The Folly of Illul 21st

[ADashofHope]

The Folly of Illul 21st

Friends,

It's a sad occasion that brings my quill to parchment tonight. I woke up full of vim and vigor after my house was broken into to yesterday, our bookcase smashed to pieces (a precious Cogsworth original, one of the few left in circulation) by no common vandals but the Janissaries of the Fourth Legion. I was ready to take some people to task, demand answers, demand accountability!

But the night held other things in store for us all. The horrors known as the Tormented came spitting and frothing from out of the sands of the Plaza, a black tide that sought to sweep us away. The alarm was quickly raised, but woe to those who were caught unaware, unprepared, alone. Your humble Author was nearly overwhelmed at the doorway of the Krak by six of the creatures, and if not for the timely arrival and life-giving waters of a beautiful maiden, I would not be here today.

At the steps of the Pyramid, a band of caravaneers, Janissaries and Cinquefoil had rallied around the Legate Lhyrian, fending off the Tormented as they roiled in. Of the horrors that tested us, I struggle to describe– to do them justice. But that is not your chief concern, I suspect. You don't need to know the size and scope of a beast when it has claimed the life of your mother, your father, your sisters and brothers. Far too many were snatched away, left dancing a lifeless jig in the shaking sands of the Plaza.

Two days ago a law was raised against Descent into Al-Nasr, where these Tormented called home. I soon learned that a small expedition of citizens had decided that the laws of the Legate and the Well did not apply in this case. It was their delve that had provoked the creatures below, and none yet knew if they would be return to explain themselves, despite the repeated pleas of Legate and Lieutenant both. And all the while the Tormented poured on...

Until the flow stopped. Our ragged band was divided into two– one to search the Gutters for signs of our own, and the other to sweep the streets for stragglers. I joined the latter, and it will take many a bottle to banish the faces of the dead from memory. When we returned, the expedition group had been discovered and were quickly escorted to the Chamber of Rule for an accounting.

Of that group– Sergeant Hanson Gilbracht. Soldier Armin Albertos. Apothar Zol Nur. Apothar Shum Sheroy. Nadiri Eva Keter. Jamileh Attar, League of White candidate.

We learned that there was some manner of 'operation' conducted to 'rescue Wellfolk' that live beneath our Citadel, amongst the Tormented. I confess a fair bit of ignorance to this, Gentle Reader. I'm not sure how anyone could live among those monsters and tell the tale, but I can tell you that there was a fair bit of argument over who bore ultimate responsibility for commencing the operation. Gilbracht, Zol Nur and Attar all took turns making it clear that they had multiple opportunities to turn back, to stop, to return to the surface...and kept going regardless, in defiance of the Legates' command.

Legate Lhyrian heard all of this, and decided it was prudent to wait– as there is rumor that one of the Crown Princesses is descending to the Well to speak on this very matter, and in the end, why trust your own judgement when you can trust in Baz'eel's? Instead, they opted for a statement to be made– that this time, for sure, absolutely no one is allowed to descend into Al-Nasr or they're really going to get it.

I hope you're as impressed with the seriousness of this as I am. If we can't expect our own peacekeepers to respect the law of the land, why should anyone?

Tonight I'll drink to the dead, and I hope you'll join me--down at the Krak des Roses.

Vaskr Moontouched

[ADashofHope]

The Wheels of Justice

Gentle Reader, wherever you are, I beg a favor of you tonight.

Listen. Take a good moment to stop, maybe even close your eyes. Let the sounds of the night wash over you, drink it in...and really...listen.

Can you hear it?

It's the sounds of the wheels of justice turning.

You can't hear it? Really??? Damn. Somebody better tell Legate Lhyrian, then! We've been assured that 'the guilty parties' will be held to account, that a statement will be made, that patience is required. And that sounds nice on paper, but when you start to consider the realities of the situation, we start to stumble and stagger worse than me after B'aara's Feastday.

For example– consider the guilty parties in question. Two members of the Fourth Legion, who are charged with arresting and dragging the accused to court to stand trial, as well as (though this is less set in stone) prosecution. Three members of Q'tolip's Astronomers, who did their share of covering up for the aforementioned Legion during the whole bottled-djinn fiasco. One learned archaeologist outta Sandstone, devoid of the protections and restrictions of the Accord signatories.

It doesn't take a scholar to figure out who's most likely to take the fall for this. Sergeant Gilbracht might've thrown himself at the mercy of the judgement of the Bey and the Legates, but the Fourth Legion would shudder to a halt before it would bring a decorated officer and a war hero to trial and disgrace– even if the Wroth is owed His rightful due. Apothar Zol Nur would likely accept the role of martyr he sought– he shed enough tears for it– but it's unlikely that his fellows would allow him to go through with it. And the other members of the Accord can cling to the thought of following the orders of their seniors.

But Jamileh Attar? Shouldn't surprise you to hear that privately, she's being eyed up by the Legates as the chief force responsible for all of the lives lost during the Massacre of Illul. The question now is how they can all make that narrative fit. I very much doubt they'd risk an open trial, so it'll probably be a closed affair– Legates and relevant Accord signatories only. Maybe they'll make a show of having the green and bluecloaks stand before the court and hang their heads, but in the end, they'll all probably align on one thing.

Only Jamileh Attar knew enough about the Depths for their rescue mission to have any hope of success. And it was a failure. And blood will have blood, so on and so forth. I imagine they've got quite a few Scribes working on just the right statement now.

Or– maybe I'm wrong, and they're relying on something else entirely– the spotty memory of the general public. After all, there's a disaster in Ephia's Well every couple of weeks, isn't there? What's two hundred and fifty-one lives in the grand scheme of things? If they wait, if they distract, if they delay for long enough...we'll just forget about it, and life will move on.

It's a good strategy. Cynical as hell, but I can respect it. You don't count on us moontouched to remember much, after all.

If nothing else, though, let this serve as a record for whatever the end result turns out to be. That Vaskr was right– or very wrong.

Vaskr Moontouched

[ADashofHope]

The Debate of Illul

or

The Tireless Warrior

Good Readers,

Other, better writers have already covered the Illul debate today with far better expertise than I could hope to aspire to– I'm not here to talk about that! No, what I'm discussing is one particular question posed to the candidates– on the fate of the Illul Six, for the part they played in the Massacre.

Now, I'll preface this by saying– let's give her, as well as the other candidates the benefit of the doubt and assume that the proctor was looking for other answers besides "they should all be tried in our court system" or something equally as rote. They wanted something unexpected, something personal, something true to the feelings of the candidates at the time. But of the three on stage at the time, only one individual is in the position to actually make their answer a reality. That person is Legate Faith Kruehtzer, and her answer was telling.

She would see the Illul Six placed into the power of the now-defunct War Council, sent to the frontlines in our next conflict with the Tormented.

There's a lot to unpack here. Quick hits!

~~~This, O Reader, is called a Compromise. This is the reason for the delay in announcing the date of the trial, and what our Legates have privately discussed with the powers that be. It is astoundingly savvy, politically speaking– and astonishingly cowardly, morally speaking. In one fell swoop, Legate Kruehtzer manages to sidestep the apparent legal quagmire of placing the offenders on trial, avoid the hard decision of deciding their sentence and win the favor of their respective organizations for doing so.

The Six live as long as it is determined they shall die in the depths below, rather than the lion pit. And when will they descend again? At the Legate's whim, of course.

~~~We are at War, Ephia. At least according to some– Faith among them. The enemy is the Tormented below, and your brothers, sisters and children were the first casualties to fall in this new, senseless conflict. The Purple Legate has decreed that we will fight for as long as is necessary.  This is what your taxes will be going towards, after all.

~~~The Moon smiles when a lie is spun, and a lie unravels. She is smiling now.

n the meeting with the Crown Princess Faziima and her advisors, Legate Lhyrian and myself were presented with reliable evidence that the Tormented attack upon the Well scaled with the depth of those below. The deeper the delvers went, the more Tormented poured onto the streets.

We were also given verified numbers... Two hundred and fifty one people of the Well slain... A hundred and... thirty-two of them... children.

This cannot happen again... Thus the amended law. That is all... Wheel have mercy on us all...

Faith has served as a Soldier, as a Commander. She is not a Leader. A Leader ought to be capable of making rational decisions in times of war as well as times of peace, rather than heedlessly spurring us on towards the next conflict. And there will be a next conflict, one we initiate. Faith told us as much herself.

Consider who and what you'd be supporting with a vote for her. Consider the people who have already declared their support for her, such as Enmur Faranos– who has shared many a whispered conversation in our very own Krak des Roses. Consider the cost of what will come of another fruitless expedition of six that costs us so many more lives– for what?

I don't care if you vote White, but by the Wheel, don't vote for this madwoman who sees us all as little more than pawns in some grand Purple conquest.

Vaskr Moontouched

[ADashofHope]

My Night Inside the Garrison

Readers!

I write to you as a newly emancipated jailbird to tell you of my harrowing night inside the Garrison of the Fourth Legion. It should come as no surprise to anyone in the know that there are some among the green who hold no love for those bearing my colors, or that of the Lily. Since my last article, all of the campaign leaflets and flyers explicitly for Buster Grimes have vanished from the Plaza, replaced by some crude attempt at propaganda. While inspecting these, I found myself approached by two thuggish Soldiers– Ibrahim al-Dawla and Anwer Eventide. They announced they had some 'questions to ask', before clapping me in irons and dragging me off towards the Garrison.

Within, I was subjected to the cruel, frigid magicks of the Wroth from al-Dawla while Eventide interrogated me over my connections to Buster Grimes, to smuggling, to illegal narcotics. I was beaten, mocked and intimidated. When I showed no signs of folding under their pressure, I was thrown into a cell without food or water and told to wait for the arrival of a Magistrate.

When al-Dawla returned with the Magistrate, he carried a bundle of narcotics with him– that he claimed belonged to me. Dirt, Scorch, Shimmer– all of it he claimed to have seized from my person. Had the Magistrate chose to believe his words, dear Reader, I very much doubt I would be here to write another word. Thankfully, upon seeing the state I was in, they chose not to proceed with the case. I was reluctantly released from the Garrison...but assured I would be seeing them again.

I hesitate to call this a victory, despite my perseverance. The quill may be mightier than the sword, but it is still a very different thing to feel naked steel against your windpipe, and know that behind it carries all the will of the state– of our current Legate, Faith Kruehtzer, who seems determined to silence a Voice in dissent.

But it remains a victory. And I will not be silent.

I remain yours,

Vaskr Moontouched

[ADashofHope]

The Trial of the Illul Six

Next week will mark a month since the Folly of Illul, and the invasion of the Tormented into Ephia's Well. Despite the public outcry for justice, for transparency and communication, we were denied by Legates Lhyrian and Kruehtzer to the point where even your beleaguered writer despaired that the kith and kin of the lost 251 souls would ever receive closure. But Legate Linwood's announcement caught me by surprise when he finally announced a date for the trial. And what a trial it was!

Of the Illul Six, only four appeared for their time in court. Jamileh Attar and Apothar Zol Nur were strangely absent, though I have heard that they have since made their appearance now that they need not fear being fed to the lions. But I'm getting ahead of myself!

It was a very long trial, and a great many people witnessed the entire affair. I must admit that I was not one of them, sadly, but I'll touch briefly upon the highlights as they were described to me:

The rather controversial choice was made to have Legate Vellyn's Prelate, the terror of the Creep Evarielle Nerdolwe, sit for the 'procedure' of the trial, with the understanding that the verdict and sentencing would be left in the hands of both presiding Legates. 'Bias' was raised as a potential issue by the Six's Advocate, Enmur Faranos– who was seemingly selected spontaneously by the accused moments before the trial began. This objection was dismissed out of hand by the Prelate, who assured all present that there would be no bias. It is, perhaps, also notable that when the time for the sentencing came, both of our Legates lacked the spine to stand before the court and announce their decisions. The would-be arsonist Priestess served as their mouthpiece in this as well.

The heartlessness of Shum Sheroy, who declared before all that it was 'terribly sad that people died', but he's happy that his actions– which were in vain, of course– prevented a 'few more deaths.' We're meant to believe that if it were not for the Delvers, despite all evidence to the contrary, that there would be an even greater loss of life if they had not gone. There's no drug as addictive or enthralling as false hope living in the realm of if's and good intentions. Sheroy's drank deep.

The Astronomers in general, really. These people have declared themselves to be experts of the Depths, have given themselves a level of authority unheard of in dealing with something that no one seems to know anything about. And look at how these supposed experts act! Zol Nur the Apathetic, who didn't even bother to show for his own trial. Shuffle-off Sheroy, who sneers at any attempt to punish him for his actions. Eva Keter the Twitchy, who looked ready to blow up the entire room when the time came for sentencing. These are the brightest minds of the Well?

The obvious and frightening level of rehearsal from the Accused to the Prosecution, as Sergeant Gilbracht directed Soldier Al-Dawla through his own examination of the Accused. I'm no fan of the greencloak, but I'll give the man some credit in this– he called out the Legates for their refusal to preside over the trial, and he seemed ready and willing to lay down his life as punishment for his crimes. But if he was dead, how the hell could he vote Lhyrian in this coming election?

Priorities, people!

And of course...the decision. Coins for Children. A fine of 251,000– one thousand dinari for each life lost in the Massacre. And for not saying 'sorry' convincingly enough, the Legates demanded that Sheroy be demoted to Apothar– but we're not gonna talk about that bit because it's idiotic and I don't expect the Astronomers to respect that. Why would they? Why would anyone respect ANY of this??

Now, I've heaped enough scorn on Nerdolwe. I've never liked a decision she's made in any of the trials she's presided, but she's a bit of an elven shield in this case; a sacrificial pawn for the political maneuvering of Linwood and Lhyrian. We all knew she wasn't a real Priestess of the Mother, because there's no way one would've gone for this.

There's nothing worse than a filthy centrist, and L&L attempted to balance the razor's edge of appearing to punish the guilty while leaving no lasting consequences. I wish I could quote either of them for the purposes of this article, but neither of them said a word until the Prelate looked to them for approval. Lhyrian:

Blood will not see the fallen returned, no matter how much the guilty are bled here. It is, frankly, wasteful. They will be put to use, and given chance to redeem themselves.

Linwood, the Puppet Purple, nodded along mutely.

I could call them names until the camels come home– spineless, weak, cowardly, hypocritical, short-sighted, charlatans who shouldn't be in charge of keeping a toddler out of the fountain, much less the entire Citadel. I'll likely call them a few more names in private, over a cup of coffee but that's just for me.

I could draw some comparisons to my own time in court– for capital narcotics. Why not? The Legates similarly weighed in with the Magistrate for my case to decide on my sentence, which was 25,000 dinari to be paid in weekly installments, or face worse consequences. The Delvers, as the Prelate outlined, are to pay 41,833 dinar over six months. That comes out to two hundred and twenty-nine dinar a day. Downright reasonable, isn't it? The average caravaneer probably spends more in a day getting their usual suite of spellwork from a Nadiri or Acolyte in the Krak.

It's nothing. A pittance. And that's exactly what our Legates think of us, and you, for accepting this. You're less than worthless to them in the way of their plans, their schemes, their high-minded ambitions and hopes. Legate Linwood is a hapless and hopeless people-pleaser who has had the distinct misfortune of being selected to take the place of someone who also had no idea what they were doing in a position of leadership. Legate Lhyrian is a shadow of the worm that preceded her who has only ever expressed disdain and disgust for her role, even as she fights to keep it.

Both of them should resign, and the Accord should call for it loudly and often until the Leagues are forced to select a replacement. But they won't. Because it's a bit easier to pay 229 dinari a day and wait for all of this to blow over.

Vaskr Moontouched