Greetings,

I was greatly amused, and felt the need to respond to a letter in which
one of the members of the Order of Death, namely Garess, discussed
Antioch and her stance on the God of Death. The particular point of
contention which struck me the most was the argument that Death teaches
the true form of existence. In this letter, Garess argued that the life
mortals know is an illusion created by Lord Avasyu to prevent mortals
from attaining knowledge of some sort.

Firstly, Antioch rejects the teachings of Death not because of your
silly assumptions, but because your kind populates the Order of your
Lord. By your kind I mean demoners and the magick users, those who
spread the taint in the lands, those we do not wish to associate with
lest we become tainted ourselves.

My counter to this argument is simple; life is no farce or faade. This
claim is absurd even without the mention of Lord Avasyu. The fact that
it is necessary for you to add words such as 'true' and 'real' to your
argument shows just how unsubstantiated it is. There is no revelation in
Death, and certainly no knowledge gained from experiencing death. It is
as we see it, nothing but emptiness and misery, as evidenced by the
wailing of the souls that populate the streets of your Lord's domain.

Aetherians I ask you, can you not vouch that you live as you are? Do you
not feel life around you, in the motion of the breeze, the scent of the
vegetation, the taste of the rain, and the touch of one that loves you?
These simple and cherished things do not even begin to broach the truth
that is Life.

Please do not be fooled by promises of a greater reality by those who
seek to draw you into the throngs of despair. Make no mistake, Death is
angst filled and prefixing the word life with true will never change
that.

Silken Pae'ganis.

Penned by my hand on the 6th of Ferinus, in the year 472 AD.