[ 5]: <SCHOLAR> Serra: Vargan
Tue Oct 19 00:23:45 2021
To: Tearea
Dear Tearea,

After you departed, I had the chance to ask Vargan in more detail why he
fights your halls. As I suspected, he is not driven by greed or envy. You
might feel flattered rather than angered to learn that Vargan told me that
he seeks you and your fellows out because you are the greatest challenges he
has to face. He also believes none of you otherwise face worthy challenges
in Serin. In that you may see he is indeed striving to make himself
greater, for he must learn to evade three Warlords at the peak of their
prowess and is not, as he professed to me, a born fighter. He admitted to
me that it is your challenges, and that of your hallmates', that has forced
him to learn to fight better. And so it is you that makes him become
greater, and give him a purpose to his life.

There are many sides to every story, and every life in Serin, miss. One
simply needs to be willing to listen.

Serra



[ 6]: [WARLORD] Tearea: Vargan
Tue Oct 19 23:53:56 2021
To: serra
Dear Serra,

It is troublesome that the words of a confessed thief hold such weight
with you. You trust his words specifically over my words, and my honor
and honesty is above reproach. Vargan is a creature truly motivated by
greed, self professed. He told me very openly that he hungered for my
armbands and thus targetted me for a dishonorable ambush and multiple
thievery attempts. If it were challenge that he were seeking, he would
engage in the battle that comes for him. Evading is not a challenge
for him, it comes to him as natrually as breathing. If you even consider
his words with a single grain of skepticism, you will come to know that
they are wholly opposite to his actions. Listening mindlessly does nothing
but make you gullible. Listen with a healthy skepticism, especially with
one who is known to be a dishonest fellow. Then observe his actions. I'm
sure you have heard this before, actions speak volumes more than words.
His evasions indicate he is averse to facing the consequences of his
actions, which are HIGHLY indicative of his greed. The challenge for him
would be a battle, not evasion. Therefore, his words to you are lies.
The very fact that he hits his targets with a sackful of rocks to knock
them out demonstrates he is looking for an easy score and not a challenge
at all. I can scarcely comprehend why he feels the need to sway you with
his falsehoods, nor can I comprehend how someone held up as a symbol of
wisdom can be taken in so easily by them. You don't think with your heart
Serra, thats what your mind is for. Save your heart for someone who deserves
it.

-Tearea the Red Lotus, Standard Bearer of Warlords


[ 7]: <SCHOLAR> Serra: Honor
Tue Oct 19 23:58:15 2021
To: Tearea
Tearea,

I have spent far less time in your company than most I have walked with, and
thus your words have been quite distant. My encounters with you have been
only through combat, where you beat my helpless old head about in the arena
and mocked me. I remember not much before, but that is my first memory of
returning to Serin. Do you blame me for not putting a great deal of trust
in your words?

I have walked in his company several times and not once has he taken a hand
to me or those he traveled with. If he itched purely for greed, I and many
of my companions would be easy victims. Yet he only pesters the Warlords.
Tell me why that is.

Serra



[ 8]: [WARLORD] Tearea: Honor
Wed Oct 20 00:22:37 2021
To: Serra
Serra,

Are you truly so without faculties that you would consider yourself helpless?
Even when the previous renewal I witnessed you engaged in an adventure that
required dangerous underwater combat? I'll fully admit I have engaged you
mostly through combat, and that our first encounter I thoroughly pummeled you
with these hands of mine. Never did I intend or take it upon myself to mock
you. Communicating with one through modes of combat is about the most
honest, exhilirating, and deep ways to reach through to another. You defended
yourself effectively enough, despite your condition and the convictions you
yourself hold. Those convictions were conveyed well enough to me through
our exchanges of blows. It is unfortunate that my earnestness was not
conveyed to you through the same medium. As for trust... is there no greater
form of trust than to engage one in mortal combat and putting your very life
in their hands? I held your life tenderly in my gentle hands after our combat
and sheltered it on the very cusp of death. I would have thought such a
thing would have engendered your trust. Perhaps you have a point... that
shared experiences over a period of time will also build trust. However I find
that much more mundane than sharing in matters of life and death.

As for your other point, it is again clear that Vargan is targetting Warlords
out of greed. He harbors an envy of our armaments and desires them for himself.
It must be that he does not desire the belongings of you nor your companions.
I think perhaps you have a blind spot when it comes to Vargan himself. That
you can make reasoned arguements shows that your faculties are intact, but
you still willfully ignore the truth of his nature.




[ 9]: <SCHOLAR> Serra: Honor
Wed Oct 20 00:45:40 2021
To: Tearea
Tearea,

Certainly I am not as weak was I was then, when I knew nothing and barely
was conscious of my own name. I do not find bleeding another for sport
exhilarating; it is brutal and unnecessary. Such indeed was taking
Ilromie's life in exchange for a simple question. Perhaps you took pity on
my crumpled body then, and find yet self-satisfaction in such so-called
mercy. The duels you offer so graciously consist of forcing others to kneel
or die. I abided your comrades' requests so as not to be hunted for sport
and left in peace. Szrevan defeated me before I could blink and immediately
walked away. A useless duel, would you call it a "challenge"? Or simply a
notch on a belt? Shaghroth chased me around the Ford. He then asked me
make him food and water instead of letting him hurt a mere fraction of how
he hurt me, and then expected me to wait to be stricken down for my
kindness. Was that a challenge? For those who are trained in combat,
certainly, this may be a form of exhilaration. For one whose life is
devoted to peace, it is a feeling of dread, followed by resignation, and
humiliation that cannot be refused due to "honor".

Of mocking, tell me this. Why did you keep asking me about life's purpose,
as if I have no reason to live? My reasons are different from yours, as is
every other person walking the earth. We live simply because we do. I do
not need to live by fire or passion or whatever you value. I live by
different values, and am no lesser for it. Sometimes purpose is not
self-driven but created by the gods, or by fate.

It is not my duty to convince you about Vargan, nor you about me, for we
[Hit Return to continue]

simply know different sides of the man. Having walked with Vargan and seen
him, it is quite obvious that he needs none of what you wear. I fully
expected one of you to claim his life and realize that.

Serra



[ 10]: [WARLORD] Tearea: Purpose
Wed Oct 20 01:31:12 2021
To: Serra
Serra,

Battles of the written word are not battles that I find fulfillment from,
however I engage you via this medium out of respect for you. I had hoped
your engagement of me in battle in the arena was for the same reason. I
now understand that this is not the case. I do find satisfaction in my
victories, and a burning desire to better myself in my defeats. Perhaps you
think less of me for it. Perhaps it is that we cannot find the middle ground
necessary to become more than passing acquaintances. It is truly a shame
that differences that we both find incomprehensible seem to make it so. Brtual
and unnecessary you deem my actions. Ilromie has sacrificed her life many times
in search of truths far less important than those I had to impart to her. You
make less of her by blaming me for her death. She made the decision to step
into the arena and risk her life for that which she desired. Would you have
me take responsibility for her lifes choices? It is much the same with
Vargan, he chose to ambush and attempt thievery against my person to get
the things which he desired. He must now take a page from Ilromie's example
and accept the consequences of his actions. As for my comrades, I cannot speak
for their reasons for engaging you in battle but I can assume that they find
fulfillment as I do in combat.

You wrote that we live simply because we do. Do you truly find fulfillment in
existing just for the sake of living? Existence with no purpose is a terrible
waste of the potential granted to each of us at birth. My asking you your
purpose in life was an indication of my interest in learning of the path you
have chosen for your life. Life would be boring indeed if we all made the
same choices, followed the same path, held the same purpose for ourselves.
[Hit Return to continue]

I will say that life without passion is not living, but merely existing.
So is living life without a goal, or purpose. If you find insult or mockery
in my interest in it, so be it. Existence is intrinsic to life, combat is
a natural method through which conflict expresses itself. And thus we
strive to become more than just a mere existence through our efforts to
survive and overcome. Our instincts drive us to become greater than we are
so that we are able to do so. My passion drives me to find the greatest and
most perfect form of myself. To find the greatest of glory through honorable
combat, honor which makes us more than just the mere savages you make us
out to be. Glory that leads to stories, stories that lead to legends, legends
that fade to myths, myths which continue to be admired by the storytellers
and historians that keep them alive forever. And in such ways immortality
is achieved.

I will await your response though I consider this battle of words concluded.
Let us record it as a draw, and agree that we are disagreeable. To fight you
through your own medium has been refreshing and I look forward to improving
so that I may record a victory the next time.

-Tearea the Red Lotus, Standard Bearer of Warlords