Written By Piccola
June 11, 2020, 8:28 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
Today is the day that my brother returned.
He was not around when our father was murdered. Or when our mother lost her mind. Or when I was turned out of the court. Or when I had to scrap and fight for fallen crumbs. Or when I took my first job. Or when I took my first lover. Or when I lost my first friend.
He was never there. I hated him for it, but I learned to bear it. I figured he was gone to another land or dead; either way, he would never be there, and I could never rely upon him.
And then he shows up at my doorstep, and all of the walls I put up to keep my thoughts away have broken.
He was not around when our father was murdered. Or when our mother lost her mind. Or when I was turned out of the court. Or when I had to scrap and fight for fallen crumbs. Or when I took my first job. Or when I took my first lover. Or when I lost my first friend.
He was never there. I hated him for it, but I learned to bear it. I figured he was gone to another land or dead; either way, he would never be there, and I could never rely upon him.
And then he shows up at my doorstep, and all of the walls I put up to keep my thoughts away have broken.
Written By Miranda
June 11, 2020, 4:11 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
Anyone else as lost as I am?
Sometimes, it's hard to keep up with EVERYTHING that is going on.
Trying to focus on only one thing, maybe two... Ugh
Sometimes, it's hard to keep up with EVERYTHING that is going on.
Trying to focus on only one thing, maybe two... Ugh
Written By Lisebet
June 11, 2020, 3:05 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
The things one misses when investigating languages! Ah, Arx, I feel you will never change, and in that, always be changing.
We remember.
We remember.
Written By Teagan
June 11, 2020, 2:34 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
As I get settled back in at home, I find Sungreet replays over and over in my head.
I imagine such will be the way of things for days, if not weeks to come.
I imagine such will be the way of things for days, if not weeks to come.
Written By Eirene
June 11, 2020, 2:26 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
I'm getting a wedding dress. I didn't have one when I married last time. It's a weird feeling, at my age, to be going through this once more. This time it's different. I can't say how, but it is very different. Good different. But weird A-F.
My children are excited for it, which is good, because they are the most important thing in my life. My little monsters are dear to my heart and I have literally fought for them to ensure they have a future to grow up in that is safer and truer than the one we live in now.
We have people threatening that future. I don't care if it's a foreign God or a King (or Emperor in this case). I will fight them with every breath to ensure my little Malvicis have a free world to inherit when their time comes.
My children are excited for it, which is good, because they are the most important thing in my life. My little monsters are dear to my heart and I have literally fought for them to ensure they have a future to grow up in that is safer and truer than the one we live in now.
We have people threatening that future. I don't care if it's a foreign God or a King (or Emperor in this case). I will fight them with every breath to ensure my little Malvicis have a free world to inherit when their time comes.
Written By Prism
June 11, 2020, 12:41 p.m.(6/16/1013 AR)
Dear Compact,
In an effort to clear up some confusion, please be aware that Queen Triscali the Black Rose, Breaker of Writs, Etc. Etc. is, from my understanding, currently in residence in a townhouse in the Ward of the Crown, and can be contacted there directly.
Kind Regards,
Seraph of Freedom Who Is Not Always Available on this Plane of Existence and To That End Can Be a Very Poor Forwarding Service, Prism
In an effort to clear up some confusion, please be aware that Queen Triscali the Black Rose, Breaker of Writs, Etc. Etc. is, from my understanding, currently in residence in a townhouse in the Ward of the Crown, and can be contacted there directly.
Kind Regards,
Seraph of Freedom Who Is Not Always Available on this Plane of Existence and To That End Can Be a Very Poor Forwarding Service, Prism
Written By Sydney
June 11, 2020, 10:40 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tescelina
I've struggled with what to put to paper after these momentous events overlapped so cleanly with a personal matter that recently came to resolution.
I didn't know well those who noteworthy souls who were lost, other than finding a great deal of admiration in the swordplay of Tescelina - I'd hoped to test myself against that sword, because that's how I find I best come to know a person. In the sands, you learn the measure of a person, or at least get a deep glance into what you can't often glean by a courteous bow or handshake.
I wish I'd had that chance.
I didn't know well those who noteworthy souls who were lost, other than finding a great deal of admiration in the swordplay of Tescelina - I'd hoped to test myself against that sword, because that's how I find I best come to know a person. In the sands, you learn the measure of a person, or at least get a deep glance into what you can't often glean by a courteous bow or handshake.
I wish I'd had that chance.
Written By Bhandn
June 11, 2020, 10:15 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
The puppet show seemed to be a great success. I have no doubts that the children enjoyed it. It felt good. Ten years ago I would have needed to be dragged there by Valena or one of the others. I've definitely changed. Perhaps it was the sight of that poor child's face when she pulled on my sleeve and just wanted to be able to see better. Perhaps it was thinking of what Valena would have done in that situation. I'm not sure, but for a moment I thought I felt something in me change right at that moment.
Either way, the puppetry gave me an idea. I should try to remember to bring stories for next time.
Either way, the puppetry gave me an idea. I should try to remember to bring stories for next time.
Written By Lucita
June 11, 2020, 9:49 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
I'm really alright, Mother Mercy Sophie checked me over and I am going to be fine.
Written By Bliss
June 11, 2020, 6:52 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
"Bliss, wherever have you been?" They might ask. Growing quiet in the White Journals, further distancing myself from the crowds, until, one day, people looked around and I was no longer there.
But a Whisper must have her secrets, and those secrets will remain my own, for now. I have not, however, been entirely absent from this world. Despite my brief trips into Arx, during which some few of you might have seen me, I've kept my ears and my eyes open. My, my, what a time of it there has been here. Battles in Piero and Sungreet, riots in the Lowers, things which would not surprise those who have been looking, who have not been so secluded in their little towers of gilded lilies to see that this web we all live on, this delicate thing upon which we are so precariously balanced, must constantly be reinforced.
The threads are everywhere, connecting us all, and nothing any of us does is without effect. Of course, each part has support from many others. But we can become convinced otherwise, that the particular node we sit upon is critical because so many things lead to it, and we seize and do not know what to do next. All an illusion. We can step away, breathe, let the reinforcing we've done hold its own weight.
I am tired from my journey back, and spiders are on the mind. My ramblings may not make the most sense, and I am not used to writing anymore, I fear.
I believe I have begun to heal from being healed, that the old, festering wounds that are finally closed can be left behind.
But I think I'm rather done with the bullshit. I was getting soft.
But a Whisper must have her secrets, and those secrets will remain my own, for now. I have not, however, been entirely absent from this world. Despite my brief trips into Arx, during which some few of you might have seen me, I've kept my ears and my eyes open. My, my, what a time of it there has been here. Battles in Piero and Sungreet, riots in the Lowers, things which would not surprise those who have been looking, who have not been so secluded in their little towers of gilded lilies to see that this web we all live on, this delicate thing upon which we are so precariously balanced, must constantly be reinforced.
The threads are everywhere, connecting us all, and nothing any of us does is without effect. Of course, each part has support from many others. But we can become convinced otherwise, that the particular node we sit upon is critical because so many things lead to it, and we seize and do not know what to do next. All an illusion. We can step away, breathe, let the reinforcing we've done hold its own weight.
I am tired from my journey back, and spiders are on the mind. My ramblings may not make the most sense, and I am not used to writing anymore, I fear.
I believe I have begun to heal from being healed, that the old, festering wounds that are finally closed can be left behind.
But I think I'm rather done with the bullshit. I was getting soft.
Written By Charis
June 11, 2020, 4:14 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
Someone finally asked after the lute I hung above my door. Serving the greater, the mighty, they often see the wares alone, less so the one who plies them or what she cares to decorate with. I told her true when she asked, I play only a little, it isn't my lute, but kept its origins for myself.
Instruments, like voices, and faces, come alive in firelight. Music, laughter, smiles, they keep the dark at bay and we used them all, because though we kept our weapons always in reach, there's precious little a blade can do against the creep of //maybe// that hides in shadows. Maybe there's something there, maybe there isn't, and every small sound conspiring to make it seem more and more a likely thing. Even the pitched screams of Abandoned breaking an ambush upon our heads never had as much bowel-watering terror in it as a lightless night of maybes.
It's a cold thing to leave friends and lovers unremembered though. To not speak their names and keep their memory alive. There's offense in it and with this, I make a first pass at penance.
It was Jancy's lute and I'll make amends for not saying so when asked, for it shouldn't ever be forgotten. She spoke less than I did--less than I do-- but she didn't need a voice, with that lute in her hands. I learned a few chords from her but what skill she had, it was in bone and blood and her very soul. I'll never match it nor ever again feel the world pushed away by the strength of her songs.
Emrys had the voice, like dark honey, and a grin to match. He claimed the gap between his front teeth was a luck mark and why he was triply blessed, in voice and face and the strength of his sword-arm. Other gifts he had too but such things aren't for the whites and he'd prefer I only hint, besides. That's how a legend's grown, he'd say, you seed it with a wink and a whistle.
Gil...
Gil led us. Led us out and led us back, until there was no us left to lead. The gods forgive me, that that's all I can write of Gil now.
Instruments, like voices, and faces, come alive in firelight. Music, laughter, smiles, they keep the dark at bay and we used them all, because though we kept our weapons always in reach, there's precious little a blade can do against the creep of //maybe// that hides in shadows. Maybe there's something there, maybe there isn't, and every small sound conspiring to make it seem more and more a likely thing. Even the pitched screams of Abandoned breaking an ambush upon our heads never had as much bowel-watering terror in it as a lightless night of maybes.
It's a cold thing to leave friends and lovers unremembered though. To not speak their names and keep their memory alive. There's offense in it and with this, I make a first pass at penance.
It was Jancy's lute and I'll make amends for not saying so when asked, for it shouldn't ever be forgotten. She spoke less than I did--less than I do-- but she didn't need a voice, with that lute in her hands. I learned a few chords from her but what skill she had, it was in bone and blood and her very soul. I'll never match it nor ever again feel the world pushed away by the strength of her songs.
Emrys had the voice, like dark honey, and a grin to match. He claimed the gap between his front teeth was a luck mark and why he was triply blessed, in voice and face and the strength of his sword-arm. Other gifts he had too but such things aren't for the whites and he'd prefer I only hint, besides. That's how a legend's grown, he'd say, you seed it with a wink and a whistle.
Gil...
Gil led us. Led us out and led us back, until there was no us left to lead. The gods forgive me, that that's all I can write of Gil now.
Written By Santiago
June 11, 2020, 12:42 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Aconite
Rumors are rumors. I did this woman a kindness when she was three, or four years old, and now? I have watched her grow to a great Woman of Tor.
Written By Esme
June 10, 2020, 10:39 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
A stray.
I was called a stray.
As in can't take home a stray.
I have thoughts on this, but they may not be kind. Not mad. But not kind.
I was called a stray.
As in can't take home a stray.
I have thoughts on this, but they may not be kind. Not mad. But not kind.
Written By Sirius
June 10, 2020, 6:58 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Iseulet
I dispatched that thuggish chair in brutal fashion, so that all other furniture may hear of my arrival.
When I first entered your chalet, I knew. Such a straggled estate, a Mecca of lunacy and morbidity. My work began with that chair, but it'll not end there. Chairs and tables; shelves and rugs; cutlery and silverware. All will find their way to me, should they creak or prove unworthy.
When I first entered your chalet, I knew. Such a straggled estate, a Mecca of lunacy and morbidity. My work began with that chair, but it'll not end there. Chairs and tables; shelves and rugs; cutlery and silverware. All will find their way to me, should they creak or prove unworthy.
Written By Niklas
June 10, 2020, 5:31 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
Queen Triscali's hat is without a doubt the second finest hat I've ever seen.
Written By Drake
June 10, 2020, 5:17 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tescelina
Tescelina,
When I first arrived back in Arx, scarcely a day went by when I didn't hear about how much your presence in particular had touched another heart, in so many walks of life. Needless to say, I was inspired by you as well. I have heard you went down fighting as a Wyrmguard should. Would that it did not have to happen at all. You were loved by many and will be missed by us all within these halls.
When I first arrived back in Arx, scarcely a day went by when I didn't hear about how much your presence in particular had touched another heart, in so many walks of life. Needless to say, I was inspired by you as well. I have heard you went down fighting as a Wyrmguard should. Would that it did not have to happen at all. You were loved by many and will be missed by us all within these halls.
Written By Krarstin
June 10, 2020, 4:14 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
My grandchildren,
While we share much in common with our Compact friends, there are differences which you should understand. For example, each Tidelord goes through the Trials in which they are tested and should they complete it successfully, are embraced fully with the clan. Those before you did these things and those after you will too, as each walk in the footsteps and honor those who were here before us. In doing as they did, we keep their memories and stories with us.
Test of Iron. You will be put against a very strong adversary to fight. Your physical strength, combat capability, endurance and stamina will be measured. A Tidelord must be ready to fight against that which we hunt and be able to hold their own.
Test of Air. You will be given a difficult problem to solve. Your intelligence, knowledge, cunning and diplomacy will be measured. A Tidelord must keep their mind honed and sharp as the blade they carry, and know when is the right time to use either.
Test of Water. You will meet with your elder and undergo a sacred rite to measure your honor. To a Tidelord, your honor is everything. If you lose it, you tear down the clan. You harm those in the future who'll walk in our steps and we have responsibility to keep our honor safe.
After your three tests are complete, you will leave the clan for six months to roam the seas on a small craft you must build or acquire yourself. You will not be able to accept hospitality or charity, and must only eat and use what you yourself take or create. As a castaway, free to roam the world, this period of time you reflect on the meaning of clan and family, self and the gods. To understand that in each of these there is strength that we draw on, but we are only as strong as our weakest.
Once you return alive to your elder on the next full moon, you will be seen and accepted by the clan as a Tidelord.
While we share much in common with our Compact friends, there are differences which you should understand. For example, each Tidelord goes through the Trials in which they are tested and should they complete it successfully, are embraced fully with the clan. Those before you did these things and those after you will too, as each walk in the footsteps and honor those who were here before us. In doing as they did, we keep their memories and stories with us.
Test of Iron. You will be put against a very strong adversary to fight. Your physical strength, combat capability, endurance and stamina will be measured. A Tidelord must be ready to fight against that which we hunt and be able to hold their own.
Test of Air. You will be given a difficult problem to solve. Your intelligence, knowledge, cunning and diplomacy will be measured. A Tidelord must keep their mind honed and sharp as the blade they carry, and know when is the right time to use either.
Test of Water. You will meet with your elder and undergo a sacred rite to measure your honor. To a Tidelord, your honor is everything. If you lose it, you tear down the clan. You harm those in the future who'll walk in our steps and we have responsibility to keep our honor safe.
After your three tests are complete, you will leave the clan for six months to roam the seas on a small craft you must build or acquire yourself. You will not be able to accept hospitality or charity, and must only eat and use what you yourself take or create. As a castaway, free to roam the world, this period of time you reflect on the meaning of clan and family, self and the gods. To understand that in each of these there is strength that we draw on, but we are only as strong as our weakest.
Once you return alive to your elder on the next full moon, you will be seen and accepted by the clan as a Tidelord.
Written By Corban
June 10, 2020, 12:29 p.m.(6/14/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Fianna
My dear friend,
I wish you all the happiness in your retirement. I wish you fair winds and following seas. I wish you swift and Great roads. I wish you a whuffle from every horse whose path you cross.
Rosie and I will think of you whenever we ride, and I will give her and apple and tell her stories of you.
Be well and be safe.
Your friend,
Corban
I wish you all the happiness in your retirement. I wish you fair winds and following seas. I wish you swift and Great roads. I wish you a whuffle from every horse whose path you cross.
Rosie and I will think of you whenever we ride, and I will give her and apple and tell her stories of you.
Be well and be safe.
Your friend,
Corban
Written By Poppy
June 10, 2020, 8 a.m.(6/13/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Sirius
Stout. Tall. Resilient.
You have so many things wrong about us northerners. Especially those from the far north. Our environment is not what shapes us as you'd like to believe.
I am not tall, far from it. It's an oddity for my family. My father, well, he was a giant in my eyes. He was tall most certainly, but in my young eyes he was bigger than life. His laugh could shake walls. His hand reached up could brush the sky and his heart could hold endless love for us. He called me pocket-size for my height and I loved snuggling into his furs and having him pretend I was tucked into his pocket when he carried me off to bed at night. My father was all you said. Stout. Tall. Resilient. What you missed was that he was kind. He was funny. He was brave and he sacrificed his life so I can be here. That I can be safe and happy and free. It is his laughter at how I would always get flour on my nose that I remember when I bake bread or how his coat would tickle my nose whenever a new fur pelt arrives.
The far north is dangerous most certainly. But the people are not. They are kind and brave and complex like any other person. Our resilence does not come from our environment, but from our compassion to see others survive and prosper where others would chose to forget life existed.
You have so many things wrong about us northerners. Especially those from the far north. Our environment is not what shapes us as you'd like to believe.
I am not tall, far from it. It's an oddity for my family. My father, well, he was a giant in my eyes. He was tall most certainly, but in my young eyes he was bigger than life. His laugh could shake walls. His hand reached up could brush the sky and his heart could hold endless love for us. He called me pocket-size for my height and I loved snuggling into his furs and having him pretend I was tucked into his pocket when he carried me off to bed at night. My father was all you said. Stout. Tall. Resilient. What you missed was that he was kind. He was funny. He was brave and he sacrificed his life so I can be here. That I can be safe and happy and free. It is his laughter at how I would always get flour on my nose that I remember when I bake bread or how his coat would tickle my nose whenever a new fur pelt arrives.
The far north is dangerous most certainly. But the people are not. They are kind and brave and complex like any other person. Our resilence does not come from our environment, but from our compassion to see others survive and prosper where others would chose to forget life existed.
Written By Martino
June 10, 2020, 7:33 a.m.(6/13/1013 AR)
Be there just a few more days until the start of the Spring Gathering down in the Southern Gardens of House Malvici. I have been assured by the servants that the guards have tested the climbing wall there and it is well secured.
Importantly foods and drinkings have been seen to with the servants ensuring there is some as well for those in the Lycene wards or with dear connections able to visit for food during trying times.
Finally, well, Guido has continued to idle about in the centre of the city to gather in bids for the Black Pearl and Ivory gathered. With half of the funds or writs raised being given forth to projects in the Lowers on the suggestion of my sister Lady Thea Malvici.
So those who bid, and the one who wins, will not only have a rare stone or material but also be aiding in solutions for the challenges we face in the city.
Well, dear Guido will be there for a little longer collecting in the bids before the event.
(OOC: https://tinyurl.com/MalviciAuction )
Importantly foods and drinkings have been seen to with the servants ensuring there is some as well for those in the Lycene wards or with dear connections able to visit for food during trying times.
Finally, well, Guido has continued to idle about in the centre of the city to gather in bids for the Black Pearl and Ivory gathered. With half of the funds or writs raised being given forth to projects in the Lowers on the suggestion of my sister Lady Thea Malvici.
So those who bid, and the one who wins, will not only have a rare stone or material but also be aiding in solutions for the challenges we face in the city.
Well, dear Guido will be there for a little longer collecting in the bids before the event.
(OOC: https://tinyurl.com/MalviciAuction )
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.