I greet you the people of the Basin of Life.

When we stepped out of the Portal of Fate we did so at great cost to the
memories of our lives beforehand. Many of us have been sundered from
family, nations and beliefs by this void in our memory.

We all retained some knowledge though, our minds were not entirely
without a knowledge of ourselves and our pasts as a collective. We know
for instance that we are shards of the Divine, that each of us has
within us the potential for divinity.

We also have retained in our heritage various religious beliefs and
practices. The religions of the Supernals, the Spirits of the Seren, the
tainted Emanations in Magnagora and a myriad other philosophies have
been handed down to us.

The difficulty with this is that our memories are dark concerning all
things touching on these religions. Not all rites and rituals have come
to us in their original form and many are lost entirely. Certain
explanations for why we do the things we do are not available to us. The
greater teachings of our religions are mostly departed from us since the
birth of the modern age. In the dimness and obscurity of this time, many
of us have taken to the substitution of those things that are lost to us
with new, lesser inventions of spirituality without a full understanding
or appreciation for what they do.

I urge you of the Basin to make a renewed effort to rediscover the
heritage of religion that is yours. Our ancestors forged their faith
from the truths and perceptions of the the created world, from the
knowledge of the world's creation. They held to their rites and rituals
and beliefs and faith through hardship, through prosperity and through
the slow wearing of time.

What we need now is a return to religion. The reasons why and the the
benefits from such a turning of our hearts and minds are many. By
returning to religion we connect deeper with our own cultures, histories
and communities. By returning to religion we understand the nature of
our world more fully including the reasons for some of the things we do
today. By returning to religion we embrace a power outside of ourselves
and set our sights on things higher than this mundane existence. It
causes us to reach a bit higher, do a bit better and know quite a bit
more than we do currently.

It can be argued that other methods can be used to promote unity and
understanding within our communities, that legislation and economics can
do the same things as religion. I argue that that is in fact not true.

Religion means having a deep and abiding spiritual respect and love for
certain guiding forces greater than ourselves in conjunction with codes
of conduct and ritualistic procedures.

Religion does what economics and government cannot give. Religion
provides a meaning and purpose in our lives that can't be filled in any
other way. Religion will forever have more power to bind people together
in unity and understanding than any other force.

And so I again urge you to search out the mysteries of the religions you
adhere to in renewed earnestness. I urge you to rediscover the practices
of your predecessors and once again embrace the richness of culture and
harmony that has become so fragmented with us.

In earnestness of spirit,

Anarias

Penned by my hand on the 17th of Klangiary, in the year 109 CE.