Ah, the ever fearsome Hashan, who were compensated for their corrupted morals, have taken the powers granted to them and elected to war against the largest foe in Sapience, Mhal..wait, Ashta..no, Eleusis? Really, that can't be right?

Well, on the topic of little birds -

Your attempt to claim victory reminds me of a baby bird pushed from it's nest to fly for the first time. Regardless if they fly, or fall, they joyously claim the low bar as a 'VICTORY!' as they haven't died. You see, a baby bird will sometimes fly, but sometimes it breaks its neck on a tree branch below. It seems obvious which of those two paths the politicians of Hashan have set their soldiers on.

The problem is, now that Hashan's soldiers have stepped from behind their own guards because of their new gifts, they feel empowered and confident. That confidence has caused them to leap headfirst out of their warm, comfortable bubble of a little nest - without heeding the lesson of the baby bird - and plummeted into the big, cold, cruel world of Nature. If you don't break your neck you're still best learn to fly quickly or be eaten by predators.

So now that we are done talking of little birds, you ask which 'grievous defeat' you have suffered and then go on to propagandize only the most recent. I say the list is more easily enumerated for the ones you've been successful in. And for the sake of your ego, we will only include the last 50 years, how's that?

Your soldiers have been bested repeatedly in the Darkenwood by Eleusis, bested in the wilds of the Ithmia by Eleusis, bested in our tiny, little, defenseless village, bested in their home city, and the entirety of Hashan was just bested by 'more than a little' in the recent Sapience-wide competition.

The simple fact is that Hashan's soldiers have been bested repeatedly in the field for centuries by tiny, ineffectual, inconsequential, in-fighting Eleusis.

You may claim that we have allies in the Coalition who aid us, that you kill some of us without them, or.. it could simply be that you have not learned the lessons of your very recent histories with the Aegeans, Ashtani, Eleusians, and Mhaldorians. It is not some 'secret' of the Aegeans that opening multiple fronts in a war rarely ends well. And thus far has never ended well for Hashan, her citizens, or those who lead them to the gristmill because of their hubris.

We may be smaller, we may not be a massive military force, we may get beat on by everyone else - but we in Eleusis have been, and will continue to be, more than Hashan's soldiers can handle.

Fear not, Eleusis stands ready to accept your next batch of refugee-soldiers should they once again decide that they are fed up with the leadership of Hashan's tacticians and politicians whose willing disregard for the citizenry's general well-being is surpassed only by their quest for power in any form, at any cost.

Caelan Longshanks
High Warden of Nature
Ithmian Thorn
Aegean Warlord

Penned by my hand on the 17th of Scarlatan, in the year 803 AF.