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Dear and Good Uncle Guaril, and to my Cousins and Friends,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. I hear it has been a cold winter in Taldor, and I hope that your businesses have flourished with all those Taldoran dandies fleeing west to the warmth of Absalom.
I remember fondly still that time years ago when my dear Uncle found me in the streets of Magnimar, nothing but a common street urchin. A little money to grease the right wheels and he found me a home in an Abadarian orphanage. A few years later, and he sponsored me again to the Pathfinder Society. And every Market's Door, he would come and give me a little gold do buy a new dress or piece of jewelry. I have always been happy to call Guaril my Uncle, even though we share no blood.
You will all be proud to hear I have successfully served the church three full years, and the Pathfinder Society for a full year. I have saved many of their agents, as well as generous citizens, who would have otherwise fallen. They have been saved using the blessed healing of the Gold-Fisted, as well as the skills I learned from many of you on the streets of Magnimar. I have seen many dangers, and traveled far in the service of the Pathfinder Society.
In these travels I have come to a conclusion: we, the Sczarni, need not live like we do. I know that we find great joy in parting fools and their money: our hands moving faster then their minds in games of chance; lightening their pockets while they sit entranced by our music and dance; finding the failings of others and asking for a "contribution" to forget. But I have seen ways and means that are more subtle yet then those we employ.
Take for instance the Church of the First Vault. For millenia they've found ways to convince the masses to give them money, as an investment in their spiritual well being. Or take the Taldoran lords; by waiving pieces of paper with titles of nobility they convince their serfs to give wealth almost beyond what the poor fools can bear. The lords of Tian-Xia in turn make the Taldoran lords look like paupers.
Are we not better then the Taldans? Are we not as clever as the Priests of Walls and Ditches? I ask you, beloved uncle, if we wish to live on the streets and in shadows, or in palaces and well-appointed homes? How will we invest in our future?
To this end, I propose the formation of The Varisian Enlightenment and Ingenuity League, or The VEIL. I can secure funding from the church to bring promising young Varisians from both the Sczarni and other families. We can fund them to attend the best schools, academies and apprenticeships across all of Absalom. In a generation, our people could go from uncommon thieves to uncommon arcanists and statesmen. Best of all, we can live in luxury and health, skimming the wealth from the people all under with the backing of the law.
I am happy to help oversee the making of the VEIL. My touch of elven blood means I will live half again as long as many of you. I have the resources of the church and I have a very long term outlook.
What do you think, my Uncle and his many, many friends? How does a chance at legitimacy for our children sound? Will you endorse the VEIL?
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Dear Chjara, cousins, and friends:
Had to read this letter a couple of times and think on it long and hard before I could suss out a proper response. At first blush I wanted no truck with it.
To the People, everything is already ours. We own nothing, and everything. The open road is our home, the treasures of the world ours for the taking if we need them, or if we're clever enough to nick 'em from some berk not payin' attention to what he's got.
Sure, there's some posh gits out there in gilded cages, but what good is all of their coin when we have Desna's stars? We could make ourselves wealthy, settle down into homes and form permanent things, but would that not change us into the same people we've been grifting?
So I'm thinkin' that, and I had half a mind to write you a scathin' bit of retort, but then I start thinkin' a bit harder. I think back to growin' up on the road in Taldor and Molthune, seein' the look of disgust from the locals at the sight of a Varisian. I seen 'em clutchin' their purses and beatin' honest traveling Varisians in the streets.
I've also seen a few of us try to pull a con and bugger it up, which leads to blood.
World's changin', cousins and friends. It might be that we ought to see to our own before we get left behind. Some organized resources, above and below board could help that. Let us arm our young with more than a Kapenia and a deck of cards, so when some filthy berk comes up with a shiv or some lordling wants a common enemy to fix the fools on, we can make sure its the other guy who bleeds out in a gutter.
Anyway, Chjara, you got my support such as I can give.
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Dear Charger,
You know now that I am a seasoned pathseacher Zarniest I have learned some things. Well little wee me I have tiny wittle legs compared to you lengthy talls. So I aks you uncle Gorilla since I am such a successfull Zarniest to get me a porter. So the first pathfindering I go on with him he almost gets eaten by this giant swarm of rats. I had to waste my magic curing him so he did not die and waste all my begginging to get him. What my porter has taught me is the things we own sometimes ends up owning us.
If I was Pontificor the Great Boss I would have all those pleebs asking me for stuffs. I would miss out on all the pathfinderings that are out there doing the boring paper stuff Gorilla guy does when he sends us places. What he should do is buy us all awesomer hats so we are more awesome and people like us more.
Pontificor the Great, Master Color Sprayer, Seducer of Blackroseseses, Demon Sprayer, Merciful(I am the only pathsearcher I met that has never killed anyone FYI), Zarniest Extraordinaire, and Pretty Good Dancer.