Kalistan

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Crown Prince Says he will not wear Hulanevek Diamond
Joins a growing community expressing belief that gem is cursed
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
September 9, 5665


The Hulanevek Diamond, last seen on the Forehead of Her Imperial Majesty in 5562

His Highness, The Crown Prince Fredrick Ananto-Collins, in a casual discussion with style reporters concerning his return to civilian life, said he will not wear the Hulanevek Diamond at any point during his reign. "Oh yeah, it's cursed. Everyone knows that..." he said candidly to reporters. "That gem may only be worn with impunity by a woman. Any man who wears it does so at his own mortal peril. No, I'm not even going to touch that thing. It's just going to stay right where it is at. I know too much about it." The statement sent researchers scrambling for information to back up that claim, and to the surprise of the researchers, that seems to be a fairly common view held by many.

As a matter of fact, it was believed to be subject to a non specific curse as late as 5591 when Kalistan had the gem verified by Yeudi culture specialists. The Republic itself wrote about the fact that it was believed to be cursed. When the new, jewel inlaid Imperial Seat was unveiled in 5651, it was reported that Her Imperial Majesty herself believed the diamond to be cursed and then rumors of the curse were repeated once more in the press 11 years later, when Her Imperial Majesty wore the diamond to the National Opera. Clearly, at least the Royal Family believes it to be cursed, so we wondered why they might believe that.

Apparently, belief in a curse on the diamond stretches back at least since the diamond's arrival in Kalistan. We asked Professor Ronald ben Ari, professor of Yeudi Studies at University of Suldanor if he had ever heard of a curse on the diamond. "Well," said the professor, "very little is actually known about the diamond or its sister stones. We do believe they were crafted around 6000 years ago by a legendary figure named Elior in what is now called Amudim. These gems were laid in a crown worn by someone named Ismael I, who it turns out was also legendary, until they were prized out of the crown by a thief and distributed to the four corners of Terra. After that, the story gets a bit murky."

The gems then began resurfacing several hundred years ago, and one made its way from Kundrati, when it was still a a republic, and was given by the Hulaneveks of Kundrati to Pavlina Hulanevek as a wedding present for her daughter Carolina. It was believed that it was handed over for safe keeping, but not long after the transfer, Kundrati fell to fascism, and it turned out that bringing the diamond to Kalistan had been a wise move on the part of the Hulaneveks, as it is highly likely that the Legion would have sold the diamond for incalculable sums of money to fund their war machine. "Its possible that bringing the diamond to Kalistan saved a lot of Kalistani lives in the wars which would begin soon after the transfer," said Dr. Ben Ari.

And the diamond has been in Kalistan ever since. But this still did not get to our question about historical evidence of a curse on the stone. "Who can say about a curse," said the Professor. "I mean. Let's be reasonable. We live in the 57th Century. And yet people still believe that if you break a mirror or walk under a ladder or pick up a centavo on the ground, you can change your luck. It's ridiculous, but for those who believe it, it changes their behavior: So if they act like there is a curse on the stone, there will be a curse on the stone, and they won't wear or, or display it, or do anything with it. Does that mean there is an objective curse on the stone though? I mean, how can we even measure it?"

The Crown Prince was asked why he believes there is a curse on the stone, and he answered, "Its obvious, isn't it? My mother wore it, my great grandmother wore it, and nothing bad has happened to them. And my grandfather wore it, and he died tragically in a plane crash. So... You tell me how there is NOT a curse on the stone." To some degree, though this study has an unreliably small sample size, what the Crown Prince said is historically accurate. He said he does not intend to find out whether it works that way for him. "I don't need to test a curse to see if it works," said the Crown Prince.

Curse or not, the Crown Prince says he has no intention of ever returning the diamond. "For starters, it belongs to my mother," said Crown Prince Fredrick. "It's not mine to return. But when it is, I will return it over my own dead body. Kundrati will never see that diamond in Artania again. This is a matter of national pride, and I would sooner crush it into dust and sprinkle it into the Ananto Strait than return it to Kundrati." Asked what about the Yeudi people in Beiteynu, the Crown Prince smiled: "We didn't get it from Beiteynu, did we?"

The Crown Prince dismissed the discussion about the cursed Hulanevek Diamond deftly: "Her [The Empress'] gem vault contains so many gems, I am certain I could pick fifteen gems right now of at least as good clarity and perfection as the Hulanevek Diamond, have them cut into stones that are fit for a Kalistani Emperor and wear them around. But amethyst will feature heavily in my regalia, not diamonds. It is a much more regal color and far more suitable. On the other hand, I am not my mother either. Less is more, in my opinion. I will leave the adornment for my Consort, whomever that may be." This deflection took the conversation away from the Diamond, and onto the Crown Prince's dating life, (apparently he began officially dating a supermodel recently).

As Professor Ben Ari noted, as long as the Anantos believe there is a curse on the stone, which prevents men from wearing it, male Anantos will not wear it. Apparently, whether a lot of people know about this curse or not, those who do know about it aim to treat it as if it is cursed, and so, when Mary abdicates and the Gem horde goes to Fredrick, it will be a very long time before we see the diamond in public again.

@LaModa