Written By Sameera
Sept. 30, 2017, 4:37 p.m.(4/24/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
I am reminded again that I would like to get to know you better.
Written By Serafine
Sept. 30, 2017, 2:51 p.m.(4/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Audric
Knowing the man and a few of his weaknesses, I have to say it's rather refreshing to know -exactly- what will make your sellsword lose their faith in you.
Late payments. Undercutting. Stiffing.
But if you pay enough and if you especially have a long-standing contract with continued payments involved, you'd be surprised how loyal that would make an honest sellsword.
And Audric is, if nothing, honest.
Late payments. Undercutting. Stiffing.
But if you pay enough and if you especially have a long-standing contract with continued payments involved, you'd be surprised how loyal that would make an honest sellsword.
And Audric is, if nothing, honest.
Written By Merek
Sept. 30, 2017, 1:07 p.m.(4/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Audric
That's bad business practice, because what if the enemy then comes around and then buys your loyalty for more than the original employer? Or is that against contract? I honestly don't know, I don't know much about sellswords honestly.
Written By Edward
Sept. 30, 2017, 10:57 a.m.(4/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Arcelia
Your dedication to the Path of Pilgrimage and the goddess is commendable. When it is complete it will be a small adventure to follow the Path out in its entirety and visit every shrine to see how Thrax envisions the Pantheon.
Written By Clover
Sept. 30, 2017, 3:49 a.m.(4/23/1007 AR)
*A picture of a wisteria climbing up a stone wall. Colored with watercolor paints in a pale, pale green color. Peeking out from the bush at the bottom is what appears to be a black cat.*
Written By Clover
Sept. 30, 2017, 2:50 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Aislin
*A sketch of a white-haired woman from behind; in her hand is a longsword of the Oathlands style. It's held out and slightly to the left. Her stance is more relaxed than it is battle ready. The page is bordered by the trunk of an ash tree.*
Written By Esoka
Sept. 30, 2017, 2:40 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Calaudrin
You are perhaps the worst musician in all of Arvum. It matters not, though. I love you. Gloria protect you and guide you to brave deeds in the days ahead, and shield you until we are returned to each other's arms. To your Sentinel, I pray that we both go forth with righteous hearts and do the work of good Order against the Abyss. Limerance, may our bonds to each other hold true as steel, to be strengthened when we are as one again. To Vellichor I dedicate this journal so that it may be set in the white reflections long after I am gone. My heart is yours and you've made me very happy, this past year and I pray in the years to come.
Written By Audric
Sept. 30, 2017, 2:35 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
While I adore my second in command, a sellsword's true loyalty can indeed be bought. Pay no heed to her implications otherwise. The Valorous Few have never betrayed an employer.
Written By Shard
Sept. 30, 2017, 2:27 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
A while back I wrote about how demanding trust from someone doesn't work; trust is something that can only be earned, never forced. That would probably sound reasonable to most people.
Loyalty, however, works the same way. You can pressure, even force oaths. You can bring every possible instrument you can think of to bear on someone to get them to do what you want; coercion, threats, blackmail, torture, persuasion, bribery, hostage taking...humans get very creative when it comes to pushing someone else into something, after all. But it the end, loyalty--true loyalty--cannot be bought, forced, or commanded. If it could, after all, Writs wouldn't need to exist. And attempting to force someone's loyalty, much like attempting to force someone's trust, often has the opposite result.
If all of that sounds strange coming from a sellsword, think about how strange it is being the sellsword occasionally saying it to people who should damn well know better.
Loyalty, however, works the same way. You can pressure, even force oaths. You can bring every possible instrument you can think of to bear on someone to get them to do what you want; coercion, threats, blackmail, torture, persuasion, bribery, hostage taking...humans get very creative when it comes to pushing someone else into something, after all. But it the end, loyalty--true loyalty--cannot be bought, forced, or commanded. If it could, after all, Writs wouldn't need to exist. And attempting to force someone's loyalty, much like attempting to force someone's trust, often has the opposite result.
If all of that sounds strange coming from a sellsword, think about how strange it is being the sellsword occasionally saying it to people who should damn well know better.
Written By Tarik
Sept. 30, 2017, 1:55 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
I think about the last year I spent in Arx. I think about the people I met, and the people that have honored me with their friendship. I think about my success, and my failures as well. If it was not for my failures so many years ago, I would not have come back to Arx. A part of me thinks about the people that I might leave behind if the worse does occur. I do not doubt the final outcome of this whole affair. I have met too many people that are too smart, too good, too stubborn, too strong, and even a bit too annoying to allow for these problems to defeat us.
Written By Logan
Sept. 30, 2017, 1:39 a.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Dear sons and daughters,
If you ever find yourself in Arx, do not forget to put some money aside for a good wooden chest. There are plenty of good carpenters but I recommend Oakheart Woodworks on the west end of the Merchant road.
Love sincerely, Your father.
If you ever find yourself in Arx, do not forget to put some money aside for a good wooden chest. There are plenty of good carpenters but I recommend Oakheart Woodworks on the west end of the Merchant road.
Love sincerely, Your father.
Written By Serafine
Sept. 29, 2017, 11:51 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Fathers.
Assholes.
Assholes.
Written By Porter
Sept. 29, 2017, 6:27 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Ian
If there's anyone out there with more spirit than my little brother, I'll eat my hat. He had everything taken away from him -- everything -- and yet he's come back from it, somehow. It's still like a knife between the ribs to see him the way he is now, especially knowing the way he used to be, but I'm damned proud of him, all the same. Right after I got my commission for the Damsel's Heart, he managed to drink ME under the table, if if that's not something to be proud of, I don't know what is.
Written By Porter
Sept. 29, 2017, 6:26 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Ian
I've never known before or since anyone half as bullheadedly devoted to the blade as my little brother. I haven't known many people more bullheaded in general. Aethan met his match in that kid, trying to teach him to sail. Knots were the worst. Imagine a ten year old kid, stubborn as the day is long, his head full of swordplay and derring do, and then try to imagine getting that kid to sit down and learn how to tie string into fancy knots. Aethan couldn't get him to attend to the lessons, and eventually he told me (because I was laughing about it) to do better, if I could. Well, I could.
If there's one thing a ten year old, even a ten year old as weird as Ian, relishes more than swordplay and derring do, it's filthy drinking songs. And I happen to have a knack for filthy drinking songs. I made up knot-inspired verses to 'What do you do with a drunken sailor?'. I'd teach him one verse and if he wanted to learn another, he'd have to master the knot that went with it.
Ian STILL ties some of the best sailor's knots I've seen.
If there's one thing a ten year old, even a ten year old as weird as Ian, relishes more than swordplay and derring do, it's filthy drinking songs. And I happen to have a knack for filthy drinking songs. I made up knot-inspired verses to 'What do you do with a drunken sailor?'. I'd teach him one verse and if he wanted to learn another, he'd have to master the knot that went with it.
Ian STILL ties some of the best sailor's knots I've seen.
Written By Porter
Sept. 29, 2017, 6:25 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Aethan
A lot has passed between Aethan and I. A lot of bad blood and a lot of words said. He turned his back on our little brother -- his own flesh and blood -- and there can be no forgiveness for that. But just because he's forgoten who his family are doesn't mean that I have. Aethan's my brother, and he'll always be my brother. For him, I'd stand against the gods themselves.
Written By Porter
Sept. 29, 2017, 6:25 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Aethan
Aethan's a problem solver. His solutions are usually brutal, but they're also usually the right ones.
I remember once, Wash was in one of his moods and ended up on the roof of a building, threatening to jump to his death. It was only a one story building, but a swan dive from there would have killed him just the same as if it'd been taller. Aethan, Ian, and I had followed him up there to try to keep him from jumping, although Aethan and Ian were pretty useless at that. Ian was still just a kid, all of fifteen, and Aethan just stood there, glowering while he drank his way through a bottle of vodka, so it fell to me to use my considerable charms to talk Wash down. I pleaded and I cajoled. I may have even shed a few tears. Wash wouldn't budge.
This went on for exactly until Aethan finished off his bottle of vodka. Then he walked right up to Wash, grabbed him, and chucked him over the edge... feet first. Poor guy was hobbling around on a bad ankle for a while after that, but he didn't split his head open.
Brutal, but effective.
I remember once, Wash was in one of his moods and ended up on the roof of a building, threatening to jump to his death. It was only a one story building, but a swan dive from there would have killed him just the same as if it'd been taller. Aethan, Ian, and I had followed him up there to try to keep him from jumping, although Aethan and Ian were pretty useless at that. Ian was still just a kid, all of fifteen, and Aethan just stood there, glowering while he drank his way through a bottle of vodka, so it fell to me to use my considerable charms to talk Wash down. I pleaded and I cajoled. I may have even shed a few tears. Wash wouldn't budge.
This went on for exactly until Aethan finished off his bottle of vodka. Then he walked right up to Wash, grabbed him, and chucked him over the edge... feet first. Poor guy was hobbling around on a bad ankle for a while after that, but he didn't split his head open.
Brutal, but effective.
Written By Porter
Sept. 29, 2017, 6:25 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Wash
Wash loves that woman of his with a true and noble heart; you can tell because he's a madman when he's with her, and he's REALLY a madman when he's without her.
He talked once, while he was really in his cups, about wanting to impress her with some act of gallantry, something like the sort of thing the Brothers Kennex are famous for. Well, he was practically one of us at that point, so I thought... why shouldn't he? I decided to hatch a plan for him, something that would really turn Lady Catalana's pretty head. It seemed like a really good idea at the time; usually, I'm a better judge of these things when I'm drunk.
It was a good plan. Simple. Iconic. There's this tribe of shavs -- technically, they've bent the knee, but they live on both sides of the line, as it were, smugglers, mostly. One of them owed me a favor, and happened to be in the neighborhood. The way it was supposed to go, this shav, Ryvan, was supposed to harrass Lady Catalana in the marketplace, and then it would be Wash to the rescue. He'd demand satisfaction for the bothering of his woman, they'd have a show fight, he'd get some superficial wound for her to fuss over before winning heroically.
Ryvan played his part beautifully -- right up until the "helpless" Lady Catalana clocked him in the jaw, kneed him in the balls, and then kicked him as he was going down. In charges Wash, just then, totally unaware of what just happened, yelling something trite like 'unhand that woman', and Ryvan, who's on the ground by this point, says: "By all your gods, Wash! You didn't tell me she had such a good right hook."
He was sleeping on the proverbial couch for a while after that, and Aethan stuck me with looking after him until she forgave him.
He talked once, while he was really in his cups, about wanting to impress her with some act of gallantry, something like the sort of thing the Brothers Kennex are famous for. Well, he was practically one of us at that point, so I thought... why shouldn't he? I decided to hatch a plan for him, something that would really turn Lady Catalana's pretty head. It seemed like a really good idea at the time; usually, I'm a better judge of these things when I'm drunk.
It was a good plan. Simple. Iconic. There's this tribe of shavs -- technically, they've bent the knee, but they live on both sides of the line, as it were, smugglers, mostly. One of them owed me a favor, and happened to be in the neighborhood. The way it was supposed to go, this shav, Ryvan, was supposed to harrass Lady Catalana in the marketplace, and then it would be Wash to the rescue. He'd demand satisfaction for the bothering of his woman, they'd have a show fight, he'd get some superficial wound for her to fuss over before winning heroically.
Ryvan played his part beautifully -- right up until the "helpless" Lady Catalana clocked him in the jaw, kneed him in the balls, and then kicked him as he was going down. In charges Wash, just then, totally unaware of what just happened, yelling something trite like 'unhand that woman', and Ryvan, who's on the ground by this point, says: "By all your gods, Wash! You didn't tell me she had such a good right hook."
He was sleeping on the proverbial couch for a while after that, and Aethan stuck me with looking after him until she forgave him.
Written By Arianna
Sept. 29, 2017, 3:59 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Malesh
I remember when you first came to be the Marquis of Stonehearth. Gods it seems like so long ago but in truth, it's been a paltry six years. I had grown up apart from the rest and lived such a different life that returning after father's death was like...being pulled out of the dream and thrust into the real world. I think I must have done something to impress you then, to name me Voice at such a young age. Though the truth of the matter was I didn't know who you were and I couldn't have faith in your ability to lead in such an exemplary manner as father did. Over the years I quickly learned that you weren't as good as father, you were better. Far exceeding any expectations I had in what a leader could and should be. You've led our House onward to glory and we're far more successful and secure than we've ever been before. Thank you for your never ending work days, and all the endless hours you put into the books. Thank you for always being patient with me even when I didn't deserve it. Thank you for always standing with me even when it hurt you to do it. Thank you for entrusting the legacy of our House to me, so we might elevate ourselves to our rightful place among the Compact. You've done well brother.
Written By Sebastian
Sept. 29, 2017, 3:35 p.m.(4/22/1007 AR)
Sunlight caught on the mirrormask of the see, blinding and beckoning, as treasure beneath the waves, or at the end of a long and glittering road. But the salt and sand buffets the canvas, and the water washes the colors away, laying bare all what lies beneath.
Written By Daemon
Sept. 29, 2017, 12:55 p.m.(4/21/1007 AR)
There comes a time in a man's life when he must recognize whether he is the alpha, the beta, or the omega. At present I had considered myself the alpha but the more time goes on spent with this high-class puppy, I'm beginning to feel as though I have met my match. Did you know a hound could have the same attitude and personality befitting a royal? Because surely this breed I have acquired most definitely royalty. From the way she carries her head high to the way she turns up her nose at the peasant kibbles I attempt to feed her at night.
More often than not I'll even come home and find the bed is not my own. It is an eternal struggle I've found in this Elegance, but I must thank Princess Alarissa for her challenge. For without Elegance, I may have lived the rest of my life knowing man could not be subservient to the very animals they cater to.
For shame, Daemon. For shame. Perhaps lose the leash and get a stronger sense of presence? No no... Obviously when dealing with a royal hound you must act like a royal hound. How about this, Scribe? Is my nose high enough? Does my neck need to be more stiff? Where are you going...?
More often than not I'll even come home and find the bed is not my own. It is an eternal struggle I've found in this Elegance, but I must thank Princess Alarissa for her challenge. For without Elegance, I may have lived the rest of my life knowing man could not be subservient to the very animals they cater to.
For shame, Daemon. For shame. Perhaps lose the leash and get a stronger sense of presence? No no... Obviously when dealing with a royal hound you must act like a royal hound. How about this, Scribe? Is my nose high enough? Does my neck need to be more stiff? Where are you going...?
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