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[Halister Marner]

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Essays of Virtue - Part One of Eight - By Halister Marner

The virtue of Justice is one which remains muddled amongst courtly pomp and prose, a saint garbed in dirtied linens. To truly see what lies beyond the murky weave is to see Justice as it was meant to be, a justice unclouded by personal bias or affiliation. To birth Justice in such artistry will not alone sway understanding, to do so we must address the question of how to distinguish between Justice born of falsity, and Justice born of truth. This question is one that weighs heavy on irresolute Britannian’s, virtuous souls who seek the true definition of Lord British’s ideals. Such questions need not be answered by law books or texts, nor by courtly regulations and agonizing procedures, but by the intrinsic belief in the goodness instilled within our own consciousness.

True Justice springs forth from a marriage of truth, and of love, the principles we treasure every day. These principles placed together define the nature of Justice; they define how we must judge, and how we must expect to be judged. One who practices true justice will seek the truth of a wrong, and with this truth, they will find the understanding needed to properly conceive, and to mend. One who strays from Justice’s true call will find the truth they wish to find, a truth twisted or created by spite, fear, or pity, a truth that is not a truth, but a second wrong, doomed to compound the first.

To wield the knowledge of truth alone does not constitute justice, only understanding of wrong. To administer true Justice, we must temper truths cold steel with the warmth of love, a union of immaculate principles intertwined to birth a fair and honest judgment. A true practitioner of Justice will seek only to right the wrong that has been committed, never to lay punishment upon one who has wronged, a judgment rendered by love of the truth and of those involved. When those who do Justice wrong render their immoral order, we see a judgment created out of hate and of anger, a judgment that does not atone for a wrong, only immortalizes it.

Priestly orders and studious monks would end such a dissertation here; however it is my personal belief that truth and love do not solely create the virtue of Justice, there remains yet a final principle which drives true Justice, and that is Courage. Courage to seek the truth, courage to love, and courage to decide, all of these are what drive a virtuous soul. Those of derelict virtue fear truth, and they will not pursue, those of derelict virtue fear love, and they will condemn.

Finally, as a crowning passage to these insights on Justice, I offer the following words from the Britannian philosopher Eldric Feist.

"To condemn, to hate, these are the easiest choices we can make. But to be humbled by ones own judgment born of virtuous desire, this is the greatest challenge, this is true strength."
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"There are those who dream to escape reality, and there are those who dream to change it."