THE GOOD GOBAITHIAN: ISSUE ONE
To all my fellow Gobaithians. You are about to read something very important.
'Who am I?' I hear you ask. 'Why should I care what you have to say? Why should I listen?' Who am I? I shall tell you.
I am that burly dwarf who sold you a suit of Salkamaerian armour a year ago. I am that halfling you occasionally purchase food from. I am that elfess who smiled at you one night across a campfire, that warrior who accosted you on a journey to Varshikar.
I am your friend, I am your lover, I am your enemy. I am your training partner you occasionally meet up with in the yard. I am a feared bandit, I am a rich man, I am a poor man, I am your daughter and your son, I am that lofty mage who appears every now and then. I am lizard, human, dwarf, halfling, pixie, elf, even orc. I am a GOOD GOBAITHIAN.
Brothers and sisters, it is time to wake up. For years now, we as a people, have been sleepwalking, without realising it, into an abyss. Good folk, GOOD GOBAITHIANS go about their daily lives without purpose or reason. You go about your tasks, you sit round campfires and joke and talk, you love and change, but my friends, you have no passion. We, as a nation, have lost our passion. Our drive. Our desire to MEAN SOMETHING.
Our governor sits in his hall as if in hiding, rarely showing his face, sending out orders from afar. People are tossed in jail seemingly at a whim. The guard is split into those with good intentions and those with selfish ones, while the 'Inquisitor' bullies normal Good Gobaithians for sport. Are these truly the best people to lead us? Why must we live under a stagnating rulership, a dictatorial, self-serving oligarchy? Are people really too blind to realise that things could be better? Your spirits are broken. Noone believes things will change, and one voice will surely mean nothing in the larger picture.
You are wrong. Every voice, whether small or large who joins their voice to mine, will mean something. My fellow GOOD GOBAITHIANS, it is time to rise up! It is time to remember that together, we are strong, and nothing is out of our grasp! No more sleepwalking! Friends, together, as one, WE WILL MAKE HISTORY!
All of us, we Good Gobaithians, can make a new island. Put down your tools, throw of your chains; together we build a new society, a free people, a noble constitution, and turn Gobaith into a nation we can all one day look back on and remember; 'I did that. I helped.' Listen to my voice my wonderful sisters and brave brothers! LISTEN! And stay posted for Issue 2!
Yours sincerely,
your friendly, neighbourhood Good Gobaithian,
The editor.
Letters to the Editor:
Dear Elijah,Elijah wrote:Be greeted,
I applaud you, dear Good Gobaithen! If I could demonstrate my joy in writing after reading this new column, I would. I've tried since the onset of my administration to set up something that would urge the citizens of Bane to be open with criticism and have a public voice in my role as Governor. I've read very little in the public of distaste for myself and frankly, that has saddened me for I know that their are many things that I can do to improve myself and I hope the silence is merely shyness, instead of a display of content for my role. When the citizens of Troll's Bane become content with an inactive Governor, I think there might just be a bit of a problem.
Either way, I hope that your message prevails and I will be receiving a new dose of criticism to help me improve my job, for it is impossible to improve things that have never been openly complained about to me. Hopefully you'll receive your own dose of journalistic skills, which will be parleyed into asking earnest and righteous questions which can be relayed to the public as quickly as they are answered. You can tell the citizens that the Governor isn't always involved in random "jailings" and can give valid and substantial evidence to any of these accusations that he is a tyrant who jails random people (who are innocent and are free of any guilt, of course) on a whim.
Again, I applaud you. Bravo, my friend.
Signed,
Elijah Varrin
Governor of Troll's Bane
Thankyou for your kind words. They are certainly encouraging, and I assure you that my commitment for providing opinion and analysis of the Island will not decrease!
However, in response to you, good governor, we must unfortunately say: Actions speak louder than words.
Yours sincerely,
The Editor.