Player Content

The Knight’s Speech - by CrawDave

Mordecai Dredson’s Speech to the Council of Flamebringers
Tiri 25, 1346 AC

***

Hello brothers and sisters in arms and faith. Thank you for having me today, and allowing me to speak at the Council. I realize I am a simple Neophyte when it comes to the rank and order of Knight-Captains, but it pleases me to know that I am listened to none-the-less.

I realize that the last few weeks have been a trying time for the Church. We’ve undergone the utmost shame, being unable to protect our own High Priestess, having our most holy church on Tal`Rah desecrated by foul magics, and then being forced by the Rules and Laws we swear by to sequester ourselves in this room until we can reach a decision on who to make the next High Priest or Priestess.

That is not what I am here to talk about.

If you think two years back, the Order was in a very similar state. All of Tal`Rah was scourged and blighted, the armies of Ysil marched upon the continent, a meat grinder of a war pushed on and on, driven by infernal momentum we could not stop. And then the meteor fell. Sharan was wiped off the face of the map. Old Sam died.

Though, neither is that what I am here to talk about.

I am not here to provide a long winded discourse on politics. Frankly, and this may shock you, after four months fighting Tolliver Grimshaw up and down Northern Shalzaar, politics has never seemed less interesting. Through the blessed fury of Kaal alone I have recovered my holy sword Kihala in order to fight that mad tyrant.

But, again, I am not here to truly talk about that either.

Meanwhile in Zoda, Toron is besieging a city whose only true defenders right now are the hard and noble men of Zoda, the Spirit of Knowledge, and Darechon Dur`lane. Again, we see the horrors of infernal war as they scourge a land known for its harshness. The cold seems ethereal there, biting into the bones through the thickest of winter coats, as if driven by infernal means. While Synri herself awaits a Trial of the Avatars in order to safely enter this world, throwing the lots further against those valiant defenders.

I think you might have spotted a pattern by now: I am not here to talk about that.

I am not here to talk about politics. I am not here to talk about war. I am not here to talk about the shame that is Sharan, nor the ridiculousness that has allowed the Jester God the right to save our own asses while we remain sequestered in this room, discussing politics and war and shame. No.

I am here to talk about people.

I am here to talk about how we, humans, were created in the visage of Kaal and Zorah. How that makes our suffering, the suffering of people everywhere, the Old Gods’ suffering. I am here to talk out our cousins, the Elf’s, decimation at the hands of a Goddess that abides by no rules nor laws, no Order in her mind. I am here to ask you to look out those windows and see the smoke rising, the people who line the streets looking for bread, live in tent cities where their houses used to be, and ask yourself if you’d rather be in here… Or out there.

People are injured and dying. The Spirit of Knowledge, the Kal`aire, a Cavalier Order clean up the mess we are allowing to happen through inaction. The pain, the sadness we are inadvertently causing by allowing the spirit of the people to wane, their ailments to grow worse, their pain to deepen, in a time when the Second Godswar looms on the horizon, an Ivory Mistril staring us down, daring to proceed.

And what of our laws? Our codes? We cannot simply forsake them and commit to a rampage indistinguishable from our enemies. We need a High Priest. We need laws. We are Order. What then? What now? It is simple.

We must remember the Old Law. The first law Kaal laid down upon the races of mortals so long ago, when Ishaela was still fresh and lush. We must remember what he spoke to the Dwarves when they first created our Order all those eons ago: “And remember this Law, my children, for it is what ye shall do until the end of days, when the Old Pact is broken and the world itself ends; Go forth and do Good, not only in the name of Me, but in the name of what is Just and Right.”

Now look outside the window again. What is Just and Right? To have another debate… Or to go out there and help those people.