Do not unleash yet another EVIL

Travance,

I have received this letter from Argyle who is currently not in the Proper and asked me to tack it onto this board for all to see. I believe all should see and read what he has to say.

A few of us opposed the creation of Bloodtide back in the day to defeat Balfurious. We desperately came up with alternatives and kept getting shut down. Hearts got ripped out, the few were silenced, a great evil was created to defeat a greater evil. I beg you all, don't do it again...

Miranda is EVIL. Unleashing her will not only destroy the weave, it will let loose an evil of a magnitude we can't even imagine. I will yet again scream my protest until my voice is gone. I heed you to please listen this time.

Angel,

I'm torn with these times, shall we cast aside all we hold dear and allow Miranda to be freed?

I have always embodied the vow to serve the people's Greater Good. I treasure my Sworn Oath, to not compromise in the face of death against our foe.

Since my first night in the Proper, I have been cautioned of Miranda and her being of Black Sorcery, Dark Divine, and the source of power to the dark paladins. Her being is the essence of chaos and evil in Arawyn. The Weave itself was created to host her as a prison.

The Light Clergy, paladins, witch hunters, mages, and those rumored with Vims Blood have served to reinforce the importance of her imprisonment for Ages. At what point do we throw it all away, and completely fail our duties to the People? Is this akin to Bloodtide, our only choice?

There are those whom will stop at nothing to see the Weave remain intact. That any attempts to free Miranda shall be met with violence and death.

We all worked to free Fiona, that being in the best interests of the People. Those interests aren't clear to me now, shall we bestow all manner of faith and hope in Fiona, to shield Arawyn from her sister's wrath and malice?

There are talks and rumors of Civil War, and this state of discourse can't find its way from uneasy waters.

Forces have tried to stop the coming storm of war for many moons. I shall digress, the War for the Soul of Arawyn is coming, but the Battle for the Soul of Travance is at hand. I fear some are naive enough to think they are unaffected, the battle lines have already been drawn.

So marks the End of an Age, will we find the strength to create a new? We do not yet know all there is to be gained or lost in these stark days. One thing has been made clear, not all shall be alive to see their end.

I shall remain in services to the People. I take hope in that I am not alone.

I ask you to pray for me as you do for us all. May Valos guide your way.

Strength Duty Mission Faith

-Auggie

May the light guide our paths and keep us all safe.
With love and respect,
Angeliana

I respect your virtue, and more then understand your ethical dilemma, but to my perception you do not understand what is at stake. There is no soul to lose if this war is lost. There are no Gods, and no afterlife beyond this if we fail-- no hereafter for you or your living and long passed loved ones.

Fiona puts her word toward freeing her antithesis-- she who stands the most to lose and she who is wisest in this matter. If she is not unleashed and we fail every man woman and child to ever walk Arawyn will cease to have ever existed.

If Miranda is unleashed, succeeds in stopping the nulls, and goes onto reap a great and terrible evil onto the realm-- We may die fighting in defiance to those who would see us undone and face the Gods as men and women who did not yield.

This is not a battle for thousands of lives, or a fight against extinction,
This is judgment day and the Anastazi will not silence us,

Robert Tzaareth

---

We know this is our end but no one has determined the actual cause. Who is to say that we could find another way to trap the null but freeing Miranda is what will actually cause Arawyn to die. As always we pick one danger, one side and assume that is the correct path. All sides need to be looked at, as do all possibilities, for in the end I do not want to live through the null just to die by Miranda causing so much evil that the world ends anyway

Cease your fear-mongering by spreading lies as the ultimate truth. You are no better than the Glommites, than this "evil" you so despise. Nothing you have written here is based in fact.

As long as Fiona is about, and Miranda not, the world will come to ruin. If you plan to oppose us, you had best come up with a plan to force the Greater Good back into her own prison. I doubt she will go willingly as long as you flounder about, failing to save the people in front of you due to some petty grudge against the Darkness. Get off your high horses. Evil does not wish to see the world destroyed. You are confusing us with Chaos.

Do not fight our only chance of salvation if you have done nought to find another way. You have passed the point of no return by awakening Fiona. Your choice has already been made.

Cyfihi of the Ebon Hound, Champion of House Tenebrous



[hr]

I do not appreciate this dissent without understanding; forming opinions on half truths, baseless assumptions and unconfirmed claims. I told this story to the Mage's Guild when this became a point there and I feel it is necessary for everyone who feels their righteous behavior is justified.

Long ago, when the fey and dragons and immortal races walked the ground we now stand upon, there was no such thing as The Weave. There was no such thing as magic, at least as we know it today. In those times past, when the dragons and fey were called away to the astral realm by the Anastazi, for fear of their servants becoming tainted with good and evil, we did not have the powers we do today.

They fey did not want to leave this world without helping the young mortal races. From the two crystal mountains at the poles of the world, a network of strands sprouted out in colors of yellow, blue, red, orange, green and purple, creating a network of colors across the land. This structure became the weave. And with this weave, the fey taught a mortal man by the name of Necrophitus Arcane how to utilize these strands to summon powers not before known to mortal kind. It was he who learned the powers of the spheres contained within those strands. What the fey had learned, however, was that mortal beings could not fully master all eight spheres of magic, and so they found seven others to teach the ways of magic. These eight students in turn, taught others, forming an academy where all mortal kind could unlock the secrets of the weave.

In this time, the fey imparted one more gift to the mortals. They showed the eight students of the academy how to utilize these strands to accomplish higher magics through the creation of a focus crystal, and thus was born the arts of sorcery. The fey had taught the mortals everything they knew, and so they left the world.

Necrophitus was greedy for power. He wanted more than what they had taught him, so he locked himself away within his tower and began to experiment with the combination of spheres. What he came to discover was that by combining the spheres that cancel each other (fire and water, earth and air, wizardry and enchantment, illusion and warlockery), the spheres would decay, releasing a dark and twisted negative energy that he could manipulate. He had created the dark magic of Necromancy. Normally when magic is used, it releases back into the strands, continuing the cycle of magic that flows through the two poles, this however, only destroyed the spheres and returned nothing back. It was cancerous to the weave.

But Necrophitus did not stop there. He continued to bend and break the weave to his will until he began to snap the strands, causing them to turn black, rot and decay, releasing the same kind of energy, but in much greater quantities. This was how he created the art of Black Sorcery. This was the art of shattering the weave to utilize the negative energy that came from it into powerful, but monstrous rituals.

The others had caught wind of Necrophitus and his necromancy students, so they confronted him, led by the only other student strong enough to stand up to him, Lucindra. Unfortunately, he could not be beaten, and instead fled away, but his damage was done and the dark arts of magic were being spread. Lucindra had to find a way to stop the destruction, or the weave would surely not last. It was incomplete and finite. She came to understand his research and experimented ways to counteract it. With the use of positive energy, she learned to create new strand's of the weave. They would be born of a magnificent white energy that would release off the strand. This energy could be used to cast incredible rituals of purity and light, while the white strand would fade into one of the six colors and embed itself into the weave. She had created the art of white sorcery and it would combat the devastation of Necrophitus.

Since then, the necromantic mages and black sorcerers have wrought destruction upon the weave while the white sorcerers have repaired what damage they could. It was only recently that the Arrantir stones were placed into the pillars in which they belonged, finally completing the full cycle of magic between the two crystal mountains, allowing the weave the replenish itself. The ultimate purpose of the white sorcerers was completed with success. The weave from then on, could not be destroyed.
This is the history of The Weave and Magic.

Miranda, at some point during all of this had been locked away within the weave, though the weave was not created for this purpose. The gate to her prison lay in Vardemir, only accessible by the true Guardians of magic, the Pentirr Knights. Why she was locked away has been lost to time and history. To my knowledge there are no records of what she had done to earn her imprisonment.

This story is much of what I know regarding magic, the weave, black and white sorceries, and the basics of where we stand.

Miranda may have been the enemy of the Fiona Argentis. For what reason I do not know. She may have been wrongfully imprisoned. Only those who bore witness could tell.

Fiona, the Greater Good herself and leader of the Fiona Argentis, needs the help of her sister.

Do any of you truly have it in your heart to, without mercy, kill the people you have grown to know and care for?
Do you have the resolve to kill your friends and comrades, knowing there is a chance you will never see them again because of their death at your hands?
Would you stand against what is currently our greatest chance of success?
This is the simplest route to survival.

To All:

For a lot that talks about balance, apparently none of you understand what this means. Did you all forget the creatures on Amanthyre? Only having been given stories and what I have read, it was obvious that these creatures on that island were corrupted by Fiona's presence. This had happened while she was asleep. Imagine what happens when she is awake. She is asking for us to release her sister. I believe she would not have done this if she believed that there was a way to do it without her.

We were previously educated by the reveal of the secrets that the sisters, Fiona and Miranda are the embodiment of Good and Evil, not as a moral construct but as a power source. Just because the names Good and Evil are used to describe these power sources does not mean that they are on the level of things we have ever witnessed. It can be assumed that their goals and motivations are far more complex than these words and to try and make them fit the confines of what we have experienced is foolish.

If not utilizing Miranda is really your goal, then one should start considering how to put Fiona back to sleep. This is not a pick what's easy for us situation and to assume that Fiona can do this alone or with substitution , even when she urges the people to release her sister, is also a foolish thought.

If your morals and uncomfort at this situation would dictate you to ignore facts laid right before your eyes. If you would rather ignore everything Fiona says. If you would rather hide in a room with your eyes closed shut and your hands over your ears to ignore truth then so be it.

What must be done is not palatable to all but there are us who will do what must be done to save the world.

Remember that Miranda helped imprison the Nulls the first time and it was not her, but Fiona who put them at risk because she stopped to save one life over doing what needed to be done..

-Ava

Reading all these comments, I feel I must state my peace.

We should not be relying on Fiona or Miranda. I had thought you all traveled to Fiona's island to seek her guidance and blessing, not to bring her back. I was stunned to find that this had happened.

This is our age. The nulls came this time because of the actions of our era, not Fiona or Miranda. We should be able to deal with them with our power and our dedication as well. Some of us have ideas for options, which we will try and present soon.

As to fiona? If she is truly the force for good we believe her to be, she will return to her slumber if it is the path best for us all. We will not have to force her.

As for the "Simplest route to survival?" Are we so weak and lazy that simplest is the only path we can take? We cannot try something harder and aim for something more than survival? I aim for victory and life. The Simplest solution is only easy, not the best. The simplest path to helping someone survive broken and diseased limbs is to cut the limbs off. yet don't we try and cure them so they can keep those limbs, and go back to life with them?

The Null are not here because of something mortals did. Do not think you are anything more than a speck of dust to them. They are here because the Anastazi have decided to create a new world, and their observation is complete. Either that, or they have finally - after this many ages - managed to chip away enough at the efforts of Fiona and Miranda to free the Null from the monolith, because Fiona and Miranda were locked away and unable to lend their energy to maintain it.

Do not fool yourself into believing that Fiona's slumber is best for this world. Without any comparable power as foreign to the Anastazi as Good and Evil, the Null will consume everything. The Light will not put herself willingly to sleep unless you can trap the Null without her - which, as a mere mortal, with all your powers known to the omniscient Creators, you are incapable of. She will not leave us to our own devices while a clear and present danger to the world remains. Other Astral beings might be able to stand their ground, but their hands are tied, as slaves to the Anastazi. Not that they really care about this world, anyway. The ones that did are long gone.

Besides, Fiona and Miranda are just humans. Beacons of Light and Darkness, sure, and perhaps the origin of such, but they are just as human as you or I. Their power is our power, in its purest and most concentrated form.


Cyfihi



[hr]

Caldor,

People seem to forget that this was a problem since our fight with Balfurious. During that Fight I watched, Orophin and Morwenne try and fix the break in the monolith. When it became obvious that the powers of Black and White Sorcery were not enough, Orophin and Magnus then tried their powers as paladins to fix it to which it was also not enough. It is my firm belief that even if you are to gather all the good in the world and all the evil, it will not amount to the power that Fiona and Miranda contain as all of the power of paladins, their champions, comes from them. They are the power sources and all are small and insignificant compared to them. Paladins only access a drop in the well of their power.

If a proposal comes that is on the scale of their power level I would be willing to listen, however so far from what I have personally witnessed, creating an alternative at that power level will take more time than we have.

-Ava

Ava -

I thank you for being willing to listen when we are able to make our proposal. I hope it will be able to stand up to what is needed.

Caldor

Besides, Fiona and Miranda are just humans. Beacons of Light and Darkness, sure, and perhaps the origin of such, but they are just as human as you or I. Their power is our power, in its purest and most concentrated form.

So then surely we could do this without them?

Don't mince my words. We are raindrops in the ocean of their power. Collect every Paladin that exists in this world and we would still only equal a fraction of it; but even that small bit is muddied. If you pick sand off a beach grains at a time, perhaps you will come up with a pure result, but in the time we have left, with the tools you would have to use, your shovels would unearth dirt and rocks and shells and crabs that simply waste space in the grand scheme. I simply encourage others to realize that this is their world, and this is just as much their problem as it is ours.


Cyfihi



[hr]

I was not attempting to twist your words. I was attempting to understand.

If we walk a path of darkness when our lives are at stake, we are evil. It is when a man is at the cliff's edge that you meet him.

If we take the eezee, simple, evil path, we do not deserv this werld.

I chooz to die with honor rather than live without it. I wud not remake Bloodtide. I will not do this.

I do not appreciate this dissent without understanding; forming opinions on half truths, baseless assumptions and unconfirmed claims

Dear Lord Tartaros,
With all due respect, I do not appreciate that you assume that I make baseless assumptions, unconfirmed claims, with no understanding and form opinions on half truths. Everyone, every single person, is entitled to their own opinions and feelings. I feel strongly that unleashing an evil, more powerful than the entirety of the dark paladins of this world combined as several people put it, who is the source, such as a lake from which a drop of evil they siphon for their powers; is a grave mistake. In my heart, I know that an evil of such power should not be allowed to roam free. I fully understand the situation at hand. And I do feel we can find other options, different routes, perhaps not the simplest, but more complicated routes to survival which do not involve this evil. As for killing people we love "without mercy"... Well, Andorra just appeared to us last moon to show us that sometimes killing IS merciful. I'm still struggling with that ideal, but if it is to save them from a worse fate? I love them enough to save them from the pain.

Bob,
I fully understand what is at stake. But do you understand that if Miranda and Fionna defeat the nulls, which is a foe you are claiming we can not defeat on our own, then we are left to face Miranda and Fionna who are more powerful than the nulls who we were less powerful than? So we defeat the Nulls only to be defeated by Miranda? How is that survival?

Cyfiri; pretty girl,
I'm not afraid of death. I'm not spreading lies or telling what is the ultimate truth. I'm simply begging, pleading, asking people not to free Miranda. I do not despise, I love. I love you all and I do not want to see the pain and destruction Miranda will bring upon us all. Remember pretty girl, no one makes our choices for us, we always have a choice, and only we can make it.

I love you, I don't want unnecessary pain and suffering to level Arawyn. Fionna has been asleep for a long time. She is good, but she might not know all that we are capable of. We can do this, we can work together to defeat and imprison the nulls. Please don't look through the looking glass provided, listen to your heart and open your eyes.

May the light guide our paths and keep us safe.
With love and respect,
Angeliana

You are claiming things that are blatant lies to persuade people against this. Releasing Miranda will not destroy the Weave, and it never would have. She was put there as an after thought, like the swamp lord said. Opening a prison gate does not suddenly make that prison any less real.

You claim that Miranda wishes to "defeat" you. That is the most idiotic thing I have read. She is the only reason this world still exists. Fiona is the one who risked its destruction. Fiona knew they could only do it together, and still Miranda had to work twice as hard to compensate for her childish actions. Don't you think the world would have fallen to the Nulls in the first place if she didn't want it to be saved?

You are not entitled to claim that you can have your own opinion if you are spreading that idea as the ultimate truth. You may feel that Miranda will destroy the Weave, destroy the world, but you are just incorrect. Stop acting so mighty when you are indeed making baseless assumptions that ignore the actual truth. Those who walk the path of Darkness are not the same as those who are immoral, who wish to destroy the world. Again, you confuse us with Chaos. Turn your hate towards what is actually trying to destroy us, not what is trying to help you.


It's good to know that you all feel your honor is worth more than the lives of every person on this world. Are you seriously risking the fate of the world on a difference of opinion?

Cyfihi



[hr]

I am not going to debate as others have. To me this is simple. For the sake of every living thing on Arawyn, including Arawyn itself, we cannot risk everything on a fool's chance that we can find a suitable alternative to that proposed by the being who has defeated the Null before.

If you are aligned with Light, you cannot ignore Fiona's words. To deny Her is to deny the Light.

If you are aligned with dark, I am not your friend, but if you seek to thwart the Null I stand with you. If we need to free Miranda, then we do it, or else there is going to be nothing left of us, of the Gods, nor our story.

Nothing I have heard comes close to the power of Opposition, possessed by Fiona and Miranda. It's power terrifies the Anastazi, who are the most powerful entities known. We use it to end the Null, then we sort out the details later.

Being aligned with the Light means putting aside personal feelings for the greater Good. Do so now, and support Fiona.

Ok folks, You can't see good without evil or light without darkness. Just as Lord Alistair said the weave counters itself in elememts so do these things. For every paladin of light so a dark one rises. All these things are in balance.

The weave prison was made and the weaves changed much over the years too. Lost arts new arts old uses and new. This is a new age and changes like this are terrifying.

Stay calm, stay the course, mitigate harm where you can and keep suggestions coming.

Lastly keep the faith...whatever place, thing or person you have it in...just keep it.

Cmd B. Drexel
Blood Spirits

I dinnae like the idea of freeing Miranda, but why would the being who trapped her want her free. Te help, ye ken. Maybe Fiona hopes to redeem Miranda and her prison was like a purgatory, ye ken. If'n Fiona is the epitome of good, that means, she is kind and merciful, aye. So she would free her sister to save the world and try to redeem her, As a Galladelian I can see reason and understand what she is doin'. Do I think the slaves of Miranda's dark power should be destroyed, aye. Did I try to punch Miranda in the face, aye. But there is always hope that the good people can bring the light into the hearts of the dark and corrupt. We must believe that Miranda and her ilk are not above saving. I dinnae like the Bog Hag or any of the Dark Paladins but I still hold out the laurel of friendship in hope they return or are brought back to the side of good. We must beat the nulls they are of a power we cannae truly understand. If these greater beings did it once why not let it happen again. Worse comes to worse cannae Fiona just re-imprison her sister, and kindly take a nap forever? I am a Gonagle so I will spell out something I picked up in the tale of these twins. After Fiona trapped Miranda she went away and put herself to sleep. Why? Well I t'ink two reasons, one she felt super guilty for what she did cause she is all that is good, and two she dinnae wanna stick around without her sister, cause she loved her and felt incomplete without her. I t'ink I made my point, and if not oh well.

Slightly Sane Billliamm

P.S. Chaos is not just destruction. it is creation, it is growth, it is change, it is passion, it is the opposite of stagnation, it is what we are facing now and making us flourish. Bog Hag ye mix up yer facts about chaos. I dinnae claim te understand yer dark hiddlins dinnae keep throwin around the idea ye 'ave any clue about chaos

Billiam, you make some really good points. I really truly hope we can redeem her then. I will continue praying. The further into darkness one is, the more powerful their evil; the harder it is to shine light upon them and redeem them. But it is never impossible. Thank you for reminding me.

"Followers of Andorra believe foremost in the power of redemption, and that far better than a slain or imprisoned foe is a foe that turns from the path of evil and becomes good." Andorra 1'5"

If I am told true, Miranda iz not fallen to darkness. She iz darkness. She iz mor evil than the Gods uv Dischord, mor evil than the foulest maleficarum. She cannot be saved because she did not fall to evil, she IZ the evil others fall to.

Aldorson,
Intriguing tho that cosmic perception may be, that changes none of the pressing factors our plane of existance has encountered.
R.T.

---

A thought occurs cousin. If she is indeed maleficarum, perhaps we should know for sure first?

We know only the legends. Perhaps a first-hand account, from.one that was there might help us understand the truth of Miranda's existence.

(OOG: The following is scrawled in a cursory hand on a wrinkled, frayed piece of fabric.)

I apologize for the late response, the Ravens ‘ere in Honor’s Rock aren’t so keen to the wind.

If what ye all ‘ave said is true, an’ Miranda an’ Fiona only barely imprisoned those Null hooks the las’ time, what makes ye so sure they can do it now?

If all it took las’ time was one poor bastard layin’ around, waitin’ to be killed, what will ‘appen when all of us sp’akin’ ‘ere are layin’ around, waitin’ to be killed? If all the Paladins an’ Sorcerers an’ Clergy in the world only amount to a muddy puddle compared to the powers at play, what will ‘appen when all of the thousands of Travanceans are layin’ around, waitin’ to be killed? When all of the thousands of Kormyrians are layin’ around, waitin’ to be killed, jest across the Rift? And the rest of our neighbors? And when all of these bloody friends, acquaintances, associates, and enemies we’re callin’ on, all of whom are just as weak an’ useless as us, come to lay and wait to die alongside the rest of us?

We sh’u’n’t be callin’ the World to Travance. Nae. We should be callin’ Travance to the World. Leave Travance, an’ leave it to Miranda and Fiona. Set Miranda free an’ ‘ightail it out o’ there.

We’re nothin’ but the fog o’er and before the ‘orizon, muddlin’ its form. An’ if we stick aroun’, Fiona will run aground worried sick about us whether we free Miranda or not. An’ the two of them will run argound whether they can actually imprison the Null once more or not.

Remember: Fiona an’ Miranda were only able to imprison the Null b’fore with double-an’-a-half time’s effort. Double from Miranda, and Half from Fiona. Imagine what they could do with no distractions, Double from Both. P’raps they could destroy the Null, rather than just imprison them. But only if we cease meddlin’.

We’re nothin’ but wee spiders, dancin’ along strands we barely understand, strung between trees so broad we can’t begin to understand them, rooted into a world so deep we can’t even think to ‘ope to understand it. What’re we to do when the Null come thrashin’ through our web? What’re we to do when Miranda and Fiona fly by in pursuit, and crush us underfoot along the way? We’ve no business fighting alongside powers greater than Gods, especially when we already have no business fighting against the Gods themselves. We’ve words for that. Arrogance. Hubris. Ignorance. Futility.

Let’s stick to what we know. We can lure the Null in, but beyond that, our ‘ands are tied. It’s all up to Chance after that.

All I know, is that we were ordered to kill Fiona's servants, or whatever they were and go knocking on her door.

I killed a fair number of them, as did we all. Admitted, it seemed a bit half-strung at the time.

There are always folks who thump their chest and say "This is the only way". Well as I see it, I was lied to outright. I didn't know that taking part in that prison ritual would lead to us to waking up Fiona's nasty sister.

I for one don't want any more part of wild rituals. Twisting all this magic is what landed us here it seems to me, in bed with demons and the like.

When are folks going to learn to stop twisting? You're all the ones digging the graves, not us simple folk.

- Lake

It should be stated that we had time to research all possible options. It is my understanding that we had all of our greatest scholars researching what they could on this matter. If anyone has found an actual plan to stop all of this then that time to reveal it has long since passed. We knew before we stepped on the island that we would need to do this sooner or later. We knew during the creation of the obolisk that we would need to do this. We can't back out now because of fear. Every day we waste arguing more and more people are taken by the Null. No, sorry not taken, removed, erased, gone. If you do not want to release her then don't help. But don't impede the work needed to save this world.

This is not bloodtide, without bloodtide the demons would have taken the world. But without Miranda, their won't be a world left to be taken.

The spelling and grammar in the above posts has genuinely brought me pain. If half of you spent as much time learning to write as you do mindlessly ranting, perhaps words would not be minced up quite so. The sad truth is I know many of the individuals who omit entire sections of words are the same who can read ancient languages. It seems far more likely that you are writing poorly on purpose.

And that, is a truly sad thought.

-Collin Flamel

I suppose all this begs the question...

What IS Darkness?

I mean, actual Darkness. One half of the mysterious elements that have mystified even beings as preeminent as the Anastazi... One half of something powerful that it allowed divine beings to manifest and then act as conduits for the "lesser" beings to create their miracles?

And if Fiona, Light incarnate, could be communicated with, what makes you think that Mirranda can't? Or is it that we believe that Darkness cares only for destruction, even at the cost of destroying its chance to exist?


Just a thought.

This goes nowhere and has devolved into mealy-mouthed nonsense, as it was at the beginning. Time to actually do something that matters. Stop mewling and start being productive.

No more thoughts. No more musings. No more pointless opinions. Do something. Other than yelling at each other here. I shall take my own advice and take my leave of this farce.


- S