Messages

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24 Tabbah, IY 7788
Ephia's Well


Beloved friends, members of the Sagebrush Corps,

The Priory has considered your request for Descent Authorization, in compliance with the new writ upon the Stele of Law. We thank you for your friendly and forthcoming conduct in your contacts with us. There seems, to our perception, to be nothing which ought to prevent you from obtaining such authorization.

However, whereas the Sisterhood did not petition the government for the power to issue or deny such authorization, whereas the Sisterhood does not desire such a power, and whereas the Sisterhood does not consider such authorizations and the evaluations that necessarily must precede them to be within its competency, the Sisterhood has decided not to consider any such requests.

We will neither consider nor grant nor deny requests for authorization to descend, for as long as there are other subsidiary instruments of the Sultan's authority that are more fit to do so.

Under the present circumstances, we find that the Sandstone College, which the government has also empowered in this regard, better suits this purpose than our Priory in Ephia's Well.

Therefore, regrettably, instead of granting such authorization, we must direct your request to the Sandstone College, where you are certain to find a Professor who will grant it.

Given your demonstrable suitability to descend, we anticipate that you will have little difficulty in securing authorization.

We wish you the best of fortune, and shall pray for your safety and success in your delving.


Sister Nebtu
Priory of the Sisterhood of the Sibylline Vine

5 Tabbah, IY 7788
Ephia's Well


Honoured Legates, blessings of the gods upon you both: health, wisdom, and victory in war.

As you will have noted, and as expected, the tragedy of the war is deepening, and the refugees multiply, and their influx intensifies.

These refugees must be fed and sheltered, lest their misery and despair turn to desperation. The Mother's mercy demands it, as does the craft of governance, since this will otherwise grow into a dangerous social and security hazard for our city.

As has been previously discussed with you, the Sisterhood is ready to assume the burden of feeding the city. We require only your signing off to our administering a portion of the imported grain from Alkab, and the relief may begin.

While this will resolve the issue of food, the next and greater challenge will be the sheltering of these refugees. The best and perhaps the only way to do this is the completion of the New District.

We implore you therefore with the greatest haste to see the District constructed and completed, as you have promised. The hundreds of thousands of dinar we have raised stand at your disposal for this purpose. Then shall our city absorb any number of refugees, now and in the future, securing both their weal and our city's stability.

Honoured Legates, we pray for you and for the victory of our forces, and we are at your disposal, should you have need of our humble counsels.


Sister Nebtu
Priory of the Sisterhood of the Sibylline Vine

[law on Accord Governance]

31 Maribeh, IY 7788
Ephia's Well


Honoured Legate,

In response to your call, which honours the spirit of the Magus Asterabadi, for the opinions of the Voiced and Unvoiced alike upon the proposed reforms to the penal code of Ephia's Well, the Priory offers for your consideration the following remarks.

Upon the proposed law on Accord Governance:

The balance of influence between the Signatories is a delicate one, all too easily upset. It is inadvisable even at the best of times to destabilize that equilibrium. In a time of war, when unity and cohesion are the twin pillars not merely of our city's strength, but of its very survival, it would be positively unwise.

All residents of Ephia's Well should be able to enjoy full confidence in the Magistrates, their works and their rulings. This may not be the case if a Magistrate is seen to hold multiple formal loyalties. It is the nature of things that each Signatory has its friends and its foes; trust in a Magistrate should not be distributed along such lines but should be designed to be as universal as possible.

It is therefore the opinion of the Priory that no exception should be made which allows members of the Accord Signatories to be appointed Magistrate, or any other office of government. Rather, the law should be consistent. Signatory members should serve our city in other capacities; not as office-holders.

(An exception to this important principle of exclusion could be made, in theory, if the entire Accord, unanimously, would permit a member of a Signatory to hold an office of government, by consensus. Such an eventuality, however, seems under the present circumstances so theoretical and improbably remote as not to warrant being provided for in law.)

Upon the proposed law on Brooking:

It seems to us that the proposed wording may be exploited by those who would break the spirit of the law, even while claiming to respect its letter. For example, one may brook without "conjuration"; one may "bind" a djinn precisely in order to destroy it. We would suggest some formulation be found which captures both the actus reus and mens rea of the crime, namely to voluntarily interact or make contact with a djinn with the intent to trade or collaborate with, benefit from, make use of, or command it. (Perhaps it may also be prudent to penalize the failure to report to the public, or the Legion, the sighting of a djinn, but this is merely a suggestion.)

Legate, we pray for you, for Ephia's Well, and for victory.


Sister Nebtu
Priory of the Sisterhood of the Sibylline Vine

13th Maribeh IY 7788
Priory of the Sibylline Vine

To her illustrious ladyship Elizabeth d'Auvergne, Grandmaster of the Order of the Cinquefoil Rose
From the Sister Nebtu of the Priory of the Sibylline Vine, with salutations

---

My lady of roses, hail. Eight blessings upon you and your celebrated line.

A garden of roses is the Krak, whose walls are the bulwark against which the hordes of Iakmes shall break, and whose gallant guardians garland you shall with the wreaths of victory.

From the heart of the garden, however, the hoarse croaking of a poison toad reaches our ear.

One of the mercenaries of the Red Band who serves your Rose Banner, a woman named Emilia, has on this day called in public for the hanging of one of the Acolytes of the Sibylline Vine. The cause for this is naught but the girl's name, which she, as all Acolytes do when they enter our walls, has turned her back upon.

We pray of your ladyship that this croaking be silenced, which pollutes the beauty and troubles the peace of the rose garden.

The prayers of the Sisterhood for your health and fortune are with you unceasing, and our boundless love.


Thine humble servant,
Sister Nebtu

. . .

. . .

I can't really find the words to express my admiration for this effort, so I'm reluctant to even try. Easily one of the best and most defining PCs this chapter -- so obviously that it hardly bears repeating. You took this PC very seriously in a way that I admire and also strive to do with mine. You allowed the character to develop organically in a way that should be a model to us all, and as a consequence you enhanced the quality of the chapter for everyone. Alejandro himself was wonderful, and funny, and sad, and intriguing, and thought-provoking, to watch and experience and read, as a literary creation. I have a ton of screenshots which maybe I will some day post. Also, as someone who had not interacted with you on previous PCs, thank you also for just being a cool and nice player.

Thanks for all of this -- exactly the kind of effort that makes EfU magical.

[Received.]

Update: gone until Monday evening at the soonest

Will be unable to log on until Sunday evening at the soonest.

no................ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Will miss!

"Margarethe Eisenberg"