Sapience,

Today I propose that a commitment be reached between the four great adventurer cities of Ashtan and Hashan, Targossas and Cyrene, and with the village Eleusis as well, prohibiting nonlocal, racially-targeted weapons. Included in this would be any disease, poison, magic, or other creation designed to kill all members of a particular sentient race. The agreement would also be open to any denizen organizations or rogue adventurers interested in participating.

To begin with, some of you may be wondering why such a prohibition is necessary. We have already seen these threats emerge multiple times across the history of our various races. The Public news has been filled again recently with discussion surrounding the xoran illness. The history of this illness is not entirely clear, but evidence seems to suggest that it was a deliberate creation of the Ormyrr. Additionally, as we learn more about the creation of the illness, I believe it is quite plausible that we adventurers will uncover similar methods in time. It is often easier to kill than to cure.

The xoran are not the only example to recently re-emerge from our history. By now it is well known that the grook have already been the victims of such a threat. On the continent of Bandar Selat, an entire population of grook, nearly the entire race, was once reduced to a mere basketful of tadpoles by a poison developed by horkval and dubbed the Black Horn.

These are the two cases I am most familiar with, but many of you are better versed in history than myself. Can any of you call to mind other examples that I have missed? Could any Ormyrr have survived on Krenindala? Is there anything to prevent the horkval scientists of Bandar Selat from using the sailing techniques of the Kartha to penetrate our shores? Next time the threat may be aimed at rajamala or human, atavian or fayad.


What I would have us all put to parchment is a simple agreement:
- Weaponry that spreads beyond the immediate local area, that cannot distinguish between friend or foe, city-mate or enemy, and that targets solely based on race will be forbidden.
- Upon the discovery of such a weapon's existence, be it poison, magic, disease, or otherwise, all parties agree to work together to eliminate the threat, banding together through our animosity as we have done previously against Khalas, Pazuzu, and other threats to our existence.
- In the event of accidental discovery by a signator, the resulting compound, ritual components, or byproduct will be immediately destroyed and never reproduced. A failure to meet this obligation will be dealt with the same as an outside threat.
- Beyond the initial signatories, any other willing individuals or organizations, be they adventurer or denizen, will be encouraged to sign at a later time.



Some of you may be wondering if it is really in your interests or the interests of your city to make such a commitment. Whether this is really likely to be a problem at all. Or if you couldn't simply reincarnate as another race, in the worst of cases.

Are not such outcomes better left to the course of nature? Such a reduction in the diversity of natural life would be the worst possible example of the smothering sameness that civilization can produce.

Surely those sworn to the growth of all creation and the maximisation of creation's potential would not see entire branches of life shorn from the tree prematurely?

Would a city in the mountains really wait for such a threat to strike its citizens, rather than rising to preempt it?

Will the moment of oblivion not be grander if it is met with a diverse and chaotic chorus of beings, rather than by an audience of uniformity?

Progress is not merely adding tools to one's belt - it involves developing an understanding of when and when not to deploy them. In the darkness of the forest there are often multiple ways; blind advancement will not always bring you closer to your true aims.


I am neither a diplomat nor a legal scholar, but it is my hope that the many bright minds of Sapience may refine this suggestion into substance and acknowledge that on this much, at least, we agree.

Thank you all for your time,

Khalayx
Previous Dicondron Department Head of Warfare and Incubation
Proud Hashani and Proud Grook

Penned by my hand on the 22nd of Chronos, in the year 942 AF.