Sealed note placed in Commander Drachen’s office.

[Mischief]

Commander.

You were right with your suspicions and you were right to choose me to investigate these suspicions.

There is definitely an underlying current of unhappiness at your appointment. The root cause lies squarely with the influence and teachings of the corrupt and bigoted church. As you are fully aware, the church’s teachings centre on the bigoted aspect that women should be subservient to men at all times, that women are but playthings for male pleasure and that they should exploited, used and abused for male sexual gratification. All ills and evils of the world spawn from womanhood.

This is the message the church preaches and simple minds are easy to manipulate. There can be no coincidence in the fact that the church relies on the Covian Military to do its “dirty work”. The same pattern is followed in Yew. It only takes simply minds to follow orders unquestionably so it is easy to see where the church gets its strength.

Strange that if the myths of the Avatar are to believed, three of his most loyal and trusted companions in the fight against evil were women – Gweno, Jaana and Katrina. Incidentally, Jaana was apparently from Moonglow and was renowned for her use of the arcane whilst Katrina was a pillar of compassion. No surprise then that the arcane and compassion are hated by the vile church.

The church is in the vanguard of stirring up resentment within the ranks to your appointment. No woman should ever be in a position of power, as only evil will come of it. Fortunately there is a significant proportion within your ranks that only pay lip service to this view however you should not be complacent. The names you mentioned to me are quite capable of fanning the flames of resentment and will do so in time. All they are waiting for is one slip-up from you, no matter how minor, and they will easily sway the rest.

I suggest you make an immediate impact on your authority and sever the militaries ties with the church. By informing the church that any orders they may wish to give the military must be firstly be sanctioned by the commander, makes it look as if the there is no severance, however, the reality is that you have complete control. Furthermore, I would suggest you inform the church that if they wish the continued support of the military then all brandings must cease with immediate effect. It might also be an idea to grant some form of token compensation to those in the ranks who suffered such humiliation. At the very least this should secure the loyalty of at least one branch of the military if voices of dissention grow louder.

Unsigned.