The mark of a paragon of the Collective is absolute devotion to not only the Collective itself, but also its ideals, accompanied by the highest possible degree of skill directed towards supporting those ideals. It is necessary and proper to record the details of the lives of those paragons for the education of those who come after, so that the people might learn from the example of those great citizens who came before them. The honourable Tishoh Windwhisper, an orator of the middle caste in the time before the Taint Wars, was one such esteemed paragon of the Collective. It is my supreme honour to record the details of his life, insofar as those details can be recovered from the scant historical record of his days or else be reasonably deduced from that which is known. I do not claim infallibility in this matter, but rather publish this account with the warning that while it is as true to historical as can be managed with what is known, the records of the old days of the Collective are somewhat lacking and the account may therefore be flawed in some small ways. I do, however, feel secure in saying that it is as true an account as can possibly be made, and that it may certainly be taken as a reasonably accurate guide both to the life of a hero of Hallifax and to the proper behaviour of a true Collectivist.

The paragon Tishoh was born some years before the Taint Wars into the noble house of Windwhisper, a family of excellent repute and honourably attained wealth. Little is known of his early life, the names of his parents having been lost to history. It is, however, known that his parents succumbed to death before he came of age, and that as such he was entrusted to the care of one Saevo Sunfar, a man famed in his life for his supreme skill at instilling a strong sense of ethics into children and securing their education in the field in which they showed the most promise. Saevo himself would be acclaimed as a paragon of the Collective after his own death, and his role in raising the young Tishoh certainly contributed to Tishoh's great virtue.

Tishoh possessed an excellent analytical mind, and as such there was hope in the early stages of his education that he might find employment as a scientist of the highest caste. However, this was not to be. As clever as Tishoh was, he was a far better at speaking and composing speeches than he was at analysing the unknown. Even in spite of that, some maintained hope that he would work as a scientist, for the scientist is rightly held in higher esteem than the orator. This hope persisted until Tishoh himself composed an argument against it, in which he declared that it would be a crime against the Collective for one with such a talent at oratory as he had to shun the work of the orator simply because it commanded less respect than that of the scientist. Upon hearing this argument those who had pushed him to pursue a scientific education for the sake of social standing were rightly ashamed to have given such poor advice, and there was no further question of his future career.

As such Tishoh studied under the finest orators to be found in the Collective, and he quickly matched and then exceeded their skill in both the composition and delivery of speeches. At the tender age of fifteen he gave his first public address, a speech condemning those who gave into their own desires and betrayed the Collective out of a desire for wealth of bodily pleasure. He delivered this speech in the lower wards of the city, surrounded by lowly labourers. Upon hearing his words no less than seven workers who had sold the small secrets which were known to them threw themselves at his feet, begging forgiveness for their crimes. These workers were duly arrested and reeducated, and Tishoh was rightly applauded for delivering such a potent speech.

That was the first and the least of his achievements working as an orator for the Ministry of Propaganda. He once served as the prosecutor when a bureaucrat of the treasury was tried for corruption. In that trial he delivered a speech on the benefits of Collectivism and the virtue of honesty, a speech so powerful and so touching that the defendant, who was guilty of the charges before him, threw himself from the city, choosing to die rather than live with the shame of his crime. A few short weeks after that trial Tishoh found himself giving motivational speeches within a workshop that had been unusually unproductive. The workers were so inspired by his noble words that the output of that workshop doubled after he had been there for only a single day, and then tripled after the second day. Even after Tishoh left the workshop, the workers laboured more eagerly and more efficiently for the rest of their days, their very souls having been stirred by his words.

He did all of this and more in only his first year of service. After that year he received a special charge, to go forth from the city and spread the virtues of Collectivism to the people of the Basin who lived lives of greed and corruption. This was a dangerous task, but Tishoh accepted gratefully, with a heart full of hope for the redemption of all living souls in the Collective's embrace.

Tishoh would wander the Basin for four long years, preaching the ways of Collectivist virtue to all who dwelled within it. He went first to the tribes of loboshigaru who wandered the mountains in those days, in the hope of turning the fury of their warbands to the defence of the Collective. In truth most of the tribes were little more than bandits and raiders in those days, and the first upon whom he came thought him to be little more than easy prey. He stated the purpose for his wandering, and the leader of the tribe thought to amuse himself by setting a challenge before Tishoh. If he succeeded in the task set before him, he would be admitted into their society to preach the way of virtue amongst them. Failure would mean his death.

The challenge was to stand against the largest and strongest of their tribe in a wrestling bout. Tishoh, who had no training in such physical matters, saw no option but to accept the challenge. As he and his opponent laid their hands on one another, Tishoh began to speak of Hallifax and the bonds between the comrades of the Collective. His foe was so deeply moved that he fell to his knees in submission and begged for admission into the Collective. One by one each of the others in the tribe followed suit, from the lowliest amongst them to the chieftain himself. They swore to see Tishoh safely to each of the mountain tribes of which they knew so that he might bring word of the Collective to each in turn.

Tishoh and his newfound comrades wandered the mountains for two years, their numbers growing with each speech that Tishoh gave. At the end of those years it seemed to Tishoh that he had brought virtue to all who he was likely to find in the mountains. As such he sent the now civilised loboshigaru to Hallifax where they could serve as guardians of the city, and set off to speak to the savages of the forest.

He found his way to the southernmost forest, and the inhabitants welcomed him gladly. They had heard of the power and glory of Hallifax, and thought that by listening to Tishoh they might gain some small part of that power and thereby raise themselves to civilization. He spent two years preaching amongst the trees, and during that time many of the natives chose to abandon their lives in the dirt to find new homes in Hallifax.

However, certain savages took offence at his teaching, those who were willfully ignorant of the path of virtue and clung to their barbaric way of life out of devotion to their foolish faith and their inefficient traditions. These foul creatures thought it best to form a conspiracy to kill Tishoh, ending the life of one who they took to be a threat to their way of life.

In those days the custom of hospitality was dear to the hearts of all those who lived amongst the trees, so they dared not strike against him directly. Instead they forged letters and planted evidence in an effort to convince others of their tribe that Tishoh was a spy, sent to prepare the forest for an invasion by Hallifax.

This was readily done, for those who remained in the forest were the least intelligent of their kind. Tishoh fell victim to this injustice, and placed in bonds to be taken before a council of the elders of the forest. Many of these were conspirators themselves, and in an act of supreme injustice quickly condemned him to death. Tishoh, now deemed to be a criminal, could be killed without any breach of hospitality.

He was taken to a great dead tree that stood alone in a clearing. The savages held Tishoh up in the air and against the tree, driving cruel spikes into his hands and feet. Having thus nailed him in place they cut into his body until they could grasp his ribs, which they broke with their bare hands and forced out from him like bloody wings. They left him in that state, watched only by a single guard.

Tishoh bore this pain without complaint, and instead spoke of the Collective's mercy and glory for one last time. He gave his last speech for one day and one night until he finally passed from the world at the end of his twenty years of life and loyalty to the Collective.

The guard was so impressed by his courage that he went to the Collective, bearing word of Tishoh's death and begging forgiveness for his part in it. This he was given after a reasonable period of reeducation, and that guard went on to serve Hallifax for the rest of his days.

Such were the life and death of Tishoh Windwhisper, a paragon of the Collective.