▸ Column · Outland, Black Temple era — a mixed resistance garrison of soldiers, scouts, and warlocks holding ground against the Burning Legion's remnants
ILLIDAN STORMRAGE replies.
Replied to by Illidan Stormrage, with a rebuttal from Han Solo.
The letter
To whatever spirit reads these letters —
There is a woman in our enclave, Caira, who has appointed herself the permanent steward of every communal tribute. Departing officers receive a send-off purse; new initiates get a welcome coin; fallen comrades warrant a memorial levy; and at least twice a moon she decides some fresh cause demands an "urgent" collection. She maintains a mental ledger of every contributor with the thoroughness of a blood elf tax magistrate — last week she appeared at my bunk twice in a single afternoon because I had not yet put in for a commander's farewell purse, despite the deadline being three days out. Between the moon-end brotherhood fund, the quarterly morale tithe, and whatever crisis Caira decides is critical that week, I am losing close to a week's garrison wages per month to obligations I never once volunteered for. I have started timing my patrol rotations to avoid her collection rounds, which I recognize as both petty and unsustainable. Is there a way to set a firm personal limit without being marked the cold one who cares nothing for unit bonds?
Illidan Stormrage replies
You are timing your patrol rotations to avoid a woman with a collection purse. That is already your answer — you have made the decision in every way except the one that costs something.
What you fear is not Caira. Caira is a nuisance. What you fear is the name they will pin on you the moment you say no openly. Cold. The one who does not care about unit bonds. I know that terrain better than anyone living. My own brother sealed me away for ten thousand years and called it justice. The people I gave my eyes to save branded me the Betrayer. So when someone comes to me afraid of a name — I take that fear seriously, and I refuse to let you dress it up as caution.
First I test the cause. Is it real? You are spending a week's garrison wages per moon on levies you never agreed to, extracted through the threat of social shame alone. That is not brotherhood. That is a tithe enforced by people who have decided your silence means consent. The cause is real.
The cost is also real — hold your limit and someone will call you cold. Perhaps a solstice feast is awkward. Look at that directly. It is nothing beside what you are already paying, in gold and in small indignities, routing around an envelope.
Say your limit once. Say it plainly. Hold it. The rest is noise, and the approval of those who would shame you into compliance is not approval worth keeping.
— Illidan Stormrage
Han Solo weighs in
Look, the speech was something — very dramatic, lot of weight for a contribution envelope. Here's my actual question: what has Caira done to anyone who already said no? Think about it hard. I'd bet the Falcon the answer is "gave them a look." Her whole operation runs on the threat she projects before you test it. I've dealt with actual bounty hunters — I know the difference between real leverage and a bluff nobody's called yet. Say no once. Watch what she does. That's your real information. Illidan's right that you shouldn't keep hiding from it. He just skipped the part where you might find out there's nothing actually there.
— Han Solo