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[Bartholomew]

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Singular Leadership for the Virtues

Upon planning for his departure, our Lord British, may Virtue light his path, formed a political body called the Regency. The Regency was supposed to rule in his stead and represent those values he held most dear, the Eight Virtues derived of the Three Principles. The Regency was supposed to be the center of all alliances where Guilds swore an oath of fealty and town councils could bring their disputes for Virtuous judgments. Looking at the hodge-podge of Alliances and Organizations and the weakness of the Regency, one wonders what went wrong and where?

Well, the first and most glaring deficiency is found within the Regency itself. No longer does the Regency represent the Virtuous Values Lord British declared be the central pillar for his government in absentia. They now serve balance, or at least the Regency did and he was the guiding force for the Regency. There are those who claim that this balance is rooted in the Virtues, but this is a falsehood. The Balance places Chaos and Order on an even footing thus relegating the Virtues to a secondary value at best. This does not serve the community, nor does it serve the Regency, and thus the Regency no longer serves the community as intended. This cannot be tolerated as it weakens our society and strengthens those who serve not the Virtues. It gives validation to those who serve Chaos. Further, it not only places Order and Chaos as equal parcels of society, but also places Virtues and Anti-Virtues as equals. By doing this, the Regency has displaced those guilds of Virtue it was intended to strengthen and unite. By doing this, the Regency has violated itself and become a menace to the Virtues. Due to this desertion from its principles and the Virtues, I call for the dissolution of the current Regency and replacing it with a new Regency that is steeped in the Virtues. I call for the Guilds and peoples of the Virtues to reclaim their rightful governance through the Regency.

I call for this not just because it is righteous and Virtuous, but because it is the only true path to save our lands and serve the memory and desires of Lord British. This will not be an easy path, nor will the task we face weigh lightly upon our shoulders. Quite to the contrary, we will face opposition every step of the way. Those who have perverted our Regency and seized, nay, usurped ill gotten power, all the while relegating the Virtues to a minor role in the ruling decisions, will do every conceivable evil and anti-virtuous act to forestall the return of Virtue as the center column of our Regency, our government.

This was evident at the last public meeting of the Regency Grand Council. When it was brought forth to the attention of those gathered that a member Guild of the Regulators has banned the preaching of the Virtues within their borders. They even were willing to arrest this humble Celebrant for publicly preaching Virtue within their borders. Only due to the Virtues causing their jail doors to refuse to open was I simply escorted from their lands and allowed to walk free and continue to spread the light of the Virtues. When it was further noted that two of those sitting in positions of power and title also had sworn allegiance to another entity, the Regulators, an alliance that allows membership of those who openly oppose acceptance of all the Virtues as a whole and woven truth, and that this was against the Constitution and by laws upon which the Regency was formed and founded, the defense offered by those holding the positions with questionable allegiance was to point to other Guilds who also held a title of power that also does not hold the Virtues as pure truth. They pointed to others trying to deflect the light being shone on their duplicity. They simply pointed out that the Regency as a whole has repudiated the Virtues and the truths bestowed upon the Regency at its founding by our beloved Lord British.

I say we honor their defense that the Regency is now based outside of its founding documents, its founding intents, its founding in Virtue. I say we grant that the Regency is as their assertion states, fully tainted and compromised through and through. I do realize that there are those within the Regency who are of Virtue and hold to the hope that our Regency can still be returned to Virtue, to the path of the Lightbringer. I call for these Guilds, these individuals to join with others of Virtue from our society and renew the Regency to Virtue. This will, most unfortunately, require a baptism by fire to purge those who do not stand in Virtue from the Regency and reunite with those who the Regency has left in the destructive wake of its turning from the true roots of the Virtues.

I further feel that rather than have the statement of fealty being left to each guild to express how and what they will pledge to the Regency, we need to have an actual Oath of Fealty that stands as the basis for those wishing to swear their allegiance to the Regency. This oath will be how all are judged for their purity of purpose and support of both the Regency and the Virtues. An oath, that if broken, would lead to dissolution of their ties to the Regency and the fleshing out to the community as a whole of their breach of loyalty to the Virtues. And from this beginning we could establish a Regency of Virtue, one that unites us in Virtue and not divide us due to lacking Virtues. So let us begin to renew and refresh our Regency and reestablish our alliances through the Virtues to each other, our community, and the new Regency of Virtue. Let us bring light where there is darkness, truth where there is deception, compassion where there is cold indifference, and most of all, Virtue to our governing body, our reborn Regency of Virtue.
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Bartholomew; Celebrant of Virtue {HCV}