Greetings.

I left Celest some time ago to follow a difficult path; that of
the Light. Not the Light as a corrupting force, not the Light
as a destructive force, not the Light as an oppressive force.
I see the Light as the power within; the strength It grants you
through faith and toil.

I've had a difference of opinion with a large part of Celest
since I woke up .. what, 40 years ago? I've tried so many things
to try and help Celest - at least, what I thought was helping
them. I discovered a lot about how the people in Celest work.
I've learnt that Celest doesn't teach inner strength. They don't
teach faith or belief; they've only twice found enough purpose and
direction to move coherently and both these times they dominated
the Basin. For the rest of it they've fought; they've argued;
they've written silly laws and applied them equally sillily.
They've never once tried to be the shining paragon of faith.
Never once have they tried to act better than anyone else, to raise
above their mortal desires for comfort, love; to push past personal
agendas.

Celest has never, as long as I've been a citizen, tried to show
the Basin what the Light is by any means other than by force.

So, I left.

Now, I know I've changed over the years. I was dropped in the deep end
of things, trying to help build Celest from the awakening; learning
how things work; trying to influence villagers; all that stuff.
I died so many times killing starsuckers and leechers to empower the
pool when it was at -1000 power. Who here remembers that?
I learnt to fight, I learnt to dance, I learnt to debate, I learnt
to help others. I was never a good leader; people kept pushing
me into positions of authority that I never wanted. The times
I wanted to take authority to change things for the better
I lost. Quite the irony. I know I'm not perfect; but I'm tryin
to be. I'm changing over time, I'm learning new things, I'm striving
to become better than I was in time past and I'll continue to
do this.

Why? Because I've found strength in my beliefs. Not in other
people, not in the Divine but within myself. I know what I'm
doing is right and I know that I'm on the right path.
I've seen what happens when you're in an Order, when you're in Love,
when you're with friends. Your world is built on the backs of others
and when they change you find your world collapsing around you.
Perhaps this is a Celestian-only thing; I'm not sure.

I decided to embark on my journey by travelling to each of the
organisations, including Celest, and learning their beliefs without
prejudice. I've tried to be as objective as possible, dimissing
nothing as "bad" or "wrong" or "incorrect". I then decided to work
with each orgnanisation to fight against local oppression, to
truely understand what it is to live in their place.
And for a time, I did. I helped Celest repel raiders from Celestia.
I had Magnagorans scream and curse at me, for one moment I was
paying my fines and spending time talking to them; the next I was
taking up arms against them. But I explained to them I was simply
defending territory; that I held no ill will against them or their
organisation and I'll gladly do the same when the roles were
reversed.

The roles were reversed. And I was enemied to Celest for it.

Now, I'm happy with this. If this is the nature of Celest and
Magnagora then so be it. I sought out to understand the nature
of each set of beliefs and the people who believe in them and
this is just as valid a result as not being enemied. I hold no
ill will against the Light as I truely know the power of the
Light wouldn't drive people to act as mindless thugs if they really
and truely understand it.

So, this is where I am. A rogue Paladin, blessed with the skills of
the Light but lacking the power to use them. I'll continue in
my quest for understanding and truth and I will continue to act
in accordance with my beliefs. I just hope, to all the Gods,
that Celest gets its act together before they manage to
extinguish the Light they think they cherish.

Me.

Penned by my hand on the 17th of Dioni, in the year 151 CE.