To HRH The Princess Alusair and her Court

[boatmurdered]

Dear Madam, and those of her court,

I write now because I love Cormyr, her people, her culture, and her lands, and have served her interest and name in the best manner I can. The proposal I am about to put forth may seem radical to some, but please understand I propose it as a means to try and help it through these dark times that have gripped her.

What I propose is as follows: To better protect Cormyr and her interest, to secure her borders, and to expand her tax base, I would rally the half-orcs of this land, soldier, carpenter, miner, logger, et alia, and lead them north to the Stonelands, wherein we shall establish a fort, to begin with, and then expand it to a town. It shall be a Cormyte fort, a Cormyte settlement, governed by a Cormyte leader and subject to the crown of Cormyr.

In order to pursue this goal, I must ask and have your permission. After all, I am for all intents raising an army. I would hardly consider doing something of this magnitude without your permission, let alone informing you.

How then, does this all benefit Cormyr? Firstly, it will help secure the Stonelands, long thought to have mineral wealth that is untapped due to the harshness of the land, and reduce or remove the threats therein. Secondly, it will establish for, as far as I am aware, the first half-orc based village and region within Faerun, which leads to the third benefit, that you and Cormyr will be hailed by half-orcs across the realm for allowing us to govern ourselves, within reason, and granting us a place we can truly call home. This will of course lead to immigration, expansion, and a larger tax-farm for the coffers of Cormyr.

I do not pretend that the court would agree to do this on a purely the basis of helping a lost people find a home. I do not think I need to tell your majesty what having the loyalty of a people like the half-orcs would do to benefit the military arm of Cormyr.

While I do not ask any material goods or wealth or armor or weapons to equip such a force, I will gladly accept anything you would grant as a boon, though your permission is all I seek. If I were to request anything beyond this permission, it would be that the criers of the land be used to help spread word of this venture.

If you or any of your court wish, I would be honored to present my mission to you in person in Suzail, at any time you so choose.

Attached is the oath I would like to have those who join in this endeavor take, with your permission, and your final edit of the words within. I will admit I am not very good at oaths, but I tried to remember the ones I took during my time during the Goblin War.

Your Humble Servant,
Derric Paterson

I, insert name here, hereby pledge myself to the endeavor to take the Stonelands for the half-orc people, and for Cormyr and her Crown, and that I shall not break my oaths given with knowledge that to do so is to be declared oathbreaker within that land, unless I speak to the leader of the endeavor first, and inform him of why I feel I must break my oath, whereupon, if he agrees, I shall no longer be bound.

I, insert name here, swear to follow the duly appointed leader of the endeavor, and to obey the laws and customs of Cormyr, until such a time as I leave the expedition or land of Cormyr in peaceful circumstances. Should I betray or quit my oath in hot rage or cold spite, I shall be known as oathbreaker within the land. I shall do whatever I can to help the endeavor and its goals, and not work against them.

With the gods as my witness, this I swear.

Signature here.

[highknight]

Goodman Paterson,

Your letter has been received and is being reviewed.

Thank you for your interest,
Alexis Rambleshields
3rd Undersecretary to the Royal Sage Most Learned

[boatmurdered]

Dear madam, and those of her court,

While I do not mean to be forward in my pressing, I must urge you to deliver to me the list of nobility and the writ that you promised me, the sooner the better.

As you may have heard, I have had an attempt on my life, and while the speech I gave in the gardens was telling the truth. While the movement will not die, my unfortunate and permanent death would probably lead, at this point, to misplaced zeal. An unwatched pot boils over, as it were, and the water is already bubbling.

When you have the opportunity, I will most likely be at the wailing wheel in Suzail, so you need not even wastes a teleportation spell on me.

On the off-chance you haven't read my speech, which is quite possible since I've been distributing it in lower-class areas, I have attached a copy to this letter.

Your humble servant,
Derric Paterson

[An attached scroll]

I come before you today to speak to you of hope. Since the first half-orc was born in ages past, it has been used as a word of insult, of shame, of hatred. That this blood you see before you is vile by nature.

For most who live with this blood, we find ourselves hiding, keeping our heads down, dreading the day when we make some small mistake, or someone takes some offense to us. Knowing that we'll be forced to move on, no matter where we are or whether we can even do it safely.

So I come to give you hope. I come to give you word of a settlement, proposed by me, supported by the crown, where Half-orcs can live in peace, without having to worry about the neighbor next door being threatened by our existence, where we will not be judged by what our parents are, but what we do day to day.

For a half-orc, is still a person. They have the same hopes and dreams as many others. They would like to live peacefully, working for something they can believe in, marrying, perhaps having children in a world where those children are not cursed to walk the world pariahs.

I want to give us a place where we can simply be. The crown has given there support in this, and have picked a place for us, not within the Stonelands, but nearby. The purple dragons will help train our militia, and in times I have been assured that half-orcs will be allowed in the purple dragons, given they can prove themselves.

We will have all the rights and privileges of citizens of Cormyr, all of them. And most of all, we will not be ruled by a human, but by a half-orc. Who that half-orc will be is undecided, but the crown has promised me that the line will be one who is orc blooded. A half-orc noble family, to help lead the half-orc settlement.

We will be allowed to set our own destiny. That is to say, we will finally have the chance to try paths, not that we will succeed in those paths. This nobility will ensure stability, both for the half-orcs and Cormyr as a whole, as the blood of nobility is more connected to the land then most.

But this will come at a price. We must work hard, we must show that we are not orcs! We are not humans! But then so many aren't in this world. We must guard our new home from the forces that would try to take it from us, whether orc or man or giant!

Already, forces are moving against us. The followers of the tyrant god have sent assassins after me! There are those who would kill this hope before it was even born, and to them I say: You are too late!

For in the heart of every half-orc who hears these words is my philosophy. The philosophy of honor, duty, loyalty, good ambition, and most of all, hope! That word will spread, already has spread, as fire in the dry grass! And if you strike me down now then that fire will burn righteously, and you will find the hand of every half-orc across Faerun turned against you.

And even then the cause will not die, once you are dismantled, for it is in all of them. I was simply the spark that was needed, and now that fire burns. The crown supports them, and they support themselves. Against such an alliance, no foe can stand, no obstacle is to large.

To my brothers and sisters of the blood, I ask of you this: Give hope a chance. I know to well the pain of what it's like to hope, and have that torn asunder. I know how it is to walk down the street and be judged a monster. I know the temptations to give in. But we are better then that.

Most of all, I ask you to temper your rage. When someone insults you, turn your cheek and look away. If they strike you, you are a half-orc! Use your toughness to ignore them. Give them no cause to cry foul against you! Your greatest weapon is your heart and your mind!

For the day is coming when the word Half-orc will no longer be an insult! It will be a word that means tough, loyal, strong, and brave! That journey, that change, begins here, today! The crown supports us! The nobles will support us!

Only the heartless stand against us, and as long as our hearts and minds stay strong they cannot win! A homeland for half-orcs!

For the Regent, for Cormyr, and most of all, for us!