I made my previous post under the assumtion that you would actually want
to do something with your advancement. Compition is fine, but how can
you expect to rule effectivly over anyone when people are constantly
trying to pull you down for their own advancement?

You say 'We each learn from our mistakes, and if we are many we can
cover many mistakes at once and avoid the need for others to commit
those same mistakes thus once again eliminating our weaknesses' and yet
reling on other people to make the mistakes is a weakness. If I claimed
Tryannus with no opponents at all I will feel exulted, as there would
obviouslty be no one more worthy of the posistion than me, or that I
have subjegated everyone enough that they were afraid to run. ither way,
I would have full run of the city, a far greater acheivement that having
to pussy foot around frighted that I would lose the posistion and my
advancement.

You claim you would rather defend Mhaldor with others than alone, yet
how is this not a weakness? As I said before, relience on others is a
weakness. Will these others support you when you grasp for power? No,
for they will be grasping to. So you are aiding people who will be a
liability to your advancement. I am not talking about ease of
advancement here, because I know that almost every Mhaldorian would take
that as a sign of weakness, but rather that of common sense. Limit the
compition and you advance yourself. As far as I can tell, only one of
the Truths requires other people.

If I was to rule, the last people I would want as my followers would be
Evil. Mhunna has a strong race, unquestioning loyalty and bodyguards
that have died for him every day for the past hundred and fifty years.
Sartan has followers who, if following the ideals of advancement to the
top, are trying to proclaim themselves in His place. You may claim that
constant threats to the trone makes you strong, and I may concede, but
it also makes your kingdom weak.

And, as a final point, I have never said I hated Mhaldor. Sure, I make
fun of the leadership sometimes, but I do that to every city, besides
Cyrene because they don't do enough for anyone to know the leadership.

Accipiter

Penned by my hand on the 18th of Phaestian, in the year 374 AF.