Fellow Achaeans,

I know that the Vashnars may seem an opaque wall to some of you, so let me offer an insider's perspective. I returned to the realms after a long absence, quite by chance, only shortly after our home was regained, just in time to participate in the last skirmishes against the Tide. What I have seen, then, was Cyrene's resurgence and renewal. I hope my perspective on these things will reassure you that the waters of the Unending Spring are not stagnant.

At the end of the Occupation, in a final act of petulance, the Tsol'teth struck a final blow. Approximately half the city, including those areas most frequented by our citizenry and visitors, was shattered into rubble. Even the Clocktower, the heart of Cyrene, was toppled, and Centre Street and Artisan Plaza were scattered with the glass of shop windows. Imagine if the Founder's Monument, the Heart of Dawn, or the Black Basilica were destroyed. Many such scars, large and small, were left across the city.

Since then, however, Cyrene has not merely licked its wounds, or even resorted to just clearing rubble and restoring the city as it was. The last two decades have seen many changes, all, I think, for the better; changes in how the city is governed, for the accountability of our leadership, and to the constitution of our military. For the first time in centuries, we have a new Imperiate, and steps are being made to prevent such a stagnifying incumbency from occurring again.

The city itself has changed as well. Citizens, myself included, formed a committee to draft architectural plans for the rebuilding of the damaged areas, a rare chance not merely to restore our beloved city's beauty, but to enhance it. More than a decade of work is now coming to fruition, and areas of the city have already been restored by skilled Dwarven engineers. I beg you, if you have access, to come see the renewal of the eastern half of Centre Street, and of Ruminic Street down to the Dancing Boar. I am particularly proud of the magnificent Resistance Bridge, one of our best designs, and a stirring tribute to those who restored our city.

Finally, it is a charge often made that Cyrene is punishing innocent novices of the cities who had a hand in this destruction, who were, after all, not even here when the damage was done. Perhaps it is not fair, though all who joined those cities made a choice of their own will, and might have asked after those organisations' crimes before swearing oaths to them. But regardless, is Cyrene at fault? Having been attacked, we bar the attacker, and the attacker's staunch allies, and those who worsened the injury, from enjoying our hospitality, from sitting leisurely in our cafes, idly scattering salt into wounded streets. Perhaps novices suffer unduly from not tasting a Chocolate Mudslide, or Lance's rum, or seeing the view from the top of the Pantheon. But why are we the ones who are responsible for this? Why are you blaming the victim of the attack for the consequences visited on the aggressor? Our wounds, even now, are still in the process of healing. Take your snide comments about the clear boundaries we are setting to some place more welcoming to querulous what-aboutism.

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Aeguary, in the year 822 AF.