There will be a speech by Former Mayor Bresley within the Town Hall tonight.

((OOC: At approximately 6pm EST))

Citizens,

Thirty Five Years ago, with a column of trusted companions, I set out upon expedition. I left the City in the capable hands of our Council and Arphias Dhogur, who I believed to a good and honest man, though history has shown that perhaps I judged him too quickly.

Our party was overtaken, and I spent a lifetime within the captivity of these foul creatures, while the City my father built fell into decline and depravity. My son quelled the fires of Rebellion, and for a time we endured. Yet as the bloodline of my father thinned, the City fell into darkness.

In an attempt to bring back a simpler, more efficient time, the Council was stricken from nine men, to five. The Mayorship, an institution as old as this City itself, was cast aside and forgotten, and the Watch coveted power, and claimed it for themselves alone. And while I have met with Sheriff Azzam this very night, and I believe his intentions to be noble and sincere, I cannot help but feel that it bears reminding, Citizens: Sheriff Dhogur was a man with good intentions. His memory is shrouded by tyranny and death- yet I knew him from his youth- defiant, and with a strong sense of what is just.

I speak to you thus not to drive you to rebellion, or uprising. I do not desire for our streets to become awash with blood- the Sheriff is a good man, an idealist. And yet the sovereign institutions of our Sanctuary have become warped and ostracized. Men that once worked in concert have become unhappy foes- sharpened knives in the darkness has replaced discussion and cooperation.

Let us turn our eyes south of the Watch House to see the toll the Spellguard, the institution founded by my Mother, has taken. Under the guidance of a man I knew, Commander Stephanos Simms, the Spellguard has endured much. I am even told, that for a brief period, they were their own sovereign mageocracy. Is this the sort of unity that my Mother preached?

I knew Stephanos Simms. As a talented young man, he climbed the ranks of the Order of the Spellguard. He delivered the City from Thal'oon, from corruption. But time leaves a man cold, and time has left him aloof from the people. These streets which he once walked are alien to him, and he is content to brood in his Tower; wallowing in dreams of mageocracy, eyes wraught with suspicion and envy.

The Spellguard have extended their reach beyond their mandate, and have gone from being an organization tasked with the magical defense of our City, to a militant Order, bent upon the continued dominance of their Order over those who would seek the Way.

However, I shall thank the Commander for taking such a keen interest in my health, and ensuring that I shall have regular checkup's within their Tower, for the coming months.

And the final of the three organizations that were entrusted with our Lives, the Seekers as led by my Uncle Frederick. Where the Watch and Spellguard have cemented their power, the Seekers have only slipped and faltered. Is this due to indiscretion or incompetence on their part? No. It is a result of maintaining the Spirit that they were founded with. In a world where all other men seek to further their lot, and grasp for threads of power even as the darkness threatens to consume us: the Seekers lost the game, by continuing the same work they had always done: Searching for a Way Out.

Most of you are here, hoping I shall announce whether or not I to reclaim the mantle of Mayor. Some of you even think that Sheriff Azzam would deny me this right. Well, I can tell you the answer to this question quite simply --

I shall not be. It is because of no outside pressure, no treat of violence or bloodshed, that I do such. Sheriff Azzam has offered to resign the executive, but I cannot in good conscience do so.

But, Citizens, this City does not need a Mayor. It needs balance. It needs harmony, betwixt the organizations entrusted to see us safe, and our tenure in these depths short. We have lost sight of the proper way. The Way of Frederick Bresley.

While with the Unseelie, I was trapped in a bizarre world. Of who's devising, I could not say. My own, theirs, a third party altogether? It matters not. The important thing, is what I saw there. While there, I looked often upon our City. And whether that was a creation of my mind, or whether I was able to leave my prison, and view in truth our Settlement, no one can ever know. But what I saw was not the City my Father built. It was not the bastion of hope that he envisioned. It was the putrid, too long set camp my Uncle spoke of.

And thus, I must follow in his footsteps, if I am to rectify the mistakes of my youth. I have been granted a second life. Lewis of the Seekers has agreed to step down, and I shall henceforth follow the path of Ivlysar Tal’en’qir and Frederick Bresley and assume the mantle of leadership, and bring you absolution.

Thank you, Citizens.