"The Opening of Ulf'Hara Keep"
by Rayth

Since the Ice Festival, Ulf'Hara Keep has been closed to the citizens. The Prince of Zoluren had rebuilt the derelict Ughtensgard Keep into his private residence, and during the Ice festival it was seen for the first time. Within its throne room, His Holy Royal Highness was crowned as sovereign of the Province of Zoluren.

Recently, the Prince opened the doors of Ulf'Hara to the public in an attempt to meet his populace and offer them hospitality, as well as answer pressing questions.

A feast table was laid out in the ballroom, filled with wondrous foods and drinks of all types, free for the taking of any of the Prince's guests. A mystic fortuneteller circulated amongst the attendees, offering to part the mists of the future for no charge. The Bard Ilaina told wonderful stories and sang beautiful songs, often in the chorus of other bards who would join her. There would be dancing in the Ballroom, and free reign to explore the keep.

For the most part, the people attending abused this hospitality.

During the audiences, people shouted at the Prince enough questions without cessation that he could not answer any of them, due to being drowned out by the noise. He was threatened, accused of working with Sorrow repeatedly, accused of the regicide of his own brother, grabbed, insulted, and otherwise treated in such a manner that should never befall a Royal offering the boon of audience to his people.

Many of these questions could not even be answered; it was clear they were shouted at him merely to insult or rattle him. How does one answer the question of whether or not one works for Sorrow? Guilty or innocent, the only expected answer would be a resounding 'NO' which the Prince was obliged to repeat over and over. Needless to say those who were demanding an answer to this question were not satisfied with that, nor I think could there have been an answer to satisfy them.

Such pointless browbeating continued for hours, drowning out the occasional excellent question I heard politely phrased and promptly trampled by the mob. Peacekeeper Sybina told me that the Prince wished to allow the crowd to act as it pleased regardless of the danger to him. Although I commend the Prince's patience and desire to please his people, I cannot agree that this was the right tactic to take.

Not only was a great deal of time wasted with such unbearable noise and impossible questioning, many excellent points were lost in the process; those who desired to question the Prince in a polite and intelligent manner were trampled out of the process by the lack of order. In such a mob, only the loudest and rudest can be heard, which dictates the need for order to be kept so that progress can be made. In my opinion, the prompt hanging of the worst offenders would have worked marvels.

Eventually, even the Prince could take no more of this fiasco and he left, several times. Eventually he sequestered himself in a council room where fewer people followed. Although this worked in a sense, the goal of meeting all his subjects in a public venue was mostly lost. Unless one had followed him directly (which, I might add, I felt would be rude when he asked for privacy; so I did not follow) or constantly searched for him via familiar or such, it was not easy to locate him for further audience.

Eventually I was told that he had moved his audience to the lesser known room; my retinue and I went there and watched once more.

Instead of the usual procedure of having a servant or herald take requests to speak, the Prince had opted for the 'raising of hands'. It was better than the previous system, which was to shout louder than the next person, but definitely out of the ordinary. At least it was quieter during this time, if still not as much as it should have been.

During this time, the Prince met with the dwarven leader Hegemonic, who asked for aid in defending the book and Stone Clan. The Prince responded with a promise to go there himself in two days's time, and see to the defenses, despite the protestations of his staff.

The Prince also explained that he had not sent the small Zoluren army against Sorrow's Reach because his Generals advised him that it would be suicide. It was his intent to build the strength of the army before throwing it away against a superior force.

In answer to the question about the abduction of Bards, the Prince explained that his Generals had quietly begun defending the Bards and he had been told that no abductions had taken place since this had begun.

To the question of the poverty at the base of the Keep, in the Middens, the Prince responded that he wished to look into a solution for the problem; in the meantime, all who were homeless could find refuge in the keep.

Much of the rest of the discussions I missed, due to being unaware of the new location of the audience. I am certain others will know more than I.

Eventually, I was able to present the support of myself and my retinue in the service of the Sovereign of Zoluren, which was my primary goal of the day. Although it was an honor to myself and my court to be the first to offer such support, it saddened me greatly that others had not done so before me.

Without more respect and support for our Sovereigns, I fear that our Provinces will be lost to any and every organized threat that wishes to destroy us. The Gorbesh do not bicker amongst themselves and refuse to support their leaders; if they had wished to conquer us and remain, there would have been nothing to stop them. These are sad times when we can only count a victory as an occasion where the enemy has tired of us and wandered away of their own volition, or when they choose not to descend upon us in strength and destroy us in one fell swoop.

We cannot even behave like civilized people during one audience; how can we hope to maintain ourselves in more dire straits? Are we even worthy of survival any longer, behaving like unruly, uncaring mobs of selfish boors at every turn?

We exist not because of the strength of our Provinces, but because of the disinterest of our enemies. What shall become of us all if we do not unite, if we do not pledge ourselves to the service and safety of our lands? I begin to fear that the lack of ability to serve an institution greater than the individual, the lack of respect toward our leaders and traditions and lack of responsibility to the greater good will destroy us all.