The Sermons of Leon Maedhros

[Leon of Maedhros]

Nestled in the archives of Waradim Khalid's Wheel House in the Tablet is a compendium, as young as this satrapy, with tall tales penned following the sermons of Leon Maedhros, a recent arrival from the Temple of Warad in Qadira.

[Leon of Maedhros]

Chapter I
The Merchant Who Knows - Addendum
Sermon of Nissah the 10th, IY 7788

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Once there was a Mogul of Qadira who bore all the wealth one might muster in one life. Too much for one man, and too little for the little man; charity is a virtue, and this Mogul knew none of it nor the teachings of the Wheel.

He fathered no progeny, married no wife and cared little for friends who could not be bought, for the wealth that soared in his pockets could cater to the comfort of a hundred friends, he thought. There were few who could compete with his monopoly, and for those who could, quickly realized the opportunity was never there in the first place. The Mogul's men saw to it.

But for all the Mogul bore, he lacked what some men find comes easy to them; passion. From passion stems the three virtues of a Wheel faithful; kindness, humility and piety. For this, the Mogul did not realize, but while he had so much he seemed not to notice the few missing caravans weekly. Perhaps he did not care, for one of ten may arrive, and who would dare challenge his rule?

As the years went on and the missing caravans piled on top of the Mogul's quickly growing woes, the beginning of the month marked the most bountiful business contract the Mogul had ever had the opportunity to pounce upon, all reliant on one man whose own reputation preceded him. The connection fell ill a day later, and was bedridden for months. They accused the Mogul of poisoning their master, and this would be the first pillar broken beneath the Mogul's feet.

The end of the month marked the arrival of a Wanderer, who made a humble fortune delivering water from the many temples of B'aara. He asked for little in return. When the Mogul learned of this Wanderer's arrival, he was furious; for control of water was his domain, and his prices were far more steep. They called this month, 'The Month the Water Flowed'. He was a righteous man loyal to Warad, and though he was no warrior, he was clever indeed. As the caravans became more frequent, the Mogul was quick to act, for he was petrified of his business collapsing. He sent his men to waylay the caravans of water arriving from across the land, and none of the men returned with their hands. Their mortified shells wrought the streets with tales of Warad the Protector, who made it so they were not killed for their acts but given leave to send a message.

When the men arrived to tell the tale, their hands wrapped and bloody, it whipped together such a crowd the city had never seen before. The years had not been kind upon the Mogul, and a man who cared little for friends cared even less for those beneath his boot. Furious that the Mogul would make matters worse by robbing the people of their quenched thirst, they rallied together into a storm of rioting and bedlam. By this time, the Wanderer who brought about this omen had vanished, nowhere to be seen. The coin he procured found its way into the Temple of Warad there, and the doors to its halls would later be said to line all the way to the shore of Pearls.

The Mogul was dragged from his estate and hanged by the people he swore to rule over. The people of Qadira oft turn their cheek when unrest rises, for they remember the days of the butchered Legion and the blood spilled that day. His wealth went to the merchants who knew, who knew of Warad and would now praise his name. But let the lesson of the merchant who forgets, be a lesson for all who ply the trade whence wealth flows.

The difference between the Merchant Who Knows and the Merchant Who Forgets. A reminder why we pray to Warad, and a stark lesson in what happens to those despots, those warlords who scorn His name.