posted thing

CELEST NEWS #4733
Date: 8/27/2021 at 21:41
From: Ablutant Cheliyi, Lotus upon Cresting Waters
To  : Everyone
Subj: On Current Applications and Debate

Dear Fellow Citizens of Celest,

There have been lots of arguments these past weaves over applications to Celest, namely Sutekh and Ilisa. There have been even greater debates over our Covenants as a whole, the laws we swore to when we came to our great City.

I will be doing my best to address all three, but solely through my experience with one of the applicants.

I speak on this matter as family. Sutekh, once of n'Lochi, is my Uncle. I have spent decades trying to bring some sort of warmth into his life, spoken dearly to him as a stranger, a friend, and a niece. Even before I was of the Light, and instead Wyrden, he reached out to me as a person in need.

He reaches out to us now, but I am asking you, from the deepest of my heart: do not trust this invoking of guilt and compassion.

My Uncle is not a good person. He does not join Celest in good faith, rather, he comes to us as a bitter last resort. There were many hours in my days before my conversion where he would rail and rag against New Celest, imploring me to not join the ranks of a city "blinded by its own folly." He would tell me stories of Old Celest's history, finding every little way to demean the Empire of the past, in order to bring doubt to the Light of today.

One might say, "Ah, but people can change, people can grow! Surely, this viscanti can find the Light and our culture." To this, I negates. My Uncle has not changed in the  30 years I have known him, nor will he today. This may seem a cruel thought. But it is simply the weary knowledge of decades of lies.

Many of the times I thought my Uncle would change for the better, or that we had made a breakthrough, my efforts were for nothing. I spent years convincing him women were not his enemy, and he told me he understood, he told me he agreed. At the time, I was relieved, only to find him a month later ranting and raving about the "breeding females" who were out to get him and swearing vengeance against the Hives. Or if that is not enough of an example, consider the time after I once again assumed he had finally listened, only for a moment of anger to consume him so much that he would cruely slaughter all innocent mugwumps just to take revenge on a single person. For in a paraphrase of his words, "If I can't hurt her personally, I will kill her where it hurts most through her loved ones."

It was not simply a recession into old ways. It was a repeated effort to give the appearance of growth, so that I might stay by him more, lavish him with more attention. He does not "change", not without incentive. This attempt to "give Celest the chance to prove itself" is nothing more than that, an appearance of change so that he can get what he wants. The moment Celest and the Light will not serve his needs, he will abandon us just as he abandoned his previous loyalties.

This is not as well known to our people and the council, but we were not the first choice for their new home. They first attempted to gain sanctuary in Hallifax, hoping that their love of logic and lack of laws against illithoid and viscanti would gain them entry. We are not their last chance for hope. We are simply their last, desperate chance. We are the unwanted, second option in their eyes. Do we not want citizens who truly wish to reside within our walls? Do we not want defenders of the Light, instead of reluctant refugees? There is always a transition for new citizens, but with Sutekh, there will be not transition.

It is no secret that he abhors the Hives, and abhors Celest. But it is a fact that he would have us all conveniently forget, so that we may only see this concealing facade of a repenting man. However the Light shines through, and illuminates all facets. He devoted many hours, many days to the domination and enslavement of Kepheran Hives. It is marked clearly upon his Weave, and frankly, from any previous interaction. Though I am not a strong advocate for the Hives myself, I would never wish to welcome someone who used to envision himself siting on a throne of crushed kepheran carapace. There is no regret there, only pain and cruelty. For Lights sake, just go to his manse and you'll see a very piece of furniture in that vision's design: a throne where he has made himself Lord over all that he hates.

Does that sound repentant to you?

It certainly does not to me. No. I love my Uncle, but he is not a good man, nor does he comprehend how one can find such a place in life. There is no desire for change, no desire for Light. Simply power. I love him as family, but I will never lie. This is my truth, and my Wisdom. I beg you to use your own.

As for Miss Ilisa, I understand her sentiments. I believe it may be good to find a way for illithoid and sharded races to exist. They go through the very same biological motions as us, and those that break from their greater Overmind deserve a chance at a brighter life here. But there is a reason they are removed from our Covenant. If it were possible to baptize them and find their form intact after baptism, then I would see the merit. But we have seen the very ramifications from the existence of Illith's shards from the kidnapping of Sister Sea. It is not a question of race. It is a question of community. The Illithoid race all share a bond with their "Great Mother", and thus a link with one another, in some dark parallel of the Hives. If Miss Ilisa can ensure that she can break her bonds entirely, I do not oppose her. She may say "chain me if you must", but I'd rather never take the chance of endangering our city.

Furthermore, though she may, herself, be fooled by my Uncle, there is also the chance of her own implicit agreement in their lack of true loyalty. We may never know her true intentions, and I do not desire to delve into her mind. But I hope it is the former, and that she truly wishes for admission, for the right reasons.

I stand firmly in opposition to Sutekh's application. And since they are applying as a couple, I am in opposition to Miss Ilisa as well. I thank you for your time.

In Service of the Light,
Cheliyi

Penned by my hand on the 19th of Roarkian, in the year 597 CE.