Let me first start off with a small apology directed to Khoraji and
anyone else who read my post 13643
I must admit that I wrote that on the fly, simply dictating to my scribe
as I thought of what to put in it. In this hastiness, i overlooked a
very important point.
I stated multiple times that violence is not necessary, and I'm afraid
that I must take this back. Violence is, of course, necessary, when one
such as Ylniri is kidnapped and her captors are prepared to use force to
keep her.
What i really meant was that war is not necessary. The way I see it,
there are three ways of getting a captive back. There are Mhaldor's
options of 10 million gold or war, and there is a third option, that of
a rescue mission. A rescue mission does entail violence, but it does not
entail war. There are plenty of aggressive, violent things that Shallam
can do to Mhaldor, without going to war. Mhaldor demonstrates this
beautifully, every time they raid Shallam - The aggressors are using
force against Shallam during a time when there is no war. I don't feel
that i need to elaborate further on the point.

As for the rest of your post. As i'm sure you already know, there is a
great amount of support for War in Shallam, and a good bit of that
coming from Church members. I'm not going to get into a lesson on
Shallamese politics, but instead leave you with a little suggestion.
Let's just drop this issue. Mhaldor's mind is made up in favour of war.
Shallam's mind is not yet made up, and will certainly not be influenced
by the words of the leader of her enemy. As for the rest of Sapience, as
far as i can tell, most of them are waving either a "Shallam sucks" or a
"Mhaldor sucks" flag. Let the issue decide itself, because bickering
here isn't going to get either city or either of us individuals
anywhere.

-Tommy a'Bertal

The usual disclaimer applies.

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Mayan, in the year 379 AF.