Written By Damiana
Dec. 10, 2020, 5:48 p.m.(7/17/1014 AR)
On one side of this journal is a page taken from an illumination of a wonderful collection of Oathlandic chivalric romantic ballads, a female questing knight in a dark forest with the moon high above with starry sky. She holds a relic in one hand and a sword in the other as a beast which might be a horned horse has its weapon touch the relic as silver arrows or beams shoot outwards. The author explains in lovely poetic words how love and honor triumph over evil, but would her resolve be strong enough to break the illusion?
On the other side are some simple drawings. A circle of sorts. Or maybe a very simplistic and crude drawing of a snake biting its own tail if one desires to interpret drawings. Alongside it what might be a fierce looking reptilian or lizard like head. There's another which might be a big claw or a very artistic crescent moon. A reptilian eye, and a few other sketches. Below, a simple phrase of poetry.
"Every color has its place, their responsibilities they embrace. While that shade is alive and well, not one other can there dwell."
On the other side are some simple drawings. A circle of sorts. Or maybe a very simplistic and crude drawing of a snake biting its own tail if one desires to interpret drawings. Alongside it what might be a fierce looking reptilian or lizard like head. There's another which might be a big claw or a very artistic crescent moon. A reptilian eye, and a few other sketches. Below, a simple phrase of poetry.
"Every color has its place, their responsibilities they embrace. While that shade is alive and well, not one other can there dwell."
Written By Lustry
Dec. 10, 2020, 5:39 p.m.(7/17/1014 AR)
As I sip upon some rum within the Ebb & Flow, I ponder where in the city that would be a good neutral ground to hold a rum contest. Still pondering what sort of prize to give to the winner, perhaps I could see about having a trophy of wood or of stone commissioned. I will need to start looking for artists as well as alchemists for another project I have upon my mind.
Written By Neilda
Dec. 10, 2020, 2:15 p.m.(7/16/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Alarissa
It was obviously trying to pay its respects.
Written By Dio
Dec. 10, 2020, 9:56 a.m.(7/16/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Mabelle
Even as I pray for victory against a dreadful foe, I am reminded of my frailty.
Lady Mabelle visited the palazzo once after my wife had been lost at sea. To say I drank in my despair is an understatement, and, but for my sister, I would have been driven to even wilder acts of dissipation and self-destruction. Yet on that moonlit evening, Lady Mabelle sat at the marquessa's clavichord, and the fair fingers of the Lady of Artshall breathed into life a memory of Imogene so vivid, I believed myself departed - given some brief glimpse of Elysia before being dragged to the Abyss to suffer for my crimes.
Such sorrow spilled from my soul as I've not felt before or since, and yet with her melody, by small degrees, Lady Mabelle transformed darkness into light, distress into peace, and despair into a faint but invincible hope. How can one who claims a pirate's crown, who sails with the Black Fleet to face a great power of Eurus be so easily defeated? Yet that surrender has saved my life.
Lady Mabelle visited the palazzo once after my wife had been lost at sea. To say I drank in my despair is an understatement, and, but for my sister, I would have been driven to even wilder acts of dissipation and self-destruction. Yet on that moonlit evening, Lady Mabelle sat at the marquessa's clavichord, and the fair fingers of the Lady of Artshall breathed into life a memory of Imogene so vivid, I believed myself departed - given some brief glimpse of Elysia before being dragged to the Abyss to suffer for my crimes.
Such sorrow spilled from my soul as I've not felt before or since, and yet with her melody, by small degrees, Lady Mabelle transformed darkness into light, distress into peace, and despair into a faint but invincible hope. How can one who claims a pirate's crown, who sails with the Black Fleet to face a great power of Eurus be so easily defeated? Yet that surrender has saved my life.
Written By Ember
Dec. 10, 2020, 9:46 a.m.(7/16/1014 AR)
I am the Bloody Baroness. If history remembers me, the scholars of the future will not say my name without that title. My life's work will be to ensure that even if I am only a footnote and a title, Redreef Shores will endure. That the Isles will endure, free of the cancers that bloat and distend their belly.
Perhaps I am too honest with myself. Perhaps I should lie to myself, like everyone else. One's world becomes too easy to cave in. Shadows are not as clean in their blackness as they appear. Too many mirrors show only false reflections. But too many people are awake now. The first time one truly sees oneself naked... The only sane response is to weep, and then to carry on, and not to deny, not to lie and pretend to forget. Life is designed only for the cold who pretend that they are warm.
I am an architect who will be remembered as a butcher.
Perhaps I am too honest with myself. Perhaps I should lie to myself, like everyone else. One's world becomes too easy to cave in. Shadows are not as clean in their blackness as they appear. Too many mirrors show only false reflections. But too many people are awake now. The first time one truly sees oneself naked... The only sane response is to weep, and then to carry on, and not to deny, not to lie and pretend to forget. Life is designed only for the cold who pretend that they are warm.
I am an architect who will be remembered as a butcher.
Written By Alarissa
Dec. 10, 2020, 7:44 a.m.(7/16/1014 AR)
A lovely wedding. Fourth births and now a wedding in the atrium. We are fortunate and it was lovely. Flawless save for the octopus that made it's appearance. Of course it decided to show itself properly then.
Written By Thea
Dec. 10, 2020, 6:27 a.m.(7/16/1014 AR)
I remember a wild woman from years ago, who well. Is a far cry from the woman today. The woman I watched marry. Who stood proud, tall and ready to take on every obstacle. Im proud of you my friend. Very very proud.
And Haakon look. I found you a wife! I told you I would! Ha!
And Haakon look. I found you a wife! I told you I would! Ha!
Written By Natasha
Dec. 10, 2020, 2:10 a.m.(7/15/1014 AR)
Scholar,
Tonight, my devotions to you are just as much for your records as well as a prayer offered onto you, in the meager hope that I would be blessed with even a fraction of your knowledge and wisdom to face all of the challenges I must this week.
I have done what I could to prepare for my entire life. And while the pragmatist in me recognizes that failures are inevitable, I cannot help but hope, and pray, for the best outcomes I have within my power to deliver.
But some inspiration, no matter how small, would not go amiss.
Tonight, my devotions to you are just as much for your records as well as a prayer offered onto you, in the meager hope that I would be blessed with even a fraction of your knowledge and wisdom to face all of the challenges I must this week.
I have done what I could to prepare for my entire life. And while the pragmatist in me recognizes that failures are inevitable, I cannot help but hope, and pray, for the best outcomes I have within my power to deliver.
But some inspiration, no matter how small, would not go amiss.
Written By Baz
Dec. 10, 2020, 12:50 a.m.(7/15/1014 AR)
Not like we couldn't see all this coming. How to fight it? With sarcasm, of course. It is just like punching people in the face, but with words.
Written By Shae
Dec. 10, 2020, 12:22 a.m.(7/15/1014 AR)
Now that we are home from Brightshore, a part of me wonders if, or when we will get to return again. Perhaps not soon, but hopefully in the future. The land was beautiful, lush and verdant. Filled with brilliant and amazing colors from it's strange flora and fauna. Even the beach it self sparkled like diamonds. It was so bright that it was blinding when the sun's rays hit just right.
I thank Petrichor for creating wonderous places like Brightshore, and feel deeply blessed for having a chance to visit it, and see it for myself. And honored have had the chance to make new animal friends, that wished to come home to Arvum with me.
I thank Petrichor for creating wonderous places like Brightshore, and feel deeply blessed for having a chance to visit it, and see it for myself. And honored have had the chance to make new animal friends, that wished to come home to Arvum with me.
Written By Ryhalt
Dec. 9, 2020, 10 p.m.(7/15/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Clover
So happy that Clover and our new son, Ryland, are well. It's been such a difficult pregnancy, I am relieved.
It wasn't twins!!
It wasn't twins!!
Written By Elloise
Dec. 9, 2020, 6:28 p.m.(7/15/1014 AR)
People of Arvum, please be careful with your mint. It smells nice and it's terribly useful and it's fine to keep it in a pot, but if you put it in your garden IT WILL TAKE OVER. You have to contain the roots and runners, else you'll lose all of your other plants to it. Seriously. I am being serious. I'm being serious!
Godsspeed, gardeners. Don't say you weren't warned.
Godsspeed, gardeners. Don't say you weren't warned.
Written By Piccola
Dec. 9, 2020, 2:26 p.m.(7/14/1014 AR)
Wise general, remember compassion.
Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. The more we care for the happiness and pain of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. It is the antidote to the poison of fear and insecurity. It is the food that gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
The Gods have made it so compassion brings the greatest happiness. It is thus in our nature to cherish it above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. The need for compassion lies at the feet of all of the evils which walk the earth. They result from the interdependence we all share with one another, which the weakest and most despicable of us tries to undermine. Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. One would rather see the world run by men who set their hearts on toys but are accessible to pity, than by men animated by lofty ideals whose dedication makes them ruthless. In the chemistry of man's soul, almost all noble attributes — courage, honor, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc. — can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.
Therefore, when the kind words no longer register and your enemies cannot be redeemed, remember well the importance of mercy. Be compassionate when you terminate resistance: do not give in to hate or malice and do not belabor the inevitable with compromise and pity. Be swift and end the suffering of those who have turned their backs on others and you will find in the end the peace that no one else has the courage to bring.
Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. The more we care for the happiness and pain of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. It is the antidote to the poison of fear and insecurity. It is the food that gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
The Gods have made it so compassion brings the greatest happiness. It is thus in our nature to cherish it above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. The need for compassion lies at the feet of all of the evils which walk the earth. They result from the interdependence we all share with one another, which the weakest and most despicable of us tries to undermine. Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. One would rather see the world run by men who set their hearts on toys but are accessible to pity, than by men animated by lofty ideals whose dedication makes them ruthless. In the chemistry of man's soul, almost all noble attributes — courage, honor, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc. — can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.
Therefore, when the kind words no longer register and your enemies cannot be redeemed, remember well the importance of mercy. Be compassionate when you terminate resistance: do not give in to hate or malice and do not belabor the inevitable with compromise and pity. Be swift and end the suffering of those who have turned their backs on others and you will find in the end the peace that no one else has the courage to bring.
Written By Strozza
Dec. 9, 2020, 1:55 p.m.(7/14/1014 AR)
How grand it has been to have the sea breeze and salt spray again. A long horizon, but will there be dark banners just beyond it?
Written By Monique
Dec. 9, 2020, 11:31 a.m.(7/14/1014 AR)
Having the only one of something ever made is a heady feeling. Especially when that something is the conclusion to one of the greatest book series ever written. I may take up baking...
Written By Jael
Dec. 9, 2020, 11:21 a.m.(7/14/1014 AR)
Little Cassander is so much like me, I almost feel bad for him. I hope and pray he has not inherited /every/ aspect of my temperament.
Written By Dio
Dec. 9, 2020, 9:08 a.m.(7/14/1014 AR)
It was well chosen, the island hideout where the small fleet moored. They carried weapons, textiles and luxurious furniture - gifts from Skal'daja to their minions in the Saffron: a warm meal offered to those used to feeding on rats, so as to make them forget for a moment the chains about their throats. To wait for a moonless night was to risk losing our prey, and so The Osprey became a merchant vessel of Jay'alaz, and The Wavedancer played their customary role as Seraceni pirates.
The bait was too enticing not to swallow. Their galley made for The Wavedancer, while their longships made to encircle both vessels, to prevent any chance of escape. Only when we could hear the shouts across the water, did the Osprey unfurl the black flag of Ischia, and fire on the approaching galley. The contest might have been a close one, but the pirate of opportunity is not an equal match to the Seraceni sailor, whose culture from its beginning is devoted to maritime raids and the thrill of plunder. By the time they noticed The Runner coming in from the East, one of the longships had already attempted to risk a contest of speed rather than arms.
The fighting did not last long, and the many who surrendered were offered their choice. In addition to goods, we acquired what information we could on Skal'daja's fleet, but my sister's expertise in extracting information was sorely missed. As Lord Ciro had mentioned a venture involving a distillery that sounded intriguing and risky - qualities upon which my cousin has expert knowledge, I set sail then for Ischia, and prepared letters to deliver what intelligence we'd gleaned for Prince Sebastian and Princess Lucrezia.
The bait was too enticing not to swallow. Their galley made for The Wavedancer, while their longships made to encircle both vessels, to prevent any chance of escape. Only when we could hear the shouts across the water, did the Osprey unfurl the black flag of Ischia, and fire on the approaching galley. The contest might have been a close one, but the pirate of opportunity is not an equal match to the Seraceni sailor, whose culture from its beginning is devoted to maritime raids and the thrill of plunder. By the time they noticed The Runner coming in from the East, one of the longships had already attempted to risk a contest of speed rather than arms.
The fighting did not last long, and the many who surrendered were offered their choice. In addition to goods, we acquired what information we could on Skal'daja's fleet, but my sister's expertise in extracting information was sorely missed. As Lord Ciro had mentioned a venture involving a distillery that sounded intriguing and risky - qualities upon which my cousin has expert knowledge, I set sail then for Ischia, and prepared letters to deliver what intelligence we'd gleaned for Prince Sebastian and Princess Lucrezia.
Written By Niklas
Dec. 9, 2020, 2:43 a.m.(7/13/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Sabella
Always and forever.
Written By Riagnon
Dec. 8, 2020, 11:22 p.m.(7/13/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Kenna
It's terribly important for a healthy marriage to always be of use to one's spouse. Even if that means letting her take up residence in your wardrobe for an undisclosed period of time in order to avoid her social responsibilities.
Written By Svana
Dec. 8, 2020, 9:09 p.m.(7/13/1014 AR)
It's always impressive to me when men think of their wives as nothing more than ways to procreate and have more progeny, but it's Prodigals who are the barbaric ones.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.