To the Interdicted and Excommunicated, 2020

[Pegleg_Bob 1107]

Constantine Leopold Marna, slowly reads over the missive before sighing and putting it down. Then, going to pull out his sword, he slowly stands, saying, "After so many years, Haense shall pay for their crimes."

[molly molly molly 1329]

"Curious the Church would claim to be 'aggressed upon,' when in the same breath they decree a declaration of war. They simply had no choice at all, war was truly the only option! Only through the deaths of thousands might a peace— which reigned divine, before the Church had disturbed it— be restored.”

 

“GODAN above. Saint Avenel- Old friend.. Lend unto me your strength." 

 

An Elverhilin Wizard of Haense prepares for battle - and for thousands to die, which felt an entirely avoidable, and unnecessary tragedy in the making.

[sergisala 3451]

Fr. Marc Galbraith shed a tear as he contemplated the current division of humanity, sighing upon reading the most recent missive issued by the Holy Pontifical States:

 

"How could you do this to your very own faith, oh, dear leaders of the Tribe of Joren? How could you cause a schism and abandone your very own religion? How could you attempt to destroy the unity and sanctity of the Holy Mother Church? How could you abandone our Lord GOD, the most omnipotent, the King of the Heavens, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

 

Oh, dear leaders of Joren, It is very sad to see how, with your actions, you have abandoned the Lord GOD and your very own Holy Mother Faith.

 

Oh, dear brothers of Joren, I pray that your Ruskan leaders repent from their actions and seek the penance of the Lord, and those who still remain faithful to the Canonist Faith heed this call to arms, for only that way the world will finally be purified and become paradise, as the holy scriptures once foretold. God is with us. Amen."

 

"And though they are many, the strength of GOD does not serve the wicked." (Auspice 2:45)

[KillerMaid 636]

A wood elf read the missive from Jun Lei, a tired tired look on her face. This was going to be a massacre, whether it was on the side of the family she cared for, or on the church's, she did not know. 

 

"I've seen this happen over and over again. When will they just stop."

[Wavey 2568]

𓄿
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

There once was a puppeteer in the east 
One night he held quite a grand feast
With all of his soldiers and all of his lords, 
He spoke of the holy light whilst raising his sword. 

But there were no soldiers 
There were no lords 
And there was no holy light from that sword.

They were strawmen propped atop the tables; 
Supported by strawbales of malice and fables 
The sword he held was a fragile rod 
It seems that this man was truly a fraud.

His people asked him to tend to his fields
Quite barren they were and in need of yields
But he preferred to delve further in his gripes; 
The West, he thought, had taken his stripes.
 

So here he spoke to his puppets 
His mind and soul tortured with grudges
He sent his strawmen marching west, 
From lowlands to highlands without any rest. 

Yet the puppeteer would realize, whilst bittersweet 
The resolve of the ones he was to meet,
Had hardened further than before 
They too wished to settle the feud of yore. 

The crows and their flock now flew to battle 
And below they saw the strawmen on their saddles 
Yet the crows did not flee in fear; 
For the quality of these strawmen began to wear .

 And the irony of it all, unconstrued, 
Was that this was all an age-old feud.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

𓄿

The wind brushed against the Ludovar's curls. He held the parchment outwards towards the sky; And then, he released it to the world.


 

[ContestedSnow 1435]

"I am sure they were hoping to fish up something more concrete, but church men make do! Don't they Karl? Veletz shall return to its' promised land, wearing the church as a lovely cloak. Ave! Tiberias van Aert will save our souls!" Aleksandr, cousin to the anathema King and to the excommunicated DEAD Karl, gave a jolly laugh as he spoke aside to... nobody.

"Breakwater's dead will surely be happy for the refurbishing when their fellows return home."

[TheGentleDuck 55]

"So the wheel turns again." The centenial patriarch Wrotek Pankiewich sighed wearily. "And so foolsihly march towards Calamity, puppets roused by holy fervor."

The veteran stood with a groan. This war would likely be his last, and spelled the death of countless thousands. He looked towards the stairs to the second floor, where his grandchildren slept soundly and innocently. "For vy, my kin, let me take up my arms one more time. So that vy niet have to."

As the old man walked through the dead of night towards his forge, other lights flickered to life in the houses he passed. It heartened him to know that the Haenseni would not falter.

[ReveredOwl 5639]

"They are clearly forgetting that it was Haeseni who even warned those in Lemon Hill that the Vinovians were rallying nearby to raid them." remarked Sergei.

[Ryanark 2738]

Isleífr was sat amidst the Hearth Temple's pyres in Vjardengrad, when he received the missive. "Many will come from shadows to turn the screws of vengeance. Interesting development." He mused, standing to seek audience with his broedr-kin.

[LordofCabbage 559]

2 hours ago, Wavey said:

𓄿
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┓

There once was a puppeteer in the east 
One night he held quite a grand feast
With all of his soldiers and all of his lords, 
He spoke of the holy light whilst raising his sword. 

But there were no soldiers 
There were no lords 
And there was no holy light from that sword.

They were strawmen propped atop the tables; 
Supported by strawbales of malice and fables 
The sword he held was a fragile rod 
It seems that this man was truly a fraud.

His people asked him to tend to his fields
Quite barren they were and in need of yields
But he preferred to delve further in his gripes; 
The West, he thought, had taken his stripes.
 

So here he spoke to his puppets 
His mind and soul tortured with grudges
He sent his strawmen marching west, 
From lowlands to highlands without any rest. 

Yet the puppeteer would realize, whilst bittersweet 
The resolve of the ones he was to meet,
Had hardened further than before 
They too wished to settle the feud of yore. 

The crows and their flock now flew to battle 
And below they saw the strawmen on their saddles 
Yet the crows did not flee in fear; 
For the quality of these strawmen began to wear .

 And the irony of it all, unconstrued, 
Was that this was all an age-old feud.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

𓄿

The wind brushed against the Ludovar's curls. He held the parchment outwards towards the sky; And then, he released it to the world.


 

 

Somewhere sings a strawman... 

 

His object all sublime He will achieve in time — 

To let the punishment fit the crime — 

The punishment fit the crime; 

And make each prisoner pent 

Unwillingly represent 

A source of innocent merriment! 

Of innocent merriment!

[Narthok 10416]

An Orcish invoice is sent to the Chieftain of the Cross-men

[Monty Cobra 921]

Mons Avarson tossed the missive into his fireplace. "Looks like I won't be converting anytime soon."

 

Aurus Edmond Greye knelt before his bed that night, the young boy's head bowed and his hands clasped in prayer for the church. "Oh LORD, have cle-men-cy upon them, for they know not what they've done wrong..."

[ChainedDragons 1374]

New life flourishes in the Othaman home. A small babe, a little girl. Little does she know the times she was born into. Her nation, haense, was to go to war...

 

One can only hope her ancestors give her strength as she grows up learning to navigate the slippery slopes of the world around her. 

 

Let's hope her father is a good teacher.

[Yeetboy0206 1574]

Estevot reads this and pales. He takes a breath. This time it’s different. This time they weren’t against the entirety of Canondom. But they were still in danger, his new home was in danger. His family was in danger. 
 

“I see. I finally understand it now. In these men’s eyes, war is simply a game. One in which the loser is wiped from existence, at once the stake, the authority and the justification. To them, war is GOD…May he have mercy on their blackened, twisted souls, and on the good men who will be sending them to be judged by him.”

[Navigator 4260]

Owyn Hector groans in annoyance, rubbing his face with both of his hands after reading the missive.

 

This was going to be a big headache!