A speech recorded by Zarathud, originally given by
Captain Dak Gulranes, Warrior-Priest of the Hammer of Light

The Shivans will destroy the Vasudan people. This is our fate as foretold by the ancient promise. The prophesy predicts a great cleansing of our people, hearalded by the natural force of a powerful and virtually indestructible species. They are the new masters of our destiny, standing by to shatter all the pettiness that we currently hold dear to our hearts. In its place, the Shivan Ancients offer a wonderful new gate to the future. It is a future beyond our wildest imagings. A future beyond hope into eternal damnation or salvation.

Our actions in this hour of judgment determine the fate of our future. The ordinary times have passed: extraordinary times require extraordinary responses. In these cataclysmic times, even the previously unthinkable and the forgotten must be included in our options. The chains on our souls and our actions placed by the current Vasudan Empire and the Parliament must be broken. Fate shatters those chains, and opens us to new choices and decisions. We dare not act wrongly, but must go back to the ancient ways of Honor and discard the modern path of intellectual Pride.

If we resist the Shivans and fight our fate, there shall be no Mercy. Our punishment of our arrogance will be eternal. Have you not seen the cleansing force of Destruction left by the Shivans to their opposition? We will not only be destroyed by the inevitable death, but nothing...absolutely nothing...shall remain after their just and pure wrath against the unclean. Our spirits would be annihilated, with nothing remaining. To resist is to die the true, eternal death of extinction. To resist is to be forgotten completely, to spurn the difficult, yet fulfilling, path to our chosen future. Those who stand in the way of Destiny cannot last, but will only fall to the depths.

If we prepare for our Fate, we may atone for our sins and prepare ourselves at the final hour. Only what is deemed worthy shall survive, so our final moments must be spent in an effort to become acceptable. Virtue is our only goal, for our selves and for our remaining people. There is no alternative. The hour of finality is almost upon us. We must Hammer ourselves into the Light of our salvation. Fate is our crucible. Death is the fire of our virtue. This is the process we must face as our destiny.

Like all destinies, it involves great change, destruction and even death. But we should not fear. Death is inevitable. The fate of the person is always a passing away. Only our arrogance and self-righteousness deluded us that our reach and lifespan would be eternal. What matters is how we acquit ourselves in adversity. These times are those in which our true character are tested. We dare not fail in any respect. We pledge ourselves to virtue, to honorable passing and to accept our fate as a people with the Shivans to enforce our cleanliness. We struggle to convince others of this truth, of the virtue in our past, and to assist the Great Destroyers in their righteous cleaning of the Universe.