The only important fact about the world is that it is a battle between Good and Evil, on a battlefield that stretches on forever. The most that can be won is an advance for Good, and the most that can be lost is an advance for Evil. Only the gods can comprehend the whole battlefield, but that doesn't matter; moving one's own tiny stretch of it is enough to spend a mortal life on and count it spent well.

Pezzack fancies itself the only part of infernal Cheliax which had already freed itself by the time the archmages got there. Some might say that more than liberated it had been 'burned to the ground and then blockaded', but if a town is in the hands of Evil then for it to burn to the ground is a victory for Good; better for no one to have it than Hell. Better for the people of Pezzack to die in such numbers that the Enemy's clerics lack the spells with which to curse them all; on a part of the battlefield where Evil reigns, every man's death is a victory for Good. There is no futile resistance, just resistance which could have bought even more if more cleverly directed.

Valia was chosen as a cleric of Iomedae in the first day of the fighting for Pezzack. She understood immediately. She had not been given healing powers to save men so that they would live; she had been given healing powers so that they would die fortified in the knowledge that they fought for Good, that the region of the battlefield in which they fought was not forsaken.

Then the archmages showed up, and finished off the blockade (Valia was going to do that! There'd have been no survivors on either side but she was going to do it) and asked her to stand guard over the Enemy prisoners. Their insistence on that confused her, but only a tiny fragment of the battlefield was revealed to her, and more to them, and so she complied. They came back before the food ran out. They said the war was over.

Valia knows better. On this battlefield, Good has advanced. The war endures forever. But what a thing, to have won even an advance so small the gods can barely notice it! In that land now claimed by Good, it is now better for people to live than to die, better for towns to grown than to burn; to a mortal living in the ground that has changed hands, it seems a thing so momentous that she can barely blame people for calling it victory. 

But she knows better. Evil left its scars on this land, and they'll have to be burned out at the root. And just as the people of Pezzack could scatter into the woods and confound the Chelish forces hunting for them, their enemy can do that also. Were the war truly won her Goddess would have withdraw Her gifts, there being no need of them. But the gifts have remained, and that means so does the need.

Valia is honored to receive an invitation to the constitutional convention. It will be her first opportunity to meet another servant of Her goddess, and perhaps to obtain a copy of her religious texts. They're probably very interesting, not that Valia can read.

The only important fact about the world is that it is a battle between Good and Evil, on a battlefield that stretches on forever. The most that can be won is an advance for Good, and the most that can be lost is an advance for Evil. Only the gods can comprehend the whole battlefield, but that doesn't matter; moving one's own tiny stretch of it is enough to spend a mortal life on and count it spent well.

Pezzack fancies itself the only part of infernal Cheliax which had already freed itself by the time the archmages got there. Some might say that more than liberated it had been 'burned to the ground and then blockaded', but if a town is in the hands of Evil then for it to burn to the ground is a victory for Good; better for no one to have it than Hell. Better for the people of Pezzack to die in such numbers that the Enemy's clerics lack the spells with which to curse them all; on a part of the battlefield where Evil reigns, every man's death is a victory for Good. There is no futile resistance, just resistance which could have bought even more if more cleverly directed.

Valia was chosen as a cleric of Iomedae in the first day of the fighting for Pezzack. She understood immediately. She had not been given healing powers to save men so that they would live; she had been given healing powers so that they would die fortified in the knowledge that they fought for Good, that the region of the battlefield in which they fought was not forsaken.

Then the archmages showed up, and finished off the blockade (Valia was going to do that! There'd have been no survivors on either side but she was going to do it) and asked her to stand guard over the Enemy prisoners. Their insistence on that confused her, but only a tiny fragment of the battlefield was revealed to her, and more to them, and so she complied. They came back before the food ran out. They said the war was over.

Valia knows better. On this battlefield, Good has advanced. The war endures forever. But what a thing, to have won even an advance so small the gods can barely notice it! In that land now claimed by Good, it is now better for people to live than to die, better for towns to grown than to burn; to a mortal living in the ground that has changed hands, it seems a thing so momentous that she can barely blame people for calling it victory. 

But she knows better. Evil left its scars on this land, and they'll have to be burned out at the root. And just as the people of Pezzack could scatter into the woods and confound the Chelish forces hunting for them, their enemy can do that also. Were the war truly won her Goddess would have withdraw Her gifts, there being no need of them. But the gifts have remained, and that means so does the need.

Valia is honored to receive an invitation to the constitutional convention. It will be her first opportunity to meet another servant of Her goddess, and perhaps to obtain a copy of Her religious texts. They're probably very interesting, not that Valia can read.

The only important fact about the world is that it is a battle between Good and Evil, on a battlefield that stretches on forever. The most that can be won is an advance for Good, and the most that can be lost is an advance for Evil. Only the gods can comprehend the whole battlefield, but that doesn't matter; moving one's own tiny stretch of it is enough to spend a mortal life on and count it spent well.

Pezzack fancies itself the only part of infernal Cheliax which had already freed itself by the time the archmages got there. Some might say that more than liberated it had been 'burned to the ground and then blockaded', but if a town is in the hands of Evil then for it to burn to the ground is a victory for Good; better for no one to have it than Hell. Better for the people of Pezzack to die in such numbers that the Enemy's clerics lack the spells with which to curse them all; on a part of the battlefield where Evil reigns, every man's death is a victory for Good. There is no futile resistance, just resistance which could have bought even more if more cleverly directed.

Valia was chosen as a cleric of Iomedae in the first day of the fighting for Pezzack. She understood immediately. She had not been given healing powers to save men so that they would live; she had been given healing powers so that they would die fortified in the knowledge that they fought for Good, that the region of the battlefield in which they fought was not forsaken.

Then the archmages showed up, and finished off the blockade (Valia was going to do that! There'd have been no survivors on either side but she was going to do it) and asked her to stand guard over the Enemy prisoners. Their insistence on that confused her, but only a tiny fragment of the battlefield was revealed to her, and more to them, and so she complied. They came back before the food ran out. They said the war was over.

Valia knows better. On this battlefield, Good has advanced. The war endures forever. But what a thing, to have won even an advance so small the gods can barely notice it! In that land now claimed by Good, it is now better for people to live than to die, better for towns to grown than to burn; to a mortal living in the ground that has changed hands, it seems a thing so momentous that she can barely blame people for calling it victory. 

But she knows better. Evil left its scars on this land, and they'll have to be burned out at the root. And just as the people of Pezzack could scatter into the woods and confound the Chelish forces hunting for them, their enemy can do that also. Were the war truly won her Goddess would have withdrawn Her gifts, there being no need of them. But the gifts have remained, and that means so does the need.

Valia is honored to receive an invitation to the constitutional convention. It will be her first opportunity to meet another servant of Her goddess, and perhaps to obtain a copy of Her religious texts. They're probably very interesting, not that Valia can read.

The only important fact about the world is that it is a battle between Good and Evil, on a battlefield that stretches on forever. The most that can be won is an advance for Good, and the most that can be lost is an advance for Evil. Only the gods can comprehend the whole battlefield, but that doesn't matter; moving one's own tiny stretch of it is enough to spend a mortal life on and count it spent well.

Pezzack fancies itself the only part of infernal Cheliax which had already freed itself by the time the archmages got there. Some might say that more than liberated it had been 'burned to the ground and then blockaded', but if a town is in the hands of Evil then for it to burn to the ground is a victory for Good; better for no one to have it than Hell. Better for the people of Pezzack to die in such numbers that the Enemy's clerics lack the spells with which to curse them all; on a part of the battlefield where Evil reigns, every man's death is a victory for Good. There is no futile resistance, just resistance which could have bought even more if more cleverly directed.

Valia was chosen as a cleric of Iomedae in the first day of the fighting for Pezzack. She understood immediately. She had not been given healing powers to save men so that they would live; she had been given healing powers so that they would die fortified in the knowledge that they fought for Good, that the region of the battlefield in which they fought was not forsaken.

Then the archmages showed up, and finished off the blockade (Valia was going to do that! There'd have been no survivors on either side but she was going to do it) and asked her to stand guard over the Enemy prisoners. Their insistence on that confused her, but only a tiny fragment of the battlefield was revealed to her, and more to them, and so she complied. They came back before the food ran out. They said the war was over.

Valia knows better. On this battlefield, Good has advanced. The war endures forever. But what a thing, to have won even an advance so small the gods can barely notice it! In that land now claimed by Good, it is now better for people to live than to die, better for towns to grown than to burn; to a mortal living in the ground that has changed hands, it seems a thing so momentous that she can barely blame people for calling it victory. 

But she knows better. Evil left its scars on this land, and they'll have to be burned out at the root. And just as the people of Pezzack could scatter into the woods and confound the Chelish forces hunting for them, their enemy can do that also. Were the war truly won her Goddess would have withdrawn Her gifts, there being no need of them. But the gifts have remained, and that means so does the need.

Valia is honored to receive an invitation to the constitutional convention. It will be her first opportunity to meet another servant of Her goddess, and perhaps to obtain a copy of Her religious texts. They're probably very interesting, not that Valia can read.