Dear all,

While we're considering Silas's emotional call to arms in support of
Light and Good, it is worth also carefully considering a few points of
quite serious historical and theological consequence. Aside from his
astonishingly quick recovery from the sorrow of watching his city
destroyed and most of his Gods cast down -- a recovery that suggests it
might not have been especially pleasant to live in that city or under
Their rule -- the very basis of the newly reforming east deserves
consideration. Relevant points include:

- There is absolutely no reason to believe that "Light" is some sort of
benevolent protective force at the heart of Creation. "Light" as a
divine realm is only some four hundred years old, brand new in cosmic
terms, and its arrival in the year 208 AF caused the instant
obliteration of all life on Sapience. Its followers have more or less
emulated that model ever since, all the while perversely trying to style
themselves protectors of life. The "Light" they serve is a violent,
murderous explosion in the sky, raw power seeking only obedience and
offering only destruction.

- We still have absolutely no explanation about where Dunamis came from
and how He first came to style Himself "God of Justice" while Lady
Miramar yet lived. While He now wears the name Deucalion and more
diplomatically styles Himself "God of Righteousness," His initial status
as a mysterious imposter ought not to be forgotten. Who exactly is this
strange deity? The easterners have proven themselves remarkably able to
be duped by obviously malevolent Gods pretending to be "Good" in the
past. Why are they not acting with more caution in this case?

- Considered just in terms of raw suffering, oppression, and
destruction, Imithia was by far the most evil of all the early humans
when she founded the Church. Thousands of years before the rise of
Bael'grim in the west, she not only started an organisation devoted to
the brutish, violent, coercive control of her peers, but she even
spawned an insidious ideology to convince her followers that crushing
dissident skulls with maces was the "Good" thing to do. The homeless
refugees of the east are the heirs of that murderous legacy, and they
ought rightly to be shunned and scorned by all who encounter them.

Most educated people know these things already, of course, but it is
sometimes worth revisiting the lessons of history. The Light that shines
in the east is no friend to Creation or its inhabitants; it is foul and
fetid, a festering cancer upon our world. It will always seek to bend us
all to its twisted will, to dominate us or destroy us. Resisting its
corrosive influence will always be among the most noble of callings,
denouncing its lies always among the greatest duties of any scholar. Let
the world see this "Light" with clarity and stamp it out before it sets
us all ablaze.

In truth,

Apollodorus



Penned by my hand on the 20th of Phaestian, in the year 613 AF.