On the other hand, silence has a disarming effect, and I think what SA really needs now is some cathartic northern war.
Oh, for sure. I have to be sure that the implicit bargain between secular and religious elements of SA is understood, though. War for everybody, but leave the assets of the Faith alone. Everybody gets what everybody wants. Rooting for heresy is misguided, if understandable, IMHO. People want conflict. Conflict only arises in the absence of some stabilizing force. A monolithic faith that withdraws from secular affairs like wars creates that vacuum. Give your enemy its own faith, and you create another stabilizing institution parallel to yours. One with its own assets to protect and interests to advance. You increase the division between two sides, sure, but you also entrench powerful interests. All heresy, all the time is the easy, destructive, lazy way. I have infinitely more respect for the player who can both create/preserve while creating chaos.
