I've watched this situation unfold for months now. I've tried private counsel. I've tried public reason. Now the Countess appeals to Aspience, painting herself as a victim facing an army of aggressors. Let me be clear about what's actually happening here.

Nezaya found an empty hill upon which to build a castle. Then decided to lay claim to large swathes of land around it for which to establish villages under her rule. That the land was unoccupied doesn't make it unclaimed. The Chaghut are a migratory people...their absence from a place doesn't mean they've surrendered it. Orilla confirmed the Chaghut's claim. Duke Semiro confirmed it. These aren't distance observers making political calculations. These are Meropians who know the land and its history.

The Countess was offered a path forward. Multiple times. Acknowledge the Chaghut's sovereignty. Petition them humbly for the right to remain. She speaks of gifts she brings after the fact, and then acts accosted when they are not accepted.

The Chaghut asked for one thing: to acknowledge the land is theirs, and that what holdfasts do rise on it, they allow so long as they remain humble. She refused. Called them bandits. Threatened mass graves. Boasted about the lethality of her forces and allies. Then, when the tribes gathered in response to her belligerence, she perhaps realised, sat upon her throne made of gold, that her stone walls might not be enough.

This isn't about pride, she says. Then what is it about? She could have had everything she wanted...her castle, her trade, her future...if she'd been willing to acknowledge reality and show respect, and not overreach. Instead, she chose defiance, issuing threats all along the way. She choose to stand on principle over a claim that even more the other Meropian's don't support.

Now she asks Sapience to show mercy, and perhaps even ride south to bleed for her poor decisions.

I've stood with the Chaghut for years. Long before Saravoia existed or was even a though. I pledged to protect their home because they're my allies and my friends. I'll ride with them not because Nezaya is "monstrous", but because she was offered every reasonable chance to avoid this and refused them all.

To those considering answering her call: ask yourselves what you're fighting for. A Countess who found empty land and declared it hers despite knowing it belonged to someone else? Against a people defending territory they've held for centuries?

The Chaghut didn't start this fight. They gave seven months' warning. They offered time to make things right. Now after all her posturing and threats, despite telling me she fully knows what she's up against, she realises the Chaghut do not cower in the face of neither her bark nor her bite.

I've seen enough pointless bloodshed in my years. I don't want this fight. But if it comes, I know which side has the right of it.

- Sir Kresslack Matrose

Penned by my hand on the 9th of Miraman, in the year 993 AF.