Written By Sabine
Aug. 13, 2019, 5:15 a.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
Justice will always find a way. Sometimes the Sentinel's touch is subtle. Sometimes, it seems, he speaks in fire.
We celebrate both those who found a righteous, virtuous death and those who suffered the same in just and righteous fashion. Such events make one look forward to the promise of the future.
We celebrate both those who found a righteous, virtuous death and those who suffered the same in just and righteous fashion. Such events make one look forward to the promise of the future.
Written By Cabrera
Aug. 13, 2019, 3:59 a.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
Having spent most of my life as a child trying to thank the person who saved me from a darker life, have been working on brushing up on the books I put off as a child.
Been solitary work and not one I'd do again for a while.
Been solitary work and not one I'd do again for a while.
Written By Bhandn
Aug. 13, 2019, 2:22 a.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
Today was full of unexpected developments. I am not certain how I will find the time to manage the not one, but /three/ unexpected events that transpired today. Gods, how can I possibly accomplish anything when yet more news reaches my ears that I never expected to hear? I am starting to wonder if this transpires daily for the highlords and His Majesty, always having something that requires your attention, to the point you wonder what comes next that will completely disrupt the plans and commitments you just made.
This is but one of the reasons I preferred to stay out on the road. Matters are far more straightforward, there.
I will say, though, that the day's little discussion on diplomacy certainly did not disappoint me. I learned a great deal from it, and I hope it will lead to even more discoveries. All that remains is to wait.
Again.
This is but one of the reasons I preferred to stay out on the road. Matters are far more straightforward, there.
I will say, though, that the day's little discussion on diplomacy certainly did not disappoint me. I learned a great deal from it, and I hope it will lead to even more discoveries. All that remains is to wait.
Again.
Written By Tikva
Aug. 13, 2019, 1:23 a.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
When I met my first husband, he was one of the first Prodigals that I had ever really met. I was charmed by his energy, his delight in the world around him, his reckless boldness, his beauty. The tattoos frightened me because I had never seen them before. I never learned the words that his people sometimes used, because he said that Crownlands Shav was just smuggler's code, and there was no need, because his people weren't smugglers, and they mostly kept the tongue only to speak where outsiders couldn't understand; and he would never use it before me, because he always wanted me to understand, and feel welcome. So.
When I worked with the scouts of the Twainfort, I fought by the side of those Greenbloods and Greenwoods who followed Thesarin and Kelleth to House Riven. I found them each very different from each other. We guarded the woods around the Twainfort and we held the river against incursions from shav'arvani who hated us because so many of their tribe had bent the knee and joined the Compact, swallowed "false promises". All of them prayed to Lagoma for healing and knew the Sentinel for justice, and embraced the charity of Gild together, and kept oaths before Limerance. We were brothers and sisters of the same Faith, even as we fought each other to possess the wetlands surrounding the Mother. Those Abandoned did not follow our laws, but they knew our gods, and many of them fought in ways that gave honor to Gloria.
When Kelleth fell in battle, I was pregnant with his son. He died to the blade of an Abandoned, because he and his family bent the knee and joined the Compact, just as any other warrior who defended the Twainfort upon that field of battle.
The civilization that those prodigals brought with them when they joined the Twainfort was not the _same_ as the civilization of the Compact. They had carried their history and traditions for generations. I was an outsider and I tried to learn, but there is still much I will probably never know, or never understand. It was different but I must reject the idea that it was in any way uncivilized. They followed guest right. They followed the tenets of Sanctuary. They have always been faithful.
So ...
What does civilization mean to you?
When I worked with the scouts of the Twainfort, I fought by the side of those Greenbloods and Greenwoods who followed Thesarin and Kelleth to House Riven. I found them each very different from each other. We guarded the woods around the Twainfort and we held the river against incursions from shav'arvani who hated us because so many of their tribe had bent the knee and joined the Compact, swallowed "false promises". All of them prayed to Lagoma for healing and knew the Sentinel for justice, and embraced the charity of Gild together, and kept oaths before Limerance. We were brothers and sisters of the same Faith, even as we fought each other to possess the wetlands surrounding the Mother. Those Abandoned did not follow our laws, but they knew our gods, and many of them fought in ways that gave honor to Gloria.
When Kelleth fell in battle, I was pregnant with his son. He died to the blade of an Abandoned, because he and his family bent the knee and joined the Compact, just as any other warrior who defended the Twainfort upon that field of battle.
The civilization that those prodigals brought with them when they joined the Twainfort was not the _same_ as the civilization of the Compact. They had carried their history and traditions for generations. I was an outsider and I tried to learn, but there is still much I will probably never know, or never understand. It was different but I must reject the idea that it was in any way uncivilized. They followed guest right. They followed the tenets of Sanctuary. They have always been faithful.
So ...
What does civilization mean to you?
Written By Cristoph
Aug. 12, 2019, 11 p.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arn
I'm really not satisfied with my last entry on Duke Arn and would like to highlight these moments as well:
- The time he shouted at me when I was at the Gauntlet, 'does this look like an apiary, boy'. I was twenty eight years old.
- The time he insisted I come remove a beehive or he would shove it down my throat.
- The one time he seemed to like an idea I had.
- That time I jokingly asked how he'd like the horse's manes styled. This did not make him laugh the way it made me laugh.
- How our last exchange was downright amicable and good natured and I thought I could definitely manage another twenty or thirty years of him.
I hope you find some peace.
- The time he shouted at me when I was at the Gauntlet, 'does this look like an apiary, boy'. I was twenty eight years old.
- The time he insisted I come remove a beehive or he would shove it down my throat.
- The one time he seemed to like an idea I had.
- That time I jokingly asked how he'd like the horse's manes styled. This did not make him laugh the way it made me laugh.
- How our last exchange was downright amicable and good natured and I thought I could definitely manage another twenty or thirty years of him.
I hope you find some peace.
Written By Hickson
Aug. 12, 2019, 9:01 p.m.(8/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Orrin
I'm very glad to hear that Sini is proving to be a good companion, and that Commander Jyri is seeing to her training. Having spent a good deal of time now under the care of Iron Guards, I hope she'll be a loyal and vigilant protector of the Seliki family.
Thank you again for your hospitality, Count Orrin, and for your dedication to justice on the seas.
Thank you again for your hospitality, Count Orrin, and for your dedication to justice on the seas.
Written By Elloise
Aug. 12, 2019, 8:36 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Cady, it's very bad form to just lie in the whites.
Written By Monique
Aug. 12, 2019, 8:27 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
We uncultured shavs were terrible at false pretenses, I'm told. Tch.
Written By Shard
Aug. 12, 2019, 7:46 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elloise
She really does think that Abandoned can't and won't lie. Incredible.
Written By Reigna
Aug. 12, 2019, 5:20 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elloise
I do owe the Baroness-Consort an apology, I should not have called her words heretical, merely blasphemous. The first carries a stigma she has not earned. I still find her theories dismaying and wrong-headed, but it should be made clear I do not believe she has committed a crime.
Written By Vincenzo
Aug. 12, 2019, 5:07 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Mirk
Why is it when you speak to wise people and bring them a question, I find myself holding more questions as I leave than I arrived with?
Written By Marian
Aug. 12, 2019, 4:31 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arn
At the best of times we tolerated each other's company.
At the worst, he tried to run me through with a sword.
He was a stalwart ally and a challenging adversary.
I have known both sides of the coin.
Before I bent on knee, I knew what it meant to be on the opposite side of Duke Arn Telmar. He was not a man to be taken lightly, and many Abandoned were afraid when his banner was on the battlefield. I much preferred him as an ally even though that meant I couldn't bear steel after his cutting remarks. However, I must admit, despite just how different our backgrounds were, he always garnered my respect. He was a force to be reckoned with on and off the battlefield. While I shall miss his sharp words calling out across the Gauntlet, I can not help admire how this duke met his final charge. I wish him well on his next adventure. May the next turn of the Wheel be just as glorious.
At the worst, he tried to run me through with a sword.
He was a stalwart ally and a challenging adversary.
I have known both sides of the coin.
Before I bent on knee, I knew what it meant to be on the opposite side of Duke Arn Telmar. He was not a man to be taken lightly, and many Abandoned were afraid when his banner was on the battlefield. I much preferred him as an ally even though that meant I couldn't bear steel after his cutting remarks. However, I must admit, despite just how different our backgrounds were, he always garnered my respect. He was a force to be reckoned with on and off the battlefield. While I shall miss his sharp words calling out across the Gauntlet, I can not help admire how this duke met his final charge. I wish him well on his next adventure. May the next turn of the Wheel be just as glorious.
Written By Reigna
Aug. 12, 2019, 4:30 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arn
I shall eulogize him as he'd want: He died.
For myself, I will add:
I always thought his grouchiness was an act. Irascible charm. I asked him for advice once, on how to be a leader and I shall never, ever, forget his answer to me. He said, to be a good leader, you tear your people down. Take from them everything that they are, beat them into the dirt, and when they are as clay, rebuild them into what you want them to be. He told me about his son Lord Ansel and what he did to the scholar that dared say Lord Ansel would make a good Scholar.
I stopped thinking it was an act after that exchange. And in many ways, that reply has shaped me into who I am today. How I choose to lead, how I choose to teach. Arn was a hard man. He was a man that could make decisions others could not. He knew that "right" was rarely "nice" and he molded himself into a shield of a man, a man who could do the things that needed doing when those of us with softer hearts would fail.
For myself, I will add:
I always thought his grouchiness was an act. Irascible charm. I asked him for advice once, on how to be a leader and I shall never, ever, forget his answer to me. He said, to be a good leader, you tear your people down. Take from them everything that they are, beat them into the dirt, and when they are as clay, rebuild them into what you want them to be. He told me about his son Lord Ansel and what he did to the scholar that dared say Lord Ansel would make a good Scholar.
I stopped thinking it was an act after that exchange. And in many ways, that reply has shaped me into who I am today. How I choose to lead, how I choose to teach. Arn was a hard man. He was a man that could make decisions others could not. He knew that "right" was rarely "nice" and he molded himself into a shield of a man, a man who could do the things that needed doing when those of us with softer hearts would fail.
Written By Martino
Aug. 12, 2019, 3:31 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
To have returned from the Malvici-Laurent borders once more, and this time with a more solid peace is truly something that the whole group who came together can be proud of.
On top of that, with the suggestion of a Fournier Lord marrying the Malvici Marquessa Daveiga, along with the concessions due to House Daveiga, there is at last opportunity for lasting peace once more. A brushwar successfully averted.
On top of that, with the suggestion of a Fournier Lord marrying the Malvici Marquessa Daveiga, along with the concessions due to House Daveiga, there is at last opportunity for lasting peace once more. A brushwar successfully averted.
Written By Perronne
Aug. 12, 2019, 3:14 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Great good gods in their vaulting places of rest and reward!
It has been a LONG time since I've been able to just flop on my bed and not be moving or about to move. I never really expected Arx to feel like 'home', but I can't deny that it does, now that I'm back, and have brushed the dust off of my bed so that I don't sneeze all the time. Where have I been - the question that no one is asking, but I'm going to answer anyway, because the dozens of white journals left in shrines around the continent will probably not be easy to track down!
Everywhere.
It started with a request by one of my new factors to have me onsite to oversee some contract negotiations for local suppliers, but then there was some talk about some roads being washed out, and since I'm still working on the new Almanac, I of course had to ride out to see the damage and what revisions might need to be made. But then, staying over night in a village, I heard a fascinating story about a ruined shav castle that had recently been stumbled over during some land reclamation, so of course I had to go see it - and discovered a fully intact series of Pantheonic statues of just the perfect size for transport, but not so small that I actually want to lug them around everywhere, so I just went to the nearest major city to arrange their sale, and after that, some messages caught up with me that suggested now would be a good time to visit my factors in the Lyceum, so I headed down there for a bit, before swinging up to visit some of the interests I had in the Isles, and it's just been a lot of traveling!
And a lot of dodging armies going various places, too. Hopefully some of that will cool down, now, and let people get back to farming and making money! But now I'm back, some of my investments have matured, and I'm ready to get back to work. I mean, more work. I was working before, even if sometimes the 'working' was just riding in a wagon for days upon days upon days. Even then, there was reading and writing to do, I guess. But! I have a few ideas. And I need to make a few new connections.
It has been a LONG time since I've been able to just flop on my bed and not be moving or about to move. I never really expected Arx to feel like 'home', but I can't deny that it does, now that I'm back, and have brushed the dust off of my bed so that I don't sneeze all the time. Where have I been - the question that no one is asking, but I'm going to answer anyway, because the dozens of white journals left in shrines around the continent will probably not be easy to track down!
Everywhere.
It started with a request by one of my new factors to have me onsite to oversee some contract negotiations for local suppliers, but then there was some talk about some roads being washed out, and since I'm still working on the new Almanac, I of course had to ride out to see the damage and what revisions might need to be made. But then, staying over night in a village, I heard a fascinating story about a ruined shav castle that had recently been stumbled over during some land reclamation, so of course I had to go see it - and discovered a fully intact series of Pantheonic statues of just the perfect size for transport, but not so small that I actually want to lug them around everywhere, so I just went to the nearest major city to arrange their sale, and after that, some messages caught up with me that suggested now would be a good time to visit my factors in the Lyceum, so I headed down there for a bit, before swinging up to visit some of the interests I had in the Isles, and it's just been a lot of traveling!
And a lot of dodging armies going various places, too. Hopefully some of that will cool down, now, and let people get back to farming and making money! But now I'm back, some of my investments have matured, and I'm ready to get back to work. I mean, more work. I was working before, even if sometimes the 'working' was just riding in a wagon for days upon days upon days. Even then, there was reading and writing to do, I guess. But! I have a few ideas. And I need to make a few new connections.
Written By Vitalis
Aug. 12, 2019, 1:47 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elloise
I have still yet to hear what is so terrible about using cutlery to eat a pear. The experience of biting into a pear and feeling the skin snap and flesh yield under your teeth, juices running, is quite evocative, I’ll admit. But it makes for a sticky beard, a liability in the wilds. While jumping into a river of snow melt sounds bracing and close to nature (may you never need be so close) and I can report that it is, indeed, a fine way to end being set upon by bees buzzing you for the nectar trapped in said beard... I’ll take the flatware and render grateful prayers to Gild in so doing.
Did anyone else notice Prima Shard saying ‘our’ instead of ‘your’ when speaking of the Compact?
Did anyone else notice Prima Shard saying ‘our’ instead of ‘your’ when speaking of the Compact?
Written By Elloise
Aug. 12, 2019, 1:29 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
But is that not the very crux of this argument?
You know precisely where these unmannered, uncultured shavs stand: they make no false pretense of being a friend and cutting you at the knee. Is that not --better--? I pose that it is.
You know precisely where these unmannered, uncultured shavs stand: they make no false pretense of being a friend and cutting you at the knee. Is that not --better--? I pose that it is.
Written By Elloise
Aug. 12, 2019, 1:27 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Iseulet
My many thanks.
Written By Rysen
Aug. 12, 2019, 1:16 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arn
When I was younger, my mother sent me to foster with her family in the Telmarch. By that time, I had already attained some degree of raw proficiency in sword skill, but, as the Northlands has a newer and more heterogeneous chivalric tradition than than that of the venerable Houses of Valardin, I had what my instructor called a "mongrel" style of Oathlands footwork mixed with Northlands striking techniques, and furthermore, I had little physical strength.
One day Duke Arn was present while I was training swordsmanship. He ordered several of his own men to train me, and I fought several rounds against each in turn. Though I took many blows from training swords, I think perhaps I was doing better than was expected. Eventually a hulking captain of the Telmarch stepped in to the training grounds, and quickly struck me down. Even as I was struggling to rise to my feet, my muscles and lungs burning, the captain stood over me with his training sword. He swung with great force, probably trying to knock me unconscious. On instinct I raised my sword arm, but failed to get the blade between myself and the captain's stroke. My arm snapped, and I screamed, and scrambled to my feet in shock, while the captain laughed.
Duke Arn strode toward me, grabbed the collar of my surcoat and said, "Listen to me you mongrel cur - my cousin shamed the family by sending your mother to the Crovane, but I will not let one of my blood blubber on the field of battle. Fight!" I was in tears and must have said something about my arm being broken, to which Arn responded by tearing off my shield, and putting my training sword in my left hand. "The gods gave you two arms, damn you!" and he shoved me back toward the captain, whose laughter now faded, but whatever protest he might've made was silenced by the duke again yelling, "Fight!"
I swung my training sword left handed with all the fury I could muster, and the next thing I remember, I woke up some hours later in one of the estate's bedrooms. My right arm was in a splint and a physician was there watching over me. In the two years I was fostered in Telmarch, Arn didn't say another word to me. I never saw the captain who I'd faced again either. Word was that after they carried me away, Arn fought the man himself, broke his arm and dismissed him from his service.
Since that time, I've always fought with a weapon in each hand and, in the most dire tumult of combat, when the Queen stretches out her arms for that last embrace, I hear the steely voice of the duke surge up from the depths of memory, and it has been that unyielding battle cry that has allowed me to tarrying a little longer in this beautiful Dream.
One day Duke Arn was present while I was training swordsmanship. He ordered several of his own men to train me, and I fought several rounds against each in turn. Though I took many blows from training swords, I think perhaps I was doing better than was expected. Eventually a hulking captain of the Telmarch stepped in to the training grounds, and quickly struck me down. Even as I was struggling to rise to my feet, my muscles and lungs burning, the captain stood over me with his training sword. He swung with great force, probably trying to knock me unconscious. On instinct I raised my sword arm, but failed to get the blade between myself and the captain's stroke. My arm snapped, and I screamed, and scrambled to my feet in shock, while the captain laughed.
Duke Arn strode toward me, grabbed the collar of my surcoat and said, "Listen to me you mongrel cur - my cousin shamed the family by sending your mother to the Crovane, but I will not let one of my blood blubber on the field of battle. Fight!" I was in tears and must have said something about my arm being broken, to which Arn responded by tearing off my shield, and putting my training sword in my left hand. "The gods gave you two arms, damn you!" and he shoved me back toward the captain, whose laughter now faded, but whatever protest he might've made was silenced by the duke again yelling, "Fight!"
I swung my training sword left handed with all the fury I could muster, and the next thing I remember, I woke up some hours later in one of the estate's bedrooms. My right arm was in a splint and a physician was there watching over me. In the two years I was fostered in Telmarch, Arn didn't say another word to me. I never saw the captain who I'd faced again either. Word was that after they carried me away, Arn fought the man himself, broke his arm and dismissed him from his service.
Since that time, I've always fought with a weapon in each hand and, in the most dire tumult of combat, when the Queen stretches out her arms for that last embrace, I hear the steely voice of the duke surge up from the depths of memory, and it has been that unyielding battle cry that has allowed me to tarrying a little longer in this beautiful Dream.
Written By Elloise
Aug. 12, 2019, 1:05 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Dante. DUARTE. My gosh, such similar names in the Lyceum! So sorry, Lord Dante.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.