Greetings Lorielan! I am overjoyed to feel Your mighty presence in
mortal realms once again! I am also glad to hear You have withdrawn from
neutrality. The lesson of the unfortunate Lorewardens when Your
Triumvirate destroyed them (perhaps this change of heart is in the
spirit of seeking penance with Candlemas for the act against the
Lorewardens?) is one to take heart: clearly the Triumvirate understood
that the knowledge within their libraries was a key to thwarting their
plans of destruction and greed for power since truth and knowledge is
its most powerful when applied to good, not evil, and when applied to
peace, not war. Surely the Aldar would have used that lost knowledge for
the betterment of the world by destroying that alliance. Evil is
dedicated to self gain at the expense of others. When the betterment of
the self at the expense of others is the goal then knowledge used to
that end is not shared lest others become better than those who hold
that knowledge, and it ultimately becomes forgotten. War by its nature
destroys both the material and, as was the case when Your Triumvirate
destroyed the Lorewardens, the immaterial. Clearly evil and war are the
enemies of those who value the proliferation knowledge, particularly for
the betterment of all.

And so I join hands with many such as myself, who have advocated truth
above all else, in praise and happiness at Your return. My people have
long supported the quest for knowledge to be applied to the betterment
of others. For example, by utilizing the essence of poor unfortunate
souls who have fallen in battle or found their end in old age, we have
learned to heal the mind and body, even to the point of sometimes
abating death itself! We alone among mortals learned planar travel long
before any lesser scholars thought up of "planar physics", and used this
to tame beasts of other worlds. And being a planeswalker Yourself I am
sure that is something You can appreciate. Let's not forget that my
people selflessly saved an entire city from the ravages of the dark and
evil forces of the Tsol'teth with this knowledge of planar travel and
the knowledge of death magics, using the beasts from beyond to guard
against the Tsol'teth and the life essence of the dead to negate the
evil spells of the Tsol'teth! In addition, we have also learned to use
mystical cards to, among other things, conjure up orbs of the sacred
light You seem to now hold so dear to banish away darkness, and to
perform enhanced traveling to ease the weary foot. Greatest of all
feats, only one mortal ever, who was of my people, was able to uncover
and use the knowledge of how to ascend into immortality without divine
intervention.

Unfortunately, some have shunned this knowledge. Rather than attempting
to explore it, learn it, and see how it can be applied to the betterment
of others, they have instead sought to destroy it through acts of war.
Unlike my friends in the east, my people have advocated the use of all
knowledge. Within the walls of my city I have basked in the glorious
light of a rite of dawn, seen protectors of the forest pick herbs at
Epicurus' garden and create mystical concoctions, recycled lost life of
fallen friends into something that can be put to good use, witnessed
monks perfect purity of mind and body in the name of enlightenment, and
seen the fearsome beasts of the Chaos Plane tamed into submission and
used to protect against those who seek to suppress knowledge they
disagree with. Unlike my friends in the east, I have not conjured up
demons from below and subjugated others with visions of Hell and
darkness in the name of destroying knowledge I do not understand. Unlike
my friends in the east, my people have never suppressed knowledge of any
kind. But perhaps this policy of destroying what is not understood
instead of embracing it for the advancement of society is why my friends
in the east were felled by my people and their Selucarian allies when
led under the banner of the great Nicatar, may the gods bless his soul.

It is truly a shame that in this modern age a group of once-peaceful
historians, artists, philosophers, and scholars have been forced to take
up arms and defend ancient tomes and manuscripts that my friends in the
east seek to burn because they call them, and I quote, "blasphemous".
But let's not forget that the thesaurus at the Nicatar Archives lists
"freethinking" as another word for blasphemous, "One who has rejects
authority and dogma, especially in religious thinking, in favor of
rational inquiry and speculation". And this is why I am overjoyed to see
You return. I look forward to the day when all mortals decide to rise up
against the unlawful oppressors in the east, who seek to reenact the
injustice done unto the Lorewardens, and turn them in favour of rational
inquiry and speculation. A day when those who study life magics for the
betterment of society do not seek to destroy those who seek the
betterment of society through knowledge of the afterlife. Then we can
all join hands in peace, sharing the knowledge we had been forced to
hide by the unlawful zealots in the east, basking in truth and justice
for the betterment of all!

Praise be to Lorielan!

Penned by my hand on the 17th of Phaestian, in the year 298 AF.