The campaign to elect Samuel Adder has released an official campaign platform and contact information through websites, ads, and campaign flyers, encouraging the RhyDinian voting public to reach out with their questions!

Through recorded statements and quotes from Mr. Adder, the campaign platform includes the following:

* The office of governor is a powerful tool that can be used to empower and transform the community. An empty or idle office is a wasted opportunity, and I promise not to let the power of the office go to waste!

* Community gatherings are the lifeblood of RhyDin, bringing us together in spite of our many differences and bringing enormous financial benefit to the city. I promise to reach out to local businesses to get them involved, so that every drop of ale is a copper in a brewer's pocket and a smile on a citizen's face!

* To further support community gatherings, I will reach out to my connections in the sports, entertainment, and gambling industries, as well as local institutions, to explore the possibility of future events and new venues. Casinos and arenas will draw more visitors to the area, stimulate the economy, and provide you with the entertainment you deserve!

* We can only enjoy this city if we feel safe enough in it! But too often our city's political leaders have deigned to keep information vital to our safety in the shadows, deceiving us about the dangers we face, robbing us of the opportunity to prepare ourselves and put a stop to it. I promise to keep myself appraised of developing situations, by listening to the citizens, reaching out to officers of the Watch and other security leaders, and relying on other sources of information; furthermore, I promise to keep you all informed of the threats that we may face, that we will defeat together.

* By cultivating relationships across RhyDin and Stars End with those who look after our safety and security, and with the power and resources of this office, I will pressure them to abandon lines of investigation that do NOT pose a threat to our safety! Citizens are free to make their own choices about how we enjoy ourselves, and how we provide services to people who only want to enjoy themselves. Whatever one may call a sin or a vice, we should be free to enjoy ourselves.

((This post may be updated with additional statements and policies! Feel free to post any questions you have here, through a letter your character may have sent, a question shouted out at a press conference, or however else you'd like to deal with, and I'll get to them as soon as possible!))

Mr. Adder was a little surprised to be faced with this question, read to him by an aide during a video shoot, but only a little; this was RhyDin, after all. "No," he started, and paused to consider, before he continued:

"The elf problem is a storied one, extensively documented, researched, and debated in the great halls of academia across the Multiverse to this very day. Yet no one has come up with a satisfactory answer — when we refer to the language or practices of elves in the common tongue — is it elvish, elfish, elven, or elfin?

"I'm sorry that I don't know the answer, but I feel pretty confident that genocide isn't it." He smiled into the camera. "Thanks so much for your question, Bob."

"Mr. Adder" Are you okay, sir?"

Samuel let out a deep breath, and his curious frown blossomed into an even more curious smile. "Better than fine. But I'm interested to learn who our intrepid activist is. Find out for me, would you?"

He watched his aides file out of his large office in Stars End, then swiveled in his chair to a small table with a tablet propped up. He smiled at his own image, tugged on his collar and shirt sleeves, then leaned forward to hit record.

"Hello, RhyDin! Good afternoon.

"If any of you haven't, I recommend you go back and watch the video we tagged in the description. I'll go over the major points of her question, but it's important to let people know....that you're paying attention. That you hear what they say.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your father. Addiction can be a devil of a curse to break....and sometimes, tragically, the help you need to overcome it isn't there. I don't dismiss the social ills ascribed to the pleasures we seek in life; on the contrary, I have endeavored for many long years to understand them.

"But let's circle back to that in a minute. I'd like to address the words of Henry Louis Mencken, an avowed skeptic of democracy itself, as well as of various races; Ambrose Bierce, whom the former very much admired; and Euripedes, whom we must remember lived under a very different state, with a very different definition of democracy, than what we see today.

"I think it's my belief in people — my belief in our potential, our talents, our desires, and how I believe we deserve to have those desires fulfilled — that offends me the most about Mencken, who is pointed about the intelligence of what he considers plain people. I do not think that most people are unintelligent, or somehow unworthy of being listened to or having the things they want offered to them. This is what he opposes.

"As for the loss of public office by underestimating the masses, I'll generously chalk that up to our differing experiences across time; but history, at least as it stands today, would disagree.

"Bierce is a man I always took a different interest in than Mencken, but here they align in their cynicism....worse, dismissive cynicism. It is important to interrogate motives in politics, to ask what you as a voter want and whether or not someone will truly give it to you....but by what better means could we see that done" Politics can be a dirty game....but politics built Rome, Cairo, Calcutta, Singapore, and Beijing. Politics has built walls and monuments, aqueducts and running water, and so many other things for us to share.

"One can choose to still be a cynic about politics, of course....but I choose not to be.

"This last one....troubles me the most, because I find it the least convincing in the way it is most often used today. It's meant to be cautionary, to urge people to interrogate motives in politics, as I myself encourage, but in this context....it encourages contrarianism. That if a person in politics is persuading people to their side, and you believe differently than they do, then only calamity itself can ensue.

"You asked if I was a cynic, an opportunist, or just plain evil. My answer is that I am a believer.

"I believe that our desires, our aspirations are worth listening to and striving to fulfill. I believe that people have a right to snatch at the reins of fate to take control of their own destinies, even if it can lead to folly. I believe that we deserve the chance, and the safety, to try to enjoy our lives by the means available to us. I believe in providing those means.

"And I believe I am the best man you will find to do this.

"Thank you for your question. I hope we find the chance to continue our conversation very soon. As for the rest of you viewers....thanks for listening, have a good day, and good luck out there."

He winked as he leaned forward again to stop the recording.

A note found its way back to the Old Market manor later that day. It was handwritten with a fountain pen on paper with the campaign letterhead.

Dear Ms. Harker,

While my father's beliefs were useful in illustrating a point, I intentionally did not name him then and I do not now for the same reason. I'd rather let the man get his rest. He has died, after all.

Thank you for taking the time to send me this question.

Sincerely yours,

Samuel Adder

The next note was delivered to the same address, on identical paper, with identical handwriting.

Dear Ms. Harker,

Please rest assured, you did not offend me in the least! But I appreciate your condolences all the same.

The questions of public education and healthcare are, ultimately, questions of money to me, thinking as an investor. They themselves are investments in the city's vitality, in providing good and stable lives for our citizens; but how do we invest in education and healthcare?

I believe the answer lies within my policies. I plan to undertake steps to bring more money into the city from outside — and encouraging citizens to participate in more celebrations and gatherings, which always involves spending more cash than anyone intended! Arenas, casinos, and other entertainment projects involve enormous amounts of capital, both in their construction and what they generate once complete.

Funding for services that provide a public good is very ad hoc in this town. I believe establishing reliable revenue streams from entertainment and related industries, and getting commitments from their owners about recurring charitable contributions in exchange for our cooperation in giving them a place in our city, is one possible way of doing this.

I will, of course, happily champion charities and services that contribute to the well-being of our citizens. But I also believe in paying them more than lip service.

I hope this helps clarify my thoughts on the matter.

Thank you again for your questions, and have a wonderful day!

Sincerely yours,

Samuel Adder

In addition to publication on the campaign website and social media, Mr. Adder had a courier send a physical copy of his reply to Nick Cross if at all possible. It was hand-written on crisp white paper with the campaign letterhead.

Dear Mr. Cross,

My stance has always been that RhyDin's diversity is its strength, and the welcome I extend to our many mortal and immortal citizens also encompasses the undead.

The fear of undeath once extended to fear of those who suffered disease, near-death, and other maladies in many places where I am from. It is from mortal beings' fear of sickness, and the ignorant extension of that fear to the sick themselves, that is the cause of so many undead legends.

Yes, I believe the undead deserve social programs to help them find a place for themselves in the larger society! I believe this can be achieved by normalizing the distribution and sale of different food sources needed by the undead, normalizing the hours kept by the sunlight-averse, and educating would-be paladins, slayers, and officers keeping the peace about the behavior and appropriate response to encountering fellow citizens who are undead.

Most of the undead in our city possess similar skills and capabilities to their mortal brothers and sisters; in addition, many of them are better suited to different working hours, immune to otherwise harmful environments, or in possession of other skills that mortals may not be suited to. Educating employers about these facts is an important first step in rectifying any employment problems among our undead citizens.

I believe the availability of alternative foods and beverages, and sunlight-related considerations, will go a long way towards making undead citizens feel welcome at city-organized or city-sponsored events.

And where I come from, many casinos are required by the laws there to list disclaimers on their advertisements and offer support for addiction-related programs. If elected, I promise that any gambling enterprise I do business with will need these disclaimers and charitable contributions if they want my support.

Thank you for your questions! Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any more — and remember to vote Samuel Adder for Governor!

Sincerely yours, Samuel Adder

A statement was posted quickly in response to the questions Thorn sent to the campaign.

Thank you very much for your questions!

Whomever RhyDin chooses to lead them, my belief in the potential of our great city and the people in it arose years before this election and will certainly outlast it, regardless of the outcome. I have gathered to my campaign so many talented people whose gifts I have had the privilege of nurturing; so however the election turns out, I have big plans for all of them, and for RhyDin!

In response to earlier questions regarding my support for different kinds of entertainment venues, I stated that I would make charitable contributions by participating companies a condition of my support for individual venues-to-be. I would like to clarify that these contributions will go to organizations treating gambling addiction or, in the case of arenas, clinics offering physical rehabilitation.

Of course, well-funded charitable programs have been known to offer support of different kinds for the families of the people they treat.

RhyDin is unique among city-states of similar size in how it deals with money and public works. The latter requires the former to get done, but the money is usually furnished by individual neighborhoods, guilds, influential families, and other organizations to create or maintain public works on a smaller scale.

If we expect the office of the governor to be empowered to fund programs similar to the type you mentioned, we have to create a sufficient cash flow that the city's elected representative will hold enough influence over that they can direct portions of it to different projects. This is what I intend to accomplish, by supporting investment that will not only provide our city with the entertainment they deserve, and not only draw more people in from outside; but also provide some access to the revenue streams generated by these investments, as a condition of my support.

It is not a simple or easy task. Others have proposed alternatives in past elections and this one: levying tariffs that could have disastrous effects on the economy; assertions that the unique nature of the city means that the office is, and should be, powerless; or merely thinking smaller, limiting their scope to a few small projects they hope to solicit sufficient financial support for.

But I like to think bigger. I like to think our city is capable of being bigger. I believe it, and I know many of you do, too.

Thank you again for your questions, and please reach out to our campaign if you need anything.