On the Question of S’kra Paladins
(Crossing, Zoluren: 102 Lirisa 356)
To you, specifically, young Maarrk, and to all S’kra:
Everything you say about our sense of honor is true, your vision however, is clouded by your Dwarven upbringing. Dwarves, a stout people, and fine craftsmen, have never been known for their ability to reason.
For your own safety, be warned, the S’kra are still looked upon unfavorably by many, still remembered as the monsters we were created to be, still unforgiven for the treacheries of the Dragon Priests, and the… questionable use of magic at the end of the Elven-Human wars. There is reason to trust few, as few trust or understand us. They will not ask first whether your father was a Dwarven Paladin. Your only duty, as a S’kra, is to your life, and the lives of those closest to you. What other duties you choose are up to you.
For any S’kra, a useless tresspass against another is considered dishonorable while a sufficiently useful one is not, however, this does not mean that you must trespass against anyone to attain your goals, nor that you cannot befriend or help anyone outside your Ru’at or Sraan. If a difficulty arises, however between a friend and a member of your Ru’at, your duty will be to your Ru’at. (As you were raised by Dwarves, I would be surprised if you had a Ru’at that would create this conflict.)
A thief by trade, I am bound by a different set of codes, yet there are codes, nonetheless, regardless of what many believe. I adopt these codes of free will, and do my utmost to uphold them, except in circumstances where they conflict with my higher duties, the duty to my Ru’atin. In my life, there has never been a conflict which has forced me to choose between the two.
You would do well to seek the truth of our ways, and the insight in it, as sentimentality is for the weak-minded. Find Isth’hhtaw ‘hhs S’Kra’in inside yourself, young one, and you will not find conflict from it, but strength and clarity renewed, and perhaps you will come home to us in mind, as in body.
May your tail never bend.