Written By Riagnon
Oct. 17, 2019, 5:48 p.m.(1/13/1012 AR)
I love snow! I could be in snow... or not be in snow... for hours!
Written By Fairen
Oct. 17, 2019, 5:30 p.m.(1/13/1012 AR)
I love the snow! The way it hangs off the boughs of evergreens and the sharp, crisp scent in the air that it brings. It scintillates under the rays of the sun when freshly fallen. Who doesn't enjoy a warm mug of mulled wine next to a roaring fire after coming in from the cold?
What I do not like is snow all over my library. Not at all. Not that I'm pointing fingers at anyone (even if I am).
What I do not like is snow all over my library. Not at all. Not that I'm pointing fingers at anyone (even if I am).
Written By Berenice
Oct. 17, 2019, 4:43 p.m.(1/13/1012 AR)
It is truly shocking to see such an attack on the leader of one of House Velenosa's esteemed vassals, one who has worked so tirelessly for the welfare, prosperity, and safety of her people. All I can say is this:
Snow is honestly the worst. I am very sorry for those forced to live with it in their domains.
Snow is honestly the worst. I am very sorry for those forced to live with it in their domains.
Written By Lucrezia
Oct. 17, 2019, 3:35 p.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
It'll work out how I said I would do.
I sail for Setarco this week to shop for dresses. I will even take some family to help. No, the dresses aren't for me, don't be crazy.
It turns out mother is alive. All this time I had believed the assassin had gotten her, too. Yes, I am only taking family along so they can do the dress shopping while I catch up with mother and ask her all the things I need to know.
*The ink here looks blotchy.* I guess there's no urgency now, but still am leaving this week.
I sail for Setarco this week to shop for dresses. I will even take some family to help. No, the dresses aren't for me, don't be crazy.
It turns out mother is alive. All this time I had believed the assassin had gotten her, too. Yes, I am only taking family along so they can do the dress shopping while I catch up with mother and ask her all the things I need to know.
*The ink here looks blotchy.* I guess there's no urgency now, but still am leaving this week.
Written By Thea
Oct. 17, 2019, 3:07 p.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
Turkey dinner at the Bislands last night turned into not a terrible affair. I was also able to catch up with Duchess Calypso and cousin after. Not a horrible evening and I've began some certain--planning.
Written By Arik
Oct. 17, 2019, 12:25 p.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
As a matter of record for the Great Archives per the opinion of Lord Arik Halfshav...
The Northlands do not own winter. We simply have the best winters. If you do not like winter than it is not for you, more for me.
The Northlands do not own winter. We simply have the best winters. If you do not like winter than it is not for you, more for me.
Written By Saoirse
Oct. 17, 2019, 11:45 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Marian
How in the -world- is not liking snow an -insult to all Northerners-? That's ridiculous.
Written By Amari
Oct. 17, 2019, 11:45 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
On the way to Leaholdt on my continuing pilgrimage from Arx to Duskshire, a wagon came careening down the hill towards me out of control. I saw a man hanging on, and decided I would do as Norwood would do. No thought! No plan! Just do. So Bandit and I wheeled around and raced after, my intent was to have him jump off onto the horse with me.
It wouldn't be that easy. He'd caught himself up in the reins AND he had an infant on his back. I had just enough time to underhand my dagger to him and scoop the baby into my arms before the wagon flew off the road and into the river, the man with it.
He couldn't swim.
So I'm off my horse in a flash, with a wailing, squirmy baby cradled in my arm and soon wading waist deep in freezing water trying to reach the poor man with a long branch I'd found on the bank. Luckily he got a hold of it and pulled himself to the shallow water, only to end up hugging me like he was afraid he was still going to be swept away. Before long the rest of the family appeared so I could hand off the baby and the man could be peeled off by his wife.
I'd wanted a bath, true, but that wasn't what I had in mind. Still, I think Baron Norwood would be pleased and I was very glad to have rescued them both.
It wouldn't be that easy. He'd caught himself up in the reins AND he had an infant on his back. I had just enough time to underhand my dagger to him and scoop the baby into my arms before the wagon flew off the road and into the river, the man with it.
He couldn't swim.
So I'm off my horse in a flash, with a wailing, squirmy baby cradled in my arm and soon wading waist deep in freezing water trying to reach the poor man with a long branch I'd found on the bank. Luckily he got a hold of it and pulled himself to the shallow water, only to end up hugging me like he was afraid he was still going to be swept away. Before long the rest of the family appeared so I could hand off the baby and the man could be peeled off by his wife.
I'd wanted a bath, true, but that wasn't what I had in mind. Still, I think Baron Norwood would be pleased and I was very glad to have rescued them both.
Written By Belladonna
Oct. 17, 2019, 11:21 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Shard
Well put. Your thoughts were quite enjoyable to read and think of. Thank you for taking the time to write them. Although I will never fully appreciate snow and winters, I respect one's love for their homeland greatly.
On a more humorous note, not meant to offend any Northerners:
You do make winter sound like my late mother. That is much appreciated, despite not being the intention of your journal.
On a more humorous note, not meant to offend any Northerners:
You do make winter sound like my late mother. That is much appreciated, despite not being the intention of your journal.
Written By Belladonna
Oct. 17, 2019, 11:18 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Marian
I stand before my Peers to apologize for my scorching, hurtful remarks on snow and winter. I was insensitive and careless, unable to comprehend the enduring values represented by such elements that, somehow, seem to represent all Northerners in Princess Marian Redrain's eyes.
In the future I will be more considerate in making colorful jokes about the worst season of the year and in this moment of great personal shame, I can only hope that one day I may yet see the saddest of seasons as something more than an excuse to have Clearlake marmots slain to make beautiful cloaks.
I will do better.
In the future I will be more considerate in making colorful jokes about the worst season of the year and in this moment of great personal shame, I can only hope that one day I may yet see the saddest of seasons as something more than an excuse to have Clearlake marmots slain to make beautiful cloaks.
I will do better.
Written By Cristoph
Oct. 17, 2019, 9:35 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
I had a good chuckle this morning. Are we truly going to be upset that someone has a strong dislike of winter when there's so many more important things to be concerned about?
Written By Martino
Oct. 17, 2019, 4:05 a.m.(1/12/1012 AR)
The turkey dinner in House Bisland was such a delight, every time I go there it seems a new extension has either been planned or built. The place is a delightful taste of Pridehall away from the Crownlands.
Meal itself was very well prepared but stuck with some tragic news for the host. Being the good guest, Lord Dariel and I did help the servants with clearing away dishes.
Meal itself was very well prepared but stuck with some tragic news for the host. Being the good guest, Lord Dariel and I did help the servants with clearing away dishes.
Written By Marian
Oct. 17, 2019, 2:37 a.m.(1/11/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Belladonna
Do you seek to besmirch Northlanders with your careless words? Or just echoing stereotypes of the South that distract from the shining examples of diplomacy, elegance and grace of the fair Lycene I've had pleasure working with?
There is nothing sad about winter. The blanket of white snow eliminating the frail and weak. The warmth of family and friends who pause their lives to reconnect because of the impassable force that is nature. The welcomed weight of leathers and furs that protect from the exhilarating, biting winds of the North. Every season has merit in the cycle. Do not insult others fondness just because of difference.
There is nothing sad about winter. The blanket of white snow eliminating the frail and weak. The warmth of family and friends who pause their lives to reconnect because of the impassable force that is nature. The welcomed weight of leathers and furs that protect from the exhilarating, biting winds of the North. Every season has merit in the cycle. Do not insult others fondness just because of difference.
Written By Tyrus
Oct. 16, 2019, 11:09 p.m.(1/11/1012 AR)
I tire of hearing, reading, of these pious words. Do you think they are carried to the slaves that suffer now? That have suffered for untold years? Of course not. They're lost in the wind, whatever echo that might reach their shores silenced by the crack of the whip.
Symbolic gestures mean nothing. Do you think my heart and soul might have been comforted, to know of all the fine words being shared against slavery in the past decade? Of all these thoughts and prayers, these grandiose stands and declarations?
No. Only anger and hate at this sickening hypocrisy.
Yet can I blame them? Some, at least, are honest about their newfound sensibilities. Honest, that their eyes have taken a long time to open. It's not as if I knew, understood it to my very bones, before I lived it. Survived it.
Few are so fortunate. Few were.
And while we continue to bicker over words and symbols, they continue to die, their heartsblood maintaining the turning of a wheel far more sinister than the one in Death's keeping.
Symbolic gestures mean nothing. Do you think my heart and soul might have been comforted, to know of all the fine words being shared against slavery in the past decade? Of all these thoughts and prayers, these grandiose stands and declarations?
No. Only anger and hate at this sickening hypocrisy.
Yet can I blame them? Some, at least, are honest about their newfound sensibilities. Honest, that their eyes have taken a long time to open. It's not as if I knew, understood it to my very bones, before I lived it. Survived it.
Few are so fortunate. Few were.
And while we continue to bicker over words and symbols, they continue to die, their heartsblood maintaining the turning of a wheel far more sinister than the one in Death's keeping.
Written By Shard
Oct. 16, 2019, 9:29 p.m.(1/11/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Belladonna
I don't love winter, though I do, sometimes, for reasons I'll never really be able to explain, miss northern winters in the way I imagine other people miss their childhood home, even if that home was cold and dangerous and never had enough food. I don't love winter, I respect winter. Where I'm from, if you don't respect it, it will kill you, it will kill your family, your friends, your tribe, your horses. It doesn't do this because it's cruel. It does this because it is, it was, and it will always come again. Winter is a beast that cannot be tamed, and must always be remembered, prepared for, endured. You can complain about it, shout at it, curse it, and it won't do you any good at all because winter does not care. Winter is a test. Have you done enough? Have you made the right choices? And what will you do when something in your plans inevitably goes completely wrong, because winter does not know mercy and will show no mercy to you.
And the most important thing about winter, the reason to respect it the most, is that, unless you follow it home, winter will always go away. It will always fade. No matter how long, or how harsh, winter will always, eventually, become spring.
And the most important thing about winter, the reason to respect it the most, is that, unless you follow it home, winter will always go away. It will always fade. No matter how long, or how harsh, winter will always, eventually, become spring.
Written By Rysen
Oct. 16, 2019, 5:44 p.m.(1/11/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Braelynn
Alas, O emerald-eyed huntress, beware
That in chasing your game, too close you come,
And feel his bite before you are aware
That what you sought you cannot now out run,
For never shall this bright creative spark
Like the Prima's fail, and cease to endure,
But like Lagoma shine against the dark,
And seek to impress one so blessed with allure,
For as in blooms you inspiration find,
I in you discover means to express
My muse's peerless song that now inclines
To cast in verse that which is loveliest.
My heart to another I gave in trust,
But to've met you I count the best of luck.
That in chasing your game, too close you come,
And feel his bite before you are aware
That what you sought you cannot now out run,
For never shall this bright creative spark
Like the Prima's fail, and cease to endure,
But like Lagoma shine against the dark,
And seek to impress one so blessed with allure,
For as in blooms you inspiration find,
I in you discover means to express
My muse's peerless song that now inclines
To cast in verse that which is loveliest.
My heart to another I gave in trust,
But to've met you I count the best of luck.
Written By Dariel
Oct. 16, 2019, 2:11 p.m.(1/10/1012 AR)
I don't like this white stuff at all. At all.
Written By Llewella
Oct. 16, 2019, 2:06 p.m.(1/10/1012 AR)
"Not All The Isles."
Those four words are not the motto of my family, but they are repeated by those who have dealings with us more than the actual words sewn into our crests. They are the words that came to mind as I read the words of our Highlord in his recent discussion on the products of slavery that have become useful and fashionable.
Not All The Isles.
There is not a single stone of dragonweep, no scrap of Steelsilk, not a boot of Cardian Snakeskin to be found in Melaeris Fasthold. Travel to Astarrea and you will find many former thralls; not because we have complied with the wishes of House Thrax and removed their enslavement, but because we never had Thralls to begin with and have instead welcomed those who have become freed. We have invited them to the ongoing prosperity of our realm as equal citizens.
House Melaeris has always been a champion of the freedoms of humanity and our right not to be shackled to the will of another through anything other than our own choices. It is a history frought with times of friction when we have bristled against the decisions of House Marin and even, at times, House Tyde. For much of our existence we have been isolated from our neighbors at sea for our views.
Those four words I keep writing? The ones often attributed to us by our trade allies? This is what they refer to. Our fortunes have never been built on the backs of slaves or thralls, and never shall.
We have also given a home to anyone who agrees to follow our rules, our moral standpoints. The past is the past, there to be learned from but we cannot forever hold it against another if they show willingness to change. Lagoma would be quite wroth with us if we rejected someone's sincere efforts to change themselves to the better. Melaeris understands Prince Victus's concerns over possible hypocrisy. We do not demand he burn his steelsilk or his thrall-built ships. Only that he do better with his present and future than his past. So long as House Thrax continues to lead the way in ending thralldom and profiting from slavery they will have our support.
Those four words are not the motto of my family, but they are repeated by those who have dealings with us more than the actual words sewn into our crests. They are the words that came to mind as I read the words of our Highlord in his recent discussion on the products of slavery that have become useful and fashionable.
Not All The Isles.
There is not a single stone of dragonweep, no scrap of Steelsilk, not a boot of Cardian Snakeskin to be found in Melaeris Fasthold. Travel to Astarrea and you will find many former thralls; not because we have complied with the wishes of House Thrax and removed their enslavement, but because we never had Thralls to begin with and have instead welcomed those who have become freed. We have invited them to the ongoing prosperity of our realm as equal citizens.
House Melaeris has always been a champion of the freedoms of humanity and our right not to be shackled to the will of another through anything other than our own choices. It is a history frought with times of friction when we have bristled against the decisions of House Marin and even, at times, House Tyde. For much of our existence we have been isolated from our neighbors at sea for our views.
Those four words I keep writing? The ones often attributed to us by our trade allies? This is what they refer to. Our fortunes have never been built on the backs of slaves or thralls, and never shall.
We have also given a home to anyone who agrees to follow our rules, our moral standpoints. The past is the past, there to be learned from but we cannot forever hold it against another if they show willingness to change. Lagoma would be quite wroth with us if we rejected someone's sincere efforts to change themselves to the better. Melaeris understands Prince Victus's concerns over possible hypocrisy. We do not demand he burn his steelsilk or his thrall-built ships. Only that he do better with his present and future than his past. So long as House Thrax continues to lead the way in ending thralldom and profiting from slavery they will have our support.
Written By Tikva
Oct. 16, 2019, 1:21 p.m.(1/10/1012 AR)
Sisterhood has defined me all my life in ways that I never really understood. I am a sister who was chosen, and it turns out I am a sister who has lived.
Family is everything. Beyond lifetimes.
Family is everything. Beyond lifetimes.
Written By Belladonna
Oct. 16, 2019, 1:06 p.m.(1/10/1012 AR)
To all those who love winter, let me ask: what is wrong with you? Be gone, snow! Your sordid touch is unwelcome and your miasma of sadness anathema to all that is good.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.