Greetings to whoever might be interested.

Over and over I have heard the cries of Church 'hypocrisy' and 'lies.' I
am always curious to find out what these might be, but am seldom
satisfied. What examples are given are invariably so transparently
deceptive and disingenous that I cannot believe that a thinking person
would be taken in by them. For example, the matter of the supposedly
'adopted' orphan. Everyone in Shallam knew, and everyone generally with
any common sense knew, that it was a ruse: a set-up calculated to throw
the Church into some sort of artificial moral dilemma.

The leadership's refusal to do rhetorical battle on that issue reflected
not the Church's 'hypocrisy' and 'lies,' but rather a refusal to be
manipulated, to rise to the bait. The Church, and Shallam generally
could easily concoct similar attacks to make against Mhaldor. We could
accuse them of being 'too good,' of being hypocrites, and so on. We do
not do so because our ideals commit us to seeking truth. The Mhaldorians
state that their beliefs are in the dominion of the strong, cruelty, and
so on. The Church and Shallam acknowledge that this is so, and oppose
those beliefs.

Mhaldor is not willing to extend the same courtesy to Shallam because
it's goal is not to discover the truth of the matter. It's goal is to
win, and whatever Mhaldor must say in order to further its cause is what
it will say. The people of Sapience should keep this in mind when
considering any statement made by a Mhaldorian or an evil person.

Latus, I find it suspicious that you will not name the great injustice
that has been done against you. When making accusations, it is generally
polite to state what those accusations might be before rendering a
guilty verdict. Regardless of what your reason might be, you cannot deny
that you have repeatedly attacked Shallam. Lady Miramar is the Matron of
Shallam, so it seems to me that a case could be made for enemying every
Shallam enemy to Her Order. Be thankful that this step has not been
taken.

Goldberry, your post is similarly disingenous. Your problems came not
because of wanting to 'destroy evil', but because of your decision to
circumvent the Church's army and create your own private army. To me,
that's a violation of your oath of loyalty. Plus, you had the whole
'true light' thing, which was a bogus ideology, not supported by the
Mitrans or anyone else. And you were (and perhaps still are) insane, and
a danger to yourself and those around you. The same arguments apply to
you as to Latus:

You say that you were removed from the Order of Justice for 'wanting to
destroy Evil,' but surely that's not what Carmell said to you. Surely
Carmell did not say, "I am kicking you out for wanting to destroy Evil.
We're not really on board with that around here." Your failure to state
Carmell's true reason for removing you makes me think that you know your
argument to be weak, and so are not prepared to treat both sides fairly.

Attempting to engage in intelligent debate with evil is impossible. To
agree to the use of reason is a defeat for evil, because the ideology of
evil is based on unreason. Good has no such weakness: we truly believe
in our philosophy, and have enough confidence not to engage in
distortions and present only our side. Probably this post will either be
ignored, or subjected to the same sniping that is the status quo on this
forum.

However, I would be happy to be pleasantly surprised.

Yours in service,
Elysian Archmage Azor Celeste, Chronicler

Penned by my hand on the 11th of Sarapin, in the year 416 AF.