from The Essential Paradise
Doc. 5.09.
Belonger is a classification of legal status applicable in The British Paradise Islands, as featured in the Two Paradises fiction/fantasy realm devised by author Jonnie Comet.
Provisions
The belonger is one with inalienable rights to citizenship and residency in the territory, typically by birth or by direct family connection; but the status can also be conferred, typically by the sovereign or by the governor-general in the name of the sovereign, given appropriate circumstances. It is a legal distinction, denoting a class of rights and responsibilities within the greater category of British Overseas Territories citizenship, which may or may not imply that of British citizenship. The Paradisian belonger has the right to vote, to attend public school and to have a BPI passport. The belonger is typically expected to pay taxes and to participate in Paradisian community even whilst abroad such as for education or work.
The status of belonger is unique in Paradise in that, by law, it is inalienable; unlike the status of resident or that of a tourist it cannot be stripped from one to whom it has been granted through application and acceptance, nor from one who gains it by royal bestowal, nor from one who possesses such status as a birthright. By contrast, a regular resident ('liver') may have many benefits and responsibilities similar to those of a belonger, but his residency is always considered temporary (as in 'temporal') and the resident has not the belonger's unconditional right to return to Paradise, after even a very protracted absence, and to consider the territory his permanent homeland.
This distinction is implied in the patriotic territorial creed of 'Once a Paradisian, always a Paradisian'. The phrase is believed to have been adapted from one in the novel The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, (likely through Sir David Holloway, a belonger by bestowal and noted CS Lewis fan).
Appearance in the stories
Most of the characters of the Two Paradises fantasy/fiction realm who are resident in The British Paradise Islands are belongers, as the various story series focus on their point of view as compared to the viewpoint of Western visitors.
Jonathan Cavaliere and David Holloway, their children (including Susie, whom the Cavalieres adopt at age 5 years), all American-born, their wives, Jeanne Banfield Cavaliere who was born in Denmark and Lynda Byrdsong Holloway who was born in Britain, and even some of their close household and personal staff, become belongers by conferral when Cavaliere and Holloway are each knighted KCMG in the 1988 Birthday List.
Chloe Jamison and her parents, all three having been born in New Zealand, are belongers by bestowal as well.
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