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A Foreword on Character
Regarding the Event of 4.12.309, by Florence Amaya
The effect of the inflammatory rhetoric which I had identified had never been clearer. The duel was organized by the Imperial Master of Prowess, and it was biased from the beginning. My duel was reduced to lowly political theater from the fight for honor that it was meant to be. The public was invited to watch, and I was verbally harassed and heckled by both the audience and the Imperial Master of Prowess. This duel was no such thing. It was a mob's trial by combat of Jacobin design. In fact, the mob was so hostile that the Violet Order was called to the scene as riot control.
Throughout this political spectacle, the neglect of honor was made apparent by my opponent. I should have expected nothing more from a codeless knight and a champion of Crookback aberrancy. From the very beginning of the charade, I was bamboozled by the fact that my opponent employed two weapons against me: a magical sword and raw magic itself. I was not informed of the nature of this duel by the Imperial Master of Prowess, but I understand that he very well may have been aiming to guarantee the Crookback Militia Commander's victory due to their friendship. Not only did I have to contest against a rigged matchmaker, a hostile audience, and the surprise of magical attacks, but I also had to maintain my own Monzon Code throughout the match while my opponent has no such responsibility.
It is this which I intend to write on. The environment created by the Imperial Master of Prowess was inadequate. In fact, it was barely any different than having held me in a stock so that I could be spat on by the Regalian public for my association with House Playero at a time when prejudice against the family is at an all-time high. My code establishes that "Fortune and Glory is the highest pursuit of all worthy Knights, and to be valued above all else. Never decline an opportunity to better one's lot in life, unless it would tarnish the Golden Chalice.", but there was nothing glorious about the political theater directed by the Imperial Master of Prowess. In fact, the opposite is true as I was subjected to constant degradation throughout the spectacle. As a representative of the Monzon Order during the duel, my entire community was being disgraced and other present Monzon Knights were idle as this happened.
My code compels me to pursue Glory whenever it would not tarnish the Golden Chalice. My code also establishes that the Golden Chalice is tarnished when the defenseless are attacked ("To raise a weapon against those who cannot defend themselves is to tarnish the Golden Chalice."). However, the Crookback Militia Commander was not defenseless. They were armed and had just won a duel. There were members of the Chancellor's Contingency and the Violet Order at the ready should any hostilities break out. So in the name of revenge for diminishing the Monzon Order in a rigged political theater, I raised my rapier.
Ironically, and in a display of true hypocrisy, Bloodcast Knights were quick to accuse me of violating my code. How they would know anything about following a code when they have none is beyond me. Perhaps it seemed, to the untrained eye, that I was violating my code. Perhaps it seemed that I was violating my code because the hostile audience sees what it wants to see. Perhaps, as indicated by this charade of a duel, the public wishes to see me disgraced at all costs.
My code reads "Never resort to the coward's tactic of backstabbing, for to do so is to dirty one's Fortune.". The meaning of this code is two-fold: a Monzon Knight should never betray, and that a Monzon Knight should never be a coward when they strike from behind. I did not betray the Crookback Militia Commander, and I did not strike him from behind as a cowardly tactic. I did attack him from behind, indeed, but this was a strategic decision to take the opportunity of a situation so that a message could be communicated:
Degrading the Monzon community through heckling, cheating, and reducing a duel to a public spectacle of political theater has consequences.
If not for my actions, the message would have been sent to the Regalian public that anyone could spit at the Monzon Order and get away with injustice after injustice. This is not true. A Monzon Knight is a force to be reckoned with, and we demand your respect. My actions were necessary not only to preserve my Glory, the highest calling of a Monzon Knight, but also the Glory of the entire Monzon Order.
Finally, I shall too make the argument that this was an affront against all of Daendroque-kind. The public has been quick to assign blame to House Playero for the bloodspilled in Daenshore. However, the public also seems to forget that the people of Daenshore were already under the imminent threat of attack by the Second Allorn Empire. The public seems to forget that the people of Daenshore have not forgotten their abandonment by the Regalian military, which opened them up to constant raids. If true, all Mister Eloi Playero is responsible for is motivating the people of Daenshore to take it upon themselves to defend their homeland. Not the military nor the Assembly have shown themselves to be reliable protectors of our people against our historical oppressors.
The people of Daenshore did not only fight because nobody else would fight for them, but also because they wanted to. To assign blame to House Playero for the spilling of blood, when all Mister Eloi Playero did was call for war and not the raids into Second Allorn Empire territory is wrong. To chant "justice for Daenshore" upon the defeat of one of its only defenders in the Crown Isle following a rigged and poor excuse for a duel is wrong. The people of Daenshore were not led into battle by Mister Eloi Playero. The people of Daenshore fought back against the new Allorn oppressors because they were eager to do so, even before the war could be declared according to Mister Eloi Playero's wishes.
True justice for Daenshore is to allow them to handle the Second Allorn Empire as they see fit, and what is fit is the elimination of a nation that does not even recognize our Emperor as legitimate.
Thus I declare: Justice for Daenshore.
