On The Declaration of Rule

For those wondering about the Kormyrian nobles on the other side of the Rift who have not signed, I have it on good authority that there are many loyal to the Count and ready to defend Loez should a move be made to take the county through military force.

- Dennis

Threat should be met with threat. The do-it-or-else doesn't really work for Travance. To think that we're supposed to read a piece of paper and suddenly submit to the demands of this duke who deems his blood more special than all the work we've done! All the blood we've spilled! All the losses we've suffered? Just kick the count to the curb and give it up and bend to imperial regime? Ha!
We've paid our dues time after time. We've done our sentences, but committed no crimes. As for mistakes... yeah, we've made a few. We've had our share of sand kicked in our faces, but we've come through. We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on fighting until the end. We are the champions. We. Are. The. Champions. So no time for losers, because WE are the champions of this world.

Good luck, Kormyrian army. You'll need it.

Well said, Dame Swift.

Kormyre existed long before Travance was founded, and Travance is only one of eight provinces in the Kingdom. So what of all the blood spilled and losses suffered by Kormyre and it’s people over countless years?

Vorllorne is tasked with keeping the Kingdom safe from the Wychwood and all the creatures that dwell within. Do you think that hasn’t come at a cost?
Glangsdale shares a border with Gaaldron. What do you think came with years of war with the greenskins?
Talenthal has to deal with raiding pirates from Coast Haven. How many Kormyrian dead do you think lie at the bottom of Anteries Sea?
What of the thousands that died during the Demon Wars? Men, women, and children. Do you think they just hid saying “Don’t worry. Travance will save us?” No! There were out there fighting, surviving, against a foe of untold number, with their kitchen knives, pitchforks, and mining picks. Yes, Travance ended the war, but did not fight in the only battles.

Do you think this Duke will come to Travance, leading his soldiers into battle, so he can be captured and/or killed and all this will be done? No! If war does break out over this Declaration, who do you think will be fighting it? Common soldiers from across the 8 Baronies. Men and women who fought against demons and marched through the Chaos Wastes, shields and swords drawn ready to die for one another will now have to die because of one another. Can you live with the deaths of thousands on your conscious when you had a chance to stop it?

Kormyre is in turmoil, on the brink of a civil war that will tear the Kingdom apart and all you can say is “What about Travance?” You should be ashamed of yourself.

- Dennis Brand of Glangsdale

Oh it would be you, wouldn't it?
You are barking up the wrong tree, Mr. Brand, to think that I would feel shame in bringing glory and tribute to God in Her own chosen domain. My shame would lie in if I didn't. Do not use that compassion line with me. War is not kind. War is cruel. It is vicious. It is pain and loss and suffering... and IT IS THE WAY OF THIS WORLD. It is the only way the beings who come to impose their force and ideas on us understand. They come for our blood and we shed theirs back, ten fold in kind. It is our way. It has always been our way. And through our suffering, we gather strength, resilience and power.

Should you want to bend the knee to imperial rule, feel free. See how long you keep your head for expressing the way you feel about someone with a title declared more important than your name and vastly more important than your opinions, then.

I, for one, will not stand to be subjugated by those weaker than us, those who do not know us, those who do not respect us. Nor will I allow those in my charge to be subjugated. If we are the champions chosen to stand against God-Knows-What every time something goes awry in the world, then I think we deserve credit and respect, as does the Count. And if we are not given that, then we demand it in the only way we know how. IA AGUARA!

From bloodshed, we suffer.
From suffering, we are scarred.
From our scars, we teach.
From our lessons, all are enlightened.
-Turok Varess, Bokal Nerak of the Scarred Wing

Dennis Brand of Glangsdale,

It is true what you say. Others in our Kingdom have shed their blood in the Demon Wars. We know for a fact that it was the Sanctus Luminarium, the stronghold of our High Pontiff, that held its own and provided a bastion of strength as it lay under siege by demons. We know for a fact that the aid of such Travancian Templars as Aldric and Brogan, along with his Red Lions, led the crusade to free the Pontiff from such siege and so free all of Glangsdale from the demon incursion. Women and men of all the Kingdom - even beyond our Kingdom - fought, sacrificed, and selflessly shed their blood for the protection of the innocent and the suffering. Such virtue must be extolled.

I am curious, though, Dennis of Glangsdale, what your Pontiff has to say about the legality of claims regarding these recent activities in the west of the Kingdom. Being of Glangsdale, you would have opportunity to know firsthand, no? You would also know that since the Demon Wars the Church of Light has been looked upon as the source of stability and government in Glangsdale, as there does not seem to be any ruling Baron of Glangsdale currently. I would hope that there would be no person of Glangsdale who, by defending their position, would curry favor from upstarts in order to be promised a Barony. So, Dennis Brand of Glangsdale, it would be proper presently to meet and discuss exactly what the Church of Light might determine is the just and legal means to end this potential conflict.

Sincerely,
written from Glangsdale,