Thank you, Kay, for pointing out how the city of Ashtan is well-positioned strategically, with North of Thera as its doorway to the rest of the world. It is no wonder that Ashtan is often in the limelight of the world drama.

Taranis, the ability to "survey" is only useful for determining "some basic information about our surroundings from a simple glance". It is some data purely based upon the soils where you are standing at, be it city, road, forest, hill, river or desert. Most city dwellers who can't plant or harvest a thing don't care, except when they get lost. Remember too, not all of us care to train in this ability as a means of survival, while we often rely on our other abilities & talents to strive & survive in this world.

Like everyone else, in the times of Raphael I, the citizens of Ashtan paid their dues to the Church with the tolls charged on the use of the highways. Nowadays, the highways have become public access to all. The Church has benefited from constructing the highways and reaping the revenues. So have the cities prospered from using the highways and paying the tolls charged. Nobody is owing anyone anything anymore for the highways.

Since North of Thera is the doorway of Ashtan to the rest of the world, anyone found to be blocking Ashtan citizens from leaving & entering Ashtan -- via North of Thera, the city gates and the highway in between -- will be regarded as a bandit, a bully and an enemy. For the same reason, uninvited erection & sanctification of a shrine at Ashtan's doorway has long been seen as an act of aggression, whether as an intent of the church to expand its influence or as an individual attempt to bring terrorism & violence. It is due to the recent activities of certain miscreants & troublemakers from the far south that the Shadowsnakes guild has taken it upon themselves to incorporate wormholes into the whole city defence system.

Kalypso, my sympathies if you have got yourselves involved and counted as one of the b*tches in Dalamar's squad, but public opinion is public opinion. When you get a name for things said & done, the name will stick with you forever.

I wish to make use of this space here also to dispel any rumour or conjecture that the Shadowsnakes guild will get into a war with the Serpentlords guild in the seeable future. This is downright an untruth, a lie, a weak attempt on the part of certain warmongers to create dissent between us. Except for occasional misunderstanding among the young ones, our relations have never been this good. Rather, we have found ourselves to be sharing common enemies & goals, by which we are endeavouring to work on a more & more cooperative effort.

Mistral, for Ashtan, the shadows and the blue skies above

Penned by my hand on the 2nd of Chronos, in the year 239 AF.