Kalistan

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Obituary: John Rincon, celebrated "Duke of Kaliburg" dies
Lord Mayor reads official proclamation from Her Imperial Majesty at public memorial
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
September 4, 5708


John Rincon, a local indigent and self described "Duke of Kaliburg" was loved by the community

Mr. John Rincon, who achieved a degree of celebrity in the Capital, primarily for referring to himself as the "Duke of Kaliburg", died last week at the age of 46. Mr. Rincon was a homeless man who it was believed also suffered from mental illness, and who lived his life wandering in the streets of Kaliburg. He had a reputation for always greeting people with a positive word and a smile, was a regular at local music venues, and became something of a cult figure among many in Kaliburg. The recent Thomas Jones record was even named in his honor.

Very little is known about Mr. Rincon's early life. It is believed, though this has not been confirmed, that he was mustered out of National Service early for an unspecified medical reason, possibly related to his mental health. He attempted to hold various jobs in Kaliburg, either as a dock worker at Port Davon, or as a construction laborer, but it soon became clear to him that his mental illness, which caused him to hear voices and led to him losing sleep regularly prevented him from holding steady employment. He entered the hospital multiple times in his 20s and was under therapy for his illness, but eventually he simply stopped reporting to services and took up life on the street.

He first came to the community's attention when in 5692, he happened upon a large house fire in downtown Kaliburg, and through his efforts, which were at the time, verified by eye witnesses, he went into the burning house and emerged with the three children who were trapped in the home. Entering the house again, he dragged out the woman of the house, who was unconscious from smoke inhalation. Firefighters arrived on the scene as he was emerging from the home and administered CPR, saving her life. Stories spread about him after that and the Lord Mayor of Kaliburg, at that time wanted to present him a commendation from the City for saving the lives of this family, but they were unable to find him.

But later he re-emerged in public and took to strolling in downtown Kaliburg nightly, greeting everyone he met with a smile and a tip of his cap. Those who recognized him from his heroic deed began offering to take him out for dinner, or buying him clothes, or helping him get out of the weather when he needed, and his fame continued to grow until restaurants he liked in downtown Kaliburg began offering him "lines of credit" to thank him for saving the lives. These lines of credit were in reality a running tab that he was never expected to pay off--it became practice for the tabs to be made public and occasionally, almost as an event people would go to those restaurants and offer to pay Mr. Rincon's tab. Soon other establishments began offering him similar arrangements.

He would come and go irregularly, but whenever he was sighted, people would speak about him. In 5698, he took out an advertisement in the local Kaliburg newspaper which invited all residents of the "City of Kaliburg and Port Davon" to attend a short lecture and proclamation that Mr. Rincon would deliver on the steps of the National Assembly. About 450 residents of Kaliburg actually attended the event and Mr. Rincon, in his signature suit, called them all close to read a proclamation.

The language was as follows:

"At the request of the large number of the Citizens of the Anantonese Empire consisting of the Empire of Ananto and Kalistan and the Kingdom of Gaduridos, I Johnathan Rincon the first of my name, do declare myself to be Duke of the Grand City of Kaliburg and Port Davon, and hereby require an immediate convocation of the National Government to confirm their recognition of this title, and hereby ordain the Lord Mayor and City council of Kaliburg and Port Davon to heed the same, signed His Grace, Johnathan Rincon, Duke of Kaliburg."

The crowd who had assembled, were perhaps fans of Mr. Rincon, and all cheered for Mr. Rincon and acclaimed him the Duke of Kaliburg.

The proclamation was printed in the newspaper under the headline "Curious News": There were a couple issues with the claim, said the editor. First of all, Kaliburg is not a duchy, and second of all, Dukes are named by the Empress, not self proclaimed. Nonetheless the event was treated as an interesting tidbit and most people assumed that he was merely a crazy man and indulging him in his fantasy would not hurt anyone or anything.

Over the next ten years, Mr. Rincon was actually referred to as Your Grace whenever he went into a business establishment. The newspaper allowed him several opportunities to write guest columns where he expressed his views on politics of the day, as well as business and international affairs. He generally wrote in favor of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto, and said he intended to make a meeting with her on several occasions to discuss reforms, but never got around to it. In 5704, he suggested that the Institutional Party should be abolished because they stand in the way of Her Imperial Majesty speaking directly with the people, but then convinced himself, in the same column, that perhaps "...they do occasionally do some good, so we will allow them to stay so long as they keep doing the people's business." He advocated for greater charity from businesses to the poor of the City, and called for expansion of National Service for all. All the while, more and more people recognized him and when they saw him in the streets, showed him the same sort of courtesy they would show him if he was actually a Duke. He was even granted a free apartment for life in the Westwood building in Lolla, "as a gift of the people of Kaliburg and Port Davon to His Grace, the Duke of Kaliburg," though he reportedly rarely lived there and preferred being outside much of the year.

Crowd begins assembling for Public Memorial for Mr. Rincon in Kaliburg earlier this week

Following the abolition of the Anantonese Empire, Rincon himself attempted to propose a new currency for Kalistan. His drawings, which he provided to the Kaliburg press were hand drawn but were surprisingly detailed. The bills were largely pink in color and were denominated in dollars and cents. But by the time they were passed up to the Finance Ministry by one of Rincon's supporters, the decision had already been made to move to the Peso. He was also fond of passing out "1 Dollar" tokens to people, especially people who were unhoused in the capital, telling them that several businesses in downtown Kaliburg would accept them for a free meal. And sure enough, many of those restaurants where Mr. Rincon kept a running tab did indeed accept these tokens, adding the cost of the meal to his own tab.

Rincon was frequently seen at music venues passing out business cards that he had made for himself, which had a smiley face on them and the motto "Today is a good day" along with his name on the back and his occupation listed as Duke of Kaliburg and Newspaper Columnist. It is believed that one of these cards was given to Thomas Jones while he was making his record, and the title became the title of his album The Duke of Kaliburg, which recently hit number one on the KRTVN Radio 1 Top 100 Albums chart.

In July of this year, it is believed that Mr. Rincon contracted a severe infection in a cut on his foot. He waited too long to go to the hospital and by the time he arrived at the ER in late August, his blood had already become infected, and he was beginning to experience organ failure. Doctors did all they could to save him but he died on the night of August 27 this year. Funeral arrangements were made by his now legion of supporters in Kaliburg, and he was buried in Imperial Cemetery in a simple grave with a headstone that read "Here Lies Mr Johnathan Rincon. Long live the Duke of Kaliburg." At the public memorial for Mr. Rincon, attended by more than 3000 at the National Assembly, Lord Mayor Jose Betancourt read a proclamation:

"From the Hand of Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto. We do hereby posthumously declare the man formerly known as Mr. Johnathan William Rincon, of Kaliburg and nearby environs, now deceased, to be the Duke of Kaliburg. This title shall be created for him alone, is nontransferable and shall be his sole possession in the afterlife from now until the end of history. We do also ordain that all debts incurred by the Duke of Kaliburg to be hereby purchased by House Ananto, for which we shall make remission, cent for cent to those who own outstanding debts belonging to His Grace. This is our will and as such is beyond question. Signed Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto, and etc."

The outstanding debts that Mr. Rincon had with local merchants totaled ₭238.48, most of which was for a suit that he purchased for himself for a portrait that he had commissioned in March. The crowd, assembled to pay tribute to the local celebrity turned Noble celebrated the proclamation, and in his honor, enjoyed a free concert on the National Mall, which featured a guest appearance by Mr. Thomas Jones himself.

RIP Mr. John Rincon, Duke of Kaliburg.

@LaModa