We have been out of touch since I joined the exodus to the new lands and I know you do not approve of my ways and never have, but things have
occurred to make me send this letter to you that you may know your son and that you may know what might be coming.

I am a mercenary and, by and large, that means that the factional conflicts upon Atys do not concern me, other than that they provide more
opportunities for gainful employment. War is good for the coffers of The Samsara; conflict puts food on our tables.

I pay lip service to the Kami because it makes sense when you live in a land where they are strong and, to be honest, I mistrust the Karavan.
What are they hiding behind those suits and masks? Where do they get the unnatural Meh-Tahl that their floating buildings are made of? Have
you ever touched it? It is cold, like bone, like death, a thing unnatural, wrought not grown.

But no father, I do not entirely trust the Kami whom you worship so blindly either.

The fearless leader of our mercenary band feels a little differently to me, most of us will side with the Kami when push comes to shove, of
which I am sure you will approve, but it takes a little less shoving to make Kostika see their side. My first and eternal love is the dapper,
but even I grudgingly admit that some things are more important than money, knowledge being one of them.

All of this became suddenly more relevant when word reached us that the Karavan supporters in Matis had rooted out some 'spies'. A huge bounty
was placed on the heads of these spies, they hoped they could be killed before they gave out any Karavan secrets or undermined the Jenite lands.

Knowledge is a precious commodity, especially knowledge of someone or something that is setting itself up to be your enemy. In immediate
reaction to this news the Kami forces began to stir, rousing themselves to fight for no better reason than to thwart the efforts of the Karavan.
For myself, I'm a curious fellow, and I wanted to know what information could be worth killing over.

As our armies mustered there were attempts to call for peace, Lienchang on the side of the Kami and Frydeswinde on the side of the Karavan made
impassioned calls for peace but to no avail. Tensions over the prime roots and other points of religious and practical disagreement flared
and those who tried for peace were forced to fight or were cut down later, even as they held out their hands in friendship.

The conflict, of course, was interesting to me. The Jenites were given 'permission' to breach into the prime roots, not that their religious
injunction has ever stopped them before, but this time those who lead them told them to pursue there. Thinking that their faith was more
important to them than their bloodthirstiness the agents had hidden there in the roots.

They were to be proved wrong.

I thought this strange already, I know men of faith father, I remember you and the others, the prayers to Mah-Duk morning noon and night. Your
faith was inflexible, unchanging, to see them cast aside their beliefs to easily seemed to me to trivialise the worship of Jena, or,
alternatively, to show the seriousness with which they took the threat of these 'spies'.

Each time the factions conflicted the result was the same. The Kami force outmanoeuvred the Karavan force and showed great cunning in
achieving their objectives, something I am sure will give you great cheer. The undisciplined Tryker and the arrogant Matis can be powerful
individual opponents but, against the organised fighting power of the Fyros and the wisdom of the Zorai they were no match.

In the first instance we split our forces, leaving a group to make a holding action to delay the Karavan forces while a separate group
spirited away the 'spy' to safe asylum in Zorai lands. They did not recognise the tactic until it was too late and so the 'spy' was saved.

In the second instance they too learned the value of tactics when they tried to block our access to one of the great portals. Again though, we
battled our way through, concentrating our smaller force to great effect and methodically breaching their defences until they were defeated. If
they had thrown all their forces into the fray we would have been lost, but they seemed hesitant somehow, unsure.

It transpired in the end that these 'spies' were, in fact, agents of The Guild of Elias, friends to neither Kami nor Karavan and the information
they left behind was sketchy at best. They were trying to contact important guilds and individuals across the lands, to set up lines of
communication for some manner of revelation in the future.

What could they know?

Why would the Karavan wish to stop them? For, despite all their protestations to the contrary, I believe the Karavan was truly behind
this, their agent just a sacrificial yubo to give up if anything went wrong.

I find myself with more questions than answers but still, it is good, sometimes, to fight to protect innocent life as well as to fight for
dapper.

Father, we keep hearing strange talk of something to come, something bad, something that will change everything and that The Guild of Elias
has stepped out of myth and heresy to contact us suggests that this is true. Whatever else I am, I am your son and you are my father, you deserve to be warned. Something is coming and the Kami and Karavan grow
more strident in their opposition to each other.

Your son,

Jyudas
High Officer of The Samsara
2525