Grimsblade,

I have always held a great amount of respect for you, from when I was a
member of the Priests and even after that as my path changed. I was
quite happy that when you became Sultan, because I always felt you were
a reasonable man and I felt that perhaps this whole mess could be ended
sooner because of that fact.

But after having read your post, I feel a choking tightness in my
throat. It may be anger, but more likely it is just disappointment. I
take a great deal of insult to your implication that the firestorm that
ravaged Hashan was anything less than an attrocity. You even go so far
as to trivialize it further by putting the word crimes in quotation
marks. I can assure that it really did happen, in fact I died twice in
it. I watched my family, my friends and respected members of Hashan like
Damaris die. Do you know what it is like to wake up at night when you
can still smell the stench of the charred flesh of your friends? I can
assure you that it is not pleasant, nor anything I will ever forget.

Regardless of if it was intentional or not, a heinous mass murder was
committed. Contrary to what most people seem to think, people are given
free will. The Vizier Council _voted_ to open the chest, regardless of
what had happened to their beloved Church so shortly before. They used
their free will and said "Hey, lets open the chest, it's got more
warnings and is bigger, but I'm sure it's full of big snuggly teddy
bears that will make everything just fine and dandy!" Or maybe it was
"Yah, lets open the chest that's bigger and has more warnings, when we
nuke Ashtan that'll teach them good!" It's hard to say, though
considering who was Sultan at the time, I lean towards the second theory
myself.

So just to reexamine the facts again, don't trivialize the deaths of
many dozen innocents, it doesn't become the Sultan of the city of Light
and Righteousness. Or perhaps it does, looking at the most recent list
of Sultans. I do hope that in the future, words are considered more
carefully before they are thrown about, lest they result in any sort of
enimity between cities. Oh wait, I suppose it is too late for that.

I suppose I've rambled on long enough, I hope my point got through in
there somewhere.

Grellek

Penned by my hand on the 12th of Ero, in the year 298 AF.