To Taelle Starling,

Your post offers a bleak portrait of Cyrene, but I would ask you to consider whether the distortion lies not in the city itself, but in the perspective from which you now view it.

You pose a question of integrity. Who is more righteous: the man who hoards a limited cure and offers it selectively, or the nation that refuses to accept prolonged suffering and chooses to act? You frame this as a moral dilemma, yet overlook the thousands who begged for aid and received silence in return. If that is ethical judgment, then it is judgment made coldly, without compassion.

You accuse Cyrene of acting too quickly and turning to blood. But what choice did we have when lives continued to slip away and the cure remained locked behind the gates of Aster Malik? Your words speak of patience, but patience does not feed the sick, nor does it save the dying.

You commend the faith of our people, yet question the sincerity of those who were not born to it. Must conviction only count when it is old? Is it not more admirable to see truth and step toward it, rather than stand still for fear of inconsistency? Many in Cyrene found purpose in Lord Neraeos's return. Their devotion is no less real for having begun anew.

We did not seek war. We sought relief. We did not march out of hatred. We marched because we could not bear to watch more of our people die while help existed and was withheld.

You speak of who we once were. I say we have remembered it. Cyrene was never meant to be neutral in the face of suffering. We were never meant to stand politely aside while others decided who lived and who died. That is not civility. That is cowardice.

Cyrene has not faltered. We endure. If you no longer recognize us, perhaps it is you who has lost your footing.

Othival, the Mediocre

Penned by my hand on the 6th of Lupar, in the year 979 AF.