Written By Sparte
July 16, 2019, 10:19 p.m.(6/22/1011 AR)
I don't have any objection to the reason behind the boycott of Eurusi trade, but there is something I've always wondered about that this brings to mind. What do the Eurusi traders bring home from Arx?
Is it our coin they covet? Our silks? Our art? It is something I've never had the right opportunity to ask. Perhaps now I never will.
Is it our coin they covet? Our silks? Our art? It is something I've never had the right opportunity to ask. Perhaps now I never will.
Written By Sparte
July 14, 2019, 6:50 p.m.(6/18/1011 AR)
*this page is a series of drawings of animals. There is a stoat with an injured ear and a scarf who shows up several times, a large rottweiler with a lonely air to them, and a squirrel being overly posessive of an acorn, mixed in with less detailed sketches of everything from birds to turtles*
Written By Sparte
July 9, 2019, 9:33 a.m.(6/7/1011 AR)
When you give things too freely, and then you're asked to give again, it begins to be hard to find things that remain worth giving.
Written By Sparte
July 4, 2019, 9:13 a.m.(5/25/1011 AR)
Princess Zara and Princess Tikva were very fine hosts at the recent hunt. It has been so long since I've been able to go hunting in the woods and feel as if it were entirely a safe and pure thing, and that is what it felt. People were happy, enjoying themselves, the woods were what I felt they were when I first came to Arx again. Perhaps even better.
Written By Sparte
July 3, 2019, 8:54 a.m.(5/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Rinel
I had a wise soul once tell me that it isn't for me to force others to walk the path I think is right for them. That to do so was not only a violation of their own stories, but a violation of the faith. It was to steal their choice.
I had thought that I was aiding the stories of others, when I heard that. I thought I was providing tools for the stories that they were pursuing, but by allowing them to skip the struggles that would have brought them to those goals themselves, they were losing something important. It wasn't that helping them was wrong, but that I hadn't realized too much help could be a burden. Just as sure as no help at all would be a burden.
So it is with the burdens of judgment and justice. Too little brings terrible things, but just as surely too much will choke a person.
It has been a year, now, that you've been a penitent. A year.
I had thought that I was aiding the stories of others, when I heard that. I thought I was providing tools for the stories that they were pursuing, but by allowing them to skip the struggles that would have brought them to those goals themselves, they were losing something important. It wasn't that helping them was wrong, but that I hadn't realized too much help could be a burden. Just as sure as no help at all would be a burden.
So it is with the burdens of judgment and justice. Too little brings terrible things, but just as surely too much will choke a person.
It has been a year, now, that you've been a penitent. A year.
Written By Sparte
July 2, 2019, 5:29 p.m.(5/22/1011 AR)
It is so easy to forget the quill that rests with the tome. I met another person who collected books but does not write, and it just left me feeling sad for them.
Written By Sparte
June 28, 2019, 3:43 p.m.(5/14/1011 AR)
I thank those who wrote to me regarding the recent journal to check on me. It can be confusing sometimes, what people learn in the whites. Read into things too much or too little and it can be worse than confusing, you can walk away with a truth that never was.
I was touched to be given so grand a personage in dream-struck writings cut by a clever hand, but a dream is all it was.
I was touched to be given so grand a personage in dream-struck writings cut by a clever hand, but a dream is all it was.
Written By Sparte
June 22, 2019, 11:59 a.m.(5/1/1011 AR)
Every one of us. Every single one of us. Is descended from someone who knew the feel of chains. The yoke of slavery. Too many see slavery as someone else's problem, but it was once the fate every human was born into.
Take from that what you will, it is the historic truth.
Take from that what you will, it is the historic truth.
Written By Sparte
June 21, 2019, 12:18 p.m.(4/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elisha
A five fingered raven upon a slant roof, hears a baying calf with a bad hoof
The fiver fingered raven hopped down to the edge and cawed twice as loud 'til the calf was dead
--
Names spin us tales, tales on names are spun
We name clouds on lazy days while basking in sun
Asking what makes us dreamers, asking why ends the fun
When a thing has been named, is that tale done?
A cloven hoofed mule is no mule at all, yet stubborn as any mule by far
A feline with a knife on each side and a hunger for mud
A dragon that flits through our gardens for fun
The names that we say mean not what we hear
Names that were picked in an earlier year
We each have a name and that name may change
We each have a name and that never will
One tells us who and one tells us what
When who becomes what and what becomes who
We name stone and metal and more besides too
To be named a thing, to be a thing named
The names that we hear mean not what we say
--
A jack of all trades become the best that there was
No jack of his measure, no jack of his worth
So the jack became master, what a jack should not be
A jack of all trades ceased to be
The fiver fingered raven hopped down to the edge and cawed twice as loud 'til the calf was dead
--
Names spin us tales, tales on names are spun
We name clouds on lazy days while basking in sun
Asking what makes us dreamers, asking why ends the fun
When a thing has been named, is that tale done?
A cloven hoofed mule is no mule at all, yet stubborn as any mule by far
A feline with a knife on each side and a hunger for mud
A dragon that flits through our gardens for fun
The names that we say mean not what we hear
Names that were picked in an earlier year
We each have a name and that name may change
We each have a name and that never will
One tells us who and one tells us what
When who becomes what and what becomes who
We name stone and metal and more besides too
To be named a thing, to be a thing named
The names that we hear mean not what we say
--
A jack of all trades become the best that there was
No jack of his measure, no jack of his worth
So the jack became master, what a jack should not be
A jack of all trades ceased to be
Written By Sparte
June 19, 2019, 1:38 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Kenna
I'm still just getting used to having the door at all, myself.
By the by, I'm making a space for Dame Tom to entertain friends in the room. Or trying to. This decorating thing may go poorly for me, but I'm trying.
By the by, I'm making a space for Dame Tom to entertain friends in the room. Or trying to. This decorating thing may go poorly for me, but I'm trying.
Written By Sparte
June 19, 2019, 12:59 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elisha
A man both fisherman and farmer, taker and maker of life, plants his garden. In the hole he digs, a single fish is dropped. "The fish that was will nurture the plant that will be. In that the fish will become the plant, but the plant will never be the fish." He contemplates this as he takes a bite of an apple from his garden.
A blind artist paints a work of art. Her brush touches the canvas and reveals sights only she had seen, but others are blind to the beauty.
Five brothers sit at a round table. One speaks up. "We must agree that I sit at the head of the table, or else we will have no table at all." The other brothers as one rise and leave.
Seven birds above sing a song for seven cats to hear. One cat chitters and spits, "Come closer birds, come here. My song waits on pointed claws, sung through sharpened teeth. My song a wave of hypnotic tail and of a merry feast." The seven birds come and leave behind six cats who knew to flee.
Upon the skin a tapestry, upon the tapestry a tale, upon the tale a single man who stood when none prevailed. That single man saw victories at cost too great to tell, so on his skin a tapestry, upon that his tale.
A blind artist paints a work of art. Her brush touches the canvas and reveals sights only she had seen, but others are blind to the beauty.
Five brothers sit at a round table. One speaks up. "We must agree that I sit at the head of the table, or else we will have no table at all." The other brothers as one rise and leave.
Seven birds above sing a song for seven cats to hear. One cat chitters and spits, "Come closer birds, come here. My song waits on pointed claws, sung through sharpened teeth. My song a wave of hypnotic tail and of a merry feast." The seven birds come and leave behind six cats who knew to flee.
Upon the skin a tapestry, upon the tapestry a tale, upon the tale a single man who stood when none prevailed. That single man saw victories at cost too great to tell, so on his skin a tapestry, upon that his tale.
Written By Sparte
June 14, 2019, 8:50 a.m.(4/13/1011 AR)
Keeping one's word can be a mark of pride. No one wants to be treacherous. Yet giving your word for the wrong reason can blacken even that act.
Written By Sparte
June 10, 2019, 10:35 a.m.(4/5/1011 AR)
When I first came to Arx, I found a home with the Iron Guard. The main barracks for Guardsman is crowded and humble, and it was where I was first able to lay down my head. That was in the time leading up to the Silent War.
Five years have passed. Despite offers from friends and family, despite being promoted to an officer, despite having the funds to secure a home for myself, I have continued to bunk with the rest of the guard. Specifically, those under my command. I've done this because I don't want people to follow me because of orders, or because of their duty. I want the men and women of the guard who serve under me to know me, to recognize in me someone who remembers when I was where they are. Someone who will take the time to get to know them.
Unfortunately, as my authority has grown, it has become harder to achieve this effect. There are still people within the guard who I know better for having bunked with them, but it is a fraction of those for whom I am responsible. This has created a different effect, a sense of an elite few that have my ear the rest that don't. I don't care for that. Then there is the issue of Dame Tom and Lieutenant Fireside in the wee hours of the morning. Nobody, myself included, cares to be woken by that.
For those reasons I'm going to be cleaning out one of the officer quarters within the barracks and moving myself and Dame Tom there. I will still encourage the men and women under my command to seek me out. I will do my best to help them overcome their challenges, to push their limits, to prove themselves. Maybe this will be a good thing for everyone.
Five years have passed. Despite offers from friends and family, despite being promoted to an officer, despite having the funds to secure a home for myself, I have continued to bunk with the rest of the guard. Specifically, those under my command. I've done this because I don't want people to follow me because of orders, or because of their duty. I want the men and women of the guard who serve under me to know me, to recognize in me someone who remembers when I was where they are. Someone who will take the time to get to know them.
Unfortunately, as my authority has grown, it has become harder to achieve this effect. There are still people within the guard who I know better for having bunked with them, but it is a fraction of those for whom I am responsible. This has created a different effect, a sense of an elite few that have my ear the rest that don't. I don't care for that. Then there is the issue of Dame Tom and Lieutenant Fireside in the wee hours of the morning. Nobody, myself included, cares to be woken by that.
For those reasons I'm going to be cleaning out one of the officer quarters within the barracks and moving myself and Dame Tom there. I will still encourage the men and women under my command to seek me out. I will do my best to help them overcome their challenges, to push their limits, to prove themselves. Maybe this will be a good thing for everyone.
Written By Sparte
June 10, 2019, 10:18 a.m.(4/5/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Michael
Know that I will pay to replace the garments that suffered from my own contribution to this competition. I will say though that I thought the shade of pink that was managed was an excellent compliment to your complexion. I did at least ask what would be agreeable before participating.
My compliments to whoever did a piece of art for this. That was quite clever.
My compliments to whoever did a piece of art for this. That was quite clever.
Written By Sparte
June 6, 2019, 10:07 a.m.(3/25/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Kaldur
Lord Kaldur took what had been a child-like idea, more dream than reality, and turned it into something beautiful and real. Something meaningful for how it brought people together, no matter what Spring brings. I am humbled to be mentioned amongst those who helped, but as he gives me credit i do not deserve he also downplays his own efforts.
Lord Kaldur is a man who sought to help the Compact with a grand vision, one akin in challenge to climbing a mountain with bare hands. When the consequences became known of reaching so high, as with a rock pulled loose that falls to cause harm in a climber's wake, he did not despair. He dedicated himself to smoothing the path so it would be safer, he went back down in humility and gave his time to meeting with and helping others, to making it so we could better climb together the path he had forged. He is one of the best of us, may his dedication to the Compact's future always be remembered.
Lord Kaldur is a man who sought to help the Compact with a grand vision, one akin in challenge to climbing a mountain with bare hands. When the consequences became known of reaching so high, as with a rock pulled loose that falls to cause harm in a climber's wake, he did not despair. He dedicated himself to smoothing the path so it would be safer, he went back down in humility and gave his time to meeting with and helping others, to making it so we could better climb together the path he had forged. He is one of the best of us, may his dedication to the Compact's future always be remembered.
Written By Sparte
June 4, 2019, 11:06 a.m.(3/21/1011 AR)
I am not well versed in architecture, but I know there are certain things that are of great importance. One is a keystone. This is the stone that holds together an arch, the wedge at the center that keeps it held aloft in defiance of the natural desire to fall that the stones on either side would have. It is the point upon which the greatest pressure is placed, and so it must be strong enough to withstand the burdens placed upon the stones around it without crumbling.
If we were to hang a single thread from an archway, we would not notice much. Some would even say that is insignificant. But perhaps we add another, and another. Upon each thread we place a weight, some light, some heavy.
More and more that keystone must bear. What becomes of those threads if it ever crumbles?
If we were to hang a single thread from an archway, we would not notice much. Some would even say that is insignificant. But perhaps we add another, and another. Upon each thread we place a weight, some light, some heavy.
More and more that keystone must bear. What becomes of those threads if it ever crumbles?
Written By Sparte
June 4, 2019, 9:39 a.m.(3/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Victus
You know I drink milk, too. It isn't only an Oathlanders thing.
Written By Sparte
June 3, 2019, 8:21 a.m.(3/19/1011 AR)
Sometimes the results of research are discouraging. I hope to find something useful to the safety of the present, but I only learn the sins of the past in greater detail. With too few hints of how to prevent them occurring again.
Yet once in a while we gain something more, something meaningful. This was not one of those times, yet, I will try again. Thank you to those who assisted me on my recent research.
Yet once in a while we gain something more, something meaningful. This was not one of those times, yet, I will try again. Thank you to those who assisted me on my recent research.
Written By Sparte
May 30, 2019, 9:59 a.m.(3/11/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Thena
I wasn't the one who told Lady Kenna that, for the record.
I consider your knife collection one of the lesser known wonders of the Compact, perhaps if you invite her to see it you'll make a convert of her.
I consider your knife collection one of the lesser known wonders of the Compact, perhaps if you invite her to see it you'll make a convert of her.
Written By Sparte
May 29, 2019, 12:19 p.m.(3/10/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Preston
To respond to your journal on the lack of authority I described as being unique to commoners, I will clarify my stance.
There is the authority granted to some of us from birth who are blessed to be members of the Peerage, and there is authority that is earned, as you have touched upon. These two authorities are both important to our society. You, myself, and the others you name hold station and titles that reflect the authority we have been recognized with. Our words hold more weight because of that authority, but we all know that when we were younger there was a time we did not speak with such a voice.
Authority comes from many places, and to come up as a commoner is to start life with none inherent. Perhaps that isn't true for the richest and most affluent of commoner families, but for the majority it is. To speak from where we are now in life is different because we have earned recognition, earned titles, earned authority and station. In the Faith those who dedicate themselves to the path of Godsworn forgo title and membership in the peerage as you say, if they had been granted such before. Arvum society recognizes that. There is an authority unique to the Godsworn because of it, not title in the sense of the Peerage, but certainly authority.
When I said a commoner through and through, I imagined myself as I was before I came to Arx. A farm boy, with very little to my name, from a family most had never heard of. Certainly no recognition nor authority. I imagine even the white I am writing now, and how it would be seen as very different were it to come from such a source. Perhaps people want to believe they would treat it with the same weight, but only the rarest amongst us can hear an argument without measuring what we know of the source. There was a time in your own life, Sir Preston, when you were the same.
That is a thing only commoners and prodigals ever experience. It is foreign to those who are born into the Peerage, a thing they have to step out of their own circumstances to even imagine. There is no shortcoming or flaw in that on either side, it is just a truth of how we all live different lives with different expectations upon us. It is a thing that, despite Rinel's great merit as a theologian, she has not yet managed to overcome. For the readily apparent reasons I stated previously.
There is the authority granted to some of us from birth who are blessed to be members of the Peerage, and there is authority that is earned, as you have touched upon. These two authorities are both important to our society. You, myself, and the others you name hold station and titles that reflect the authority we have been recognized with. Our words hold more weight because of that authority, but we all know that when we were younger there was a time we did not speak with such a voice.
Authority comes from many places, and to come up as a commoner is to start life with none inherent. Perhaps that isn't true for the richest and most affluent of commoner families, but for the majority it is. To speak from where we are now in life is different because we have earned recognition, earned titles, earned authority and station. In the Faith those who dedicate themselves to the path of Godsworn forgo title and membership in the peerage as you say, if they had been granted such before. Arvum society recognizes that. There is an authority unique to the Godsworn because of it, not title in the sense of the Peerage, but certainly authority.
When I said a commoner through and through, I imagined myself as I was before I came to Arx. A farm boy, with very little to my name, from a family most had never heard of. Certainly no recognition nor authority. I imagine even the white I am writing now, and how it would be seen as very different were it to come from such a source. Perhaps people want to believe they would treat it with the same weight, but only the rarest amongst us can hear an argument without measuring what we know of the source. There was a time in your own life, Sir Preston, when you were the same.
That is a thing only commoners and prodigals ever experience. It is foreign to those who are born into the Peerage, a thing they have to step out of their own circumstances to even imagine. There is no shortcoming or flaw in that on either side, it is just a truth of how we all live different lives with different expectations upon us. It is a thing that, despite Rinel's great merit as a theologian, she has not yet managed to overcome. For the readily apparent reasons I stated previously.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.