Secrets have power so long as they remain secrets - Steven Erikson

Stone, sea, forest, city — and every creature that ever lived — all share the same struggle. Being resists unbeing. Order wars against the chaos of dissolution, of disorder.

Now these ashes have grown cold, we open the old book.
These oil-stained pages recount the tales of the Fallen,
a frayed empire, words without warmth. The hearth
has ebbed, its gleam and life's sparks are but memories
against dimming eyes - what cast my mind, what hue my
thoughts as I open the Book of the Fallen
and breathe deep the scent of history?
Listen, then, to these words carried on that breath.
These tales are the tales of us all, again yet again.
We are history relived and that is all, without end that is all.

“What do you mean by a tyrant?”
“One whose blood was poisoned by the ambition to rule over others.”