Greetings all,

I do not often post these days, in fact these days I do not do much at
all, except perhaps get put in a mistform over this war, I have been in
semi-retirement hoping to foster my finances and look after my family,
in relative peace and quiet (so much for that) but two things have
annoyed me enough to start meddling once again in public affairs.

Will everyone who is not involved in this war kindly stop giving us
their "two cents worth" on it, telling us what we should and should not
be doing, what is wrong and what is right, because until you are willing
to die fighting for that which you believe in, those who are, be they RL
or Bloodloch, will care nothing for your opinions, and those who look on
will wonder to whom you are posting, when no one involved is listening.

Secondly, I keep on hearing, through a number of channels, that Lady
Slyphe did not try to help Ashtan Change, and that Her motives for its
destruction are other than those stated. Constantly hearing variations
of this are beginning to annoy me, since it is almost blasphemy, so
allow me to tell you a true story, one of Lady Slyphe and Change, that
even those in Bloodloch may not have heard before, or do not remember.

Years ago when Lord Severn first left our lands, without reason or
response, it perhaps hit Bloodloch, second to His Order the hardest. We
had lost without explanation or trace the only patron we had ever had.
He had been gone a long, long time and perhaps out of nostalgia, perhaps
out of hope of His return we kept Him on as our patron, and slowly
without Divine aide, the foul stench of stagnation filled our caverns,
and the city gradually began to fall apart.

I who have been a member of the Order of the Lady Slyphe, through both
my life and death, tried to do as my priestly duties dictated, to help
the city to change, but in those unpleasant times I could not, as there
are some things cities simply can not do, without intervention from the
Divinities, and it seemed as though the city ceased to care about
itself, as slowly it languished in a pit of its own worsening stagnancy,
my city was headed towards that which Ashtan has since become. Then the
Lady of Change stepped forward, She came Herself to the city, and to the
city leaders. She had come, when all else had been tried and failed, to
help the ancestral city of the vampires. The vile demons anathema to
creation, and unnatural in the eyes of life. Despite this She came to
help the Vampire in all its vile foulness, because the stagnation of our
principle city offended Her more than our existence, and threatened the
flow of Her realm. She became a temporary patron to our city, although
those in the world that did not understand Her realm, scratched their
heads, and furrowed their brows.

But let me tell you, it would have been easier to wipe Bloodloch from
the face of sapience then, than it is to destroy Ashtan now. The reason
She did not was because Bloodloch still had a chance to change, and
grabbed gladly and willingly with both hands when that chance came
along. Her first act among many was to increase revenue through
commerce, so that we could work to change ourselves in time. Her shrine
stands proudly, and has done for several decades now, in our marketplace
as a monument to Her aide and brief time as our Patron.

When you know all the facts, then you are capable of an informed and
decent judgement. Do not befoul the Name of my Goddess with false claims
and stupidity.

Eshu Chen

Penned by my hand on the 25th of Slyphian, in the year 123 MA.