The Forgotten Voice

[AndrewTech 3329]

THE FORGOTTEN VOICE

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An Open Letter of Lament

10th of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1855

 

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These are the times that try men’s souls.

 

Though I am normally soft spoken and have few words, recent events have necessitated that I pen this public lament over the recent occupation of Lower Petra. My lament may fall on deaf ears, but I must take it upon myself to once again speak for the forgotten.

 

Long ago, I emigrated from my home country of Haense to Oren in search of a better life. There were few prospects for an Adunian woman of common blood within the country in which I was raised at the time, and thus I made the decision to move to the Orenian countryside to raise my orphaned nephews. I wanted to offer them more for their future, as well as to raise them in a safe environment.

 

The move to the house at Witten’s End initially broke my heart. To come to a foreign land, alien from all that I had known, was most uncomfortable. Yet I soon began to acclimate to my new surroundings and made many friends amongst my new neighbors. 

 

I came to find that these were good and just people. Virtuous in nature and kind of heart, I found that they had been forgotten by their representatives in the House of Commons. I stood for a seat in the Diet to represent them, and served as their voice and champion for nearly a decade before a summons to the position of Foreign Secretary and my eventual subsequent retirement. But despite my time in the city, I never forgot the people of the countryside who came to accept me.

 

Now, the house at Witten’s End in which I raised five children by my lonesome lies empty. Many others lie empty as well, owned both by nobles and by men of common stock. Families have been driven from their lands. The taverns and stalls of honest businessmen lie deserted. Crops have been razed. Women and children who never wanted any part in this war have been displaced, the result of the unbridled cruelty shown by the occupying forces of the Tripartite Alliance.

 

It is these everyday people who have suffered at the hands of a nakedly political agenda. Forced to fall back, there is little that the Imperial State Army can do to defend the innocent civilians trapped in Lower Petrus. The armies of the Fidei Defensor have stood by idly as devout canonists have died at the hands of the armies of the Grand King. More appalling still, some have assisted in perpetrating these very atrocities. Clearly, human compassion has deserted these lands.

 

This war has been waged by some in the name of religion, yet those who claim to act in God’s name have seemingly forsaken this little piece of Canondom. The excommunication of their Imperial Majesties aside, let us remember that the people of the Holy Orenian Empire were explicitly NOT excommunicated. In fact, this was explicitly lifted from the common Orenian populace. The charitable endeavors and good work of the Church are needed more than ever. Having experienced a religious reawakening recently myself, I believe heavily in its institutional importance and the important role it plays in keeping the canonist world together.

 

But where has the Church been in all of this? Not a word has been spoken by the Pontiff, tasked with being the shepherd of all humanity, against the crimes committed against his flock by armed vagrants and pagan marauders. Few would doubt the unwavering faith of the Vuillers, who have fanatically served the Church of the Canon for well over a century. Yet their lands have been seized and defiled, without a word of objection from a single member of the institution to which generations of their family have pledged their lives.

 

Nobody has dared to mention the recent loss of Church lands to pagan ownership. For instance, the Abbey of St. Harald Vuiller at the crossroads between Redenford and Providence now lies empty, its doors barred as it awaits either destruction or conversion. Matters of a secular nature have superseded this curious situation, ones which should not matter at all to the Church of the Canon. Thus, not one word has been said as these canonist lands have been seized.

 

Not. One. Word.

 

The forgotten of Lower Petrus yearn for a voice, and that voice shall be heard. But the words that need to be said should never have to be uttered aloud. Regardless, I shall now pen those words.

 

Canonists are canonists. Human blood is human blood. There is no compromise when it comes to this principle. Faith and race do not know nationality in the eyes of the Lord. The supposed sins of no man can change this reality. Little charity has been shown toward those who have lost their homes. Little compassion has been extended to the innocent bystanders who have committed no crime other than to have been born an Orenian. Indeed, no quarter has been shown whatsoever to these human beings.

 

If we forget this reality, we will become as tribalized as in humanity’s very first days. If canonists are seen as only Haeseni, Orenians, or Savoyards alone, then we open up the door to other swaths of the faithful being attacked. A small canonist country by the name of Du Loc now faces a threat from Clan Ireheart as a result of the precedent that has been set in Lower Petrus. After all, if land owned by the largest canonist country can be taken by pagans without objection, what is to safeguard these smaller realms from aggressors?

 

Delivered by Exalted Owyn, Spirit 6:13-14 says:

“So I find that you seek power in wrath, but there is no power like unto God’s. For he is the Most Merciful, the Most Powerful, and even the thousand petty wraths of spirits do not overcome his mercy.” 

 

Yet, I see no mercy in Lower Petra. I see only hatred and bloodlust of the utmost degree, and it brings tears to my eyes. I sought peace between the warring parties in this conflict for many years, to prevent this from happening to any of the three sides involved. For I share a special connection with Haense and its people, and have many dwed friends whom I cherish. But I had never imagined the utter darkness that would characterize this war.

 

This herald of a forgotten voice has but two simple requests:

 

• I beseech the Church of the Canon to denounce the seizure of Church lands in Lower Petrus, and that it use these properties to engage in charitable endeavors to do God’s work in the region and assist those displaced.
  
  
• I also humbly request that the Church of the Canon publicly condemn wanton acts of violence against all canonists in good standing within these occupied lands.

 

Regardless of the outcome, I thank the authorities who have read this open letter for taking the time to do so. I can only hope that I have helped to raise awareness in regards to the ongoing situation in Lower Petrus, and that further aid might be rendered post haste.

 

Signed,

Elizabeth Brae-Wittenbach

Former Right-Bank Representative

[veganwalmart 1059]

The Lady Anastasie de Provins applauded the writings of Madame Wittenbach, comparing her own rhetoric on the same topic to Eliza's in an effort to improve her skills.

[KamikazeReaper 457]

A clerk is reading the message out loud for the elder Komnenos as his standing smoking cigar watching out of his window
" I lost my home, my family estate i raised my family there, its now nothing but ash and cinder annxed to dwarfs, with the help of haense the pontiff, should had stopped them, he should had talked with the empire but yet has done nothing, is our church even worth fighting for anymore?" he said out loud

[amyselia 2962]

Lady Provins finalizes her reading, a minor applause being introduced to the air of her privacy.

"Well-said, Madame Wittenbach. The faithful have been tested in canonist communion, and many have faltered. The shorter have gained the advantage by the hands of our brothers, and now a victory reveals the failure of men's souls. God BLESS our brothers, so that they may see the light again."

[winterblood 11181]

"I pity the fact that sacred grounds are lost from the faithful, as are the homes of good people; however, I bear no sorrow for those that would pick and choose which grievances they shall remark upon," Moliana commented with a shake of her head, believing to be venting her thoughts to the courier that arrived to Woldzmir with various letters and announcements from the land of Almaris.  Little did she know, he had already left the room.  "Little outcry seems to be had against those that flung the nation of Oren into war, and used their people as fodder in raids and battles.  The people are forced to pay for the consequences that the Crown continues to avoid and disregard.  I shall hope that Dame Wittenbach isn't writing this letter with a knife to her throat, threatening to cut deep should she make-. . ." Her words trailed off, Moliana turning to see that the room had been empty.  "****."

[Carson 1165]

Aleksandrija of Vidaus smiles, her hands clasping together as she quietly admired a handheld portrait of Valtakoenas Anastasya I.

[Shorsand 2006]

The Lord of Du Loc frowns as he sees his WIFE sign her name WITHOUT the Brae.

 

"IT SHOULD BE ELIZABETH BRAE.

MAYHAPS SHE DESERVED TO LOSE THAT RECTANGLE LEGO-LOOKING ESTATE AFTER ALL." The Lord says to himself, wrothful from being off the booze for two days' time.

[AndrewTech 3329]

48 minutes ago, Shorsand said:

The Lord of Du Loc frowns as he sees his WIFE sign her name WITHOUT the Brae.

 

"IT SHOULD BE ELIZABETH BRAE.

MAYHAPS SHE DESERVED TO LOSE THAT RECTANGLE LEGO-LOOKING ESTATE AFTER ALL." The Lord says to himself, wrothful from being off the booze for two days' time.

"That's a misprint, Quentin!" Eliza groans as she suddenly appears. Looking over the pamphlet, she visibly facepalms. "See? Look, it's right on this one! Damnable print shop..."

Moments later, she would produce a new pamphlet, which is appropriately signed.

 

Suffice it to say, after much arguing with Quentin in his abysmally sober state, she has her atronach secretary recall the handful of pamphlets that had gotten this wrong and has them replaced...

[Borin 7645]

"The Abbey of 'Saint Harald Vuiller', as it was renamed, had its doors barred and locked out the faithful since before the war began. Indeed, one Presbyter Ileana was told by a Vuiller that it was their 'private Abbey'. The removal of the Abbey from their grasp is at least one of the positives a Canonist fella can take from this war..." friar viktor scribbles in some notes from his tent in Nu Loc

 

"Furthermore, the folk who lived in 'Lower Petra' were, by majority, nobility, aside from a few of their tenants. They have the money to rebuild their manorhouses and homes for their tenants elsewhere, I don't doubt they shall have their lands... relocated to another corner of Oren. Will the Abbey be destroyed, replaced by some heathen monument? In short, no. Who will likely be settled in 'Lower Petra'? Canonists. The folk of Sedan the Orenians love so much, perhaps."

 

"Clergy have made attempts to continue serving the Orenian people, however such attempts have been either ignored or reacted to with hostility, with vulgar and threatening messages left anonymously, or even threats made to clergy to their faces. Folk openly preach anti-Church sentiments, supported by the Orenian royal family, nobility, the soldiery and the commonfolk who see the Church as having some role to play in their loss in the secular war, and yet they expect the clergy to be able to serve the flock who despise them without fear to their safety?"

[bugbytes21 790]

"Lament?" Bishop Markos asks as he sits in his abbey in San Luciano "You Lament?" Bishop Markos then crumples up the letter and chuckles as he warms his fireplace with it "You dare feel lament, These Orenians should lament that they turned themselves against the church, not the church turning against them, but they turned themselves against the church. If the Orenians had any humility in them they wouldn't have fought for an anathema Emperor. They wouldn't have had their Emperor kill his family members. They wouldn't have allowed them to continue a war against Urguan that contains faithful Canonist Vassals that Oren attacked. Thats what I lament for. Oren got what they deserved, they had it coming" Bishop Markos goes back to ministering to the faithful of Savoy