Written By Ryhalt
Nov. 29, 2021, 4:08 a.m.(8/26/1016 AR)
So, I've been organizing the bookshelves to prepare for having them moved downstairs. Palamon has been sitting on top to supervise. However, more and more often he flies over to the window and taps on it, impatient to go on a hunt. His senses have been overturned by the moon being so visible the past few weeks. I told him wouldn't be great if it stays this way so we could hunt any time we liked, day or night? He gave me a look of such incredible contempt, like he can't believe he allows the presence of one so stupid around him. Of course, I had to follow that up by saying he can't enjoy the simple joys in life. He tucked his head into his wing and refused to even look at me the rest of the day, probably wishing death upon me. He didn't even ruffle his feathers when I reminded him how I will die.
While we do most often hunt at night, we do sometimes during the day, but he gives me this look like he thinks that I believe he is a lesser avian and have offended him deeply for treating him as one of them. He can't be honest and admit he likes hunting regardless of when we do. Still, I wonder at his increased surliness. Hinting at replacing him with a falcon won't help. Probably. Maybe dressing him up like Clover does Vim...
While we do most often hunt at night, we do sometimes during the day, but he gives me this look like he thinks that I believe he is a lesser avian and have offended him deeply for treating him as one of them. He can't be honest and admit he likes hunting regardless of when we do. Still, I wonder at his increased surliness. Hinting at replacing him with a falcon won't help. Probably. Maybe dressing him up like Clover does Vim...
Written By Ryhalt
Nov. 23, 2021, 3:53 a.m.(8/14/1016 AR)
Wagons breaking down or sinking of ships is part of the business, an entry in the negative side of the ledgers. What never reaches the ledgers is when loss of life also accompanies those losses. I do not always have opportunity to attend such, but did so this week. It was the work of bandits whom will surely face the consequences via local authorities soon. Times like these breed opportunists and it'll only get worse.
A reason why I dread going over the ledgers with Cotyar and Orvyn are the smaller entries that accompany these entries. These are stipends to widows or families to supplement the loss incurred by being in service to us. It'll never be enough to replace that loss for them for how can any quantify the value of a life? Regardless, it's never a payment I begrudge.
It would seem in that absence I missed an interesting week in Arx between the auction and Assembly of the Peers. I regret that my offering for the auction got rejected or forgotten, so next time I will be sure to submit it in duplicate, word and writing. Missing the Assembly was no great loss, those who know me are well aware of my stance. It seems that the Lyceum leadership is collectively choosing to follow the path of the rebels in the Mourning Isles, brewing up a civil war, an interesting choice when there are so many perils already afflicting us. Also, adding salt to the wound by proclaiming reminders of what was done to earn the position in abrogation of the expectation to remain regent until the heir has come to majority? That just brings more questions, not less. Holding a title is less important than realm stability, but I guess it's a lesson that needs to be learned in others' blood. What you've done matters less and less when what you're doing leads to harm, there is a point where the scales will tip in your disfavor. Shall I add more sad entries to my ledgers for I have no option but to send my ships through Lycene waters in order to reach the rest of the Compact? I don't want to hear assurances of what has been done. I want safe waters to send my people through, but I am seeing warning signals that will soon not be the case. I pray I am wrong, that peace will prevail, but I am not blind.
A reason why I dread going over the ledgers with Cotyar and Orvyn are the smaller entries that accompany these entries. These are stipends to widows or families to supplement the loss incurred by being in service to us. It'll never be enough to replace that loss for them for how can any quantify the value of a life? Regardless, it's never a payment I begrudge.
It would seem in that absence I missed an interesting week in Arx between the auction and Assembly of the Peers. I regret that my offering for the auction got rejected or forgotten, so next time I will be sure to submit it in duplicate, word and writing. Missing the Assembly was no great loss, those who know me are well aware of my stance. It seems that the Lyceum leadership is collectively choosing to follow the path of the rebels in the Mourning Isles, brewing up a civil war, an interesting choice when there are so many perils already afflicting us. Also, adding salt to the wound by proclaiming reminders of what was done to earn the position in abrogation of the expectation to remain regent until the heir has come to majority? That just brings more questions, not less. Holding a title is less important than realm stability, but I guess it's a lesson that needs to be learned in others' blood. What you've done matters less and less when what you're doing leads to harm, there is a point where the scales will tip in your disfavor. Shall I add more sad entries to my ledgers for I have no option but to send my ships through Lycene waters in order to reach the rest of the Compact? I don't want to hear assurances of what has been done. I want safe waters to send my people through, but I am seeing warning signals that will soon not be the case. I pray I am wrong, that peace will prevail, but I am not blind.
Written By Ryhalt
Nov. 13, 2021, 12:39 a.m.(7/21/1016 AR)
It's like having a vase for sale. Someone pushed it down and broke it. Instead of apologizing or paying for it, they tried to put it back in place after an attempt to fit it back together. They try to claim that it isn't broken, that it contains the same value as before, but they've never tried to sell a broken vase.
Written By Ryhalt
Oct. 5, 2021, 1:12 a.m.(4/27/1016 AR)
It's like the master mason that lays brick after brick, sealing himself into a room and ignoring the voices of his journeymen warning him that he should stop. As he places the final brick, he is at least free of their fretting. It's obscene and sad to witness.
Written By Ryhalt
Sept. 26, 2021, 8:53 p.m.(4/11/1016 AR)
The trip was a success. It always pleases me when business thrives and grows.
I did not have much time to dwell on solutions to fear. It is not the kind where "liquid courage" would provide any assistance.
I did not have much time to dwell on solutions to fear. It is not the kind where "liquid courage" would provide any assistance.
Written By Ryhalt
Sept. 19, 2021, 9:16 p.m.(3/25/1016 AR)
While packing for a trip, I find myself dwelling on the nature of fear. Namely how to counter and minimize its effects. It isn't as if you can bottle bravery and hand it out when it's most needed. Would that it were that easy.
Written By Ryhalt
Sept. 19, 2021, 5:37 p.m.(3/25/1016 AR)
My take from the latest Assembly of Peers: more nobles don't understand what it is for than those who do.
Written By Ryhalt
Sept. 11, 2021, 10:18 p.m.(3/9/1016 AR)
Relationship Note on Armand
Were you alive I'd ask if it ever gets better. Is it something you get used to?
It seems I will find out in coming days.
It seems I will find out in coming days.
Written By Ryhalt
Aug. 21, 2021, 4:08 a.m.(1/22/1016 AR)
Relationship Note on Sydney
Let no one say differently, she is a hero.
Written By Ryhalt
Aug. 1, 2021, 4:36 a.m.(12/10/1015 AR)
It is incredible how those calling most shrilly for unity do not comprehend that to do so negates what they intend entire. Calls for unity are nothing more than someone unwilling to bend to another's needs and instead stoops to condemning and criticizing what they view as the problem which is never themselves. When has anyone ever repaired a relationship when meeting upon that premise?
Now, I will not say that it is a Prodigal flaw, as it is not, but it is one of those who think they are better than all others. The Compact is a society structured by rank. It undermines the Compact to have multiple Prodigals, or those sympathetic to their 'plight', gripe about the unfairness in the demotion inherent in entering beneath another House and abandoning being the top of their own rank structure. Every utterance of such shows first of all the ignorance of what has made the Compact strong and secondly a complete unwillingness to participate in our society.
Worsen that with proclamations that Prodigal Houses stand with the Compact? Foolishness. Such only showcase to the entire Compact which houses have been elevated without care. Let me make it plain: if you need to tell someone that you stand with them over some attack you are implying that you hadn't been standing with them before, but instead saw yourself as other all along. When you are bound by vassalage to others you do not need to declare via proclamation that you follow them. Have you ever seen a vassal House respond to their liege's banner call with a proclamation of standing with them? No. And, let's pray we never do as it will be a sign that this rot has infested us deeper.
Also, dogs being knighted via proclamation? This is a another sign of our civilization's decomposition and decay. How our enemies must be applauding the sight of our whites and proclamations in these days.
We have so many services within the Compact to curtail such actions: patronage, Whispers, Scholars, the Archives to name a few. I told someone this week that we must take care which parts of foreign cultures to adopt and which to condemn. It is extremely important because those practices we condemn are those which are a threat to the Compact. So, if you are a Prodigal house and having your actions condemned you ought to not lash out at all the Compact as an enemy and to blame us for attacking you for being Prodigal, as that is most often not the case, but to reflect and study why your betters are telling you to stop doing certain things. If you don't understand it, ask why. If you don't agree with their answer, counter them in logical debate why not. If your case has merit, it will spread as intellectually superior, in time. We can disagree and still work together, but emotional lashing out because someone doesn't think something is fair or they simply don't like their new-found lot has never improved society. This is why those of us who guard the Compact are so very wary of the current environment.
Why join something you are going to do nothing but complain about and tear down the moment that you do? I can think of no good reasons, for these are the actions that our enemies engage in. If you don't want to appear as an enemy, don't engage in enemy activities. Our shared goal, presumably, is to grow and strengthen the Compact. It's axiomatic that these are mutually exclusive.
Now, I will not say that it is a Prodigal flaw, as it is not, but it is one of those who think they are better than all others. The Compact is a society structured by rank. It undermines the Compact to have multiple Prodigals, or those sympathetic to their 'plight', gripe about the unfairness in the demotion inherent in entering beneath another House and abandoning being the top of their own rank structure. Every utterance of such shows first of all the ignorance of what has made the Compact strong and secondly a complete unwillingness to participate in our society.
Worsen that with proclamations that Prodigal Houses stand with the Compact? Foolishness. Such only showcase to the entire Compact which houses have been elevated without care. Let me make it plain: if you need to tell someone that you stand with them over some attack you are implying that you hadn't been standing with them before, but instead saw yourself as other all along. When you are bound by vassalage to others you do not need to declare via proclamation that you follow them. Have you ever seen a vassal House respond to their liege's banner call with a proclamation of standing with them? No. And, let's pray we never do as it will be a sign that this rot has infested us deeper.
Also, dogs being knighted via proclamation? This is a another sign of our civilization's decomposition and decay. How our enemies must be applauding the sight of our whites and proclamations in these days.
We have so many services within the Compact to curtail such actions: patronage, Whispers, Scholars, the Archives to name a few. I told someone this week that we must take care which parts of foreign cultures to adopt and which to condemn. It is extremely important because those practices we condemn are those which are a threat to the Compact. So, if you are a Prodigal house and having your actions condemned you ought to not lash out at all the Compact as an enemy and to blame us for attacking you for being Prodigal, as that is most often not the case, but to reflect and study why your betters are telling you to stop doing certain things. If you don't understand it, ask why. If you don't agree with their answer, counter them in logical debate why not. If your case has merit, it will spread as intellectually superior, in time. We can disagree and still work together, but emotional lashing out because someone doesn't think something is fair or they simply don't like their new-found lot has never improved society. This is why those of us who guard the Compact are so very wary of the current environment.
Why join something you are going to do nothing but complain about and tear down the moment that you do? I can think of no good reasons, for these are the actions that our enemies engage in. If you don't want to appear as an enemy, don't engage in enemy activities. Our shared goal, presumably, is to grow and strengthen the Compact. It's axiomatic that these are mutually exclusive.
Written By Ryhalt
July 27, 2021, 10:40 p.m.(12/1/1015 AR)
The expedition for the Explorer's test was the most fun I have in a long while. Especially the part where we climbed across a ledge under a waterfall and I stuck my hand into the rushing water.
Written By Ryhalt
July 18, 2021, 10:31 p.m.(11/11/1015 AR)
Someone spilled coffee all over the Bold Espression's menu. It was a ruin, so I commissioned more a more sturdy solution. It needed some freshening up anyway. Finally added the seasonal selection I've been considering for some time.
Written By Ryhalt
July 18, 2021, 4:38 p.m.(11/11/1015 AR)
The next time someone tries to convince me that there are mountains in my homeland I will laugh them out of my hall. Overall it was not an unpleasant conversation, but I do not enjoy awareness that the subject matter is not understood multiple times during a single conversation. For an expedition to discover suitable land it isn't too much to expect the basic ability to read a map! Other than that the project is going apace.
Written By Ryhalt
July 10, 2021, 11:21 p.m.(10/23/1015 AR)
I had an enjoyable time at Artshall's Art & Culture District for the Midsummer Night's Delight. When it is built it will truly be a treasure for Laurent and Avrum.
Written By Ryhalt
June 19, 2021, 12:06 a.m.(9/8/1015 AR)
I should make it a better habit to *not* half fall through things.
Written By Ryhalt
May 22, 2021, 11:22 p.m.(7/10/1015 AR)
The Aerie sounds so much better with the voices of Clover, Ivy, and Ryland bouncing off the walls. It sounds like home again.
I even caught Palamon puffing up in pleasure when he saw Clover.
I even caught Palamon puffing up in pleasure when he saw Clover.
Written By Ryhalt
March 28, 2021, 1:12 p.m.(3/11/1015 AR)
Relationship Note on Mabelle
That explains the abhorrent setting of honey on fire.
Written By Ryhalt
March 14, 2021, 2:26 p.m.(2/11/1015 AR)
The Salon discussion a few days ago was a pleasant diversion. While it felt at times like talking to a wall, it was encouraging to hear others able to speak eloquently to the topic.
Written By Ryhalt
Feb. 26, 2021, 10:56 p.m.(1/8/1015 AR)
Some fewer slavers in the world. Thankfully they weren't the raving kind.
Written By Ryhalt
Feb. 20, 2021, 10:39 p.m.(12/21/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Sunniva
I won't forget the promise I made to you. For now I stand by Orvyn and do all in my power to support him and your daughter. She will grow up well, surrounded by love and happiness.
Farewell.
Farewell.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.