[CamRI] IC Mage: Message from Sexton

[John Tyler]

(The following letter is found posted in the private areas of the Consilium House with copies left in the personal mailboxes of all members as well.  If you are not a member of the Providence Consilium please ignore this message.)My Fellow Awakened,     For over two years now I have served the awakened community of Providence as councilor and Herald in both its current consilium and it previous incarnation, The Beacons Against the Storm.  In this time I have been proud to call myself an awakened citizen of Providence.  I have been proud of its works, of its members, of its bonds of friendship.  It is with great sadness then that I relate the shame I felt in us this past weekend.      While I understand the reasons that the "Providence Loyalty Oath" (or "Providence Patriot Act" as it has been called in certain circles outside Providence) was first enacted, I wonder if it is truly as benificial as it was first supposed.  All of us who originally agreed to the oath were involved in the building of our Consilium and were privvy to its secrets before the Oath was given.  However, for a new Mage to enter our city and join us they must blindly give an oath that they will not reveal secrets that they don't know.  All this does is make us look sinister and unwelcoming to outsiders, and for good reason, I feel.  Was it not the great luminary Benjamin Franklin who said "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."?  
     This view was brought home to me when I visited Salem this past weekend.  As many of you know, when the Salem Consilium was rediscovered and reestablished, I was an active member of that process and was granted a place as a signed member of their consilium for that service.  I have in the past been considered a trusted and even respected member of that city's Awakened community.  No more.  When it was revealed that I was under a mind-influencing spell that among other things, prevented me from freely speaking of it, I came under suspicion from some, and was even thought to be under threat from it by others.  I don't blame them.  As time has gone on I have found myself feeling made less safe by this Oath than I am put upon.  It reduces the efficacy of other spells that I place upon myself (ooc note: Remember this Oath does count as a spell placed upon us when figuring Spell Tolerance), and makes others, even those of my own Order, feel that they cannot trust me while I am under this geas.  On a less practical note I find myself recognizing my own community less and less, as we retreat further into ourselves in xenophobic fear and violence.  
     As such I am formally requesting that the consilium council meet to formally review this decidedly fascist procedure and whether we, as a community within a larger world, can afford to alienate ourselves.
 
Cordially,
Sexton
Councilor and Herald 
of the Providence Consilium
 
ooc: John Tyler US2003031415 RI002D 
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