Reflections upon the Freedom Papers

Reflections upon the Freedom Papers is a short essay written by the conservative author Sir Ferenold Stormshend, in response to "Hope & Change for the Kingdoms of the Future." Although it first was distributed only amongst several districts of Stormwind populated by nobles, after its initial success it was found amongst nearly all major cities in Azeroth under the rule of the alliance.

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Concerning the recent treasonous pamphlet, addressed humbly to Ranves Darn,

It may not be unnecessary to inform the reader that these following reflections proceed wholly of my own accord, and that any blame to be placed upon their true nature ought be aimed directly at my immortal soul, rather than that of Thane-palatine Everen Corelas. Having stated such, I will consider carefully the affairs of Arathor, and what manner of a mind may have produced a pamphlet as-such...

The primary quality of this rhetoric is not a careful consideration of the practical affairs of man, bu rather a neglect of the whole sordid ordeal that constitutes reality. However, some newfound fruit which may relieve man of his poverty is not granted by the vision provided in this pamphlet. For even the blessed wine of the gods is hereby repudiated, the church cast down as the specter of a relic, and all our hallowed foundations thus defiled...

Firstly, a man is drawn to the accusations leveled at the person of Thane Everen Corelas. There is a cruelly moralizing tone that at once becomes apparent in Sir Darn's judgement: the Thane is considered a bastion of ignorance and backwardness, and hence all the accumulated wisdom of the Thane is nullified before a judgement made without scrutiny. The thane is a most educated man, bearing within him a kindly regard for the past that is dangerous without proper diligence: but the Thane provides diligence. He has never sought to return Arathor to its most archaic state, but rather to revive laws which may better fulfill the nation-spirit of the entirety of Arathor.

I resolve that Duchess Helissa Brisby, in contrast to Thane Everen Corelas, is not a highlander. She was certainly born a Highlander, and she certainly lived within the highlands for many years, but she does not live as a highlander. Her goal is not to rebuild the Highlands, but rather to strip all of its foundations out from under itself, to render Arathor rootless and profane, without the support of its blessed past. These accusations are affirmed at every turn with her laws, which imitate not any ancient governance of Arathor, but rather hail directly of the gnomes.

And in supplanting the old laws of Arathor with gnomish inventions, she corrupts what once seemed to be the inviolable nation-spirit of Arathor. It is evident from her trade policies that she seeks to make Arathor into some manner of an international cosmopolis, with other races seeking domination over Arathians. Her policy of 'free trade' and her appalling lack of tariffs shall undoubtedly cause what highlands industry to remain to quickly be starved out by cheap dwarven goods...

It is however, not these strictly practical issues with the doctrine of Brisby that bring forth the most indignation from a right-thinking man. It is the belief in equality - complete and utter equality, that shall wreck a nation and create a culture of decadence. Contrary to all that has been stated in this pamphlet, equality does not serve to exalt man, but rather to condemn man.

Equality leads to democracy, and democracy is the abolishment of nobility and the folly of the mass made manifest in law. Equality serves to repudiate all that is heroic in man: it spits upon the pious knight, demeans the aged theologian, and slays the regal country-noble. It serves to ultimately convert the peasant - a most noble creature in his own right, a carrier of ancient folk-wisdom, into some manner of a cosmopolitan lout!

Sir Darn alleges that it is tradition and custom which serve as a tool of oppression. He seems to possess a dystopian perspective of the past - a continual disdain of all the toils of men that have come before him. He essentially believes that what he contrives within his own mind ascends above all the work of our political predecessors, whom have wrought a system intending to truly exalt man. At the root of his idea lies the assumption that these sacred institutions which we so treasure serve merely as a tool of economic exploitation.

I am not such a cynic. Tradition and custom hails from the soul of a culture.

Observe how the waves at eventide rise and fall in movements - they possess not an individual will, but bend to the will of a higher godhead. Each civilization possesses its own enigmatic idea from whence all their enumerated wisdom and culture arise from. I would not so readily cast an embittered stone upon the hallowed past, on which we to-day stand.

Ferenold Stormshend.