Where to begin....

First of all, no matter what the views of anyone else are, I personally
do -not- believe that being a Mhaldorian makes you a "stupid, horrid,
nasty little Mhaldorian pawn who's views don't count." Sadly, this type
of sweeping generalization is often made... all Shallamites are
limp-spined, holier-than-thou morons. All Forestals are rich, reclusive,
tree-hugging nymphomaniacs. So on and so on. These stereotypes, like all
sweeping generalizations are faulted, and usually almost entirely wrong.
A few individuals may fit them, of course... and some cities fit their
stereotypes more than others.

Second, contrary to what you seem to have inferred, I did not claim that
Mhaldorians are part of the city against their will, in that sense
Mhaldorians are free. Any person is capable of joining any city as long
as that city will take them, and any one can quit a city at any time.
Viola... freedom.

Alright. This is where you shocked me: "Obviously there is a certain
level of brainwashing and conditioning once with in our walls . . . but
show me some were different in these lands?" Hold on a second there.
Perhaps you haven't had the wonderful opportunity to live in one of the
better cities amongst the land, but I know of no other city that would
even THINK of brainwashing or conditioning their citizens... ever. The
closest example which I'm sure you'll want to quote will be Shallam and
the Church, but -no- member of Shallam is 'brainwashed and conditioned'
to the Church because of being a citizen. Now, there are influences
prevalent in the more polarized of the cities, this is for sure.
Shallamites are continually influenced by the teachings of the Church
and of "good" and so on.. (Sorry to have to use Shallam so much, no
offense to any Shallamites, but Shallam is the most polarized city other
than Mhaldor, so it makes good example material) So instead of "showing
you somewhere different in these lands" I will show you -everwhere-
different in these lands. My great suprise here is only that you didn't
realise it was different everwhere else.

Freedom and its definition. You have a good point here, again reading
far far too much into what I personally said before. I do not claim that
Darknight's actions were in any way some striking rally point for true
'free' people to gather about and celebrate with orgastic amounts of
"soul stirring" involved. Nope. I only said that he exercised free will.
Unfortunately freedom has been misdefined, and it is true that tyrants
have used 'freedom' as a rally call for the misguided masses to be led
into their oppression by. Sad, but true.

Under the circumstances we must see that there are multiple definitions
of freedom being used. Understood to be 'complete freedom', the first
definition would imply that each individual is entirely free from all
influences, authorities, and anything else that might possibly sway any
decision he or she might make. This is entirely impossible, yet it is a
handily fallacious definition used by those trying to make freedom sound
ludicrous. 'true freedom' would mean the ability to make decisions
within boundaries that you willingly submit to. Submitting to certain
limitations (city laws, guild laws, order laws, divine decrees, and so
on) willingly and allowing the person to make their choices within these
bounds is entirely different from slavery, where a person is forced into
a situation that applies regulations upon them which they do not
willingly submit to and have no recourse to get out of. All of this to
say that, unless Sartan starts turning you into maggots for leaving
Mhaldor (an interesting thought...), no Mhaldorian is a slave. Being
decieved into fanatical fervor for a false cause is not slavery (sorry
to disappoint anyone who likes calling Mhaldorians slaves) though I must
wonder why one of the city titles is "slave"...

Now, as a point of clarification, I will use the term 'enslaved'
sometimes to refer to the intentional deceiving (or, forgive me, termed
more properly "brainwashing and conditioning") of anyone, including
Mhaldorians, in order to make them play follow the leader and spew the
right "truths" or whatever on command.

Another quote: " The only way to get a proper over view of any situation
is through both understanding and taking in as many views on said topic
as possible....The key is to liberate oneself from all the chains
society and life so readily laidens on your shoulders." ...Now wait a
minute. I'll address the second part first. I cannot not live (at least
not and still be able to make news posts) so I cannot escape the "chains
of life so readily laden upon me", and I've already said that society
influences us unavoidably, so I can't get out from those chains either.
And neither can you. Sounds nice, but doesn't work, sorry to spoil the
party. I too have read your views, just as you have read mine. And we
still disagree. We can't both be right, it's not possible for two
conflicting statements to be true of the same thing in the same place at
the same time. It's unfortunate, but true. If it weren't true, then we
wouldn't have to waste so much gold bickering about it, we could agree
to disagree and both be right. End of story!

Quoting again: "Can you show me a city that doesnt have a major element
of bullys, bigots, pawns, big mouths, thugs, fools, hypocrites,
megalomaniacs, mini tyrants and sheep residing with in its boarders?"
Yes, I can. I cannot speak for other cities, but frankly, Hashan does
not have a major element of bullies, bigots, pawns, big mouths (besides
me), thugs, fools, hypocrites, meglomaniacs, mini-tyrants, or sheep
residing within its walls. We have our own set of problems because we're
not perfect (still working on it, though, we'll let ya' know when we get
there), but we don't have a major element of all that crap.*

Well, anyway... that's all I have to say about that (for now.)
~Ranna


(*now accepting Mhaldorians who just now realised this - some
restrictions may apply, not applicable for all Mhaldorian citizens, must
be 18 or over to apply, not valid outside of Hashan, see Regent or
Seneschal for details! **the opinions and ramblings of Ranna do not
necessarily represent those of all Hashani, the Hashanite ruling
council, or any citizen thereof)

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Penned by my hand on the 21st of Lupar, in the year 361 AF.