Voices Prophesying War
To the General of the Vermilion Legion, Tepet Ejava, Called the Roseblack,
Greetings. Your fame spreads across Creation, and carries with it word of your valor and skill at war, and also of your successes in An Teng. So it was with great joy that we received the news you have set sail against the Mask of Winters.
We understand that your plan has been to pass peacefully through Lookshy, long your nation's bitter foe, and move your army down through Marukan lands until you reach the territory that the Mask unjustly claims. We count him our foe as well and can only imagine his downfall will come all the swifter, now.
We are troubled, though, by news of the price you had to pay for your peaceful travel through Lookshy. We are troubled even more to hear that you paid this price unknowing. It seems a dragon hides its coils within your ranks. A Wyld Hunt, twenty strong, marches with your army. Their goal is the elimination of those your nation names Anathema who live within the Marukan Alliance, and they will use any means they can, including dragging the Vermilion Legion into war against the Marukan, to see that it happens.
We are those Anathema, though we call ourselves Solars, and we warn you now that this must not come to pass.
If the Wyld Hunt begins a war between your legion and the Marukan, we Solars do not hope to win. You forces number ten times ours and are far more battle-blooded. But your victory will be Pyhrric. We have equipped our army like few forces Creation has seen since the days of the Shogunate. Dragon Bloods, Lunar Exalted, gods and elementals are our allies. We count among our number seven of the Solar Exalted, of a far different temperament but no less strength than the Bull of the North that strove against your family's legion in the Haltan War.
If our two sides come to blows complete, we will die. But we will drag full half your army screaming to the underworld with us. Who will strive with the Mask of Winters, then? How will you revenge your family's defeat, if such is your aim? What army will you call your own, and what reception will your weakened forces receive when you return to your ships in Lookshy, still your nation's bitter foe?
If you believe your nation's stories, if you feel that we are wicked and must be put down, so be it. Root out the Wyld Hunt within your ranks and let them alone do the bloody deed they have trained for. Victory will show which side was righteous, and your Legion will survive intact. If we should fall, our souls will at least have hope that you might topple the Mask of Winters.
If you think there might be a better way, if you think there is hope that men and women can act as men and women, no matter the power they hold inside, then root out your Wyld Hunt all the same and keep them chained with your firm command. Let them raise no hand against us or any who calls himself Marukan, and there is hope for peace between us and common cause against the Mask. But do not let the serpent strike within your ranks strike, or it means hell for all of us.
If you care to reply with words, before we must speak with steel, send your messenger to Storm of Amber, our captain in war.
With Greatest Respect, The Solar Deliberative of the Marukan
