Furthermore, it can be politically desirable to be in a grey zone. The world isn't black and white, sometimes you *want* to be neutral with someone. And if discussions would be likely to polarize relations, then it can be strategic to avoid them. That's the logic behind VE not talking about the faith to SA: the grey zone where we ignore each other is the situation that is desired, we neither want to be associated with SA nor do we want to war it (as a religion).
Yes, this has been the general impression I've got from VE. Not an open hostility, but rather an indifferance bordering on dislike. Quite frankly, although it can be fustrating at times, I do think its probobly the wisest move for VE at the present time.
However there has been one incident when this position has been differant. A very long time ago (way back when VE was just some backwater religion stuck in Caerwyn (I think- I never really pinpointed the exact date it spread to D'Hara)) I managed to get some dialogue going with your Elder of Wind, a friendly female noble whose name unfortunatly escapes him. We managed to have a fair amount of dialogue, in which she promised to consult with the other VE Elders regarding which element the Bloodstars belonged to. However we lost contact, and I never heard from her again (I remember around the same time reading on the wiki of upheavals in VE or somthing).
The next encounter I had with VE was in D'Hara where I met the aforementionmed cold indifferance.
As for Dustole, don't forget that a few key Caerwyn founders came from Springdale. Which got destroyed because it allowed SA to creep into it. Of these Sprindalian families are some of VE's most influential members. After all, when Caerwyn first got founded, it declared itself a child of both Madina and Springdale.
The event Allison was reffering to regarding the food gift and related offers, happened before the fall of Springdale, indeed before we had ever decalred war on anyone.
However I would guess that the lack of interaction was merely the result of the fact that Caerwyn never used to concern itself much regarding religion (at least before the metioric rise of VE gave it an unofficial state religion), being an offically secular republic. Indeed, that was one of the reasons why SA never spread there.
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