BECMI Chapter 233 – Truth and Shadows

“Ambition indeed more like a human or orc than an elf,” sniffed Elder Lyarlin Far-Rover disparagingly.“Or the dreams of an aging father for the children and his people to have what he never did,” I rejoined smoothly. “Our lineages are five thousand years apart, our Immortals don’t know of one another, and our peoples are very different. The Shaden live in a state of war with almost all of their neighbors, and are even hostile with the dwarves, despite the dwarves never having done battle with them. We are a militaristic and disciplined culture, by utter necessity, and it has made us strong enough to live and thrive in a world where the elves of the Sidhe would falter and die,” I stated grimly in instant rebuttal, even as they bristled proudly at my words. “The king’s ambitions are elven ambitions, and our culture is older than yours. By any measure of age, it is you who are the junior elven culture at this time.”

That actually caused them to flush in embarrassment, because it was true enough! Even if you figured in the realm of Sylvuna… the Shaden were still older!

“You cannot claim tradition on us!” Librarian Feirlunl immediately rebutted. “The ways of elves living in harmony with the lands and trees goes back over six thousand years!”

“The trees of the underground are mushrooms, and we cultivate great forests of them. We manage the land and do not abuse it. As for age… you yourselves are descended of elves who were first conquerors, then nomads, then colonists and settlers, than nomads again, then conquerors and finally defenders now.” I eyed him narrowly. “The culture of Sidheduiche is less than a thousand years old. You are carefree children waxing and waning between settlement and wandering with the winds compared to the Shaden, in both time and efforts… elder.” I made a dismissive gesture in his direction, silencing a rejoinder to facts they could not dispute.

“The elven paths of the Warrior and Wizard are both strong and widely practiced among the Shaden, as you have seen, with every Shaden born having to serve at least five years in the militias that keep the orcs, goblins, and other denizens and monsters of the Underdark at bay. Like you, we have whole families, tribes, and clans that pursue such battle and guardianship duties as a lifelong obligation and vocation, and naturally such cousins desire to use their skills and training on behalf of their people.

“Your problem is this: Gaebrel has promised in His nebulous way that He would lead my people back to the surface and prosperity. He gave no time or schedule for this to happen, and so it is largely a way of instilling hope and keeping them content while He does other things.

“But for nearly four thousand years, the Shaden believed the world was a blasted landscape seared and frozen by the Crimson Cataclysm. When they finally learned otherwise, their return to the surface was at the edge of a mighty and prosperous elven homeland and forest that calls to their souls across the centuries.

“They believe they are owed this, they are promised this, and they will not be satisfied with anything less at this time. The king has manipulated that sentiment, and it is clearly stronger than any feeling of kinship with fickle and arrogantly ungracious elves who we split from over four thousand years ago.” I let them weigh on that viewpoint of themselves and the Shaden of themselves.wo, if you count the deeps.”

The clans I had mentioned flushed deeply, wanting to speak out in their defense, but I simply talked over them with Magevoice and ignored them. Hypocrisy annoyed me.

I steepled my fingers again, basically banishing the elders from my sight and addressing the king once more. “The greatest strength and weakness of the Shaden is their faith in Gaebrel and the discipline He has brought them. Strength, because it has made us strong, disciplined, and resilient. Weak, because He has been lying to my people all along, and when the Truth hits those lies, well, other things can be addressed easily enough.

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“On top of the lies of Gaebrel, the king has been lying to us, too. Consider this, Your Majesty. If the Shaden had taken up your offer of two hundred families a year, that was nearly two centuries ago. Not only would nobody have died, but forty thousand families would now have found their way to the surface world, where you could have taught them how to survive, helped them adjust, and if they didn’t want to remain here, they could have departed for a myriad number of other elven lands that would have readily accepted strong and eager immigrants to help defend their mutual homes.

“If the common Shaden knew of your offer, there would be no support for any conflict with Sidheduiche whatsoever. The fact that the king withheld knowledge of your offer from them will destroy their trust in him, and the fact that he was actively infiltrating Sidheduiche before approaching you merely confirms the fact that his ambitions were never to bring his people to the surface, but to conquer a surface realm with all speed and escape the oversight of the priests of Gaebrel.”

Even the other nobles silenced their outrage at being judged in order to consider what I had just said. It would indeed solve many of their problems, and reaffirm that they were in the morally superior position.

“You are asking us to admit infiltrators from a hostile people into our very midst!” an older elven Wizard of the Longstriders immediately put forth, with all due skepticism.

“I will be asking common Shaden to be placing their trust in a blatantly hostile and ungracious elves who have proven their unreliability,” I immediately rejoined back to the idiot, making the peevish elder scowl at me. “One wonders who is deserving of trust and open hearts in such an arrangement.” I glanced over the assembled elders narrowly. “I am not talking of taking in their nobles and ambitious folk. I am talking of common elven families and people, folk that Corellin Himself can judge and pass through. You are well aware that the average elf of the Relarin does not care a damn thing for your own concerns and thoughts, elders of Sidheduiche. They want to live under an open sky, see the sun and moon and stars, feel the wind, and hear the rustle of the leaves and feel the life of the forest about them.

“They simply do not care about so many things you yourself find urgent and important.” I paused to let that point sink into them, and could see the grudging acknowledgment from most of them, especially the smaller clans.

“The Shaden are no different. They want to see the sun. If need be, they will fight for it, but if not, they will not.

“As for the influence of Gaebrel… well, He cannot grant His power above the surface. He cannot sustain an elven homeland, He has no power over or control of anything like the Lumina Trees. His lessons in life hold much less weight here on the surface, but the discipline He taught the Shaden will be useful anywhere.

“And, of course, Gaebrel has lied to my people right along. Shattering their faith in Him is not very difficult at all, if I care to do so. And no, that is not something I will share with any of you, because some of you will naturally and delightedly move to do so, and that is not your decision to make.”

That didn’t sit well with them, but they also knew I wasn’t lying, so the murmurs of conversations going up weren’t about convincing me otherwise.

“How soon can you make our offer known to the Shaden?” King Lymeril asked quickly.

I lifted an eyebrow. “In minutes, were I motivated to do so,” I replied calmly. That shut everyone up again at the claim. “Oh, do you think you are of a common mind to ask me to do so?” I let my nonesuch eyes wander around the place tellingly. “I am hardly going to encourage my kinfolk to emigrate to a place where they will be derided, mocked, and looked down upon for the decisions of their king. Do you even have the volunteers in place to escort them, train them, and resettle them? Are your citizens informed of what will happen, and do they back it?

“No? Then I will not do such a thing. I have my own schemes and ambitions for my cousins and returning them to the surface, but they will take time to develop. I am patient.”

“That is well enough. What we would like to hear more of is the culture of the Shaden, what motivates them, and how we might address such differences,” King Lymeril acknowledged quietly.

“I can feel some of you having already passed judgment on my kin.” I didn’t bother to look around at them. “Fair enough. They did the same to you, and veiled half-truths twisted to accommodate one’s worldviews seem to be natural to the elders of both sides.” Those who considered themselves most superior were cut the most by the comment, of course. “The first thing about the Shaden you must know is the tenets of Gaebrel, and how they have shaped our people for four thousand years… twice as long as your own tenets of Corellin.”

Mouths opened and then shut. It was true, after all.

“Here are the Rules of Gaebrel, which disciplined and guided a demoralized and aimless people far from the surface, enabling them to survive and grow into a nation likely stronger than the Sidheduiche…”

“Elder Helamong. I trust you’ve not been too inconvenienced by the exposure of your true identity and intelligence gathering on behalf of King Ershultaen?” I inquired of him in our native tongue and accent as I seated myself across from him.

He was bound in cold iron cuffs to prevent any spellcasting, and looked to have been beaten rather severely, with a broken nose and swelling about his eyes and lips. It didn’t stop him from glaring at me as I sat down across from him.

“You are a traitor to our people,” he ground out at me, seeking any scrap of moral advantage he could get.