Zilch

Zilch is a hypothesis. As described in the -50s by Regg Wallinger, it is "the act of making nonexistent any person, place or thing by omitting to speak of said person, place or thing." Obviously, this theory is quite controversial and has many detractors – none more outspoken than Professor Dos’lhork who unequivocally states that, "any such demonstration of absence affecting being is absurd nonsense, and fully a load of spiff!" It is not dissimilar to Absolute Erasure but neither is it corollary to it. Proponents of said thesis say that such pro-active arguments are without due and unfair as they neglect the passive stance of said idea: namely that by not doing one has indeed done.

One item which is given as proof of the theory of zilch is the matter of Daffe Lok. It is a matter of public record and loremastery that Lord Glosfordshier, in his control of Iganefta, made use of the public execution as a form of keeping the civil peace; indeed, the record shows that many lost their heads during that time. There are whispers, however, that this is not completely true. Rumors abound that he accomplished an even greater peace by his use of what was then named the "cold shoulder." After careful reconstruction of various documents from that time, as well as the tales of the current loremasters and gleanings from the few long-standing families within Iganefta, zilch proponents have come to the conclusion that, in -259 EC (a full seven years prior to Glosfordshier’s eventual defeat), there was a man who stood up against the dictator.

His name is unremembered and unknown (though he has been given the name Daffe Lok by modern scholars so that they can speak of him), his actions are equally unrecallable, indeed, even his fate is a blank to our known reality; but when the tapestry of known events from -261 EC to -255 EC are inspected within the lens of zilchohistory, a disturbing absence of completeness emerges that shocks the relative calm of those who regularly delve into such matters. At least so says Ned Altocks, subclerk to the High Librarian of Bute University. Ed Tickal, clerk to the Librarian Third-Staff of Folktown University, however, has put on the record that the absence of any tale recounting a would-be despot despoiler is not a proof of his presence at all. The fact that the libraries of these two universities are competitors in both academic and publishing venues has only put a further inkblot on the merits of anything that said clerks have to say.

One odd tidbit of the mudslinging by the proposing and opposing parties in regard to this hypothesis is the rumor that members of the Darvekian Party are behind it all. Why this would be so is beyond the thoughts of this here author.

Citations: Absolute Erasure, Darvekian Party, High Librarian.

--Nikos of Ant 01:11, 18 November 2005 (EST)