Common sense and the state.

*Pamphlets carrying the following message can be seen spread through Silvermoon, they are written in Thalassian.*

Countrymen, friends,

I have a matter I wish to speak of with you, I wish to take you on a short, yet intellectual, journey. What, my friends, makes a state, a state? What makes a nation truly a nation? I have thought about this matter for a while now and I have come to a simple conclusion. There are four requirements for a state to be regarded as a state. I shall not concern you with the phases which we see in the evolution of a society, we shall simply concern ourselves with the final phase; the state. What it requires to be seen as a state, and what a state, our state, means for us.

Now, the question rises what these requirements to be a state are. They are simple; To begin with, a state requires a homogeneous people. This is the most basic requirement, this people must have a common history, a common culture, a common language. Secondly, a state requires one to be able to point at a map and draw borders around a region where those people live. To further explain why this is necessary would be an insult to your intellect. Finally, a state requires a legitimate authority to reign over its inhabitants. This is, of course, the government. For without a government there is anarchy. The state is the perfect example of order, it is the opposite of anarchy.

Before we continue, we must quickly assert the importance of the state for our existence. The state is the vehicle through which we prosper. The state provides prosperity through the order it creates. The state provides security through the creation of various institutions to defend the created prosperity. Furthermore, the state creates a legal system, laws, and the means to enforce those laws. Through this final point, the initial order created by the creation of the state is maintained. As a matter of fact all of these things are maintained by the state. They directly correlate with the strength of the state. Is not the state with a strong army, and a strong sense of order, a strong state?

Now let us examine these requirements individually. We shall look at them in the context of our own state, the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas and make occasional references to other 'states' to show why they are not truly a state.

Are we a homogeneous people? I must say we are. We have a common history dating back from the day we left Kalimdor after being persecuted mercilessly by the Kaldorei, and even dating back from before that event. We share a common culture through, amongst others, our embrace of the arcane. An embrace which goes beyond anything other peoples have done. Finally, we have a common language; Thalassian. As such we are all citizens of the Kingdom. In essence, we are all tiny parts of the state and through our homogeneity the state remains powerful. This then raises the question, what if the citizenry becomes diverse? What if a few Dwarves were to settle in our state and become seen as citizens? If our homogeneity is a requirement to be a state, does this diversity not mean we are no longer a state? Does this diversity not weaken our de facto state? After all, we are only de facto a state, no longer truly one. I would say it does. We lose our homogeneity, civil strife will naturally occur sooner or later because of it and it means the state gets weakened. Is this not logical? Can you see yourself living alongside an Amani Troll? The answer will most likely be; no.

The conclusion is that a homogeneous population must be maintained. This means only Sin'dorei should be citizens of Quel'Thalas. The logical downward spiral diversity brings means that we will weaken as a state. This weakening of the state also means that the reasons the state are important to us become less pronounced. Prosperity will diminish, after all, when a state is weak, can prosperity be ensured? I do not think I need to remind you of the times shortly after the Scourge invasion, I need not remind you of the weakness of our state and the poverty.

The people of Stormwind are more diverse. Yes, even their council has consisted of people with a different ancestry. Draenei and Gnomes are not shunned and made citizens. The results? Many in that 'state' (it is no longer a state, now is it?), are poor. There is much civil strife which continues to this day; One needs merely take a cursory glance at Westfall too see what this diversity has done to them. Their council is ineffective, not because of a lack of intellect (though one ought to assume when considering the humans there is a general lack of that), but because their council tried to incorporate foreign elements. These foreign elements do not, and cannot, understand the culture of the humans. Therefore, they cannot produce a good solution on their own and they hamper the workings of the council. They hamper these workings because they cannot understand the solutions offered by their (perhaps intelligent) human counterparts. Because of this, they delay discussions, ask obvious questions and demand ineffective additions to actions. The problematical nature of this should be obvious and bodes ill for any kingdom.

The second requirement, as stated previously, is the ability to point to a location (demarcated by border, preferably) and be able to say that the Sin'dorei, or any other people, live there. A people without a territory are nothing. They have no power, nor any say. Simply look at the Gnomes. These days they're starting to retake their city. Yet they existed at the whim of the Dwarven king. They had no say, whatever the Alliance may say to the contrary. Remember, theirs is an attempt to appear to have the moral high ground when they speak of such things. So, without territory, there can be no state. For all intents and purposes, the state the world knows as the Technocratic Republic of Gnomeregan has been reestablished within the territory they now control. It was abolished as a state after they fled to Ironforge, after all, where their ruler resided was merely loaned to him by the Dwarves and thus not his territory. When a state is deprived of territory, that state ceases to exist. Our nation retained small pockets of territory, and thus, we continued to exist.

Now, the logical conclusion of this argument is that a great imperative is to secure these borders. This requires a great and strong army, and our government should provide this. Secure borders create prosperity as raiding parties from hostile tribes or nations can be stopped before they strike at the cities and villages of the nation. However, a great and strong army can only be provided for when there is prosperity. Hence we see the interactions between the consequences of the established state. Each part influences the ability of the state to provide for other parts. This all means that a strong state is dependent on these requirements to be fulfilled and on good interaction between the consequences of that.

Finally, we reach the last requirement. A state requires a legitimate authority, the government. For our kingdom this means the government headed by our Regent, Lor'themar Theron. He is the head of our government and the head of our state. He is the living embodiment of our Kingdom, while the people of Quel'Thalas are the organs that keep him alive.

The government is that which maintains the order of the state. It ensures that there is a working legal system which is based upon laws and decrees, and it creates the institutions meant to maintain this legal system. To mind come the city guard and the courts of our Kingdom. It also ensures that there is a strong army which can maintain those ever important borders of ours. It is important for a government to be effective and decisive, only then can it be a strong government; the necessary government for a strong state. As we have seen a requirement for a state is to have a homogeneous people, but this is also the requirement for a strong government apparatus. I have already shown you what has happened in Stormwind and the dilapidated state of the region of Westfall to show you what a non-homogeneous government apparatus creates. Westfall is very much a lost cause for them, and their country hasn't truly seen the ravages of war like we have in recent memory! Their government has become ineffective because of the diversity of their people and the induction of foreign elements into their apparatus. Make no mistake, these foreign elements may be given citizenship, but they are still foreign. Their minds are foreign. Would a Troll truly know how to best govern a Sin'dorei city? I think not; he does not understand us, nor can he understand us. His understanding of our culture is not natural, it is artificial knowledge and artificial knowledge is always incomplete when we approach a person of another race.

What I have outlined here is nothing but common sense. I am sure you can see this.

I would like to make on final appeal to your common sense. I would like to close with a short discussion on the importance of upholding the law and abiding by it. We have seen now that a strong state requires a strong government. A strong government requires efficiency but also requires the maintenance of the laws. Now what then if one breaks these laws? What if one stabs to death a fellow Sin'dorei? One breaks these laws by killing someone. Yes, the man you killed is the victim, but is the government not also the victim? Have you not made the government weaker by taking away a taxpayer? Does this not mean that the government will have less money to support the army? This weakens the army and does that not mean our border are less secure with all ensuing consequences? The answers to these questions are one and the same; Yes. This man, by killing a fellow Sin'dorei has weakened the state, he should know this. Is this knowingly weakening the state not an act of severe disloyalty to the kingdom, or in other words, treason?

I shall leave that question for you to answer with your common sense. You know the consequences of his action and thus know enough to answer this question correctly.

Long live Quel'Thalas!
Long live the Regent-Lord!
Long live the Sin'dorei!

- Magistrix Cerrania Sunsworn.

OOC:

Hope you enjoyed.

Kristeas holds one of the pamphlets in his had, eyeing it up and down.
"Hmm, interesting angle, quite true ofcourse, would be interesting if every criminal was also charged with treason by default."
He adds the pamphlet to the message board in the Royal Exchange HQ and enlargens it with a wave of his hand.

IC:

"This is one fel of a pamphlet"

Aishling walks through the city doing the groceries. Magistrix or not, she has to provide for herself. As she reads it along the way, her face goes from an agreeable nod to a slight frown. She feels like disagreeïng, but looks around her. The guards are known to make fellow sin'dorei disappear of they disagreed. It wasn't as if she disagreed with the pamphlet. She felt like it this information should be made mandatory. But she does not read what the attitude should be towards the Horde. She does not see herself live with the Amani trolls, but the Darkspears are not any better. And what about the recent developments with the Quel'dorei?

"In the name of Quel'thalas..."

Aishling mutters as she walks back to Fairbreeze. She was hungry and couldn't wait to eat the traditional Sin'dorei bread.

Kaleil places both hands on the wall as he reads the Pamphlet.

"Only few care nowadays... I miss you Cerrania." Mutters Kaleil as he walks into the distance.