Greetings Sapience,

I doubt this will add anything meaningful to the current discussion, but
you can either read it or ignore it. It matters to me not.

One thing, I'd like to comment on, is the statement "The forests were
here long before us, and will be here long after us." This statement
isn't entirely correct. I'd like to point out the help scroll 16.4.1 in
which it states that our ancestors, though not as sentient as you or I,
roamed the lands unclothed and purposeless hiding from the ravages of
the sun, wind and rain. It was then that Lady Lleis proposed to Her
siblings that They hold a contest to build us a place to live. You will
find, by reading this scroll that Lord Haern created the wilderness for
us to take refuge in.

It's a moot point, but it angers me when people speak of things they
don't entirely grasp. Much like the statement some have been throwing
around that we forestals only harvest for gold. This, again, isn't
correct. Don't get me wrong, there are those who come into our folds
just to harvest, and I despise them and won't hesitate to spit in their
face, should I find this out. (And I have outguilded a number of people
who came to the Sentinels seeking only the ability to harvest.) The
majority of us choose this path because we feel a kinship with the
wilderness and all that inhabits it.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I can get to the 'meat and
taters' of my post. Those of you who may know me, easily knows that I
don't harbor any good will towards Duiran. However, I stand up and
applaud them in their efforts. I know all too well that initiating, and
enforcing, and herb ban is not an easy task. There are many ways one can
get around an herb ban. There are rogues who will jump on the chance to
make a few extra gold off of the suffering of the wilderness, there are
even those who claim to help the forest that will sell during an herb
ban. But none the less, I applaud them for trying.

There also seems to be the thought going around that if there's massive
fires, we have failed to protect the wilderness. This too..is a wrong
statement. It's entirely impossible for us to make sure no fires or
exterminations happen in the wilderness. Much like it's entirely
impossible for cities to keep people out or the Indorani to keep people
out of the Chaos Plane. In order for these organizations to do this,
would mean to keep someone posted in every single room of every single
city, wilderness area, Chaos Plane, what have you (Though it would be
more feasible to keep people out of the cities than the wilderness due
to the vast expanses of the wilderness).
I'd also like to ask where this concern for the wilderness is comming
from, from those who don't live within the wilderness? Since when did
you guys start to care what happens to the wilderness...oh..I know when
it happened..when the herb ban was implemented. I can remember helping
to fight off the likes of Spirokai, Sigfried, Strung and everyone else
who's tried to harm the wilderness or take it over to build a city.
Where was everyone's concern then? Oh..that's right..we didn't hold an
herb ban..so nobody really cared. I'm very proud to see that nobody has
any concern for the wilderness when it doesn't affect them directly, so
please drop the charade that you really care and leave Wedric, and
Duiran to their own devices.

Penned by my hand on the 13th of Slyphian, in the year 165 MA.