Standing upon a small makeshift stage, centered within the large Square, overlooking the White Tower, a Sancella priest stood. The High Reverend of Regalia, Médard Ravenstad, gazed over a forming crowd with zealous eyes; dressed in violet silks, draped in furs and finery, the man would begin to speak with a booming voice. An echo of his words forming within the small closed off square. High Reverend Médard Ravenstad "Brothers and Sisters..! WE... have lost... WE... Have lost.. Our zeal...! We have lost our passion! Our great drive! To serve the Spirit with loyal obedience. To drive the Great Way forwards! Not at a sluggish pace, but at a momentum of which could only be achieved, by a nation of devotion and pure sacrifice. Now is the time of the strong! The strong of faith! The strong of body! Of mind, and soul! There is no place for weakness Brothers and Sisters! For our great path is under threat, and we shall endure, where others have failed. The Spirit granted us the will, and the means to stray from the path! It did so in Holy Wisdom! For the great Spirit does not seek to have our love through control! But through our willingness to love and obey! Our lives are mere trials! Today! We shall prove our love! Prove! Our Obedience! As we speak.. Our most Holy vessel stands ready to defend our nationhood.. To defend our Great Path. There is no loyalty, than loyalty to the Emperor.. We shall destroy all other commitments. We shall burn all other loves. There is no room in our hearts for all but the Spirit and its most Holy Emperor. Only then can we ensure victory of the soul! Only then can we fight back the waves! The Heretics whom gather to destroy our way of life! ! Only then can we see a Humanum born..! Though there are those who would have us stray from our path...!? Perhaps you would envision them as a unitary body.. A cult of heretics? A party of Jacobins. Or a Tharran tearoom.. They are all these things; yet individually, they are much more. They are the cheaters; The liars; The whores, knaves, and slanderers. They are perhaps your neighbours; your servants; your roommates. They are around us, sitting, breathing our air, supping with us. They are the men who for a moment, question the Spirit. They are the woman, who for a second, doubt the Emperor. They spread their sin, merely through thought, or unintentional action. They commit a sin that only the Spirit can witness, only the Spirit can judge... We all contribute to each other's Great Way.. And as such, we all posses the power to make hindrance upon this holy path also. It is through decades… Centuries.. That these small actions become a large mass. The petty sins we allow today, will become the centuries we wait for glorious paradise. So I ask: shall we allow these men, women, and lesser creatures, to drive our great Humanum backwards? The endless list of bestial crimes they have committed, go unpunished? No... We must find them.. We must chain them… We must cleanse them! They must… Can.. And will! Be restored. Or Wiped from the face of Aloria! As the Heron Volckamar once walked in search of the unholy! We must emulate his actions. We must strive to seize the sinners, and offer salvation.. By word, or by flame. As a demonstration of our devotion! Here, upon the ground on which I stand! We shall beat, disgrace, and burn the heretics for whom we have spoken of with such hate! There can be no other alternative, for these men who have rejected the Spirit with such spite. It is time for justice! Spiritus vult! Laudate Spiritu!" Upon this, the High Reverend would retreat inside the White Tower, shadowed by a small group of curates who shuffled alongside him.
Matthias Heinrich He was sent news of the words of the High Reverend by courier. He simply shook his head "Dark times are ahead, for all of us. Alas, I must stand with the Spirit and the High Reverend to further the great way. May the Spirit have mercy on our souls." With that, he got back to business.
Alfons Birkwood Having heard of this he would write it down in every calendar he had. Maybe he thought there could be a way to redeem himself here?
After watching this speech with a rather phlegmatic expression he would start to walk home and think: Spiritus Vult? Are they going to use that as a battlecry now? War, it's coming. Coming too soon just as the last one did.
