In little over twenty-four days from the time of this missive, my exhibition of the painting series Prayer and Piety will be unveiled within His Holy Ziggurat, above the halls of Blackrock.

This formal affair is a day of art, conversation, and curated hospitality. Food and drink will be provided, alongside the rare opportunity to glimpse the inner life of Mhaldorian devotion through a medium perhaps more familiar to foreign sensibilities: oil on canvas.

Prayer and Piety is not meant to comfort. It is not a collection of pastoral scenes or wistful renderings of fragile faith. It is, instead, a study of what devotion costs and what it yields. The pieces portray four sacred modes of prayer as understood by those who serve the Malevolent One: thanksgiving, contemplation, petition, and sacrifice. Each canvas captures a moment in which the soul is laid bare, the body made into an altar, and piety made real through blood, will, and discipline.

All are welcome to attend - regardless of city or enemy status. But be advised: this exhibition will not flatter sensibilities softened by mercy. It is not a plea for understanding. It is an invitation to witness faith as it is lived by those who kneel with purpose and rise reforged.



In HIS service eternal,


[A swirling, golden ZA is inked here with a flourish.]


Zorina Aristata
Slave to the Malevolent One
Warden of the Red Isle



~~~~~

The Seventh Truth of Evil: The spirit may be made stronger by enduring hardships, both self-imposed and externally-imposed.


Penned by my hand on the 17th of Ero, in the year 972 AF.