I would thank you for the lesson, but I regret to inform you the one I learned is not the one you sought to teach.

It was well known before this Holy War was even declared that Her followers vastly outnumber the Heart's. The outcome was easily predictable before Her Ghost ever set ink to paper to compose the initial declaration. Did you think the two members of Their Order who were waking when the war began were unaware of this? That two Syssin were incapable of solving the equation that was set before us?

This Holy War was never about how thoroughly Her followers could trounce us. The fact that you make a public posting claiming such, acting as though it is some sign of Might that a dozen or so were able to triumph over two of Their Faithful smacks more of the empty bravado of an adolescent bully who has triumphed over a child still in leading strings than anything that would honor Her.

No, this Holy War was about whether we could endure. It is not exactly easy choosing Morale when surrounded by Corruption's Get, a fact I'm sure your dearest partner could explain to you if you can spare a moment from your masturbatory self-aggrandizement to inquire. As Pietre has said: shrines can be rebuilt, monuments can be raised anew. You cannot kill us in a way that matters. You sought to fill us with a Fear so potent that it would crush the light that Divine Euthymius nurtures in the heart of every Sapient. You failed.

The lesson I learned from this is that it will take more than such a complete loss to snuff our devotion to Them. You made a valiant showing in your attempt to - as you put it - coil Despair around our spirits. All that we found was this: even amidst deepest Despair, Morale remains.

You claim Corruption is already within us. This, I will not deny. In recent months I have been forced to confront Her, both within the depths of my heart and in person. Yet this truth remains: just as She was there, so too was the Heart of Sapience, as They exist within you, like all Virtues do. You have chosen to indulge Her Despair and your base desires, but even now, in the depths of Her favor, you need only choose differently and the path back will be open to you.

And now I turn my words not to the Emanator, but to the rest of Sapience; I speak now to all of you who find yourself on the precipice, unsure, afraid, feeling as though you are a leaf ripped free of the branch too soon by a storm not of your own making.

This world can be a terrible place. As this Holy War has demonstrated, there are those who will attempt to crush you. There are those who will attempt to make you feel like less so that they can feel like more. I promise you, as Morale's Librettist, you need not face them alone. The Heart is always there, waiting for you to seize your courage in both hands.

Building a better world - whatever you think that looks like - cannot be done all at once, and it cannot be done alone. Through Morale, we uplift our communities. We hold fast against Despair. We do the sacred work of building a better world, brick-by-brick if we must. No matter where you call home, what horrors you are or have been subjected to, Divine Euthymius is with you, always, and Their Hopeful and Faithful are eager to know you better.

May Morale's blessings be with you all,

Csethiro
Morale's Librettist


Penned by my hand on Falsday, the 13th of Ios, in the year 18 AC.