Sigil: City of Doors

wrote:As you all must have heard by now, Hildmor has been deposited into Harmonium custody for a number of capital crimes. I am not ashamed of the part I had, and stand behind my actions. Rather than await rumors and hearsay to leak out, I wish to candidly explain the situation and why I did what I did.

To begin, I have known Hildmor for a very long time. We have worked together many times, helped each other in many ways, and shared many burdens. I do not enjoy this outcome, nor am I saying I have not made terrible mistakes as well. I realized however how much we differed months ago, when he attempted to sell myself and a half dozen others to a devil for power. I found myself asking myself since, how was that even a possibility? I accepted it as an exception, something that he would not do quite so terribly again.

That is not the case. He continued doing such terrible things, but I was not being harmed or involved. It was not my business, was it? I thought the Bazaar was safe. I was wrong.

NatashaÂ’s Kith had existed for some time, but only recently did they mobilize to become true competition to the DÂ’Kridis Consortium. Rather than simply provide better prices, services, and goods- Hildmor approached Natasha with an ultimatum. Either she would join the Consortium, or be destroyed. Nastasha declined quite vehemently, as any free woman should, seeing the demands as an insult.

Hildmor lashed out after the refusal by kidnapping NatashaÂ’s delivery girl. The girl was new on the job, still clueless by Sigilian standards, and she had not even received her first pay. He chained her up without food or drink, kept alive only by a ring of sustenance. She was then interrogated about the Kith, threatened, and told how she would be given piece by piece to Natasha. The poor girl genuinely knew nothing.

Hildmor was good to his word, and approached Natasha with a lock of the girlÂ’s hair and the Kith emblem she once held. His new terms were even more vicious, if Natasha did not comply, the girl would be killed.

I realized then, Hildmor had gone too far. Not only had he imprisoned an innocent clueless, but he also demanded control of a private business on penalty of death. I was able to convince him to let me hold the girl on his behalf, in return for telling no one of her. I then began to actively collect the evidence that could stop this madness for good.

Natasha eventually found out of the girlÂ’s situation by way of a third party. Natasha confronted me, and while I could not release the girl without breaking my word, we both spoke of working together to see a safe resolution. However, the many day situation had worn Natasha down too far, she ceded to Hildmor under great coercion. For the girlÂ’s safety, Natasha gave him all of her information- including our discussions. The deal also included, in some way, Natasha's freedom in addition to her free will.

Later that day, Hildmor met me outside of Sigil. He confronted me, we fought, and I won. Rather than kill him, I petrified him. In the days following, I turned him over to the Harmoniun with the girl I was entrusted with. While I loathe working with hardheads, it is a time to look past prejudices.

Natasha had managed to save her delivery girlÂ’s life, but when Hildmor had access to her, she would be his to control. Natasha decided that her independence was worth far more than her life... and embraced death.

These events occurred because Natasha refused to yield her business in the bazaar to an Indep. Rather than cut her losses, she fought to save a prisoner of an Indep. She chose death, instead of slavery under an Indep.

That isn’t what an Indep is, that isn’t what an Indep does. There are few things our ‘faction’ agrees on, and that’s the respect of individuality and freedom. It’s an appreciation for the freedom the bazaar brings. In her last week alive, Natasha was more of an Indep than Hildmor was in his entire life. It pains me now how her life ended.

I did not betray a member of our faction, I stopped a man who wanted nothing more than absolute control of at any price. You may disagree with my methods, it is your right and your choice. You may not believe everything IÂ’ve written, thatÂ’s for your own scrutiny to decide. Please, however, do not doubt my reasons.

This may very well be the end of me, and I accept that possibility. I would rather die a free woman, than bow my knee to a tyrant. It has been a pleasure to share Sigil with you all,

~Nienna