To the deserving people of Arthos,

Upon these foul days of our year, I regret that I cannot bring tidings in offer to you for which you may rejoice upon. As I write to you even now, my stepmother continues her campaign to usurp my father’s throne, the Empire, and the fate of all peoples of Arthos. Her lies and deception bleed into the very soil on which we stand upon and by using my father’s resources as her own, her reach is suffocating. I was once naïve. There was a time when I believed that my father’s love for his children would be stronger than any other bond or burden. That no magic or alchemy could keep him from us. He told us once that when we were in pain, he was too. I watched as his eyes grew dark when she entered our lives. I watched our kingdom grow dark. I prayed that my father could see her as she is. Then I prayed that seeing the blood of his own children and the uprising of his kin, his advisors, his people, and his countrymen would usher forth the dire clarity we so need from my father, our Emperor, now on the precipice of war. The sons and daughters of Berphaunt are being smothered out and yet our Emperor remains still, blind and wordless, fully in the clutches of her power.

To you, good people of Berphaunt, hear your sister!

Your Prince was murdered. Not by the denizens of the Dark Church of Berphaunt but by Imrik Adalite, the Empress’s personal Dragon Knight. On the night of his death my brother went to those Dark members to negotiate a resistance against my stepmother’s growing influence and for his efforts all were swiftly massacred by Shiloth’s royal guard, her followers. This was not some devious and unholy ceremony carried out by turned cultists of Ga’more as she would have you believe; only the hateful hand of my stepmother’s malice. My brother was kind. Marcel exemplified the best qualities of my father and our stepmother had him cut down because she feared what he was. My father had lost his strength long ago, but not Marcel. His life and memory deserves better than I can offer on this thin ink, and while I would weep for him further, I am reminded of my own frail loss. A baby boy, a lion of gold, and a promise.

The sons and daughters of Berphaunt are prey no longer.

Much has been made of the assassination attempt on my brothers and sisters. The Empress would have you believe that agents operating in my name intended to harm the royal children. This is yet another lie. My forces were in fact attempting to liberate them from Shiloth’s grasp lest they suffer similar fates as my brothers. My agents failed and died for their just and noble effort and they will be remembered for it.  Because our cause stands in the path of Shiloth’s machinations, the Empress’s agents have scoured the lands and wrought unfathomable death to see us undone. Towns across Berphaunt who are thought to stand against this wickedness as I do have been summarily executed by her forces and her hired Iron Company mercenaries; whole populations put to the sword just to expose the few who would not bend to Shiloth’s loathsome plans for our people. What is even more heinous is that her agents spread propaganda promoting my forces as the perpetrators of these barbarous acts. Ever politicking, her campaign of slander and fear has been met with destructive success. These fabrications have harmed our cause greatly and supplies have grown sparse due to the fear of Shiloth’s retribution. But, while my stepmother continues to close her claws, she drives more to see her for what she is as her deceit and cruelty flourishes.

While Shiloth has used the threat of Ga’more to execute her political agenda and wash away her enemies, my forces continue to rally in opposition of the creature. Her accusations against us are lies and, as these shadows continue to lift, our forces swell. High Exarch Samara the Ungraved and her loyal Dark Church stand with me. Every day more nobles and officials, generals and countrymen, fathers, mothers, and our siblings stand with me. And to you, Arthos, I pledge my forces to stand beside you in the coming battle to rid Maud’madir of this vile Ga’more threat once and for all. There cannot be a future unless we unite together as one. It is for this reason I cannot extend a hand in celebrated ceremony to the deserved and honest people of these lands. Instead, to you, my breath echoes once more the furious solemn truth: Shiloth’s agenda, lies and deceit, all separate us from one another in our most dire moment. We can ill afford to remain divided in cause much longer.

To the nations of Arthos, we are all played pawns in a game not of our choosing and the Dragon of Shadows - poisonous Empress; seducer of kings and fathers; murderer of brothers, sisters and children - is the usurper of our true and deserved future! She would see us all persuaded against our fellow man and woman and craftily she manipulates the strings which once bound us together in harmony as chains to imprison us to her most deceitful will. Her stained talons extend boundlessly but reality shall no longer battle perception. My Generals stand with you. There is another path. We can have another future.

To the people of Berphaunt, I understand what fear creates and I am not ignorant to its hold. I have lived many nights in fear under the roof of the palace. I have watched my brothers cut down and my child cut from within my very hands. I know the Dragon better than my father could ever, for I have seen her as she truly is. Her breath I still feel upon my skin. Her acidic blue eyes are what I see when I close my own. Shiloth has held her claws to your throat for too long and has seen your Emperor imprisoned beneath her, your Empire taken from you, but the truth does not fear shadows in the night.

If you feel as I do, and see as I see, stand together with me and I will be your blade!

Through my blood, ignite the spirit I know boils inside all of you, and when the day of reckoning truly breaks, all will know that it was the courage of a united people who saw fit to decide their own fate once more which took it back!

For the Empire

For Unity

For our Future

Princess Louisa Berphaunt

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