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Written By Fairen

April 17, 2022, 10:25 p.m.(6/25/1017 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Elloise, delighted by her greenhouse and workspace, has been seized with the bright idea to bring the glass paneled ceiling and roof into the rest of the Leary estate. She was envisioning rooms with their ceilings removed, roof removed, with only the glass to stand between us and the sky.

I am envisioning rain all over my books.

It sounds as though it would be cold in winter, and hot in summer, and I'm concerned about the potential for leaks as well. But perhaps combined with some of the clever retractable roofs I've seen -- maybe there might be potential there.

Potentially drowned libraries.

Written By Domonico

Dec. 8, 2019, 6:20 p.m.(5/5/1012 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

You do not park a Navy, you dock it. Usually in a dock or harbour.

Many land based domains still have access to water, be it the seas or rivers and holdings on those shores. Look to them to find your navy.

Written By Arcadia

Oct. 29, 2019, 12:31 p.m.(2/8/1012 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I tested Elloise's wheely-plank.

Well. For her sake I /experimented/ and tested a hypothesis.

I tested if countesses are able to stay on top of wheely-planks while riding them as fast as they can down the stairs.

They do not.

Furthermore. Wheely-planks down the staircase results in sore arms (from the fall), broken furniture, yelling and scolding and being glared at by your guards and those at Leary house.

I would however recommend this experiment. My next will be, will I be yelled at if I ride that thing through the library? My hypothesis is yes.

Written By Thesarin

Aug. 26, 2019, 12:14 p.m.(9/20/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Folk have been saying it, but it ain't going to be less true, that no one can speak of shavs as one people.

There's a thousand thousand Abandoned peoples all across Arvum, and the only truth to them is they ain't part of the Compact. A shav people might live in a castle with vassals paying tribute or might sleep in the mud with nothing they ain't wearing on their backs. Ride out from the forts and the roads, more'n a day or two, you'll find folk who can be Compact citizens when Solace or nobles ride through and become shavs trading with their neighbors when an Abandoned party comes close.

Folk where I'm from, we ain't had much trade in books. Paper fouls and rots too fast in the weather to put much stock in, when you ain't got great houses of stone and plaster for holding it.

We kept our histories in the songs of our people, and the Marks on our skin.

Written By Ashur

Aug. 23, 2019, 9:17 a.m.(9/14/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Freedom. Take a deep breath. It's over.

Written By Caith

Aug. 22, 2019, 10:28 p.m.(9/13/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Dearest cousin Elloise.

The measure of a person is how they get up after being knocked down -- whether they carry with them lessons learned or doom themselves to the fate of repeating the same mistakes. Knowing you and your scientific mind, this experience has given you an education.

It is my hope that all parties involved manage to weather this storm and emerge from this break-up better people for it.

Written By Jyri

Aug. 16, 2019, 6:15 p.m.(8/28/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Mending what trouble? What fork to eat with?

Written By Shard

Aug. 12, 2019, 7:46 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

She really does think that Abandoned can't and won't lie. Incredible.

Written By Reigna

Aug. 12, 2019, 5:20 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I do owe the Baroness-Consort an apology, I should not have called her words heretical, merely blasphemous. The first carries a stigma she has not earned. I still find her theories dismaying and wrong-headed, but it should be made clear I do not believe she has committed a crime.

Written By Vitalis

Aug. 12, 2019, 1:47 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I have still yet to hear what is so terrible about using cutlery to eat a pear. The experience of biting into a pear and feeling the skin snap and flesh yield under your teeth, juices running, is quite evocative, I’ll admit. But it makes for a sticky beard, a liability in the wilds. While jumping into a river of snow melt sounds bracing and close to nature (may you never need be so close) and I can report that it is, indeed, a fine way to end being set upon by bees buzzing you for the nectar trapped in said beard... I’ll take the flatware and render grateful prayers to Gild in so doing.

Did anyone else notice Prima Shard saying ‘our’ instead of ‘your’ when speaking of the Compact?

Written By Preston

Aug. 12, 2019, 9:03 a.m.(8/20/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I can promise you, the silence of the rest of us has to do with the fact that these fires of debate rage every few weeks, and with far more smoke than light. Whether you are seeking to get the Abandoned to bend the knee or you are attacking them, pretending they are all the same only sets you up for defeat. Seeking understanding of them while treating them all the same sets you up for ignorance. As though trying to learn about the Gods by asking every Godsworn to sing their favourite canticle. There is truth in all of it, but in the composite? Just confusing noise.

Written By Willow

Aug. 12, 2019, 1:09 a.m.(8/19/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

The unintentional generalized stance of a scientist ruffling feathers. I asked Poppy to keep me apprised of the journals but it seems like they are all revolving around the one if she is to be believed, and Poppy has never lied to me yet, so.

My Lady:
Once there was a pass in the Crimson Peaks which spent decades haunted by the guerilla tactics of a certain band of Shavs. Eventually during a particularly hard winter, their War Chief opted to bend the knee to the late Duke Neddim, in exchange for keeping his position and his family their lands, that they would cease attacking patrols through the area for food for their children.

My Uncle, the late Duke, agreed and even offered to wed in one of his neices (me), and the place become a proper March. Even though the man was old enough to be my father, I grew to love his wildness and his bravery and the kindness of his heart that he would sacrifice everything in order to see the youngest generation of his family safe and fed.

And then a week before we were to be married, his brother killed him in front of me. Arrow through the throat. It was a coup, you see. He believed, as you do, that it was their wildness and not their honor which made them special, gave them purpose. And was willing to kill his own brother to keep him from leading their people down a road he believed would lead to their corruption.

I would tell you their name but all but the children were killed, and their family no more. They are now like so many secrets and tales, lost to the inexorable march of time.

While some Shavs have noble hearts, and yours may be in the right place, your generalizations do no justice to Shavs, Prodigals, or the nobility. Life is complex and sometimes terrible, just like the hearts of men, wild or otherwise.

Written By Thesarin

Aug. 11, 2019, 10:13 p.m.(8/19/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Can't say folk in the woods was less minded to manners than in Civilization, how I remember it.

Not so many rules about it, be sure. But Civilized folk can give more offense without worry they'll be opened nave to chops.

Written By Shard

Aug. 11, 2019, 8:58 p.m.(8/19/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Okay, you're just trying to irritate prodigals at this point. I get it. Though it's always amazing when Compact-born nobility try to lecture prodigals about their own history and peoples. Particularly when they don't even bother to make a single distinction between the prodigals themselves, let alone the tribes they're supposedly admiring.

Written By Aella

Aug. 11, 2019, 8:16 p.m.(8/18/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I was not upset at the obvious differences found between Prodigal houses, as we all have different roots where our paths have started and our lives have begun. You can say that about every house of the Compact, whether it has been hundreds of years since they have bent the knee or ten. To say that House Thrax weathers the same storms as House Redrain, or hose Velenosa, would be doing a disservice to what makes the Compact whole: the strengths and weaknesses of each.

I was not angry that we were viewed by you at a higher standard because of our differences, to say that would be seeing part of the picture. It is a bad observation if you go into an experiment with an already biased judgement and you are clearly tainted in your findings.

Respect. Respect our differences, whether that is my people or another's. Do not treat us as test subjects to be watched from afar, but approach us. Speak to us. Ask us question and embrace our traditions and what we hold dear even if you do not always agree with the things we do. It is not for you to agree with, it is for you to absorb and accept as our ways of life. And do not take it for granted that you have been given access.

Each Prodigal has a story, each person has reentered the Compact when they did for a reason. It does not mean that we are any less civilized or that we have forgotten ourselves. It means that we have thought about what was best for us, what was best for our people, and what was best for the Compact.

At any point you wish to have dinner with me, I offer you an open invitation. We can eat on the deck of my ship and I will teach you which fish you can enjoy raw without dying from parasites.

Written By Reigna

Aug. 11, 2019, 7:43 p.m.(8/18/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

You are being ridiculous, not stubborn. Deliberately obtuse, perhaps. What you are most *definitely* doing, is bringing shame upon your parents, your tutors and your House of birth for raising a child so willfully heretical. There is no such thing as being 'over civilized' and to claim so is heresy. Tread careful, and remember your Faith. One would think that the Baron might wish to pipe up and reassure the world that your stances do not impact the stability, lawfulness and care of Whitefrost.

From one scholar to another - you should not be afraid to posit a thesis. But you should most definitely pay attention when you are told repeatedly that you are not on the correct track. Sometimes belief in oneself leads to hubris, not discovery.

Written By Marian

Aug. 11, 2019, 10:14 a.m.(8/18/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

Oh and I should note that my daughter, Prince Nia Imogen Redrain, can't use a salad fork except to try to stab her brother for the grievous crime of stealing a piece of bread that was near her soup bowl. Civilization is quite lacking at the toddler's table. One does try as a parent.

I have high hopes that eventually she'll come around. I've placed a mandate that 'incidents' at the dinner table will result in no swordplay the next day.

Written By Marian

Aug. 11, 2019, 10:06 a.m.(8/18/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I don’t think you can observe the “Prodigals” and correctly form any opinions about the diverse cultures that live outside the boundaries of the Compact. These tribes differ in language, traditions and living conditions. Many are nomadic that might choose to live in nature, or they may have strongholds, like my own family prior to bending on knee, that were fortified against knights. Yes, there were many times in my childhood I slept in a tree while hunting, but I always came home to a warm bed in castle walls, much like I imagine you experienced growing up.

I have made a point of learning four dialects of the shavs. I have rode out and sat with their leaders to discuss their peaceful removal from both Redrain and Valardin lands. I have bloodied my sword on violent strike forces that thought to weaken our great nation. I have sat with other prodigals and shared origins that are nothing like my own.

My mother tried desperately to teach me manners but I was a hoyden of the first order and oftentimes angered her by leaving my sword on the table. My lack of manners was a reckless choice of youth rather than a lack of upbringing. I assure you that my mother did try at one point to teach me what a salad fork was. I’m sure she would be relieved to find my much older self can get through a state dinner without embarrassing myself. That came with age and maturity, not my origins.

My personal choice to be truthful and forthright has nothing to do with my birth. I just don’t see the point of flirting with deceit. However, ‘simple’ is not a word I would describe myself. I can assure you m’lady, I have many layers, some of which were grown after I joined the Compact. Nor would my younger self even recognize the woman that first stepped into marriage vows with Prince Valen Valardin so observing me now would give you no clue to who I was back then. Because we all grow, change with the seasons.

I am a Prodigal. But my story is not like any others. Nor would I make grand sweeping statements on their culture and how it compares to Arx. Simple is not a word I would ever use when trying to define all these different, diverse groups. Just as we have many Great Houses that all bring unique qualities to the table. Frankly, I prefer a world that has so many colors of humanity.

Written By Shard

Aug. 10, 2019, 11:02 p.m.(8/17/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

No, what you're saying is that prodigals either are, and or come from cultures that are too 'simple' and 'savage' to act like ordinary human beings; it's just you think that's a good thing. Your words read like you're talking about some particularly dumb animal, not millions of people in thousands of different tribes.

There's no such thing as 'the morals of the Prodigal'. We're all different, we all come from different places and different tribes. Some are warriors, some are thieves, some are actual nobles, some are and have always been craftsmen. Every one of us has a different story, but I'm willing to bet none of them match up with whatever Haze-fueled nonsense you've convinced yourself of.

I grew up in the wilds. I prefer the wilds. My people preferred freedom and the open sky to high walls and safety and a single patch of land. But most people don't live like that and don't want to live like that, and that's fine for them. There's no 'morality' to whether you live in a tent in the woods or a house in a city, or whether you cook food you killed yourself over a campfire, or food you bought at the market in a kitchen. What you're saying doesn't make any sense at all. We're not children, we're not mysterious animals, we're people pretty much just like you in most ways that matter.

Written By Reigna

Aug. 10, 2019, 7:28 p.m.(8/16/1011 AR)

Relationship Note on Elloise

I feel that you have picked up some misconceptions somewhere, Baroness. You seem to be conflating dishonesty (something actively frowned upon by our Faith and considered an extremely problematic habit in the Oathlands) and civilization. You know, one of the virtues of our Pantheon. Perhaps you should look into researching Gild.

I disagree that our natural selves need no taming. I quite enjoy clothing, laws and order rather than rampant chaos and the lack of mutual respect afforded by basic etiquette.

I very much hope that I misread your opinion on this matter, for the sake of your people and your reputation.

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