The main topic of conversation that I enjoy with my husband these days,
centers around the idea that it is somehow everyone's right to join any
city they wish, no matter if their personal belief systems are congruent
with that city's or not. I find it infinitely amusing that so many
people are seeking escape from Ashtan and Hashan in lieu of Cyrene's
greener pastures.

And why is Cyrene a city that is so sought after? Has anyone thought
that perhaps it is due to the Twelve Tables and their specific
restrictions on who is allowed the =privilege= of citizenship? Or do you
really despise the cities that bear the mark of your chosen orders and
ways of life?

This leads me to questions...

Did you join the Order of War to make friends? Or to conquer and feel
the strong pulse of bloodlust in your veins, the wildness of battle?

Did you join the Dark Order to have any option of city membership, any
whim of yours met? Or to seek that fabled Dark enlightenment (pardon the
oxymoron) and freedom from the bonds of the 'ignorant heathens played
out like pawns in city and guild'?

Did you join the ways of Chaos to live in a city that rejects your very
beliefs and way of life? Or to extend yourself beyond the realms of
those who tie themselves to the small mentalities associated with strict
morality and non-creative, close-minded mere-mortals?

Ahh...but few have taken time to contemplate their own beliefs. And
fewer yet have had the gall to live out what they truly believe, not
being deceived by the stereotypes associated with their own realms of
influence.

And so I hear from all sides, "Let me do what I want and have what I
want, no matter if it is consistent with who I am or who I say I am or
not." Once, my response to this call would have been something akin to
anguish and sorrow, deep frustration and desperate attempts to force
change. Today, after times solitary, times still, times after painful
self-examination, I am at peace and can chuckle as I watch from afar and
recite to anything that will listen, "Know yourself, friend. And then be
yourself."

just a hermit

Penned by my hand on the 5th of Chronos, in the year 320 AF.