Written By Adrienne
Sept. 4, 2020, 9:12 a.m.(12/17/1013 AR)
There is a relief that comes with being able to speak freely on something that has been so long kept quiet and with certainty where I had none. I will marry His Royal Highness Prince Sebastian Pravus, and I am honored by the opportunity and the trust both Valardin and Pravus have placed in me. The people of Setarco graciously welcome a stranger; how grateful I am to them.
Shall I speak to the moose in the room? I know what you, Reader, think of House Pravus, and I know because you have sent me congratulations and condolences in equal measure. There are some who will say that I should not write such things. Posturing, however, is not my strength. Let me say: I believe in the Pravus. They revel in mischief, but they are worthy. I pray through this marriage for the opportunity to show this to you, to reflect that belief through action. It is my promise to you, penned by Adrienne Valardin.
If your thoughts turn this direction in coming days, I would welcome your prayers. The Lycene have invited an Oathlander into their home; they shall need all of the support they can get.
Shall I speak to the moose in the room? I know what you, Reader, think of House Pravus, and I know because you have sent me congratulations and condolences in equal measure. There are some who will say that I should not write such things. Posturing, however, is not my strength. Let me say: I believe in the Pravus. They revel in mischief, but they are worthy. I pray through this marriage for the opportunity to show this to you, to reflect that belief through action. It is my promise to you, penned by Adrienne Valardin.
If your thoughts turn this direction in coming days, I would welcome your prayers. The Lycene have invited an Oathlander into their home; they shall need all of the support they can get.
Written By Adrienne
Aug. 7, 2020, 8:19 a.m.(10/17/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Alis
High Lord Alis Valardin. You have in title what you have always had in spirit. How blessed we are to have you.
Written By Adrienne
Aug. 6, 2020, 10:14 p.m.(10/16/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Edain
A day has not passed that I have not prayed for you nor shall one from now until we meet again, whether here or on the Wheel or beyond the shining gates. May you be a beacon to people of good will and a scourge to those unrighteous hearts who would tyrannize them.
In duty, in honor, in glory.
In duty, in honor, in glory.
Written By Adrienne
Aug. 2, 2020, 8:41 p.m.(10/8/1013 AR)
"What makes you think I'm not exhausted?"
Something said, in so many words, by two women I respect. Women gallant and intelligent, loyal and generous. Women who do not show their tiredness, bone deep, as they shoulder their burdens - carry them joyfully, unquestioningly because it is right to do so.
If they feel this, how many others do? Are you among them, Reader? If you are, I hope you know that you are never alone. Have faith. Keep friends close. You do what is right not because it is easy, but because honor demands it of you. So it is also that the desire to spare others your troubles is a noble one - but noble only to a point. You deserve help if for no other reason than to ensure you have the strength to continue.
In strength and fidelity.
Something said, in so many words, by two women I respect. Women gallant and intelligent, loyal and generous. Women who do not show their tiredness, bone deep, as they shoulder their burdens - carry them joyfully, unquestioningly because it is right to do so.
If they feel this, how many others do? Are you among them, Reader? If you are, I hope you know that you are never alone. Have faith. Keep friends close. You do what is right not because it is easy, but because honor demands it of you. So it is also that the desire to spare others your troubles is a noble one - but noble only to a point. You deserve help if for no other reason than to ensure you have the strength to continue.
In strength and fidelity.
Written By Adrienne
July 29, 2020, 4:56 p.m.(9/28/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tyrus
Your dilemma has no good answer and only one right one: to love someone is to grant them the freedom to choose their own path.
May Gloria guard your steps and Vellichor your musings.
May Gloria guard your steps and Vellichor your musings.
Written By Adrienne
July 26, 2020, 10:09 p.m.(9/22/1013 AR)
These weeks I've passed away from Arx have been good as well as necessary. I had the pleasure of timing my spring tour of the southern domains with the House Clement procession for my protege's wedding to Lady Adalyn. Baroness Margerie and Baron Norwood, I am deeply grateful for your hospitality and warmth with which you welcomed me into your family for this time.
I'll be returning soon; this time not for so long. This is a short stop to submit a few journals to the archives and treat Rebel to some well-deserved carrots.
I'll be returning soon; this time not for so long. This is a short stop to submit a few journals to the archives and treat Rebel to some well-deserved carrots.
Written By Adrienne
July 19, 2020, 7:05 p.m.(9/8/1013 AR)
The knowledge and expertise available in Arx is a wonder. Whether in the grand cathedral or the scholars' hall or in simple conversation, a day does not pass in ignorance without deliberate choice.
My particular thanks to Duchess Delilah Shepherd, Archscholar Sina Godsworn, and Grandmaster Preston - and to the many sharp and diverse minds who contributed to their events or the simple satisfaction of my own curiosity.
My particular thanks to Duchess Delilah Shepherd, Archscholar Sina Godsworn, and Grandmaster Preston - and to the many sharp and diverse minds who contributed to their events or the simple satisfaction of my own curiosity.
Written By Adrienne
July 12, 2020, 8:25 p.m.(8/22/1013 AR)
Patience, that aggravating sister to perseverance, is an underappreciated virtue. When I feel personal inertia, I remember the many great works advancing within the Oathlands, each person's tenacity through difficulties and delays making for a stronger whole. A personal passion is safe passage. It's a selfish interest; often I'm the one doing the travelling.
House Laurent and Lady Mabelle's Domestique Bell is a haven. Lyonesse, Rivenshari - we see you and the wonderful things you have done for those traversing your domains. (I'll note that the Lyonesse Academy for the Advancement of Chivalric Endeavors and Knightly Pursuits for the Progression of Military Efforts Within Lyon's Redoubt and the Oathlands is a treasured instution and one I never miss visiting.)
And how could I write a journal without mentioning glorious Highhill? I was among the skeptics. I rejoice in my wrongness. Count Richard Wyvernheart is what we need.
Gild guard us all, and Limerance fortify our fidelity to our ambitions so well as you do our oaths.
House Laurent and Lady Mabelle's Domestique Bell is a haven. Lyonesse, Rivenshari - we see you and the wonderful things you have done for those traversing your domains. (I'll note that the Lyonesse Academy for the Advancement of Chivalric Endeavors and Knightly Pursuits for the Progression of Military Efforts Within Lyon's Redoubt and the Oathlands is a treasured instution and one I never miss visiting.)
And how could I write a journal without mentioning glorious Highhill? I was among the skeptics. I rejoice in my wrongness. Count Richard Wyvernheart is what we need.
Gild guard us all, and Limerance fortify our fidelity to our ambitions so well as you do our oaths.
Written By Adrienne
June 29, 2020, 7:09 p.m.(7/24/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Delilah
Fewer, I hope, than have been stopped by one.
Written By Adrienne
June 21, 2020, 4:21 p.m.(7/8/1013 AR)
I've been in Arx for a full season, and I'm struck by how different my experience has been from those who have lived here longer. I've never known Arx without a whirlpool and the unrest that it has caused. I've also never known it without emissaries from far off, exotic lands. I can take tea with them - with Jadara and Zulana of Jaidaral, the Undying Empire, or Bahiya'al'mathali of Skal'daja in the Dune Kingdoms of Eurus - as easily as I can my family. This would have seemed mad a year, two years ago. Now it is simply life.
I'm grateful for Arx's kind welcome, for the opportunity to meet with so many, and for what they (or rather you, Reader) have shared with me. We love one another, we fight with one another, we celebrate together, and we mourn together. Even something as abstract as a debate about the role of honor in warfare will make us all stronger in the end.
Thank you, Our Lady, for reminding us to cherish change, even when it is hardest. We are not done, and we will be better in the end. I believe it wholeheartedly.
I'm grateful for Arx's kind welcome, for the opportunity to meet with so many, and for what they (or rather you, Reader) have shared with me. We love one another, we fight with one another, we celebrate together, and we mourn together. Even something as abstract as a debate about the role of honor in warfare will make us all stronger in the end.
Thank you, Our Lady, for reminding us to cherish change, even when it is hardest. We are not done, and we will be better in the end. I believe it wholeheartedly.
Written By Adrienne
May 31, 2020, 5:47 p.m.(5/22/1013 AR)
Congratulations to the Bard's College on its five year anniversary. In celebration we were treated to a performance by the incomparable Nightingale as well as a timely bit of sport - and a fine Jayusian tribute - under Evaristo Arterius.
On a personal note, I accompanied an original song performed by Sorrel Thrax and Nina Autumndale, Bard of House Pravus. A worthy accomplishment, even if it is likely to everyone's benefit that it remains a fond memory from here forward.
On a personal note, I accompanied an original song performed by Sorrel Thrax and Nina Autumndale, Bard of House Pravus. A worthy accomplishment, even if it is likely to everyone's benefit that it remains a fond memory from here forward.
Written By Adrienne
May 26, 2020, 8:01 a.m.(5/11/1013 AR)
Arx is more unified than some voices would have us believe. It is good to step away from the white journals, as treasured as they are, to see the greater story - in this case, so many hands coming together in charity and love to do what must to be done.
Whether it's the tradesmen of the Crafter's Guild (and I will note here the exemplary leadership of Brother Felix and Apollo Oakwood) allocating supplies and calling out the areas of greatest need, Peers of the Realm mustering aid, or the finest minds of our people focused on any number of the threats to the Compact - I am eternally hopeful for the future.
Gild barely needs any more invocation. I meditate on Skald and the choices we make in impossible circumstances.
Whether it's the tradesmen of the Crafter's Guild (and I will note here the exemplary leadership of Brother Felix and Apollo Oakwood) allocating supplies and calling out the areas of greatest need, Peers of the Realm mustering aid, or the finest minds of our people focused on any number of the threats to the Compact - I am eternally hopeful for the future.
Gild barely needs any more invocation. I meditate on Skald and the choices we make in impossible circumstances.
Written By Adrienne
May 17, 2020, 12:04 p.m.(4/22/1013 AR)
I will not let the current troubles keep me from the Archives and my duty here to Vellichor. This week has seen many acts of bravery, a tribute to Gloria, and yet the ones most on my mind are not acts of the sword but rather acts of trust. I admire those with the courage to be vulnerable: to show tears to one they would seek to impress, to be imperfect, to share what is closely guarded.
We grow stronger from sharing aspects of each other that in turn strengthen the other. There are few things more fundamental than this. I pray we - myself most of all - can learn from the examples small and large around us and engage the foreign as readily as we do the familiar, the sinner as readily as we do the saint.
My intention then today is to neither Vellichor nor Gloria but to Limerance: every trust kept unbroken.
We grow stronger from sharing aspects of each other that in turn strengthen the other. There are few things more fundamental than this. I pray we - myself most of all - can learn from the examples small and large around us and engage the foreign as readily as we do the familiar, the sinner as readily as we do the saint.
My intention then today is to neither Vellichor nor Gloria but to Limerance: every trust kept unbroken.
Written By Adrienne
May 7, 2020, 12:41 a.m.(4/1/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Vitalis
*appended to this journal entry is a verse penned in a feminine hand*
Vellichor, in your enlightened name I pray:
Enlarge my understanding of this world;
Let me see it;
Steady me when I stand before the unknown;
Let me know it.
Edify my mind, my heart, my wits;
Let me remember it.
---
Vitalis Mazetti, very soon to join our House Clement, is as of this evening my protege. I'm an admirer of his for too many reasons to list. His story, however, captivates me. It takes a kind of courage to leave one family and join another, particularly when the Lyceum and the Oathlands can seem like different worlds. It is easy to stay with what is familiar; yet, in days such as these, we need diversity of thought and perspective. It keeps us strong.
Lady Adalyn and Baron Norwood Clement: you are among the best of people. Thank you for welcoming a stranger to your home. He could not be in better hands.
To Duchess Cambria Mazetti, I say with all of the love and respect that is your due: your loss is our gain. We will care for him as best we can.
Vellichor, in your enlightened name I pray:
Enlarge my understanding of this world;
Let me see it;
Steady me when I stand before the unknown;
Let me know it.
Edify my mind, my heart, my wits;
Let me remember it.
---
Vitalis Mazetti, very soon to join our House Clement, is as of this evening my protege. I'm an admirer of his for too many reasons to list. His story, however, captivates me. It takes a kind of courage to leave one family and join another, particularly when the Lyceum and the Oathlands can seem like different worlds. It is easy to stay with what is familiar; yet, in days such as these, we need diversity of thought and perspective. It keeps us strong.
Lady Adalyn and Baron Norwood Clement: you are among the best of people. Thank you for welcoming a stranger to your home. He could not be in better hands.
To Duchess Cambria Mazetti, I say with all of the love and respect that is your due: your loss is our gain. We will care for him as best we can.
Written By Adrienne
May 3, 2020, 9:43 p.m.(3/22/1013 AR)
We received news of two more fallen villages this week. The Arvani people are strong; misfortune and adversity are familiar obstacles. But eradication? Whether by man's doing or animal, I cannot conceive of a village - bustling with the day-to-day activities of life - gone silent.
My intention in writing must be for those lost and for the many who travel on dangerous roads to learn what has happened to, I pray, prevent it from happening again. Godspeed.
My intention in writing must be for those lost and for the many who travel on dangerous roads to learn what has happened to, I pray, prevent it from happening again. Godspeed.
Written By Adrienne
April 26, 2020, 10:27 a.m.(3/8/1013 AR)
The Taste of Arx festival proved a warm introduction to this city. Princess Sabella Grayson and our Duke Cristoph Laurent deserve every praise.
This week I commit intentions in writing for one at a crossroads, for one finding a home, and for one braver than I knew. May Lagoma and Gloria light their paths, and may Mangata's favor calm our seas.
This week I commit intentions in writing for one at a crossroads, for one finding a home, and for one braver than I knew. May Lagoma and Gloria light their paths, and may Mangata's favor calm our seas.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.