Freedom Papers

The Freedom Papers is a collection of pamphlets, broadsides, and handbills published under the name of Ranves Darn; a fanatical follower of Regent-Lady Hellissa Brisby and her liberal-progressive reforms.

Hope & Change for the Kingdoms of the Future
Distributed in pamphlet form and in large quantities throughout Stromgarde, Tyr's Hand, Hearthglen, Light's Hope, Blackmarsh, Pyrewood, Ironforge, and parts of Stormwind on the 26th of March, 623 K.C.

People of the Alliance, brave souls of the North, brothers and sisters of the Highlands, I call for you to read my words with the greatest of attentiveness, understanding, and hopeful reserve. I ask you to respect the honor of my words and, should you, in your better judgments, so decide they hold little merit, to censure me in your great wisdom.

If there be any of you who read this work and consider yourself a friend of the Thane Corelas, an ally of that bastion of ignorance and backwardness, to them I say this; my love for the Thane was once no less than your own. If you then demand, why do I speak out against the Thane, then my answer to you is this: I speak not because I have loved Everen Corelas less than any of you, but because I have loved Stromgarde more. Would you rather that Corelas still rule as Palatine and we die as slaves to the archaic laws he propagated, or that he might be exiled so we could live as free and equal men under the illustrious reign of the Regent-Lady Hellissa Brisby?

As Corelas loved the Highlands, I weep for him; as he was fortunate to have been such a favored son of the Highlands, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him: but, as he was tyrannical, we were forced to banish him. There are true tears for the love he bore this land, joy for the fortune he once held, honor for his past valor, and the exile of his cruel ambition.

Who reading this would be a slave master for the laws of old? Rise up and speak, if I have given you offence!

Who here is so despicable that they would not call themselves a true Highlander in favor of equality for all? If there are any of you, come forth and speak, speak those who by these printed words I offend!

Who here is so vile, so wretched, so contemptible not to love his country and embrace this new, true, reign of the Regent-Lady Brisby? If there are any, rise, rise and speak if I have caused offence!

With those words spoken, with those words read, dear wise readers, I must entreat you to continue in your reading, for it is the true message of this new regency that lies ahead in my words. Thane Corelas is the past and we, those under our new leader, represent the future of this bleak and dark world. In this civil war, brother has been arrayed against brother, and father against son. The warmest ties of love and acquaintance and association have been disregarded. Old leaders have been cast aside when they refused to give expression to the sentiments of those whom they would lead, and new leaders have risen to give direction and purpose to this cause of freedom in the Highlands. Thus has the contest has come to an end and we have emerged as the glorious victors, as the true representatives of the people of the Highlands.

We of this new faith, this new era, do not come as individuals. But we stand before you representing people who are the equals before the law of this new Highland State. When you come before us and tell us that we shall disturb your old traditions and customs, we reply that it has been you that has disturbed our rights as people in these Eastern Kingdoms by your actions, that it is you who has violated the inalienable rights of every person with your veiled shackles of custom and tradition, be they Highlander or not.

Is not the citizen, no longer a peasant or serf, who, when alleviated of his heavy tax burden, becomes every much a noble of this land as the highest Queen or Duke? I ask of you, do the poor and unemployed of this nation have every much the right to work and prosper as the most renowned war hero of any royal army? The mothers, the strong and resolute women of our Eastern Kingdoms, do they not deserve the chance to raise their children without the burdens of financial concern, does not the government have a responsibility to care for these brave women and their children whilst they raise our next generation? Does not every single child have the unchallengeable right to a free and enlightened education, unhindered by the superstitions of the Church and dogma of those repressive old shackles the Thane Corelas called ‘tradition?’ Does not every single man on this fair Azeroth have the unalienable right to know that he cannot be held in bondage as the property of another? Does not every single citizen deserve the exact same rights “be they noble, common, or outsider?”

I state to you now, wise readers of these humble words, these undeniable truths. That the non-worshipper of the Light in a country town is as much a true and just noble moralist as the most high Bishops in their grand Cathedrals in the grandest of metropolises. That the traveling merchant at the crossroads is as much a businessman and noble as the entrenched store merchant of Stormwind. That the farmer who goes forth in the morning and toils all day, begins in the spring and breaks his back all summer, and by the application of brain and muscle to the natural resources of the land creates wealth, is as much a noble as the armored knight who rides forth to trample the Forsaken beneath the hooves of his mighty war steed. The miners who go hundreds of feet into the earth or climb hundred of feet upon the cliffs and bring forth from their hiding places the precious metals to be poured in the channels of trade are as much noble as the handful of monarchs that adorn themselves with baubles of gold and silver.

I speak for this broader class of nobleman. For far too long have we been too cowardly, so utterly fearful that we dared not say one word against those who live within high Castles and manors. All this is changed with the toppling of the past in Arathor and from this change a new hope cane bear fruit for all the peoples of the Eastern Kingdoms. I as you all now, in light of this revolution, can we continue in our silence? Can we remain docile while those hardy Highlanders, Lordaeronians, and Gilneans who braved all the dangers of this broken land of the North, who have made this desert of undeath to blossom as the rose, those pioneers away out there, rearing their children near the torn heart of a fallen kingdom, where they can mingle their voices with the voices of the yet newly returned larks and sparrows, out there where they have erected houses of education for their children and cast off the shackles of a meddlesome Clergy; can we let them stand alone under their yet still unenlightened rulers? It is these people, these true nobles who are as deserving of the consideration of equality as any people in all of the Northlands.

It is for these that we speak. We do not come as aggressors to the lands of Lordaeron, Stormwind, Gilneas, or Ironforge. Our war is not a war of physical conquest, our war is the one of ideas, the one of prosperity for all, the conflict for freedom of clerical supremacy, the battle for equal rights with the highest of monarchs; the fight for freedom!

We are fighting in the defense of our homes, our families, and prosperity. We have petitioned, and our petitions have been answered by the enlightened Regent-Lady Brisby. We have entreated, and our entreaties have been taken up as a great banner by our righteous inspiration, our great leader,; The Regent Brisby. We have begged, and where others have mocked and scorned us for our low birth. The Regent Brisby has embraced us with open and warm arms. She has embraced us as a mother to her children, and for such we shall carry forth her awe inspiring example, we shall spread the message of freedom to all corners of the Eastern Kingdoms and, dear brothers and sisters, we shall not stop until every man and woman may stand with pride and know that They. Are. Equal.

The most humble servant of freedom, Mr. Ranves Darn.

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