Written By Kaya
March 21, 2019, 11:58 p.m.(10/13/1010 AR)
I will fuck it up again like I always do. My life is a mess of my own design. Maybe this time I should pay the price of a lesson gone unlearned. There is no one to blame but myself. So full of guilt and shame, trying to pretend everything is not falling apart.
Written By Kaya
March 21, 2019, 11:56 p.m.(10/13/1010 AR)
I fear we maybe broken and I can't pick up the pieces. It is like living with a dragon, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. So your back again on your knees begging me to understand but I just don't think this time I can. You scare me with your intense reaction and though I feel my heart being torn apart, there is little more to say
Written By Kaya
March 21, 2019, 11:41 p.m.(10/13/1010 AR)
You shake my confidence, tearing me down and leaving me to die. You push me far away and wonder where I've gone. Then when I crack, you fill me with your lies, hoping to keep me here while I slowly die. Would you even care if I was not here at all? I wish to disappear and never come back at all.
Written By Rinel
March 21, 2019, 10:26 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Outrage against the shav'arani, who have committed innumerable crimes against our Compact, is understandable. To desire them either driven from our lands or bent in submission to the Faith and Crown is laudable. But those who bend the knee are Arvani, and to attack them--or to violate sanctuary--is a sin against our Gods.
Nevertheless, it is foolish to paint the entirety of the Oathlands because of the actions of a few. Those responsible for the reported travesties will be brought to justice, as has always been done in the West.
Nevertheless, it is foolish to paint the entirety of the Oathlands because of the actions of a few. Those responsible for the reported travesties will be brought to justice, as has always been done in the West.
Written By Lisebet
March 21, 2019, 10:24 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
I am pleased to say that i have taken on my first protege, Lady Gretchen Moore. I hope I can do justice to this new role in my life.
Written By Calista
March 21, 2019, 10:19 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Thorn
With a name like Thorn, I've been asked if I question my ward's motives. I find this to be utterly silly. I question everyone's motives equally, but not because of a name. In fact, I'd think I'd remember more about a redhead named Thorn than I do. How utterly embarrassing for me, but we can certainly make amends, can't we?
Written By Dante
March 21, 2019, 9:09 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Of course I miss a party in Ostria on my way over to Arx. Of course. At least I know I have you, dear Lady Bottle.
Wait, no, I think I threw her over the balcony too.
Well, hopefully that won't turn into a habit. I'd be a poor host if I treated all my guests that way.
Wait, no, I think I threw her over the balcony too.
Well, hopefully that won't turn into a habit. I'd be a poor host if I treated all my guests that way.
Written By Calista
March 21, 2019, 7:40 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
There is a loud and vivacious sound within the Fidante walls again. My auditory senses were assaulted to the booming sound of Dante's voice and then the clatter of what I could only imagine are his worldly possessions making their way over the balcony and into the courtyard.
This was followed by the harried hurried servants pouring through every doorway in order to quickly restore the courtyard to a warm and welcoming entrance to our home and not an extension of the Sword of Tor's bedroom. Though if the tales are true, I'd not be surprised to hear of more shenanigans occurring in the courtyard.
My beloved Inigo has also returned home. I believe I woke this morning to the scent of musky cologne, some foreign perfume, and the stale notes of whiskey.
Beware Arx, the Fidante men have returned.
This was followed by the harried hurried servants pouring through every doorway in order to quickly restore the courtyard to a warm and welcoming entrance to our home and not an extension of the Sword of Tor's bedroom. Though if the tales are true, I'd not be surprised to hear of more shenanigans occurring in the courtyard.
My beloved Inigo has also returned home. I believe I woke this morning to the scent of musky cologne, some foreign perfume, and the stale notes of whiskey.
Beware Arx, the Fidante men have returned.
Written By Dante
March 21, 2019, 6:27 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Let it be recorded that I've cleaned out my room.
Every return to Arx offers the opportunity for a new beginning, and so it was with mine. Yes, Scholar, I do insist you record this momentous occasion. You might be more impressed if you knew the great quantities of things I had collected over the year. Or that had somehow found their way into my room.
You might still be able, I mostly moved everything from my room to the nearest balcony. And then over it.
Truly a day to inspire future generations.
Every return to Arx offers the opportunity for a new beginning, and so it was with mine. Yes, Scholar, I do insist you record this momentous occasion. You might be more impressed if you knew the great quantities of things I had collected over the year. Or that had somehow found their way into my room.
You might still be able, I mostly moved everything from my room to the nearest balcony. And then over it.
Truly a day to inspire future generations.
Written By Lucita
March 21, 2019, 6:20 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
The creativity of the Glassworks artisans in Saikland always makes me smile. Beaded pouches padded to carry bottles and fragile items, ornate bottles for wines and whiskey, tiles to inset into chests and tables, map corner weights, jewelry, glassware in various shapes and hues are all being produced. Jayus has blessed them.
Written By Kaya
March 21, 2019, 4:16 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Do you see the truth behind the shadows of my mind? The things I try to hide, afraid you’ll never understand. So alone I sit in darkness. Letting shadows cloud my mind. And where are you, when I am so far away?
Written By Rysen
March 21, 2019, 4:05 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Delilah
I see that you are very wise, my Lady, and a true poet yourself.
Written By Miranda
March 21, 2019, 3:21 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Bards are great.
'Nuf said.
'Nuf said.
Written By Miranda
March 21, 2019, 3:20 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
I see all these actions of Houses acting against other Houses and attacking refugees.
All I keep thinking is, 'there is a big threat on the horizon and while that is waiting to attack, our 3 emissaries watch us attack ourselves.'
We need to stay together and not fall apart. Do not fall into the temptation of fear.
All I keep thinking is, 'there is a big threat on the horizon and while that is waiting to attack, our 3 emissaries watch us attack ourselves.'
We need to stay together and not fall apart. Do not fall into the temptation of fear.
Written By Sparte
March 21, 2019, 3:15 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
'Some people's truth is more true than other people's truth.'
A phrase that has lingered with me. I've realized that the word I use the most in my thoughts is perhaps. Perhaps this, perhaps that. Some take it as uncertainty, some take it as doubt, some take it as a lack of commitment to a personal truth.
I've always taken it as a willingness to entertain that I might be wrong. Not because I want to be wrong, but because the world has so many possibilities and so many wonders. At times my heart and my will push me to stand for a thing that I believe is true in order to make it more true, but that doesn't mean I discount the possibility I've erred. I've just accepted it as a risk I must take at times to be true to myself.
Is that hubris, to be willing to stand for a thing without sufficient proof to know you stand on the right side of it? Is it folly to draw the line past which you trust a thing is true differently than others?
More questions. They spring eternal. Yet even uncertain as I have been in the past, these questions have allowed me to build up a foundation. Not of perfect truths, but of choices on which truths matter the most to me.
Perhaps (ha) I have been too open with doubts and uncertainties that everyone experiences quietly. Or perhaps (ha) - by chance or by choice - I have just questioned things others never bother to question.
Today I have stood before the tapestry in the Great Cathedral. I've questioned what the stories were of each of those threads, how they came to be here and used for such a unique task. Then I asked, in turn, whether there were threads that hadn't fit the tapestry. Ones given that simply wern't needed, that didn't have a place. Threads of poor quality, or threads given late. I asked what might become of such a thread. Questions tied to symbolism given the recent events in the compact, not the fate of actual bits of string. If someone actually tracks down a bin of unused string send it to Rinel Tern, not me.
A phrase that has lingered with me. I've realized that the word I use the most in my thoughts is perhaps. Perhaps this, perhaps that. Some take it as uncertainty, some take it as doubt, some take it as a lack of commitment to a personal truth.
I've always taken it as a willingness to entertain that I might be wrong. Not because I want to be wrong, but because the world has so many possibilities and so many wonders. At times my heart and my will push me to stand for a thing that I believe is true in order to make it more true, but that doesn't mean I discount the possibility I've erred. I've just accepted it as a risk I must take at times to be true to myself.
Is that hubris, to be willing to stand for a thing without sufficient proof to know you stand on the right side of it? Is it folly to draw the line past which you trust a thing is true differently than others?
More questions. They spring eternal. Yet even uncertain as I have been in the past, these questions have allowed me to build up a foundation. Not of perfect truths, but of choices on which truths matter the most to me.
Perhaps (ha) I have been too open with doubts and uncertainties that everyone experiences quietly. Or perhaps (ha) - by chance or by choice - I have just questioned things others never bother to question.
Today I have stood before the tapestry in the Great Cathedral. I've questioned what the stories were of each of those threads, how they came to be here and used for such a unique task. Then I asked, in turn, whether there were threads that hadn't fit the tapestry. Ones given that simply wern't needed, that didn't have a place. Threads of poor quality, or threads given late. I asked what might become of such a thread. Questions tied to symbolism given the recent events in the compact, not the fate of actual bits of string. If someone actually tracks down a bin of unused string send it to Rinel Tern, not me.
Written By Arik
March 21, 2019, 3:08 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
When Copper died and the world wept there was a loss. Items meant to remember a Metallic that was long forgotten were sold or given away freely. Remember to Hope. Remember.
When the foreign emissaries came to our shores they warned of the rising shadow. They warned we would not be able to stand alone. A woman in the crowd asked for hope. A man in the crowd said to pay a heavy price and receive my help.
We choose hope and a heavy price. Have we forgotten about the rising shadow? Though you might look at these skirmishes and renewed blood feuds as childish acts at an inopportune time. I see them as exactly what we are supposed to stand against.
The forces of the Slaver were repelled from the Lodge of Petrichor. The unity of Civilization was on the rise. The change was coming one way or another to Arx. Do you think the forces of shadow sit idly by? Do you think they only marshal as armies? Did we learn nothing from the King's Rest and the reasons it came about, the people who positioned it to happen?
Do not forsake the commoners and lesser Peers for hypocrites and fools. Do not believe everything you hear. At times like these, the Peerage might use all the privilege, influence, and power we were born to as tools to cut through blindly reacting to every report from the field or insult from another domain. After all we were meant to protect and guide our people not be swept along by mob sentiment.
When the foreign emissaries came to our shores they warned of the rising shadow. They warned we would not be able to stand alone. A woman in the crowd asked for hope. A man in the crowd said to pay a heavy price and receive my help.
We choose hope and a heavy price. Have we forgotten about the rising shadow? Though you might look at these skirmishes and renewed blood feuds as childish acts at an inopportune time. I see them as exactly what we are supposed to stand against.
The forces of the Slaver were repelled from the Lodge of Petrichor. The unity of Civilization was on the rise. The change was coming one way or another to Arx. Do you think the forces of shadow sit idly by? Do you think they only marshal as armies? Did we learn nothing from the King's Rest and the reasons it came about, the people who positioned it to happen?
Do not forsake the commoners and lesser Peers for hypocrites and fools. Do not believe everything you hear. At times like these, the Peerage might use all the privilege, influence, and power we were born to as tools to cut through blindly reacting to every report from the field or insult from another domain. After all we were meant to protect and guide our people not be swept along by mob sentiment.
Written By Alis
March 21, 2019, 2:53 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
I have been largely quiet before this, and will no doubt be largely quiet after this.
There is understandably a great deal of judgement leveled against the Oathlands right now. And, considering the rumors swirling, it would be difficult to find fault with that. All I can do is urge those watching and listening to remember that not all may be as it seems. And if it is so, if there is such dishonor staining the Oathlands, it will not go unremembered or unpunished or unaddressed.
My own husband is from House Greenmarch; a Prodigal family who has every right to be among the Compact. Their proud, noble house, stood against the dark without the benefit of the Compact since the time of the Reckoning; and House Valardin has made no mistake at all in welcoming their return. We can only benefit from their presence. Lest anyone forget, my widowed sister-by-marriage, Princess Marian was originally from House Greenmarch as well. Without her bravery and skill there would have been many more Valardin and allies dead in Sanctum from the hands of the wicked.
We will never be idle when the innocent suffer and we do not forget what the Oathlands stands for. The Oaths that were made to stand against the dark. Quiet, perhaps. But never idle.
There is understandably a great deal of judgement leveled against the Oathlands right now. And, considering the rumors swirling, it would be difficult to find fault with that. All I can do is urge those watching and listening to remember that not all may be as it seems. And if it is so, if there is such dishonor staining the Oathlands, it will not go unremembered or unpunished or unaddressed.
My own husband is from House Greenmarch; a Prodigal family who has every right to be among the Compact. Their proud, noble house, stood against the dark without the benefit of the Compact since the time of the Reckoning; and House Valardin has made no mistake at all in welcoming their return. We can only benefit from their presence. Lest anyone forget, my widowed sister-by-marriage, Princess Marian was originally from House Greenmarch as well. Without her bravery and skill there would have been many more Valardin and allies dead in Sanctum from the hands of the wicked.
We will never be idle when the innocent suffer and we do not forget what the Oathlands stands for. The Oaths that were made to stand against the dark. Quiet, perhaps. But never idle.
Written By Reigna
March 21, 2019, 1:56 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
When tragedy and lawlessness descend and mere words are the response, I understand that it feels like you are unseen, unheard, unloved. My writing here that I wept bitter tears into Kael's chest at the news of what happened in our lands does nothing to ease that, I am aware. There is a deep, penetrating hurt that has struck my people -- and they were *my* people. They were citizens of Oakhaven. They had sworn oaths of Fealty to Kael and to the Compact under the auspices of Limerance. They were Compact. Lashing out in rage and anger only leads to more violence, no matter how much a heart might crave vengeance, a good leader, a good citizen seeks justice. And justice takes time. And talking.
It does little to blunt the pain of that loss. Of the outrage done. One of the hardest things in being noble is in putting aside personal appeasement, personal pride and focusing on the logical, pragmatic and long-term good. Revenge is satisfying in the moment, but only breaks further the bonds of civilization that hold us together as a society. Justice will see those murdered avenged in a lawful, legal and honorable fashion.
There will be justice.
It does little to blunt the pain of that loss. Of the outrage done. One of the hardest things in being noble is in putting aside personal appeasement, personal pride and focusing on the logical, pragmatic and long-term good. Revenge is satisfying in the moment, but only breaks further the bonds of civilization that hold us together as a society. Justice will see those murdered avenged in a lawful, legal and honorable fashion.
There will be justice.
Written By Radhilde
March 21, 2019, 1:45 p.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Gosh, I don't think I've ever had such fun! Princess Elgana did such an amazing job and all who helped her, gosh! House Redrain sure knows how to throw a party and a real tribute to the North!
I especially enjoyed that toast made by Princess Donella too. How fitting, how perfect!
I especially enjoyed that toast made by Princess Donella too. How fitting, how perfect!
Written By Aureth
March 21, 2019, 11:32 a.m.(10/12/1010 AR)
Heresy is not understandable confusion, it is heresy, and will be responded as such. Those who embrace it will have the opportunity to repent. Mercy to the repentant is a virtue. Yielding to defiance is not mercy but weakness. Those who are prepared to recognize that they have been led into error will be forgiven and embraced. Those who will not will face the consequences.
Do not stand with heretics. You will not enjoy the results.
Murder is a crime. Once a person has bent the knee and accepted the grace of the Compact, they have accepted its protection, and those to whom they are oathsworn have a holy duty to defend them as any other vassal. Neglecting those duties will, indeed, get you in hot water with the Church.
Breach of sanctuary is not the only crime. It is merely the one against which we have no choice but to act first and to act swiftly.
Also, if you honestly think you are going to win a "debate" against the Faith upon any of the above, I strongly suggest you rethink. While we are temperate men and women in many circumstances, we are also men and women of our _word_, and our oaths are given to protect the Faith and to defend the Faithful.
We will do so.
Do not stand with heretics. You will not enjoy the results.
Murder is a crime. Once a person has bent the knee and accepted the grace of the Compact, they have accepted its protection, and those to whom they are oathsworn have a holy duty to defend them as any other vassal. Neglecting those duties will, indeed, get you in hot water with the Church.
Breach of sanctuary is not the only crime. It is merely the one against which we have no choice but to act first and to act swiftly.
Also, if you honestly think you are going to win a "debate" against the Faith upon any of the above, I strongly suggest you rethink. While we are temperate men and women in many circumstances, we are also men and women of our _word_, and our oaths are given to protect the Faith and to defend the Faithful.
We will do so.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.