Written By Tanith
Oct. 26, 2020, 7:18 p.m.(4/10/1014 AR)
I forgot, scholar; what day is it?
Written By Emberly
Oct. 26, 2020, 3:45 p.m.(4/10/1014 AR)
I am so happy for the friends in my life, may the Gods watch over them as they prepare for what comes.
Written By Mihaly
Oct. 26, 2020, 10:11 a.m.(4/9/1014 AR)
To whom it may concern.
Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
Whatever swearing one might've heard in the Grayson ward a few nights past was exactly what people might've thought. And yes, it was also directed at me. I have borne the wrath of many things in life. From countless battles and skirmishes to outright wars These are things that I have never felt needed to be spoken of. However,
For the reasons I married wife, are the same reasons I do not underestimate her.
Needless to say, I am lucky to be alive.
Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
Whatever swearing one might've heard in the Grayson ward a few nights past was exactly what people might've thought. And yes, it was also directed at me. I have borne the wrath of many things in life. From countless battles and skirmishes to outright wars These are things that I have never felt needed to be spoken of. However,
For the reasons I married wife, are the same reasons I do not underestimate her.
Needless to say, I am lucky to be alive.
Written By Katarina
Oct. 26, 2020, 8:57 a.m.(4/9/1014 AR)
It was not long ago that I spoke of the differences between the Dune Kingdoms. In describing how far apart the cultures and identities of my own Suj'abbat are from that of Skal'daja, I said something like this: "Imagine the differences between Sanctum and Setarco are enough to fill a single drop of water. By this scale, the differences between Suj'abbat and Skal'daja are an ocean."
As I prepare to brief my family on matters of the Dune Kingdoms, and trawl through journals and journals' worth of notes, I realize how little I actually knew about the other Kingdoms. About my home, مدينة الأقنعة, I know much, but to know much about the City of Veils is to know that much of what one knows could well be untrue. About مدينة السلاسل, the City of Chains? Or مدينة السم, the City of Poison? I know so little.
I wonder how much of this knowledge I forgot, in becoming a daughter of ملجأ -- of Sanctum. I wonder if it was there once, and faded from my mind as I devoted myself to a new life, a new Faith, a new bloodline. On the other hand, it is just as likely that I never knew these things at all.
As I prepare to brief my family on matters of the Dune Kingdoms, and trawl through journals and journals' worth of notes, I realize how little I actually knew about the other Kingdoms. About my home, مدينة الأقنعة, I know much, but to know much about the City of Veils is to know that much of what one knows could well be untrue. About مدينة السلاسل, the City of Chains? Or مدينة السم, the City of Poison? I know so little.
I wonder how much of this knowledge I forgot, in becoming a daughter of ملجأ -- of Sanctum. I wonder if it was there once, and faded from my mind as I devoted myself to a new life, a new Faith, a new bloodline. On the other hand, it is just as likely that I never knew these things at all.
Written By Ember
Oct. 26, 2020, 7:35 a.m.(4/9/1014 AR)
House Redreef is honored to count House Blackshore as its fellow vassal of our liege, House Darkwater. There was a time when House Blackshore was, if one will indulge the metaphor, stranded in open water, with no land in sight. Blackshore found the strength and the conviction to swim, rather than to sink and drown, or give themselves over as food for sharks. With struggle comes perspective. With victory snatched from halfway down the gullet of defeat comes courage. The men and women of House Blackshore's noble family possess both vision and pragmatism. I could not ask for more in allies. The Mourning Isles will not be the same, only a few short years from now. For the Isles to count House Blackshore among their midwives in birthing this new existence is something that every Islander will be grateful for, centuries from now, when all of this is merely history.
Written By Mabelle
Oct. 26, 2020, 12:46 a.m.(4/9/1014 AR)
It is spring. I was not prepared.
I should lock myself into one of the seamstresses shops until I am.
I should lock myself into one of the seamstresses shops until I am.
Written By Svana
Oct. 25, 2020, 10:42 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
It's only one baby. So says Lady Medeia, for now. She has gotten the babe's elbows and knees pointed away from my back and I have found relief again.
Also, Tanith says that the babies are boring - because there is nothing wrong with them? Believe me, they toddle around like they're drunk now. Plenty wrong with them! (No, they are perfect. Perfectly crazy most days. And I love them.)
I am still taking a small break from commissions and dress making. I'm just very tired. I would like to see more people though, socially. I haven't been out in what feels like AGES. Please, call on me if you need a friend for conversation!
Also, Tanith says that the babies are boring - because there is nothing wrong with them? Believe me, they toddle around like they're drunk now. Plenty wrong with them! (No, they are perfect. Perfectly crazy most days. And I love them.)
I am still taking a small break from commissions and dress making. I'm just very tired. I would like to see more people though, socially. I haven't been out in what feels like AGES. Please, call on me if you need a friend for conversation!
Written By Gwenys
Oct. 25, 2020, 10:35 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Tonight I received the honors of becoming a general of the Valardin armies. I will meet their commanders over the course of the week to make sure they are well-provisioned, and ask for Damiana's and Emma's help to see that I am not being a fuck up with this.
The sensation that I am biting more than I can chew grows, but I have good people guiding me.
I will not fail my home and country.
The sensation that I am biting more than I can chew grows, but I have good people guiding me.
I will not fail my home and country.
Written By Raymesin
Oct. 25, 2020, 10:11 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Seems like life works in circles. Here I am, Scholar, talking about respect again.
Respect is important, especially in the Lowers. Where there's no silks to impress and get a leg up the ladder that way, you rise and fall on your own - and the measure of that rising and falling is in the respect you're shown by those around you. It's not like we have anything else we can use for it, after all - no fancy titles, no money, no land, just how we all treat each other. How we show that someone's worth something, when we've got nothing else to offer them.
Which means failing to show respect is to say that someone is without worth in your eyes.
Why do we get all bent out of shape when someone fails to show respect? Because that lack is catching. After all, if this person gets away with it, other people will too. And it spreads like fire through the slums when that happens, and then it leads to object lessons until respect is restored, all because someone didn't get corrected right there and then.
It seems so simple when it's what you've grown up with, but some people just don't seem to get the idea that maybe, just maybe, using the words 'wifey woo' in reference to a woman who's a successful business owner and a member of the Commoners' Council, not to mention a ferocious fighter in her own right, might not be very intelligent when you're in the same room as the husband who's so very proud of her. Even worse, using a nickname for her that only three people get to use. And that's before you start insulting the part of the marriage who's sitting right there trying to finish his dinner and his pint and a conversation with his kin.
I hope it won't happen again - but I know it will. The face might be different, the voice might be different, but it's not the first time and I'd have to be stupid to think it's the last. In the meantime, being a useful pet to a bunch of silks isn't much of a commendation around commoners who don't have silks to be pets to, and even some silks have enough of a clue to be polite and respectful when they're in our little corner of the world.
We stand on our own feet, we make our own names, and we earn our own respect. And that's why those who can't respect us aren't welcome to linger in the Lowers - because if you don't respect us, we generally don't feel the need to respect you, and why would anyone want to spend time with people they don't respect?
Respect is important, especially in the Lowers. Where there's no silks to impress and get a leg up the ladder that way, you rise and fall on your own - and the measure of that rising and falling is in the respect you're shown by those around you. It's not like we have anything else we can use for it, after all - no fancy titles, no money, no land, just how we all treat each other. How we show that someone's worth something, when we've got nothing else to offer them.
Which means failing to show respect is to say that someone is without worth in your eyes.
Why do we get all bent out of shape when someone fails to show respect? Because that lack is catching. After all, if this person gets away with it, other people will too. And it spreads like fire through the slums when that happens, and then it leads to object lessons until respect is restored, all because someone didn't get corrected right there and then.
It seems so simple when it's what you've grown up with, but some people just don't seem to get the idea that maybe, just maybe, using the words 'wifey woo' in reference to a woman who's a successful business owner and a member of the Commoners' Council, not to mention a ferocious fighter in her own right, might not be very intelligent when you're in the same room as the husband who's so very proud of her. Even worse, using a nickname for her that only three people get to use. And that's before you start insulting the part of the marriage who's sitting right there trying to finish his dinner and his pint and a conversation with his kin.
I hope it won't happen again - but I know it will. The face might be different, the voice might be different, but it's not the first time and I'd have to be stupid to think it's the last. In the meantime, being a useful pet to a bunch of silks isn't much of a commendation around commoners who don't have silks to be pets to, and even some silks have enough of a clue to be polite and respectful when they're in our little corner of the world.
We stand on our own feet, we make our own names, and we earn our own respect. And that's why those who can't respect us aren't welcome to linger in the Lowers - because if you don't respect us, we generally don't feel the need to respect you, and why would anyone want to spend time with people they don't respect?
Written By Arik
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:52 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
The Redrain banners have been called and so Halfshav has answered. Like the Knights of Solace and the Templar and many others we will need to learn to sail and with five more dromonds expanding the fleet hopefully, we will be able to move the thousands of troops we will commit. Although the warlord for the Halfshav armies has not yet be named, this campaign I will most likely tend to the domain as I did in the silent war. When armies leave their homes, someone must hold the line. Shavs and worse do not observe the Crusade as a time to relent but as a time to press and so we shall show them no weakness to exploit.
Written By Olivian
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:50 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
I'm back! Honestly, I think that a trip from the city is exactly what I needed to clear my head. And what joy to come back to the city and have a new family member here! I haven't quite found the answer to my question yet, but for the first time I am feeling confident that I -will- find an answer.
Written By Ryhalt
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:47 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Sometimes it feels as the more I learn, the more I find out how little I know about things I ought to know. Even worse, sometimes that seems a both a good and horrible idea. I could employ ten scribes and still have so much left to learn. Perhaps I ought to find a scholarly protege first.
Written By Lucita
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:40 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Sasha
It is good to catch up with old friends. Four children now, four! I remember how you longed to have children and the difficulties you had in regaining enough health to do so. That effort took courage.
Written By Tanith
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:26 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
My husband is a thistle flower with poisoned nettles and razor blades for petals. He is rare and exquisite and ours.
Written By Sydney
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:22 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
The field of challengers grows smaller by the day for those that fight with their hands, or at least those that are willing to go toe-to-toe with me.
This isn't to say that I am wanting for spars, but only that it's been quite some time now since the last time I've fought someone using only our hands and some modest smallclothes.
Pray mistake this not for crowing and braggery - if anything, it's a lament. My reputation has begun to precede me. A novel and uncomfortable feeling that I shall not quickly grow accustomed to. Nothing for it but to raise a glass, down it, repeat, and wait.
This isn't to say that I am wanting for spars, but only that it's been quite some time now since the last time I've fought someone using only our hands and some modest smallclothes.
Pray mistake this not for crowing and braggery - if anything, it's a lament. My reputation has begun to precede me. A novel and uncomfortable feeling that I shall not quickly grow accustomed to. Nothing for it but to raise a glass, down it, repeat, and wait.
Written By Philippe
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:19 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
I am grateful for the coming of spring. Once more we can set to the work of planting. Construction projects may continue. There are roads that must be oiled and bridges that need fresh beams. The mundane work of keeping Chevalle together is a comfort to me. It makes me feel like my works matter when I can orchestrate something meaningful. So little in life endures, but steel, stone, and wood outlive many men. And so I look to those things when I think about the legacy of Blanchard in these lands.
Written By Sigismund
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:14 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Well today was a productive day. Other than my meeting of family and strangers at the Murder, I also got to visit some of my children still living in Arx. A little more than a dozen, in fact, some with families of their own! I shared with them the news from their siblings who left to move out to the other fealties and that took most of the day.
Meeting the grandchildren is always fun. I get to see whether their parents have understood what I taught them. It gives me a valuable opportunity to learn where my children have gone wrong and to correct the problem.
You'd think I'd have perfected the technique after more than two dozen kids but it's really more complicated than it looks like.
Meeting the grandchildren is always fun. I get to see whether their parents have understood what I taught them. It gives me a valuable opportunity to learn where my children have gone wrong and to correct the problem.
You'd think I'd have perfected the technique after more than two dozen kids but it's really more complicated than it looks like.
Written By Tarik
Oct. 25, 2020, 9:06 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
I am bit sad that winter is over with. It has been one of the happiest winters of my life. The worse thing is that I know summer is on the horizon. I really hate Arx summers, but at least this summer I will be married to Rowenova.
Written By Sigismund
Oct. 25, 2020, 8:57 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Ah, to have returned to Arx after my little trip. Nothing's changed, except the things that have, so on and so forth.
I hear we're to have a crusade. Should be entertaining to watch it unfold. From far, far away.
Someone has to stay home and look after the kids.
I hear we're to have a crusade. Should be entertaining to watch it unfold. From far, far away.
Someone has to stay home and look after the kids.
Written By Khanne
Oct. 25, 2020, 8:52 p.m.(4/8/1014 AR)
Nobles of Arx, those of you who enjoy the freedoms of being where you are, who you are, and the families you were born into (or married into), this is for you.
Think about how it feels to eat a meal whenever you please, with whomever you please, and often, whatever foods you wish.
Remember the joys you felt when you attended your most recent fete, party, masquerade, or talk in the salon.
Cherish the moments when lively conversation stimulates your intellect, helps spread ideas for growth, shares knowledge, brings you closer to others as friends or family.
Recall the time you visited your favorite shop and were delighted to find something new that tickled your fancy, and you were able to pull silver from your pocket or pouch and pay for it to bring home.
These are things most of us can and do enjoy really whenever we wish. The same falls true for the most fortunate of Commoners who are able to live very well. These are things that we might often take for granted. Rarely do we think about the ease in which we are able to do near whatever we like... hopefully in the vein of it harming no one else.
Now, imagine that you could not.
Imagine that a Master was in control of your every move, every morsel you ate, every item of clothing you wore, every chore you worked your fingers to the bone to do, every person you associated with, if any.
Imagine every minutiae of your life being controlled by someone else.
Imagine having no freedom, no choice.
THIS is why the houses of Arx and the Faith call banners. To protect our own way of life, and to grant others the freedoms they may have never known the sweet taste of. This is not just a problem for the houses of the south. This is not for someone else to handle. This is something to be fought against together, as a Compact, as Arvani.
May Freedom of Choice prevail!
Think about how it feels to eat a meal whenever you please, with whomever you please, and often, whatever foods you wish.
Remember the joys you felt when you attended your most recent fete, party, masquerade, or talk in the salon.
Cherish the moments when lively conversation stimulates your intellect, helps spread ideas for growth, shares knowledge, brings you closer to others as friends or family.
Recall the time you visited your favorite shop and were delighted to find something new that tickled your fancy, and you were able to pull silver from your pocket or pouch and pay for it to bring home.
These are things most of us can and do enjoy really whenever we wish. The same falls true for the most fortunate of Commoners who are able to live very well. These are things that we might often take for granted. Rarely do we think about the ease in which we are able to do near whatever we like... hopefully in the vein of it harming no one else.
Now, imagine that you could not.
Imagine that a Master was in control of your every move, every morsel you ate, every item of clothing you wore, every chore you worked your fingers to the bone to do, every person you associated with, if any.
Imagine every minutiae of your life being controlled by someone else.
Imagine having no freedom, no choice.
THIS is why the houses of Arx and the Faith call banners. To protect our own way of life, and to grant others the freedoms they may have never known the sweet taste of. This is not just a problem for the houses of the south. This is not for someone else to handle. This is something to be fought against together, as a Compact, as Arvani.
May Freedom of Choice prevail!
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.