Written By Eilonwy
June 4, 2018, 12:24 a.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
We never did get to have tea again. I'm sad for it now.
Written By Signe
June 4, 2018, 12:14 a.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Thank you.
Written By Percephon
June 4, 2018, 12:03 a.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
I'll remember your last warning.
Written By Monique
June 4, 2018, 12:03 a.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
I'm sorry. Gods and spirits, I'm sorry to hear of it. You made me more uncomfortable than anyone I have ever known, and yet... how will I replace you?
Written By Victus
June 3, 2018, 11:55 p.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
I'm getting so tired of my friends dying.
Written By Barik
June 3, 2018, 11:50 p.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
He supposedly died as he lived, surrounded by vermin. Completely inaccurate thing to say, but it's funny nonetheless. I hope he's having a chuckle there here then where he is.
Written By Eleyna
June 3, 2018, 11:39 p.m.(11/28/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
No no no no no no no no.
Written By Alarissa
May 20, 2018, 11:03 p.m.(10/12/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
I want cookies. Why oh why did he have to write about Brother Driskell's cookies. I've been so very well behaved. Fruit. Lots of fruit. An abundance of fruit and yet... simple words in my husbands whites and now here I am writing in mine about that which I suddenly desire. I shall behave. Eat more fruit.
Written By Victus
May 20, 2018, 3:40 p.m.(10/11/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Oh, did I forget to comment on the fact that one of my brothers from the sea is back in town?
He is. He still speaks cryptically, yet helpfully. You can still find all the wisdom you could ever hope to have behind his words if you take the time to listen.
Also he bakes some kick-ass cookies.
He is. He still speaks cryptically, yet helpfully. You can still find all the wisdom you could ever hope to have behind his words if you take the time to listen.
Also he bakes some kick-ass cookies.
Written By Vanora
May 19, 2018, 11:45 p.m.(10/10/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
He's here. Back in Arx.
Alive. Changed somewhat, but no more than the rest of us.
I could kill him for abandoning me...me and all of Arx, when he was needed.
Except not really. I'm rather small and not particularly strong and if I managed to succeed I'd be devastated because he would be gone once more.
Break my heart once, I forgive you. Break it twice...still forgive you. Don't try a third time. Please.
Stay here.
Alive. Changed somewhat, but no more than the rest of us.
I could kill him for abandoning me...me and all of Arx, when he was needed.
Except not really. I'm rather small and not particularly strong and if I managed to succeed I'd be devastated because he would be gone once more.
Break my heart once, I forgive you. Break it twice...still forgive you. Don't try a third time. Please.
Stay here.
Written By Fortunato
May 19, 2018, 8:48 p.m.(10/10/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
The pendulum swings.
It is well to act with purpose and knowledge, even caution.
But one must act.
It is well to act with purpose and knowledge, even caution.
But one must act.
Written By Elloise
May 19, 2018, 4:50 p.m.(10/10/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
You don't need to see someone in order to listen to what they're saying. It just means that you need to pay closer attention to what's not being said in addition to what's being said. That doesn't make sense now that I'm reading it, but that what was in my head --
Written By Turo
March 4, 2018, 1:35 a.m.(4/18/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Strong words, Brother Driskell, and worthy of meditating on.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Written By Ann
Feb. 20, 2018, 4:48 a.m.(3/22/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
I think your previous journal was well worded, poignant, thoughtful - and as always, enlightening. I look forward to every journal you make. But, Brother, may I give you this to consider with all due respect and love.
How does the Faith hold the monopoly on the gods and their followers, the gifts from them?
---
Secondly, but attached to this because it's on the same vein and would like Brother Driskell's thoughts on this, are some thoughts.
Let me preface this with the fact that I, like everyone else, can only hold one narrow viewpoint. We all view reality through a tiny, personal keyhole and much of this is speculation married to personal experience. I don't speak on behalf of any organization - only myself and my heart.
Lets see. I begin with a quote of Northlands Wisdom I am reminded of: "I seek the truth even though it may be a hard truth. I speak true words or stand in silence. I defend the truth from those who do not honor it." - it's something I have come to appreciate more and more each day and what motivates a lot of my recent decisions.
I find more and more each day that the uncomfortable truth of the matter is, that there is only One Truth about our History and our Creation and our Reality. We may have lost vast swaths of it, but as we learn more of the truth I have begun to find that this is more and more self evident. From this, both the Shamans and the Faith springs.
I think, before the Faith of the Pantheon was formed, everyone was a Shaman. Your ancestors. My ancestors.
Everyone held a very personal experience of the gods close and sacred and I think (speculation here) that all the paths that exist in Shamanism are rooted in their own experience of them. Since the gods and spirits are vastly different types of beings than we are, we are individually incapable of knowing them. Truly, wholly knowing them, their will, and their ways. I believe this is why they gifted to us their Seraphs and their facets and even the Spirits. So that we might know them, and so that we might find our own paths, and sculpt the world as they have.
For some, the spirits of the seas and storms were extremely relevant. Perhaps the same Mangata, or just a part of her, the Faith reveres. For others, it was the ground under their feet that brought forth the sustenance they needed - Petrichor. We held a sense of honorable battle - Gloria. Dreams and crafts - Jayus, and so on. I won't bore you with an exhaustive list.
I find the spirits, or the gods, never spared their blessings on these people because they didn't ascribe a certain name to them or they didn't worship in the way the Faith has standardized. There were still rulers, and they were still divinely led. The Shamans were not a bunch of mud-wallowing heathen pigs with no sense of right and wrong and no sense of the divine or order. The Faith itself did not bring the gifts of the gods to the world. The Gods did. The Spirits did. And they existed long, long before the Faith.
I like to think since people at that time were very fragmented (along with knowledge of them, too) and some Shamans taking darker paths - the Faith was born. Again, speculation on my part... But I like to think that in the spirit of Vellichor they were formed to bring illumination to those that needed it and to collect information on the gods and spirits alike and draw the line where good and evil are concerned. Actually I think all gods played a part of inspiriting the Faith to what it is today, not just Vellichor - but I digress. (Again. Going to be a theme, here, probably)
But, to hold something sacred and divine and close to your heart is a true commitment. The Shamans, especially of the North, hold tradition and the beliefs of their forefathers sacred and I would say most believe quite firmly that no one person or even a collection of individuals should hold the power to tell another person how to worship and what to believe, because it all comes down to your experience. Personal, and that of your ancestors' experience - for what are we, at all, if not the accumulation of our ancestors' experiences?
So, there was friction and there was eventually bloodshed. But then there was peace. And maybe there will always be friction, but let us not forget what great strides Drea and Khanne and the Faith have gone to, to secure harmony here in Arx and the Compact between the Shamans and the Faith and to ensure that we all have a choice in which paths we take. (Thank you as well, Skald).
A choice is necessary, you see. The Faith and the Shamans are very necessary, I find, because both palettes the two provide are limited in describing my own personal experience as I paint my canvas of life.
We should all just step back for a moment, and consider why we hold things dear and close to our hearts and divine. For some it may be a lucky coin tucked into their underwear that reminds them of what they hold sacred (Thanks Preston for reminding me - I must have lost mine. Might be why I have gone unmarried for so long. Drat!) that replenishes their Faith and gives them succor when all seems lost and they seem to find themselves in a personal or spiritual desert and their lips parched for hope.
For others, it may be the strength of numbers - knowing that there is a wide family of the Faithful in which to rely with good leaders - the Dominus, the Legates, the Archlectors, or simply the learned scholars and disciples in which to have fellowship with that refills their barren wells of faith at the end of a drought.
To the whole of Arvum, whether you have chosen to give yourself completely either to the Faith or the way of the Elders, I genuinely hope it replenishes your spirit as much as walking in the light of both has done for me.
Shamans and Followers of our Elders, I call on you not to hold the Faith against themselves. Remember, their own paths have led them to the Faith and with each day they fight the same war we do. If you believe that the war doesn't bite at them the same way it bites at us, is to believe wrong.
To the Faithful, I call on you not to judge others too harshly. You are entitled to your personal beliefs, superstitions, and duties just as the Shamans are, but if you believe that we are godless, unblessed, and misled in our entirety is to believe wrong.
To those like me that follow both paths, I call on you for an exchange of whiskey, because... damn. I love Northlands finest, but I have drank Redrain Villa dry trying to pen my thoughts to paper tonight.
This is a Holy War, as decided by the Faith - rightfully so - because we face the unholy. Shamans, we will do well to remember this. A truth is a truth no matter how hard it is - to Shamans and the Faithful alike. To claim that it is only the Faith that thinks of this as a Holy War is misconception. This is much bigger than the Shamans. Much bigger than the Faith. Much bigger than the Houses. Much bigger than titles and social status. We face the destruction of our world as we know it. Again. Or, at least a piece of it. And they don't give up easily - neither will we.
It is only through unity will we find the strength to pull through. Remember this, not for my sake, but for our children, and our children's children.
Let us not fracture ourselves and squabble over details, semantics, and remember what is important: survival. Let us not sew dissent in any ranks but instead let us respect one another, strengthen the bonds of kinship that still stand on fractured foundations. Let us begin to rebuild and grow in the face of the Enemy who wants to see us fractured right now.
What ground will we have to protect, if it is blighted?
What water will we sail, what horizon will we look to, if it is blotted out by darkness?
What dreams, hopes, aspiration, choices will we or our children have if we are enslaved?
What oaths will we hold if our families and loved ones are dead?
In conclusion, I'm reminded of an old Northlands Wisdom: "Your name is not your own. It is borrowed from your ancestors. You must return it unstained. Your honor is not your own. It is on loan from your descendants. You must give it to them unbroken. Your blood is not your own. It is a gift to generations yet unborn. You should carry it with responsibility."
I think it's incomplete. The next line should definitely read, "This world is not your own. It is borrowed from your ancestors and it is a gift to generations yet unborn. Every last one should defend it to the last."
And to the fuckin' last we will,
Ann
How does the Faith hold the monopoly on the gods and their followers, the gifts from them?
---
Secondly, but attached to this because it's on the same vein and would like Brother Driskell's thoughts on this, are some thoughts.
Let me preface this with the fact that I, like everyone else, can only hold one narrow viewpoint. We all view reality through a tiny, personal keyhole and much of this is speculation married to personal experience. I don't speak on behalf of any organization - only myself and my heart.
Lets see. I begin with a quote of Northlands Wisdom I am reminded of: "I seek the truth even though it may be a hard truth. I speak true words or stand in silence. I defend the truth from those who do not honor it." - it's something I have come to appreciate more and more each day and what motivates a lot of my recent decisions.
I find more and more each day that the uncomfortable truth of the matter is, that there is only One Truth about our History and our Creation and our Reality. We may have lost vast swaths of it, but as we learn more of the truth I have begun to find that this is more and more self evident. From this, both the Shamans and the Faith springs.
I think, before the Faith of the Pantheon was formed, everyone was a Shaman. Your ancestors. My ancestors.
Everyone held a very personal experience of the gods close and sacred and I think (speculation here) that all the paths that exist in Shamanism are rooted in their own experience of them. Since the gods and spirits are vastly different types of beings than we are, we are individually incapable of knowing them. Truly, wholly knowing them, their will, and their ways. I believe this is why they gifted to us their Seraphs and their facets and even the Spirits. So that we might know them, and so that we might find our own paths, and sculpt the world as they have.
For some, the spirits of the seas and storms were extremely relevant. Perhaps the same Mangata, or just a part of her, the Faith reveres. For others, it was the ground under their feet that brought forth the sustenance they needed - Petrichor. We held a sense of honorable battle - Gloria. Dreams and crafts - Jayus, and so on. I won't bore you with an exhaustive list.
I find the spirits, or the gods, never spared their blessings on these people because they didn't ascribe a certain name to them or they didn't worship in the way the Faith has standardized. There were still rulers, and they were still divinely led. The Shamans were not a bunch of mud-wallowing heathen pigs with no sense of right and wrong and no sense of the divine or order. The Faith itself did not bring the gifts of the gods to the world. The Gods did. The Spirits did. And they existed long, long before the Faith.
I like to think since people at that time were very fragmented (along with knowledge of them, too) and some Shamans taking darker paths - the Faith was born. Again, speculation on my part... But I like to think that in the spirit of Vellichor they were formed to bring illumination to those that needed it and to collect information on the gods and spirits alike and draw the line where good and evil are concerned. Actually I think all gods played a part of inspiriting the Faith to what it is today, not just Vellichor - but I digress. (Again. Going to be a theme, here, probably)
But, to hold something sacred and divine and close to your heart is a true commitment. The Shamans, especially of the North, hold tradition and the beliefs of their forefathers sacred and I would say most believe quite firmly that no one person or even a collection of individuals should hold the power to tell another person how to worship and what to believe, because it all comes down to your experience. Personal, and that of your ancestors' experience - for what are we, at all, if not the accumulation of our ancestors' experiences?
So, there was friction and there was eventually bloodshed. But then there was peace. And maybe there will always be friction, but let us not forget what great strides Drea and Khanne and the Faith have gone to, to secure harmony here in Arx and the Compact between the Shamans and the Faith and to ensure that we all have a choice in which paths we take. (Thank you as well, Skald).
A choice is necessary, you see. The Faith and the Shamans are very necessary, I find, because both palettes the two provide are limited in describing my own personal experience as I paint my canvas of life.
We should all just step back for a moment, and consider why we hold things dear and close to our hearts and divine. For some it may be a lucky coin tucked into their underwear that reminds them of what they hold sacred (Thanks Preston for reminding me - I must have lost mine. Might be why I have gone unmarried for so long. Drat!) that replenishes their Faith and gives them succor when all seems lost and they seem to find themselves in a personal or spiritual desert and their lips parched for hope.
For others, it may be the strength of numbers - knowing that there is a wide family of the Faithful in which to rely with good leaders - the Dominus, the Legates, the Archlectors, or simply the learned scholars and disciples in which to have fellowship with that refills their barren wells of faith at the end of a drought.
To the whole of Arvum, whether you have chosen to give yourself completely either to the Faith or the way of the Elders, I genuinely hope it replenishes your spirit as much as walking in the light of both has done for me.
Shamans and Followers of our Elders, I call on you not to hold the Faith against themselves. Remember, their own paths have led them to the Faith and with each day they fight the same war we do. If you believe that the war doesn't bite at them the same way it bites at us, is to believe wrong.
To the Faithful, I call on you not to judge others too harshly. You are entitled to your personal beliefs, superstitions, and duties just as the Shamans are, but if you believe that we are godless, unblessed, and misled in our entirety is to believe wrong.
To those like me that follow both paths, I call on you for an exchange of whiskey, because... damn. I love Northlands finest, but I have drank Redrain Villa dry trying to pen my thoughts to paper tonight.
This is a Holy War, as decided by the Faith - rightfully so - because we face the unholy. Shamans, we will do well to remember this. A truth is a truth no matter how hard it is - to Shamans and the Faithful alike. To claim that it is only the Faith that thinks of this as a Holy War is misconception. This is much bigger than the Shamans. Much bigger than the Faith. Much bigger than the Houses. Much bigger than titles and social status. We face the destruction of our world as we know it. Again. Or, at least a piece of it. And they don't give up easily - neither will we.
It is only through unity will we find the strength to pull through. Remember this, not for my sake, but for our children, and our children's children.
Let us not fracture ourselves and squabble over details, semantics, and remember what is important: survival. Let us not sew dissent in any ranks but instead let us respect one another, strengthen the bonds of kinship that still stand on fractured foundations. Let us begin to rebuild and grow in the face of the Enemy who wants to see us fractured right now.
What ground will we have to protect, if it is blighted?
What water will we sail, what horizon will we look to, if it is blotted out by darkness?
What dreams, hopes, aspiration, choices will we or our children have if we are enslaved?
What oaths will we hold if our families and loved ones are dead?
In conclusion, I'm reminded of an old Northlands Wisdom: "Your name is not your own. It is borrowed from your ancestors. You must return it unstained. Your honor is not your own. It is on loan from your descendants. You must give it to them unbroken. Your blood is not your own. It is a gift to generations yet unborn. You should carry it with responsibility."
I think it's incomplete. The next line should definitely read, "This world is not your own. It is borrowed from your ancestors and it is a gift to generations yet unborn. Every last one should defend it to the last."
And to the fuckin' last we will,
Ann
Written By Sophie
Feb. 20, 2018, 1:57 a.m.(3/22/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
The eloquence with which he imparts Vellichor's wisdom is a gift from Jayus that honors all of us and the Gods. I am grateful for such a blessing.
Written By Alis
Feb. 19, 2018, 8:12 p.m.(3/22/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Very well spoken, Brother Driskell. To so eloquently describe the duties and responsibilities that come with nobility.
Written By Karadoc
Feb. 15, 2018, 9:22 p.m.(3/14/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Is the great virtue to crave success and therefore risk pride (and titles) or to crave no success and do nothing, and so have no titles at all? I hope the latter. It would be far more convenient for me. It is, after all, very cold outside.
Written By Giulio
Feb. 2, 2018, 4 p.m.(2/9/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Enlightenment is nothing if it is not confusing, concerning and complicated. I pray that it will remain so for a time, good Prelate. You have given me so very much to think on.
Written By Alarissa
Jan. 27, 2018, 3:46 p.m.(1/18/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
You'll find, Brother Driskell and I note here for posterity, that your recipe's have been carefully transcribed and rest gently in my library.
Written By Audric
Jan. 27, 2018, 7:12 a.m.(1/17/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
You know, when someone jerks off so much about minor things, it makes me wonder. You're a Tehom fella, yeah? Ever stared into a mirror, and -really- accepted what looks back at you? You're tiresome. Do -anything- before looking so far down your nose at people, lest I break it for you to correct the angle.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.