What it is, we‘re fighting for? For law and order!
Not a century ago, Myrtana was overwhelmed by wars and conflicts. But Innos send us his chosen one, the sacred Rhobar, to unify the country.
Innos is the god of order. He has a plan for this world. He doesn’t want it to sink into chaos and violence like his dark brother wants it to do. We humans are his chosen people, we all have a place in his order and each and every one of us has a value in Innos’ eyes if one knows his place and doesn’t rebel against the divine order. All humans are not equal. Nonetheless, they all have a value, everyone in his place. Just think about Beliar’s henchmen, the orcs and the assassins, for them a life is without meaning unless the man is helpful to them. Innos has given everyone his task. Everyone has to serve the greater good, everyone is here to advance the cause of humanity and to enhance the prestige of the lord. Of course, not all humans can be equal, how should that work? Innos decided there should be men and women. The man shall work, the man shall protect the home and the kingdom. The woman shall bear the children, the woman shall nurse the home and the family. Unity and harmony can only exist where no one tries to take the place of the other but surrenders to his or her duties. Innos chooses a king, to rule humanity in his stead and to bring his divine order to the people. Innos chooses some persons to be born as peers, to rule the kingdom and guide humanity under the wise supervision of our king. We don’t wallow in our might, we don’t misuse it like the orcish warlords or the rich traders in the desert do, who only rule by violence and arbitrarily. We peers don’t get power by coincidence without being prepared for it, but we’re born to rule. Since I was a little boy my father raised me to use this responsibility as his father did with him. We rule by law and order. We make sure that Innos‘ order is preserved and all humans can live together peacefully because no one is acting against his inherent duties. Others are born through the wisdom of the lord not as peers but as peasants or craftsman. They shall not wail but work for the pleasure of the lord. And they shall know: They’re important, too. They’re important for the plan of the lord. We need the work of the peasants to survive. But as the body needs its arms it also needs its head. And the arms shall not wail and revolt against the head! Did we ever treat the people unfair? Of course, the work was hard lately, of course, the dues were high lately. But the orcs brought us this inconveniences as they brought us the war. Everyone has to do his part to protect the realm. Of course, the magical barrier was a harsh action. But was it ever unfair? Didn’t only criminals end up in the mining colony? Wasn’t everyone the master of his own fate? The war forced our king to difficult decisions in this case, too. The people shall not wail. They shall be grateful to have such a wise monarch as Rhobar II., who is ready to make such difficult and unpopular decisions and to bear the load of the Regency.
The humans tend to forget that the realm was growing before the war. The cities were rich, the temples were splendid, the craftsmanship and the maritime trade flowered. The people could live in peace. Weren’t the roads safe due to the royal soldiers? Today wild animals come from the forests and bandits lurk on the roads. What are the orcs doing to protect the realm outside of the occupied cities? Weren’t the cities free of crime as all of the corrupted and evil persons were brought to Khorinis by the royal guard and wise laws reigned? Today former criminals serve the orcs as mercenaries, enslave honourable men, get high using swamp weed, which had been banned by a wise government and I hear that no woman is safe on the streets if she isn’t willing to sacrifice her honour and serves one of the damnable so she doesn’t have to serve them all. Didn’t the honourable paladins cure us of the blood cult in our centre? Now that the orcs are in power the last remaining black mages who escaped the sword crawl out of their dark vaults and wander shamelessly under Innos’ sun in the open. Is this the world you want to live in?
And don’t let us forget the rest of the world! Today the other people blame us and thank the orcs that they were able to free themselves from our alleged yoke thanks to the orcs. What an ingratitude. Yes, we fought wars. And wars cost blood. Our blood and that of our enemies. But was there ever an unfair war like the attack of the orcs or the assault of Zuben years ago? We never fought a war to suppress anyone, but to free them and to bring them the holy order of Innos. The people quickly forget the good things you give them. Did we not take the slavery away from the people after the Varrant War? And didn’t we let the nomads roam freely through the desert after decades of suppression by the assassins? Or the southern islands: Didn’t we end the century-old disputes between the local lords? Didn’t we bring civilization tot he barbarians in the north? And especially didn’t we bring peace to the world? Humans are not good by nature. Their souls might be from Innos but their bodies are soiled by Beliar, driven by lust and desires. The humans don’t make peace on their own, as we’ve learned in centuries of violence. If you leave the humans to themselves you‘ll end up with a war everyone against everyone. Only the sword can bring peace. Only a strong sovereign who holds all the power in his hand and uses it wisely can bring peace to the world. Yes, we fought a war. The last war. The war to end all wars forever. And we almost reached our goal… Under the strong hand of Rhobar II, all of humankind was united for the first time in ages. All the countries at the Myrtanian Sea under one ruler. One realm, one king, one god – and one future!
Together we could have heralded a new age of peace, progress and wealth. If the orcs hadn’t attacked us… But it isn’t too late. This is only a test by Innos. The humans need to unite against their last common enemy. If we get beat we’ll perish. But if we win we’ll never need to raise the sword ever again.
This is what we are fighting for. For law and order! For the future of humankind.
– Duke Ullrick of and to Montera
Rebels? You are talking about the bandits. Yes, they’re bandits. What are they doing? They revolt against their lord. They hide in caves and woods and raid the people. Isn’t that what bandits do?
Yes, of course, they do big talks. Sure they say that they’re doing this for freedom, the old order and the simple people. But I’ll tell you some things about this bullshit:
Not the orcs are suffering from the rebels. Of course, sometimes an orc patrol gets killed. But it is widely known what the rebels do mostly: They plunder the farms and the merchants like common bandits. Of course, they justify this by saying that they’d need this resources for their righteous fight and that the farmers and merchants would cooperate with the orcs. But what should they do? Everyone has to take care of himself. Or should everyone throw away his life and run away into the woods? What for? Living under the orcs is not worse than living under the king. And even if it were, wouldn’t the rebels be guilty as well? Of course, it was terrible as the orcish torturer raged among the slaves until he’d found the rebels’ spies and their hideout. But aren’t the rebels guilty here as well? They say, they’re fighting for the slaves, but the slaves are the firsts to suffer. The rebels should simply surrender. Haven’t ten years of war been enough? We could have peace at last, if the rebels put down their weapons. The orcs aren’t cruel against their beaten foes, everyone knows that. They only kill their opponents in battle. To kill defenceless people would be against their honour. It is true, that they enslave those, who don’t surrender, but the life as an orcish slave isn’t so bad. For sure it’s not worse than the life of one of these poor bastards that were thrown into the barrier, just because they couldn’t pay their taxes or were caught using a little swamp weed. The orcs give food to their slaves and let them rest after hard work. They allow the slaves to watch the arena fights and I’ve heard that they even pay the slaves’ brothel visits in Montera. Can you imagine that? And the slaves also can fight for their freedom in the arenas and even become an orcish mercenary.
And I’ll tell you something: I don’t want the old order back. I like the new order built by the orcs. We humans are freer than ever before in Myrtana. No one is locked away for praying to the wrong god, reading the wrong books or trading some swamp weed. But it isn’t true that the orcs don’t pursue any crimes, they’re acting very strictly against real criminals. They made an example of all the mercenaries trying to rape us women. I’m feeling safer in the city as the orcs are being hard but fair. Of course, the orcs expect some fees. But what difference does it make for us simple persons if we’re paying the fees to the temple, the crown or the orcs? Someone is always at the top and someone is always at the bottom, that’s how the world is. The arrogant paladins and mage rebels just don’t like the fact that they’re not in charge anymore but have to live in the dirt. I can imagine this noble basterds that grew richer and fatter at the expense of the farmers fulminating against the orcs as they had to change scavenger joints and altar wine for old bread and plain water. I tell you: Someone is always at the top and someone is always at the bottom, that will never change. But I’ll tell you what has changed: Today you can take your destiny into your own hands. Just look at me. After the death of my father, I run the smithy. And the master craftsmen of the guilds are raging and romping because of their traditions. In the past, I would have married someone and he would’ve run my smithy. The guild would’ve enforced their rules with the help of the city guard and the temple. But the orcs don’t care about the old guild rules. They just asked if I was able to forge. Or just have a look at the mercenaries. Why are they all following the orcs? Most of them would have been cast into the barrier for some small violation or they would’ve worked themselves to death as farmhands on some farm. Today they’re able to make something out of themselves. And look at their women and how they are wandering around. They’re wearing gold necklaces and earrings. And most of them used to be only maidservants. They would have never dreamed about running around like the wives of citizens or even noble damsels.
And I’ll tell you one more thing: The orcs might be a people of warriors, but as stupid as it sounds, I think they’re satisfied with Myrtana. They won’t try to conquer the desert or far away lands. And this is good. How long did Myrtana suffer from all these wars? How many sons were robbed from their families by the king to rule the whole world? And what for? What did we ever have to do with these foreign realms? Other nations are quite happy when they’re able to take care of their own businesses. No one ever asked us to invade those countries. Is it really necessary that there is always a war? If you ask the rebels the answer is yes. You don’t really believe that they’re happy if they fight the orcs back out of Myrtana, do you? The next step will be kicking the assassins out of Varant. And then they’ll try to reconquer the northern colonies and the southern islands. And then? In the end, they’ll follow the orcs to their homeland to defeat them there for good. These fanatic paladins won’t stop until everything is ruined or the whole world belongs to them.
Rebels? Nothing more than bandits.
– Isabella, blacksmith in Geldern
