Tarvam

"I do hope Fyo is alright...then again, twelve-thousand mina is a paltry sum. That is chump change for Fyo; he should be able to pay off his own ransom and not burden the house so!"

By public bill, a notice is nailed to the walls of Kvaz, letting all of its denizens know. "Deep within the Crow's Nest, the Crowsmoot adjourned to name its Patriarch and Paramount. By a near unanimous vote, the Lord Patriarch of House Carrion was dubbed Tuvya I Sigismundovic Carrion. He shall resume his duties and act as bearer of the boyar cap, keeper of Carrion relics, and fatherly figure to all Carrions. The Karovic, or Crow's Eye, was named Siguine Barrow, son of Ostromir the First, by the Lord Patriarch Tuvya I Sigismundovic Carrion. By a gripping one vote lead, the Lord Paramount of the Raevir peoples was dubbed Stephen I Sigismundovic Carrion. When members of the delegation clamored for a count including absentee votes, the lead shifted to seven votes in favor of Stephen versus five votes in favor of the strongest rival claimant, Fyodor IV. With a Patriarch and Paramount claimant firmly dubbed to represent our interests, we can hope for reconciliation and reunification upon the horizon with the Empire of Man." OOC: To those curious, the non-absentee votes. These are not revealed IC

"Where is the seal of the House Patriarch, Tuvya Carrion? I hope Fyo is not playing one of his tricks again..." Later, Sig notices Tuvya's seal. "Ah. Well, the high elves are intellectuals and hold vast tracts of knowledge. To let that go to Orcish plunder would go to waste. I will not fight, but I trust Tuvya to do what is right."

A herald in Vekaro square informs the denizens of Oren of recent happenings. "Hear ye, Hear ye! Of the 27th of Malin's Welcome, the Decterum has pledged to the cause of House Carrion! May their union be prosperous and true!"

A notice is sent throughout the human realm "As of the 1st of Malin's Welcome, a ceasefire has been declared between the Lord Patriarch of House Carrion and Lord Paramount of Mount Augustus, Tuvya I Carrion, and His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Peter Chivay in proceedings determined at the court of His Imperial Majesty on the 1st of Malin's Welcome. For one elven week there shall be no conflict between those sworn to the Empire of Man and various loyalists groups spearheaded by Lord Tuvya. This ceasefire shall be established in order to further talks and relations between these respective groups in hopes of reconciliation and eventual reunification. Written at the hand of Siguine Barrow, Scribe to Lord Tuvya I Carrion. "

As they say... [tinfoiling intensifies]

Seated from the battlements of Vekaro, the young Sig watched the long battle from afar. While Mt. Augustus stood as a testament to the Raevir people, never faltering, with each passing hour the besiegers thinned and thinned to lines of partisans and split commands from various Zion leaders. Siguine never condoned bloodshed, but as his lordly uncle "The Goldcrow" led the charge and liberated the city of Vekaro from besiegers hands to end the conflict, he could only chant the old folk tune in awe of his people's resistance. "Carry on, Carrion Till the war is nearly won!"

Siguine plans to attend. He prepares rations for his second pilgrimage to the holy sites of Anthos.

"For what purpose do we hold such vendettas upon another? The Lucienists were god-fearing men who warded off heretical interests in Oren; the Carrions were reformists who dealt away with the bloat of bureaucracy and the fractures in humanity and kept the balance of crown, nobility, and commoners in harmony. Together and united, it made Oren a strong nation, a feared nation. If there were issues or corruptions that weakened this delicate balance, then they should have been made known instead of tucked away for some Casus Belli to butcher a king and slander his lineage. Now we live in a country where four men hold a fourth of a crown, none with the ultimate power I feel Oren desires. It is too early to judge this new government, but it is also too early to judge the remainder of the Raevir people and butcher them for their loyalty towards their champions. "

"Madness...all this bickering is simple divide and conquer strategy instituted by foreign kings for foreign interest. William Horen naturally still preserves a strong claim to our kingdom. He was its ruler only a few decades ago. However, just because one has the blood of exalted "divines" curdling in their veins does not grant them the mandate to rule. Then every son of Sigismund, Owyn, Horen I, and Godfrey would hold strong claims; altogether that may encompass over half the nobility, and a good deal of commoners! Rather, we should look to the mandates of our exalted, or divine mandates of succession. It has been human tradition since the days of Horen the First for our monarchy to pass through blood in a designated matter based on succession laws. Every exalted has practiced this tradition and to ignore it is to ignore their teachings. A king may abdicate but never should succession be withheld from a rightful legal heir. I understand some may lack confidence in his reign, but let him rule and I believe our realm shall bear witness to justice and peace. If not, war and turmoil. Two sides of a coin."

Siguine bites his lip; it seems this answer has stung for the young teenager. Another back and forth stemming from the hubris of youth. "Humanity has consorted with the heathenry in the past of course, a heathen is not inherently an evil being, merely misguided in belief. But never has it been acceptable in what we define as the noble art of warfare to ally with pagans to slaughter god-fearing men in a war of conquest. And this notion being propagated by an order sworn to protect those faithful and unyielding to our God almighty? The Grand Master of the Order of St. Lucien repelled an invasion known as the Tarus Invasion akin to the one you claim is brewing in your keeps before when the Order was but a fledgling band of Adunians; tis scribed in the account of Battle of Post-Exodus Anthos: Volume I. Yet, when Jack Rovin is in the boots of the Tarus, it becomes acceptable solely due to the will of Zion. A holy order that does not recognize the fellow dignity of man is a holy order doomed to fail. The betrayal of Oren will only result in an eternal tempest of chaos and warfare, push and pull, with the smallfolk receiving the worst end of it. Put the god fearing working class to the sword for their supposed crime in following their king by law. Sully the name of my father's house, but tell me where were you when the same family liberated Kaedrini soil from Adunia and united the five kingdoms. Sully my words based upon my youth, but this boy has elicited two responses from yourself; clearly I have piqued your interest and provided some valid platform of contention. "

A short notice is sent in response. "But if the supposed "greater" party rides on the curtails of a foreign legion hell-bent on ending Oren hegemony in the world sphere, are they truly greater? It would be difficult to reform any semblance of Horen's traditions when every citizen would know its nation was born on the backs of pagan Orcs whom butchered countless in their conquest of Salvus, heretical dwarves whom aspired to plant a half-elven king to our throne, and elves of heathenry whom the valiant Rose of old spent decades warring. And further to dub it a theocracy? Ludicrous, for it betrays the very nature of the faith to consort with infidels. To claim the unification of heathenry who would cheer in delight at the end of human strength with holy orders whom back out of united pagan invasions upon mankind is the Creator's Will... Alas, your answer has been unsatisfactory, stranger. I hope your brothers-at-arms can present a true case for their cause or hopefully expel these rumors as falsehoods. Humanity has only just begun to recover from the atrocity which is the Exodus; for what purpose would we undo the reconstruction? It seems not that, if this is to be so, that the Lucienists are acting by the will of God, but rather by the will of Zion whom give them the support they need in exchange for betraying their mother kingdom whom granted them shelter and resources in their fledgling days. Ambition is a deadly thing and on some fateful nights I revel in my bastardy as never will I indulge in the madness which is the pursuit of crowns and thrones." ((Cracker plays on Exodus now Temp. He says he misses you and you should stop being an LotC Apologist. You guys did an exodus, remember?))

A letter appears to the Lucienist Hold; it bears a seal of pure white. "To the Poor Fellows of Horen, Soldiers of God and stalwarts of St. Lucien, Forgive me for my seal. I am but a bastard boy of the late Ostromir the First, a Barrow with no formal sigil; I cannot claim my lordly fathers and I would not sully a letter sent to pious men regarding the status of my mother. While my blood may be tainted with the stains of bastardy , my mind is as astute as any and I see an alarming threat in the division of our Church and State. More than my loyalties to my blood-kin, my Uncle King Franz I, my Oreni peoples, I am a man of God, who seeks to insure the safety of his chosen race whom were granted the blessings of the seven skies. And naturally, these tensions between the crown and the church have splintered to fine hairs and threatened the fabric which makes our cultures and traditions. I will not condone my Uncle's actions and as we are well aware he has issued a declaration of regret. He has once more accepted the righteous High Pontiff yet this seems not to have quelled any carnal rage between your Order and the men of Oren. I have only heard rumors and whispers in our capital in the Fringe; but rumors and whispers are all a man needs to hear before he spends sleepless nights with only truth as his sedative. "They have consorted with the Alliance! They march by the Deep Cold!" "They seek to overthrow our king, backed by the pagans whom slew Heinrik, God Rest His Soul!" "After all Oren has done for the Lucienists, pardoning their Adunians and granting them land, giving them recruits and soldiers, patronizing them...and this!" These are what I have heard on the streets of our capital. Whispers which dictate the Order of St. Lucien seeks to overthrow the King by law and assert themselves over our country. I am but a fresh man of fifteen years, but the mere thought of such travesty has brought nightmares of my youth all over again. As an aspirant of the Faith and servant of God, for what purpose would these betrayal suffice? If your claim is that he is a king not crowned by your High Pontiff, ergo, dubbing him illegitimate, then how can you consort with four other soverigns, King Syrio, Rex Urik, King Wulfgar, and Justicar Darius, all whom not only were never coronated under our righteous Castus, but are active defenders of paganry and heathenry! If it is retribution you seek, retribution for whatever sins you feel the crown has delivered upon your order than engage in conquest, butcher righteous followers of the Faith to appease your bloodlust, take Oren as you will, and play by the fiddle of foreign monarchs. You will only have divided humanity even further, severing the tie of Church and State. The earth will shake with the bones of our ancestors whom roll about in agony at the sight of a united Oren split once more between two distinct nations; one of nobility and one of clergy as few Orenians whom swear to King Franz I would serve a human nation which has violated mankind's tradition in governance, the monarchy and its feudalism. And this is all what I am sure that the Alliance plans, a coalition designated solely to cripple the power of Oren. In history, the only occasions were humanity lost its hegemony in world politics is when it was divided into separate kingdoms, whom would squabble while the uruk and dwarf drank and laughed. My uncle taught me well of the dangers of Asulon; Hanseti,Renatus, Salvus, Seventis, and more all squabbling amongst another as spring chickens. Surely you see this ploy, god-fearing soldiers, to divide our faith, our will, our resolve to stand together as Orenians and betray the Exalted's wishes of a united human peoples. For in the name of what is holy in this world, do not betray our lawful king for Alliance shills! Without reconciliation, humanity will be split asunder and the realm of man torn up once more in personal ambition and blind zealotry. With reverence, Siguine Barrow At the bottom of the parchment lays the return address if the Lucienists choose to send a response.