Greetings, Sapience,

It is no longer my place to respond directly to Darknight's laughable
posturing, but his post got me thinking. It got me thinking of a time
when the encroachment of Chaos was being halted by the forces of Light,
and the oppressive hand of Evil had been pushed back to that
fog-blighted city in the west.

Those times were not so long ago, but how far away they seem.

I look around me now, Sapience, and I see a world - or at least a
continent - that has lost its way. I look around and I see a people that
has lost sight of what is truly important.

You may not all be followers of the Light - that path is indeed harder
to tread than many of you will ever appreciate - but we are all of us,
to a man, beings of Creation. We are people who exist on, in, and
because of this plane created for us so long ago by Ayar; and as I look
now, I see so, so many of us neglecting our duty to the wellspring that
gives us life.

I have spoken on this before, but the importance of my point has not
diminished. We are all of us guilty of sitting back and allowing Chaos a
foothold in Creation. We are guilty of watching as Babel's cult builds
in strength, in influence, backed by the unwitting might of Ashtan, and
the blind forces of Evil.

Darknight speaks, naively, of war, as though what his city does is
justified by what is done against it; he speaks of Freedom, as though
Ashtan yet understands the meaning of the word. He speaks, and I'm sure
his people listen, and the rabble is roused and joyous in celebration of
his proclamations. Yet what is there to celebrate?

Ashtani celebrate victory over Shallam, but what does this truly mean?

Don't get me wrong: when I speak of a continent that has lost its way,
that still rings truer for Shallam than any other city. Mhaldor and
Ashtan wilfully blind themselves to the truth, Hashan shrouds itself in
Darkness, and the rest of the continent occupies its time on other
pursuits. Shallam alone remains as a lost and tarnished beacon of Light,
as a rudderless protector of Creation itself.

But as the Shallamese forces stand ragged and tired, it is not Shallam
that is losing. As Mhaldor and Ashtan gloat over the rubble left on
Nishnatoba, Chaos waits in the wings, strengthening itself ready to
resume its assault on the Creation realm. Given a way in by those few
blind, foolish or arrogant enough to be tempted by its promises of
power, Chaos and its armies march on in their attempts to herald in
Oblivion.

We are a people, Sapience, who have lost their way because we have
forgotten this simple truth: if Ashtan wins, so too does Chaos. If Chaos
is allowed to grow, unhindered, behind the military might of Ashtan and
its hapless, short-sighted allies, then Babel's words are made true and
and Oblivion will be made inevitable.

This encroaching tide of Chaos must be stopped, Sapience. I've said it
before, but there is no better way to remind you of the dangers we all
face than to ask you: what will you oppress when there is only nothing?
What forests will you nurture when the Void is all that is left?

This realm is all that we are, Sapience. If we allow it to be lost, then
we ourselves will be lost along with it.

Think about it.


In service,

Silas Maynard

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Aeguary, in the year 556 AF.