"For as long as anyone can remember, our land has been ruled over by the Tantas, blessed be their names. It is not for us to know how their powers came to be. We need only give thanks for the countless occasions on which they have delivered us from catastrophe—greatest and most notable among such acts of deliverance being their purge of the nefarious Rheddig. They deserve nothing less than our unquestioning love and respect, for it as they who make us Athian."
