Episode: Black Rose
Posted by Story on 06/08/20
A crowd has gathered in the Blackrose Theater to witness a woman upon the stage. She is only one woman, upon one very large stage, but even upon that very large stage she has a presence that is larger than the stage -- larger than the Theater. And her voice, when she speaks, though it is just one voice, reaches to every corner of the Auditorium.
"I am Triscali the Black Rose, Breaker of Writs, Extinguisher of the Light of Dragons, Queen of the Compact of Old.
The Compact I inherited, this Compact of Old, was a Compact crippled by infighting and greed, by the lesser evils of powerful men who held other, less powerful men in chains.
I broke those chains.
And I broke the Compact.
For a thing needs to be broken before it can be reforged, and this Compact of Old needed, very much, to be reforged.
By now you have heard the words of Duke Ivan Helianthus. You have heard him toll the bell that sounds the death of your Compact. You have heard him promise comfort in the arms of King Alaric Grayson III, in the arms of the Compact you have known, with all its little tyrannies and terrors. You have been offered the soft kiss of a shadow.
Perhaps Duke Ivan is right, and your Compact has died -- has, like my Compact of Old, been broken. But, if it has truly died, it has died so that it can be /reborn/. Your Compact has been on a journey since the first day of its creation, to become something greater, to arise and ascend. It is up to all of you, now, to reforge it. To decide its shape.
This Compact is not my Compact of Old, and it is not the Compact of King Alaric Grayson III. What will your Compact be?"
The performance is met by applause, as many are taken by how believable the actress is in her portrayal of Queen Triscali the Black Rose from seven hundred years ago. White journals are written about the social commentary of the performance, and how fitting that is from that bygone era mostly lost to legend. A few gripe they couldn't get autographs.
"I am Triscali the Black Rose, Breaker of Writs, Extinguisher of the Light of Dragons, Queen of the Compact of Old.
The Compact I inherited, this Compact of Old, was a Compact crippled by infighting and greed, by the lesser evils of powerful men who held other, less powerful men in chains.
I broke those chains.
And I broke the Compact.
For a thing needs to be broken before it can be reforged, and this Compact of Old needed, very much, to be reforged.
By now you have heard the words of Duke Ivan Helianthus. You have heard him toll the bell that sounds the death of your Compact. You have heard him promise comfort in the arms of King Alaric Grayson III, in the arms of the Compact you have known, with all its little tyrannies and terrors. You have been offered the soft kiss of a shadow.
Perhaps Duke Ivan is right, and your Compact has died -- has, like my Compact of Old, been broken. But, if it has truly died, it has died so that it can be /reborn/. Your Compact has been on a journey since the first day of its creation, to become something greater, to arise and ascend. It is up to all of you, now, to reforge it. To decide its shape.
This Compact is not my Compact of Old, and it is not the Compact of King Alaric Grayson III. What will your Compact be?"
The performance is met by applause, as many are taken by how believable the actress is in her portrayal of Queen Triscali the Black Rose from seven hundred years ago. White journals are written about the social commentary of the performance, and how fitting that is from that bygone era mostly lost to legend. A few gripe they couldn't get autographs.