Hello Everyone,

The intent of this missive is to respond to the most recent
spate of "Shallam bashing" posts which have appeared on this
board. To Ransom's betrayal of the Naga, I will respond in
a subsequent post.

The person I first wish to address is Reznik. What Reznik
says is true, he and his comrades did come into Shallam, they
did "peacefully praise Eris" (although how peaceful it was is
a matter of opinion), they were asked to desist, one them was
enemied and one of them did die as a result. Reznik himself
was not enemied. His posting small parts of my conversation with
with him and the rhetoric which follows seems disingenuous to me,
but people can decide that for themselves.

I regret that Belarius died. As I said in my conversation with
Reznik, I would would have preferred to speak with him myself,
and did in fact travel to Fish Street for that purpose. By
the time I arrived, a Shallam vizier decided that there was
sufficient reason to enemy him, and the ensuing mayhem (guards
running around all over the place) made any form of conversation
pretty much impossible. Greywolf's assessment of what happened
is essentially correct (See public 10121). While spurious
enemying occasionally does happen in any city (I myself was once
enemied to Ashtan for buying buckets there during landmarking season,
in the city of freedom that allows its citizens to sanctify or
defile as they see fit!) this was *not* the case with Belarius.
It happened more quickly than I would have liked, and perhaps
could have been avoided had we had a chance to talk, but it was
entirely justified. (Interested parties can refer to sections
VIII and XV of the Laws of Shallam.)

My request to have a conversation with Reznik, rather than simply
quoting chapter and verse from our Laws, stemmed from my desire
to honestly understand the purpose behind his actions and to
come to an understanding that would prevent these difficulties
in the future. In the part of our conversation that Reznik chose
-not- to relate (for he seems to have only revealed the parts
which support his own position), I pointed out to him that if
his goal was to disseminate information regarding Eris, Her
teachings, etc., one-on-one communication with genuine content,
rather than yelling "generic praises", would be far more effective.
I was also very clear that he can come to Shallam and talk to
individuals about Eris or anything else he chooses, as long as
he is not harrassing citizens or posing a threat to the city in
any way. He cannot, however, subject the entire city to his
"peaceful praisings of Eris". It is harassment and it is
disrespectful to the citizens of a city that is based on
order.

To Iliana and her dismay at the Basilica totems being tuned
against Sartan, Eris and Twilight order members, Dresden
responded to that in her public post 10122. The Church tunes
the Basilica totems against whomever they see fit, and Shallam
supports them in this. Shallam totems are tuned against
Shallam enemies, period. People from the orders of Sartan,
Eris or Twilight are free to visit Shallam at any time, as long
as they do not break laws and behave respectfully while they
are in the city.

Regarding entities, Occultist entities are creatures directly
from the Chaos Planes, the Sentinels' pets are just normal animals.
Chaos entities spread chaos wherever they go. Shallam is a city
that strives for order. It is completely reasonable that we do not
want what are essentially big blobs of chaos being dragged around our
city.

So...to review: Shallam is based on the ideals of good, order
and light. Evil, chaos and darkness are the antithesis of these.
Shallam is not the city of "do whatever the hell you want".
We have standards for behaviour, both for citizens and guests.
One of those standards is being respectful of our laws and ideals
while you are a guest in our city. You don't have to like them,
you don't have to agree with them, but if you disrespect them
while you are a guest in our city, you will not be welcome in
Shallam for long. And yes, praising the Goddess of Chaos in
yells on the streets of Shallam is considered disrespectful
to our ideals, same would go for Sartan or Twilight.

As a final note, I would like to say that Sir Brinn, the vizier
who enemied Balerius, has stated on Shallam news that the content
of what Reznik and his comrades were yelling had nothing to do
with his decision to enemy. I would like to apologize to him
for misrepresenting his motivations in my conversation with Reznik.
Personally, for me, the content made a big difference. If Reznik
and company had been yelling about, say, blueberry pancakes, it would
have been of much less concern to me, unless it became excessive.
I was ascribing my own feelings to Sir Brinn, I should not have.

Most sincerely,

Solar Stormcrow Skar'Akai

Penned by my hand on the 20th of Daedalan, in the year 317 AF.