Today Lundar has released a letter from the Mystic Council. Much to my surprise, they have announced a deal between themselves and the Brion brothers for six of the Orga teleporation stones. I will give my impressions of the letter, but first please read the original.

To summarize, here are the terms of the deal as stated in the letter:

The Mystic Council captures six stones from the Orga and give them to the Brions. In return, the Brions construct a stable portal to the ethereal plane, provide trainers in the constructions and disassembly stable portals, and share what they learn from studying the stones.

Of course the letter does not include any additional terms that the Council might have chosen to keep secret.

Note that the letter does not promise that any of this will be made freely available to non-mystics. Will the trainers and the information sharing be for mystics only? Perhaps for Full Mystics only? Will the portal be placed in a location accessible to all, or in a locked area that only Full Mystics will have keys to?

Following are some additional comments on parts of the letter.

All of the Brothers have warned that continued uncontrolled access to the Ethereal Plane engenders an unspecified, but real, danger to the planes known to exiles, including Purgatory. There have been accounts of dangerous beings breaking the bounds of their planes and passing into both our material plane and the plane of Purgatory. The Brothers have attributed the intrusions to the weakening of the planar boundaries, due to the unrestricted travel.

The specific well-known example of the harm of uncontrolled access is the leakage of ether into Purgatory when someone departs from the Ethereal Plane. Since a permanent portal would inevitably result in a much larger number of such departs, Purgatory would actually be in much greater danger than it is now. This would be true regardless of who controls the portal, because unless it is never used at all (which would defeat the purpose) more exiles will be going to the Ethereal than are now.

Not addressed in the letter is the possibility of damage caused by experiments involving the stones. I for one would like to see some credible assurance that whatever the Brions do with them will not have any negative side effects.

At least two of the Brothers advocate attacking, and possibly destroying, our small settlement, should we fail to deliver to their "requests."

The Council does not wish to draw the ire of potentially powerful beings, and their minions. While threats of violence cannot be recognized as a valid negotiation technique, the Council desires the benefits of a peaceful sharing of knowledge rather than the destruction of war.

Such threats are not particularly credible, since the Brions can't get the stones themselves--they need us to do it for them. If the Brions go to war with us to get the stones, they automatically lose no matter how the war goes.

Still, do we really want to be giving powerful magical items to people who threaten us with destruction, no matter how dubious the threat? After all, once they have the stones the Brions won't need us any more, and we will have given them what could be a powerful weapon to use against us.

The Orga are a known hostile and violent race, competing with the exile community for the space and resources of this small island chain. Their possession of powerful tools that can be used to move large forces is an unqualified threat.

The Council would prefer those tools be taken from the Orga, and held by exiles or their allies. Increasing our knowledge of these Stones will also aid in our survival. The Brothers have offered to share the results of their research into the Stones' use and function.

Journeyman Neige recently sued to stop Mystic Manticore from doing just that, with the tacit approval of the Council. I served on the jury in that case, and opposed Neige's effort to keep the stone in the hands of the Orga rather than let it be taken by a Mystic he had some vague dispute with. I find the Council's sudden concern (without, you will note, any hint of condemnation for Neige) hypocritical in the extreme.

In the light of all the aforementioned considerations, The Council of Mystics asks that the people of Puddleby support the offered exchange. While we do not trust the Brothers completely, we feel that in this matter, the benefits outweigh the risks.

I ask that the people of Puddleby refrain from assisting the Council in this effort. This is a deal between two groups which have made clear their disdain for our community. They have not and will not hesitate to advance their own agendas even it damages the exile community--certain Mystics have even said so openly.

I am not completely opposed to a deal with the Brions, but any such deal must be made with the involvement of all exiles, for the benefit of all exiles, and not just for the benefit of an arrogant, deceitful cabal. It must also include assurances that the Brions will not use any knowledge they gain against us, and that the experiments will not be harmful to us or to the planes.

I urge all exiles to speak out when you hear of a raid on the Orga, urging people not to assist the Full Mystics. However, I certainly do not suggest using Neige's tactic. While effective, stopping the Council in that way would be sinking to their level, and I firmly believe that we must retain the morale high ground.