This speech is delivered to Tickles by magic Pigeon to give to the people of Merctown to motivate them to enlist in the federation of magic 2nd Merctown cohort.
"My Fellow Merctownians, Lord Dunscun, Ruler of the Magic zone and your Benevolent Leader has this message:
The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Phoenix Empire in the Kentucky provide the climax of a decade of Zonal immorality.
Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war upon the whole Magic Zone citizenry. Their challenge has now been flung at the Magic Zone. The Phoenix Empire have treacherously violated the longstanding peace between us. Many Magic Zone wizards and minions have been killed by enemy action. Magic Zone ships have been sunk; Magic Zone golems have been destroyed.
The Lords and the people of the Zone have accepted that challenge.
Together with other free peoples, we are now fighting to maintain our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom, in common decency, without fear of assault.
I have prepared the full record of our past relations with Phoenix Empire, and it will be submitted to the Lords of the Federation of Magic. It begins with the visit of Hand Denali to Phoenix Empire eighty-eight years ago. It ends with the visit of two Phoenix Empire emissaries to the Secretary of Zone last Sunday, an hour after Phoenix Empire forces had loosed their Cultists and Vampires against our wards, our minions and our citizens.
I can say with utmost confidence that no Magic Zone citizens today or a thousand years hence, need feel anything but pride in our patience and in our efforts through all the years toward achieving a peace in Kentucky which would be fair and honorable to every nation, large or small. And no honest person, today or a thousand years hence, will be able to suppress a sense of indignation and horror at the treachery committed by Pharoh Rama-Set of Phoenix Empire, under the very shadow of the flag of peace borne by their special envoys in our midst.
The course that Phoenix Empire has followed for the past ten years in Africa has paralleled the course of Horune and Baki in Gunterville and in Merctown. Today, it has become far more than a parallel. It is actual collaboration so well calculated that all the inhabitants of the Zone, and all the rivers of the Zone, are now considered by the Pantheon of Taut strategists as one gigantic battlefield.
Ten years ago, Phoenix Empire invaded the NGR--without warning.
Six months ago, Bakidom invaded the Eastern Magic zone holdings of the respected Federation of Magic members and Shifter Trolls-without warning. Horune occupied the Merctown Airport—without warning.
One month ago, Horune invaded the Merctown Dockside—without warning. Later, Horune invaded the Merctown Warrens—without warning. One week ago, Horune invaded Paducah Estates, The Arms Bazaar, Merctown Headhunter Academy, the Riverways all the way to clan Guntersvill to the east, and the Riverways all the way west to CS missiouri in a total blockade of Merctown—without warning.
This week Bakidom also attacked the 3rd Eye Safezone of the Merctown Magic Zone and later the Magic Academy of Merctown—without warning.
And this week, the Pantheon of Taut Powers attacked Guntersville and Nostrous and they dominated the pathetic Coalition Missiouri Navy—without warning. Also, Horune invaded The Merctown Spokes—without warning. And now Phoenix Empire has attacked the Shrine to the Gods of Light in Merctown and the Merctown Crimson Dragon—its owner an honorary Magic Zone citizen—without warning.
It is all of one pattern.
We are now in this war. We are all in it—all the way. Every single man, demon and monster is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our Magic Zone history. We must share together the bad news and the good news, the defeats and the victories—the changing fortunes of war.
So far, the news has been all bad. We have suffered a serious setback in Merctown. Our forces in the Merctown Magic Academy, which include the brave people of that Magic Zone of merctown, are taking punishment, but are defending themselves vigorously. The reports from the Merctown Dockside are still confused, but we must be prepared for the announcement that all these three outposts have been seized.
The casualty lists of these first few days will undoubtedly be large. I deeply feel the anxiety of all of the families of the men in our armed forces and the relatives of people in neighborhoods which have been sacked. I can only give them my solemn promise that they will get news just as quickly as possible.
This Monarchy will put its trust in the stamina of the Magic Zone people, and will give the facts to the public just as soon as two conditions have been fulfilled: first, that the information has been definitely and officially confirmed; and, second, that the release of the information at the time it is received will not prove valuable to the enemy directly or indirectly.
Most earnestly I urge Magic Zone citizens to reject all rumors. These ugly little hints of complete disaster fly thick and fast in wartime. They have to be examined and appraised.
As an example, I can tell you frankly that until further surveys are made, I have not sufficient information to state the exact damage which has been done to our naval vessels at the Merctown Docks. Admittedly the damage is serious. But no one can say how serious, until we know how much of this damage can be repaired and how quickly the necessary repairs can be made.
I cite as another example a statement made on Sunday night that a Horune Dreamship had been located and sunk off the coast of Guntersville. And when you hear statements that are attributed to what they call "an authoritative source," you can be reasonably sure from now on that under these war circumstances the "authoritative source" is not any person in authority.
Many rumors and reports which we now hear originate, of course, with enemy sources. For instance, today the Phoenix Empire are claiming that as a result of their one action against Merctown they hare gained naval supremacy in Kentucky. This is an old trick of propaganda which has been used innumerable times by the Phoenix Empire. The purposes of such fantastic claims are, of course, to spread fear and confusion among us, and to goad us into revealing military information which our enemies are desperately anxious to obtain.
Our Monarchy will not be caught in this obvious trap—and neither will the people of the Magic Zone.
It must be remembered by each and every one of us that our free and rapid communication these days must be greatly restricted in wartime. It is not possible to receive full and speedy and accurate reports front distant areas of combat. This is particularly true where naval operations are concerned. For in these days of the marvels of the magic pidgeon it is often impossible for the Commanders of various units to report their activities by magic pidgeon at all, for the very simple reason that this information may become available to the enemy wizards and would disclose their position and their plan of defense or attack.
Of necessity there will be delays in officially confirming or denying reports of operations, but we will not hide facts from the Zone if we know the facts and if the enemy will not be aided by their disclosure.
To all Matrix site operators and magic pidgeon rumor mills—all those who reach the eyes and ears of the Magic Zone people—I say this: You have a most grave responsibility to the Zone now and for the duration of this war.
If you feel that your Monarchy is not disclosing enough of the truth, you have every right to say so. But in the absence of all the facts, as revealed by official sources, you have no right in the ethics of patriotism to deal out unconfirmed reports in such a way as to make people believe that they are gospel truth.
Every citizen, in every walk of life, shares this same responsibility. The lives of our Wizards and Minions—the whole future of this Zone—depend upon the manner in which each and every one of us fulfills his obligation to our Zone.
Now a word about the recent past and the future. A month elapsed since the fall of the Merctown Docks, when the whole world first realized the magical might which the Pantheon of Taut cultists had been building up for so many years. The Magic Zone has used that month to great advantage. Knowing that the attack might reach us in all too short a time, we immediately began greatly to increase our magical strength and our capacity to meet the demands of arcane warfare.
Precious days were gained by sending vast quantities of our war material to the people of Merctown still able to resist Pantheon of Taut aggression. Our policy rested on the fundamental truth that the defense of Merctown resisting Horune or Phoenix Empire was in the long run the defense of our own Magic Zone. That policy has been justified. It has given us time, invaluable time, to build our Magic Zone cohorts of conscripts.
Enlistment lines are now in operation. Others are being rushed to completion. A steady stream of Golems and Wingboards, guns and floating ships and shells and equipment—that is what this time has given us.
But it is all only a beginning of what still has to be done. We must be set to face a long war against crafty and powerful bandits. The attack at Merctown can be repeated at any one of many points, points in both the eastern coast and along our rivers and against all the rest of the Magic Zone.
It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war. That is the basis on which we now lay all our plans. That is the yardstick by which we measure what we shall need and demand; money, materials, doubled and quadrupled production—ever-increasing. The production must be not only for our own Wizard and minion forces. It must reinforce the other Merctown and Coalition and air forces fighting the Horune and the war lords of Phoenix Empire throughout the Magic Zone and throughout the world.
I have been working today on the subject of conscription. Your Monarchy has decided on two broad policies.
The first is to speed up all existing production by working on a seven day week basis in every war industry, including the production of essential raw materials like conscripts.
The second policy, now being put into form, is to rush additions to the capacity of production by building more new demonic pacts, by adding to old pacts, and by using the many smaller pacts for war needs.
Over the hard road of the past months, we have at times met obstacles and difficulties, divisions and disputes, indifference and callousness. That is now all past—and, I am sure, forgotten.
The fact is that the Zone now has an organization in The City Of Brass built around men and demons who are recognized experts in their own magic. I think the Zone knows that the people who are actually responsible in each and every one of these many magics are pulling together with a teamwork that has never before been excelled.
On the road ahead there lies hard work—grueling work—day and night, every hour and every minute.
I was about to add that ahead there lies sacrifice for all of us.
But it is not correct to use that word. The Magic Zone does not consider it a sacrifice to do all one can, to give one's best to our Zone, when the Zone is fighting for its existence and its future life.
It is not a sacrifice for anyone, old or young, to be in the Wizards or the Minions of the Magic Zone. Rather it is a privilege.
It is not a sacrifice for the Operator or the wage earner, the Druid or the Shifter, the Headhunter, or the Body Fixer, to pay more taxes, to buy more bonds, to forego extra profits, to work longer or harder at the task for which he is best fitted. Rather it is a privilege.
It is not a sacrifice to do without many things to which we are accustomed if the Zonal defense calls for doing without it.
A review this morning leads me to the conclusion that at present we shall not have to curtail the normal use of articles of food. There is enough food today for all of us and enough left over to send to those who are fighting on the same side with us.
But there will be a clear and definite shortage of metals for many kinds of civilian use, for the very good reason that in our increased program we shall need for war purposes more than half of that portion of the principal metals which during the past year have gone into articles for civilian use. Yes, we shall have to give up many things entirely.
And I am sure that the people in every part of the Zone are prepared in their individual living to win this war. I am sure that they will cheerfully help to pay a large part of its financial cost while it goes on. I am sure they will cheerfully give up those material things that they are asked to give up.
And I am sure that they will retain all those great spiritual things without which we cannot win through.
I repeat that the Magic Zone can accept no result save victory, final and complete. Not only must the shame of Phoenix Empire treachery be wiped out, but the sources of international brutality, wherever they exist, must be absolutely and finally broken.
In my Message to the Federation of Magic Lords yesterday I said that we "Magic Zone citizens will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again." In order to achieve that certainty, we must begin the great task that is before us by abandoning once and for all the illusion that we can ever again isolate ourselves from the rest of the Zone.
In these past few years—and, most violently, in the past three days—we have learned a terrible lesson.
It is our obligation to our dead—it is our sacred obligation to their children and to our children—that we must never forget what we have learned.
And what we have learned is this:
There is no such thing as security for any Zone—or any Citizen—in a world ruled by the principles of gangsterism.
There is no such thing as impregnable defense against powerful aggressors who sneak up in the dark and strike without warning.
We have learned that our zone is not immune from severe attack—that we cannot measure our safety in terms of miles on any map any more.
We may acknowledge that our enemies have performed a brilliant feat of deception, perfectly timed and executed with great skill. It was a thoroughly dishonorable deed, but we must face the fact that ancient warfare as conducted in the Pantheon of Taut manner is a dirty business. We don't like it—we didn't want to get in it—but we are in it and we're going to fight it with everything we've got.
I do not think any Magic Zone has any doubt of our ability to administer proper punishment to the perpetrators of these crimes.
Your Monarchy knows that for weeks Horune has been telling Phoenix Empire that if Phoenix Empire did not attack the Magic Zone, Phoenix Empire would not share in dividing the spoils with Horune when peace came. She was promised by Horune that if she came in she would receive the complete and perpetual control of the whole of the Kentucky area—and that means not only Merctown, but also all of the waterways in the Kentucky, and also a stranglehold on the east coasts of Guntersville.
We know also that Horune and Phoenix Empire are conducting their military and naval operations in accordance with a joint plan. That plan considers all peoples and nations which are not helping the Pantheon of Taut powers as common enemies of each and every one of the Pantheon of Taut powers.
That is their simple and obvious grand strategy. And that is why the Magic Zone citizens must realize that it can be matched only with similar grand strategy. We must realize for example that Phoenix Empire successes against the Magic Zone in the Kentucky are helpful to Horune operations in Guntersville; that any Horune success against the Guntersville folk is inevitably an assistance to Phoenix Empire in her operations against Merctown; that a Horune attack against Merctown or Guntersville opens the way to a Horune attack against The City Of Brass and Nostrous.
On the other side of the picture, we must learn also to know that guerilla warfare against the Horune in, let us say Merctown Warrens or the Merctown Magic Zone, helps us; that a successful The Merctown Spokes offensive against the Horune helps us; and even that Coalition successes on land or sea in Kentucky strengthen our hands.
Remember always that Horune and Bakidom, regardless of any formal declaration of war, consider themselves at war with the Magic Zone at this moment just as much as they consider themselves at war with the Coalition or The Merctown Spokes. And Horune puts all the other cities of the Zone into the same category of enemies. The people of our sister Merctown of this Zone can be honored by that fact.
The true goal we seek is far above and beyond the ugly field of battle. When we resort to force, as now we must, we are determined that this force shall be directed toward ultimate good as well as against immediate evil. We Magic Zone citizens are not destroyers—we are builders.
We are now in the midst of a war, not for conquest, not for vengeance, but for a world in which this Zone, and all that this Zone represents, will be safe for our children. We expect to eliminate the danger from Phoenix Empire, but it would serve us ill if we accomplished that and found that the rest of the world was dominated by Horune and Baki.
So we are going to win the war and we are going to win the peace that follows.
And in the difficult hours of this day—through dark days that may be yet to come—we will know that the vast majority of the members of the Magic Zone are on our side. Many of them are fighting with us. All of them are praying for us. But, in representing our cause, we represent theirs as well—our hope and their hope for liberty under Dunscun.
"
Source:
https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/december-9-1941-fireside-chat-19-war-japan
