Letter from Marad Serec to Maressja Eclipse
This document is a letter composed in secret by Marad Serec, the prefect of the Kalriv town of Nebros, in response to an earlier piece of correspondence sent to him by the anti-slaver revolutionary and member of Liberty's Eclipse, Maressja Eclipse. It addresses and rejects a request by Maressja to grant amnesty to Liberty's Eclipse, and provide amnesty and safe haven to thousands of escaped and liberated slaves.
Historical Details
Background
The letter was written amidst a hotbed of tension in the Kalriv Empire between dissatisfied and escaped slaves and traditional slaveholding Kalriv nobles attempting to rein them in. It also takes place during a shift in the power dynamic of the northern Empire, particularly the town of Nebrion.
Since his accession to the prefecture of Nebrion at the age of thirty two (about ten years prior to the writing of this document), Marad Serec has spearheaded a movement of reconciliation towards slaves and freed labourers that falls just shy of open abolitionism. Serec himself freed and employed his family's slaves on the passing of his father, and has implemented initiatives to both improve the lot of existing slaves and provide incentives to free them completely.
This has caused anti-slave revolutionaries to see him as a powerful figure for potential change in the Empire, and a possible ally. Maressja Eclipse, leader of Liberty's Eclipse, has taken this to another level, sending an outright request for aid and refuge for the organisation. It does not appear Maressja expected this offer to be accepted, but instead seemed to be gauging the sincerity of Serec's motives.
For Serec's part, it shows a shrewd political mind - while never outright siding with Liberty's Eclipse, and while outright condemning their deeds, it can be said that he also shows his hand as a sympathetic figure to slaves. He states his opposition to an alliance and openly explains the dangers of this, his responsibilities, and why he believes his method of subtle change from within will work as opposed to Maressja's more violent method of rebellion. It is considered a leap of faith on his part - the tablet, while not a confession of anything, would certainly raise eyebrows among Var Kalriv's elite if discovered. Fortunately, the tablet was destroyed on receipt.
Contents
To Maressja Eclipse, I write in response to your tablet requesting the aid of my office and the request for quarters of your organisation in the town of Nebrion. This was a foolish thing for you to do. Perhaps you are shameless in your role overtly attacking the Kalriv Empire, flouting the will of the Solar Faith and announcing yourself to everybody within a five hundred kilometre radius, but I can't see you living much longer if you keep this flamboyant and bombastic approach. You also need to begin thinking of people outside of your circle and its aims. You don't seem to understand the number of people you have put in danger just by daring to pull off a stunt like this. In case it is still unclear, your request for quarter in Nebrion and your request for an alliance is denied. I am not unsympathetic to your plight. The fact that this letter is being delivered to you by courier and not by a force of legionaries should make that quite obvious. I pride Nebrion on being a town with one of the highest rates of freed slaves per person, and I pride myself on paying my workers a fair wage. I believe Venderus' will never stipulated that the Guardians had the right to enslave others. However, what you are asking me to do - to give safe harbour to Liberty's Eclipse, to turn a blind eye to your activities and to actively go against the established order - goes beyond mere tolerance and mild disobedience of the Empire's expectations of me and straight into outright treason against the crown. In the eyes of the law, your group are bandits. My feelings, if I chose to make them public - which I do not - are not relevant. At the absolute least your people have committed murder, kidnapping and theft. That is how every Kalriv Legate and Sun Legate sees it, that's how the Basileus sees it, that's how the majority of the Guardian caste sees it. In the end, I am a subject of the Basileus and a servant of the Kalriv Empire, not some kind of rebel leader or pretender to the Basileus' seat. I cannot turn a blind eye to your actions and I cannot give your band of criminals safe harbour. In truth, I am taking enough of a risk not having you arrested and executed - and my only saving grace is I don't happen to know where you are. Let me put it bluntly. Despite what you seem to think, this decision doesn't just weigh on me alone. What you ask of me will put the lives of not only myself and my family in danger, but also could see hundreds, maybe thousands, of the people of my town facing reprisals. This is simply not an acceptable risk to me. It is also worth keeping in mind that if I am dismissed - or executed - as a result of colluding with a bandit and terrorist, the Legate will likely choose a replacement for the town of Nebrion far harsher than me. Nobody wins by making the decision that you are asking me to make. I would suggest you destroy this tablet on receipt and forget that we ever had this correspondence. It is better for everybody that you and I never even be aware the other exists. Don't come to Nebrion. You'll only tighten the yoke I have worked hard to loosen, and I cannot stop your crucifixion if you do. -MS
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