There are many BRAVE and HONORABLE men who in times of need may be spurred to WAR, and through their VALIANT efforts take up arms to defend the innocent and drive back evil. There is no shame in this, for HOLY IOMEDAE too was a warrior, though she was but a young woman at the outset, with little of the TEMPERAMENT of a soldier.

But there are also men of VIOLENT and ANARCHIC character, lovers of STRIFE and CONFLICT, who reject the path of IOMEDAE for the path of GORUM. Men such as these care nothing for PEACE, nothing for SECURITY, nothing for ORDER. All men who live among their neighbors must PERPETUALLY FEAR that such men will turn their sights to them next.

CYPRIAN, EMPEROR OF GALT, is the latter sort of man. For though he has achieved great GOOD in his fight to free us from the rule of ASMODEUS, his true interests lie not in GOODNESS or VALOR but in his OWN AMBITION. He first turned his BLADES on his OWN COUNTRYMEN, for he knew that he had NO RIGHTFUL CLAIM to the THRONE of GALT, leaving the streets of Galt to RUN WITH BLOOD once more, as those men who have FLED his TYRANNICAL REIN can testify. He next sought to conquer DRUMA, a PEACEFUL and PROSPEROUS kingdom that had done him no wrong, merely because he thirsted for its wealth. When the people of DRUMA cried out for aid, few dared to stand up to Cyprian's BLOODTHIRSTY CONQUEST; but this was a GRAVE MISTAKE, for once he had whet his blade on the corpses of DRUMA'S PEOPLE he turned his attentions still further.

Even now, scarcely a year after liberating our own country, he has marched NORTHWARD to RAZMIRLAND. I do not dispute that the KING of RAZMIRLAND is EVIL, but shall we say that the COMMON PEOPLE OF RAZMIRLAND ought suffer the scourges of his army to pay for the vices of their KING? KING RAZMIR is no ABROGAIL THRUNE; he makes no covenant with HELL; he merely pursues his own strength and ambition, much like CYPRIAN. If a war can justly be fought on this basis, there is scarcely any country that shall not be his PREY.

And what will he do next? Will he be CONTENT to stop, once he has finished his present BRUTAL CONQUEST? Of course not! Shall he march on the NORTHERN WARLORDS, declaring them UNWORTHY to rule, though they be just as legitimate as he? Shall he sail to OSIRON, as he did with DRUMA, to seize their wealth for himself? Shall he invade TALDOR, decrying TALDARIS STAVIAN as a TYRANT? Shall he conquer ANDORAN, lest his subjects see their FREEDOMS and desire them for themselves?

To join our country by the bonds of MARRIAGE to a man such as this is a GRAVE MISTAKE. Our QUEEN ought dissolve her marriage with him and seek a husband of TRUE VIRTUE, equal to her in VALOR and DIGNITY. Else we shall simply go from the CLUTCHES of one EVIL to another, forsaking HELL only to discover ourselves consigned to the ABYSS. Subjects of Cheliax, I urge you to pray to SHELYN, that she may show our QUEEN to more perfect LOVE; ERASTIL, that she may find herself in a STABLE HOUSEHOLD rather than a household of WARMONGERING and STRIFE; and IOMEDAE, that our QUEEN may remember that she is called to hold VALOR, not BLOODLUST, in her HEART.