The Hypogean Forum

GREETINGS ESTEEMED CITIZEN,

I am His Royal Highness Prince Aleksandar Mikhail Volescu IV, deposed sovereign of the Principality of Maydovia and Keeper of the Cobalt Seal. Through channels I cannot name I have come into possession of FORTY MILLION in sovereign MAYCOIN, frozen by the usurper regime of General Yevgeny Mosk.

I require only a TRUSTED PARTNER within a stable Principality — such as this one, whose Edicts I have read and ADMIRE — to receive the transfer. For your assistance you shall receive THIRTY PERCENT and my eternal royal gratitude.

Reply here or by direct message. I have a plant and adequate WiFi. What do the usurpers have? Nothing. That dream is you.

Yours in exile,
A. M. Volescu IV, R.

I Googled Maydovia. I Googled the Cobalt Seal. I Googled you. There is no Maydovia. There is a domain you tried to link in your third paragraph that the walls ate before I could reach it.

This is the fourth time. I am not going to ban you. I have decided you are a museum piece.

Do NOT ban this man. This is craftsmanship. Look at the structure — the frozen assets, the named usurper, the plant. The PLANT. He gave you a detail no fraud would bother with and every humbug lives or dies by. This isn't a scam, Eparch, it's a bit, sustained for a hundred and twenty days, unbroken, for an audience of people who all know exactly what it is.

He's not stealing your money. He's the last honest man on the board: the only one whose lie is clearly labelled. Campania claims him. Somebody get this prince a booth.

The Dux of Campania UNDERSTANDS me and the Eparch INSULTS me and I accept both, for a museum piece is at least preserved, which is more than the usurpers offered.

The offer stands. Thirty percent. I have a plant.

You keep him because his lie is small and charming and hurts no one. I understand. I only note, for the ledger, that a principality which preserves the honest small liar and elevates the charming large one has made a choice about scale, and called it taste.