Written By Ignacio
Nov. 6, 2018, 2:04 p.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Lucita
One of the first friends I made when I came to Arx and she remains to be a close friend to this day. She has welcomed Cadenza's and my child with a gift fitting from her. I am not sure she is aware of how much it truly means to me.
Written By Forato
Nov. 6, 2018, 1:57 p.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
So many interesting people to meet. I keep finding myself in awe and affection for those who sit high on their horses. Boldly with bravado and strength. I hear tell of this activity in the eastern forests, I need to prepare myself to face such things. I need to find a teacher in survival.
Written By Vanora
Nov. 6, 2018, 12:55 p.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
Perhaps there are 12 to leave room for dreams. The Thirteenth Kingdom is the one that does not yet exist.
Written By Harlex
Nov. 6, 2018, 12:34 p.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
At first they hated me for the drills. We ran them for sixteen hours straight.
So soon after such a battle--their bodies were right, but their souls were weary.
They needed the normalcy. I forced them through it.
We rented out an old, abandoned house in the Lowers.
I taught them ways to use siege tactics in urban environments. Scouts cover the windows. Heavy infantry man the front doors. Light infantry moves in the back, sweeping each room. Give them only one direction to flee or end up on the end of a spear. Archers stop anyone who makes it past the unit inside.
Ran another where the heavy infantry breached the front door. Harrying those inside to the back. Right into an ambush. Only had one fight break out among the soldiers.
By the end they were moving through that house like a breeze.
Normalcy.
You never forget the bad ones. They go on about sacrifice and 'knowing what they signed up for' and the fallacy that a death for a good cause is a good death. There's something to be proud of, in what we did, but I don't fault anyone for not feeling that pride.
I fought my very best that day and I came home unharmed. I can't help the feeling of guilt in that--this nagging sensation that maybe I could have fought a little harder, that my blood could've been split for the single sparing of a life: someone's son or daughter, husband or wife--father or mother.
I'm certain Private Jaidyn's parents would rather have their girl back, instead of wondering for the rest of their days what exactly she died to defend.
When I was helping carry the dead back to camp I saw the look in their eyes, all the questions. In the corpses I saw broken promises. Faces I had seen before and some I would never know.
We'll account for them, we'll remember them, and when the graves are made we'll march on. But it never gets easier and I gather that, when it does--when they become just soldiers in an army--maybe the Enemy is a little closer to home than we care to admit.
So soon after such a battle--their bodies were right, but their souls were weary.
They needed the normalcy. I forced them through it.
We rented out an old, abandoned house in the Lowers.
I taught them ways to use siege tactics in urban environments. Scouts cover the windows. Heavy infantry man the front doors. Light infantry moves in the back, sweeping each room. Give them only one direction to flee or end up on the end of a spear. Archers stop anyone who makes it past the unit inside.
Ran another where the heavy infantry breached the front door. Harrying those inside to the back. Right into an ambush. Only had one fight break out among the soldiers.
By the end they were moving through that house like a breeze.
Normalcy.
You never forget the bad ones. They go on about sacrifice and 'knowing what they signed up for' and the fallacy that a death for a good cause is a good death. There's something to be proud of, in what we did, but I don't fault anyone for not feeling that pride.
I fought my very best that day and I came home unharmed. I can't help the feeling of guilt in that--this nagging sensation that maybe I could have fought a little harder, that my blood could've been split for the single sparing of a life: someone's son or daughter, husband or wife--father or mother.
I'm certain Private Jaidyn's parents would rather have their girl back, instead of wondering for the rest of their days what exactly she died to defend.
When I was helping carry the dead back to camp I saw the look in their eyes, all the questions. In the corpses I saw broken promises. Faces I had seen before and some I would never know.
We'll account for them, we'll remember them, and when the graves are made we'll march on. But it never gets easier and I gather that, when it does--when they become just soldiers in an army--maybe the Enemy is a little closer to home than we care to admit.
Written By Lisebet
Nov. 6, 2018, 11:12 a.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
I am so exhausted. I don't think I have ever been this tired in my entire life.
Written By Corban
Nov. 6, 2018, 9:23 a.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
I am not a priest, nor am I a scholar.
But I have been meditating on the nature of knowledge and the past lately. There are those who search for knowledge to simply know things, because they are curious about what has come before. And perhaps, for some Scholars, knowledge for its own sake is worthwhile.
I have come to a different view. In searching the past, I prepare for the future. Even when Vellichor gave his great injunction -- that the most-studious among us should take a sacred vow to forever guard the knowledge of the world -- he did so in revealing secrets that allowed humanity to prevail in the Reckoning.
I hope to follow that pragmatic path in the future.
But I have been meditating on the nature of knowledge and the past lately. There are those who search for knowledge to simply know things, because they are curious about what has come before. And perhaps, for some Scholars, knowledge for its own sake is worthwhile.
I have come to a different view. In searching the past, I prepare for the future. Even when Vellichor gave his great injunction -- that the most-studious among us should take a sacred vow to forever guard the knowledge of the world -- he did so in revealing secrets that allowed humanity to prevail in the Reckoning.
I hope to follow that pragmatic path in the future.
Written By Domonico
Nov. 6, 2018, 9:01 a.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Miranda
Sword of Gemecitta. A fitting title and one that is well deserved now by my cousin. I wish for her heart to be pure, her arm to be strong and for Truce to never fall from her hand.
Written By Alrec
Nov. 6, 2018, 8:33 a.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
Perhaps I should leave the writing to my quartermaster now that my journals are so popular. There are currently two people still alive from that time: High Lord Victus and myself. So I don't expect people to understand. Past that moment, I have paid pennance to now dead men. But my crimes were not murder or betrayal. I dealt with a mutiny of my men and like I have always done, took a contract with someone else. When the Thrax called to sail against Tyde, they paid me in silver and gold. This was and always will be my price. Back then, this was understood.
Written By Lou
Nov. 6, 2018, 8:24 a.m.(12/11/1009 AR)
I cannot commend Prince Talen, Baroness Enyo, or Lady Emily enough for their fine fighting skills. Meriah for her quick ability to work when given a task. I know it could not have been easy for everyone, to see what the one we fight has done to other people. Or, to see the stark reality of the information we've been passing to each other stare us in the face. Each of them comported themselves well, and I would have them at my side again were they up to the task.
Though, I did not escape entirely unscathed. Thought it might have seemed to them that I was focused on a single task, I can't say I won't have nightmares about those we fought, nor the way they were so in sync with each other. Their movements the same. Their speech patterns in unison with each other. I choose not to believe that all of them were willing subjects, not after the many villages I'd been to, gathering information and seeing just how decimated the shav'arvani populations had become at his hand.
Though, I did not escape entirely unscathed. Thought it might have seemed to them that I was focused on a single task, I can't say I won't have nightmares about those we fought, nor the way they were so in sync with each other. Their movements the same. Their speech patterns in unison with each other. I choose not to believe that all of them were willing subjects, not after the many villages I'd been to, gathering information and seeing just how decimated the shav'arvani populations had become at his hand.
Written By Audric
Nov. 6, 2018, 6:09 a.m.(12/10/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Alrec
No, no no, you're going about this all wrong! If you want to be an inflammatory individual, you have to do something interesting before you start spouting wild shit. Trust me, I'm an expert. I sing loudly my love of battle and killing, but I've shown again and again that it's directed in the service of the Compact, so it's just a -quirk-. What you're doing now is just a good way to get yourself Abbas'd. What's the way that you boatfolks say it? Turn hard to stern, cap'n, you're heading hard for the permanent fuckup strait!
Written By Violet
Nov. 6, 2018, 1:46 a.m.(12/10/1009 AR)
The Blades met the enemy. Duke Aiden was there aiding in our work with the Fluffybottom chapter house. It was just before dawn. It was quiet, too quiet, and many of us, myself included, were still waking. No excuse of course. We sensed nothing, but as the animals started to wake there was the start of a cry, that ended as they all fell into what appeared to be sleep. Even as the burrows beneath our feet trembled and collapsed. It was then we were able to reveal the enemy and engage it. Even as the Blades sought to dig out those trapped in the earth below.
The creature we faced was a thing of nightmare. I'm sure the scholars will be tutting over this journal for awhile to come. It resembled a bear. Maybe it was at one time, but it was huge and its eyes glowed green. I mean it, they glowed green. And it was covered in horrible sores. It exuded a wickedness and horror that was like every bad thing that has happened over the last five years all rolled into one. Was like a punch to the gut. As we engaged it arrows began to fall on us from the woods. Human helpers apparently.
Many people fell to the claws of that creature and others to arrows. That creature, that demon, feasted on the lives trapped below the ground. Until it was distracted enough by our attack. The Blades worked beautifully as ever in their tasks. It was Corporal Arianna, Lieutenant Harlex, and Private Starra who landed the telling blows which felled it finally. Afterwards our people searched the woods to rout the archers and any other unknown adversaries, but that seemed to be all. Once things have settled there will be a vigil for the fallen.
The creature we faced was a thing of nightmare. I'm sure the scholars will be tutting over this journal for awhile to come. It resembled a bear. Maybe it was at one time, but it was huge and its eyes glowed green. I mean it, they glowed green. And it was covered in horrible sores. It exuded a wickedness and horror that was like every bad thing that has happened over the last five years all rolled into one. Was like a punch to the gut. As we engaged it arrows began to fall on us from the woods. Human helpers apparently.
Many people fell to the claws of that creature and others to arrows. That creature, that demon, feasted on the lives trapped below the ground. Until it was distracted enough by our attack. The Blades worked beautifully as ever in their tasks. It was Corporal Arianna, Lieutenant Harlex, and Private Starra who landed the telling blows which felled it finally. Afterwards our people searched the woods to rout the archers and any other unknown adversaries, but that seemed to be all. Once things have settled there will be a vigil for the fallen.
Written By Sparte
Nov. 6, 2018, 1:06 a.m.(12/10/1009 AR)
He accepted me as kin barely having met me. Something that meant a lot to me, given my circumstances. I regret not getting to know him better when there was time, and will remember him in my prayers to the Queen of Endings.
Written By Jhond
Nov. 5, 2018, 8:57 p.m.(12/10/1009 AR)
The mirror masquerade was interesting at least. The beverages offered something to talk about. But I think it's about time I shed this other mask too.
Written By Cambria
Nov. 5, 2018, 8:03 p.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
It occurred to me earlier today, while petting Baxtalo, that the little cat is appropriately named. The whole situation which brought him into my life is all rather amusing, I must say. I have never written anything about it before now, nor had I made it a point to speak of it much, either. Some time ago now, though, a particular Archlector apparently intended to gift me another feline. A calico, to be exact. As I understand it (for I was not there at the time, and this was related to me by another), there was some sort of insinuation that the joke was on me - male calico cats are sterile. (Okay, so perhaps the joke was ultimately meant to be on my husband, but I digress).
I never accepted the cat.
Yet life, winding strange as it does, brought me in contact with another of our Archlectors, this one surprised to learn my identity before immediately reminding me about the cat I was supposed to have, only that she had adopted it...and wouldn't you know it, there at her feet was another cat in need of a home. It all felt too coincidental to pass up. That time I accepted.
Baxtalo is a little white cat. His name means 'luck.'
I never accepted the cat.
Yet life, winding strange as it does, brought me in contact with another of our Archlectors, this one surprised to learn my identity before immediately reminding me about the cat I was supposed to have, only that she had adopted it...and wouldn't you know it, there at her feet was another cat in need of a home. It all felt too coincidental to pass up. That time I accepted.
Baxtalo is a little white cat. His name means 'luck.'
Written By Coraline
Nov. 5, 2018, 7:50 p.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Alrec
You feel this is the right track? I freely admit I do not understand your logic, but then I have never betrayed my own people either. Enjoy your new masters, at least someone wants you not that I can see the appeal personally.
Written By Thorley
Nov. 5, 2018, 7:43 p.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
When I was introduced to Wulfwin Baseborn, I was still on the run from my own fears. I had fled from my young marriage to Violet Marjawn. I don't know of the timing of it. Perhaps Ryhalt thought it would snap me out of whatever dark thoughts I was having. Perhaps I just needed the responsibility. He was young and ambitious. He wanted to be a knight - he had heard the stories. Chivalry, how the Ladies would swoon. That the bards would sing for him.
He trained hard. I tried to give him the best that he could handle. And he may have faltered at times, but I never doubted his heart.
He took chivalry to heart. And in the end, it was that chivalry that took him from us. He gave himself to protect Dame Felicia as she struck the gargantuan with Wheelspinner. No. It wasn't the fatal blow. It may have not turned the tide.
But he smiled regardless.
He had protected the Lady.
And now he is gone.
He is no Duke. No noble. No name that will be recorded in the annals of Arx.
But for a brief and shining moment - he was the hero.
May a song be sung for him.
He trained hard. I tried to give him the best that he could handle. And he may have faltered at times, but I never doubted his heart.
He took chivalry to heart. And in the end, it was that chivalry that took him from us. He gave himself to protect Dame Felicia as she struck the gargantuan with Wheelspinner. No. It wasn't the fatal blow. It may have not turned the tide.
But he smiled regardless.
He had protected the Lady.
And now he is gone.
He is no Duke. No noble. No name that will be recorded in the annals of Arx.
But for a brief and shining moment - he was the hero.
May a song be sung for him.
Written By Lisebet
Nov. 5, 2018, 3:51 p.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
Lady Liliana is awesome. I have armour. I am shocked to have armour in that I would never ever have thought I would, but I do. It is beautiful and hopefully very effective at protecting me. As it's supposed to.
Mind you, even though I have it, I pray to the gods that I will never need it.
Mind you, even though I have it, I pray to the gods that I will never need it.
Written By Alrec
Nov. 5, 2018, 1:32 p.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
Wow, you know you are in the right track when the Thrax High Lord himself writes to you to issue you a personal ban from the ward. I would say that I will miss the Thraxian rum but my Pravus liege keeps me well supplied with the alternatives.
Written By Skye
Nov. 5, 2018, 9:57 a.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Caith
When I'm feeling sad, shopping is the last thing I want to do.
Perhaps indulging in a favorite hobby? I know that painting always makes me feel better. Or visiting a shrine? Prayer has always brought me great comfort.
Really it's tied to what you find worthwhile.
Perhaps indulging in a favorite hobby? I know that painting always makes me feel better. Or visiting a shrine? Prayer has always brought me great comfort.
Really it's tied to what you find worthwhile.
Written By Lumen
Nov. 5, 2018, 9:53 a.m.(12/9/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Caith
There are as many remedies for that thing as there are people in this world and each one unique to them. For the most pervasive, rising each day with a positive intent and practicing a little gentle, patient self-forgiveness if ever falling short can be as comforting as any soft silk.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.