Written By Bastien
April 7, 2018, 6:56 p.m.(7/6/1008 AR)
It _is_ always entertaining to see the nobility begin to speak of how tactful their incredibly, obliviously impolitic Whites are.
Written By Bastien
April 7, 2018, 6:18 p.m.(7/6/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Reigna
Obviously you die. Perhaps you even work for things in your lives. But first, you are given. You are given wealth and luxury. You are given fine food and fine clothes. You are given the privilege of not worrying about these things.
I was not being figurative or metaphorical when I said that commoners earn something or die. I mean it quite literally. If they do not work for their food, they will starve. This is a fairly straightforward concept.
And the word you were looking for is "pithy."
I was not being figurative or metaphorical when I said that commoners earn something or die. I mean it quite literally. If they do not work for their food, they will starve. This is a fairly straightforward concept.
And the word you were looking for is "pithy."
Written By Bastien
April 7, 2018, 2:20 p.m.(7/5/1008 AR)
To be noble is to be given.
To be common is to earn or die.
To be common is to earn or die.
Written By Bastien
April 6, 2018, 5:23 p.m.(7/4/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Niklas
If you do not _stop telling people we are friends_, you are _very much going to need that will_.
Written By Bastien
April 3, 2018, 1:18 p.m.(6/25/1008 AR)
I rarely have to invent things for my plays. The nobility makes comically, casually villainous shows of themselves all on their own. The bigger problem is actually how _un_subtle they often are.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 21, 2018, 6:34 p.m.(3/25/1008 AR)
I love watching nobles make unwarranted demands of their lieges that they would never extend to their own vassals. While apparently underpaying their taxes.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 18, 2018, 1:59 p.m.(3/19/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Calypso
Is there any greater indication of utter arrogance, gross incompetence, and an overwhelming unsuitability for leadership than the statement that a person would make no change to their actions over the course of years?
Some of you people make my work so _easy_.
Some of you people make my work so _easy_.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 13, 2018, 2:17 p.m.(3/3/1008 AR)
I'm surprised no one has pointed out the obvious. Beyond honor and justice and self-defense, there is this:
If the chosen champion of a house, the Sword of the City-State of Southport, cannot apprehend a Scholar with little to no martial ability without killing him, then he's a rather terrible swordsman.
Or he's lying. Your options are blatant dishonesty or gross incompetence. Enjoy.
Please note that I never met the victim in question, I don't care about him, and I certainly don't care that he's dead.
If the chosen champion of a house, the Sword of the City-State of Southport, cannot apprehend a Scholar with little to no martial ability without killing him, then he's a rather terrible swordsman.
Or he's lying. Your options are blatant dishonesty or gross incompetence. Enjoy.
Please note that I never met the victim in question, I don't care about him, and I certainly don't care that he's dead.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 5, 2018, 2:39 p.m.(2/15/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Edain
Don't worry, your grace. The nobility have been breeding for centuries despite excessive lack of charm. I hear that even you've managed!
In any case, I'll let the man in my bed know he doesn't need to worry about any impending children of mine. It's quite a comfort to be charmless, actually.
In any case, I'll let the man in my bed know he doesn't need to worry about any impending children of mine. It's quite a comfort to be charmless, actually.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 5, 2018, 1:02 p.m.(2/15/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Edward
I've spent upwards of a decade alternately drunk and high, often both, and I still haven't managed that.
Written By Bastien
Feb. 2, 2018, 5:28 p.m.(2/9/1008 AR)
BESIEGED, A PLAY IN THREE ACTS
This copy of the script is recorded in the Whites for posterity. However, it is meant to be performed and watched, not read.
CAST
Author's Note: With the exception of Xander, the soldier from the Mourning Isles, all of the characters in the play are designed to be played by any gender. (Xander's gender is only fixed because the Silent War predates certain progressive reforms within Thraxian culture to allow for female warriors in their ranks.) Multiple names are supplied for many of the characters to allow the director to select the one most suitable for the actor cast.
Fienne / Fien: Oathlander. Blindingly idealistic and unwaveringly honorable. While they hold to the latter over the course of the play, the former is in pieces by the end.
Delmar / Delmarra: Crownlander. Cocky, but with reasoned measure. Loves to laugh, loves a party. Likes to be liked, loves to be loved.
Sully: Northerner. A bit awkward and unsure. A core of empathy and thoughtfulness, but with difficulty bridge that divide into action.
Olivetta / Olivander: Lycene. Wry and a bit sarcastic without being too vicious. Witty, and occasionally biting, but rarely cruel.
Xander: Islander. Quiet, thoughtful. Unexpectedly intelligent. He's used to people underestimating his mind and is sullenly resigned to it.
Idana / Odan: Crownsworn. Daring, brash, and reckless. The first into a fight, the last one out. Always on hand when their friend gets into a scuffle.
+++
SETTING
Traders Tavern, Arx. 1006 AR.
+++
The play takes place in the quiet times between battles in Traders Tavern. The opening scenes establish the meeting and dynamic of the six main character over the course of the extended opening scene. Delmar and Idana seem to have known each for at least some months, having the bantering rapport of two people without rift or drama between their fealties. Fienne and Sully end up a bit of a duo of caring and empathy, and Delmar and Olivetta's senses of humor play well with each other, but Delmar and Xander begin the play with a certain amount of tension.
The war itself is seen through the eyes of these common soldiers, which makes for a purposefully limited and increasingly cynical view of the conflict. Olivetta starts bringing in collections of White Reflections each week, and the group takes turn reading out entries of nobles who publicly make the most inane complaints, from missing certain foods difficult to import during the war to having their birthdays tragically forgotten by their peers. In another scene, Sully talks frankly about not even knowing if he's firing arrows at the right people sometimes, which the group as a whole commiserate on to great comedic effect.
Their humor grows more strained as the play continues and they clearly feel the loss of the continued siege. Their grief at losing compatriots is felt mostly in the silence in between words than made explicit. Towards the middle of the play, it becomes apparent that Xander and Delmar have grown romantically involved, just as it's clear that this is kept small and private and precious between the two and not shared with the others. It makes the grief all the more complex and weighty when Xander suddenly fails to appear late in the play, and it becomes clear he's been lost in a recent battle in a moment of great courage and sacrifice, leaving Delmar to navigate that grief both in isolation and within the group.
The end of the play comes with the end of the Siege, leaving the surviving characters to wonder at how their lives are supposed to continue after the war seems to have ended through some mysterious means that they don't even fully understand. It's a fairly cynical take on war overall, most specifically in its skewering of noble leadership and how it uses the commons to fight their wars with little context or appreciation and leaving them adrift once everything is over. The humor throughout the play is sharp and its critique clear, and the characterizations are well-drawn. Its sense of optimism is, however, a bit lacking.
This copy of the script is recorded in the Whites for posterity. However, it is meant to be performed and watched, not read.
CAST
Author's Note: With the exception of Xander, the soldier from the Mourning Isles, all of the characters in the play are designed to be played by any gender. (Xander's gender is only fixed because the Silent War predates certain progressive reforms within Thraxian culture to allow for female warriors in their ranks.) Multiple names are supplied for many of the characters to allow the director to select the one most suitable for the actor cast.
Fienne / Fien: Oathlander. Blindingly idealistic and unwaveringly honorable. While they hold to the latter over the course of the play, the former is in pieces by the end.
Delmar / Delmarra: Crownlander. Cocky, but with reasoned measure. Loves to laugh, loves a party. Likes to be liked, loves to be loved.
Sully: Northerner. A bit awkward and unsure. A core of empathy and thoughtfulness, but with difficulty bridge that divide into action.
Olivetta / Olivander: Lycene. Wry and a bit sarcastic without being too vicious. Witty, and occasionally biting, but rarely cruel.
Xander: Islander. Quiet, thoughtful. Unexpectedly intelligent. He's used to people underestimating his mind and is sullenly resigned to it.
Idana / Odan: Crownsworn. Daring, brash, and reckless. The first into a fight, the last one out. Always on hand when their friend gets into a scuffle.
+++
SETTING
Traders Tavern, Arx. 1006 AR.
+++
The play takes place in the quiet times between battles in Traders Tavern. The opening scenes establish the meeting and dynamic of the six main character over the course of the extended opening scene. Delmar and Idana seem to have known each for at least some months, having the bantering rapport of two people without rift or drama between their fealties. Fienne and Sully end up a bit of a duo of caring and empathy, and Delmar and Olivetta's senses of humor play well with each other, but Delmar and Xander begin the play with a certain amount of tension.
The war itself is seen through the eyes of these common soldiers, which makes for a purposefully limited and increasingly cynical view of the conflict. Olivetta starts bringing in collections of White Reflections each week, and the group takes turn reading out entries of nobles who publicly make the most inane complaints, from missing certain foods difficult to import during the war to having their birthdays tragically forgotten by their peers. In another scene, Sully talks frankly about not even knowing if he's firing arrows at the right people sometimes, which the group as a whole commiserate on to great comedic effect.
Their humor grows more strained as the play continues and they clearly feel the loss of the continued siege. Their grief at losing compatriots is felt mostly in the silence in between words than made explicit. Towards the middle of the play, it becomes apparent that Xander and Delmar have grown romantically involved, just as it's clear that this is kept small and private and precious between the two and not shared with the others. It makes the grief all the more complex and weighty when Xander suddenly fails to appear late in the play, and it becomes clear he's been lost in a recent battle in a moment of great courage and sacrifice, leaving Delmar to navigate that grief both in isolation and within the group.
The end of the play comes with the end of the Siege, leaving the surviving characters to wonder at how their lives are supposed to continue after the war seems to have ended through some mysterious means that they don't even fully understand. It's a fairly cynical take on war overall, most specifically in its skewering of noble leadership and how it uses the commons to fight their wars with little context or appreciation and leaving them adrift once everything is over. The humor throughout the play is sharp and its critique clear, and the characterizations are well-drawn. Its sense of optimism is, however, a bit lacking.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 25, 2018, 7:04 p.m.(1/14/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Tristan
It seems terribly rude to insult innocent horses by comparing them to the nobility.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 24, 2018, 1:30 p.m.(1/11/1008 AR)
How heartwarming that everyone is coming together to defend the honor of a poor, sad Princess and General of House Grayson, the ruling house of the Compact. Truly this is the person who needs our rallying cry.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 23, 2018, 1:10 a.m.(1/8/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Yasmine
I don't like anyone.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 19, 2018, 2:36 a.m.(12/28/1007 AR)
The Lovers and the Mirror
Once upon a time, there were two lovers of the Lyceum, both dark-haired and warm of complexion. Their love was unkind and unsafe, reckless and obsessive; they felt each other in their very heartbeats, in each waking breath, saw each other in every dream. Their love was an itch under their skin that was only sated by contact. When they were forced apart, they wrote incessantly and felt each other in their very blood.
However, the lovers were unable to marry, and the day finally came that their families called on them to do their duty by marrying elsewhere and give up their affair. But the lovers could not conceive of a life without each other. It would be a life without blood, without breath, without heartbeat, for they lived in all of those things in each other.
And so they sought a way to stay together forever. When they couldn't convince their families, they turned to darker methods. They uncovered a rite to bind themselves to each other, and they ignored the warnings that there would be consequences. They cared only for burning that connection permanently into their souls.
The rite required a mirror of remarkable size to focus it, and they searched far and wide for a crafter who could create such a splendor. Even the crafter warned them that such an object could attract unwanted attention, but they persisted. When it was completed, it was beautiful to behold. And so the lovers spilled their blood upon it, speaking the words of the rite and empowering each syllable with their hearts' desire.
The lovers awoke full of hope, sure that it would be the first day of their new lives together. They both approached the mirror to see their beloved waiting there for them. They reached for each other, only to feel glass between them. The mirror between them.
For both lovers, the world was otherwise unchanged, but for the absence of the other in their world. Their lives continued, but on each side of the mirror, no one else had any memory of the lover who had disappeared. Each was convinced that theirs was the true world, and their lover caught in some reflected version of it. They fought viciously with each other, each arguing the truth of their world, insisting that they must free the other. Both were terrified that the other would take action that would somehow destroy them.
And so they decided to both act, together and as one. They pressed their hands to the mirror, aligned with each other, and then kissed the cold glass.
And then, as one, they both smashed their mirrors to dust.
Once upon a time, there were two lovers of the Lyceum, both dark-haired and warm of complexion. Their love was unkind and unsafe, reckless and obsessive; they felt each other in their very heartbeats, in each waking breath, saw each other in every dream. Their love was an itch under their skin that was only sated by contact. When they were forced apart, they wrote incessantly and felt each other in their very blood.
However, the lovers were unable to marry, and the day finally came that their families called on them to do their duty by marrying elsewhere and give up their affair. But the lovers could not conceive of a life without each other. It would be a life without blood, without breath, without heartbeat, for they lived in all of those things in each other.
And so they sought a way to stay together forever. When they couldn't convince their families, they turned to darker methods. They uncovered a rite to bind themselves to each other, and they ignored the warnings that there would be consequences. They cared only for burning that connection permanently into their souls.
The rite required a mirror of remarkable size to focus it, and they searched far and wide for a crafter who could create such a splendor. Even the crafter warned them that such an object could attract unwanted attention, but they persisted. When it was completed, it was beautiful to behold. And so the lovers spilled their blood upon it, speaking the words of the rite and empowering each syllable with their hearts' desire.
The lovers awoke full of hope, sure that it would be the first day of their new lives together. They both approached the mirror to see their beloved waiting there for them. They reached for each other, only to feel glass between them. The mirror between them.
For both lovers, the world was otherwise unchanged, but for the absence of the other in their world. Their lives continued, but on each side of the mirror, no one else had any memory of the lover who had disappeared. Each was convinced that theirs was the true world, and their lover caught in some reflected version of it. They fought viciously with each other, each arguing the truth of their world, insisting that they must free the other. Both were terrified that the other would take action that would somehow destroy them.
And so they decided to both act, together and as one. They pressed their hands to the mirror, aligned with each other, and then kissed the cold glass.
And then, as one, they both smashed their mirrors to dust.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 12, 2018, 4:11 p.m.(12/14/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Derovai
Nierzen _wishes_ he had the talent to write my work.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 5, 2018, 5:21 p.m.(11/28/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Carita
Your ladder looks a bit shorter than the others, doesn't it?
Written By Bastien
Jan. 3, 2018, 2:27 p.m.(11/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Juliana
No one is forcing you to read.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 3, 2018, 2:26 p.m.(11/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Carita
Then I congratulate you, for logic holds that you are as well-acquainted with the smell of your own shit as I am.
Written By Bastien
Jan. 3, 2018, 2:09 p.m.(11/23/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Carita
When you're as vain as I am, even your shit smells sweet.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.