Welcome to the Midnight Age!

Look around you, the signs are everywhere! Find yourself caught up in
the magic and mystery of the oppresive darkness closing in on the Light.
Watch as those of wicked origin boil and fester below the surface of the
shadows, as the guardians of Light stand at the ready to cut them down!

Look to the horizon, and see the glow... it is neither the rise nor set
of the sun, but the blinding reflection of holy fire upon the armor of
sacred knight-protectors. And behind you, the stench of bloodied knights
and undead wafts forth, stinging your nostrils and burning your eyes.
Turn in horror to see the rotting dead shuffle clumsily along the green
earth. Vomit as the repulsive beasts lose limbs and slap them back on
like broken bits of grotesque toy soldiers.

Hear the forest weep, for the beings of shadow wither the land. Mourn
with nature, for in order to keep its life from being consumed and used
by the wicked, the purveyors of Light must scorch the battlefield.
Prepare the way, the day of reckoning will come.

Walk into the countryside, and see the peasantry looking in hope upon
the horizon, praying for the victory of the beautiful angelfriends. See
others lusting over the army of wickedness, praying for their victory,
hoping to one day become minions themselves.

See the humble merchants getting rich off the desperation of war, the
sales of their wares skyrocketing as we, the people of Sapience, are
drawn inexorably toward the inevitable final battle between good and
evil.... final, that is, until time comes full circle, a new Age, and a
new Struggle....

Is that not what you see? No? Oh...

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Who are you? Who are your friends? Why do you exist here, in this life?
Why were you not born in another age, another time, another continent,
or another world? Why do the sages and scholars refer to the present day
as the Midnight Age? What good and evil deeds have been forgotten in the
Grand Artifice?

These are questions that burn in my mind every hour of every day. Do you
have the courage to step forth, and seek the answers? Do you have what
it takes to try to know yourself, every dream and hope you could ever
dare to explore, every dark and sinister desire? Or will you continue to
hide behind a facade of laziness, too afraid you will not become a Tekal
in record time, too scared of having beliefs and values because it might
make you a few enemies?

Be it Light or Darkness, Fame or Infamy.... want something -- anything!
-- desire it, need it, and try to -have- it. It can be yours.

Penned by my hand on the 9th of Midautumn, in the year 121 MA.