The hard way

My fellow citizens and my siblings in Virtue, I stand with you in this glowing light, and I see proof of the findings of the Doctrine of Enlightenment: Virtue lies in choice - and action.Think of the choices made by everyone who built this cathedral before the bonds of the League or the shape of the Empire was even imagined. They could not have pictured us as we are today, but they dreamed of someone finding inspiration here. They could not have imagined our Nation of Five Cities, nor our Empire of Ten Nations, but they chose to aim high. They built something big enough, grand enough, and inspiring enough for a truly great future. And what they knew well, we must also remember: each brick, each pane of glass and beam of wood - each one is a small, manageable thing that we can choose to grasp and move as we reach for our goals.When the Bishop of Capodomus demolished his house to provide materials to make this glass, he gave his home for his Ambition, not even knowing that his offering would result in such rich amber beauty. He chose action, and we stand beneficiaries of his virtue, his choice, his sacrifice.When we commit ourselves to Virtue, however small, we must take action. As we build a more virtuous world, we know that even the most impenetrable forest will fall one tree at a time. Each choice of our daily lives, each act - can be virtuous, and can be in service to our Empire. In our lives, we make plans for our future. We do not plant trees to give us shade or fruit tomorrow, but to shelter our grandchildren. In the same way, we must pursue Ambitions that take us further into the future than we may live to see. Do not let fears of difficulty come between you and the possibility of achieving greatness for our people, our Empire, and the Way.Yet we must also be committed. We must finish what we start. There is no Virtue in giving up halfway through the forest, even if we grow weary and sore. For countless generations, the Navarr have kept the Vallorn at bay by walking the trods. This implacable adversary with whom there can be no reason or peace. We have, in our lifetimes, the chance to reap the harvest sown by our prior selves [EW1] and be rid of the enemy that dwells in the very heart of our Empire. We owe this to those who came before us - and those who will come after.Imagine it! That is not a world my grandmother - or her grandmother - could have dreamed possible - but if given the chance, they would have embraced it eagerly. Are we weaker folk now, that we will not? Surely, we are not so tired, so poor, so fearful, or so distracted that we will fail to try with all our might to achieve this great Ambition, this great act of virtue.I urge you all to reject the weakness that comes from pettiness and lack of vision. We may be war-weary, we may need to stabilise the Treasury, but hear me now: we are living in a great Empire full of Virtue, which our ancestors laboured on, fought for, and finally entrusted to us. It is an Empire worth cherishing, worth improving, worth defending - and worth paying for. It is a great thing, to be an Imperial Citizen - and we know there is nothing great without cost.Surely each mason felt weary while building this cathedral, one day or another. Their backs and knees ached, and they laboured in mud and dust while dreaming of golden light they never lived to see. But we know that their virtues, their choices, and their small, repeated actions have brought us to this moment. So with the struggles in front of us, I say that we shall face them with small, repeated, virtuous actions - and we shall overcome them. Let us lift up this promised future Empire - entrusted to us by those who went before - and carry it forwards, into the light.It is our task, our duty - our Virtuous Burden - to leave our Empire a better place for our descendants. Let us grant them an Empire without the Vallorn, an Empire closely following The Way. Let us build and bequeath to our children a shining Empire that beckons with a golden light, one that foreigners will emulate, and long to join, even as the cities of the League joined to each other, first through inspiration, and then negotiation, and finally with joy, for the benefit of all.We must sacrifice. We must pay. We must act. We must dare do all, for if we strive virtuously, nothing is beyond our reach.Archbishop Estella Lucati’s sermon on the occasion of the consecration of the Atrium of Golden Light in Capodomus cathedral to Ambition, using true liao.

Overview

The true consecration of Capodomus Cathedral in Sarvos has been a wonder, attracting citizens from all over the Empire and beyond, inviting them to gaze up in wonder at the golden light spilling through the beautiful atrium, demanding they aim high and insistently reminding them that even the most impenetrable forest will fall, if you set yourself to fell one tree at a time.

The power of the aura in this extraordinary setting created a unique opportunity for the Archbishop of Capodomus to preach a powerful sermon, one that inspires the faithful and exhorts them to consider their Ambition. The current Archbishop, Estella Lucati, has seized this moment to deliver an inspiring speech to those visiting the Cathedral urging them to consider what they can do to defeat the vallorn.

The words have spread quickly across the Empire, carried by virtuous pilgrims, and the powerful speech is discussed and debated by folk from all walks of life in all the Imperial nations. There is acknowledgement taht it is an extraordinarily ambitious goal, something that would take years to achieve, but it is far from impossible. The results of the work done at the Great Library of Hacynian have revealed what it would take. Several nations have already committed themselves to finding ways to prepare for the coming battle against the vallorn, or committed themselves wholesale to the coming struggle.

The question now, however, is whether everyone is agreed on the price.

No Price Too High

Ambition teaches that no price is too high to achieve your goals Implicit in that doctrine is the acknowledgement that all goals come with a price The Empire cannot achieve everything it desires, if it tries to do everything, it is likely to fail at everything

The Archbishop's sermon has been abundantly clear that they want the faithful to focus their efforts on destroying the vallorn. The virtue of Ambition takes as many forms as there are people in the world. There is value in the Ambition of any pilgrim no matter how personal their goals, but the words of the Archbishop stirred the imagination of everyone who heard them. Now is not the time to pursue individual aspirations - now is the moment to come together and act as one. No one individual can destroy the vallorn, it is not remotely something even a single nation could achieve. The Navarr have fought the vallorn for the best part of a thousand years and victory still eludes them. Faithful pilgrims across the Empire understand that now is the time to set aside personal dreams and work toward something incredible.

What they are not entirely persuaded on, at least not yet, is that the vallon is the right goal for the Empire to focus on over others. Ambition teaches that no price is too high to achieve your ambitions, but most priests understand that means there will be a price. "Nothing great without cost" is the mantra of the League, a nation built on Ambition. The price, however, is not the cost. It will need a great host of armies to free Liathaven, Hercynia and the other territories from the grip of the vallorn. Thousands will die to achieve this goal - money and mithril will be spent like water. That is the cost.

But the price is different... The price is what you must give up. It could be argued that the Empire faces several great foes, each of which offers the potential to defeat them - three foes that have been called out by the Imperial Synod on numerous occasions. One is the murderous Spring infestation of the vallorn; the others are the boundless cruelty of the Druj, and the heretical corruption of the Asaveans. Each of these threats could be defeated - surely each of them will be defeated in time. But if the Empire actually wants to achieve one of those goals in the next decade - something that is certainly achievable if the Empire is united - then they will have to focus on it. And that focus will be at the expense of dealing with the other two enemies. This is the price.

Of course everyone would like the answer to be that the Empire can fight all three of these enemies at once with all its strength. They can certainly do that. The Empire is currently engaged with the Druj, the Grendel, and the Jotun - no-one can deny the Empire can fight more than one battle at once. But the Empire is not currently making any headway against the Druj - if anything the barbarians are pushing them back on the Eastern front. There is no sign of any real move to take the war to the vallorn. After almost a year of attempting to anchor the Way in Asavea, the Empire is nearly two percent of the way to completing the first step.

If the Empire really wants to achieve something memorable, something astonishing, something Ambitious, then they will need to accept the price. Just as individuals might set their own ambitions aside for a time, the Synod and the Empire will need to give up others Ambitions, for years potentially.

Defeat the Vallorn

The General Assembly can pass a mandate to urge the Empire to focus everything on ridding the world of the Vallorn If this mandate passes then it will create new opportunities to attack the vallorn but there will be far fewer opportunities to defeat the Druj or convert the Asaveans until victory over the vallorn is achieved

The Archbishop has been abundantly clear that the vallorn is the threat they want the Empire to focus on; its destruction is the ambition they urge the virtuous to focus on. This is not the first time members of the Synod has spoken on this subject - there have been statement after statement in many assemblies urging the Empire to defeat the vallorn and free the souls they believe remain trapped in is embrace.

But never before has the price of that Ambition been so stark. Now the Empire has a unique chance to commit to this path, once and for all, to the exclusion of others. To achieve greatness, the Synod will need to strain every sinew - this is not something the Assembly of Ambition can achieve by themselves. But if the General Assembly agrees with the Archbishop then they can use the following mandate to encourage every citizen to take this fateful choice with them.

Even the most impenetrable forest may fall one tree at a time. We send {named priest} with 250 liao to urge the faithful to focus on destroying the vallorn above all other ambitions. No price is too high.Synod Mandate, General Assembly

If this mandate is enacted with a greater majority then it will lay to rest the issue of what great task the Empire should commit themselves to in the coming decade. It will trigger opportunities in the coming season to take the fight to the vallorn, changes to ensure victory as the virtuous devote themselves to this great Ambition. The mandate will herald a new age of war against this ancient enemy - one that offers the promise of a final victory.

The mandate must achieve a greater majority, because it must be sufficient to unite all the nations of the Empire. The priests of Varushka and Urizen have been clear they will not support mandates that do not represent the clear will of the General Assembly, and if the Empire is not united the mandate will achieve little. If the Synod cannot demonstrate that it is united and willing to pay the price of Ambition, then few citizens will be convinced.

The price of this opportunity will be paid in the war against the Druj and the attempt to convert the Asaveans. The project to Anchor the Way in Asavea is not going away, but there will be no new opportunities to advance that goal in the coming years. The Loyalty assembly efforts to destabilize the government of Asavea will continue, but there will be no new opportunities to make that job easier. The Druj are not about to stop fighting the Empire anytime soon, but nobody will be seeking ways to bring their evil empire down, nor encouraging the virtuous to invade the Mallum. Their evil will be left to fester, at least until the vallorn is destroyed.

Other Paths

There is no opportunity for anyone other than Estella Lucati to submit an alternative mandate here The mandate is a profound turning point; creating a mandate with a similar impact would be very difficult

This mandate comes not from a statement of principle but from a unique opportunity to speak powerful words that echo around the Empire. As such, there is no opportunity for other priests to submit an alternative mandate. Estella Lucati could put forward an alternative mandate, or adjust the wording, but it is hard for them to change the potential of this opportunity and impossible for anyone else.

A mandate like this comes along rarely - an opportunity to influence the entire Empire towards the achievement of a long term goal. A simple statement of principle - even one with a greater majority in the general assembly - is unlikely to create a mandate with such an impact. The combination of the historical importance of Capodomus Cathedral and the true consecration produced the opportunity to speak a powerful sermon. There's no way to guarantee this combination happening again, but at the absolute minimum it would require an inspirational location being created from a spiritually important historical place.

The Eyes of Loyalty

The Assembly of Loyalty could use the Eyes of Loyalty on the winning mandate

The influence of the Capodomus Cathedral has been felt most strongly among the followers of Ambition. They have carried the words of the Archbishop across the Empire, exhorting their fellow citizens to commit themselves to the cause. It is down to the General Assembly to decide if the Synod is prepared to urge the Empire to unite against the vallorn - at the expense of those other threats.

The Assembly of Loyalty rarely take the lead in such matters, but their support is often critical. If the Eyes of Loyalty were turned on this mandate, it would urge those Loyal to the idea of a united Empire, to the Synod or the Way as an idea, or to the cause of the vallorn's destruction, to take action.

If that happens, regardless of whether the judgement passes with a greater or lesser majority, then the influence of the Assembly of Loyalty will have a subtle but important effect. Any appraisal that doesn't work towards the overriding goal of destroying the vallorn will have limited effect. The prognosticators will do their best but the overwhelming attitude will be "how does this help the Empire fulfil its true Ambition?" Appraisals that deviate from the grand ambition will still work, but their impact will be muted except where the prognosticators are able to identify opportunities that serve the goals of the appraisal that might also help prepare for or enact the destruction of the vallorn

Many Torches

In addition to the effects of the Sermon, the consecration of Capodomus brings with it a number of other opportunities

While the focus is on the Archbishop's sermon, the true consecration has had several other effects as well, as laid out in the Golden light wind of fortune last season. They include increased donations for the archbishop; the opportunity to create the Lucati gallery; the chance for Imperial citizens to claim new resources; the year-long ability for congregations to lecture on the importance of visiting Capodomus and for National assemblies to recognise ambitious citizens; and the chance to lay Empress Giselle to rest in the cathedral vaults.

Participation

The words of the inspiring sermon echo across the Empire Any character may have heard or read them, or been present in the audience for the initial sermon

The words spoken by Estella Lucati echo across the Empire. Rather than being distributed by the civil service, they are carried by pilgrims who visit the Cathedral. They are also quickly arranged into a pamphlet by the printers of Sarvos, along with somewhat fanciful woodcuts claiming to depict the sermon itself, and a few pages thrown together by a hack writer about the vallorn, the successes at the Great Library of Hacynian, and the recent words of support from the League assembly for the fight against the vallorn. Characters from all walks of life can have read these words, or heard them recited, and players are encouraged to have an opinion on this matter, discuss it with their priests, or where appropriate make their own copies of the speech.

It's also appropriate for characters to claim (truthfully or not) to have been in the audience for that initial sermon; to talk about how the sun seemed to set the atrium afire, how the words of the Archbishop resonated and moved people almost to tears with their power and urgency, and about the profound experience of hearing them while immersed in the consecration of Ambition.