To begin, I will point out that I have dear friends in the city of
Enorian, even friends in the city's hierarchy, and I have utmost respect
for the genuine ideals of Light as well as for those who sincerely
uphold them. But when a grievous error is made, this error needs to be
brought to light and dealt with, quickly and honorably.

To my horror and sadness, I have just learned that, at the command of
the Enorian council, the Goddess Niuri's sacred Shrine in that city has
been defiled and destroyed. The city of Light, the city patroned by the
God of Honor, has done this shameful thing. How did this happen?

Apparently the Council -wrongly- blamed the Goddess Niuri for the attack
on Yggdrasil. In fact, She never instigated or endorsed this attack in
any way. Then the Council demanded that the Sentaari guild either reject
Her as their Patroness, or remove their guildhall from the city. The
Council then sent a letter to Lady Niuri, demanding that her Shrine be
removed from the city.

Those actions were in themselves based in ignorance, and seem to have
been impelled more by passion than by reason, but what followed was
worse. Without waiting for either the Goddess Niuri or a member of Her
Order to repond, the council (or its henchmen) destroyed the Shrine.

This is inexcusable. There were so many other and better options, yet
the most provoking and dishonorable one was chosen as the course of
action. Why? You could have waited. You could, if you had feared that
the Shrine of Mystery was somehow an undesirable influence, have simply
locked the room pending a response from the Goddess or Her
representatives.

Instead, you chose one of the most despicable of all mortal actions:
defiling and destroying a sacred Shrine. You have not harmed Mystery
Herself, for you cannot touch Her. But those of you who participated in
this action have dealt a great blow to the honor of the city of Enorian.

While this was a grievous insult, not only to the Goddess Niuri but to
the Divine in general, there may still be time for reconciliation to
take place. The time for soul-searching and self-honesty is here.
Regardless of your personal beliefs, if you value the Sacred in yourself
and in Sapience, demonstrate it now in your posts, letters, messages and
personal actions.

It would be wise, and it would be honorable, for the city's leaders and
citizens to approach the Goddess Niuri both individually and
collectively with apologies and offers of restitution. The issue here is
-not- whether the city will house a Shrine to Niuri, the issue is
whether the city will behave decently, honorably, and -- dare I say it
-- in an "enlightened" manner regarding this issue.

Surely the city which calls itself the abode of Light does not wish to
be known as a bunch of crass thugs, who lack the wisdom and diplomatic
ability to deal with issues fairly and rationally. Surely this was an
aberration. Surely this was a regrettable lapse of judgement, from which
the city of Enorian, its leaders and its citizens are eager to recover
and make amends.

I enjoin every one of you to look past the surface to what is at stake
here: our reverence for the Divine in Sapience and within ourselves. If
we have even the faintest desire to grow, to evolve, to learn, we cannot
countenance this kind of action -- ever. And most particularly we can
never endorse it in the name of anything resembling Light or goodness.

Let every person of good conscience repudiate this error, and seek the
healing and forgiveness which only the Divine can give.

And may the Divine be patient with us all.

Penned by my hand on the 5th of Haernos, in the year 145 MA.