Written By Alis
Jan. 18, 2017, 10:14 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
The Teind was paid, and the Nox'Alfar broke /their/ word this time. We gave them what they said they needed. They got the blood of thirteen willing sacrifices, and with that sacrifice the Nox'Alfar are safe for another 169 years. As are we, from more Bringers being created. The Nox'Alfar have shown themselves to be a bloody, brutal, violent people. They think nothing of being eaten alive by spiders, or beheading people so they can be used as inkwells. And everyone really believes they would be insulted by anything we said? A people they don't even bother with unless they have to? No, I don't think so. I think they care absolutely nothing for us, or our lives. They may have been different in the past, when our former rulers made a treaty with them. I have no doubt at the time the treaty was drawn up, it was in the best interests of the Compact. That does not mean it is currently so.
I truly regret that there are those who believe we acted out of anything other then what we felt was best for the people of the Compact as a whole. There has been enough of our blood shed for the Nox'Aflar and I wish no more of it spilled for them. Those 13 sacrifices may have protected the Nox'Alfar, but they also prevent more Bringers from being created, and that protects us too, no matter what else happens.
They spent their time mocking us, and making people perform like trained pets for their pleasure, in order to hand out an unspecified number of weapons that would help fight demons - not Bringers - demons. Unless it was several military units worth of those weapons, I dare say they were playing us for fools.
I don't need an alaricite blade to fight a creature from the abyss. I, and others, have already faced one and defeated it. It will take courage, and cunning. It will take ingenuity and improvisation. I am Valardin. I am a Knight. I will not back down, and I will not give up. I will face whatever comes for us with my Faith and my Weapons and my Will. I know there are many others who will do the same.
I truly regret that there are those who believe we acted out of anything other then what we felt was best for the people of the Compact as a whole. There has been enough of our blood shed for the Nox'Aflar and I wish no more of it spilled for them. Those 13 sacrifices may have protected the Nox'Alfar, but they also prevent more Bringers from being created, and that protects us too, no matter what else happens.
They spent their time mocking us, and making people perform like trained pets for their pleasure, in order to hand out an unspecified number of weapons that would help fight demons - not Bringers - demons. Unless it was several military units worth of those weapons, I dare say they were playing us for fools.
I don't need an alaricite blade to fight a creature from the abyss. I, and others, have already faced one and defeated it. It will take courage, and cunning. It will take ingenuity and improvisation. I am Valardin. I am a Knight. I will not back down, and I will not give up. I will face whatever comes for us with my Faith and my Weapons and my Will. I know there are many others who will do the same.
Written By Halsim
Jan. 18, 2017, 9:56 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
The Compact is about to get a lot more 'interesting', it seems.
Now comes the part where we find out if we can survive the year fumbling about in the dark, as our Council seems content to do.
Now comes the part where we find out if we can survive the year fumbling about in the dark, as our Council seems content to do.
Written By Esera
Jan. 18, 2017, 9:47 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
The Nox'Alfar killed my mother. They killed her, and cut off her head.
I felt no joy at my Coronation. I felt fury, and grief. I felt my blood /burn/. I longed for revenge so much I felt empty, hollowed out. I would find my mother's killers, I thought. I would destroy them.
And then the world began to change. Then, the world began to awaken.
I learned that I could not destroy my mother's killers. I could not rise against them, and it was not because I was weak, or soft, though I may have been. It was because we needed them. We needed those mad, dark creatures, and their mad, dark magic. We needed their accursed Teind.
I voted to restore their Treaty. I lost my mother to them, and I still voted to restore their Treaty. I saw in my father's eyes I might lose him to them, too, and I still voted to restore their damn Treaty. To protect my people, and protect the Compact, I cast this vote. As my skin crawled, and my heart broke, I /cast this vote/.
And it was for nothing. The Treaty is ended. Our alliance is broken. We are alone in a world full of darkness, and terror. A world of unchained evil.
The Regent Council says it was too much, the demands made against Prince Anze too cruel. Why was my mother's death not too much? Why was the King's sleep not too much? Why, only now, this...? All leaders must eventually take a stand. All leaders must eventually say: "No. Enough is enough. This far and no farther." I just ...
I'm sorry. I fought my own heart, to do better by my people. To make the hard choice I thought we needed to make. Now we stand without allies, with few weapons. We stand, having outrun our light.
I can feel my blood begin to burn again. Something has to change.
I felt no joy at my Coronation. I felt fury, and grief. I felt my blood /burn/. I longed for revenge so much I felt empty, hollowed out. I would find my mother's killers, I thought. I would destroy them.
And then the world began to change. Then, the world began to awaken.
I learned that I could not destroy my mother's killers. I could not rise against them, and it was not because I was weak, or soft, though I may have been. It was because we needed them. We needed those mad, dark creatures, and their mad, dark magic. We needed their accursed Teind.
I voted to restore their Treaty. I lost my mother to them, and I still voted to restore their Treaty. I saw in my father's eyes I might lose him to them, too, and I still voted to restore their damn Treaty. To protect my people, and protect the Compact, I cast this vote. As my skin crawled, and my heart broke, I /cast this vote/.
And it was for nothing. The Treaty is ended. Our alliance is broken. We are alone in a world full of darkness, and terror. A world of unchained evil.
The Regent Council says it was too much, the demands made against Prince Anze too cruel. Why was my mother's death not too much? Why was the King's sleep not too much? Why, only now, this...? All leaders must eventually take a stand. All leaders must eventually say: "No. Enough is enough. This far and no farther." I just ...
I'm sorry. I fought my own heart, to do better by my people. To make the hard choice I thought we needed to make. Now we stand without allies, with few weapons. We stand, having outrun our light.
I can feel my blood begin to burn again. Something has to change.
Written By Valkieri
Jan. 18, 2017, 9:38 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
I have met the Nox'alfar. I have made the unsettling and terrifying journey into their Twilight Court. I stood in front of their king with others of the nobility.
And even /I/ managed not to offend them.
Our group risked our very lives to reach them so that Princess Dawn could stand firm and negotiate to save the treaty that we broke. To get us weapons that we desperately needed to give us an advantage in the war we face.
And now it's all broken for a "bad joke," and the Northerners cry that it proves something about the Nox'alfar instead of acknowledging the fact that it was their own people took a treaty that was created by the greatest of our rulers, that held for five hundred years, and snapped it in half. They speak of the Nox'alfar as if they are the ones lacking in honor in this. That we did not ask a foreign delegation -- who already had cause not to treat with us, but did so any -- to our city and proceed to treat them with blatant disrespect.
I don't care how squeamish and uncomfortable they made anyone. Do you think /I/ enjoyed holding my tongue for them? But I did it because they are a foreign power we had already broken faith with, and there were more important things than the satisfaction of speaking my mind to them.
I suppose that not everyone shares this opinion. I suppose others felt it more important to let loose their own pride and screw the consequences. Now those who have broken faith have the satisfaction of claiming they were right all along after they forced events to the end results they kept screaming would happen.
It's easy to make claims and predictions about how something will turn to ruin when you're in power to ruin it.
And even /I/ managed not to offend them.
Our group risked our very lives to reach them so that Princess Dawn could stand firm and negotiate to save the treaty that we broke. To get us weapons that we desperately needed to give us an advantage in the war we face.
And now it's all broken for a "bad joke," and the Northerners cry that it proves something about the Nox'alfar instead of acknowledging the fact that it was their own people took a treaty that was created by the greatest of our rulers, that held for five hundred years, and snapped it in half. They speak of the Nox'alfar as if they are the ones lacking in honor in this. That we did not ask a foreign delegation -- who already had cause not to treat with us, but did so any -- to our city and proceed to treat them with blatant disrespect.
I don't care how squeamish and uncomfortable they made anyone. Do you think /I/ enjoyed holding my tongue for them? But I did it because they are a foreign power we had already broken faith with, and there were more important things than the satisfaction of speaking my mind to them.
I suppose that not everyone shares this opinion. I suppose others felt it more important to let loose their own pride and screw the consequences. Now those who have broken faith have the satisfaction of claiming they were right all along after they forced events to the end results they kept screaming would happen.
It's easy to make claims and predictions about how something will turn to ruin when you're in power to ruin it.
Written By Edain
Jan. 18, 2017, 9:36 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
In light of recent comments made in the journals, I feel in the spirit of fairness that o point out that at no point did the Envoys of the Nox'alfar shit on any of the rugs in the Valardin manor. Just to be forthcoming.
Written By Monique
Jan. 18, 2017, 9:28 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
Has anyone been reading these journals posted recently? I assume so, for many seem to be a response or addition to a previously posted one. Well, let me add to the pile.
I find it funny, no, /hilarious/, how quickly people are to point fingers at others to press blame to them without accepting a share of their own. /Someone/ is quick to note that a member of his Faith was 'reprimanded' for casting insult to the Envoy. Was that reprimand death? Was it a duel /to/ the death? Did it involve losing body parts? I'm going to guess not. But apparently its okay to demand that of the one person being singled out for having 'insulted' the Envoy while protecting his own from the same fate.
I find it hilarious that /someone/ who should be /dead/ but is not dares to condemn /anyone/ else for their actions. I suppose we'll just have to take the word of someone who lied to and manipulated the /entire Compact/ for her own purposes. I suppose the fact that she purposely kept anyone but herself from interacting with the very people it might have been useful to know how to deal with /before/ they showed up on our doorstop... will just be swept under the rug.
It can take years to change an opinion, once formed. Sometimes it can take centuries. Sometimes never. The people of Arx were given no chance to even /learn/ of this foreign culture and its people before its Envoys were knocking on our door. Common sense says that people will fear what they do not understand, and that fear will often be expressed through anger. Perhaps had /someone/ deigned to share more of that information with the entirety of the city, its people would have been more prepared to greet them with cautious optimism rather than fearful jeering.
Oh... and if I invite a guest into my home, and that guest gleefully shits on my rug while expecting to be treated as royalty? I don't smile sweetly and ignore the smell. I evict the fucking guest and throw the rug out after them.
Final Thought: We heard many claims of elves bearing alaricite weapons, weapons that were supposed to be /gifted/ as part of the treaty. And yet, the Envoys continued to dangle said weapons like a carrot in front of an ass, while expecting the Compact to jump through hoops for the elves' amusement. That was not part of the treaty, so if we're talking semantics, I'm pretty sure they broke it first this time around.
Now... bring forth the flood of condemnations and challenges!
I find it funny, no, /hilarious/, how quickly people are to point fingers at others to press blame to them without accepting a share of their own. /Someone/ is quick to note that a member of his Faith was 'reprimanded' for casting insult to the Envoy. Was that reprimand death? Was it a duel /to/ the death? Did it involve losing body parts? I'm going to guess not. But apparently its okay to demand that of the one person being singled out for having 'insulted' the Envoy while protecting his own from the same fate.
I find it hilarious that /someone/ who should be /dead/ but is not dares to condemn /anyone/ else for their actions. I suppose we'll just have to take the word of someone who lied to and manipulated the /entire Compact/ for her own purposes. I suppose the fact that she purposely kept anyone but herself from interacting with the very people it might have been useful to know how to deal with /before/ they showed up on our doorstop... will just be swept under the rug.
It can take years to change an opinion, once formed. Sometimes it can take centuries. Sometimes never. The people of Arx were given no chance to even /learn/ of this foreign culture and its people before its Envoys were knocking on our door. Common sense says that people will fear what they do not understand, and that fear will often be expressed through anger. Perhaps had /someone/ deigned to share more of that information with the entirety of the city, its people would have been more prepared to greet them with cautious optimism rather than fearful jeering.
Oh... and if I invite a guest into my home, and that guest gleefully shits on my rug while expecting to be treated as royalty? I don't smile sweetly and ignore the smell. I evict the fucking guest and throw the rug out after them.
Final Thought: We heard many claims of elves bearing alaricite weapons, weapons that were supposed to be /gifted/ as part of the treaty. And yet, the Envoys continued to dangle said weapons like a carrot in front of an ass, while expecting the Compact to jump through hoops for the elves' amusement. That was not part of the treaty, so if we're talking semantics, I'm pretty sure they broke it first this time around.
Now... bring forth the flood of condemnations and challenges!
Written By Dawn
Jan. 18, 2017, 7:46 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
I would be curious to see this "bad joke" which ended a treaty that endured for centuries and was considered worthwhile by the very best of our Queens. How interesting that events were steered and forced to match the interpretation of a very few.
The Teind was not in vain, nor the sacrifice of the brave thirteen. The Silence remains locked away. It will not roll over our land, no matter what else occurs, and the Bringers can no longer make more of themselves, as they were doing before. What we must do now is focus on eradicating them from the Crownlands and on discovering a way to reverse the blight that they've introduced to the land.
The land and the people, the people and the land. These are most important. They can still be saved.
The Teind was not in vain, nor the sacrifice of the brave thirteen. The Silence remains locked away. It will not roll over our land, no matter what else occurs, and the Bringers can no longer make more of themselves, as they were doing before. What we must do now is focus on eradicating them from the Crownlands and on discovering a way to reverse the blight that they've introduced to the land.
The land and the people, the people and the land. These are most important. They can still be saved.
Written By Luca
Jan. 18, 2017, 6:59 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
I can't help but find it a little amusing that a bad joke fucked us all and left thirteen dead for nothing.
I've also clearly spent too much time around Norever and Lorelai's sense of humor while guarding them.
They were inhuman, macabre, and more than a little insane by our reckoning, yet I still can't quite help missing them.
One thing they never were was boring.
I've also clearly spent too much time around Norever and Lorelai's sense of humor while guarding them.
They were inhuman, macabre, and more than a little insane by our reckoning, yet I still can't quite help missing them.
One thing they never were was boring.
Written By Victus
Jan. 18, 2017, 4:14 a.m.(9/11/1005 AR)
They should have let him fight.
If he was a Prince worth having, he'd have won. Or at least died with honor.
Gloria watches over the fucking righteous, eh? Heh.
Bah.
If he was a Prince worth having, he'd have won. Or at least died with honor.
Gloria watches over the fucking righteous, eh? Heh.
Bah.
Written By Felix
Jan. 18, 2017, 3:19 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Lianne
Intelligent, resourceful, and driven. Hers is a character to be admired.
Written By Lucio
Jan. 18, 2017, 2:48 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
There are lots of words flying around. I would they were set to music.
As it is, I have only been able to pull out this thread of sense, and perhaps even that I do not understand completely:
Our leaders have committed blood sacrifice of their own people. By doing so, they have saved the Nox'Alfar from the Bringers, but not us.
I know little of politics, but I know a bad song lyric when I see one.
As it is, I have only been able to pull out this thread of sense, and perhaps even that I do not understand completely:
Our leaders have committed blood sacrifice of their own people. By doing so, they have saved the Nox'Alfar from the Bringers, but not us.
I know little of politics, but I know a bad song lyric when I see one.
Written By Aleksei
Jan. 18, 2017, 2:48 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
So let's make one thing clear:
If anybody decides to challenge Orazio, it's not going to be a former soldier of almost fifty years you'll be facing.
But don't let that discourage you.
If anybody decides to challenge Orazio, it's not going to be a former soldier of almost fifty years you'll be facing.
But don't let that discourage you.
Written By Ford
Jan. 18, 2017, 2:10 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Orazio
Seems to be one of the only men in this city to have an actual head on their shoulders.
Written By Calypso
Jan. 18, 2017, 1:50 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Anze
You are an idiot sometimes, Anze Redrain. But I love you all the same.
You may have accidentally saved us from a terrible alliance with your horrible jokes.
You may have accidentally saved us from a terrible alliance with your horrible jokes.
Written By Costas
Jan. 18, 2017, 1:41 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Orazio
This city does not deserve its Saiks.
Written By Orazio
Jan. 18, 2017, 1:14 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
To the Faithful Reader:
I am certain that what the few readers likely to search through these journals - now or in the future - would like for me to address is the excommunication of four out of five High Lords for various heresies. I am not going to be addressing that, at the moment. However, I will be addressing something which I feel will help illustrate part of the reason why such actions as are recorded in the journals of this era took place.
An ancient treaty with a culture known as the Nox'Alfar was rediscovered, largely because we broke it. It was, that history might be fair to the Compact, a treaty which we had forgotten, and a treaty which we were actively and maliciously manipulated into breaking, so that an enemy of all life's greatest wishes might come true. That sounds a little dramatic, I know. If, in the future, these events have been forgotten, just know this: the enemy was terrible, and had infiltrated even the highest levels of our society, subtly steering us towards being forced to stand alone against a terrible host.
They really needn't have bothered, for the Compact was more than happy to destroy itself.
However, the treaty was rediscovered, and ratified with what history can but record as a terrible sacrifice. It is not my intention to replay the arguments over this sacrifice here. It is only necessary to know that it was done, as was required to renew the treaty. The other provisions were quite simple: a marriage of alliance in every generation, a respect of ancient boundaries that none had had need to cross in generations, and a military alliance against a mutual threat. In return for the marriage, the respect of boundaries, and military alliance against an enemy whose machinations had already cost us much, the Nox'Alfar offered weapons beyond the making of the vast majority of the Compact, and an Envoy to deal with the arranging of them.
This Envoy, to my eternal regret and shame as both a member of the Compact, and as the Legate of Concepts, was treated with disrespect and a shocking lack of hospitality throughout their stay. Gawked at like a menagerie exhibit. Harassed in the street - even, as I was thoroughly embarrassed to witness myself, by one of the princes of the House who was hosting her, while she was an invited guest of myself. Again, to be fair: a member of my own Faith also harassed the Envoy, but was reprimanded for that behavior. The Envoy was assigned as a guard, not an honored knight or even a noble warrior and diplomat to help smooth the way in the relationship between the Nox'Alfar and Compact, but an Inquisitor. Effective for terrorizing, perhaps, but not precisely an effective or diplomatic choice for a guide and guard.
This is not an attempt to whitewash the strange and even repugnant practices of the Nox'Alfar. But even a sworn enemy, when under a flag of parley, was treated better than what I witnessed and observed, despite the clear guidance of Gild on the subject. Guest right, for those reading who share the educational deficiencies of an unfortunate number of our citizens, allow me to summarize: Once an individual has been welcomed into the home as a guest, it is the gravest of sins for a guest to injure a host or for a host to harm a guest within their walls.
Whether she was liked or loathed, the Nox'Alfar Envoy and her assistant were invited into our walls, our city of Arx. While there, she was subject to harassment and threat of harm, by her hosts. Repeatedly and unashamedly. Eventually, as this discourtesy remained publicly unnoted or unchecked by the heads of the Great Houses, it escalated as such things will to an insult the Nox'Alfar felt they could no longer ignore. A privilege, it should be noted, protected by Gloria, and enshrined into every noble house, that an insult may be challenged and answered for. As befitting the insult of a representative of an entire nation, the Envoy requested a duel to the death, a solemn affair not unknown to the Compact and its nobility.
Although apparently willing to threaten the life of another, Prince Anze Redrain was not willing to risk his own in anything so honorable as a duel. Instead, refusing the challenge, he required the collective heads of the Great Houses of the Compact to protect his life from the terrifying prospect of single combat with an opponent who might have been better than him. To my eternal shame as one born into a noble house, the heads of our greatest and most powerful noble houses refused him - including the House which had agreed to directly host the Envoy, House Valardin, bastion of honor and civility. Or perhaps I do Prince Anze a disservice. Perhaps he was eager to rise to the challenge, and put his life where his threats were, but the Great Houses collectively had so little faith in his skills as a warrior that they believed that he was incapable of meeting the challenge. Certainly, the proclamation put out by his cousin, the High Lord of Redrain, seemed to expect that his defeat and death was a foregone conclusion, and that to avert this certain tragedy, the five-hundred year old treaty with the only halfway friendly power in local existence had to be severed.
Or, equally possible, the Nox'Alfar realized the quality of allies they were getting, and decided that they would be better off going it alone. Either way, I suspect this journal will cause some distress, perhaps even anger. Well, so be it. I am nearly fifty years old, and have not fought professionally for almost twenty years, so I suspect that I will not be nearly so terrifying a foe for the brave and valiant warriors of the Compact.
I am certain that what the few readers likely to search through these journals - now or in the future - would like for me to address is the excommunication of four out of five High Lords for various heresies. I am not going to be addressing that, at the moment. However, I will be addressing something which I feel will help illustrate part of the reason why such actions as are recorded in the journals of this era took place.
An ancient treaty with a culture known as the Nox'Alfar was rediscovered, largely because we broke it. It was, that history might be fair to the Compact, a treaty which we had forgotten, and a treaty which we were actively and maliciously manipulated into breaking, so that an enemy of all life's greatest wishes might come true. That sounds a little dramatic, I know. If, in the future, these events have been forgotten, just know this: the enemy was terrible, and had infiltrated even the highest levels of our society, subtly steering us towards being forced to stand alone against a terrible host.
They really needn't have bothered, for the Compact was more than happy to destroy itself.
However, the treaty was rediscovered, and ratified with what history can but record as a terrible sacrifice. It is not my intention to replay the arguments over this sacrifice here. It is only necessary to know that it was done, as was required to renew the treaty. The other provisions were quite simple: a marriage of alliance in every generation, a respect of ancient boundaries that none had had need to cross in generations, and a military alliance against a mutual threat. In return for the marriage, the respect of boundaries, and military alliance against an enemy whose machinations had already cost us much, the Nox'Alfar offered weapons beyond the making of the vast majority of the Compact, and an Envoy to deal with the arranging of them.
This Envoy, to my eternal regret and shame as both a member of the Compact, and as the Legate of Concepts, was treated with disrespect and a shocking lack of hospitality throughout their stay. Gawked at like a menagerie exhibit. Harassed in the street - even, as I was thoroughly embarrassed to witness myself, by one of the princes of the House who was hosting her, while she was an invited guest of myself. Again, to be fair: a member of my own Faith also harassed the Envoy, but was reprimanded for that behavior. The Envoy was assigned as a guard, not an honored knight or even a noble warrior and diplomat to help smooth the way in the relationship between the Nox'Alfar and Compact, but an Inquisitor. Effective for terrorizing, perhaps, but not precisely an effective or diplomatic choice for a guide and guard.
This is not an attempt to whitewash the strange and even repugnant practices of the Nox'Alfar. But even a sworn enemy, when under a flag of parley, was treated better than what I witnessed and observed, despite the clear guidance of Gild on the subject. Guest right, for those reading who share the educational deficiencies of an unfortunate number of our citizens, allow me to summarize: Once an individual has been welcomed into the home as a guest, it is the gravest of sins for a guest to injure a host or for a host to harm a guest within their walls.
Whether she was liked or loathed, the Nox'Alfar Envoy and her assistant were invited into our walls, our city of Arx. While there, she was subject to harassment and threat of harm, by her hosts. Repeatedly and unashamedly. Eventually, as this discourtesy remained publicly unnoted or unchecked by the heads of the Great Houses, it escalated as such things will to an insult the Nox'Alfar felt they could no longer ignore. A privilege, it should be noted, protected by Gloria, and enshrined into every noble house, that an insult may be challenged and answered for. As befitting the insult of a representative of an entire nation, the Envoy requested a duel to the death, a solemn affair not unknown to the Compact and its nobility.
Although apparently willing to threaten the life of another, Prince Anze Redrain was not willing to risk his own in anything so honorable as a duel. Instead, refusing the challenge, he required the collective heads of the Great Houses of the Compact to protect his life from the terrifying prospect of single combat with an opponent who might have been better than him. To my eternal shame as one born into a noble house, the heads of our greatest and most powerful noble houses refused him - including the House which had agreed to directly host the Envoy, House Valardin, bastion of honor and civility. Or perhaps I do Prince Anze a disservice. Perhaps he was eager to rise to the challenge, and put his life where his threats were, but the Great Houses collectively had so little faith in his skills as a warrior that they believed that he was incapable of meeting the challenge. Certainly, the proclamation put out by his cousin, the High Lord of Redrain, seemed to expect that his defeat and death was a foregone conclusion, and that to avert this certain tragedy, the five-hundred year old treaty with the only halfway friendly power in local existence had to be severed.
Or, equally possible, the Nox'Alfar realized the quality of allies they were getting, and decided that they would be better off going it alone. Either way, I suspect this journal will cause some distress, perhaps even anger. Well, so be it. I am nearly fifty years old, and have not fought professionally for almost twenty years, so I suspect that I will not be nearly so terrifying a foe for the brave and valiant warriors of the Compact.
Written By Dafne
Jan. 18, 2017, 12:57 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
I wish my sleep were troubled only by bumps in the night and unquiet ghosts and the occasional heady passion--but.
There are other matters that trouble my sleep.
We had a treaty with the Nox'alfar. For centuries we honoured it. Until we--not they--smashed it to fragments. It was for us to make recompense. Instead we mocked and blamed the delegates from the people we wronged.
Treaties are sacred when signed. We cannot decide that breaking a treaty is of no matter, simply because we find the contents distasteful. The whole fabric of the Compact is made up with the stuff of treaties, of promises made and words kept.
If we treat agreements with outsiders so lightly, why should we honour our treaties with each other? Why keep to our defense pacts and our marriage agreements when the Regency Council holds our agreements so light? Why should the five of us cleave to each other when treaties matter no whit? Shall the Lyceum retreat to our lands and laugh as Arx falls? Will the North wander off on whatever they do, because Prince Darren seems to think he always knows best? Will the Oathlands continue to make mockery of oaths? Will the Crownlands fall with no one there to help? Will Thrax sail away?
I am increasingly beginning to believe we are the villians of this story.
There are other matters that trouble my sleep.
We had a treaty with the Nox'alfar. For centuries we honoured it. Until we--not they--smashed it to fragments. It was for us to make recompense. Instead we mocked and blamed the delegates from the people we wronged.
Treaties are sacred when signed. We cannot decide that breaking a treaty is of no matter, simply because we find the contents distasteful. The whole fabric of the Compact is made up with the stuff of treaties, of promises made and words kept.
If we treat agreements with outsiders so lightly, why should we honour our treaties with each other? Why keep to our defense pacts and our marriage agreements when the Regency Council holds our agreements so light? Why should the five of us cleave to each other when treaties matter no whit? Shall the Lyceum retreat to our lands and laugh as Arx falls? Will the North wander off on whatever they do, because Prince Darren seems to think he always knows best? Will the Oathlands continue to make mockery of oaths? Will the Crownlands fall with no one there to help? Will Thrax sail away?
I am increasingly beginning to believe we are the villians of this story.
Written By Preston
Jan. 18, 2017, 12:18 a.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
My heart is heavy, and I can but commit my prayers to paper, for some prayers are insufficient if only spoken alone in sanctuary.
Limerance, Lord of Oaths, look upon those who have forsaken you and lead them back to the Faith.
Gloria, Lady of Honor, look upon those who have forgotten what honor means, and lead them back to the Faith.
Jayus, Lord of Inspiration, look upon those whose hearts have gone cold in fear and have led themselves astray, and lead them back to the light of the Faith.
Gild, Lady of Charity, look upon those who in fear sin against you and lead them back to forgiveness in the Faith.
Lagoma, Lady of Change, look upon those who see only the path to damnation and show them that there is always another way, if only they will follow your lead back to the Faith.
Petrichor, Lord of Nature, look upon those who have embraced the unnatural and lead them back to the Faith.
Mangata, Lady of Life, look upon those who forget your sacraments and the sanctity of life, and lead them back to the Faith.
Vellichor, Lord of Knowledge, look upon those who forget the lessons of the past and in their hubris see only their own wisdom, and lead them back to the Faith.
The Sentinel, Lord of Justice, look upon those who do have turned away from your law and stay your hand for surely they know not the gravity of their sins, and the Faith may yet lead them back to righteousness.
May the gods have mercy upon those children who have lost their way, and may they find their way back to the Faith.
And may the Faith stand strong, united behind our Dominus.
Limerance, Lord of Oaths, look upon those who have forsaken you and lead them back to the Faith.
Gloria, Lady of Honor, look upon those who have forgotten what honor means, and lead them back to the Faith.
Jayus, Lord of Inspiration, look upon those whose hearts have gone cold in fear and have led themselves astray, and lead them back to the light of the Faith.
Gild, Lady of Charity, look upon those who in fear sin against you and lead them back to forgiveness in the Faith.
Lagoma, Lady of Change, look upon those who see only the path to damnation and show them that there is always another way, if only they will follow your lead back to the Faith.
Petrichor, Lord of Nature, look upon those who have embraced the unnatural and lead them back to the Faith.
Mangata, Lady of Life, look upon those who forget your sacraments and the sanctity of life, and lead them back to the Faith.
Vellichor, Lord of Knowledge, look upon those who forget the lessons of the past and in their hubris see only their own wisdom, and lead them back to the Faith.
The Sentinel, Lord of Justice, look upon those who do have turned away from your law and stay your hand for surely they know not the gravity of their sins, and the Faith may yet lead them back to righteousness.
May the gods have mercy upon those children who have lost their way, and may they find their way back to the Faith.
And may the Faith stand strong, united behind our Dominus.
Written By Felix
Jan. 17, 2017, 10:36 p.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
A peacock spreading its beautiful tail feathers mocked a passing crane for the dull hue of his plumage. "I am robed like a king! Behold my purples and golds; a rainbow of color." "That may be so," the crane replied. "but I soar to the heights of Elysia and call to the stars while you walk below like a cock among the birds of the dunghill."
Written By Merek
Jan. 17, 2017, 9:24 p.m.(9/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Bianca
I met Bianace at Damos' funeral. She is kind, well-spoken. I wish she did not have to be in the middle of these rough times. But the support their family received was quite inspiring, as were the words on the man.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.