Onto a Brighter Future

[Nailman]

From within the walls of the Citadel, an announcement is spread...

Long ago, we allowed for her to live. We asked for her to stay, and our trust was broken.
We ignored, for they were in the home of friends.

Then, she was found to be assisting our enemies, breaking the sole condition that had been given.
We compromised, for we wanted our provided peace to last.

And now, even our compromise has gone unfulfilled, her oath and the Oracle's broken. Three chances were given, and three chances were scorned at.
We will not allow a fourth.

We have our own will.

Our own conviction.

Our own dreams.

---

And we will not allow for them to be seized by any ungodly creature, however old they may be. We will not allow the enemy to be aided by those we shared a home with. Their betrayal of our values, of our world, will not be allowed to last. The Servant & Little Lamb shall be captured and trialed for their respective crimes. Lirael Equisol shall be made accountable for the breaking of her word and her willingness to thrust her entire city into war to protect a tool of hers.

This choice was made by your Oracle, people of Meranthe. She chose that your lives were sacrifices she was willing to make for her own goals.

• All those who do not wish to fight for the State of Aphros and Gloomlight are welcome to migrate to other cities; Your presence shall be welcomed outside of the hold of a person whose mind has been enslaved by a fallen imperfect's whims.
  
• Occultists are accepted within the walls of the Citadel, so that your powers may be put to good use under the Pantheon's will, or muted so that it does not affect your future.
  
• No razing or pillaging shall take place.
  
• All those who fight will still be given a fair trial; Civilians are not to be targeted, but the military will be.
  
• The standing orders are to capture any soldiers encountered upon the wilds and to bring them into custody.
  

[Daeut]

Upon receiving word of the declaration of hostilities by the Ten's Citadel, the Oracle of Athelios addressed an open letter to its incumbent Exarch, Sabathiel Caewynn.

...

Your eyes do not see that which they wish to ignore. Your ears do not hear that which they have decided is not worth it. If they burn, they were guilty; if they do not, they are martyred, and you were still right to prove their virtue.

I made it clear during the Moot that everything I have done, everything I have achieved, is under my control. You bemoan that those I have sworn to redeem and protect aid your enemies, when I have made assurances they will not. They have not, since enrolling under my custody. Rather than side with the enemy, I have divested them of a most valuable asset to guide as one of mine, while you needlessly make a new enemy of me and my people.

The Servant is the only on this continent who knows to seal the fallen angel at large, as they have done so in the past. You sidestep this crucial utility.

For what?

Retribution? Revenge?

My highest aspirations are those of a world brighter, and more colorful, than you could ever conceive. Your highest aspirations thus far, and as you act, seem to prove no higher than driving your sword through the heart of anything your purview cannot fathom, so that you can feel like the hero you always pictured yourself becoming.

You cry and as you strike at us to desperately frame this as me selling out my own people, when it is anything but. As a child might. This is about you raging to exact your retribution against those who have personally wronged you, and sweeping anyone that stands in your way throughout the process. This is about your quest for revenge. Tantrums are unbecoming of grown men like yourself--especially when they implicate thousands.

I chose that their lives were sacrifices I was willing to make for my own goals? I don't remember making that choice. It certainly isn't I who is taking any lives to achieve their aspirations, nor do my aspirations aim to do anything more than save them. That would be you, Sabathiel. You made that choice. I asked for us to be left alone. We either bow to your demands and whims, or you visit ruination. Because you cannot brook a worldview that cannot conform to your black and white morality.

My nation's sovereignty and right to pursue its own path towards the betterment of the world is not, and should not ever be, contingent on appeasing petulant, coddled brats like yourself to sate his pathetic Mortylian bloodlust.

Your people do not want this. My people do not want this. I do not want this.

You paint yourselves as liberators, overestimating just how much this continent actually respects you. Least of all my own people, who know what they're fighting for. You can spew whatever filth you please about mind enslavement to an imperfect, necromancer, Talguth, or otherwise. Everyone has heard the same tale of me time and time again. We look at your accusations, and can do naught but roll our eyes. Malign me however it suits your agenda; the difference between you and Jokul is that no one cares for your see-through lies.

I work in a realm of dreams from which they are spun and made real. I have seen yours among an endless sea of repetition. They're boring.

You're boring.

Perhaps we can come to an agreement: We can exchange Arlyss if you're willing to give away your witch mother whom you love so much, and a vial of the tears you shed at your father's unsealing.

But I don't think you are.

[Lightborne]

Multiple letters sealed within Maple leaves appear from portals, dropping down to the people, and with it came an official declaration from Londo.
 

"You were advised against such a thing, yet you didn't listen. We offered you many chances to make things right, yet you went and done the opposite, we spoke to you countless times about the same thing, yet there was nothing done to correct it. Your actions put us all at risk, and you go against the very god you believe in, but the fault isn't all to be placed on you alone, we have also made a mistake ourselves, one that we'll correct.

We gave you too many chances. Deep down, we knew that our efforts would be futile, yet we still chose to give you more chances than you deserved.

 

Our words were just echoes in the wind to you, fleeting and inconsequential. A way for you to buy time so that you may continue to do as you please, but now, we're past that. Our actions will now speak in a language that you can truly understand.

 

And for the unfortunate, those seeking a place to find refuge, we will welcome you with open arms, as long as you don't cause trouble within our land. To the misguided and the blind, those following behind the person leading you down a false path, I implore all of you to open your eyes."

 
Londo has officially declared hostilities with Aphros.