Is it always the first resort of the so-called enlightened of the world
to point at some other person as the source of everything that you have
done wrong in life?
Knowledge and the sharing of it? Dedication to your people and their
worries? Protection of the city in which you lived? What you did had
nothing to do with the ideals on which the son of my ancestor Talenor
built the Mages. Raife was one of your people. He was part of your city.
You pestered him about his religion. You harassed him to the point that,
obviously, he had no reason to believe you thought it could be good for
him to be a follower of the Griever. When he told you the lie, it was to
prevent a witch-hunt of sorts the likes of which Kinsarmar has been
struggling against for longer than I've been a citizen.
Raife is not perfect. He never was, but I can relate with him more
closely than ever could I with you. He, despite his personal failings as
a mortal, once held much faith in others. He cared enough about the city
of Kinsarmar and the Mages to try to make a difference. He became part
of the leadership in both. He devoted much energy into bettering them.
No matter the effort, however, it was never good enough for the
powermongers, those with the desire to rule without the caring to work
selflessly for others to earn it. It takes a lifetime to build up trust
in others. All it takes is one nasty rumour to make people hate you and
wish you would stop existing. One rumour grows into two. Two into more.
It spirals out of control until the people who once cheered you on now
jeer at you while the slit your throat to replace you with the new
flavour of the month.
I remember when I heard all about your escapades with the totem. There
was anti-Anatheman propaganda flying left and right. "Why, it'll corrupt
the moral fiber of the entire city! No, we know nothing about them! But
I'm going to stick my head up my rear and spout nonsense about the decay
of society infringing on my freedom to mock my fellow citizen who has
always worked so hard for us in the past, but this changes
EEEEEEEEEVERYTHING."
Knowledge. Hmph. You spread something. The exact thing you claimed that
Raife was trying to spread.
Dedication to your people and their worries? Raife was your people, both
in guild and in citizenship. Yeah. Try dedication to bringing bodily
harm to your people, thus CREATING worries for them.
Protection of the city in which you lived? Right-o. As long as you
redefine "protection" to mean "instilling of great paranoia, chaos, and
dissent" you'll be correct.
There is no moral high ground to be had in violating the law you claim
to uphold. You cannot sneer at lying while making yourself guilty of
treason. Hmmm. Lying about your religion to someone who would persecute
you for it or treason... Gee, I wonder which is a crime.
As for Raife's recent actions, while I do not agree with them neither do
I find myself without compassion for him. The busted his hump for
Kinsarmar, and all because of you and your act of treason against the
city he was derided publically and humiliated to the point of wishing to
depart for good. For that, yes, Kinsarmar should be ashamed. As should
you, the instigator of everything in the first place.
Incidentally, I'm actually amused at how quickly you change your opinion
of those who follow the Griever when speaking of them, you know, in
public.
As for the state of Kinsarmar, as per your grammatically and
spelling-mutilated propaganda, sure we hide behind the gate when it's
warranted. After all, when the Horde comes knocking en masse, you don't
answer the door before you've prepared your own forces. That's just
suicide. But since you're the master of all knowledge, including who our
current Duke is, I guess you knew that. Right? Right?
Hope you enjoy the weather. It'll be here all year. Thank you.
Lyrith Da'Saison
Penned by my hand on the 5th of Artificium, in the year 440 AD.
