Post by TheSpurgin on Feb 5, 2022 2:15:58 GMT
It would be quite the surprise for many of the nations of victrix when their first missive from the somewhat enigmatic distant land known as the Angelus Theocracy finally reached them, grasped in the hands of envoys declaring themselves Knights of the Order of Luke.
It held two parts. A formal introduction offering notice of their openness- conditionally- to foreign merchants as well as a small sample of some of their own trade goods, such as remarkably ornate jewelry and a cord of exotic timbers. Nothing of any real significance, and sure to be lost in the general ebb and flow of government bureaucracy.
It was the second half of the missive that carried a warning; not a threat as one might expect from an arrogant, warmongering nation considering rampant expansionism, but a simple warning.
Beware the Cults.
The Cults- or rather their remnants- were survivors of a multi-generational ideological and intercine conflict within the Theocracy, and the missive spared no detail in not merely descriptions, but depictions of their heinous crimes. As well as noting a number of the more prominent sects.
The use of chlorine gas on a populated urban center, the abduction and ritual sacrifice of women and children, iconoclasm, heresy to the christian faiths, murder, extortion, bribery, assassination of even the leaders of nations, and worse that cannot be repeated in public.
The missive's message was clear: "Remain watchful. These seeds of evil are but the scattered embers of a drowned fire, and none of their members can be trusted. Their only goal is to expand their own faith in furtherance of their litany of atrocities, and we urge you in the strongest language possible to quash any sign of them before they can take root, lest your nations too suffer as ours has. Should you ask it, we will offer to detail elements of our own knightly orders to aid you in such conflicts should you need them, no strings attached. These are not men, these are willing and eager monsters. Our own emissaries will- with your permission- deliver further reports on their activity as our own dedicated forces hunt them down like the dogs they are."
It held two parts. A formal introduction offering notice of their openness- conditionally- to foreign merchants as well as a small sample of some of their own trade goods, such as remarkably ornate jewelry and a cord of exotic timbers. Nothing of any real significance, and sure to be lost in the general ebb and flow of government bureaucracy.
It was the second half of the missive that carried a warning; not a threat as one might expect from an arrogant, warmongering nation considering rampant expansionism, but a simple warning.
Beware the Cults.
The Cults- or rather their remnants- were survivors of a multi-generational ideological and intercine conflict within the Theocracy, and the missive spared no detail in not merely descriptions, but depictions of their heinous crimes. As well as noting a number of the more prominent sects.
The use of chlorine gas on a populated urban center, the abduction and ritual sacrifice of women and children, iconoclasm, heresy to the christian faiths, murder, extortion, bribery, assassination of even the leaders of nations, and worse that cannot be repeated in public.
The missive's message was clear: "Remain watchful. These seeds of evil are but the scattered embers of a drowned fire, and none of their members can be trusted. Their only goal is to expand their own faith in furtherance of their litany of atrocities, and we urge you in the strongest language possible to quash any sign of them before they can take root, lest your nations too suffer as ours has. Should you ask it, we will offer to detail elements of our own knightly orders to aid you in such conflicts should you need them, no strings attached. These are not men, these are willing and eager monsters. Our own emissaries will- with your permission- deliver further reports on their activity as our own dedicated forces hunt them down like the dogs they are."