3. A piece of vellum near the gates

A piece of vellum near the gates


  • Posted on the gates of norwick, next to the original proclamation, as well as on the gates of jiyyd and peltarch, in fine vellum

    In response to Jarek's posting:

    1. Slavery implies a lack of choice. To say that you are not slaves in your service to the crystals is to say that you had a choice. However, the evidence would seem to point to the contrary.

    Had all who followed the crystals had a choice, it would stand to reason that there would be some, somewhere, who chose NOT to serve. These people do not exist. None have come forward and described being offered the CHOICE to serve the collective, and refusing it.

    I realize that you will argue that their cause is so important that none would ever refuse it. However much you may believe this, it is a lie. There are always those who will say "not my problem" to any given situation. Especially in the face of the widespread distrust, shunning, and suspicion in which the collective members are held, there are many who would decide that their relationships with their friends and loved ones are more important than the crystals' agenda. That someone else can deal with it. However, no one seems to have decided this, contrary to what one would expect.

    There is one single exception to this: Melanie Stern. However, her mind was permanently altered in the wake of her choice, and it is unclear, apparently even to her, whether she chose to leave, was rejected for some reason, or is even now still their agent.

    However, this mental manipulation presents the possibility that, despite the evidence to the contrary, you of the collective BELIEVE you are still free. That is unfortunate, and I pity you.

    2. The crystals have, on numerous occasions, demonstrated the ability to replicate powerful spells, arcane and divine, many of which are beyond the capabilities of even the most powerful casters and priests of this land. The fact that Kara retains the abilities that were once granted by her patron does not prove that she still has kelemvor's favor. It proves that the crystals are capable of acting as gods on a small scale.

    When a non-collective priest, through communion with their god, brings forth evidence that they have no qualms with the crystals, perhaps we will find it to be believable. Until then, all the magic shows in the world prove nothing of the sort.

    3. I will not speak to your tribe. If they choose to follow you, and thus endanger themselves and their continued freedom, that is their own choice, and not for me to make.

    4. The crystals deform and contort the weave by their very existence, as they have demonstrated on several occasions. The storms and magical lightshows that rage over the surface since their coming, and the dead magic zone they have created underground for ages are evidence of this. In light of the corrosive effect they seem to have on the organization of reality, I find it hard to believe that these rifts are caused by the defiler.

    What I find more likely is that the rifts are yet another side-effect of the crystals' existence and activity. Their willingness to help seal them does not make them saviours. It means they're cleaning up their own mess, which should be expected, not rewarded.

    Cleaning up their own mess, I might add, not before their mess annihilates entire settlements.

    If I wished to be more suspicious, I might postulate that the rifts, rather than being side-effects, are actually INTENTIONAL on the part of the crystals, in order to frighten the populace into serving them, and then set themselves up as saviours by ending the threat that they created in the first place.

    5. The opposition to the crystals do not speak from hatred, and the bannings of those who serve the crystal collective are not an act of hostility or oppression. We speak from caution, and the bannings are a safety measure. The collective has shown, in the past, a willingness to use force to recruit members to their cause, even going so far as to physically fling people into the crystals when they arise. This behaviour has made it clear that so long as you are allowed to walk among our homes and our domains, we are not safe.

    We do not believe you are bad people because of this. We simply believe something larger than you has commandeered your will, and that you are a risk to our free will so long as this is true. Consider the bannings to be similar to a quarantine in times of disease. We do not hate you. We simply don't want your disease to spread until we have found a cure.

    6. It would not serve the crystals' purposes to cause a complete change in behaviour in its followers. Of course you are yourself in all respects other than the crystals. Because they only require you to alter certain aspects of yourself. This does not prove you are free, nor does it prove you are not a threat. It simply proves the crystals are smart.

    If the crystals truly wish this region to unite against the defiler, if they wish us to all stand together, they would realize, with their great intelligence, that they, themselves, are causing our division. The logical choice would be for them to relinquish control over all they still have, and withdraw back underground. They have made their warnings, and now they are only causing dissent.

    Their continued presence proves that they want something other than what they say. Until we see what that is, you of the collective cannot be trusted.

    Signed,

    Oreth Meret

    Free Man above all.

    Below the signature are three symbols, traced one next to the other. Leftmost is a black Infinity symbol. In the center is an intricate maze. And to the right is the triple-oak knotwork pattern of the Circle of Quercatha Terr

    ((the message this is in response to can be found here: http://www.narfell.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=26795 ))

  • G

    //Lyte's entire basis of her stance with the crystal's has been directly in response to her witnessing atrocities committed by crystal influenced folks early in the plot, and it was Lyte herself who watched two crystal dominated people try and forcibly drag Khaya, one on each arm, into a crystal.

    Lyte herself, while battling Crystal Guardians only a few feet from Jiyyd, was tripped,(strength and dex rolls made), by a crystal person, who there about immediately tried to grab her and drag her towards the crystals. Lyte naturally will not trust the crystals after such activities. No less than four attempts were made to thrust her into the crystals, she would be "with" the crystals if she had not made four strength checks.

    Lyte also personally witnessed crystal folks trying to trick others into following them to "look closer at the pretty crystals" and "touch them to get a pleasant surprise", and had to actively step in and tell the persons being tricked that it was a ruse.

    Obviously, this must have happened more times than Lyte's limited experiance…but it is not second hand information, and these actions that did occur are the logical basis of virtually everyone's stance for how we look upon the crystals from the outside.

    They have clearly done what we percieve as "evil" acts, dominating and dragging people to their dooms.

    I dont see how this could be "unauthorized" activities, or "not have happened", as there must have been dms behind this, as there were active crystals shooting magics about, and guardians running around killing people, and folks being vaporized, or whatever by these crystals.

    I asked two different dms, after Lyte started running into denials of these happenings much later down the road, and both dms responded that if the things occured in game, I should not ignore them, that they happened if Lyte saw them.

    This is why there is this impassable rift between the crystal folks and outsiders currently, and I dont see how anyone who is basically playing a good character can witness such things, not to mention seeing innocent travelers, children playing, anyone who comes along, who touches a colorful crystal being killed outright even up until this past week, without these repercussions of mistrust, and downright loathing of the Crystal Collective.

    Just trying to clearly point out the motivations behind those outside the Crystal Collective. It seems to me also, that many of those in the collective now, ought not to be there at all, if they were gotten there through these devious means, and if this was not the intended way that things were meant to take place.

    Personally, I find it terribly difficult having to try and deal with Lyte's feelings of responsibility and friendship to her 4 troopers affected, and her complete and well merited mistrust of what she sees as the slavemasters who dominate them, who may at any time try to drag her to her doom using her comrades in arms.

    I wanted to post this here, because, obviously, if players early on played things incorrectly, perhaps due to a lack of information, then we need an about face of some kind real quick in "what actually occured"

    :oops: //


  • tala leaves a hide tacked to a tree not far from oreths

    Khaya was dragged to a crystal. She was not given a choice and barely escaped.

    As a woman, a mother and a healer of some small ability I can speak to the loss of conscious thought by the crystals. Lilin was a nursing mother she left her infant son. The physical pain from her milk was not enough to drive her to remembering her child. Over three months later Lilin woke up and remembered her son. If the cyrstals do not leave you thinking of other things then how do you explain a new first time mother forgetting she had a child. In the face of such I must conclude that the love of the cyrstals out weights the love of a mother for her child until such time as it is convient for the crystals.

    This is truely heart breaking and many of my dearest friends are lost to the corruption of the crystals. I hope some day a cure can be found. Until that time I would not risk an innocent life being fed to a crystal.