About
(If you’re looking for a more straightforward explanation, switch to the OOC version of this page.)
Rest in the light.
Call in the dark.
Sing in the time of joy.
Weep in the time of the pride.
It is an iron law of human history. Find a sufficiently large group of people, bring them together in a closed space, ungoverned, with an ambiguous purpose. The results are inevitable: fault lines emerge. Conflicts arise. Collisions ensue. Gravity pulls the population to the extremes of thought and feeling, because only the passionate survive. These storms come and go; some choose thunder, others lightning. And everyone who lacks their clarity, their ambition, and their dumb blind luck, is caught in the middle. Falling in the rain.
If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you have already spent some time in the city of D’ni. You’ve seen the conflicts and felt the collisions. The DRC against Yeesha. Explorers against the DRC. Explorers against Yeesha. Doctor Watson against Jeff Zandi. Explorers against Cate Alexander. Explorers against the Restoration’s negligent sponsors. Explorers against bahro. Bahro against bahro. The causes may be convoluted, even arcane. And now that the Council has all but bequeathed the restoration to us — the community — there can be no doubt that we will have occasion to turn on each other. This has happened before, and it will happen again.
What of the raindrops? Those who have failed to find a home on either side of the trenches? We have a name for you: unbound hearts.
And to you, we offer three gifts.
First: the Unbound Heart’s Bevin. Simply put, our neighborhood is a sanctuary for the right not to choose. We reach out to explorers who feel lost and torn between divisions, who feel no loyalty to one side or the other — who don’t even want to. People who are not here to see that the Ages are living or dying, but simply that they are – and that they are beautiful. People of all ages, all civilizations, who have come to discover worlds with the same humble wonder that we all still feel on some level. We befriend these people, help them, protect them. We make a home.
Second: you do not have to join the Unbound Hearts to be helped by us. The streets of our Bevin and the books of our Ages are open to all explorers, of all philosophies, anyone who is a part, physical or spiritual, of this restoration. No violence or disturbance is permitted in our territory. We welcome our visitors with the promise of an opportunity for serenity, and anyone who intends to violate our peace will be turned away. Someday, the cavern outside may become too dangerous to travel; if that happens, we will close the Bevin to the public, and offer invitations on an individual basis, so that you may still join us in a safe and protected place. We offer this service to everyone.
Finally: although the Unbound Hearts are a neutral organization, we will not be uninvolved in the conflicts ahead. We aim to serve as a balancing force, to prevent the collisions, no matter who caused them, from damaging what we have all worked so hard to build. Our Bevin’s amphitheater will be an open stage for the free and peaceful exchange of ideas. Anyone is welcome to schedule an event on our grounds – indeed, we hope that the Unbound Heart’s Bevin will become the traditional birthplace of new events, groups and projects. We are resolved that your ideas will be heard, as they deserve to be.
We will also make ourselves a factor in other ways. There is no need to explain this point further; suffice to say, we will not ignore any tool available to us. Our only goals are these: to protect the unbound hearts, and to preserve peace in the cavern, so that our protection may remain unnecessary.
We all came here for different reasons, but we have a common purpose. We want to explore these beautiful Ages and the majestic ruins around us in peace. And friendship.
Shorah b’shemtee.
~Kaelri, 18th February, 2010
Related
“Who We Are”
Announcement Speech, 04/21/07
“Those who read between the lines.”
Personal Statement, 04/07/07
“An Invitation to the Unbound Hearts of D’ni”
Vormaen’s Original Invitation, 03/12/07
2007 - 2010 