[[Who Is The Enemy?]]
"The enemy is (((those))) who would control us."
[[Who Is The Enemy?]] is a series of letters from Morganna Fayde to The First up until before the [Seven-Nation Invasion]. In them, the [Lord Protector] lays out her thoughts on the war, morality, strategy and how The First should act as a princess.
An illuminating relic of the [Princess Wars], we can deduce the positions of the other [Founders] by looking at Morganna's stances on the war. Many of Morganna's disregarded observations would come back to haunt The First, especially that of [The Schism] [1] between Kess Grinne and The First.
Controversially, Morganna advocates a morality that would be abhorrent even today, taking what would eventually be known in Vespana as [Valeriism] to its logical extremes. In her wholesale rejection of [The Eunarchy], she urges The First to "use the people to bolster your image, but forsake them as soon as possible (when in control)".
As history has shown, The First would pick and choose parts of Morganna's advice, disregarding some parts wholesale. Even so, Morganna's hand can be seen in many of the important decisions early in the war.
The Distillation of Control
"...we (sic) cannot live so long as someone holds power over us."
Morganna's begins by laying out the central thrust of the letters, which is the collapse of the [Fabriques] by removing all The Eunarchial influence from the continent. Even those who were merely in The Eunarchy's patronage must be banished. Most early letters regarding war strategy will be covered in later writings.
Distilling the current political scenario into its most basic components, Morganna argues that since everything is political, everything is a matter of control. The greatest problems of the 'world' [2] come from (((those))) whose sole aim is control when control was undeserved.
Here, Morganna attacks The Eunarchy's position of 'representation', the idea that singular persons could carry the will of many people; in every case the Eunarchs of Chu were the only qualified so-called (((elites))). She also condemns the idea that peoples who live in an area hold obligations to each other solely by nature of birth, blood and kinship; for 'when you peel back the skin of your so-called countrymen, you see ravenous creatures eager to devour you and unmake your values into theirs; we are simply not the same'. [3]
"If you are so incapable of representing yourself, why would you trust some miscreant to distort, belittle and minimize who you are?"
Since it is easier to control one person than many, it is easy for The Eunarchs to blackmail and control representatives, thereby controlling the continent despite not representing anyone. Hence the ludicrum of The Eunarchy's late decisions, marked by their increasing anti-human nature as Vespana's power grew in East Fabrique.
Morganna proposes a radical (at the time) solution, which is to have the individual overcome the masses. It is here where she proposes the idea that 'the people don't matter'. That the masses, easily controlled, are akin to livestock and it would be better to not put faith in them.
Morganna's Controllist Slant
At this point, the casual observer might have noticed that Morganna's rhetoric echoes [Controllist] sentiments, even her methods would at times resemble The Eunarchy's. Some in her era have even called her out to be a Controllist plant. Since her early life is shrouded in mystery, why or how she acquired her worldview and techniques are also a mystery.
She would not have escaped those allegations but for three reasons
1) her persistent hatred for The Eunarchy which often spills into her interrogation work;
2) her dismantling and undermining of The Eunarchy's secret police at every turn and at great personal risk;
3) her willingness to cede power to The First after Shirohime.
Arcadian sentiment views the final point in a negative light, pointing out that even when ceding power to The First in the political realm, someone who doesn't believe in the concept of 'politics' is not giving up anything at all. In terms of war capability, her manifest would rank third amongst the Founders, so she would still have had total control over the war direction, the only thing she truly cared about.
Why would someone so against the concept of control be so entwined by it? Ancient Arcadian plays provide the answer by portraying Morganna as a vain and self-absorbed woman who would sooner end the world than see someone other than her grasp it in her palm. In the words of another important figure to the war, Lord Tula;
"She's just a bitch who gets off on another's suffering." - Lord Tula
Some post-calamity historians have pointed out her penchant for dramatic irony, that by using Controllist techniques in open against the masses, they would turn against her and by extension The Eunarchy. The Eunarchy being hurt by their own techniques would simply be icing on a cake. While seemingly suicidal and desperate, it would fit the words she spoke when appraised by the Lord of Bones;
"There is no next generation. We are the last." - Morganna Fayde
The truth is possibly closer to the Arcadian view of Morganna without the heavy bias that paints her a villain. Morganna certainly was arrogant in many areas, a great personal weakness; but she would always put the personal aside for the big picture of Vespana. Her cold-hearted machinations bespoke a soul eager for vengeance; but every step had to be in service of winning the war. Even if "bodies and corpses piled up and paved the skyroad open, winning is what's important".
Last Word
Morganna's letters are many and cover a wide range of subjects. In summary, Morganna chased an impossible goal; the end of 'politics' by the end of 'control'. She would never live to see her dream come to life, passing away while defending Bylon Clocktower against the Chu Eunarchs of the Old Continent.
A flawed character, her strategies were not foolproof, her personality often at odds with the 'Valerous' founders, but she unmistakenly set the foundations for the creation of Vespana Domain; for that feat, her statue is still present in the capital of New Coimbra.
[1] The very phrase "schism" is taken from one of Morganna's early letters where she details the faultlines between the early founders.
[2] When Morganna uses the word 'world', she uses it in the Olden sense when it the continent was part of a oblique mass of ocean instead of being surrounded by the [Ice Wall] as it is now.
[3] Before Fabriques or even Domains, the Old Continent organized themselves into political units called "countries". Some later historians note that this is another passage hinting at the existence of [Bugmen] to The First that was not picked up.
