Brightening 8 of the Second Cycle of The Month of Kalendryas in the Season of Winter
Era I of the Celestine Mandate, Era XV Post Fractum in the Age of the Darkening
A Vortex messenger arrived with a reply to the previous letter.
Secrets : To His Grace Riconus Xindell, Earl and Thane of Portshire
Serale,
I understand your concerns towards the Vysstichi. However, I can assure you I do not base my takings on the matter on my trust on the Houses, but rather on my knowledge of how and why they do things and compare that to what happened in Portshire. I did not need their word to conclude that the attack was not of their doing. I never intended you to remove Har’oloth as suspect in the attack's origin, though I do would like to see their status turned to unlikely. I do not like false accusations against my city no more then any other Thane and I’d like to see a new Herald article regarding this.
You mentioned the attack on Silrosia. That did indeed origin in Har’oloth, I won’t deny that. I wasn’t around during that time though, so I can’t shed much light on the exact happenings like why there were no retaliations at the time. The responsible Matron found an untimely end and was replaced before I even arrived in the city. However, it is untrue that they would operate under the assumption the Aelyrian Empire would stand by idle during their attacks. I was assured at my promotion to Thane that similar happenings would draw an Imperial answer and later transferred this message to the three Matrons. Two of them have never even showed any intention of moving their influence outside of Har’oloth and the new Matron of House showed more wisdom then her predecessor as well. They are all well aware of the consequences and smart enough not to risk them over such a small skirmish.
Which brings me to the attack itself. Compare to what happened to Silrosia. That was done by just a single House. Assuming for a moment the unlikely event that all three Houses did band together for some reason then you can surely agree one would expect a more effective attack from them.
I would like you to ask yourself. Would three rivalling forces band together for an attack which they know they would be risking their very existence with and then proceed to execute it in the most shoddy way they can imagine? I think not. You can say a lot of things of Vysstichi, but they are not stupid.
It leaves the question who did commit the attack of course. I don’t know what other enemies the city of Portshire has, but perhaps another line of thought could be asking what enemies Har’oloth has. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like it was a ploy to direct the Empire's armies towards Vortex.
Sincerely,
Amber Brightwing, Thane of The Vortex |