Elias' first address

The woman who addresses the crowd holds her back straight and her head high. She wears armor adorned with Krausite holy symbols and a tattered green gambeson. She's tired, but does her best to hide it behind her firmness of step, the holy aura that blazes around her.

The crowd, too, looks tired. Farmers, most of them, drawn here by promises of peace and prosperity, of tolerance and freedom. Only a handful of other Magi have been swayed by the speaker, through force of personality or pure reason.

Elias Tanne, third of her name, daughter of Valmasian Krausites, reformed mercenary, self-taught scholar and preacher, dissident of Deseti, begins to speak. Her words are something between a speech, a sermon, and a lecture, but each one rings with conviction.

"We are here assembled to declare the existance of this community, the land of Angels' Grace. But, more importantly, we are here to re-affirm the principles for which we all left our homes, our lives in Deseti, in Cruxati, in Bhaldrithe and Gaiar and Valmasia, to break our backs against the soil of this virgin land.

"War is an abomination, in the eyes of the Angels and man alike. When we war, we give in to our base desires, we lose sight of our adversary's own soul, we see him as nothing more than an animal. It is said that to draw a blade on a man is to admit that you have no more subtle ways of convincing him, no arguements against him that will ring true. And it is further said that each of us, having a soul, has the potential to do right in the eyes of the divine. To kill a man is to deny him that potential.  As we are convinced of the rightness of our cause, as we believe in the sanctity of the soul, we will never war save in absolute self-defense."

"I speak of each of us being capable of rightness. I speak of the miracle of redemption possessed by we, the races of Eternia, and no other. I do include in this the souls of the so-called 'dark races', the Oscuri, the Neries-- aye, even the demons of Agartha. For some, right action comes as easily as breathing. For others, the road to redemption is circuitous and thorny. Lest you think this a judgment, know that I, as a younger woman, took the lives of the righteous for coin and affection. If I may now be rightly-guided as I believe myself to be, then surely we owe the same courtesy, the same benefit of the doubt, even to Oscuri, even to demons. Within the borders of Angels' Grace, all races are welcome. All will be judged on what they do, not on who they are."

"As we offer redemption to those unfortunate in birth, know that we also offer redemption to those who have sinned in life. Who you were upon entering this town matters not. We will judge you for how you treat our citizens and residents, for your willingness to atone for wrongdoing, and not for your past, black though it may be. Even for the rightly condemned, I stress that we must be merciful. Rare is the man who commits a crime, who sins, for its own sake. When dealing with criminals, all effort will be made to teach them how to live in a society, to redeem them of their past mistakes, to welcome them into our fellowship. And because we believe in redemption, and the sanctity of the soul, we will never perform an execution unless absolutely essential to prevent repeat offense."

"Our aim is in improving the lots of our people, not in ruling over them as petty tyrants. While we believe in the role of the sovereign, important in matters of international affairs and in addressing the concerns of the citizenry, we also know from experience that even the best sovereign may give way to an unforgivable tyrant. Though, aye, I intend to rule over this land, nervous though I am, in the same stroke I will prevent any who follow me from breaking those principles we hold so dear. The laws of this land will be enshrined in writing, and presided over by a Diet of learned men. Neither I nor my successors will be able to affect changes to these laws without consent from the Diet."

"If we intend to be led by scholars, we must produce scholars ourselves. To this end, and with the assistance of the Diet-to-be, I have been assembling a library of Vasharan, Jianghese, and Valmasian texts, much like those left to me by the august Saint Setzer nearly a decade ago. If these texts could elevate me, the illiterate daughter of a seamstress, to my present position, then it is my hope that they will effect the same change among you and your children."

"Yet, the goal of study must not be to merely mime the ancients as best we can. As the conquests of the Azraelite Alliance demonstrated, progress, in matters both technical and magical, is the animating force of any nation, the thing that permits peace and prosperity. It is my dream that in ten years time, we will be a city of technological wonders-- aye, for smallfolk and Magi alike! Too many of our neighbors neglect the talents and well-being of their non-magical subjects, which is folly of the highest degree. The founder, the savior of my people, Saint Hafiz of the Mountains, was himself a non-Magi, yet through his words and ministrations have we kept the faith for these long three-hundred years. As such, I beseech the learned of the realm to improve the lots of the common people, to work in such things as metallurgy, medicine, and farming technique, rather than in the esoterica that has consumed many of our neighbors."

"I leave you with this; entrusted to me by my old priest, and him by his, so on and so forth until the time of Saint Hafiz. A fragment of the Gospel of Mercy, thought destroyed by the Alliance but carried down through word of mouth."

"The angels, gray in feather, came to the people and saw that they did not quarrel. No neighbors threatened them. They did not lack for tools or for Magi. No Divine Spirit nor Angel imposed on them. The angels asked after the cause of this, and were told 'why should we quarrel, when we have all the good things in the world here by grace of the Creator?'"

"It is told to us by Saint Sophia that this place, this peaceful paradise, was Agartha. And though we may have fallen far, I know that, by our own efforts, this paradise shall be again, by the Grace of the Angels!"