Hail the coming Dawn, citizens of Ashtan.



As this post is penned, your city remains yet in the midst of tumultuous changes and considerable upheaval. The minds that had always borne the brunt of your mental heavy lifting have disappeared, leaving space for the youth of your city to take their place. While I have admittedly not kept as close an eye on your city's progress as some of my compatriots, I trust that a great number of you will prove to be as vehement and as challenging in your dedication to Chaos as those who laid the foundations for what it is your city is now dedicated to; the likes of Amunet, of Orklanishkal, of Servelan.

This growth is required, if you are to succeed in your aims of being the city that serves the Chaos Lords. But true growth - even for those who serve a foolishly dangerous force such as Chaos - cannot be achieved without a foundational understanding of reality.

One small aspect of this reality has been misrepresented by some of your scholars, and it is this small aspect I would like to try and correct in the interest of promoting the growth that the Lightbringer - and Good itself - relentlessly push us towards.

It is stated in your city - and if memory serves, was oft repeated in the years I was a member of the Occultists - that the aim of Good, and by extension of Targossas, is to somehow 'freeze time' or some other such nonsense that somehow always ends with us having hypothetically 'paused' Creation, forever ensuring stagnancy.

Stagnancy. Total absence of growth in our world, with Creation living in eternal stillness. In each accusation I hear uttered of Good's aims from your people, this is always the theme. That Good demands stagnancy in an effort to fight Chaos.

This is simply incorrect.

Good's aims are twofold: ensure that Creation grows, and ensure that Creation remains pure, or devoid of corruptive forces. From these aims are born the incentive and reasoning for all aspects of Targossian life, as well as our aims for what the utopian world would look like.

The visions your kind project are false; Good lashes out against Chaos through the Righteous Fire because Chaos is an inherently destructive force that threatens Creation's purity and existence. Good is opposed to stagnancy, as well, because it is the very antithesis of growth. This world was not made to be a stillform piece of art! It is meant to move, to grow, and each of us as mortals are meant for the same.

Good's purpose is twofold; stagnancy in a pure world is an unacceptable and downright heretical aim when viewed through the lens of Their teachings, just as is a world rife with growth but doomed by impurity. No, for Creation to fulfill its purpose and Good's aims to be realized, there must both be the purification of Chaos from our world as well as growth on the part of the many planes and worlds of existence.

One aspect of this that seems to be a sticking point on the issue is, I think, a simple miscommunication. The argument is made by servants of Good, on occasion, that our goal is to see the world returned to the state it was in prior to the first arrival of Chaos into Creation. In response to this, they are generally met again with the accusation that they desire stagnancy - often because the root of the Ashtani understanding is that Chaos breathed lived into a mechanical world devoid of will.

But let's think about this, for a moment - what did the world look like, just prior to the first interaction between the two realms?

The world was not still, certainly - myriad flora and fauna existed and flourished, by all accounts, as Nature's cycles had already been long since set in motion. Sentient life, too, existed and was making way through the various planes, whether it be the Aldar, the Arcanians, the Horkval, or the Tsol'aa. While the entry of Chaos effectively marks the 'birth' of the humanoid races in terms of culture and ethnicity, it seems wiser to reject this human-centric view of history. Yes, the world was certainly different, but Creation in its purest state was -vibrant-, not motionless. Growing, not stagnant. Evolving, not waiting for Chaos to give it life it already possessed.

Now, why is it worthwhile to give a shit about such minor historical details?

Because knowledge - especially knowledge that affects the lens through which we understand the world around us - absolutely needs to be rooted in truth, or the expression of absolute reality. Without this, there can be no growth - and though we may remain bitter enemies, I would be remiss as an Aarashi if I did not yet seek to push you onwards towards the fulfilling of your own potential as mortals. After all, I have seen firsthand the strength that comes from the pursuit of truth, growth, purity and sacrifice. Have you yet seen the benefit of serving the Chaos Lords?


In service to the Bloodsworn Divine,

Aodfionn Wintermourne
Herald of Redemption

Penned by my hand on the 10th of Phaestian, in the year 703 AF.