“CITIZENS OF DAWN, CHILDREN OF MOTHER GLIM, TRUE PILGRIMS OF LIGHT!”

Dawn came upon Dawn in Mingwa of 813. The city of Dawn, that is - a township that lie in the very heart of Verlichten. A city from light, said to be blessed by Mother Glim herself, said to be the home of Glim's Chosen, the legend among legends. And yet it almost seemed like the sun never set on Dawn, for the first burned all day and all night, as they had for years. The preachers needed the light, so that their firey sermons may never end.

“EVEN NOW, EVEN IN OUR CONSTANT DEVOTION TO MOTHER GLIM, WE HAVE FAILED HER! EVEN AS WE BUILD HER ABBEYS AND HOLY HOSPITALS AND GOTTMAUERS, WE HAVE FAILED HER!”

It was true – the Orthodoxy began construction of many things in Verlichten, Leichstadt, Boschemer, and Heuvelstadt. All sorts of holy places – places of great healing, places of great history, monasteries and abbeys, and even a grand Cathedral had been made from old Camelot Castle. Even little Diebdorp was getting a lavish church of its own, decked out in glimmering gems, silver trimmings and alabaster statues. Funny, wasn’t it, that a stolen burgh was gaining stolen goods? But what was more was the Gottmauers: rigid, sturdy, and intimidating places of worship. Warrior Priests tended to these places, and they’d infested Lum, Straharia, Fluss, and even the Station Square.

“IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT WE BUILD GREAT THINGS IN HER NAME, AND IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT WE ABIDE BY HER GUIDANCE! WE MUST END THE SINNINGS OF OUR BRETHREN, OF THE FORLORN CHILDREN OF MOTHER GLIM! LOOK AROUND, AND YOU WILL FIND THESE FORLORN CHILDREN, WHO DEFY THEIR GREAT MOTHER!”

A common saying, and the Glaunist Orthodoxy didn’t only say it. There was nary a trader in Dawn, and traders were as stupid as they were clever and greedy. They would venture anywhere for profit, but there was no longer profit in Dawn, unless you paid your tithe to the Church. It was being used for good, they said, for the betterment of all of Glim’s children. That the Basilicas they were building were hospitals, and served as orphanages. That the Monasteries recorded knowledge, and served as libraries. But these Cathedrals towered only half-done, the Monasteries laid bare and incomplete, both shunned in favor of the Gottmauers.

“THE SIN HAS A NAME, BROTHERS AND SISTERS! THE SIN HAs A NAME! ITS NAME IS CARNATAK! A SCOURGE! A PESTILENCE! A BLIGHT THAT MUST BE CLEANSED FROM US! EVEN NOW, DARKNESS AND DESPAIR HANGS OVER PORT AURORA, FOR IT IS THE HEART OF CARNATAK! EVEN NOW, MOTHER GLIM CANNOT BEAR TO LOOK UPON THAT WRETCHED PLACE!”

True, Port Aurora was a wretched hole that stank of shit-covered gilders and broken dreams. True, Carnatak had taken the city by storm, first through fever then through fervor. True, it was wild, and could be terrible. But was it truly untamable? Was it truly unredeemable? Was it truly a horror that had come from a savage place beyond the horizon, where Mother Glim did not show her light?

“THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, AND THE VERY WORLD WAS WIPED CLEAN BY MOTHER GLIM’S TEARS FOR HER FAILED CHILDREN! DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!”

Glaunism taught as much – that sin was very literally the undoing of the world, and brought on disasters. And the world had seen its fair share of disaster. Misery hung over Glimmer like a cloud, and news had come of countless civilizations crumbling. Pirates and crooks became admirals and burghers, and the greed that had always been in Glimmer no longer just a faint miasma, but a fetor like that of an infected wound. Perhaps the world truly was coming to an end.

“WE MUST RESOLVE, BROTHERS AND SISTERS! WE MUST STEEL OURSELVES! WE MUST FIGHT TO PRESERVE OUR MORALS AND FOLLOW MOTHER GLIM’S GUIDANCE! WE MUST RIGHT THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN LEAD ASTRAY! WE MUST DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BRING MOTHER GLIM’S FAVOR BACK TO ALL HER CHILDREN! WE MUST DO WHAT IT TAKES TO SAVE ALL FROM UTTER DAMNATION! WE MUST DO WHAT IT TAKES TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT!”