Written By Aleksei
June 26, 2019, 8:13 p.m.(5/10/1011 AR)
Why is everyone talking about birds? Did I miss something?
Written By Aleksei
June 19, 2019, 2:32 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
If a way of life or a tradition involves enslavement, it deserves to die. And it's not comparable to the destruction of a way of life that isn't inherently harmful.
Written By Aleksei
May 10, 2019, 1:54 p.m.(1/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Orathy
You didn't need your playing field evened, Culler: steelsilk is even better to fight in than alaricite. You were just looking to scrape whatever advantage you could find. Not that it mattered.
But no, I'm not envious of you having people who would let you borrow some stuff. What a weird idea. I've got plenty of people who would stick their necks out for me if I needed help. I'm not too worried on that score.
But no, I'm not envious of you having people who would let you borrow some stuff. What a weird idea. I've got plenty of people who would stick their necks out for me if I needed help. I'm not too worried on that score.
Written By Aleksei
May 9, 2019, 1:59 p.m.(1/26/1011 AR)
Imagine being so insecure and scared to lose a duel that you need to specify ridiculous terms to try and swing an advantage, spend weeks with your husband trying to learn how to get better deals on stupidly expensive materials, hire extra labor to turn all that material into lavish arms and armor, and pay people to borrow their jewelry.
It's honestly pretty hilarious.
It's honestly pretty hilarious.
Written By Aleksei
April 23, 2019, 7:31 p.m.(12/22/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Luca
I still don't know what to say. What to write. Fitz doesn't even understand why I'm so fucking sad. Just keeps telling me you'll be back soon. Complains about humans being slow about it.
I'm such a fucking idiot.
I'm such a fucking idiot.
Written By Aleksei
March 29, 2019, 1:08 p.m.(10/28/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
Soooooo when are _you_ going to be visiting the Whispers for your lessons in basic manners? I'm pretty sure that not making a public spectacle of someone who's trying to repeatedly apologize is a part of that. Also possibly not sending someone around to do _penance_ in _the shrines of the Faith_ for saying a few accidentally rude words.
I mean, good gods.
I mean, good gods.
Written By Aleksei
March 14, 2019, 4:07 p.m.(9/26/1010 AR)
In the aftermath of Prince Victus's proclamation, I started hearing more inaccurate ideas about thralldom -- it started as slavery, it didn't _turn into_ it, people, its origins were _never just_ -- and I went to write a whole response in the Whites when I realized that it just--
Didn't matter anymore. I mean, maybe it will in the coming days as we work to convince people to accept these changes peacefully and without rebellion. But right now? For me?
It doesn't matter. Because the impossible has happened.
I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. However passionately I felt or fought, I always assumed I was helping to build a foundation for future generations to continue fighting. I never expected this.
Seven years. It's a long time for the people in bondage, and I will never forget that. But despite popular opinion that all I've wanted to do is overthrow the Isles and ruin them all, I never called for that. I called for something shorter than _generations_, yes. I _wanted_ to make it uncomfortable for people to sit and live with what they were defending. Weighing a tradition over humanity and morality. But no, I never called for people to abolish it overnight. If for no other reason than the fact that the freed thralls would suffer as much as anyone else in that instance if everything was done without preparation.
Prince Victus Thrax has chosen the most difficult -- and most worthy -- path forward, and I will never, ever forget that. And I will be there in whatever capacity I can every step of the way, be it in raising money, arranging transport or housing or apprenticeships or work, the use of my swordarm or whatever knowledge or expertise I have, or anything that's needed of me. I will be there for the entire seven years and beyond, because I can do no less than that.
At least not without being a royal fucking hypocritical asshole. Pain in the ass I'll accept readily. Even _other_ types of assholes. But Thrax will have all of me for this fight.
Didn't matter anymore. I mean, maybe it will in the coming days as we work to convince people to accept these changes peacefully and without rebellion. But right now? For me?
It doesn't matter. Because the impossible has happened.
I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. However passionately I felt or fought, I always assumed I was helping to build a foundation for future generations to continue fighting. I never expected this.
Seven years. It's a long time for the people in bondage, and I will never forget that. But despite popular opinion that all I've wanted to do is overthrow the Isles and ruin them all, I never called for that. I called for something shorter than _generations_, yes. I _wanted_ to make it uncomfortable for people to sit and live with what they were defending. Weighing a tradition over humanity and morality. But no, I never called for people to abolish it overnight. If for no other reason than the fact that the freed thralls would suffer as much as anyone else in that instance if everything was done without preparation.
Prince Victus Thrax has chosen the most difficult -- and most worthy -- path forward, and I will never, ever forget that. And I will be there in whatever capacity I can every step of the way, be it in raising money, arranging transport or housing or apprenticeships or work, the use of my swordarm or whatever knowledge or expertise I have, or anything that's needed of me. I will be there for the entire seven years and beyond, because I can do no less than that.
At least not without being a royal fucking hypocritical asshole. Pain in the ass I'll accept readily. Even _other_ types of assholes. But Thrax will have all of me for this fight.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 24, 2019, 1:08 a.m.(8/17/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Avary
Just want to make one thing clear: the fact that you can build a civilization on the backs of slaves is reprehensible. It's abhorrent.
But it's civilization.
Because that's the thing, isn't it? We have a whole Pantheon. We have thirteen gods, and there's a really important reason for that. Which I don't have to tell Blessed Avary, I know. Mostly I wanted to sort of clarify some of the things I said at the gathering Sir Andry held, since she mentioned me.
Slavery is evil. But Gild's domain is not concerned with slavery. You could, in some terrible ways, strengthen the prosperity of civilization through evil. Which is fucked up. But concepts are weird. And sometimes they overlap, and sometimes they contradict. Fortunately, we're lucky enough to know firsthand that you don't need slavery to build prosperity and civilization. We don't have to choose between Civilization and Freedom.
And then, of course, there's that pesky question of thralldom and Civilization. Will abolition break our society? I've written about it before, and I'm not going to go on about it again. But I'll say this: you don't have to break bonds. You don't have to rip up agreements. You build new ones instead.
And that's all I'll say.
It was an interesting discussion, at the very least.
But it's civilization.
Because that's the thing, isn't it? We have a whole Pantheon. We have thirteen gods, and there's a really important reason for that. Which I don't have to tell Blessed Avary, I know. Mostly I wanted to sort of clarify some of the things I said at the gathering Sir Andry held, since she mentioned me.
Slavery is evil. But Gild's domain is not concerned with slavery. You could, in some terrible ways, strengthen the prosperity of civilization through evil. Which is fucked up. But concepts are weird. And sometimes they overlap, and sometimes they contradict. Fortunately, we're lucky enough to know firsthand that you don't need slavery to build prosperity and civilization. We don't have to choose between Civilization and Freedom.
And then, of course, there's that pesky question of thralldom and Civilization. Will abolition break our society? I've written about it before, and I'm not going to go on about it again. But I'll say this: you don't have to break bonds. You don't have to rip up agreements. You build new ones instead.
And that's all I'll say.
It was an interesting discussion, at the very least.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 21, 2019, 3:35 p.m.(8/12/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Gilroy
You're a fucking idiot.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 15, 2019, 2:09 a.m.(7/27/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Saedrus
I don't know if the words even exist for what lives in my heart. Nothing about us has ever been easy, but it's always been worth it. And no matter what comes, it will always have been worth it.
But come home again someday. Even if it's not to me.
I love you.
But come home again someday. Even if it's not to me.
I love you.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 6, 2019, 7:10 p.m.(7/10/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Audric
Dammit. Gods_dammit_.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 4, 2019, 9:34 p.m.(7/7/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Victus
I'm PRETTY sure that's normal. Although my son gets mad at me sometimes for not being able to understand the things he says.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 4, 2019, 9:27 p.m.(7/7/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
Vice Captain Shard spent weeks of her time on the sea and in Stormward personally assisting in the care and transport of the twenty thousand thralls House Kennex freed. She, like many others, was a part of seeing each of them transported to wherever they chose their new home to be. Settled with room and board and the start of a new life. The Valorous Few made room in their ranks for some of those newly-freed souls.
Maybe you should actually know what a person has done before you start mocking them for having done nothing.
Children may not be able to inherit the debt of their parents' anymore, thank the gods. But the thralldom reforms didn't actually forbid enthralling children for other reasons. We're not seeing the end of child thralls. And here's the thing:
Every silver we pay people to buy the debt of thralls? Is just silver for people to make new thralls. To pay for reaving the next shav village and bring home new quarry. The reforms _don't slow the creation of new thralls_.
The _only way_ to stop this -- actually, really stop it -- is to stop thralldom. Actually stop it.
Also, like, a whole _ton_ of people are saying "not know." I can literally point at the journals.
Maybe you should actually know what a person has done before you start mocking them for having done nothing.
Children may not be able to inherit the debt of their parents' anymore, thank the gods. But the thralldom reforms didn't actually forbid enthralling children for other reasons. We're not seeing the end of child thralls. And here's the thing:
Every silver we pay people to buy the debt of thralls? Is just silver for people to make new thralls. To pay for reaving the next shav village and bring home new quarry. The reforms _don't slow the creation of new thralls_.
The _only way_ to stop this -- actually, really stop it -- is to stop thralldom. Actually stop it.
Also, like, a whole _ton_ of people are saying "not know." I can literally point at the journals.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 4, 2019, 12:02 p.m.(7/6/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Archeron
Fucking hell. Is he really -- can you just copy down that line? From the journal? Just that one line, yeah--
"In a generation or two, perhaps 50 years from now, I wonder if there will be Thralldom in the Isles even without an overt attempt to end it?"
...yes? Yes, definitely? Yes, absolutely? Yes, the vast majority of houses in the Mourning Isles are traditionalists who are clinging tight to it forever unless someone makes them stop?
There is not some magic wave of progressivism -- is that a word? -- that is seducing all the traditionalists. The traditionalists will happily take your money and then be mad at you that you used it to buy thrall debt and forgive it.
Thralldom is not _slowly down_. They _keep making new ones_.
"In a generation or two, perhaps 50 years from now, I wonder if there will be Thralldom in the Isles even without an overt attempt to end it?"
...yes? Yes, definitely? Yes, absolutely? Yes, the vast majority of houses in the Mourning Isles are traditionalists who are clinging tight to it forever unless someone makes them stop?
There is not some magic wave of progressivism -- is that a word? -- that is seducing all the traditionalists. The traditionalists will happily take your money and then be mad at you that you used it to buy thrall debt and forgive it.
Thralldom is not _slowly down_. They _keep making new ones_.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 4, 2019, 11:12 a.m.(7/6/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
"Literally no one is arguing not to abolish thralldom."
I'm afraid you've never been to the Mourning Isles.
I have heard many, many people argue as to the perfectly fit morality of thralldom. Many.
The Isles are not just full of houses that only want _more time_ to abolish thralldom. You're being fooled into this idea in order to think that only my side is the _unreasonable_ one. The Isles are full of traditionalist houses who _never want to abolish thralldom_. Because they do not find it immoral. They do not find it equivalent to slavery. And because it _benefits them to never get rid of it_.
It's tradition, after all. And the Isles don't love anything more than tradition.
Maybe people should actually talk to Brass about the potential of timing and planning other than to apparently ask him for _fifty years_.
I'm afraid you've never been to the Mourning Isles.
I have heard many, many people argue as to the perfectly fit morality of thralldom. Many.
The Isles are not just full of houses that only want _more time_ to abolish thralldom. You're being fooled into this idea in order to think that only my side is the _unreasonable_ one. The Isles are full of traditionalist houses who _never want to abolish thralldom_. Because they do not find it immoral. They do not find it equivalent to slavery. And because it _benefits them to never get rid of it_.
It's tradition, after all. And the Isles don't love anything more than tradition.
Maybe people should actually talk to Brass about the potential of timing and planning other than to apparently ask him for _fifty years_.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 4, 2019, midnight(7/5/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Andry
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. When I said that thrall debt is "made up," I mean that the number is made up when it's decided on. This isn't actual money that the thrall owes to another person, that they were lent and need to pay back. It's a number made up to represent their supposed "debt," generally inflated to a particularly high number in order to keep them in that state of debt for as long as possible. _That's_ what I mean by made up. The collective debt of thralldom in the Mourning Isles isn't an amount of money that these individuals owe some person or house or group: it's a number made up by people with incentive to make it as high as they can get away with. That's what I mean.
I do know the records by Palladium you're referring to, and I think the important part is right there in what he wrote. "Tearing up." "Bad-faith dealing." That is: if you do the work to put this stuff into law, to build it into civilization, it doesn't have to be an overthrow or an _attack_ on civilization. And I think that people are starting to spread word that there's no way to deal with thralldom that isn't going to strengthen certain darker concepts in the world, and I think that's a really huge assumption on their part. And that stating it as plain fact is _literally harmful_ to the world. So. That's why I brought it up to address it.
I do know the records by Palladium you're referring to, and I think the important part is right there in what he wrote. "Tearing up." "Bad-faith dealing." That is: if you do the work to put this stuff into law, to build it into civilization, it doesn't have to be an overthrow or an _attack_ on civilization. And I think that people are starting to spread word that there's no way to deal with thralldom that isn't going to strengthen certain darker concepts in the world, and I think that's a really huge assumption on their part. And that stating it as plain fact is _literally harmful_ to the world. So. That's why I brought it up to address it.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 3, 2019, 8:30 p.m.(7/4/1010 AR)
For everyone who wants to wait until a time of "relative peace" to consider abolishing thralldom...
...when exactly do you think that's going to be?
Because here's the thing: I don't foresee that day coming. There's always going to be wolves on our doorstep, especially now. There's always going to be reason not do it.
To Lord Archeron Tyde, who is saying things like -- can you just copy it? Yeah, I mean, from his journal, just copy it over--
"Let's also remember that part of the response to Kennex's issues came from the other houses of the Isles. The immediate relief on the pressure came from former Thralls being welcomed into places like Tyde Isle, with ships being provided to move them from the other houses too. This would not be an option in this event. So with less, you will be asked to do something many times more difficult."
Yes, that. As the person who was responsible for organizing the massive fleet that came to Stormward to help relocate those newly-freed men, women, and children, I can tell you that while some of them stayed in Stormward with the Faith's support, and some of them chose to resettle in Maelstrom, the bulk of them chose various locales in the Compact to resettle in. And, you know what? With an actual plan in place, with forewarning, we could do it all better.
That's the real thing that keeps getting me about all this bullshit. People going on about how "it'll just be Stormward but worse," but you know what? Stormward could have been a disaster, _but it wasn't_. It would have been a disaster if the rest of the Compact didn't step up to help, _but we did_. And that was with no warning.
I'm fucking _aware_ of the fact that we're talking about something on an entirely different, hugely massive scale. I'm also aware of what the Compact is capable of when we're put under pressure. I know what _people_ are capable of. Because this time? It would be so much huger, but we would see it coming. We would have _time to plan_. To be _ready_.
You can talk about how impossible a task is, or how it's not a good time for it -- or you can own up to the fact that it will never be a good time, and you can start thinking about _what could actually be done_.
What if you had to? What if you had no other choice? What would be your first step? Your second? Your fifth? Your tenth?
Start thinking. We're capable of more. We're capable of better. This is all of our responsibility.
...when exactly do you think that's going to be?
Because here's the thing: I don't foresee that day coming. There's always going to be wolves on our doorstep, especially now. There's always going to be reason not do it.
To Lord Archeron Tyde, who is saying things like -- can you just copy it? Yeah, I mean, from his journal, just copy it over--
"Let's also remember that part of the response to Kennex's issues came from the other houses of the Isles. The immediate relief on the pressure came from former Thralls being welcomed into places like Tyde Isle, with ships being provided to move them from the other houses too. This would not be an option in this event. So with less, you will be asked to do something many times more difficult."
Yes, that. As the person who was responsible for organizing the massive fleet that came to Stormward to help relocate those newly-freed men, women, and children, I can tell you that while some of them stayed in Stormward with the Faith's support, and some of them chose to resettle in Maelstrom, the bulk of them chose various locales in the Compact to resettle in. And, you know what? With an actual plan in place, with forewarning, we could do it all better.
That's the real thing that keeps getting me about all this bullshit. People going on about how "it'll just be Stormward but worse," but you know what? Stormward could have been a disaster, _but it wasn't_. It would have been a disaster if the rest of the Compact didn't step up to help, _but we did_. And that was with no warning.
I'm fucking _aware_ of the fact that we're talking about something on an entirely different, hugely massive scale. I'm also aware of what the Compact is capable of when we're put under pressure. I know what _people_ are capable of. Because this time? It would be so much huger, but we would see it coming. We would have _time to plan_. To be _ready_.
You can talk about how impossible a task is, or how it's not a good time for it -- or you can own up to the fact that it will never be a good time, and you can start thinking about _what could actually be done_.
What if you had to? What if you had no other choice? What would be your first step? Your second? Your fifth? Your tenth?
Start thinking. We're capable of more. We're capable of better. This is all of our responsibility.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 3, 2019, 10:34 a.m.(7/4/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
Thrall debt _is_ imaginary. It's an inflated number made up in order to keep someone in bondage. It's not actual money owed to anyone; it's a justification for continued enslavement. The numbers aren't _real_.
That said, of course forgiving them all would have an effect, because any business or society that relies on _free labor_ is going to have to figure out how to survive by actually paying people.
I'm sure you care plenty about thralldom. It's just real clear what you care about more.
If you care more about the slaves, you start thinking about how to make it happen.
If you care more about the slavers, you start thinking of reasons not to help the slaves _too quickly_.
You care more about the exploiters than the exploited.
That said, of course forgiving them all would have an effect, because any business or society that relies on _free labor_ is going to have to figure out how to survive by actually paying people.
I'm sure you care plenty about thralldom. It's just real clear what you care about more.
If you care more about the slaves, you start thinking about how to make it happen.
If you care more about the slavers, you start thinking of reasons not to help the slaves _too quickly_.
You care more about the exploiters than the exploited.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 3, 2019, 1:32 a.m.(7/3/1010 AR)
There's a very old and very dry commentary written by a Senior Scholar Methrus the Pedantic, and man he sure earned that name. It's called "On Thralldom and Its Origins." In it, Methrus talks about how thralldom originally developed by slave owners loaning slaves to others in order to repay debts. At the time, it was seen as a form of temporary slavery during an age where slavery still existed at large in the Compact. Thralldom was practiced across the entire Compact, but it proliferated in the Mourning Isles, to Methrus's opinion, due to geography: it's simply harder to escape when you're stuck on an island. A number of Abandoned tribes on the larger islands likely had their start from runaway slaves.
Another text, "On Slavery and Thralldom," also brings up the fact that, in the early days of the Compact, the Mourning Isles had more contact with the nation of Eurus, where slavery was -- and is -- embraced as a way of life, and how that bled into the culture of the Isles. The practice survived, in part, because of how difficult it would have been to invade the Mourning Isles to force House Thrax to submit to ending it.
I'm starting this particular entry with all this mess of history to establish a few pretty important points. One: when thralldom began, it was freely acknowledged as a form of slavery. I will refuse to call it anything other than what it is. Two: its growth in the Mourning Isles is due, in part, to the Isles' contact with a nation that freely worships the inverse of our Pantheon. There is a reason why their city of chains is named Skal'daja, and why all their cities' names can sound so familiar as they honor the exact opposite of the virtues of the Faith. There is nothing about the origins of thralldom that is not steeped in darkness and evil. I can only assume that Queen Triscali, when she abolished slavery in the Compact, didn't have quite enough power to take thralldom down with it. Ending the common practice of slavery would have been an impossible enough task, and gods know I will honor her for that forever. We all do the best we can with the choices we're given or carve out for ourselves.
There's been a lot of _talk_ about thralldom, and about Brass, and about what his offer means. It's been about a year and a half since I left my post as Archlector of Skald. Three years since House Kennex abolished thralldom. And boy, has there apparently been talk about what happened in Stormward back then. I'm hearing gossip from meetings and parties about how _apparently_ abolishing thralldom will somehow...hurt? Thralls?
To which I say: bullshit.
When Kennex abolished thralldom, it was not long after the Faith had taken three million silver to the Mourning Isles to buy the debt of five thousand souls. (_Without_ inciting violence or economic upheaval, no matter what made up bullshit came out after, thanks.) Part of that process was establishing a new program for the Faith to nurture and grow. It was part of the dream I had that made me take my vows to begin with: helping those leaving the state of thralldom begin new lives. Those five thousand souls, all of whom had had choice stripped of them, were now given their choice of wherever in the Compact they wanted to go. Wherever they wanted to resettle, the Faith provided for their transport. It provided for their room and board when they arrived, and then we found them work in whatever city they had chosen, or we helped find them apprentices to build new skills. Until they were free and capable of supporting themselves. It was a program built on the fundamental idea that we owed these people more than just their state of freedom, as precious as that was. We also owed them the chance to take advantage of it.
This got...pretty tested when thralldom was abolished in Stormward. We weren't exactly prepared for that huge an influx so suddenly. But, shockingly, the Faith -- and the Compact -- didn't just throw up its hands and leave these people to their devices. I pulled in pretty much every favor I could manage, I flung myself on the mercy of the Compact, and you know what? The Faith gathered a huge fleet, and millions of silver, and we expanded that fucking program to handle all of those people. Some stayed in Stormward, and some decided to settle elsewhere in the Compact. All were given support. All were cared for.
There is no world in which the thralls of Stormward were better off as slaves. You know who was better off before thralldom ended? _The people who owned them._ That is who benefits from slavery: slave owners. I dare you to take a trip throughout the Compact and talk to some of the people who were freed that day and ask them if they were so very harmed.
I don't care how "well you treat your thralls." I don't care if you're really so heinous enough to talk about how you treat your thralls "like family."
You're just bragging about how well you enslave people.
I've also heard gossip about how abolishing thralldom would be harmful -- _damaging_, even -- to Civilization. With the large C, that is. And those people who know of its opposite will know what I'm speaking of. So I have to ask this: do people think that creating new laws is harmful to our society? That changing laws is damaging to civilization? Do they really think that _changing laws_ through our own system of rule and government is the same thing as breaking treaties and destroying tenets of civilization? Because that, frankly, sounds like fucking bullshit. And a disgusting misrepresentation of what Civilization really means, and what its _opposite_ means, in order to justify a monstrosity. Fuck that.
And now, of course, we have Brass. He was born a slave, to my knowledge. He lived as a slave. He has, in fact, lived a sort of slavery that I don't think any of us here could really fathom. I know what he's been guilty of in recent years. I know what he was planning to do.
I also know that he helped save the world. That he was one of the original members of the Metallic Order. That he fought in the _Reckoning_. That he has lived over a thousand years in his lifetime, and that he has never dimmed in his desire to see every chain of slavery broken. That he has probably _forgotten_ more about slavery than anyone in the Compact has ever _known_. Cardia hates him because he incited and equipped a slave rebellion in their lands, and you know what? That's a fucking _good thing to be infamous for_.
There will never be a day when it won't hurt to end thralldom. Never. There will _always_ be a cost. However many thralls are freed now, the houses of the Isles will always continue to create more. There is no magical number of years in which you won't have to sacrifice something. Wealth, prowess, money. There will never be a time in which it won't hurt. But you know what? All of the most important choices to make _hurt_. The greatest acts in our history have been those that come with a cost. Progress is never _easy_. People will always look for a way to put it off, to find the magical choice where they don't have to sacrifice.
It doesn't exist.
Ending thralldom will require sacrifice, and there will be no getting around that. Not now, or in ten years, or in a hundred. The question is: do you want to be remembered for freedom or for slavery? Do you want to be known for sitting on your riches while you talk about how you _can't afford_ to free the people you've chained, or do you want to be known for having the bravery and courage to do what's right _even when the cost is high_? Maybe you can save some of the silver going towards the fancy dresses and jewelry you're always throwing out for the commons to fight over.
And hey, you're at least getting a fringe benefit if you have the courage to do it now. It's not every day you have one of the heroes of the Metallic Order offering to literally arm you with magical weapons to help fight the enemies we have coming on the horizon. If you need a fucking bribe, there it is. You're not likely to get it again.
Thralldom is slavery. Don't dress it up, and don't excuse it. Own up to the fact that when you're defending the institution, when you move to speak about how its abolishment would be _too damaging_, that you're simply rating the prosperity of a few over the literal lives of many. Own up to what you're defending and why you're defending it.
It's easy to make excuses. It's harder to do what's right. That will never change. I have no doubt that Queen Triscali faced impossible odds to abolish the bulk of slavery in the Compact. I have no doubt that the same amoral arguments were made then. But she had the bravery and the courage to know that it was _wrong_. And that it would take someone with enough power deciding it was a necessary fight. That the Compact could not continue to grow on a rotten foundation.
Our ancestors fled here from the east _fleeing slavery_. We owe them better than this.
Do the hard thing.
Another text, "On Slavery and Thralldom," also brings up the fact that, in the early days of the Compact, the Mourning Isles had more contact with the nation of Eurus, where slavery was -- and is -- embraced as a way of life, and how that bled into the culture of the Isles. The practice survived, in part, because of how difficult it would have been to invade the Mourning Isles to force House Thrax to submit to ending it.
I'm starting this particular entry with all this mess of history to establish a few pretty important points. One: when thralldom began, it was freely acknowledged as a form of slavery. I will refuse to call it anything other than what it is. Two: its growth in the Mourning Isles is due, in part, to the Isles' contact with a nation that freely worships the inverse of our Pantheon. There is a reason why their city of chains is named Skal'daja, and why all their cities' names can sound so familiar as they honor the exact opposite of the virtues of the Faith. There is nothing about the origins of thralldom that is not steeped in darkness and evil. I can only assume that Queen Triscali, when she abolished slavery in the Compact, didn't have quite enough power to take thralldom down with it. Ending the common practice of slavery would have been an impossible enough task, and gods know I will honor her for that forever. We all do the best we can with the choices we're given or carve out for ourselves.
There's been a lot of _talk_ about thralldom, and about Brass, and about what his offer means. It's been about a year and a half since I left my post as Archlector of Skald. Three years since House Kennex abolished thralldom. And boy, has there apparently been talk about what happened in Stormward back then. I'm hearing gossip from meetings and parties about how _apparently_ abolishing thralldom will somehow...hurt? Thralls?
To which I say: bullshit.
When Kennex abolished thralldom, it was not long after the Faith had taken three million silver to the Mourning Isles to buy the debt of five thousand souls. (_Without_ inciting violence or economic upheaval, no matter what made up bullshit came out after, thanks.) Part of that process was establishing a new program for the Faith to nurture and grow. It was part of the dream I had that made me take my vows to begin with: helping those leaving the state of thralldom begin new lives. Those five thousand souls, all of whom had had choice stripped of them, were now given their choice of wherever in the Compact they wanted to go. Wherever they wanted to resettle, the Faith provided for their transport. It provided for their room and board when they arrived, and then we found them work in whatever city they had chosen, or we helped find them apprentices to build new skills. Until they were free and capable of supporting themselves. It was a program built on the fundamental idea that we owed these people more than just their state of freedom, as precious as that was. We also owed them the chance to take advantage of it.
This got...pretty tested when thralldom was abolished in Stormward. We weren't exactly prepared for that huge an influx so suddenly. But, shockingly, the Faith -- and the Compact -- didn't just throw up its hands and leave these people to their devices. I pulled in pretty much every favor I could manage, I flung myself on the mercy of the Compact, and you know what? The Faith gathered a huge fleet, and millions of silver, and we expanded that fucking program to handle all of those people. Some stayed in Stormward, and some decided to settle elsewhere in the Compact. All were given support. All were cared for.
There is no world in which the thralls of Stormward were better off as slaves. You know who was better off before thralldom ended? _The people who owned them._ That is who benefits from slavery: slave owners. I dare you to take a trip throughout the Compact and talk to some of the people who were freed that day and ask them if they were so very harmed.
I don't care how "well you treat your thralls." I don't care if you're really so heinous enough to talk about how you treat your thralls "like family."
You're just bragging about how well you enslave people.
I've also heard gossip about how abolishing thralldom would be harmful -- _damaging_, even -- to Civilization. With the large C, that is. And those people who know of its opposite will know what I'm speaking of. So I have to ask this: do people think that creating new laws is harmful to our society? That changing laws is damaging to civilization? Do they really think that _changing laws_ through our own system of rule and government is the same thing as breaking treaties and destroying tenets of civilization? Because that, frankly, sounds like fucking bullshit. And a disgusting misrepresentation of what Civilization really means, and what its _opposite_ means, in order to justify a monstrosity. Fuck that.
And now, of course, we have Brass. He was born a slave, to my knowledge. He lived as a slave. He has, in fact, lived a sort of slavery that I don't think any of us here could really fathom. I know what he's been guilty of in recent years. I know what he was planning to do.
I also know that he helped save the world. That he was one of the original members of the Metallic Order. That he fought in the _Reckoning_. That he has lived over a thousand years in his lifetime, and that he has never dimmed in his desire to see every chain of slavery broken. That he has probably _forgotten_ more about slavery than anyone in the Compact has ever _known_. Cardia hates him because he incited and equipped a slave rebellion in their lands, and you know what? That's a fucking _good thing to be infamous for_.
There will never be a day when it won't hurt to end thralldom. Never. There will _always_ be a cost. However many thralls are freed now, the houses of the Isles will always continue to create more. There is no magical number of years in which you won't have to sacrifice something. Wealth, prowess, money. There will never be a time in which it won't hurt. But you know what? All of the most important choices to make _hurt_. The greatest acts in our history have been those that come with a cost. Progress is never _easy_. People will always look for a way to put it off, to find the magical choice where they don't have to sacrifice.
It doesn't exist.
Ending thralldom will require sacrifice, and there will be no getting around that. Not now, or in ten years, or in a hundred. The question is: do you want to be remembered for freedom or for slavery? Do you want to be known for sitting on your riches while you talk about how you _can't afford_ to free the people you've chained, or do you want to be known for having the bravery and courage to do what's right _even when the cost is high_? Maybe you can save some of the silver going towards the fancy dresses and jewelry you're always throwing out for the commons to fight over.
And hey, you're at least getting a fringe benefit if you have the courage to do it now. It's not every day you have one of the heroes of the Metallic Order offering to literally arm you with magical weapons to help fight the enemies we have coming on the horizon. If you need a fucking bribe, there it is. You're not likely to get it again.
Thralldom is slavery. Don't dress it up, and don't excuse it. Own up to the fact that when you're defending the institution, when you move to speak about how its abolishment would be _too damaging_, that you're simply rating the prosperity of a few over the literal lives of many. Own up to what you're defending and why you're defending it.
It's easy to make excuses. It's harder to do what's right. That will never change. I have no doubt that Queen Triscali faced impossible odds to abolish the bulk of slavery in the Compact. I have no doubt that the same amoral arguments were made then. But she had the bravery and the courage to know that it was _wrong_. And that it would take someone with enough power deciding it was a necessary fight. That the Compact could not continue to grow on a rotten foundation.
Our ancestors fled here from the east _fleeing slavery_. We owe them better than this.
Do the hard thing.
Written By Aleksei
Feb. 2, 2019, 4:08 p.m.(7/2/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
And why do you think Shard speaks out in favor of dismantling thralldom with no care for what happens to those people? Do people really think _Brass_ doesn't care what happens to them?
When Kennex abolished thralldom overnight, the response wasn't exactly idle. The Faith had been building services to help support people who had recently been freed, and we sure weren't ready for twenty thousand of them, but we scrambled and we worked and countless people stepped up to help and we _managed_. The idea that the people who care the most about abolishing thralldom would then wash their hands after it was done and not care about the people who had actually been thralls is, frankly, bullshit.
I really done with the "but abolishing thralldom would be bad for the thralls!" shit that always goes around.
You know what's bad for slaves? SLAVERY.
When Kennex abolished thralldom overnight, the response wasn't exactly idle. The Faith had been building services to help support people who had recently been freed, and we sure weren't ready for twenty thousand of them, but we scrambled and we worked and countless people stepped up to help and we _managed_. The idea that the people who care the most about abolishing thralldom would then wash their hands after it was done and not care about the people who had actually been thralls is, frankly, bullshit.
I really done with the "but abolishing thralldom would be bad for the thralls!" shit that always goes around.
You know what's bad for slaves? SLAVERY.
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