Written By Reigna
Aug. 28, 2018, 5:41 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Ann
I am no warrior, and yet I went to Stormwall. I was there in the passes with the wounded, helping my fellow healers deal with the wounded. We treated all we could and offered solace to those who were returning to the Queen.
I still have nightmares about the sounds and smells of that place. I wake with tears on my face, remembering the sizzle of hot blades cauterizing wounds. The stench of burnt flesh and the copper that coated my tongue for weeks after. I remember seeing my friend Lady Eirlys give her life to save another. I remember the surge of hope I felt when I saw what remained of the Valardin cavalry come to support the soldiers, Templars and Knights protecting us against the tide of darkness bearing down upon us.
I remember so many sigils, heraldry and Houses, united to preserve the safety of the Compact as a whole. Yes. There were losses. But the enemy was denied a foothold in the Compact. Where would we be today if they had taken the city? Where would we be if that war was still raging, if they kept coming, raging South?
Was the price Crovane paid steep? Yes. But each "joke" that is made by this Duke, it cheapens the price that *everyone* paid who was there. It was not just Crovane who felt loss. But the losses would be so much *worse* if Princess Marian had not done what she did.
Whoever raised you, Ann Crovane... I weep for their failure. You defend the indefensible. You and your Duke are hiding behind the most cowardly of lies. Humor does not excuse a systematic and apparently relentless pattern of tearing down someone who made a hard, but correct decision.
You said yourself Princess Marian has sunk much of her own money and resources into helping rebuild Stormwall. And *still* you pick at her. Leadership drives forward. All this looking back and moaning does not serve your people, nor does it bring honor to the name Crovane. You are acting like spoiled children. Be better examples to those who look to you, lest they stop looking to you at all.
I still have nightmares about the sounds and smells of that place. I wake with tears on my face, remembering the sizzle of hot blades cauterizing wounds. The stench of burnt flesh and the copper that coated my tongue for weeks after. I remember seeing my friend Lady Eirlys give her life to save another. I remember the surge of hope I felt when I saw what remained of the Valardin cavalry come to support the soldiers, Templars and Knights protecting us against the tide of darkness bearing down upon us.
I remember so many sigils, heraldry and Houses, united to preserve the safety of the Compact as a whole. Yes. There were losses. But the enemy was denied a foothold in the Compact. Where would we be today if they had taken the city? Where would we be if that war was still raging, if they kept coming, raging South?
Was the price Crovane paid steep? Yes. But each "joke" that is made by this Duke, it cheapens the price that *everyone* paid who was there. It was not just Crovane who felt loss. But the losses would be so much *worse* if Princess Marian had not done what she did.
Whoever raised you, Ann Crovane... I weep for their failure. You defend the indefensible. You and your Duke are hiding behind the most cowardly of lies. Humor does not excuse a systematic and apparently relentless pattern of tearing down someone who made a hard, but correct decision.
You said yourself Princess Marian has sunk much of her own money and resources into helping rebuild Stormwall. And *still* you pick at her. Leadership drives forward. All this looking back and moaning does not serve your people, nor does it bring honor to the name Crovane. You are acting like spoiled children. Be better examples to those who look to you, lest they stop looking to you at all.
Written By Esoka
Aug. 28, 2018, 5:24 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
I feel no regret that I bled and could have died and watched good men and women die upon the field of Stormwall. I was proud do to my part and serve the Compact, and aid Redrain and Crovane in the stand against the Abyss. I go forward trying to live in a way that respects the sacrifices of people like Lady Eirlys, and the many Templars and Riven sworn I called friends.
It is sometimes hard to remember that pride as I visit the Archives.
But I will try to keep in my heart that the ordinary folk of Stormwall were worth the blood and sacrifice, and do my best to think less on others. A knight does not choose their leader or lord sometimes, but if the cause was worthy, that should be enough.
It is sometimes hard to remember that pride as I visit the Archives.
But I will try to keep in my heart that the ordinary folk of Stormwall were worth the blood and sacrifice, and do my best to think less on others. A knight does not choose their leader or lord sometimes, but if the cause was worthy, that should be enough.
Written By Ryhalt
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:55 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Lisebet
Let me try this again while not drinking coffee. How can your clothing cost so much when there is so little of it! I have seen bathing towels with more fabric. No no no no this will not due, send them back or add more stuff too it like a robe, or a thick wool coat! Dress ike a sheep, you can be fashionable as a sheep I hear. It shoul....
*There is another coffee stain, blurred ink, and what might be blood on the page now*
*There is another coffee stain, blurred ink, and what might be blood on the page now*
Written By Preston
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:52 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
I think people perhaps have a tendency on Stormwall to think of their own sacrifices, and compare them and rank them. That their sacrifice gives them a unique position, a unique take. I suspect that if I go to Prince Edain he can recite the first several pages of the lists of their knights who died helping hold the pass so the shamans could get away. Yet Valardin did not dispatch the full weight of their force there, their losses in number were not as great as others. But. Does that mean Edain is tormented less? Or his view is more or less valid? Dame Thena had most of her troops safeguarding the roads. She brought many knights still to Stormwall, and many died. Yet still far fewer than Templars, who lost over 50,000 of our number. Does that mean I experienced the battle more than her? Did the fires of the enemy burn brighter in my eyes because it was more of my brothers and sisters dying? Did the sting of the enemy blades lessen for Dame Thena because she had less and thus lost less? Does a Marquis then feel these battles less than a Duke, who will by dint of their size lose more lives?
It was a battle. A war. The shared loss, the shared sacrifice was meant to bring us together - it is why we extended the offer for the knights of the fealties who fell to be interred with our Faith Militant at the new construction at Sanctum.
It was a battle. A war. The shared loss, the shared sacrifice was meant to bring us together - it is why we extended the offer for the knights of the fealties who fell to be interred with our Faith Militant at the new construction at Sanctum.
Written By Ryhalt
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:52 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Lisebet
There is a another large coffee stain in this page and wet, blurred ink.
Written By Jordan
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:48 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
I never did meet Sir Roland, but the High Lord of Sanctum speaks in glowing praise of the man, and I understand the lure of the road better than most.
Gild bless this questing knight; may every tree on his road grant him succor in rainy nights, every turn in the road bring him wonder and delight.
And may his weapon always strike true in his fight against the wicked.
Gild bless this questing knight; may every tree on his road grant him succor in rainy nights, every turn in the road bring him wonder and delight.
And may his weapon always strike true in his fight against the wicked.
Written By Lisebet
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:38 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
I like to wear new and excitingly fashionable clothing. It creates such a buzz.
Written By Jordan
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:33 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Giulio
I do it with two jars of your moonshine, three pieces of bread and four slices of ham and cheese.
Written By Derovai
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:03 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Giulio
Play it with Foolsbane; see what happens. You'll be dead but at least you won't have to suffer anymore.
Written By Ryhalt
Aug. 28, 2018, 4:01 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Clover
She threw a tea cup at me during breakfast. A tea cup, not a coffee cup as it should have been, but a tea cup. All because I sat beside her with bacon and coffee after the morning run she insisted I take. Okay so I cannot exactly recall how many butter and mince tarts I had at the coffee tasting, and I was going to run today, but she did not need to insist it happen when the cock crowed. Since I was gracious (okay maybe not so gracious) to run in the morning, she could let me enjoy my breakfast. No, it was asking too much and she threw the tea cup. She missed. How she missed when she sat beside me I do not know. I can thank the pantheon she has terrible aim. I think we need to see a healer as I cannot live without coffee
And no one should be expected to live without bacon.
No one.
And no one should be expected to live without bacon.
No one.
Written By Giulio
Aug. 28, 2018, 3:48 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
... the White Journal drinking game is dangerous. Very. Very dangerous.
I have never felt a hangover this bad in the entirety of my life. Not even with the Redrain drinking games...
I have never felt a hangover this bad in the entirety of my life. Not even with the Redrain drinking games...
Written By Thena
Aug. 28, 2018, 3:40 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Kace
Good for them but I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.
Written By Kace
Aug. 28, 2018, 3:35 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Thena
I'm rather glad that its there for all eternity. It will certainly send a message to future generations.
Written By Thena
Aug. 28, 2018, 3:25 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Well I certainly wish I could unread that.
Written By Ann
Aug. 28, 2018, 3:09 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Sorrel
Dear Princess Sorrel, Beloved Niece:
One of my assistants brought me the white journal you wrote to my cousin Marian.
I think you've gravely misunderstood the situation - along with maybe a few others.
I don't mean to call you out of singularly point fingers here but since this is the first time I've seen mention of it in the whites directly rather than whispers - I would like to address this for posterity and, well, because you /are/ my niece!
I sincerely don't know where people are reading into that one of his "haha you should definitely burn down Farhaven" jokes translates into some kind of very strange form of prejudice that doesn't even exist in Arx...
But I'll try to clarify.
My husband isn't unhappy with her genitals or choice of armor over petticoats. It's with the fact she burned Stormwall down.
Whether or not that was a superb choice or a decidedly terrible and unnecessary one is not within my realm of expertise to judge - I am not master tactician. Not here to debate /this/ today. It's beyond my grasp.
But my husband has strong feelings. He is entirely valid in his opinions and you cannot deny him, even if it's 'in the past', because the events that transpired during that fateful night have been impacting him and directly /still/ impact him as a Duke, and as a Crovane, and as a person.
Some may sneer at him and roll their eyes because there is not as much value in architecture as there is in human lives (of which we lost many), but just remember:
This is the city that my husband grew up in.
It's the city his children were meant to be born in.
It's the city that his forefathers conquered and built with their own blood, sweat, tears, and the same stubborn determination that he displays today.
We didn't lose just a city and some buildings.
We lost granaries to feed our people with.
Our people - crafters and merchants - lost their livelihoods when the market burned down. They were not only left without homes, but without a means to provide for themselves.
We lost important religious monuments - the Aerie? Destroyed. The sayings and wisdoms of the spirits etched on its walls? Gone.
We lost archives. We lost books. We lost knowledge.
We lost aqueducts that supplied fresh water to our city, irrigated our fields and in turn helped feed our people.
Then, we spent several months rebuilding from the literal ashes of Stormwall.
If the Compact had turned their backs on us and didn't support the rebuilding of Stormwall (I might add no small part was funded by Marian herself) the Gyre would have doomed an entire generation or two to a really, really shitty life wherever they had been displaced.
So you know what? He's entitled to his prickly opinions. We have had to make some really hard decisions. We have had to see our people go through the Abyss for the past year.
Crovane, and the people of Stormwall made a great sacrifice for the whole of the Compact - and the Compact in turn should /definitely/ grant him the right to his opinions.
Now. As you see, none of the reasons above have taken any bearing from her sex. Unless she spewed the flames that took down Stormwall from her whisker biscuit. Then, I'm not sure my husband would have said much of anything, he'd probably have been impressed and awestruck and may have married her instead of me for surely that /is/ a talent to rival many others.
Horrific, but a talent none the less.
Imagine being able to take down a city with that! Har!
Anyway. I won't be speaking out on this any more. I do invite you and Galen over for dinner sometime, however. Been a while since I've seen the both of you.
Auntie Ann
One of my assistants brought me the white journal you wrote to my cousin Marian.
I think you've gravely misunderstood the situation - along with maybe a few others.
I don't mean to call you out of singularly point fingers here but since this is the first time I've seen mention of it in the whites directly rather than whispers - I would like to address this for posterity and, well, because you /are/ my niece!
I sincerely don't know where people are reading into that one of his "haha you should definitely burn down Farhaven" jokes translates into some kind of very strange form of prejudice that doesn't even exist in Arx...
But I'll try to clarify.
My husband isn't unhappy with her genitals or choice of armor over petticoats. It's with the fact she burned Stormwall down.
Whether or not that was a superb choice or a decidedly terrible and unnecessary one is not within my realm of expertise to judge - I am not master tactician. Not here to debate /this/ today. It's beyond my grasp.
But my husband has strong feelings. He is entirely valid in his opinions and you cannot deny him, even if it's 'in the past', because the events that transpired during that fateful night have been impacting him and directly /still/ impact him as a Duke, and as a Crovane, and as a person.
Some may sneer at him and roll their eyes because there is not as much value in architecture as there is in human lives (of which we lost many), but just remember:
This is the city that my husband grew up in.
It's the city his children were meant to be born in.
It's the city that his forefathers conquered and built with their own blood, sweat, tears, and the same stubborn determination that he displays today.
We didn't lose just a city and some buildings.
We lost granaries to feed our people with.
Our people - crafters and merchants - lost their livelihoods when the market burned down. They were not only left without homes, but without a means to provide for themselves.
We lost important religious monuments - the Aerie? Destroyed. The sayings and wisdoms of the spirits etched on its walls? Gone.
We lost archives. We lost books. We lost knowledge.
We lost aqueducts that supplied fresh water to our city, irrigated our fields and in turn helped feed our people.
Then, we spent several months rebuilding from the literal ashes of Stormwall.
If the Compact had turned their backs on us and didn't support the rebuilding of Stormwall (I might add no small part was funded by Marian herself) the Gyre would have doomed an entire generation or two to a really, really shitty life wherever they had been displaced.
So you know what? He's entitled to his prickly opinions. We have had to make some really hard decisions. We have had to see our people go through the Abyss for the past year.
Crovane, and the people of Stormwall made a great sacrifice for the whole of the Compact - and the Compact in turn should /definitely/ grant him the right to his opinions.
Now. As you see, none of the reasons above have taken any bearing from her sex. Unless she spewed the flames that took down Stormwall from her whisker biscuit. Then, I'm not sure my husband would have said much of anything, he'd probably have been impressed and awestruck and may have married her instead of me for surely that /is/ a talent to rival many others.
Horrific, but a talent none the less.
Imagine being able to take down a city with that! Har!
Anyway. I won't be speaking out on this any more. I do invite you and Galen over for dinner sometime, however. Been a while since I've seen the both of you.
Auntie Ann
Written By Coraline
Aug. 28, 2018, 2:39 p.m.(6/24/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Preston
Grandmaster Preston
It was an absolute honor to help make this goal possible for the Templars, I know that Thrax is also extremely happy to have been of assistance in this matter. I have only the greatest respect for yourself and for the Templars as a whole and know that the fruits of this venture will be something that serves the whole of the Compact.
Should you ever feel I might be of further assistance, you have only to message and I shall be there, axe ready.
In service,
Princess Coraline Thrax
Knight Grandmaster, Order of East Light
It was an absolute honor to help make this goal possible for the Templars, I know that Thrax is also extremely happy to have been of assistance in this matter. I have only the greatest respect for yourself and for the Templars as a whole and know that the fruits of this venture will be something that serves the whole of the Compact.
Should you ever feel I might be of further assistance, you have only to message and I shall be there, axe ready.
In service,
Princess Coraline Thrax
Knight Grandmaster, Order of East Light
Written By Asher
Aug. 28, 2018, 2:13 p.m.(6/23/1009 AR)
Since the Gala, it's been pretty excited, around the city - lots of people talking about the legends of the world. The Metallics and the Fractals, come to mind - as do the tales of the Elves, and the heroes of the Compact. The problem is, it's hard to know which is true, which is to be taken metaphorically, which is true but we're unable to prove it.
This is frustrating, for someone in my position - I am used to knowing things, factually. I spoke with Amantha Harrow recently, and connecting the strands of legends might have this person called the Horned God actually be someone we've heard about before, under other names. It really does all add up, but it's terrifying. And the worst part is, it's all supposition - how can we know, truly, what's going on? I'll have to ask for help from the knowledgeable. And if it's more rare knowledge, I may have to ask Thirteen Questions of someone who already knows; but the price may be too great. We shall see, and I hope it does not come to that.
This is frustrating, for someone in my position - I am used to knowing things, factually. I spoke with Amantha Harrow recently, and connecting the strands of legends might have this person called the Horned God actually be someone we've heard about before, under other names. It really does all add up, but it's terrifying. And the worst part is, it's all supposition - how can we know, truly, what's going on? I'll have to ask for help from the knowledgeable. And if it's more rare knowledge, I may have to ask Thirteen Questions of someone who already knows; but the price may be too great. We shall see, and I hope it does not come to that.
Written By Fecundo
Aug. 28, 2018, 1:46 p.m.(6/23/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Reese
Without question, I would tell you that training with Princess Reese is worth the wait. I had commented before and will again that any who are combat-minded should spend a morning or an afternoon ducking the lovely lady’s mace (doing so in the dark is foolish and she will connect more than you can duck). You will get more than just the combat knowledge out of it as she is truly a great person to get to know.
Written By Khanne
Aug. 28, 2018, 1:45 p.m.(6/23/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Joscelin
It was less about "guessing" and more that... I could think of why, but didn't want to say it, or say it in the wrong manner, because....
Well, I don't want a hammer thrown at me if I say the wrong thing or in the wrong way.
Pregnant women can be very scary.
Not that you are! I mean, you are lovely! Positively radiant and gorgeous! And totally not scary!!!
Unless you want to be scary.... then you are downright frightening....
Anyway, see what I mean?
Well, I don't want a hammer thrown at me if I say the wrong thing or in the wrong way.
Pregnant women can be very scary.
Not that you are! I mean, you are lovely! Positively radiant and gorgeous! And totally not scary!!!
Unless you want to be scary.... then you are downright frightening....
Anyway, see what I mean?
Written By Sorrel
Aug. 28, 2018, 1:07 p.m.(6/23/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Marian
Dear Princess Marian,
As a non-traditional princess in Thrax, I deal with a lot of people who'd like me to take my armor off and put on a frilly dress. And while I do enjoy a fabulous gown from time to time, sometimes you just have to remind people that you need your armor to do your job and if they don't like it, they can eat it like the driest saltiest biscuit and enjoy it. Those people are wrong; they're behind the times. If a woman can lead troops in the Thrax principality, she certainly can do so in Redrain.
And there is none other than you who I look to for leading troops except perhaps the Warlord of Thrax, for whom I am a deputy. You have proven your mettle and you deserve your role as Warchief. Redrain would be weaker without you.
Don't let those who hate to see a woman in armor get you down.
Sincerely and with love,
Princess Sorrel Thrax, Bladesong
As a non-traditional princess in Thrax, I deal with a lot of people who'd like me to take my armor off and put on a frilly dress. And while I do enjoy a fabulous gown from time to time, sometimes you just have to remind people that you need your armor to do your job and if they don't like it, they can eat it like the driest saltiest biscuit and enjoy it. Those people are wrong; they're behind the times. If a woman can lead troops in the Thrax principality, she certainly can do so in Redrain.
And there is none other than you who I look to for leading troops except perhaps the Warlord of Thrax, for whom I am a deputy. You have proven your mettle and you deserve your role as Warchief. Redrain would be weaker without you.
Don't let those who hate to see a woman in armor get you down.
Sincerely and with love,
Princess Sorrel Thrax, Bladesong
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.