Episode: Black Rose
Posted by Story on 06/08/20
On a day with many, many official proclamations being made, there's another one that goes out. It doesn't use the usual heralds, no, not the usual pomp of a proclamation from the Faith or the Crown. These heralds are commoners from the Lowers. Beggars. Children. Servants. Prodigals. Refugees. The poor, the shunned, and the ignored. And the proclamation itself is ignored, at first, of course, even when they stand on street corners in the Ward of the Compact and shout it. But it doesn't stay that way:
"Queen Triscali Grayson, the Black Rose, is remembered for many reasons, even this long after her reign. Scholars can tell you bits of her story. Mummers can act them out for you. The Theater she built still stands on Lords Lane, and we perform. We remember.
But Queen Triscali Grayson is remembered for other reasons. The Black Rose ended slavery in the Compact. The Black Rose freed countless slaves, countless numbers of people, and their descendants, owe her that debt. But free people own their own freedom. Free people make their own choices. Free people fight their own battles, and free people help to fight those battles that free other people. Noble, King, Queen, Commoner, we are all free people here.
And we are all free to choose what we do with that freedom. You've sold yours, Ivan Helianthus. You will not sell ours."
- The Black Rose Mummers
"Queen Triscali Grayson, the Black Rose, is remembered for many reasons, even this long after her reign. Scholars can tell you bits of her story. Mummers can act them out for you. The Theater she built still stands on Lords Lane, and we perform. We remember.
But Queen Triscali Grayson is remembered for other reasons. The Black Rose ended slavery in the Compact. The Black Rose freed countless slaves, countless numbers of people, and their descendants, owe her that debt. But free people own their own freedom. Free people make their own choices. Free people fight their own battles, and free people help to fight those battles that free other people. Noble, King, Queen, Commoner, we are all free people here.
And we are all free to choose what we do with that freedom. You've sold yours, Ivan Helianthus. You will not sell ours."
- The Black Rose Mummers