A Torch Held Aloft

[Caravan]

The stack of papers, all dilligently handwritten, lay sorted and sealed upon the desk. Ashaila gathered them up and checked that they were clearly labeled to be sent away with the next morning's post. What communities she could not reach herself would have to be left in the [she hoped] capable hands of the local priests. There was no need to rush, however, and she was a patient woman. Though, as she signaled to the armored shadow at her side, she knew it would not be enough. Soon she, and her Torchbearers, would have to speak on their own behalf.

"Come, Orthander."

The topic of decadence is a difficult one. Is it decadence to fulfill your familial obligations, to provide them with fresh food and warm clothing, to build a solid roof over their heads?

No.

But should food be spilling from our plates and our tables, should our garments be stitched and washed by a woman whose whole year’s wages could not buy a sleeve, and should our homes hold two or three times our family’s number, we must look inward to our choices. These are the failings of mortal men, and the Church understands, but what of your brothers and sisters under the Light? Do not our familial obligations extend to them? Too long have we told them to the turn the other cheek to famine, pestilence and poverty.

All the full stomachs, warm toes and happy smiles that worldly goods may purchase will not save your family from the creeping inner emptiness that shirking your loyalties to the Light will induce.

Spoiler:

Readings of the Crusade

[Caravan]

What follows below is a transcript of a sermon presented by the Speaker of Illumination. Copies were sent out by the Hand across the Eastern Kingdoms and to some of the human outposts in Kalimdor.

Purify the soul with prayer so that we may become the true and everlasting Hands of the Light. Only with the purest of intention can we be truly worthy of the Light's Love and Benediction. Purify the body with labor for work is the true Nobiliy of Spirit. Pain is not an enemy, but an ally to be embraced, held close, and delivered to unbeliever and believer alike. Hardship is not our foe, but our greatest teacher: Though we stumble, though we fall, though we long to lay in the dust of our defeat and never rise again, the Light shines upon our face always. How can we turn our back on so deep and selfless a Love?

There are those, my friends, who have forsaken the Light. They have crushed underfoot the gift the Light has given them, to all of us, without a second thought. The darkness grows in them like a tumor and creates a hunger that slowly eats at the tender flesh of a community like a cancer. Resistance to the ways of the Light is a sign of impurity, and should be excised from community before the sickness consumes it. Purify the unilluminated with fire, for it is the purest of the Light's channels. Pain is not an enemy.


Pain is not an enemy.

Spoiler:

Further readings of the Crusade

[Caravan]

Richest is he who puts his faith and love with the Light and follows the three Virtures. Strongest is he who lives a life of Respect, Tenacity, and Compassion. Fortunate is he who is graced by the Light's Benediction.

There is no shadow dark enough to smother the light of a single candle. Place more candles around it and the night will shrink. The flame shines out as a promise to all who would be lost. Do not lose hope that your light is not bright enough to lead -- Remember, though they are small, the stars have led weary men home for eons.

We have, all of us, our trials and tribulations before the Light but we must hold steadfast until the Dawn.

[Caravan]

Our prayers go out to Phillis Gille and her family: May the Light's grace accept her fallen kin and may it watch over her in her time of mourning as may it watch over us all.

We have much to mourn. The Light's purest channel has been defiled -- who can call themselves Faithful that do the work of the Light from the shadows? Do they hold to the Virtues at all? Too hasty are those that seek to add to the fear simmering in the hearts of Stormwind's people, to add to the blood and the bodies that discontent and anger have already produced. Pain is not an enemy.

What does not serve the Light does not serve us. So few are truly lost to the Light that they must be severed from the Universe. 'Lest we forget: We are all connected. We are the Torch held aloft in the dark night of uncertainty. We are the beacons shining against the stormy sea.

There is no shadow dark enough to smother the light of a single candle. Pain is not an enemy.

Spoiler:

Studies of the Inquisiton