To the leaders, both present and future, of the forestal community:

I hope this letter finds you well, late as it is. When I left, I was not in the right state of mind to speak as I would like. With this writing, my wish is that I am able to provide insight you may not have heard otherwise. While some of these topics have been covered in writings of the past, I hope that this gives you a deeper look into the village you live in.

Competing on an ever-evolving world stage requires a culture of discovery, willing to find innovative ways to solve cyclical, age-old problems. I find that even thirty years later, I no longer have confidence in my ability to deliver on hopes I once voiced to the Earthmother, for the people of Eleusis.

That is the reason I chose to retire from service to the village. It pained a part of my heart to go during such a winter in Eleusis' cycle of seasons, but I was not and am not attuned to the environment that exists.


A strategy that promotes growth

Centuries ago, I had a conversation with a Shallamese colleague of the time. As we spoke on the nature of leadership in battle, I remember that he posed the question, "What is the difference between strategy, tactics, and logistics?" We swiftly agreed that it is strategy that gives the other two pieces meaning, yet without tactics or logistics, even the most well-crafted strategy is bound to fail.

These thoughts are not solely applicable to Eleusis' issues, but I believe in appropriating experiences from other contexts instead of looking at new problems as if nothing similar has previously occurred. Following this line of thinking, we should consider our approach to strategy from an organisational perspective. The questions I pose below are not the only considerations to take into account when crafting a strategy, but I find them pertinent to your situation.

1. How is your strategy innovative?

2. Does your strategy help you reach an ultimate vision you have for your organisation?


The discipline of being different

Building the foundation required for innovation does not always look like progress in the short term. Present successes or failures were decided years past, and in order to secure a better future that sustains itself, you must be willing to invest into potential that has not yet bloomed.

Recall that spring is not a season of absolute forgiveness, that it does not allow forgetfulness of the past. The fruits of past labours manifest themselves as they ease the transition into the new cycle of seasons. Inversely, complacency and abuse are exposed as Nature withholds Her bounty from those who have scorned Her.

Long-term growth requires the will to take a different path and the discipline to stick to that path. It is comfortable to act within the group consensus, yet this does not promote growth nor provide a path to greatness. Greatness occurs where the contrarian and correct meet as one.


An insatiable thirst for knowledge

Developing that contrarian correctness requires a persistent hunger for new knowledge. Listen to and understand others' beliefs until you are able to summarise them as well as they can. Search for an undervalued quality and figure out a way to strengthen it. Identify a poor habit, and consciously curb it. An everlasting desire for knowledge is necessary for a leader who hopes to better a society. Otherwise, the waters of life become stagnant and meaningful direction is lost.

Just as growth is uncomfortable, knowledge is disruptive, and searching for it requires questioning both others and the self. A lack of experience with the feeling of uncertainty results in a reactive fear to external impetus, and that brand of fear causes hasty, ill-considered decision-making.


The will to search for difficult truths

Greater breadth of knowledge begets greater tolerance for uncertainty, and growth requires the ability to accept and consider the full range of possible outcomes in any novel undertaking. Otherwise, future opportunities will continue along a reductive path until few possibilities remain. The measure of a decision's success cannot be so succinctly answered as "yes, this worked" or "no, this did not work." There is a rather wide range in between those absolutes, and learning from partial results requires a drive to discover the truth in its entirety.

When decisions elicit poor results, the truth is often avoided. Uncomfortable decisions are frequently passed over as simple mistakes, when these are the greatest learning opportunities of all.


Faith in the eventuality of the process

It is possible to do everything right and receive a poor result, just as it is possible to do many things wrong and receive a good result. While it is difficult to separate the efficacy of a process from its end result, faith in the journey is paramount to sustained success. To have faith is to possess a certain brand of humility, to know that our understanding is incomplete, to know that we are likely wrong and we should seek to be less wrong through some form of guidance.

There must be faith that the correct path will lead to a better destination more often than not. Contrarily, you must also doubt your processes, no matter their result, in order to satisfy your search for truth. It is a balance born of continual discovery.


Objectives, or the inherited position

When I first joined Eleusis, I did relatively little before going to sleep for a while. When I awoke, those who had encouraged me to join the village had gone to sleep themselves. In their stead, I found a golden generation full of enormous potential, and I was happy to help them with my experience. However, I swiftly realised that the Eleusis that existed did not have an active purpose that encouraged development to a level consistent with other actors on the world stage. With the help of the Earthmother's teachings, I sought to create one.

The strategy was straightforward, albeit difficult.

1. Introduce: Bring concepts that had not previously gained much traction into the public eye, developing ideas like the expansion of Nature's influence.

2. Create: Write texts that form a consistent basis for said concepts. These were often contained within posts on other topics.

3. Actuate: Form opportunities for action both inside the world of combat and outside of it, in order to demonstrate practise of concepts.

Through these methods, I hoped to discover people who saw potential within a mission. I did, and they were brilliant. I foresaw opposition from incumbent subcultures, but drastically underestimated the depths they would sink to in order to persist. I did not correctly predict the amount of time required to battle those elements in leadership.


Results

An effective team begins with the people you have to work with. That golden generation of young talent, given purpose and interest, granted us a strong presence on the world stage for quite a few decades. It is necessary to implement a system of identifying high potential prospects and retaining them even as people come and go. The days of expecting talents to show greater commitment to a cause than their leaders or expecting them to remain for fear of losing their vocations are long gone, and so too must the community evolve with the times.

There were a great many obstacles I faced, but instead of speaking of them directly, I would like to offer a thought I've come across since my departure. A new truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents to see the light, but because its opponents eventually die. When the old do not die, how do your new truths triumph? How will your culture progress and achieve greatness?


Outlook

A clearer ideological foundation now exists, but there is still much to build. Movements are more often born of reactions to embarrassment or world-shaking occurrences than a genuine will to proactively serve. Actions are taken with no overarching strategy beyond the vague mantra of "for Nature."

The cycle will continue on its own, but the opportunity to disrupt it by tilling the earth and planting seeds anew will always be there. You must look within with clarity in order to grow upright.


Acknowledgements

I give my sincerest gratitude for the opportunity I was given and the time spent with you. For all else that was exchanged, the greatest beneficiary of my time spent as an Eleusian was me. Because I moved there many years ago, I found my dearest wife, a son who stands strong by his own making, and several lifelong friends.

Perhaps I will not be there to see the next seeds sown, but that is fine. I will consider the next stage of my growth. And perhaps this will be uncomfortable, but most growth tends to be. In the long view, such decisions are overwhelmingly positive.

I wish you all the best of luck. A great many ideas still jump up and raise their little voices in my mind, but as Parni deSangre said at the fall of Seleucar, there are no more words.

Gaian Ellodin Rahal, Magistrar of Battle

Penned by my hand on the 20th of Ero, in the year 768 AF.