Of Disatisfaction & Powers
Along The Fallen Tree, in Windy Gate, a page of paper can be found stuck in the bark. The act looks deliberate, as an item would not normally be found there, and still be legible in full.
"Quinteth, Floris 23, 2nd AC 2595
One of the few things that the Prime Roots have, that the surface does not, is the lack of significant presence from any government, faction, or higher power. It is both a boon and a curse, allowing them to have conflicts in the shadows, but, also allowing for unpopular views to be shared without fear of scrutiny from opposing views. As such, I have come to grow very disatisfied with the higher powers, and the other factions.
To begin, the factions that boast of Higher Powers are stagnant. They themselves, intertwined in an eternal conflict, only relenting when a common foe like Kitin come, get nowhere. They use countless homins to fight for their cause, homins who die, are resurrected by their own deities, only to repeat the same process. But in the end, the Kami and Karavan themselves gain nothing from it, and lose nothing from it. Very rarely do you see them in combat, and usually around their temples for defense, never on the front lines. In the end, hominkind will become their pawns. However, their teleportation is useful for now, and the use of it can be necessary, despite my views noted here.
Now, one might say, with what little information we have, that those views sound like a Trytonist's. But they are just as bad, manipulating the two powers into meaningless conflicts over temples and things that do nothing but glorify the power's views of their own deity, as seen in Erlan's chronicle of the Revelation of Tryton in 2528, then made reality in 2530 in the Temple War. Such manipulations will only feed and complicate the Kami and Karavan's eternal conflict, and it has yet to be seen what solution they offer, other than believing in the views of their leader or whatever it is, making them the same as the Kami and Karavan."
The page ends with the previous paragraph. It looks incomplete, however, a deeper inspection of where the first entry was found reveals a second behind it, scrunched up.
"Next, we have the Rangers. The ultra pacifists. They are found to generally be regarded as indifferent to all alignments and nationalities, even marauders, and even I can see why, but that does not prevent me from criticizing them. They take pacifism to an extreme, only fighting in self defense, even if the opponent would be a marauder. I often wonder what would happen if a village nearby was raided, for example. Would the Rangers step up and defend them, or adhere to their 'self-defense only' precept, leaving the Village to die or fend for itself? I suppose one of their redeeming qualities would be their disregard for affiliations of any power or nation, requiring their members to be in good standing with all, although, that in itself is an affiliation on its own. However, they do mediate conflicts when possible and it is a good thing that they do not aid any one side, or else they would simply be part of the problem when it comes to any conflict.
Finally, we have the marauders. The enemy of all, claiming that governments seperate homins, and are quite a force to be reckoned with. However, they are the worst of them all, having sworn revenge on everyone that aren't their own. If they are victorious in their efforts of conquest and capitulate all nations and powers, they will bring about an age of endless conflict, either enslaving those that do not adhere to their views or simply doing away with them if they are not useful. Such a path is only natural to breed rebellions, and a dark future for many years; and if they are successful in repelling such events, perhaps peace may be achieved, but at a very heavy cost. In time, in a marauder ruled Atys, they will begin to fight among themselves, becoming restless and eventually seperating into marauder versus marauder, begining the cycle again. Their failing is that people will have a natural tendancy to seperate themselves to maintain their own values, their individuality. For everyone to fall under one banner, the Marauder's world view, is to discard your own views, your individuality, or become their pawn by other means, or be discarded.
A synthesis of all the views held must be achieved, however, it will take a very long time of thought and analysis before I can find a solution with what little information I have now."
At the end of the page, there are a few more lines, but they are scribbled out, almost as if in frustration, leaving only a few letters legible.
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"To believe an ideal is to be willing to betray it." - Kreia