Written By Bliss
Aug. 25, 2019, 1:50 a.m.(9/17/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Yes, I feel like that's worth making clear as well - I have absolutely no hostile feelings towards Princess Tikva for calling for this duel, and if she feels my words were improper and that I crossed a line, by all rights, she should be calling me out for it. I've written what I have written, and I will let the Champions sort it out at this point.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 24, 2019, 6:17 p.m.(9/16/1011 AR)
I deal with a great number of marriage contracts. A number of both nobles and commoners of the realm wish to add a level of formality to their arrangements, and so they have Whisper House handle the negotiations and draft the contracts before they pass to the Faith for approval. Alliances between baronies, between counties, distant cousins, much of that never makes the public eye because it passes through these walls, these halls. Higher level ones have also been handled here, and then, as a Devotion of Limerance, I look at many more again in reviewing them and filing them for those with actual authority in the Faith to respond to. The majority of my duties to the Faith are actually this - paperwork.
A strange place for a woman who actually ran away from a marriage to find herself in, one would think.
But that is just it - I had no interest in holding to whatever oaths and vows I would have had to make, and refused to put myself in the situation where I could do so. There was no shame of that that followed me through my life, because I am of common blood. Marriage is not part of my duties, nor will it ever be unless, gods forbid, someone decides to ennoble me. The only time it has seriously come up was an attempt to keep a larger issue contained - and when it fell through, I dropped that part and moved on.
Duty, devotion, and fidelity, these are the elements of Limerance involved in any noble contract. It seems clear to me that the Dominus did not believe those could continue in this case, and that is unfortunate. Thus, I do not comment on the decision to end the union. It was something for which details have been kept behind closed doors, and should likely remain so.
What I will say is to be very careful about the contracts you draft. A woman wiser than I am once told me that if love is the gift of Limerance, then romance must be the work of its reflection.
Do not confuse the two.
They both can be wondrous, fulfilling, amazing things to pursue, leaving you feeling the best - or the worst - that you ever will. But do not write contracts which assume they will last. Do not base your marriage on the happiness you are feeling. Do not tie yourself to another person permanently for something which is often merely temporary. Do not make promises you will not be able to keep, or put in terms that will be so restrictive that they are sure to be broken. Down that path leads heartbreak, upset, ruin.
All of this is far more important if you are part of the nobility. Your marriage is something that is larger than you, and represents a tying of two peoples together, for everything that means. Everything - even your happiness - will be secondary to the duty and the oaths that you have sworn. It is particularly hard for me to imagine what might lead to a divorce when children have already been produced, on top of everything else. At that point? Live in different rooms, lead separate lives unless ceremony requires the appearance of the two of you together, which is a far rarer thing than might be expected.
But your contract is more than you. If happiness were required for a noble marriage to continue, the nobility would be long, long dead.
A strange place for a woman who actually ran away from a marriage to find herself in, one would think.
But that is just it - I had no interest in holding to whatever oaths and vows I would have had to make, and refused to put myself in the situation where I could do so. There was no shame of that that followed me through my life, because I am of common blood. Marriage is not part of my duties, nor will it ever be unless, gods forbid, someone decides to ennoble me. The only time it has seriously come up was an attempt to keep a larger issue contained - and when it fell through, I dropped that part and moved on.
Duty, devotion, and fidelity, these are the elements of Limerance involved in any noble contract. It seems clear to me that the Dominus did not believe those could continue in this case, and that is unfortunate. Thus, I do not comment on the decision to end the union. It was something for which details have been kept behind closed doors, and should likely remain so.
What I will say is to be very careful about the contracts you draft. A woman wiser than I am once told me that if love is the gift of Limerance, then romance must be the work of its reflection.
Do not confuse the two.
They both can be wondrous, fulfilling, amazing things to pursue, leaving you feeling the best - or the worst - that you ever will. But do not write contracts which assume they will last. Do not base your marriage on the happiness you are feeling. Do not tie yourself to another person permanently for something which is often merely temporary. Do not make promises you will not be able to keep, or put in terms that will be so restrictive that they are sure to be broken. Down that path leads heartbreak, upset, ruin.
All of this is far more important if you are part of the nobility. Your marriage is something that is larger than you, and represents a tying of two peoples together, for everything that means. Everything - even your happiness - will be secondary to the duty and the oaths that you have sworn. It is particularly hard for me to imagine what might lead to a divorce when children have already been produced, on top of everything else. At that point? Live in different rooms, lead separate lives unless ceremony requires the appearance of the two of you together, which is a far rarer thing than might be expected.
But your contract is more than you. If happiness were required for a noble marriage to continue, the nobility would be long, long dead.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 18, 2019, 10:37 p.m.(9/5/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arn
I could probably write rather a lot about the death of Duke Arn. I could write screeds of the echoing of his name, and his family name, in my mind for years and years. The way I could never quite separate him and his brother in my mind, until he proved himself cut from an entirely different cloth. The complicated feelings I have regarding him.
He wouldn't want that. Duke Arn Telmarch was an ornery man who died exactly the way he wanted. That's really all there is to say about it from me. Anything else would disrespect who he was and what he did.
He wouldn't want that. Duke Arn Telmarch was an ornery man who died exactly the way he wanted. That's really all there is to say about it from me. Anything else would disrespect who he was and what he did.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 18, 2019, 4:35 a.m.(9/3/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Cambria
Marquessa, I will also have to disagree. Hate can exist entirely independently of love. There are some people out there whose very existence can fill you with vitriol and rancor - even long, long after they are dead.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 11, 2019, 2:27 p.m.(8/18/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
I never said otherwise, Prima, but without a Compact I am quite skeptical that humanity would have won any of them. Our victories certainly did not come from abandoning civilization.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 10, 2019, 4:47 p.m.(8/16/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elloise
It's a shame, Baroness Elloise. I always thought you as peculiar, but bright. Intelligent. Perhaps one of the most intelligent people in all of the Compact.
A shame that you are doing so much to prove that conception of you wrong.
I think you deserve an opportunity to apologize - first of all, not just to all the Prodigals who have written you, clearly offended by what you have done, but also to those of us in Whisper House, who do everything we can to embrace and heighten this civilization of ours that you so demean, as well as to the entire class of nobility which you have just maligned.
A Prodigal is simply someone who has, through whatever turn of event, chosen to become part of the Compact. To make a better life for themselves than what they had before. The ones who deserve our respect are the ones who are seeking to integrate themselves into our society, to become Arvani as much as they can. There is certainly nothing inherently better about them, particularly when they first get here - because when they first get here, they have so much to learn.
Remember that it is the Compact who have defeated our enemies, which honors the gods, and which fights back. Including Petrichor, which many of your so-called nature-loving shavs have abandoned.
But I have seen some of your journal entries since, and you seem to be doubling down, despite being called out by the very people you are idolizing. Dear, oh, dear. If you want to spend time with the shavs, Baroness Elloise, I do hope you don't seek to be bringing Whitefrost into their fold. Until such time, well, I hope you enjoy learning what rejecting civilization actually feels like.
A shame that you are doing so much to prove that conception of you wrong.
I think you deserve an opportunity to apologize - first of all, not just to all the Prodigals who have written you, clearly offended by what you have done, but also to those of us in Whisper House, who do everything we can to embrace and heighten this civilization of ours that you so demean, as well as to the entire class of nobility which you have just maligned.
A Prodigal is simply someone who has, through whatever turn of event, chosen to become part of the Compact. To make a better life for themselves than what they had before. The ones who deserve our respect are the ones who are seeking to integrate themselves into our society, to become Arvani as much as they can. There is certainly nothing inherently better about them, particularly when they first get here - because when they first get here, they have so much to learn.
Remember that it is the Compact who have defeated our enemies, which honors the gods, and which fights back. Including Petrichor, which many of your so-called nature-loving shavs have abandoned.
But I have seen some of your journal entries since, and you seem to be doubling down, despite being called out by the very people you are idolizing. Dear, oh, dear. If you want to spend time with the shavs, Baroness Elloise, I do hope you don't seek to be bringing Whitefrost into their fold. Until such time, well, I hope you enjoy learning what rejecting civilization actually feels like.
Written By Bliss
July 28, 2019, 10:48 p.m.(7/19/1011 AR)
There are not many things I understand about the matters at the market, but if you are unable to turn a profit doing work where you are simply serving as a middleman, I have to wonder what is you are doing wrong. It seems simple: increase your cut?
But I suppose I will continue to put my goods on sale directly instead.
But I suppose I will continue to put my goods on sale directly instead.
Written By Bliss
July 14, 2019, 11:23 p.m.(6/18/1011 AR)
In the end, there is nothing that brings me down more than stagnation. It can come in so many forms, and so many ways, that I often do not notice it creeping up behind me. We get ourselves comfortable in one thing, or define a role for ourselves, and feel we have to adhere to that role. We feel we can only be this one thing, and that we must act certain ways because we are. The Radiant must be a refined creature of effortless grace and beauty. A Champion must be showy, must be flashy, must be dramatic. A Lycene must raise eyebrows, a Northerner must be savage, an Oathlander shy in matters of sex and we start to narrow ourselves further and further with all these little limitations. Particularly those of us who are good at acting - we treat everything as a stage, and soon enough, we find ourselves trapped into a little box largely of our own making.
It is, in the end, of course, all bullshit.
If a label can be applied to us, we are the ones who are in charge of defining how we express that label, what it means, and how it is put out into the world. For me, the relevant labels are six: Champion, Whisper, Radiant, Lycene, Disciple, and largely the most important one, Bliss. Sometimes, I do not pay attention, and these words - and really, they are just words - sneak up on me, wrap me in chains, and suddenly I feel paralyzed until something happens that makes me lash out and snap them all.
Really, we are the ones who are in control of those chains. They are paper-thin, and while there might be consequences in tearing them apart, the freedom is more than worth it.
Whoever you are, whatever you are doing that is making you feel trapped, find the truth of yourself. Find who you want to be, find how it resonates with you, and be that person. Be more than the labels. A family name, a family motto, these are just guides, they are not codes that completely define who you are and who you must be. Remake yourself, constantly, into something better. Step things up. Be clever.
Or else you will never reach your full potential.
It is, in the end, of course, all bullshit.
If a label can be applied to us, we are the ones who are in charge of defining how we express that label, what it means, and how it is put out into the world. For me, the relevant labels are six: Champion, Whisper, Radiant, Lycene, Disciple, and largely the most important one, Bliss. Sometimes, I do not pay attention, and these words - and really, they are just words - sneak up on me, wrap me in chains, and suddenly I feel paralyzed until something happens that makes me lash out and snap them all.
Really, we are the ones who are in control of those chains. They are paper-thin, and while there might be consequences in tearing them apart, the freedom is more than worth it.
Whoever you are, whatever you are doing that is making you feel trapped, find the truth of yourself. Find who you want to be, find how it resonates with you, and be that person. Be more than the labels. A family name, a family motto, these are just guides, they are not codes that completely define who you are and who you must be. Remake yourself, constantly, into something better. Step things up. Be clever.
Or else you will never reach your full potential.
Written By Bliss
July 14, 2019, 10:55 p.m.(6/18/1011 AR)
The more I hear about a certain group of people, the more I see them write, the more they primp themselves up and act like they are the best people in all of Arvum because of how they are culturally, the more I realize that despite this being all they want to do, they really are just amateurs.
Here is a tip that I think many people need to learn: If you have to blatantly tell people how good you are at something, you are doing a bad job at selling it, particularly if it is something that is more subtle. Let your reputations speak for themselves. The rest of us will sit over here, pat you on the head, and tell you how very special and right you are just because we don't want to hear any more of it.
Here is a tip that I think many people need to learn: If you have to blatantly tell people how good you are at something, you are doing a bad job at selling it, particularly if it is something that is more subtle. Let your reputations speak for themselves. The rest of us will sit over here, pat you on the head, and tell you how very special and right you are just because we don't want to hear any more of it.
Written By Bliss
July 14, 2019, 9:25 a.m.(6/17/1011 AR)
I generally think there is no sin quite so grave, quite so frustrating, as being boring.
Being predictable is quite close, though.
Being predictable is quite close, though.
Written By Bliss
July 7, 2019, 11:58 p.m.(6/4/1011 AR)
Rabbit update:
Still adorable.
Still an asshole.
Still adorable.
Still an asshole.
Written By Bliss
July 1, 2019, 12:09 a.m.(5/18/1011 AR)
On another, quick note - I think there is very little that makes me sigh heavier than elitism over what other people write in their White Journals. We all keep our records as best we can, and the things that seems the silliest and least sensible can have the most meaning for us, or those who are trying to find out who we were. Even our history should be told a certain way in order to have flavor, and a lack of spice will utterly ruin many meals. Of course, if you wish to simply be as flavorful as a bowl of wheat shreddings, it is not my prerogative to tell you to do otherwise.
Written By Bliss
July 1, 2019, 12:07 a.m.(5/18/1011 AR)
Slow steps forward. A few personal projects that are underway, which I am curious to see how they will turn out, while I seek other things. Conversations and meetings and so many things, and beneath it all, I have to say -
I just really want to go out and have a drink. I should do that soon, within the next week.
I just really want to go out and have a drink. I should do that soon, within the next week.
Written By Bliss
June 24, 2019, 12:48 p.m.(5/5/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Maja
Are you saying you do not want to help clean the Aviary, dear?
Written By Bliss
June 23, 2019, 11:23 p.m.(5/4/1011 AR)
Ambition, a seed of an idea planted elsewhere that grew before it was passed on to us, where we nurtured it and made it bloom. And oh, such beauty resides in the North now. Floors of gold and a silver stage, murals and statues and life. A place for all to come and begin to hash out the harsh details of life.
The hard work of so many is what made it happen, and to stand in it takes your breath away. The world needs places like this, places of civilization and beauty, places to remind us what we struggle so hard for. What we can be.
So it begins.
The hard work of so many is what made it happen, and to stand in it takes your breath away. The world needs places like this, places of civilization and beauty, places to remind us what we struggle so hard for. What we can be.
So it begins.
Written By Bliss
June 20, 2019, 10:05 p.m.(4/26/1011 AR)
A polite reminder to all who read this that the Grotto is not, in fact, a space to be used for whatever you wish, but is the private property of Saedrus Whisper. I encourage those who wish to use it for any purpose other than that which it is intended - to be a place of serene relaxation - to reconsider strongly, and am more than a little sad that this needs to be stated so explicitly.
Written By Bliss
June 14, 2019, 3:53 p.m.(4/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Arcadia
Lady Arcadia Leary has recently claimed that her rabbit "seems the most errant in all of Arx".
After what Flopsy did this morning to the bolts of seatouched wool I am having prepared, I desperately needed that laugh.
After what Flopsy did this morning to the bolts of seatouched wool I am having prepared, I desperately needed that laugh.
Written By Bliss
June 12, 2019, 6:06 p.m.(4/10/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Ahmar
There are very few materials which I can think of that the Inquisition might confiscate, my lord.
Of those, I am not quite so certain why you would be rather insistent on having them. Generally they have very dark history or are very dangerous. If the source is what I think it is? All the more reason for concern.
Of those, I am not quite so certain why you would be rather insistent on having them. Generally they have very dark history or are very dangerous. If the source is what I think it is? All the more reason for concern.
Written By Bliss
June 9, 2019, 11:32 p.m.(4/4/1011 AR)
On another note, for those of you who might find themselves in the possibility of facing a Folly, I am not going to tell you to not do it. Others certainly will, loudly and often, but I will simply say to you that if your boon request is too boring and ends up with you in a Folly, then you are probably too boring to survive a Folly.
Don't feel bad. Die having fun if that's where you end up.
Don't feel bad. Die having fun if that's where you end up.
Written By Bliss
June 9, 2019, 11:29 p.m.(4/4/1011 AR)
Sometimes, you can be entirely certain of what something is and then realize that it is something far greater, even past that. Our first impressions are rarely everything, and there are always more questions. Always more things to worry about. Always new things to be excited for.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.