I am responsible for the safety of everyone who falls under the protection
of the Northern Crown. Throughout all of history, we have experienced much
peace. There are some wars in some regions, but they have not spread beyond
their borders. Now we face a threat that threatens us all, and the only way
we’ll survive is if we come together. But we can only come together
spiritually, for it is the closeness that kills us. We may have lost some of
the knowledge and technology that our ancestors once used, but we still have
a basic understanding of how the world works. There is no such thing as the
coldness of an object. Its coldness is simply a measurement of its warmness,
or lack thereof, as it were. You cannot make something cold, you can only
take away its heat. Someone should tell that to the insidious enemy that has
made its way to every corner of our planet; even The Southern Crown. It is
true, they have fared better with this problem than we, but nothing can
destroy the evil. We can combat it, but it’s going to take a lot of work if
we want to get rid of it altogether. We call it The Shudder. It is a
darkness, and a coldness that is more than merely the absence of warmth. We
have all been touched by it, and though it brings more harm to some than to
others, we are all capable of sharing it, and we are all at risk. Much has
been done to prevent the Shudder from winning, but it is not enough. Many
doubt that it exists at all, and even when they admit that it must be real,
they do not want to inconvenience themselves, for they believe they can
survive its wrath.
We have built walls to keep the Shudder at bay, but these barriers have
created a sense of loneliness amongst our people, the likes of which they
have never seen before. They cannot see their neighbors over the walls, and
cannot feel the comfort of closeness. It has been so long, and they just
want it to magically disappear. Unfortunately, it can’t end soon, because
the closer two people get to each other, the more concentrated the Shudder
becomes, and the stronger it is. This compression gives it power. Whereas
once the touch of a loved one brought comfort and joy, it now only takes the
warmth away, and sends it to oblivion. As explained, not everyone is
affected by the Shudder as badly as others. It mostly attacks the weak,
leaving the strong to go on thinking that they are invincible. But they are
not without fault. The strong can still compress the Shudder, and place
their neighbors in terrible danger. They can make it deadlier. If they just
remained behind the walls, they would be safe. They would be isolated,
scared, and sad, but they would be alive, and so would their neighbors. I
have been trying to convince people of the risk that they take when they
don’t take the Shudder seriously. I have tried to show them how well the
South is doing with their walls. They will not hear me. They are tired of
following rules that they didn’t have to follow before. They believe the
past and the future should be the same thing, but if we allow that to
happen, what will become of our world? What would have become of our world
if we had held onto this unproductive attitude? What I’ve realized is that
it all comes down to fear, even if the detractors would deny that they feel
fear at all. They’re afraid of setting a precedent, and of us coming up with
even more rules for them to live by. They no longer trust the royal court,
and I am not sure they ever will again. We must restore their faith in us,
and prove to them that we have their best interests at heart, and we’re
trying to help.
