TRANSCRIPT OF LORD ROCK’S ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLY OF THE FREE REALMS DRAGONFLIGHT ATTACKS
I move that this Assembly:
1. expresses its outrage and condemnation at the barbaric murderous dragonflight attacks which took place in Rockport, Ienos, the Eastern Empire, Haranlarche, Freeport, Stormshell City, O-Kai-Lia, Hsia-Ch'in, Dawnisle, and Lyndorea in Elevenmonth 1101 YAC;
2. extends its deepest and heartfelt sympathy to the families and loved ones of those Free Realms citizens killed, missing or injured in this brutal and despicable attack;
3. offers its condolences to the families and friends of the citizens of other countries who have been killed or injured;
4. condemns those who employ terror and indiscriminate violence against innocent people;
5. commits the Free Realms governments to work with the Sky Federation government and others to bring those who are guilty of this horrendous crime, and all those who harbour and support them, to justice;
6. reaffirms the Free Realms’s commitment to continue the war against the Dedites.
For the rest of Free Realms history, Elevenmonth 1101 YAC will be counted as a day on which evil struck, with indiscriminate and indescribable savagery, against the young & old alike whose innocence was palpable and whose death and injury we join the rest of the Free Realms community in marking and mourning today.
In many respects the term “dragonflight attack” is too antiseptic an expression to describe what happened. It is too technical and too formal. Too related to a war many of the dead never signed up to fight. What happened was barbaric brutal mass murder without justification. It is seen as that by the people of the Free Realms and it is seen as that by the people of the world. It is a terrible reminder of the capability for evil nutured by the Dedite Empire. Nobody anywhere in the world is immune from their terror. It is a reminder that Free Realms nations cannot imagine that they can be in any way immune from such horrible attacks.
As the Assembly and, I am sure, the citizens of the Free Realms will be aware, several major rescue and medical operations has been under way in the targeted nations since news of the attack came through. On behalf of all of the Rockport people, I want to express our gratitude to and admiration for the healers, many of whom have worked in very difficult circumstances. I also record my thanks to the various state governments that have offered help Korenzea, Haranlarche and the Sky Federation, in particular to Captain Dezira Joirr of the SFV-18 Reliant and to many other private individuals who have provided help and assistance. Thanks to their support we are recovering quickly from the blow dealt us and I can announce that we now have the capacity to turn around and help others in need. The willingness of Rockport to provide repair, medical and emergency response facilities for all Free Realm citizens in need of medical attention remains. No expense will be spared and no limitation will be placed upon our willingness to do that.
This foul deed—this wicked act of an evil nation—has not only claimed the lives of Rockport citizens but also claimed the lives of many of the innocent people of other nations. The dead and injured were on the most part not soldiers. They were not warriors who out the nobility of their souls and the love of their countries were prepared body and mind to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country. On the most part the dead were commoners who that day had been conducting their normal business of everyday life. It is that connection with the everyday occurrences of life which we know so well and embrace so lovingly, that cruel conjunction, which makes something such as this that much more despicable and something that all citizens of the Free Realms will utterly repudiate to the depths of their being. This was a vile crime.
All of us have a right to feel a sense of deep anger and a deep determination to do everything we can, as an assembly of nations and as individual communities, to bring to justice those who are responsible for this crime. We owe it to those who died, we owe it to those who have been injured and we also owe it to a proper sense of justice. Nothing can excuse this behaviour. No cause—however explained, however advocated, however twisted, however spun—can possibly justify the indiscriminate, unprovoked slaughter of innocent people. That is what has occurred. We must do all we can to mete out a proper response—a measured, sober, effective response—which brings to justice, if we can, those who are responsible.
I believe it is necessary, in the course of this, for us to cooperate with the government and the people of the Sky Realms. They are not members of the Free Realms but they oppose the Dedites. They are not members of the Free Realms yet they use their sky-ships to aid our cause to help our nations. They are not members of the Free Realms yet they are doing a damned site more to oppose the Dedites than any of us! The time is well past that we refuse to work alongside the Sky Federation simply because they do not sit here in this Assembly. The Sky Federation is fighting, very effectively, our enemy. It is time we began to work with the Sky Federation in fighting the Dedites.
I would also like representatives of this Assembly to meet with the High Council of Chivalry in order to discuss a co-ordinated approach to the Dedite war. For too long now we have fought piecemeal. The Free Realms was founded so that we could oppose together the evils no single realm could oppose. The Dedites Empire is large enough to oppose all of us unless we work together. The recent dragon-flight attacks highlight the fact that this war is not simply about territory, or power, or pride. Nor is the war being fought to free the Forest Kingdoms. In the wake of this outrage it has become clear to all the nations of the Free Realms that the Dedites are fighting to kill or enslave our people. This war is about survival. With this thought in our minds we should turn our efforts towards waging an effective war, one that will restore security to our homes, bring liberty to the Forest Kingdoms, and usher in a profitable peace for all of us.
It is inevitable that, in the wake of what has occurred the thoughts of many of our citizens will turn to the potential vulnerability of our own homelands to a possible Dedite attack. There is no point in ignoring that. We do the people of the Free Realms no service if we pretend that, in some way, it cannot happen to our homes. We might have intellectualised afterwards and said, ‘Oh yes, we thought that might happen,’ but in our hearts we did not really believe The dragon-flight attacks were going to happen. We did not believe the Dedite could strike at our very hearths & homes and take away the feeling of safety every free being deserves. It is therefore very important that we disabuse ourselves for all time if any of us entertain the notion that something like that cannot happen in one of our cities. We must dedicate and commit ourselves to doing all we can to guard against such an event. We therefore need to again assess the adequacy of our military forces and our domestic emergency services. I know for many of you after the Zombie War these things has been only recently reviewed, but further events have occurred and we are required as a matter of responsibility to our citizens who look to us for leadership and protection, to do that.
I do not say these things lightly or in any sense of overdramatising the situation, but we are living in different circumstances and different times. That has been the case since the Zombie War; it is dramatically more so the case now, because what happened in Rockport, Ienos, the Eastern Empire, Haranlarche, Freeport, Stormshell City, O-Kai-Lia, Hsia-Ch'in, Dawnisle, and Lyndorea claimed our own in great numbers, was on our own doorstep and touched us in a way that we would not have thought possible a month ago or even a week ago.
It is apparent from the words of the resolution and from what has been said over the last few days and what is self-evident from an examination of the realities that confront the Free Realms and the rest of the civilised world today that the war against the Dedites must go on in an uncompromising and unconditional fashion. Any other course of action would be folly. Retreat from the war against Evil will not purchase for the retreaters immunity against attack. That has been the experience of the last year; that has been the experience of history. You will not escape the reach of Evil by imagining that if you roll yourself into a little ball you will not be noticed, because Evil is not dispensed according to some hierarchy of disdain; it is dispensed in an indiscriminate, hateful fashion. Those who imagine that it is dispensed according to a hierarchy of disdain do not understand history and are deluding themselves.
The war against the Dedites is not, as has frequently been said in this place, a war against the Humanoid race. Humanoids of good character will abhor what was done by the dragon-flights. They will find it as despicable as Humans, Demi-Humans and many others will find it despicable. It is therefore important that we reaffirm again our commitment to a tolerant community—a community that, while embracing all, is a community bound together by common values of openness, individual liberty and individual freedom. These values may not be the values of all nations in the Free Realms but I can assure that in Rockport we fight the Dedites because we love freedom; we fight the Dedites because we want to preserve the way of life that this nation has; we fight the Dedites because we share the values of other nations that are in the war against the Dedites; and we fight the Dedites tyrant because he is intrinsically evil and you do not seek to covenant with evil and you do not seek to reach an accommodation with those who would destroy your sons and daughters and take away the security and the stability of your home. I hope each of you can inspire your own people to aspire to similar values.
In the hours that have followed this terrible outrage—this dark day for the people of Rockport—there have been many expressions of concern from world leaders. All of them have a common theme and a common resonance, and that is that, in the world in which we live, our problems are the problems of others and the problems of others are so often ours as well. In different ways, different communities in different parts of our realms will mourn the abrupt and brutal deaths of so many and reflect on their own lives. In our own way we must try to offer comfort, care and hope to their bereaved friends, lovers and relatives. It is a very sad time for our nations but it is a time—as always in cases like this—that has brought forth heroism, decency and goodness. Already stories of people assisting others at enormous risk to themselves are emerging, as are stories of the dedication of the healers and the commitment of so many. We extend our thanks, our warmth and our affection to them.
I am saddened beyond words of proper description by what has happened. I hope I speak for all Rockporters in sending my and their love to those who are grieving and in expressing the fierce determination to do everything I and we can to bring to justice those who have done such evil things to our people. We will not break. We will not bow down. We will not shrink back from our task. We will succeed.