The empire of eight hundred years
is studied far and wide,
the tales of battles fill young ears
and fill their hearts with pride.

We praise accounts of sacrifice
ignoring their beliefs;
we see the victories and their price
but offer no relief.

But is this not the form of greed
that led to empire's fall?
To hear that lesson yet not heed's
to live in leisure's thrall.

Yet that is not the greatest case
of selfishness in man;
For Nature Herself has been defaced
by throngs of encroaching hands.

We see the Northern Ithmia
mutated like the Black;
Vast forests cleared by axe and saw
will never heal intact.

Whether Fontis, Chaos, or Cyrene,
great harm has come to pass;
These unjust ends by wrongful means
are cause for righteous wrath.

Yet there's a chance for all of you
to take a better way,
to understand a point of view
whose truths will not decay.

Abandon thoughts of selfish gain
and look towards the earth;
Upheaval and torrentuous rain
oft gives way to new birth.

Protect these cycles, help them flow
as we have sworn by oath;
from verdant spring to winter snow,
death's purge begets new growth.

Come help oppose the falsities
that men have grown to trust;
opportunity's a boundless sea,
so raise yourself from dust.

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Aeguary, in the year 732 AF.