Overseer:

For decades now, Ashtan has laid siege against the people of Sapience.
It has threatened to unleash its armies against those that would stand
in defense of others, and it has oppressed those who would dare choose
an alternate way of life. Shallam has not been an exclusive target of
its rampant bloodlust, nor have we been the only witnesses to its crimes
against all mortals not within its fold. Ashtan has assisted in bringing
down long standing alliances, making enemies of friends and in bleeding
its once ally of its most competent warriors. No one can question the
battle strength of the Bastion of the North. So, I will not.

That being said, while I am certain many throughout the realm have read
your words and found them credible, the simple truth is that they are
founded on a flawed premise. However, you are intimately familiar with
flawed premises, as you have sworn allegiance to a God who is an enemy
of all beings of Creation. Nevertheless, you might find it unfortunate
to know that Good and Light persist, and will continue to persist,
regardless of the opinion of the North, and irrespective of the
propaganda it spreads.

The City of Ashtan is led by masters of propaganda. This is evident both
abroad, but most impressively, internally as well. How else can a City
held hostage by Lord Babel's Order consider itself free? Your citizens
do not see the shackles your Lord has cast upon them due to their own
lust for power and greatness. They are but pawns within the twisted
quest for the end of times, for the snuffing out of their own realities
as mice marching to a piper's pleasing melody to their own ultimate
demise. Your corruption of your own citizens runs deeper than the
darkest night that Lord Twilight could conjure, and is more oppressive
than Lord Apollyon could ever dream of. Yet they do not see it, for you
have woven a masterful web of lies of a freedom premised on strength
when the true end is a freedom from their own existences.

Regardless, despite your consistent and unbridled assaults against it,
you - as a part of it - stand as a testament of the persistence and
strength of Creation. Creation is the force that binds each of us, and
even if those who claim stewardship of it currently struggle against a
force far mightier than them, you are a fool to underestimate its
strength. While it was a convenient factor to leave out as you told your
version of history, Creation persisted then and it will continue to
persist, and with it Light and Good. Accordingly, any victory you claim
over the City of Light is hollow for, unlike you, we of the East do not
dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of power, or other selfish endeavors.

We dedicate our lives to the continuance of Creation.

Accordingly, you cannot measure your successes, nor our perceived
failures, on the battle field as much as you might wish you could. And
since you cannot, your claim of victory is but another
self-congratulatory farce.

That being said, there is still battle prowess and strength within the
East, despite your claims otherwise, and as with everything in Creation,
the seasons will change, the tides will shift and change will come.
Fortunately for the rest of Sapience, when that happens, your words will
quite likely be as off-point and single-minded then as they are now.


From the darkness, for the Light,

Saria Ackart-Sparrow
Mitran Scion


Penned by my hand on the 20th of Scarlatan, in the year 598 AF.