Okay, after my last public post, I received a number of retorts from the
public. Now, I take this opportunity to reply to them all in one big
post. If you really don�t care about the whole orphan thing (That is,
you�re not from Ashtan or Shallam), feel free to skip this post.

Note: All quotes taken directly, so, if you�re going to make a crack
about my grammar, don�t bring them up.

---Liam said, "Got to hate them random infernos, one almost got me then"

Aye, and you all thought I was being sarcastic.

---Otter said, "On the off chance (I know it's vanishingly small) that
you ACTUALLY want to know what happens to the orphans in the Basilica,
rather than just useing the question for rhetorical purposes: I was
under the impression they stay in the choir until about age 18. Then
they leave and become productive citizens of the Jewel. A good many of
the adventurers I've met in my 130 years say they were orphans rescued
from the streets in this manner. As for where they come from... I don't
know. Presumably they are those whose parents have died and, their time
being up, were not returned to life by the Logos. And if Shallam must be
ususually dangerous to produce so many orphans... well... so must
Ashtan, since I believe the numbers of orphans are equal in both cities.
Guess it's just a dangerous world."

Okay, if this is true, how many orphans are in the Choir? If the orphans
are around 4 or 5 years old, and about 4 are brought in every day, you
must have them packed as tight as bowstrings in there. I know that the
Basilica is rather large, but in my exploration of it, I�ve never seen
orphans running about. This therefore means they must be all in the
Choir room, or in some sleeping chambers around the back. If the second
is true, you must have an incomprehensible number of beds back there.
It�s just not really feasible that that many orphans are present.

Your second point states that if Shallam has so many accidents, then so
must Ashtan. As I mentioned in my post, if we kill our orphans, it�s
logical to assume the same orphans going around and around. This really
voids the point.

---Inkarnette: said, "Hello. This is not a particularly witty retort to
your public post, but I don't think it needs to be. You look at every
possibility from the worst point of view. My personal idea would be that
some irresponsible people came to shallam with their boy/girl, abandon
the kid in shallam (expecting that someone else will deal with it), the
kid is taken to the choir. The kid eventually either grows up, or finds
a home with people who are responsible and willing to take care of
him/her.
About ninety percent of the Ashtani I've spoken with about the orphan
issue are either ridicoulously stupid, or astonishingly....EVIL. Of
course, there are some people in there who can actually discuss the
matter intelligently, unfortunately, those guys lose because as we all
know, it's very hard to properly win an argument when you're wrong.
Shallam is not trying to force our ethos on Ashtan, if we were, we'd go
over there and use Force to make you guys take care of the orphans.
Instead, we just go over there and do the job ourselves. As long as
people who openly admit to killing children are angry at Shallam, we
know we're doing something right.
Sorry for the mix up in sentence structure, possible errors in
my....assumptions, etc. I was rather angry at the point that I wrote
this."

You say I look at the whole thing from the worst point of view. How can
randomly disappearing orphans be a good thing? If I was walking along
one day and simply ceased to exist, I don�t think I�d be able to find a
bright side. (Sure, I wouldn�t be alive to find a bright side, but I�m
sure you understand my meaning.)

Next, you seem to think there is a conspiracy to leave orphans in
Shallam. I don�t quite get this. I�m sure it is possible to assume some
of the orphans arrived in this manner, but all of the orphans? It�s a
bit of a stretch.

Thirdly, you state that the orphans might find a home with people in the
city. I already addressed this in my original post.

�It�s very difficult to win an argument when you�re wrong.� I know, why
don�t you just give up now, then? What I�m trying to say, is that name
calling gets everyone nowhere. If you want to debate, attack my points,
don�t make cheap attempts at insulting me and the City of Ashtan.

Finally, you make some comment about not forcing your ethos on us. I
never said anything about Ashtan or Ashtani orphans, you have me
confused with someone else. I�m trying to say that instead of focusing
on our orphans, focus on your own.

---Dresden said, "The orphans in Shallam are not necessarily from just
Shallam. Sapience is a vast, vast continent, along with two isles and
many other places. The orphans could flock to Shallam on their way
across the great unknown."

Similar to Inkarnette�s point, while it is slightly plausible, with the
high concentration of orphans mentioned above, it can�t satisfy all of
them. And how would an orphan be able to get to Shallam from Ulangi?

Again, if you wish to reply, feel free to send a message or post. I'll
reply to them all in a big bunch, like this time.

Penned by my hand on the 25th of Chronos, in the year 371 AF.