The following book, bound in fine leather and with its pages scented by a perfume of sweet fungus, is submitted to the library. Its text is meticulously neat with each chapter heading and title decorated by lovely swirling lines.

Treatise on Love

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Senestia Avarscanti

Priestess of Sune

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* Introduction: The Greatest Emotion *

The greatest emotion known to mankind and all other good, sentient races is that of love. What makes love even more wonderful, however, is the multitude of levels and manifestations of the emotion one can experience. This Treatise, written with the guiding light of Sune's wisdom and dogma, has the intention of exploring love in its many forms.

Love is, in the simplest of terms, a collection of strong, powerful feelings one experiences for others--whole groups or individuals. The feelings associated with love are all good and positive, including: care, happiness, and tenderness. As such, when one loves one wants feels compelled to please, protect, and share with the object of their love.

One might think that the different levels of love merely indicate the variability of the strength of these feelings. However, the various forms of love are also marked by a difference in the object of the emotion.

* Of Free People *

Good, honourable, and free people born of virtuous deities or wholesome circumstances all share a love for the goodness and freedom that blesses their race. Humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings, created or mostly lead by good gods are therefore generally loving groups of people. They have a general interest in protecting not only their own races but other good races, thinking and believing that they are all deserving of peace, freedom, and prosperity.

Such love both within and among races therefore creates and strives for a greater, more wonderful world free of misery, suffering, and ugliness for all.

* Of Friendship *

Born out of commonalities of interests, causes, purpose, or beliefs, friendship is a form of love that brings individuals together into harmony. Because of the above listed commonalities, groups of friends can become a force to be reckoned with. Whether they be adventurers seeking to fulfill a certain cause, governors with a specific purpose, or random people brought together by a shared belief, friendship is the formation of loving feelings between individuals because of what the things they share.

Friendship results in companionship, fellowship, and comraderie. Friendship is manifested in the group of drama go-ers who frequent the same theatre and soldiers fighting for their lord and leader. Happiness on a basic, interpersonal level is the result of loving friendship.

* Of Family *

All individuals are born into a family and from this individuals experience love for the first time from the care of mother, the protection of father, and the sharing of siblings. With and from family, an individual experiences love and happiness from the first time. Within a family, one not only experiences the joy of life for the first time, but one can nearly always return to or expect it.

A loving family results in loving individuals. Shown examples by family, an individual within a family will then know how to spread love onto others. Loving families lead to happy individuals which can affect the world in so many wonderful ways.

* Of Romance *

The strongest but also most directed of all love, romantic love is based on the connection shared between souls. Marked by ecstasy, delight, and fervor, the embrace of romance allows individuals to experience the epitome of happiness, joy, and pleasure in both spiritual and bodily forms.

Life as a free individual would be for naught if not for romance. Because of romance, one is able to experience the greatest feelings and emotions in all of existence on a truly personal, intimate, and private level. It is those who have experience romanced who are truly, blissfully blessed.

* On Unloving races *

Despite being the greatest emotion in all of existence, there are creatures and whole races which do not and cannot experience love by default. Born from gods of unending hate or circumstances of absolute misery, these races either have no capacity for or no will to love.

There are, unfortunately, numerous examples of such creatures born of hate, absent of love: goblins, born of Maglubiyet; kobolds, spawned by Kurtulmak; orcs, sharing the blood of Gruumsh.

Just as unfortunate are the races who were exiled or turned away from their respective good deities, losing love in the process: drow, the dark elves following Lloth and the Dark Seldarine; duergar, the grey skinned dwarves with hearts as black as those of Deep Duerra and Laduguer.

As long as they continue to live according to the will of their hateful deities they shall never know love. As long as they continue to dwell upon circumstances of absolute misery which have lead to their condition they cannot love.

Because of their extraordinary existence of evil and hate, such creatures very seldom experience love of free people, friends, family, and romance. Their only hope is to abandon the gods and circumstances that corrupt their souls. By abandoning the dark gods, creatures such as goblins, kobolds, and orcs might know some love enough to experience peace. By embracing Elistraee, a dark elf might experience the love of the Seldarine once again. By returning to the Morndinsamman, a gray dwarf may feel comfort as the other dwarven races experience.

* Conclusion: The Importance of Love *

From people to friends to family to lovers; love, as the greatest of all emotional experience should be spread. One should strive to find peace among free people, commonality among friends, happiness among family, and true bliss among romantic lovers.

If all of this is done, goodness will reign in the world, warding off evil and its forces. By being loved and being loving, one finds reason to smite cruel creatures and convert the damned. In a place as unique as Sanctuary, love, of all things, should be remembered for love within itself is the meaning of life and the worlds.