him much more than simply a father; he was a moral guide, he was a teacher, he was a personification of the best that the Valruzian spirit could offer" said his son Iwan Nowik in his opening speech. Chancellor of Valruzia Krystian Barela mentioned that it was "in a way, poetic" to say farewell to him at the start of the new century, "after he managed to envision what Valruzia should look like by this time". 

The message of Nowik children deliberately avoided political rhetoric. They spoke not as former Chancellors, but as a son and a daughter remembering the man behind the institutions. They recalled evenings spent debating policy drafts around the kitchen table long after official meetings had ended, and a father who insisted that public office was never a possession, only a responsibility temporarily entrusted.

"Valruzians knew him as a builder of systems" said Klaudia Nowik. "But we also knew him as someone who believed that power only matters if it is used to protect others. Everything we later did in public life began there".

As the coffin entered the Mausoleum of Heroes, Szymon Nowik's final resting place, the rain finally stopped while Valruzia's national anthem, Forever Standing High, started to be played by Valruzia's Military Band. Clouds broke just enough to let light fall across the memorial grounds, drawing a collective breath from the crowd. Some wept openly. Others stood still, hands clasped, eyes closed. As the national anthem says in its refrain:

"Valruzia is our country
Our banner faces the sky
With our language we cry out strong
Forever standing high!"

Three days of national mourning will continue, but for many Valruzians, this day marked the true end of an era. Szymon Nowik is gone, yet the institutions he built, the rights he defended, and the future he insisted was possible remain. As one handwritten sign left among the flowers read:

"You taught us how to build a country. Now we must learn how to carry it forward."