First, you're not eligible for the million sovereigns. You know that, but I'm addressing you anyway because you've brought some things up that need to be corrected.

You write:

Shadow is greedier than spirit. No, it is not. Greed, by its very
essence is the universal force of battling for survival.

That's not how I'm using the word. Let me quote from the book I sent you.

Shadow modicums are dangerous. They are termed 'the greedy
Element' - able to subsume and replace Minor Elemental
modicums, imitating much of their structure. This
phenomenon is most clearly demonstrated by the Shadowbound,
and other shadow creatures and beasts that have
historically plagued Sapience. They are completely
inimical to Spirit modicums, and will thus eliminate them
when bonding to a stable modicum.

Shadow modicums, in spite of their destructive capability,
are also capable of imitating many of the functions of
Spirit modicums, up to and including life of a sort.
Undead and Consanguine are the clearest example of this
unique property.

Given that your argument hinges on equivocation, I think this alone is enough to establish that you aren't addressing any of the points I'm making, and you are - like Tekias Uymari - attempting to overshadow the grievous destruction of the Plane of Spirit by the spread of the Shadowbound, which is of course not occurring in reverse; and likewise, attempting to muddy the waters concerning the steady increase of Shadow in our world, which is undeniable fact.

You then write:

Mortal things need a universal culling mechanism, be it Consanguine,
Shadowbeasts or simple disease, and why is that? To prevent
overpopulation, which indeed would lead to the very same societal
struggles that the Archmage describes would happen in his apocalyptic
view of shadow.

Er, yes.

It's called death.

It's that thing you're running from right now. It was doing the job just fine before the Consanguine and the undead existed, and I would very prudently suggest that perhaps the Gods who created this universe knew what they were doing when they didn't start out with any vampires, or any undead.

Moving on:

I wonder though, how do you indeed know so much about the
aspects of Shadow? Have you dabbled yourself? What experiments have you
conducted? Or are your evidence only based on the anecdotal meeting with
Mazzions singularities? Should you want theories to have substance you
need proof. I should say you should experiment with shadow and then
perhaps, if found successful, then you could write a book.

Being ripped apart by singularity orbs is far from anecdotal. If you are acknowledging my arguments, the flow of logic - which you are attempting, once again, to obscure - runs as follows:

- All of physical existence is comprised of elemental modicums.
- We, too, are comprised of elemental modicums.
- Destroying the bond between two elemental modicums, or 'flaying' a positive charge from them, requires a mathematically equivalent amount of Shadow modicums.
- While one does not need to destroy all the bonds of a Sapient body, or 'flay' all the Spirit from it, this still needs to happen at a significant rate.
- Therefore, the amount of modicums required to destroy a Sapient body is a non-trivial fraction of the total in that body, itself. This multiples quickly, given that singularities target wide swathes and can fell dozens at once.
- A vampire such as yourself can only feed upon one body at once, transforming its Spirit modicums into the Shadow necessary to sustain its form. Even then, you do not gather all the Spirit, only that which lies within the bloodstream.
- Conclusion: It requires far more Shadow to power a singularity than any other commonly-used mortal process.

No one, so far, has been able to question this logic in any meaningful sense - they only attack a lack of formal proof, ignoring that accepting basic principles is more than enough to get us to this point in the first place. Once again, if you accept that Sciomancers channel Shadow into this plane, and you accept that Shadow subsumes and mimics other elemental modicums, then you necessarily accept my conclusions.

Now for your 'evidence' which isn't:

The element of Shadow has been a part of Sapience
for centuries. There is no apocalypse, and there has never been one. The
War of Shadow saw shadowbeasts violently assaulting Sapience, they were
driven back to the Shadow Plane. The Shadow Mother assaulted Sapience.
She was driven back to the Shadow Plane, and imprisoned. The Orrery of
Spheres for the last -four- sessions of activity, has been infused with
entire globes of elemental shadow. Still no apocalypse.

...yet you cannot deny that the amount of Shadow in our world is /steadily increasing/, which is also key to my point. Each one of these incidents, and its ongoing use by mortals in these ways, slowly compounds the amount of Shadow here - and meanwhile, the invasion of Shadow and Shadowbound in the Spirit Plane consumes there.

The candle is burning at both ends, and the fact that we have leeway before the problem becomes unsolvable is not proof of the problem's nonexistence in the first case. It is proof that we need to stop doing what we are doing and find out reliable means by which to prevent the further flow of Shadow, and to banish it from the Plane of Spirit. These are large, undeniable problems.

But apocalypse will come, and it should come, and that is a fact that
you need to accept, Archmage. If you logically accept that Sapience is a
living thing, that carries us, just like you are a living thing that
carries bacteria, then Sapience is bound by the very same cycle all
living things are bound to. It must die. How it dies, I can not say,
only that it will, and that it should. Death comes to all living things,
even the Divines, as you so aptly cited in your book. Do you think
Sapience is exempt? Would it be right if it was?

Good questions. I'm fighting for the answers to be "yes" and "yes," because first, this metaphor is terrible, and second, I'm not going to allow my universe to die in the name of your greed.

The equilibrium is intact, still.
But when I find a way to unbalance it, in my darkest ritual practices, I
most certainly will.

It's intact for now, and I don't think any of us need to know about your private habits.

I am surprised your city has not set up flogging posts for you, publicly
claiming Shadow is stronger than Spirit as you have. I am sure that is a
moral boon for those in your guild.

'Stronger' is, of course, a gross oversimplification of the problems I'm pointing out. Spirit can be overwhelmed by Shadow, yes - and Shadow can be driven out by Spirit. Shadow is certainly more aggressive and adaptive, but considering the issue from a point of view of prolonged, stable existence? Spirit is the stronger of the two, without question.

As for flogging, the only flogging that's happening here is with respect to the undead horse of your argument.

Let's hear your 'nays.'

-Shachalai

Penned by my hand on Closday, the 2nd of Chakros, in the year 468 MA.