Windows of the Soul
===================

There are a million, million different philosophies and ideologies found
with in this sphere of creation. Many are so divers that they encompass
a large collection of other ideas, ranging from hole systems to small,
twisted fragments of separate baleafs. When looking at individual baleaf
systems, one must understand that there is an infinite number of
different interpretations of even the most simple ideal. There are a
million different windows to look at any one, single, concept threw.
Each ideology has a wide ranging spectrum of interpretations for the
mortal to choose from, to place themselves in. The vast majority of
mortals fined themselves propelled along these different paths by the
major events of their life. Every action has a reaction and an ultimate
effect apon the end product. Just because the given answer is correct,
dos not mean that the individual will be enlightened as the question
itself may have been wrong in the first place. The Gods give the answers
in this world, as it is the Gods who draw up the playing lines. It is
infact the mortals job, as devoted follower, worker, politician,
scholar, warrior etc. to understand this fact and be able to ask the
correct questions. It is up to them to choose a position which they feel
the most comfortable with. The freedom to chose bitween Good or Evil,
Order or Chaos, do you burn in the Light or freeze in the Darkness? The
only repercussions in life are the ones you make yourself. In this world
you are granted the freedom to rise . . . and the freedom to fall.

A canvas for the Gods
=====================

Many of the concepts followed by mortals come under the duristriction of
the various Deities of creation. Indeed, some heathens have even
suggested that the Divine are nothing more than physical manifestations
of mortal baliefs, emotions and states of being. This theory is
blasphemously flawed, how ever, as if the Histories are to be baleaved
then the advent of mortal kind did not come into being until long, long
after Ayar created the Gods. The Divine created us mortals as blank
canvases apon who's phyckeys they could paint aw inspiring images of
their own realms. The vast scope for vision contained with in most
mortals is a tribute to this. The shear diversity of the paths open to
us, the unlimited options given to us at the start of our life's, nay,
through out our life's by the Logos himself. Is this not freedom in its
purest form? Is not this freedom the back-bone of mortality? And because
of this, certain claims made by misguided institutions and
organisations, who have ignorantly branded them self's with the
transparent mark of false mainstream freedom, in regard to the life
styles and philosophies practised here in Mhaldor, are inherently flawed
and in-correct.

The Double Value Systems of the Weak
====================================

But, there is oppression with in the world. We, here in Mhaldor, have
time and time again been accused of totalitarian oppressive attitudes.
Indeed, we have come under great criticism and scrutiny, blood has even
been shed, over our enslavement of the Mhuns of Moghedu. One would like
to note, the blatant double value systems coming into play here. Its
acceptable for us to enslave the Orcs, as they are seen as being evil,
but it is not acceptable to enslave the Mhuns. What dos this show us
then. It shows us that to the world, goodness (represented by the Mhuns)
is not allowed to be enslaved as it is wrong, unjust and a crime against
freedom as the victims are automatically cleared of any guilt and
declared "innocent" by our hypocritical critics. But, its perfectly fine
to enslave the Orcs as they are evil and thus freedom is not a concept
that the mainstream will attribute to them. They are automatically
judged by morality and declared void of innocence. Surly this just shows
the hypocrisy of the ignorant. According to goodness and neutrality's
take on freedom, all good and neutral beings should have one hundred
percent freedom in this world, but any one of an evil alignment dos not
deserve it. Such black and white attitudes are blind. But they preach
that freedom is something that all deserve, to me this is blatant
hypocrisy. When they look at the Mhuns they can but see goodness, when
they look apon the Orcs they can see but evil. They little understand
the Ying and the Yang of the world, that being, there is a little good
in evil and little evil in good (N.B. I am not referring here to Lord
Sartans Evil or indeed Lord Pentharions Righteousness and Light, more so
the stereotypical mainstream moral take on evil and goodness).

Weakness allows itself to be oppressed. It will not fight back, it will
not look to better itself, it will sit back and accept its fate like a
cowered. The Mhuns deserve their oppression for they have not the
strength to free themselves. The same goes for the Orcs, all are welcome
additions to our slave gangs. Their weakness automatically forces them
to offer their blood, willingly or unwillingly, to the Lord and Lady in
penance for their crimes. The weak have deemed forfeit the freedom that
the Gods have granted them as they are incapable of utilising it
correctly, they but put it to waist.

Evil is Freedom
===============

The forces of Light and their ontrearge of Neutral puppets have all been
restricted by the window they are looking at the world threw. They act
like a pare of blinders on a hoarse, only allowing them to look
forwoulds and denying them access to the bigger picture. A closed mined
is a weak mined. They refuse to accept a simple truth. A truth, non the
less, that would bring their shallow perception of the world crashing
down about them. The truth that a follower of Evil is just as much a
free mortal as any other, if not more so.

To me, Evil is a liberating force freeing the individual of such
frivolous concepts as morality and mainstream freedom. Evil is free as
only the weak allow themselves to be oppressed. Evil is not weak. It is
the anepthasis of weakness! Just because an individual is free, dos not
mean that he must preserve the freedom of all those around him, as is
the most common and widely accepted interpretation of the subject.
Surly, that concept is a restriction, a law . . . and thus an
infringement apon the basic freedom of the individuals themselves. Only
some one of strength could baleave this as only he or she could function
as an individual. The weak will always flock together, try and help each
other out. For they fear the day when the strong shall sally forth from
their bastions in nort more than a constant, bloody orgy of deprived
celebration for the freedom that the divine have gifted to all mortals.
The weak miss-understand this gift. They run and hide in terror as the
strong take up their quill or sword and brake the mask of freedom
concealing the true face of the weak from the world.

When we take a Mhun or an Orc as a slave, we are expressing this
freedom!

When we slay an innocent to supply our Lord and Lady with essence, we
are expressing this freedom!

When we choose willingly to live our life by the Seven Truths, we are
expressing this freedom!

When we come and dwell with in the mighty walls of Mhaldor, we are
expressing this very same freedom!

The Freedom to Dream
====================

'The Sky is vast and boundless. The infinite realm of Vaster, the
Skylord, represents the complete freedom for all to pursue their goals,
and to fulfil their dreams.'

The above quote only serves to strengthen my resolve on the subject of
what freedom is. All have the right to do what they will in this world
as long as it doesn't infringe apon the laws set down by the divine. All
do have complete freedom to pursue their goals, all have the freedom to
over come the obstacles in front of them and achieve their dreams. If an
individual is incapable of doing this then their freedoms are stripped
from them threw no fault but their own.

The Ashtan Lie
==============

Ashtan, city of the free! Bastion of the North! Almighty millennia old
lie! City of deceit, city of Chaos, city of freedom! What ever falsehood
it is currently masquerading under will never hide the truth about
/that/ city from me. My stomach terns at the mear mention of her ugly
name. The freedom fanatically adhered to by the commanding authorities
of this city is nothing more than a lie. Its a hypocritical freedom
dictated by the current social attitudes of the citizens, who in tern
are to busily licking boots clean to notice that their being manipulated
by the owners of said pare of shoes. Ashtanite freedom is an enslaving
force, an oppressive concept that suffocates out the unwanted waist in
its society, with the ignorant support of the "free" populace. Any group
of people who stay true to their baleafs and philosophies have my utmost
respect, even if the individuals morals and way of life are directly
apposed to my own. I don't see this in Ashtan. Ashtan is constructed of
a spiders web of fractured double value systems. It has sunk over time
to the same level as the Church in its hypocritical attitudes and
baliefs. It controls its citizens as much as the authorities of our
great city do, more so even. For freedom is a powerful propaganda tool
used well by the clever tyrant to force the drones into line. They are
blind to the truth as they do not want to baleeve, they will never
question the corrupt Ashtanite Dream. Because of their socially
acceptable philosophies they are granted freedom, and thusley baleev all
in the city to be free. Because of their freedom they do not question
the Authorities decisions. Or, indeed, because of their freedom they
choose to look the other way.

The Battle for Freedom
======================

In a time long ago now, a time all would have herd tales of but few
would have experienced first hand, we [those who walk down the path of
Evil] were the ones crying bloody oppression against Ashtan. When the
hypocritically oppressive iron heal of Ashtan came to finally rest apon
us. I watched the cracks appear as the citizens of the city clung to
their false freedoms and blasphemously questioned the decision of the
Gods. We did not sit still and accept our fate, a propaganda war ensued
and it wasn't long until the first drops of blood were spilled. The
fractures and flaws spread out across Ashtans mask, until it broke off
and came crashing to the floor in a million shards of hypocrisy. We fort
and we fort and not once did we stop. I destroyed myself before the
final battle and so was denied a role in the end events . . . something
I have punished myself now for so many, many years. It took a great host
of Gods to imprison Lord Sartan, to contain his rage for the most
briefest of moments in comparison to the great aeons of time. It took
the devoted sacrifice of his followers blood and essence to finally free
him and his wrath once again apon Sapience. He gifted his followers with
Ballgrim fortress and soon after, Mhaldor itself. We fort until we
obtained our freedom, we have earned our right to it time and time
again.

Divinely granted Freedom
========================

The Godly given freedom that I speak of is a fickle thing, as it offers
freedom and oppression with the same hand. Let me explain, this divine
freedom is the freedom of the individual to follow his dreams and
desires and to obtain power. Power, as with every mortal concept, can be
looked at from a million different view points. It can be physical
strength, prowess in combat, the power obtained threw the accumulation
of knowledge, the power wisdom gives, political power, power obtained
threw the acquisition of wealth, spiritual power and the list could go
on, but there is one thing that power always comes hand in hand with,
freedom. Power is freedom, power must be worked for and because of this,
in this world freedom must be worked for . It is not, in my opinion,
something that all have a right to. All are given, by the Gods
themselves, the freedom to become free.

Can A Mortal ever Truly be Free?
================================

Mhaldor is the only place to not hide away from this Divine freedom, in
fact it openly embraces it. She dos not lie to the world or to her
citizens about her true nature and intent, as Ashtan or Shallam do. In
Mhaldor, strength is power and power is freedom. We begin in the city as
lowly Slaves and as we move up the ladder of power we gain more and more
freedom and respect. We are all ultimately free here, as we are all
using the freedom granted to us by the divine and yet, if power is
freedom then only those at the top of the pyramid can be completely
free. Only the Order High Priests, Viceroys and Guild Masters are truly
free. But is it not these positions that our citizens strive to obtain,
to show their worth to The Lord and Lady and to the world at large.
Freedom is the ultimate goal. But this raises another more interesting
question. If one resides at the top of the power structure then one has
achieved the ultimate goal of freedom, but with in Mhaldor (and the hole
of creation for that matter) the highest positions of power are not
seats that mortals can hold, which raises the question . . . can a
mortal ever truly be free? It could be said that a mortal can never be
free until they have ascended to the ranks of the divine as, if power is
freedom, the power obtainable by mortals is comparatively insignificant
to the power wielded by the Gods. So, in truth the only truly free
entities in creation are the Gods . . . but then, if we continue down
the same chain of thort one soon realises that the Gods themselves are
all part of an internal power network with a being ruling over even
them, that entity being the Logos . . . so, if one aligns ones self with
this opinion then one must state that there is in fact only one being
who is truly 'free' in creation.

A part of me understands that this bailiff can not be seen as being
wrong, as it is just one of the many interpretations of freedom in this
world. I do in fact partially agree with this statement, as in one way
the Logos is the only free being in existence, as even the Gods
themselves are restricted by the realms He has assigned to them. Their
attitudes and life stiles have already been pre-determined by him many
millennia ago. But it is still rather a simplistic view of freedom.
There is a power ladder in existence, and bitween each wrung on that
ladder, another ladder is to be found, and bitween each step on this
ladder there is another and then another and then another and another.
The freedom that power offers to mortals may be comparatively small to
the freedoms and powers the Divine enjoy, but compare the power of a
mighty mortal to that of a weakling and there is a major difference.
Sentient life responds in direct correlation to the world around it, the
true power of a Divinity is not experienced first hand by most mortals,
but the power of a Guild Master, High Priest, Guild Secretary or even a
Novice Aide, is. There for the mortal sees the differences bitween their
life stiles and strives to obtain the life stile of their better, to
obtain their freedoms and luxuries. At each new step they aquier more
freedom than they did bellow.

To me any level of freedom is still freedom and just because it is not
neciserley at the same level as the Logos, it is still freedom and seems
immense in comparison to what may have been enjoyed before.

Power is Freedom
================

" . . . Mhaldorians are allowed in some ways the most and in some ways
the least freedom of all people"

e
Taken from The Mhaldorian Help Scroll

I have strived in this paper to show that despite general world opinion,
Mhaldor is a City of freedom, of freedom in its purest form. The above
statement supports this, but at the same time some would say that it
disagrees and proves wrong all that I have said before. I disagree with
this assumption as all this statement dos is support my notion that
freedom, as with so many other baleafs systems contained within this
world, is a divers philosophy which can be seen from many different
windows. Threw out this paper I have explained why Mhaldorians enjoy the
purest form of freedom on sapience, for it is not tainted with morals or
masked behind half truths and lies like the freedoms practised by the
weak. In some ways we are allowed the least freedom, but only until we
have proven that we deserve it. Freedom is not something granted to one
and all, it is a reword for hard work and dedication. Mainstream freedom
is supposedly ment for everyone and because of this it is taken for
granted by those who are gifted it. They do not understand it due to
this fact and thusly miss-represent it to the world at large. They do
not practise what they preach and live their life's with in a set of
ridged, hypocritical double value systems. They are not true to
themselves and in tern are not true to the baleafs they promote. This is
a sweeping statement as I have indeed met and spoken with individuals
that one could call 'true to the cause'. I fully understand that any one
concept can have an infinite number of interpretations, but these
interpretations can not be adhered to by the frivolous whims of weak
mortals. Hypocrisy is never an accurate interpretation of any subject
matter.

Physical freedom is power, power can only be used correctly by the
strong and we are all free to grow in strength. This is Mhaldorian
freedom.

The Rev. Lodi Vespic de'Ta'sa

-?-


Penned by my hand on the 14th of Aeguary, in the year 333 AF.