By anhedria in Dark Ages
Probationary Priest of Gramail
Deoch 11

It is clear, from recent events, that there are strange and powerful forces working in the land. There are forces at work that cause Aisling to turn against Aisling, friend against friend, official against official, town against town, but there have also been hints that the mundane populace holds far more power than previously believed.

In this age, I have seen much that I can explain, but there are events which have come to pass that are passing strange to my mind. The world is wonderous, and as a Priest of Gramail I can see the natural order in the history of this land. Even those event which appear to be wild and random, seldom are such. There is order in eveything. Order is not stale air, but is also present in the process of change. That change happens is indesputable, and that change is part of the natural order of things. However, until recently, I was struck dumb by several seemingly connected yet, inexplicable events.

The town of Mileth, beautiful home to many Aislings and mundanes, has recently been tortured by Aislings bent on destructive and evil behaviour. All the more strange is that these Aislings seem unaware of their actions as being what they are, rather seeing themselves as acting in right causes toward goodly goals. Further, these Aislings have been respected and laudable members of the community, holding and filling positions of power. What can be the cause of such diabolical behaviour with respect to past actions? Surely, there must be a cause which brings well meaning and long serving Aislings to the heinous and willful acts, causing damage to their fellows, of recent days?

Further, there are forces in the land which appear to have acted in reprisal for these willful actions. These powers clearly have powers which even our most respected officials do not, for this reprisal has resulted in something almost unthinkable. Surely there is a powerful magical force involved in the sudden, and utter, obliteration of Ailsings from the face of Temuria! What appears more astounding, and perhaps a bit sinister, is that this force does not appear to have been any of the well-known Deities, nor of any Deity only whispered of in dark places.

There have also been Aislings working to halt this plague. Aislings unheard of before these incidence, some of them. Where do these Aislings come from knowing our ways as if born to them, but whom no one has ever seen before?

When officials of Mileth began acting strange, there was little notice taken. However, claims of being King and wholesale slaughter of the reputations of many innocent Aislings has proven these official acts noteworthy. In the space of only a few days, the damage was done: many Aislings banished, much confusion and frustration in the air.

These officials claimed to be acting in good faith to address issues which they felt were the clear failure of the natural order. The events, they said, were their attempt to clearly show that the natural order was the cause of wrongs and injustices.

The memories of a few key Aislings told another story.

Mob rule appears to have created a condition where several key official were flush with influence, seemingly unbound. This provided the illusion of such respect that these officials were able to take actions to discredit and smear the good names of others and then force them from Mileth in disgrace.

The aftermath was devestating, especially to those in the periphery of the events. Many of the good Aislings, even friends and fellows to those that were the cause of such destruction, were facinated by the events to such a degree they began to question even their own actions, as if they were the cause of such things.

The natural order of things does not stop Aislings from actions which lead to their own destruction. There are ways that Aislings can quickly influence themselves and the world around them, and sometimes these actions are clearly wrong. However, that an Aisling can act in such clearly destructive ways is not a weakness of the natural order, but rather a strength. The natural order of things is not the prime mover in a life of ease and freedom from temptation, but rather a framework in which one acts to create their own fortune or misfortune.

It is clear that there are influences on Aislings which are poorly understood. Thes influences have been causing Aislings to throw all they hold dear into the wild wind, and take actions to undermine or to bulwark the natural order of the land. Aislings somehow unconscious to the nature of their actions involved in causing what seem to be willful massacres, and those that hover about the edges of this destruction, carefully remembering all these events.

Then, astounding and swift doom comes upon those posessed destroyers such that they are punished in ways that our own powers cannot fully fathom. Aislings disappear from the face of the land, with only those memories of others remaining to show that those beings existed at all. This goes beyond any Aisling law or rule. This goes beyond any punishment within the power of an Aisling to enforce. However, it is also evident that Aislings are called to bolster the natural order through direct and indirect action.

Is it not clear that there is a connection between these events, subtle but overwhelming in consequence? It is clear that there are laws and powers, beyond our senses, involved in these happenings. The events, while influencing the order of things, appear to have created an opposite force, a force more powerful that any individual Aisling, to combat this decay. Reprehensible acts created the conditions which called up forces of retribution far more severe than any town law could have ever inflicted. There can be no clearer evidence that the mundanes have far more power that any Aisling previously realized, and that there are immutable laws, a natural order, which is more primary than any law of Aisling design.

Breaking these higher laws brings the punishment of complete extinction of mind and body. This must be a punishment that brings absolute dread into the heart of any Aisling. To be a dreamer and then never again to dream is a total punishment which even obliterates the feeling of being punished itself!

It would be good for all Aislings to think on these events.That such forces remain silent is a testement to their power. They do not continually announce themselves and yet the natural order remains in force everywhere in the land. That there are such immutable and primary laws of the land which are powerfully enforced shows that the protective influences of order are at work in this wonderous world. Those that would uphold the laws of the land and those that would break the laws of the land would all be well served by remembering this.

Gramail, my lord, cannot be thought of as the weakest of Gods any longer!