A letter to the Legates

[Blue41]

[Delivered via runner to Legate Akna Ymir and Gausim al-Marain]

Legates,

During one of the first assemblies I attended, then-Legate Guivarch proposed a position before the crowd-- Speaker for the Voiceless, a role that would be held by a Voiceless who would bring the concerns and issues of the Voiceless forward. He nominated myself for this position, but for one reason or another, it never went further than that. I would like to revisit the idea, because I believe it to be a good one, even if more in theory than in practice. The fact of the matter is that there is a great many more Voiceless than Voiced, and it is unlikely that ratio will ever change. They're practically a Fourth Accord signatory. The Voiceless need to be heard, and when they're not, chaos follows. Crime, violence, ill will directed here and there.

I'm sure you would like the opportunity to address that; even redirect that.

In the spirit of that, and in the spirit of open communication, I'd like you to be the first to know that we of the Creep will be establishing our own little embassy in the basement  of the Almshouse at the Tablet. Kula lives in places that stand as the threshold between the Wyld and the Civilized. Once this embassy is open, it will serve as a place for the Voiced and Voiceless alike to meet with those who would Speak for the Creep, and share their concerns, comments and issues in the hopes of finding achievable solutions. Of course, this would not exclude either of you and I do hope to see you there one day.

We are men and women of faith under the Wheel, and the thought that we might find some common ground despite our past difficulties gives me hope.

Jerrod Felch
Speaker for Kula

[Random_White_Guy]

Jerrod Felch,

To be a "Fourth Accord Signatory" you would firstly have to accept the Sultanate, above a litany of other practices of which your dearest friend Lucia certainly won't. Second, to sit as "Voice of The Voiceless", such a title would require you take up a voice and raise a sum of 10,000 dinar to be titled upon the Stele, of which considering you have had months to secure a voice - an unlikely prospect.

I find it curious though you endeavor to seek such legitimacy, time and again, absent of every single step that would actually see you legitimized.

There sits not Shrine of Kula within the city despite many spots of flowers tended where life flourishes, absent any to tend such a garden.

Your visits to the Mound have become less than zero, choosing I am told to favor gutter-fights and in-fighting with your ganganeers over true building. Though it is heartening to hear you have seemingly regained from your miss-steps. Yet for all the espousal of the Wheel comes scant a whisper about the numerous Modini who from time to time head to the Creep.

The howls for "Candles lit in the gutters" despite the fact that Wroth holds a shrine within our own Sultan's Garrison to see justice fair and done.

I could go on, but you begin to see the point. Your Ad-Hoc Assembly of "Voiced and Voiceless to meet with those who would Speak for the Creep" is not ignoble but it is widely misguided. Many Voiced have witnessed your calls to the Sagebrush after the burning of their home. Many of the Voiced have witnessed your calls for violence, ceaseless and unerring and savage.

Your welcoming of brigand, bandit, traitor, and more.

You have refused society.

That is, ultimately, your choosing.

However you may not then attempt to claim some semblance of representation. The Creep offers no boons to this Settlement, and considering the amount of Necromancers and more that have flourished - though indeed, killed when it became... I do not know, convenient, I suppose? And no more of use to your cadre.

What assurances can be offered, considering some of the most savage and violent men and women of the city seek to open a refuge of "Communication and Peace" in the very basement of blessed mother B'aara's almhouse?

What works are undertaken to indeed, ensure piety and worthiness among those who walk the creep?

What efforts are foregone to see that the Voiced, those who embrace Society, ought even consider such a treating with your band of openly and pleasingly declared killers, brutalists, and more?

Until you may answer these questions, you may consider them my first comments and issue of achievable solutions.

But considering you opened your letter with a threat I find that a bleak prospect.

Honored Waterbearer Guasim Al-Marain
Of the Great Temple of Baz'eel
Legate of the First Seat

[Blue41]

Oh.

Oh, no.

I'm not interested in a title or getting my name on the Stele, though I admit I did approach Guivarch about being his Prelate because I found the idea intriguing, in a way-- to see if I could work out how that man reached the state we saw him at the end of two terms. His last written work was a delight in that regard. But no-- there is nothing to legitimize, because the People do not need to be recognized by the State to exist.

Shrines to Kula exist every place life, in all its varied forms, flourish-- from the hanging gardens atop the floating eyesore in the sky to we bedraggled weeds beneath the Well. There is no need for the grand Temple within the Souk, the temple of the Wheel. You do not recognize or legitimize Divinity. It simply is. Are you one of the idolaters that the Dervish so despises, that you need some graven image of Kula to spill your dinar in front of and kneel before to feel legitimate? No. I don't quite think that of you, though no doubt you do feel there is some manner of decorum to be had. We each worship in our own way, in the methods we were taught. If I never take the Speaker's Mound again, then so be it. I speak the Word every day to whomever will listen below the Well.

To tend the gardens is not to just sit as grove-keeper in the Krak, watering roses, but to see to the needs of the people. If there is violence, then there is a need for it. The necromancer, brooker and madman will find no welcome here, but the bandits and highwayman are pressed to such a course because of the open robbery that occurs above in the Well. That it should become necessary to steal for food, water and lodging speaks to the state of this place. And naturally, the Well finds a way to profit from that pain. I welcome them into our community. But there is very little to be done to dissuade them from turning their pain and anger towards the city above. If there is to be peace, there must be a gesture from the offender.

That is my answer to your first question.

Which brings us to this instance here and now, where I tell you that the People call out to you, and the decision is for you to both listen...or to hear. Because a society does not belong merely to those who pay for the privilege of speaking at your Assembly. A society is the sum of its parts. To deny the Creep is to deny a leg infected with disease, soon to molder from gangrene. It must be treated or it must be severed, never to leave the patient the same again. Perhaps you've seen such cases during your time in the ministry as a healer.

That would be my answer to your second question. Voiced must bridge the gap with Voiceless. A house cannot stand divided.

A question of my own, now, to match your pair. How will you treat this patient, Water-Bearer, to borrow from my earlier metaphor?

JF

[Random_White_Guy]

Much of your letter you already know the answer to.

Water is given freely, and you know this, you have seen Hasheema's Hope. As is Food. And Bunk. But there is one line that must be addressed.

How will you treat this patient, Water-Bearer, to borrow from my earlier metaphor?

That is your choice, not mine, Jerrod. Our doors remain open to any who adhere our laws, assimilate to our customs, adhere to our paths.

There was a time we walked in tandem. Meeting in the White League, your visits to the Temple. When your cantankerous streak actually felt that it at least was coming from a place of frustrated decency. A man who was pushed and decided to draw a line in the sand.

Now though?

Where as I have succeeded in every one of my goals by placing my faith in both the institutions and the peoples of this settlement...

You? You have failed this settlement. Repeatedly. Arson, as if a child throwing tantrum gets his way. Assault and Murder, as if it brings anything but renewed suffering. Theft, as if you lack for Dinar or have ever wanted for anything working your boardwork making your fortunes. Treason, empowering and emboldening open cries for usurping.

You have not improved the Creep, nor this settlement, you've only highlighted the worst of it. Encouraged the Refugee to debase themselves with thinest veil of justification. You have not brought of Kula, you have only taken.

Selfishly, eagerly, ravenously, insatiably. Feeding your basest instinct with the belief that you do it for others so it is permissive.

Now you seek to prop yourself up as some populist figure, a man worthy of contending with the Voiced, with the Pyramid, the Chosen of the Voiceless, using the Almhouse.

I hope you appreciate the ironic gravity dripping from these words.

You have learned well. The Mango does not fall far from the tree.

But you have not learned from Dearest Kula,

Gaze upon the names etched upon those boxes in the Almhouse behind the soup table.
Recognize the footsteps you now walk,
You ganganeer who seeks to use the sanctity of the Almhouse
To cleanse your name in a mockery of peace and open communication.

You have become Riccario Cassella

Shame on you.

Honored Waterbearer Guasim al-Marain
Of The Great Temple of Baz'eel
Legate of the First Seat.

[Blue41]

Walked in tandem? Who are you fooling, Gausim? From our first meeting, in the name of Providence, you believed yourself above me, above any human who came before you. If I have been pushed, pressed, frustrated-- it is by perspectives like your own, all too common. Those who believe that what they possess places them above the rest.

Even at my lowest point, I have placed my faith in the Wheel and the Wyld over my fellow man. I've not highlighted the 'worst' of this settlement. I've simply highlighted...this settlement. I won't allow you to squint those glassy eyes of yours and see only the parts you prefer of Ephia's Well. I'm repeating myself but seeing how you didn't acknowledge it-- society is the sum of its parts, its best and brightest as well as the ugly underbelly. You can't have one without the other; intrinsically and innately tied together.

Arson? Theft? Assault? Murder? Treason?

This is what the Sultan's hand has sowed. And we reap the fruit day by day, week by week. Everything taken from above goes below. One hand gives, one hand takes-- that is the way of Kula.

Enjoy your secular successes, Gausim. In time you'll chafe against the limits of your role. And when that time comes, I'm sure we'll speak again.

JF

[Random_White_Guy]

Walked in tandem? Who are you fooling, Gausim? From our first meeting, in the name of Providence, you believed yourself above me, above any human who came before you. If I have been pushed, pressed, frustrated-- it is by perspectives like your own, all too common. Those who believe that what they possess places them above the rest.

In tandem, yes. We shared time at the Mound, we shared many nights at the Temple of the Mother, we walked the City, we spoke at length, we were as fellow Ordained of the Wheel should be. We did not see eye to eye, but there was a camaraderie. One you have systematically sought to sever in spite.

In our first discussion you lashed out "At them", my discussion on providence was in answer to your question of "Why should you get Voice and we don't.". I do not believe I am "Above" humanity, I simply believe that in this Desert my people have survived and thrived for generations and milennia while you and other newcomers arrive believing you know what is best. Because you "Feel it", because you "Believe it", and more.

These things are not to be discounted but they are not foundational bedrocks of Civilization. As proven time and again by the deeds and actions of the Refugee. The violence against one another, the harming of themselves, the feuding, the murders, the maimings, the strife. Your own... I do not even know what to call it. Commune? Your own Commune's rhetoric.

How many bellows of One Hundred Spears against La Banda Rossa. How much violence sown upon others who are not La Banda Rossa. How much talk of the Piety against the Dome. How many of the Wheel have you brutalized.

Even at my lowest point, I have placed my faith in the Wheel and the Wyld over my fellow man. I've not highlighted the 'worst' of this settlement. I've simply highlighted...this settlement. I won't allow you to squint those glassy eyes of yours and see only the parts you prefer of Ephia's Well. I'm repeating myself but seeing how you didn't acknowledge it-- society is the sum of its parts, its best and brightest as well as the ugly underbelly. You can't have one without the other; intrinsically and innately tied together.

And how long did you permit your companion to imbibe the Dretch Drink? She was a Ghuul long before the curse caught up with her. The lust for flesh, for blood, for violence. How far into Kula's teachings did you and she get, as you sought to sway her path away from damnation?

Or as so many did you merely realize, far too late, that things have gotten too far?

Jordan Clearcreek shared she knew she had gone off the cliff's edge when she felt safer hiding out in the Krak de Rose than in Ephia's Well. Her hatred, her malice, her venom twisting her.

You say the best and worst of society are intrinsically and innately tied together - and yet gaze well at this parchment.

Through my, as you so eloquently say, "Glassy eyes" of mine.

You are not exiled for your transgressions, there is no price on your head, even the demands for your capture are only by minority.

No. It is not we beating and robbing the Creepfolk. No orders have been given to Banda Rossa to fill their jars of Pitch and begin dumping them into the Sewers. No poisonous gasses have been released through the Worm Pits. No abominations wrought upon the Creep from the Astrologians. No Janissary patrols are crashing the unprotected, barricaded, defenseless hole you have chosen to hide in.

You hold no "Grand Fort" capable of stopping one Legion, let alone Multiple, let alone the Accord.

It is our mercy, our civilized nature, and our charitable hope that you may still redeem those you have allowed to fall so far from the path that has stayed hand.

Yet a handful of ill-tempered, well meaning, refugees who do not know better went after Ariel and your cabal have begun to hunt them - or so the rumors and the evening howls of Lucia say.

This is what the Sultan's hand has sowed. And we reap the fruit day by day, week by week. Everything taken from above goes below. One hand gives, one hand takes-- that is the way of Kula.

Enjoy your secular successes, Gausim. In time you'll chafe against the limits of your role. And when that time comes, I'm sure we'll speak again.

This is not what the Sultan's hand has sown. Qari bade Marcellus stay his hand at Red Hill when the Astronomers begged for the Egg. Nasreen has counseled many of the leagues to seek reformation over the blantant strife. Soldier Daoud has chosen path to see the Legion's investigative procedures improved. Magistrate Faisal has begun drafting from my ideas of a civil court the means to see to Judicial reform and civil law to aid in settling disputes amicably.

These actions, these are what the Sultan's hand have sown by the faithful of the Wheel and those who see the world through "Glass eyes" as you so brusquely sought to claim in crude and ill tempered colloquialism.

The hardship faced, the difficulties known, the agonies inflicted, the terrors wrought. This is what Humanity has sown. With majority of the Leagues attended by Humanity, with majority of the Legates having been human, the Human Janissary, the Human astronomers, the Humans of the Rose.

This is what you have sown. You could fundamentally improve the Creep at every conceivable level. But you will not, because your allies do not want that. Then they would not have their outlaw soldiers to arm, their necromancers to befriend until it was time to snap neck, the brooking that is overlooked until it is given no more leeway.

Of my own though?

Yes. I do enjoy my secular successes, as much as I have enjoyed my Ecclesiastical successes. The faith of the Dome recedes like a tide drawing back to the sea. The Legion, the Rose, and more have members taking more to the faith of B'aara, working to raise the settlement further, learning more of culture, of art, of faith, of building a future.

My role is without limits. For I sit anointed by God and Princess alike to improve this city. And piece by piece, I am.

No amount of burning this world will sate you. The amount of malice and wickedness you protect and foster in the name of "Seeing good done for the common man" is a fallacy, else you would attend the Almhouse as I and so others do.

But no. You do not fight for the common man. You do not fight for the hungry, for the weeping, for the sickly.

You fight for degenerates, for the wicked, for the cruel.

You choose violence. You choose barbarism. You choose to harm others.

The misery you spread, the pain you cause, it is a temporary salve, a fleeting quiet of your tormented soul. It compounds with every deed taken. And worst of all you seem to believe you are correct in such things.

And for that, the Mother Weeps.

Perhaps it was wrong to shame you,

Perhaps it is more proper to pity you.

Honored Waterbearer Gausim al-Marain
Of The Great Temple of Baz'eel
Legate of the First Seat