Post by Zula on Nov 24, 2014 22:40:01 GMT
The following is an in Character narration by my Character in an ongoing RPG Pathfinder campaign. It was inspired by Timeon own's in character manifesto, belonging to the same setting and campaign.
By all accounts I am nothing but a peasant; I am not even an educated person. I do not know how many things work in the world, but my life and the recent months of my life taught me a lot.
My name is Richard Cipher from Redwind Island. I am a sorcerer for reasons beyond my understanding. And I have recently learned I descend from the liberator of my nation, murdered by a betrayal orchestrated by an evil outsider. But this is not the time to talk about that. Cause one day I will find this evil outsider, behind everything, and bring to him the fire he has so been dangerously playing with.
I am here because I realized world needs change, the world is sick place. Many of you probably know my story, and the story of the Rising Fire and how they were executed by Gazi Hasir in Purrsia. By now, most of the world is probably realizing that was not the true end, and that in truth we survived, faking out deaths to escape gnomish justice only to help a gnomish noble to seize the throne of Gnomeland.
The very nature of this quest, drove me to a great dilemma. Was it just to put a king on the throne to gain an ally? Was he deem to do this? I do not know enough, reading books in the free time while cleaning does not help.
But the experience of my early life, and the rising fire rebellion taught me much.
We were set to change Talland, and bring great justice to it, to free the slaves and the country from gnomish joke. We were set to write a new constitution, to build a new nation, the people’s republic of Talland. Many of my companions would say that we succeed, I digress.
I think we failed. I think Talland only cleaned its face, we set the slaves free but we gave them no means to survive to be independent. We left the great slave owners keep their fortunes and their properties. Most slaves now work for their former masters, in their former lands.
Everyone can vote now, but how can a man who cannot guarantee his own subsistence be a free man? How can Talland be free when Gnomish lawyers are free to pressure their government? During the rebellion we could had changed it all, and we changed only the surface.
So I think Talland needs a change, I think Talland can and should be a paragon of liberty and progress and I know how.
Many can wonder what a former slave knows about this. I tell you I know cause I saw it, real power, and political power. I saw it unfold over my eyes, and I saw it pose to me terrible uncomfortable questions.
Which is the most powerful country in the world? Is it the Empire of Atar with its vast territory and legions? No its not. Is it one of the Kingdoms of the Horn? Or the Elven realm? No, none of them belongs. It’s not Minareum either, nor Xhas’Wlef.
If you had asked me this a few months ago I would had easily answered this question by saying Gnomeland. And even if I said it today, I would not be wrong. Gnomeland is by all means the greatest nation in the known world. Their territory is vast and varied; they have a professional army, not needing to hire mercenaries to do their bidding. They have law, and lawyers, making the rule of law the only one. They have a great armada that defends their territory and their interests, and most importantly they have money. A ton of it, and if it wasn’t enough they keep other people’s money in their banks. They have everything that Talland lacks and needs however in the last weeks, and at this very moment I am seeing Gnomeland crumble into pieces. And I have seen the truth behind Gnomeland ‘democracy’. As if the economy was the land, it was held by a few great corporations that acted like gigantic aristocratic landowners. It was ruled by the shadow by them, and led by a dirty Lich. And it was this what made Gnomeland crumble, not a slave revolt, but a dispute of the will of the powerful, that evil outsiders took advantage off. Right now, the future of Gnomeland is uncertain, and if I am sincere I don’t really care about wherever it ends up being a united country or not. It is not my responsibility. Talland needs everything that Gnomeland currently is, and I think we can achieve it. But how do we prevent the destiny of Gnomeland you may ask? Well the answer lays on another potential answer to which is the greatest nation in the world.
Because the greatest nation in the world may not be Gnomeland, much to my own contempt. Yes, me, Richard Cipher, a man known for its hate for what Gnomeland represents, its sorry to even consider answering that the greatest country of the world is not Gnomeland. Cause this other answer, can be much more dangerous.
If there is something I value and consider most important is freedom, men and women of any sentiment race are equal, (yes even gnomes). They are born free, and that freedom is not something that you may take. You may lie and make them think they are things, objects tools, but people are free. That is why if there is one thing ailing this world more than anything, is slavery. Binding people by chains, in their minds and hearts, even if they are well treated they are still things. That stops progress, it doesn’t help nor make things grow nor better. And is this why the answer is so terrible, because the greatest country is not only a country that has slaves. But a country were sentiment races by themselves are slaves to evil outsiders.
As you may have already guessed the other answer to ‘Which is greatest nation in the world?’ can be none other country that Purrsia.
Why? You may think. It has no real important trade, it does not have much natural riches, and despite it has a vast territory. Their neighbors on all sides are hostile to it, elves to the north, undead elves to the south and terrible centaur Khans to the west. And the answer to this question is even worse than the answer to the first one, and it leads to another and final question. Purrsia has stability and order, people live in misery and slavery, but they live. The country is safe from any threat, and is even a position where it can stretch their influence. During the Rising Fire rebellion, we received an offer to become a part of Purrsia. In Gnomeland we contacted Purrsia spies, and we know that the government of Purrsia has agents elsewhere. And why this poor country finds itself in this position?
The answer to this is: Gazi Hasir. This thing, that I cannot call other thing but a Man is the source of that stability of that order. And is my personal, and I must say contradictory opinions of him that hold the clue. And by this I mean how at the same time I consider him a dirty enslaver, but the source of Purrsia wellbeing and order. I have seen him execute a man and feed him to a companion of mine, but at the same time I have seen him recognize the sense of duty of one of his men. I have seen good, even if slight in evil, and I have seen the evil in good. I am an example of this, since my hands are bathed in the blood of innocents too. Blood that haunts me, and I will say sincerely tortures me in my silence. But regardless of this philosophical thing, that is way off my limits. What Gazi Hasir is to Purrsia is not only a King, a enslaver and a leader. What he embodies is a vision, a project; he is a will controlling his subjects outsiders or mortal alike. Making the different parts of the nation work towards a clear and delimitate objective. He embodies what Talland really needs if they want to turn into Gnomeland. If they want to turn into the greatest nation of the world. Talland needs a project a vision, an objective and the will to achieve it. My detractors will now shout in happiness, saying I am a foreign agent, either to gnomes or Hasir, they will say that I want to enslave Talland. They will say it’s impossible, but I to them I say ‘Fools’.
Purrsia is stable, but marginal, and Gnomeland is mighty but at the same time frail. The progress of both can seem to be contradictory, and this is because it is. But it is contradictory as long the one thing Talland needs the most, the one thing that Talland now partially knows: Freedom. It is the true freedom of the people that coupled with a strong, definite project will turn Talland into a great nation, if not the greatest in the world.
And how can we achieve this? Is what you will be asking yourselves
It’s a hard question to answer, mostly cause most of my ideas on how to get there were meant to be applied during the rebellion. That now, as we all know, has ended. My companions, except for the legendary Tomtom youfool were not keen on doing it. Buts true that we lacked the means to do most of my ideas. However, at that time we had the most important tool of all: An army. We had the means to enforce, and we had the support, but my companions preferred a fake stability to pursuing the agenda of a crazy farmer with fire powers.
That’s why here I won’t talk about you about the Kobold General Bureau, since the man choosen to lead it is now enjoying his chaotic afterlife. And I can’t talk about everything that I would do, since first of all I will have to submit myself to the Justice of Gnomeland, to answer for the crimes I truly committed. But I can explicitly state what we could do in five years, if we set ourselves the objective of refunding Talland.
-End post slavery poverty and establish a class of farmers, as the basis of our democracy.
-Establish ourselves as a prime trading power by: 1, founding a state company, and state controlled bank of Talland. 2, establishing a state company to further the production of Tallish manufactures, and a national Talland bank to finance existing companies.
-Establish a naval fleet, capable of defending our Nation from all those opposed to us.
-Become a beacon of Liberty in the fight against slavery, attracting population and rescued slaves to Talland, making our nation even greater.
-Establish true and equal chances for all races and religions within Talland
This are a few of the things that pop in my mind, and I think we could achieve, if we only had the chance.
By all accounts I am nothing but a peasant; I am not even an educated person. I do not know how many things work in the world, but my life and the recent months of my life taught me a lot.
My name is Richard Cipher from Redwind Island. I am a sorcerer for reasons beyond my understanding. And I have recently learned I descend from the liberator of my nation, murdered by a betrayal orchestrated by an evil outsider. But this is not the time to talk about that. Cause one day I will find this evil outsider, behind everything, and bring to him the fire he has so been dangerously playing with.
I am here because I realized world needs change, the world is sick place. Many of you probably know my story, and the story of the Rising Fire and how they were executed by Gazi Hasir in Purrsia. By now, most of the world is probably realizing that was not the true end, and that in truth we survived, faking out deaths to escape gnomish justice only to help a gnomish noble to seize the throne of Gnomeland.
The very nature of this quest, drove me to a great dilemma. Was it just to put a king on the throne to gain an ally? Was he deem to do this? I do not know enough, reading books in the free time while cleaning does not help.
But the experience of my early life, and the rising fire rebellion taught me much.
We were set to change Talland, and bring great justice to it, to free the slaves and the country from gnomish joke. We were set to write a new constitution, to build a new nation, the people’s republic of Talland. Many of my companions would say that we succeed, I digress.
I think we failed. I think Talland only cleaned its face, we set the slaves free but we gave them no means to survive to be independent. We left the great slave owners keep their fortunes and their properties. Most slaves now work for their former masters, in their former lands.
Everyone can vote now, but how can a man who cannot guarantee his own subsistence be a free man? How can Talland be free when Gnomish lawyers are free to pressure their government? During the rebellion we could had changed it all, and we changed only the surface.
So I think Talland needs a change, I think Talland can and should be a paragon of liberty and progress and I know how.
Many can wonder what a former slave knows about this. I tell you I know cause I saw it, real power, and political power. I saw it unfold over my eyes, and I saw it pose to me terrible uncomfortable questions.
Which is the most powerful country in the world? Is it the Empire of Atar with its vast territory and legions? No its not. Is it one of the Kingdoms of the Horn? Or the Elven realm? No, none of them belongs. It’s not Minareum either, nor Xhas’Wlef.
If you had asked me this a few months ago I would had easily answered this question by saying Gnomeland. And even if I said it today, I would not be wrong. Gnomeland is by all means the greatest nation in the known world. Their territory is vast and varied; they have a professional army, not needing to hire mercenaries to do their bidding. They have law, and lawyers, making the rule of law the only one. They have a great armada that defends their territory and their interests, and most importantly they have money. A ton of it, and if it wasn’t enough they keep other people’s money in their banks. They have everything that Talland lacks and needs however in the last weeks, and at this very moment I am seeing Gnomeland crumble into pieces. And I have seen the truth behind Gnomeland ‘democracy’. As if the economy was the land, it was held by a few great corporations that acted like gigantic aristocratic landowners. It was ruled by the shadow by them, and led by a dirty Lich. And it was this what made Gnomeland crumble, not a slave revolt, but a dispute of the will of the powerful, that evil outsiders took advantage off. Right now, the future of Gnomeland is uncertain, and if I am sincere I don’t really care about wherever it ends up being a united country or not. It is not my responsibility. Talland needs everything that Gnomeland currently is, and I think we can achieve it. But how do we prevent the destiny of Gnomeland you may ask? Well the answer lays on another potential answer to which is the greatest nation in the world.
Because the greatest nation in the world may not be Gnomeland, much to my own contempt. Yes, me, Richard Cipher, a man known for its hate for what Gnomeland represents, its sorry to even consider answering that the greatest country of the world is not Gnomeland. Cause this other answer, can be much more dangerous.
If there is something I value and consider most important is freedom, men and women of any sentiment race are equal, (yes even gnomes). They are born free, and that freedom is not something that you may take. You may lie and make them think they are things, objects tools, but people are free. That is why if there is one thing ailing this world more than anything, is slavery. Binding people by chains, in their minds and hearts, even if they are well treated they are still things. That stops progress, it doesn’t help nor make things grow nor better. And is this why the answer is so terrible, because the greatest country is not only a country that has slaves. But a country were sentiment races by themselves are slaves to evil outsiders.
As you may have already guessed the other answer to ‘Which is greatest nation in the world?’ can be none other country that Purrsia.
Why? You may think. It has no real important trade, it does not have much natural riches, and despite it has a vast territory. Their neighbors on all sides are hostile to it, elves to the north, undead elves to the south and terrible centaur Khans to the west. And the answer to this question is even worse than the answer to the first one, and it leads to another and final question. Purrsia has stability and order, people live in misery and slavery, but they live. The country is safe from any threat, and is even a position where it can stretch their influence. During the Rising Fire rebellion, we received an offer to become a part of Purrsia. In Gnomeland we contacted Purrsia spies, and we know that the government of Purrsia has agents elsewhere. And why this poor country finds itself in this position?
The answer to this is: Gazi Hasir. This thing, that I cannot call other thing but a Man is the source of that stability of that order. And is my personal, and I must say contradictory opinions of him that hold the clue. And by this I mean how at the same time I consider him a dirty enslaver, but the source of Purrsia wellbeing and order. I have seen him execute a man and feed him to a companion of mine, but at the same time I have seen him recognize the sense of duty of one of his men. I have seen good, even if slight in evil, and I have seen the evil in good. I am an example of this, since my hands are bathed in the blood of innocents too. Blood that haunts me, and I will say sincerely tortures me in my silence. But regardless of this philosophical thing, that is way off my limits. What Gazi Hasir is to Purrsia is not only a King, a enslaver and a leader. What he embodies is a vision, a project; he is a will controlling his subjects outsiders or mortal alike. Making the different parts of the nation work towards a clear and delimitate objective. He embodies what Talland really needs if they want to turn into Gnomeland. If they want to turn into the greatest nation of the world. Talland needs a project a vision, an objective and the will to achieve it. My detractors will now shout in happiness, saying I am a foreign agent, either to gnomes or Hasir, they will say that I want to enslave Talland. They will say it’s impossible, but I to them I say ‘Fools’.
Purrsia is stable, but marginal, and Gnomeland is mighty but at the same time frail. The progress of both can seem to be contradictory, and this is because it is. But it is contradictory as long the one thing Talland needs the most, the one thing that Talland now partially knows: Freedom. It is the true freedom of the people that coupled with a strong, definite project will turn Talland into a great nation, if not the greatest in the world.
And how can we achieve this? Is what you will be asking yourselves
It’s a hard question to answer, mostly cause most of my ideas on how to get there were meant to be applied during the rebellion. That now, as we all know, has ended. My companions, except for the legendary Tomtom youfool were not keen on doing it. Buts true that we lacked the means to do most of my ideas. However, at that time we had the most important tool of all: An army. We had the means to enforce, and we had the support, but my companions preferred a fake stability to pursuing the agenda of a crazy farmer with fire powers.
That’s why here I won’t talk about you about the Kobold General Bureau, since the man choosen to lead it is now enjoying his chaotic afterlife. And I can’t talk about everything that I would do, since first of all I will have to submit myself to the Justice of Gnomeland, to answer for the crimes I truly committed. But I can explicitly state what we could do in five years, if we set ourselves the objective of refunding Talland.
-End post slavery poverty and establish a class of farmers, as the basis of our democracy.
-Establish ourselves as a prime trading power by: 1, founding a state company, and state controlled bank of Talland. 2, establishing a state company to further the production of Tallish manufactures, and a national Talland bank to finance existing companies.
-Establish a naval fleet, capable of defending our Nation from all those opposed to us.
-Become a beacon of Liberty in the fight against slavery, attracting population and rescued slaves to Talland, making our nation even greater.
-Establish true and equal chances for all races and religions within Talland
This are a few of the things that pop in my mind, and I think we could achieve, if we only had the chance.