After the unexpectedly withering and completely unwarranted rush of
condemnation directed at us and our people, it seemed right to take
a short time to offer the Vertani point of view, in the faint,
almost non-existent hope that some remain who are able to listen,
and to think, and to consider carefully, without being carried away
by self-righteous indignation.

To those of you able, and willing to hear, so I write:

HISTORY - Please recall with me for a moment the history of our
people on your plane. We were and are explorers. As we explored, we
encountered your plane and your peoples.

We did not start the aggression. We sent peaceful scouts and
priests - non-combatants. We sent them to determine the risks of
this place.

We found aggression. We found violence. We found death. Our death.

As the death toll mounted, we began to send armed units - and who
wouldn't? We did not plan or intend for war, but we are fully capable
and willing to fight to protect our own. Are not all sentient beings
also so inclined?

DEATH - we discovered that death is a greatly different thing for
you. When you die, oh, how serious it is! Yes, you may actually be
delayed in your pursuits for a few hours, or even a few days. MY oh
MY, we shudder at the thought of what death means to you. Clearly,
you all recoil in horror at the thought of death. What we have not
yet begun to understand is this - why?

Given that (with perhaps a very rare exception) death is for you all
not permanent. Given that death costs you but little. Given that you
may, and indeed often do, experience death many times. Given that
for you death is certainly not a singular event.

Consider this in comparison: however distressful death may or may
not be for you: for us, death is permanent. For us, death is the
end of all hope and all plans. For us, death is a singular event.

Some of you seem to miss this. You go on and on about 'innocents'
and about 'death.' You conveniently overlook our deaths - far more
than yours, and far more permanent. And yes, the deaths of innocents
as well. Our innocents. Priests and scouts: non-combatants all.

RETURN TO HISTORY - in the time we have been here, we have lost
nigh on to a thousand of our people FOREVER, including innocents.
If anybody is the object of genocide, we are.

Some of your peoples have declared war on us. Some have not. Some
have asked us to ally with them, some not. We have stood by our
allies at amazing, staggering cost to ourselves. And we have fought
back against those who would wage war on us.

PEACEFUL - Some of you seem to have a problem with us saying we
are peaceful, or you imagine a conflict or contradication between
the desire for peace and the ability to wage war. This is also a
mystery to us. Some peoples prefer peace, some seem to prefer war.
We prefer peace. In what way does that require that we therefore
know nothing of war? Quite the opposite in fact: a people that
would reach for peace, a people that prefers peace, must be
prepared to fight, or else to abandon all of its own to death. And
so we prefer peace, and are yet able to carry out acts to defend
our own. We see no contradiction.

THE SUMMIT - Some months ago we called for a summit of leaders.
At this summit, precisely one city leader from your plane even
bothered to appear. This was as insulting as possible, and we
believe calculated to provoke. Yes, some could not make it: that
we realise. But all? Every single city leader, save one, unable to
come to meet with us?

During this meeting we were taunted and treated disrespectfully.

Overlord Estan was rightly exasperated. In a moment of anger, he
over-reacted. It is unfortunate that he allowed himself to be
provoked. But it is also understandable. And in this meeting, where
we were repeatedly provoked, blows were exchanged. And in this
meeting, we lost, FOREVER, the single highest ranking Vertani ever
to visit your plane.

Whatever losses we may have inflicted at the time were at most
minor setbacks to your people. For us, especially for Overlord
Estan, it was the final and ultimate irrevocable extinction of all
life and hope.

A beloved relative of Overlord Estan's - Overlord Drafaris -
ordered a retaliation, in the form of destroying a few buildings.

Yes, a few buildings. A few so called innocents may have died, but
your people return in any event, do they not? The land remains.
How many may have been lost, even assuming the worst? A dozen, or
two? How could you possibly compare that to the ongoing and
systematic extermination of HUNDREDS of Vertani, including numerous
innocents, who will NEVER return?

We gave warning. And the event itself was not without clear
indications of its onset. Your people could have avoided the
area easily, if they had wished. Yet some did not.

Could you all truly be such heartless, materialistic people that
you focus on the loss of a few buildings? What else have you lost?
The landscaping?

Obviously there is a great rift in understanding here. We are doing
what we can to mend that. Are you?

OUR PRESENCE - many, perhaps merely the hot-heads among you - have
demanded that we leave. This we will not do. Parts of our empire
are present here. Both El'Jazira and Tasur'ke have requested entry
into the Vertani empire, and they have been accepted. As such, we
remain ever loyal to them, as they are to us.

We will not abandon them on the basis of neanderthal ravings from
those of your plane who think only of death and carnage.

We welcome the serious inquiries of those who are able to rise
above the animalistic excesses of their baser natures.
And we extend our hands, yet again, in friendship to those of good
will.

Penned by my hand on the 22nd of Sarapin, in the year 386 AF.