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  1. Journals

Calliope - Session 36 and 37

Song
December 15, 2020
A Solemn Plea
(Tune:  wistful, yet heavy. Long instrumentals fill the space between verses, building in speed and emotion)

Listen for cries, carried here on the wind
Our brothers and sisters, not wayward kin.
Kept in cruel cages of oath, and of steel:1
Tell me, oh sister, is this truly real?

Horns nor a tail, make them enemy 
Despite their lot, they’re just like you or me.2
Either born or caught, their fate is same,3
Tell me, oh brother, can you see your blame?

This land was built from their tears and their pain,
From their great labour, and from your great shame.
Historys made you the winner, that's true4
But is this really what winners should do?

I bid you, listen, to this solemn plea
All of Thylea deserves to be free
I bid you, listen, to this solemn plea5

Footnotes

Maximus may of lacked the arms of the Gygans, but he did not lack their cruelty. I did need not need to hear his voice to know that; just watching him swagger and throw his weight around transported me right back to Yonder…


During the… ah, negotiations, I couldn’t hear what they were saying: so it was a shock when fire erupted from Alke’s hands, singeing the slavers and downing one of the minotaurs. I managed to get close enough to keep the caged minotaur temporarily stable, but it took some of Helikaon’s own magic later to actually heal him. We were meant to be there to save them all, yet in just moments we nearly killed one of them! What kind of heroes are we...?

I understand it was an act of panic on Alke’s part, but it is one that presents a sad notion: that the minotaurs were part of the background, more furniture than people. I suppose this a reminder, that it isn’t cages or oaths that we are truly fighting against: but ideas, thoughts, feelings...


Bullbug told us these people were born in captivity. That they have never known anything else. To finally be free, it should have been a happy moment for them. But there was no joy, or relief… just fear. They were scared of us. Sacred of the unknown.


The Order of Sydon… I believed Vallus when she said that this was likely their doing, but even so... it was still difficult to swallow that the settler races are rebuilding slavery in the Titan’s name. Setting aside the cruelty of their actions, can they not see that they are rebuilding the system that subjugated them just 500 years ago? If they think that Sydon will keep them at the top of the pecking order forever, they are going to be sorely mistaken. I remember enough to be certain of that.

Just another reason to hate Gaius I suppose. Ugh, what an awful man!


Despite all this, I can’t be too pessimistic. We got them all out! They are safe, and their way to a better life. At least I hope they are. Braz is fond of Pamplaxia: I can only hope that it is for good reason, and because of the good people there.