The life of an ogre

[Griznuq]

This discussion would have been started by Lor'hion at the start of his watch the night after he caused the groth of the flowers.

"Quinton, I have been thinking about the problems that you are facing due to the guilt of killing the ogre children. You had said that they were innocent, and I believe that it is possible you are correct."

"But you see, their society is evil. there is no hope for them to grow up otherwise. And even if they were to somehow retain their innocence, they would never be accepted into the world. They would be hunted and killed no matter where they went."

"If anything you did them a service by saving their souls while they still basked in the light of good."

[Wildfire]

"my intention in this question is not in the growth of White Trillium, although we've seen that it works, it's in the growth of food...Food for the starving Army of N'arth and perhaps a secret way to deliver the cure. this is a definate possibility...but we'll need the help of the your Order Lor'Hion."

[Griznuq]

"Well, I'm not sure. It's not a very difficult spell, a Druid of only a few years could handle it. Say maybe six or seven of us could fill several miles in just a day or so. "

"I have no doubt that we can get all the seeds that we would ever need. The ogre teeth are a different story... However, I have been thinking on this. As you are well aware ogres die, just like anything else. Perhaps they have a cryp where the bodies of their dead lay? Teeth do not rot the way flesh does." Lor'hion stops and ponders a moment. "Though, with all this talk about undead, perhaps an ogre cryp would be a step in the wrong direction..."

[Wildfire]

Quinton looks at Lor'hion and says, "a fact i'm all too familiar with...". Quinton brings his hand up to his face and scratches his whiskered chin and humms with a silent thought. he then says, "Lur'Hion what would be the chances of getting your Order to go out in force and augment the crops in the same way that you did with the White Trillium?"

[Griznuq]

"Even the best of soil will produce the occasional weed."

[Wildfire]

"i'm not so naive to believe that everyone will accept change. the key to survival is the ability to adapt to change...i learned that while opposing Wyvernstar. while not everyone will adapt i must hold to the belief that we all can if we choose to. through example and kindness i think that the Ogre's, if given the chance, may become allies. we don't know what circumstances the the ogre countrymen were in...perhaps it's the society, not the individuals who are evil. as Larkin said, it only takes one to get the boulder rolling. would it have been a greater crime to leave the children without parents? maybe. the crime was in the insidious manner of attacking the innocents to begin with...after that it doesn't matter how we act...we have already crossed the line.", Quinton says. he looks down at his scarred palms and then at Shada. Quinton takes a deep breath of the brisk air, "the planting season is coming soon...i hope the fields are good for the seeds..."

[Griznuq]

"My lack of faith is not with you, my friend. I have seen the prejudice is society. Thus the basis of the forests appeal."

Lor'hion stops for a monent. "I realize that it is in you, Quinton, the rest of us to accept someone of another race. My lack of faith, which is not unfounded is with the rest of the world."

[Blackspear]

The point is that I can choose to accept an ogre into my company.   Just as I have chosen to accept a peasant, a street rat, and a druid into my company.    You too could make that choice.   It starts with each of us.

[Griznuq]

"Yes. We become what we believe, this is true. So say a child oger becomes a good adult. Where would he live? With the elves? The humans would never accept him.

You have the luxury of being able to change your mind, because regardless of what lies beneath, you still look human. Would you be able to change your mind and enter an ogre's society?"

[Blackspear]

Larkin wakes up.   He walks over to the fire and joins the coversation by whispering "All change has to start somewhere.   Every avalanche starts with a single pebble...."   He stares into the fire a while listening to the wood hiss and pop as it burns.  
"Before the assassins killed my brother, I couldn't understand his ways.   He and Quinton were the best of friends...always so idealistic...thinking the world held so much potential....
"I always sided with my father during their arguments.   The world was a place to be used for what you could make of it.   The strong ruled and the weak served...
"Then I met Vecklin, Flea, Quinton, and Ambermantle.   I learned what it means to have friends that you can rely on.....    Larkin picks up a branch and begins to absently peel the bark off.   He flicks the chips of wood into the fire as he struggles to put his thoughts into words....

"I am the spitting image of my father.  Not just in appearance, but in actions and thought as well.   But I am better than him.   I have learned that old beliefs and prejudices don't have to exist.   They can change.     I was the sworn enemy of the house of Delthan Ambermantle.   I tried to kill him in single combat....Now, he is my best friend and most trusted ally.   I used to disdain Quinton and all peasants like him.   Now I can see how blinded I was by my father's ambition.   Quinton is the most noble man I have ever encountered.   He is the salt of the earth...
I used to kill druids, because they were my father's enemies.   This day I fight beside one.  
"I changed my ways after being around this rag tag lot of people.   Look at us! We can't be any different!  Yet we're the same.   We all fight for a common cause...
"Look at Flea.   I used to kick urchins like him out of my way every time I went to the city.   I'd spit on them and curse them for living.....  He is the catalyst for my reform.   I saw this tiny wisp of a boy stand up to a Deltharite assassin who had bested me.   He give me a chance to live.... He had every reason to let me die, but he saved my life!

I used to be an ogre.   My heart and mind were corrupted by hate and prejudice...   I am no longer that man...   If I can change, a man of hate and violence, an arrogant fool who believed the world was his for the taking...anyone can change....   Even an ogre....
but it starts with you Lor'hion.   It starts with you and me and all of us.    We become what we believe, what we choose to be, not what society and nature dictates us to be...
Larkin gets up to gather more firewood and makes a silent prayer to Shada to grant him the strength and wisdom to always do what is right...

[Griznuq]

"Would the better course of action be to kill the adults, and leave these children without parents?"

"Even a heart full of good would not survive as an ogre in the world we know."

[Wildfire]

Quinton looks off into the distance. after a short while he says, "We cannot know what they would have grown up to be. there hearts may have had a destiny of good. we all have choices to the path we might walk. to limit their individual strengths to only serve evil is a disservice to us all. until they make that choice for good or ill i must believe that there is hope. i took that choice away from them through my own desperation. i don't know if the Ogre's will ever be out from under the boot of Delthara. but i have to hold to the belief that we all start with a good heart. Evil is taught or embraced...it is not predestined. that night i saw in me what i could have been and still could be. it would be so easy. that is a choice that i have. i choose not to take that route...it serves no one except Delthara."

after speaking, Quinton suddenly realizes that he has tears running down his cheeks.