Written By Thena
May 24, 2018, 10:26 a.m.(10/24/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I really think you might want to educate yourself a bit more on recent history before you tell us we need to be considering something that has been under consideration for quite some time.
Written By Thena
May 24, 2018, 2:41 a.m.(10/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
A lot to of us sunk a great deal of silver, resources and manpower into dealing with just the situation you speak of not even two years back and we did a pretty respectable job. If you’re that curious as to how it was done, perhaps your might check the archives.
Written By Katarina
May 24, 2018, 2:36 a.m.(10/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
In a perfect world, thralldom and its negative effects upon the indebited could be done away with upon a snap of fingers. All those adversely affected by it would be free and their lives would gracefully sort themselves out and that would be the end of it for the Compact. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world. Those who have been working with House Thrax - vassals, allies, and the Faith to name a few - are well aware that the abolition of thralldom is an act that will not end in most of our life times, but perhaps ideally over several decades.
I do not simply mean purchasing debt and freeing these people, but the enactment of new social programs to support them through such a rough transition; expansion of infrastructure both within the Mourning Isles and wherever else across the Compact that these people might decide to settle - and that is not accounting for the emotional and mental adjustments they will need to endure in order to not only survive, but thrive, with the weight of responsibility that comes with having been returned their freedoms.
Those born into thralldom and have matured into adulthood under those conditions are possessed of a mindset that may not translate well when you take them out of what they've known all their life and are suddenly freed. As Prince Victus said, you get the revolts that happened in House Kennex's territories. You also might see former thralls who do not want to be free, and prefer the life of servitude that they've known.
While I think some of the points you brought up in your journal do have merit and are worth further exploration individually, I cannot help but have some concern about the way you present them overall. One might easily draw conclusions different than how you might've intended it - or perhaps that was your intent??
I do not simply mean purchasing debt and freeing these people, but the enactment of new social programs to support them through such a rough transition; expansion of infrastructure both within the Mourning Isles and wherever else across the Compact that these people might decide to settle - and that is not accounting for the emotional and mental adjustments they will need to endure in order to not only survive, but thrive, with the weight of responsibility that comes with having been returned their freedoms.
Those born into thralldom and have matured into adulthood under those conditions are possessed of a mindset that may not translate well when you take them out of what they've known all their life and are suddenly freed. As Prince Victus said, you get the revolts that happened in House Kennex's territories. You also might see former thralls who do not want to be free, and prefer the life of servitude that they've known.
While I think some of the points you brought up in your journal do have merit and are worth further exploration individually, I cannot help but have some concern about the way you present them overall. One might easily draw conclusions different than how you might've intended it - or perhaps that was your intent??
Written By Victus
May 24, 2018, 1:45 a.m.(10/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Change, regardless of the type, comes slowly. Thralldom as a whole has been inlaid in Thrax's economy for the last thousand or so years, maybe even longer depending on how much of our own history we really don't know. Something to keep in mind though is that the economy of Thrax and a variety of houses under it have also relied on thralls for almost as long for a good chunk of their economic growth. You don't have to pay thralls wages and the fact that they can legally be captured from war, with a majority of Thrax having very militaristic traditions, makes thralldom economically lucrative for a lot of them.
This comes of course at the cost of human life, which is at times a complicated thing to unravel. Some are thieves and murders who have taken from or hurt others for their own gain. Others are prisoners of war, taken because they didn't sit under the Compact's flag and didn't bend to it neither. But thralldom as a punishment is entirely different from its economic impact, though the reasons for it are still important to measure when dealing with people who have had it an ingrained part of their society for centuries.
My point being, thralldom is an archaic system but one that has been rooted firmly into the heart of the Mourning Isles for a long, long time. Any small measure of re-balancing to it risks grave destabilization. I would point to the infamous Kennex rioting that occurred when all Thralls suddenly found themselves free one day. Murder in the streets, crimes of passion and vengeance taken from both sides, piracy are on the uptick to waylay folks who didn't have a thing to do with the process. Death and destruction totaling millions worth of silver for the Compact to hemorrhage was had over those few months, for an Isle that was the size of a March. Not everyone will come to benefit immediately, some maybe not for the life they have left to live before they're back on the wheel.
Those who wish to see it be overtaken by another, fairer, more just system will be fighting that battle for many years. Their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond will probably take on the mantle of that fight for their entire lives when we've all turned to dust. I think any major shift in Thrax won't truly be able to be judged until the ones who started making the first waves are ancient and grey.
Even then, Thrax is but one house over the span of hundreds that dot the Isles. Everyone will share a different thought to what should be done and what will be right. It'll be its own battle to break the chains of every single one that would listen. Some easier than others, some harder than trying to move a mountain from its perch.
If anything is certain, it's that it'll be an interesting future to see.
This comes of course at the cost of human life, which is at times a complicated thing to unravel. Some are thieves and murders who have taken from or hurt others for their own gain. Others are prisoners of war, taken because they didn't sit under the Compact's flag and didn't bend to it neither. But thralldom as a punishment is entirely different from its economic impact, though the reasons for it are still important to measure when dealing with people who have had it an ingrained part of their society for centuries.
My point being, thralldom is an archaic system but one that has been rooted firmly into the heart of the Mourning Isles for a long, long time. Any small measure of re-balancing to it risks grave destabilization. I would point to the infamous Kennex rioting that occurred when all Thralls suddenly found themselves free one day. Murder in the streets, crimes of passion and vengeance taken from both sides, piracy are on the uptick to waylay folks who didn't have a thing to do with the process. Death and destruction totaling millions worth of silver for the Compact to hemorrhage was had over those few months, for an Isle that was the size of a March. Not everyone will come to benefit immediately, some maybe not for the life they have left to live before they're back on the wheel.
Those who wish to see it be overtaken by another, fairer, more just system will be fighting that battle for many years. Their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond will probably take on the mantle of that fight for their entire lives when we've all turned to dust. I think any major shift in Thrax won't truly be able to be judged until the ones who started making the first waves are ancient and grey.
Even then, Thrax is but one house over the span of hundreds that dot the Isles. Everyone will share a different thought to what should be done and what will be right. It'll be its own battle to break the chains of every single one that would listen. Some easier than others, some harder than trying to move a mountain from its perch.
If anything is certain, it's that it'll be an interesting future to see.
Written By Turo
May 24, 2018, 1:14 a.m.(10/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I'm curious: which thralls are you most excited about?
There are the ones who choose it to death or other sentences for crimes. Perhaps you'd like to argue with the Sentinel about justice while "freeing" the host of thieves, murderers, and abusers?
Or there are the ones who, instead of choosing a slow death by starvation - or to be preyed upon in their poverty - have taken out a loan and are repaying it in safety. Yes, their choice to do that to save their families *is* a terrible one and they should never have been given the option. Homelessness and poverty - and the waste of their talents and work ethic - should be forced on them. Better the farmer should lose everything after a drought and the blacksmith after a fire. I'm sure Skald would agree.
If people refuse to understand a thing, perhaps they should refrain from muddying the waters with their blind thrashing about.
There are the ones who choose it to death or other sentences for crimes. Perhaps you'd like to argue with the Sentinel about justice while "freeing" the host of thieves, murderers, and abusers?
Or there are the ones who, instead of choosing a slow death by starvation - or to be preyed upon in their poverty - have taken out a loan and are repaying it in safety. Yes, their choice to do that to save their families *is* a terrible one and they should never have been given the option. Homelessness and poverty - and the waste of their talents and work ethic - should be forced on them. Better the farmer should lose everything after a drought and the blacksmith after a fire. I'm sure Skald would agree.
If people refuse to understand a thing, perhaps they should refrain from muddying the waters with their blind thrashing about.
Written By Luca
May 22, 2018, 2:12 a.m.(10/14/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
That just means they like you, trust me. It also means you have really, really good taste in shoes. It's kind of an honor, you know.
Written By Coraline
May 20, 2018, 11:27 p.m.(10/12/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Ohh poor goat! Nothing is worse than being accused of all of Stumphrie's shenanigans!
Written By Belladonna
May 15, 2018, 3:31 p.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
You did not say 'mostly'. You said 'explicitly'. If you wish to mean what you say, you should say what you mean.
Written By Reigna
May 15, 2018, 3:30 p.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
You said it yourself highness. *Frequently*. Not *always* or *only*. Really, for the Rhetoric Speaker for the Crown you should grasp that difference.
And again, the seriousness of a duel is something that should reflect both participants, not simply one. A person paying to be represented should not have that person treating their cause lightly if their client does not take it lightly. This is a very basic and fundamental concept. How are you struggling with it?
And again, the seriousness of a duel is something that should reflect both participants, not simply one. A person paying to be represented should not have that person treating their cause lightly if their client does not take it lightly. This is a very basic and fundamental concept. How are you struggling with it?
Written By Belladonna
May 15, 2018, 3:10 p.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I'm sorry my dear, but even I have to pause and correct you there. Duels are -not- explicitly for minor conflicts. Duels of honor are -any- challenge that is publicly declared and accepted. They range from the minor to the major, and to many people, could be seen as something to be undertaken only when seriously offended. If you personally choose to have a duel fought over minor matters, that is your discretion.
But I also believe that Countess Reigna was accurate in questioning the validity and veracity of a duel in which all parties -except one- have arranged things beforehand, even if just from a stylistic standpoint. If you wanted to throw a Pink Hat party and invited three other people, and then found out those three other people met beforehand to discuss how it should really be a Blue Stockings party, and never told you? You would not be happy either, I suspect.
But I also believe that Countess Reigna was accurate in questioning the validity and veracity of a duel in which all parties -except one- have arranged things beforehand, even if just from a stylistic standpoint. If you wanted to throw a Pink Hat party and invited three other people, and then found out those three other people met beforehand to discuss how it should really be a Blue Stockings party, and never told you? You would not be happy either, I suspect.
Written By Reigna
May 15, 2018, 2:50 p.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
My point, your highness, is that the seriousness of the duel should be dictated by the one making the challenge. I thought that was very explicit in my journal entry.
Written By Reigna
May 15, 2018, 2:32 p.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Alright, I am willing to admit it if I am wrong, if I am. But can you explain how I am? Are you not willing to admit, that from another perspective, it appears as though Lady Eirene, an honorable member of the Peerage, might have felt ill-represented by her Champion if you knew about the theatrics when she did not?
Written By Arik
May 15, 2018, 11:45 a.m.(10/1/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I rarely respond to a mention of my name in the Whites but for this an exception. I imagine that when the scholar or yourself perused the White archives my journal entries would provide my name and my house. At the very least you would know I am Lord Arik Halfshav and then upon further inspection of my journal which you responded to you would find I am the Sword of Whitehold. By the end of the journal which you read you would conclude that I had an opinion something that the lowest of commoners to the greatest of peers is entitled to last, I stepped outdoors.
Your questions would seem to all have self-evident explanations. Your selective reproach does not.
Your questions would seem to all have self-evident explanations. Your selective reproach does not.
Written By Cassima
May 10, 2018, 8:02 a.m.(9/18/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
You are more than welcome to keep him there.
Forever.
Forever.
Written By Eirene
May 9, 2018, 1:59 p.m.(9/17/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I don't stoop to petty squabbling in my white journals. If you missed the actual point behind the challenge I'll explain it to you at the duel itself.
Written By Reigna
May 9, 2018, 12:54 p.m.(9/17/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Truly your debating skills are dazzling, your highness!
Written By Thena
May 8, 2018, 6:18 a.m.(9/14/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Countess Keaton takes her duties very seriously. She has high standards. It is perhaps inevitable that many fall short of them.
I don’t know her well enough to know if she takes her duties /too/ seriously, but better that than not seriously enough.
I don’t know her well enough to know if she takes her duties /too/ seriously, but better that than not seriously enough.
Written By Fairen
April 30, 2018, 1:30 a.m.(8/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I would be very cross with you if you committed such a crime as this, against so amazing of a cousin of mine.
Written By Caith
April 30, 2018, 1:13 a.m.(8/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Option one, path one:
Why do people even do this? This sounds very dumb. Seduction is strange; I already feel like I am learning a lesson.
Why do people even do this? This sounds very dumb. Seduction is strange; I already feel like I am learning a lesson.
Written By Caith
April 30, 2018, 1:03 a.m.(8/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
So. Option one, path one:
When you say that you won't come calling or send me any messages, will you have at first told me that you intend to and thus leaving me to wait anxiously for word from you? Because I have heard that is a thing.
When you say that you won't come calling or send me any messages, will you have at first told me that you intend to and thus leaving me to wait anxiously for word from you? Because I have heard that is a thing.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.