In case anyone's wondering, I'm the person who was recently outguilded by Mandrake. While I'm quite happy that my friend Mandrache has decided to speak out against Mandrake's action against me, it pains me to know of the march of life sometimes; In many ways, I respect Mandrake, though I can't say I agree with his decision to outguild me.

First of all, I'd like to say that the current flareup of this rather long historied issue started when I asked a member of the druids, Cathor, what he thought of Gaia. He called her a bitch and then, when I asked him to explain why he felt that way about her, he said it was because she was a whore. Finally, when I persisted, he told me of the rift between her and Irontongue, and that his friends had problems with her, including Mysti.

I'd like to say that Cathor told me this in a tell, not on a public channel like the druids channel. However, just because he hides these feelings from the guild in general doesn't mean that it's "ok". If I were the patron god of the druids, I would put in a considerable amount of time making sure that people were ok with me, because if not, it creates the breeding grounds for dissent and disharmony, sometimes in the most explosive of ways. I'm not saying that this problem is one that can be solved anytime soon, but I *am* saying that if someone feels this strongly against their matron goddess, they should either launch a full fledged campaign against her within the guild *or* they should choose to leave the guild. To simply do what they're doing, which to me seems like waiting for the right moment to strike, seems downright creepy.
For Mandrake and Gaia herself to allow them to be this way sounds like a guild that is in pretty bad shape. However, I will admit right now that perhaps most if not all guilds are in the same state and probably in some cases worse. Before I was outguilded, I was put on probation for pretty much the same reason. Kazin, my mentor, had wanted to learn more of the situation, but he didnt want to bring it up on the druid channel, for whatever reason. Perhaps he felt that it would be somewhat dangerous to do so. I think one could certainly come to this conclusion judging on whats happened to me. I had a feeling that if I continued to talk about this on the druids channel, that this might happen to me. The reason I continued (mainly) responding to people on it, however, is that one can do faster on a public channel then one can on the private tells to backbenchers who in truth, have certain stakes in the status quo.

As to the rift between Gaia and Irontongue, this is what I've gathered from both Cathor and later, on the other side of things, from Mandrake:
A while ago, Irontongue, not a member of either the Druids or of Gaia's following, had been married to someone who I believe is currently both, named Esther. They had marital problems; for some reason, Irontongue decided that Gaia was atleast partially to blame and threatened to kill everyone in her following. Gaia wasn't pleased with this apparently because before long he was saying much the same things to her that Cathor said to me about her. Because of this, Gaia decided to give him Eternal disfavour, which meant that he lost a fair amount of his skills (not sure on the percentage; 10%? 20%?).

I'm writing this here in the continued effort that this will be resolved. Because besides Cathor and Mysti, Catlynne, Cathor's girlfriend, also thinks that Gaia's a bitch and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were others in the following. I think it's simply terrible that they could honestly call themselves druids. It makes me sick to my stomach that they could be so hypocritical. Cathor has said in public that he "respects" Gaia, but give me a break, when was the last time anyone here 'respected' anyone who they call a bitch and a whore?

So in a very real sense, I'm hoping that Mandrake at the very least recognizes the error of his ways and invites me back into the guild or that he's replaced with someone more worthy of leading the guild, someone who knows that rifts like this are terribly bad to have and should be quite actively and if necessary publicly try to be resolved. He's said that Gaia doesn't seem to mind Cathor's feelings for her and this I find truly sad; it suggests that Gaia can't find a better guild to be a matron of.

Well, I'm once again alone in terms of having a guild. I'd be interested in perhaps getting into the Sentaari guild, but if my experience with the Sentinels before I was even _in_ a guild is any clue, they may not want me, simply because of the fact that I _will_ question my superiors if I feel their way of doing things to be in error and I won't give up the quest to better the guild until they've either persuaded me that their ways are best or I'm outguilded.

Since another guild Id like to be in may not be an option or may not even exist, I'm hoping that perhaps I could rejoin a town; I know I could if I created a new character, but I was hoping that I wouldn't have to, because I like people having atleast a vague idea of who I am and if I created a new character, I'd have to do some work linking my old persona with my new one.

Well, thanks for everyone's time.

Penned by my hand on the 14th of Glacian, in the year 243 AF.