Cadet Latus,

Very well, I accept your challenge. You and I go way back, and it would
be my pleasure to meet such an honourable man on the field of battle.
Next time we meet, you and I shall duel just outside the resting place
of Lord Ekary. Win or lose, the fight will be enjoyable.

However, I admit a bit of hesitation calling you 'Cadet'. When I was a
young boy growing up in Shallam, you were always 'Sir Latus', one of the
few Knights I truly looked up to. Interesting now, and thoroughly
unsurprising, that you responded before your House Lord did. A good
fight to you, Cadet, and may you soon regain your rightful title of
'Sir'. Lords know you have earned it time and time again.

As for Sir Alban, I merely stated that he was on the front lines
fighting us. I spoke not of his honour. He has yet to confront me with a
team or dishonour and, until such a time that he does, I cannot speak
ill of him. Perhaps High Lady Istiria's experiences differ from mine.
The situation is no different from Sir Fonetic saying I have no honour,
whereas most others would say I do.


As for you, Sir Fonetic,

A decent attempt at shifting the focus from your failures onto me. I
would award an 'A' for effort, but a Knight refusing to man up to his
own mistakes is not very Knightly at all. Even less Knightly is your
inability to refer to me by my proper title, the one I have earned. I
have -never- had a Guardian refer to me as anything but 'Sir Batista' in
public until your post. Interesting indeed. Perhaps you yourself have
something to learn from them about respect?

Your reply to me is full of ironies, some subtle, some very, very
blatant. Allow me to address them point by point.

"Only in Evil have you found anyone willing to title you a Knight, and
it seems you have yet to grasp the concept of Honour."

I enjoy this line. You speak as though Maldaathi have no Honour and that
I have displayed none. Did you even bother to research this claim before
you made it, or do you just enjoy throwing out random, baseless
accusations?

Poll every Knight I have ever come in contact with. In fact, poll every
Shallamese I have ever met on the battlefield. Ask them if I have
conducted myself with honour. Go ahead, I will wait for someone to
disagree.

Actually, let me save you the trouble. You will not find a single one.
Next time, Sir Fonetic, investigate your claims before you make them. I
can guarantee you that you do not want to open the box on this point,
Sir. If you, do there will be no shutting it.

"Guardian Knights dont need to cling to a skill of Chivalry to hold the
tenets of knighthood true."

The irony here is that you are correct. You do not need to be adept at
Chivalry to understand and hold true to the values of Knighthood.
Indeed, Honour and Chivalry are values that every man, woman, and child
can display. To say that alone is reserved for those of us of a
chivalric class would be very incorrect.

This is something you seem to feel very strongly about. That is why you
title your non-chivalric classed members 'Sir', right? Wait... no. You
do not. You call them Barons, as if they were second-class members.

"We prefer to spend their time working on our combat and fighting our
enemies in meaningful battles, rather than rely on sneaking traitors who
pretend they are Knights."

Meaningful battles? Have you participated in even one recently? How
about in the last decade? Compare that to how many the Maldaathi have
involved themselves in.

Rely on sneaky traitors? I am amused. Does this mean you believe I got
my information from one of your Knights? If so, you are sadly, sadly
mistaken. Your Knights talk to their friends, who talk to their friends,
who talk to their friends, who talk to my friends, who talk to me. I
just so happen to hear all of this through no effort of my own. When it
reaches my ears, I become enraged at your ineffectual leadership (or
lack thereof).

"There is no shortage of Guardians ready to seek your end, Batista."

Interesting you should say that. If that is indeed true (and I hope that
it is), that would put you and I in the same boat, wouldn't it?


Sir Batista Vallah
Maldaathi Knight
Prophet of War

Penned by my hand on the 20th of Aeguary, in the year 450 AF.