Written By Niklas
Feb. 16, 2019, 11:03 a.m.(8/2/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
Until you refute the title, then you are going to be perceived to have accepted it.
Do people know what it means? Have people at large even heard of the nation it represents? I doubt it. Even those who had heard of lands such as Cardia and Eurus didn't necessarily know of Jadairal, and from there the number just grows smaller with Weijin and Nefer'khat. But people do know that you have been given the name. People seem excited to have royalty from some mysterious far off land among them. And while your friends (and the social circles of your friends) may not see you any differently, the average person who may not have known your name before this suddenly does.
I'm not being disapproving, not that you are in any need of my approval, but even if they are sellswords, the Valorous Few are still an army and it's a little odd for an army to be lead by someone who appears to have accepted a position as some kind of foreign leader to be here, now. Obviously the Valorous Few aren't the Immortal Sphinx's Eternal Legion of the Sun (or whatever their standing army is called, I have no idea, but I'd bet it's appropriately impressive and dramatic) but until you do something with your title, it's going to be at least somewhat strange. But it is entirely possible that I'm the only one who thinks so.
Do people know what it means? Have people at large even heard of the nation it represents? I doubt it. Even those who had heard of lands such as Cardia and Eurus didn't necessarily know of Jadairal, and from there the number just grows smaller with Weijin and Nefer'khat. But people do know that you have been given the name. People seem excited to have royalty from some mysterious far off land among them. And while your friends (and the social circles of your friends) may not see you any differently, the average person who may not have known your name before this suddenly does.
I'm not being disapproving, not that you are in any need of my approval, but even if they are sellswords, the Valorous Few are still an army and it's a little odd for an army to be lead by someone who appears to have accepted a position as some kind of foreign leader to be here, now. Obviously the Valorous Few aren't the Immortal Sphinx's Eternal Legion of the Sun (or whatever their standing army is called, I have no idea, but I'd bet it's appropriately impressive and dramatic) but until you do something with your title, it's going to be at least somewhat strange. But it is entirely possible that I'm the only one who thinks so.
Written By Niklas
Feb. 15, 2019, 2:38 p.m.(7/28/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
So the head of state of a foreign nation is leading an army on Arvum's soil?
Neat.
Neat.
Written By Niklas
Feb. 11, 2019, 8:32 p.m.(7/20/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
Watch your step. Those floors are treacherous.
Written By Niklas
Feb. 6, 2019, 7:22 a.m.(7/9/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Valdemar
I don't know if it's possible to choke on self-righteousness, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's possible to drown in half-assed rationalizations.
Written By Niklas
Feb. 6, 2019, 1 a.m.(7/9/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Well, I suppose it's a good thing you're taking some diplomats with you.
Written By Niklas
Feb. 4, 2019, 2:14 a.m.(7/5/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Cerdensulathara
Are we ranking friends? Is that a thing we're doing now?
Obviously Sabella is my best friend, followed shortly by some dead people, but then...
1) Four way tie between Oswyn Spencer, Lord Alessandro Greenmarch, Lady Margret Greenmarch, Sir Jeffeth Bayweather.
2) Playwright Bastien, who remains the second finest playwright in the city.
3) Almost everyone else I meet because I love making friends!
Obviously Sabella is my best friend, followed shortly by some dead people, but then...
1) Four way tie between Oswyn Spencer, Lord Alessandro Greenmarch, Lady Margret Greenmarch, Sir Jeffeth Bayweather.
2) Playwright Bastien, who remains the second finest playwright in the city.
3) Almost everyone else I meet because I love making friends!
Written By Niklas
Jan. 30, 2019, 4:13 p.m.(6/24/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Perronne
Best things about summer: Fall will soon be here.
Worst things about summer: Everything else.
Worst things about summer: Everything else.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 30, 2019, 3:30 p.m.(6/24/1010 AR)
Saw a performance of the Copper song at the Unkindness. Captain Evaristo might have a good career as a bard ahead of him if he were just to get over this boat nonsense.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 27, 2019, 5:23 p.m.(6/18/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Jennyva
Want another bird?
Written By Niklas
Jan. 23, 2019, 9:50 a.m.(6/10/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Arianna
Journals like this are what end up giving disciples of the Thirteenth a bad name. Contrariness to no end. "Yes, but what if not?" with no actual point.
"We don't like slavery, but what if WE are the slavers?!" is certainly an observation! Is there more?
I miss Prince Mydas. I rarely interacted with him in the whites and he did seem to infuriate some people, but he never did so without some meaningful purpose. He challenged and educated, he didn't sanctimoniously scold.
We've lost a tremendous contrarian.
"We don't like slavery, but what if WE are the slavers?!" is certainly an observation! Is there more?
I miss Prince Mydas. I rarely interacted with him in the whites and he did seem to infuriate some people, but he never did so without some meaningful purpose. He challenged and educated, he didn't sanctimoniously scold.
We've lost a tremendous contrarian.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 17, 2019, 9:54 a.m.(5/17/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Bliss
The proper noble response to such criticism as "you absolute idiots" is to ignore the rabble saying it.
But perhaps the instructors at Whisper House have a better suggestion.
But perhaps the instructors at Whisper House have a better suggestion.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 16, 2019, 8:49 a.m.(5/15/1010 AR)
The Good Duke of Gemecitta is a grander success than I could have ever imagined. It only runs for another weekend, so hopefully everyone who wants to see it has. (ahem ahem your majesty ahem) I'll be releasing the script a month or two after the last performance so bards and troupes across Arvum can perform it at their holdfasts of choice.
I'm trying not to be TOO annoyed that people think the Nightingale wrote all the music! It was a collaboration, people!
But there's no looking back! It is, as always, on to the next project. I believe I will be revisiting the play I put on the back burner after getting so much grief about it from all quarters. The one about freed thralls and duty. It's not like they can take being a prince away from me now!
I'm trying not to be TOO annoyed that people think the Nightingale wrote all the music! It was a collaboration, people!
But there's no looking back! It is, as always, on to the next project. I believe I will be revisiting the play I put on the back burner after getting so much grief about it from all quarters. The one about freed thralls and duty. It's not like they can take being a prince away from me now!
Written By Niklas
Jan. 14, 2019, 2:50 p.m.(5/11/1010 AR)
I fail to understand how people could be upset with Grandmaster Preston's stance on the Crimson Blades.
As a mercenary company they made their name as a precision organization, a scalpel to the sledgehammer of other companies of sellswords. With this debacle, whether or not those arrested or killed truly were cultists, this reputation has been sorely tarnished. As of now the Blades are just another group of men and women with swords for sale, but this group of people decided to kill disciples without speaking to the discipleship. They made a judgment against members of the Faith without consulting the Faith. That the Faith Militant does not wish to continue working with them going forward doesn't strike me as surprising.
As a mercenary company they made their name as a precision organization, a scalpel to the sledgehammer of other companies of sellswords. With this debacle, whether or not those arrested or killed truly were cultists, this reputation has been sorely tarnished. As of now the Blades are just another group of men and women with swords for sale, but this group of people decided to kill disciples without speaking to the discipleship. They made a judgment against members of the Faith without consulting the Faith. That the Faith Militant does not wish to continue working with them going forward doesn't strike me as surprising.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 12, 2019, 11:52 a.m.(5/6/1010 AR)
So many whites being written today about how terribly frangible our peace is.
It makes me wonder if they were paying attention yesterday.
It makes me wonder if they were paying attention yesterday.
Written By Niklas
Jan. 10, 2019, 10:55 a.m.(5/2/1010 AR)
It must be very easy to be on the outside of these things and have such a clarity of vision.
No, you say, don't do that.
The end result, you insist, is predictable.
People might die, you say. This so-called progress is despicable.
Funny, we have no stories about the people who told King Alar that forging the Compact would be difficult or who told Queen Alarice that taking the fight to the sylv'alfar could backfire, that it would lead to wars, that it would lead to death.
I absolutely condemn these mass killings, just as any decent person condemned the tactics of men like Abbas Thrax in previous struggles. Every life lost is lamentable, but the fault is not the road. That this project could have lead to so much strife just means that we have always been at this tipping point, waiting for this disaster. Something was going break eventually. The Abandoned attacking caravans, the so-called nobles slaughtering innocents, men and women being hanged for not being able to prove their ancestry enough generations back for the orthodox nobility in some parts of Arvum. These people were just looking for an excuse. And that's all the road is when it comes to these troubles. It was an excuse.
As Legate Aureth says, unity is not expected of us by the gods. The Hall of Heroes is filled with men and women who became legends by slaughtering other members of the Compact. Men and women who became legends by killing Abandoned a dozen at a time. We like to look at these and then the relative peace we've had since the Crownbreaker Wars and say that we are so much more civilized now. We really do like to lie to ourselves.
Clearly there are some who believe that the newly forged Compact was no longer in danger of cracks the day after Valeria knelt as a Queen and rose as a Princess.
If you find yourself saying "we seem on the brink" you're just demonstrating how good we all are, noble or commoner, Crownsworn for fifty generations or Prodigal, at pretending otherwise.
No, you say, don't do that.
The end result, you insist, is predictable.
People might die, you say. This so-called progress is despicable.
Funny, we have no stories about the people who told King Alar that forging the Compact would be difficult or who told Queen Alarice that taking the fight to the sylv'alfar could backfire, that it would lead to wars, that it would lead to death.
I absolutely condemn these mass killings, just as any decent person condemned the tactics of men like Abbas Thrax in previous struggles. Every life lost is lamentable, but the fault is not the road. That this project could have lead to so much strife just means that we have always been at this tipping point, waiting for this disaster. Something was going break eventually. The Abandoned attacking caravans, the so-called nobles slaughtering innocents, men and women being hanged for not being able to prove their ancestry enough generations back for the orthodox nobility in some parts of Arvum. These people were just looking for an excuse. And that's all the road is when it comes to these troubles. It was an excuse.
As Legate Aureth says, unity is not expected of us by the gods. The Hall of Heroes is filled with men and women who became legends by slaughtering other members of the Compact. Men and women who became legends by killing Abandoned a dozen at a time. We like to look at these and then the relative peace we've had since the Crownbreaker Wars and say that we are so much more civilized now. We really do like to lie to ourselves.
Clearly there are some who believe that the newly forged Compact was no longer in danger of cracks the day after Valeria knelt as a Queen and rose as a Princess.
If you find yourself saying "we seem on the brink" you're just demonstrating how good we all are, noble or commoner, Crownsworn for fifty generations or Prodigal, at pretending otherwise.
Written By Niklas
Nov. 30, 2018, 10:48 a.m.(2/3/1010 AR)
How quickly can a year fly by? Every day with Sabella has bee-
Wait, read that last part off again? Another on the way?
Wait, read that last part off again? Another on the way?
Written By Niklas
Nov. 13, 2018, 4:37 p.m.(12/25/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Gareth
I still can't believe that he is gone.
He was so very solid a presence. That he is suddenly not there... it seems like there should be a thunderclap.
He was so very solid a presence. That he is suddenly not there... it seems like there should be a thunderclap.
Written By Niklas
Nov. 13, 2018, 1:20 a.m.(12/24/1009 AR)
My mother used to make pickled mushrooms.
Handful of mustard seeds, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, red pepper and dried allspice berries. Grind and combine.
Two cups of water, two cups of vinegar, a fistful of the above, a bunch of mashed up garlic, some lemon peel, a few dill sprigs, and a spoon or two of salt. Boil it up. Then toss in a pound of mushrooms. Boil until they're soft, then pour into a sealable jar and stick it somewhere cool for a while.
Good as a side with some lamb and chickpeas on flatbread, or just stick em with a fork and put em in your face.
Handful of mustard seeds, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, red pepper and dried allspice berries. Grind and combine.
Two cups of water, two cups of vinegar, a fistful of the above, a bunch of mashed up garlic, some lemon peel, a few dill sprigs, and a spoon or two of salt. Boil it up. Then toss in a pound of mushrooms. Boil until they're soft, then pour into a sealable jar and stick it somewhere cool for a while.
Good as a side with some lamb and chickpeas on flatbread, or just stick em with a fork and put em in your face.
Written By Niklas
Nov. 9, 2018, 12:10 p.m.(12/17/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Fortunato
Were you ever an outer child?
Written By Niklas
Nov. 1, 2018, 11:05 p.m.(12/2/1009 AR)
Relationship Note on Arianna
Sure. Why not?
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.