Written By Raymesin
March 20, 2022, 3:44 p.m.(4/24/1017 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Marriage pudding. Now there's an idea. Remind me to mention it to Tanith, I'm sure she can think up a nice marriage pudding. A new tradition for the nobles of Arvum, available from the Salacious Baker in the Commons Court, in the Lowers.
What do you reckon, Scholar? Think it'll sell? Well of course it's going to be good, if Tanith's doing it.
What do you reckon, Scholar? Think it'll sell? Well of course it's going to be good, if Tanith's doing it.
Written By Ida
Dec. 1, 2021, 7:50 p.m.(9/3/1016 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Now I want to write a storybook for Lord Tiber with all the things I know about weapons. And/or make him replicas of some of the greatest or storied ones I've actually managed to see in person. Sadly, I know little of military history, but weapons? That would be fun to share. I bet he could probably tell me a few good stories I haven't heard, even.
Written By Ainsley
Sept. 20, 2020, 10:09 p.m.(1/22/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
I've been away for some time, but I've returned to find that my wife is, still, the best wife in all of Arvum.
Written By Corban
Aug. 16, 2020, 10:12 p.m.(11/8/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Princess Tikva, if you are in need of guidance for homes for turtles, might I recommend the Lord Commander?
It is, I must say, a specialty of hers.
It is, I must say, a specialty of hers.
Written By Niklas
Aug. 14, 2020, 10:47 p.m.(11/4/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
I wondered where Sheldon had got to!
Written By Sunaia
June 3, 2020, 10:47 a.m.(5/28/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
It's not easy living in the shadow of two brothers and a sister - all famous (or infamous) for their deeds. And yet, want to - somehow - embrace all of this life: All of what I feel and am.
Addison was wrong in what he did. It's a fact I don't deny - and I'm shamed by this brother's actions.
Killian took the choice from Tolamar Brand to destroy the world and saved us all. That's another fact I don't deny - and am more than proud of.
And Avary, joined the Faith and became Archlector to The Sentinel. We've not spoken in years. Yet, another undeniable fact. I miss having a blood sister I might talk to about all of this.
I am, regardless of my feelings, regardless of all other facts, sister to all. And I, for reasons of my own, also went in my own way, my own direction - and I missed great swaths of time with each, in which I might have known them better.
We can't change the choices of our ancestors. We can't change the choices we've made in the past. I wonder if we can even change our feelings about all of that, without knowing more. I do know that we'll never be what anyone else expects us to be, no matter what judgements anyone place on us; no matter what expectations may be had. Yes, we'll be disappointed, at times, with the choices others make - particularly if we love them. But the respect of choice matters most, to me; and the acknowledgement of truths; and the protection of those I love.
This makes my feelings complicated, though it changes nothing of the truth of any actions.
If I could, I'd look Addison in the eye and ask him why he did what he did. I'd ask Killian, too; and Avary - because I want to understand them all. I'd rather know their reasons, so I can better judge with my heart and mind - and maybe I wouldn't be so conflicted.
For now, I have very mixed emotions about it all. I would rather not to be disappointed - or mistaken - by expressing those feelings openly.
Addison was wrong in what he did. It's a fact I don't deny - and I'm shamed by this brother's actions.
Killian took the choice from Tolamar Brand to destroy the world and saved us all. That's another fact I don't deny - and am more than proud of.
And Avary, joined the Faith and became Archlector to The Sentinel. We've not spoken in years. Yet, another undeniable fact. I miss having a blood sister I might talk to about all of this.
I am, regardless of my feelings, regardless of all other facts, sister to all. And I, for reasons of my own, also went in my own way, my own direction - and I missed great swaths of time with each, in which I might have known them better.
We can't change the choices of our ancestors. We can't change the choices we've made in the past. I wonder if we can even change our feelings about all of that, without knowing more. I do know that we'll never be what anyone else expects us to be, no matter what judgements anyone place on us; no matter what expectations may be had. Yes, we'll be disappointed, at times, with the choices others make - particularly if we love them. But the respect of choice matters most, to me; and the acknowledgement of truths; and the protection of those I love.
This makes my feelings complicated, though it changes nothing of the truth of any actions.
If I could, I'd look Addison in the eye and ask him why he did what he did. I'd ask Killian, too; and Avary - because I want to understand them all. I'd rather know their reasons, so I can better judge with my heart and mind - and maybe I wouldn't be so conflicted.
For now, I have very mixed emotions about it all. I would rather not to be disappointed - or mistaken - by expressing those feelings openly.
Written By Mia
May 12, 2020, 9:56 p.m.(4/12/1013 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
I suspect that you and I may be looking at two very different pieces of paper, Your Highness.
Written By Rey
Feb. 2, 2020, 10:21 a.m.(9.14016658399471/8.849328703703705/1012.6783472153329 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
It was nice getting to spend time with Tikva and catch up. I'm looking forward to the promised picnic, and getting to see my niece and nephews.
Written By Ida
Nov. 9, 2019, 6:41 a.m.(3/2/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
My patron, Princess Tikva, lent me a book to read after coming across a journal I had written recently. It is, I think, one of my favorite books ever, even if it is a story for children. 'The First Choice: A Children's Tale' is something I wish I had years ago to read to my own three kids, though maybe I'll manage a copy for /their/ children if any of them bother to make me a grandmother. At the very least, I can probably recite it from memory and for that, I am very grateful to Her Highness for sharing.
Written By Saoirse
Oct. 30, 2019, 12:37 p.m.(2/10/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Granted.
Written By Vanora
Oct. 5, 2019, 12:46 p.m.(12/16/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
The poem (or song?) in your last journal was absolutely beautiful.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 25, 2019, 1:50 a.m.(9/17/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Yes, I feel like that's worth making clear as well - I have absolutely no hostile feelings towards Princess Tikva for calling for this duel, and if she feels my words were improper and that I crossed a line, by all rights, she should be calling me out for it. I've written what I have written, and I will let the Champions sort it out at this point.
Written By Shard
Aug. 14, 2019, 3:35 a.m.(8/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
These days, I hear the word wielded as a weapon or an accusation unless it's a sermon about Gild; and sometimes, even then. But the Compact does not own the gods, and it does not own civilization or the concept of being civilized, and it's good to be reminded, or to remind myself, that this is the case from time to time.
My tribe was not big enough to be called a civilization, I'm fairly sure. We didn't build houses, let alone villages or cities. We had to trade for any metal that we had. At the risk of exciting Elloise, we moved around nature, and with nature, rarely against it--but that was our way. Our traditions. That was how we wanted to live, and how it seemed best to live, for us. It let us move when danger got too near. It let us live in harsh, wild, frozen places far, far, far away from any place anyone here might call civilization, where the horizon was only ever broken by trees and mountains, not walls and towers. We could follow the herds wherever they went, unless they journeyed too far to the south and too close to danger.
Once, when I was still a child, I was away from camp helping the woman who raised me gather plants for her medicines and ceremonies when we found a half-frozen body in the brush. We pulled him free to a partially open place, and we built a little pyre among the rocks out of tree branches and twigs. He had no markings, no tattoos, no sigils, and no writings to tell us who he might have been, or where he might have come from, so there was nothing to say over his body as it burned away. I asked her, the woman who raised me, why we had spent valuable time doing that for someone who might have been an enemy, a member of the Compact, a member of a hostile tribe, or at the very least someone who was not one of ours. She told me that we all have to meet death one day, and sometimes it's nice if someone helps you to do it properly. "And besides," she said. "We're not /savages/."
My tribe was not big enough to be called a civilization, I'm fairly sure. We didn't build houses, let alone villages or cities. We had to trade for any metal that we had. At the risk of exciting Elloise, we moved around nature, and with nature, rarely against it--but that was our way. Our traditions. That was how we wanted to live, and how it seemed best to live, for us. It let us move when danger got too near. It let us live in harsh, wild, frozen places far, far, far away from any place anyone here might call civilization, where the horizon was only ever broken by trees and mountains, not walls and towers. We could follow the herds wherever they went, unless they journeyed too far to the south and too close to danger.
Once, when I was still a child, I was away from camp helping the woman who raised me gather plants for her medicines and ceremonies when we found a half-frozen body in the brush. We pulled him free to a partially open place, and we built a little pyre among the rocks out of tree branches and twigs. He had no markings, no tattoos, no sigils, and no writings to tell us who he might have been, or where he might have come from, so there was nothing to say over his body as it burned away. I asked her, the woman who raised me, why we had spent valuable time doing that for someone who might have been an enemy, a member of the Compact, a member of a hostile tribe, or at the very least someone who was not one of ours. She told me that we all have to meet death one day, and sometimes it's nice if someone helps you to do it properly. "And besides," she said. "We're not /savages/."
Written By Thesarin
Aug. 13, 2019, 11:51 a.m.(8/22/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Folk told me us in the woods wasn't civilized, and folk in the towns was.
So civilization seemed to mean every way folk without enough to do worked out how to make easy things hard.
But if we in Greenwood and Greenblood were civilised, then now I'm only more confused.
So civilization seemed to mean every way folk without enough to do worked out how to make easy things hard.
But if we in Greenwood and Greenblood were civilised, then now I'm only more confused.
Written By Corban
July 31, 2019, 8:21 a.m.(7/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
Thank you, Princess Tikva, for your song of the gods and their virtues.
As a knight, it brings me comfort, hope, and enjoy.
As a knight, it brings me comfort, hope, and enjoy.
Written By Mikani
July 24, 2019, 4:48 p.m.(7/10/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
At first I was going to write this from a place of hurt and anger. To defend myself. I have gotten good at defending myself. That those who questioned my motives of my betrothal or cheered those that questioned my motives were those that knew me. Knew my story. I took it personally that they questioned my integrity that yes there was love in my bethrothal but there was also benefit to the people of Byrne, Crovane and the Compact as a whole. Those that know my personal story know I don't act on passion alone. I was hurt. I was going to write this from that place and that mindset.
Yet I paused. I reflected.
Spending two days at the alter of Limerance and then some time at the alter of The Sentinel to think about my future. To think about the steps I was about to take. The oaths I was to make. It was then the white journal of Princess Tikva was made available. This isn't exactly what she said - yet the message conveyed was - Let your actions be your words.
This is how I have lived my life since becoming a noble. My actions have been my words and they have spoken loudly. My actions will continue to speak loudly as I live and breathe on this world. This is my motto now. Let my actions be my words. I certainly plan on talking and talking a lot.
I am in your debt Princess Tikva. Great peace has been granted. I hope my actions speak to my worth of that peace. Thank you.
Yet I paused. I reflected.
Spending two days at the alter of Limerance and then some time at the alter of The Sentinel to think about my future. To think about the steps I was about to take. The oaths I was to make. It was then the white journal of Princess Tikva was made available. This isn't exactly what she said - yet the message conveyed was - Let your actions be your words.
This is how I have lived my life since becoming a noble. My actions have been my words and they have spoken loudly. My actions will continue to speak loudly as I live and breathe on this world. This is my motto now. Let my actions be my words. I certainly plan on talking and talking a lot.
I am in your debt Princess Tikva. Great peace has been granted. I hope my actions speak to my worth of that peace. Thank you.
Written By Elisha
June 22, 2019, 12:55 p.m.(5/1/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
In the bow of the merchant schooner, you meet an Inquisitor who claims to protect the innocent and punish the guilty, to defend freedom and oppose slavery. She marries her beloved and in due time the Mother of Beginnings, who in that realm is named the Queen of Furrows, blesses the union with children. Then the world turns brighter, a blinding glare off a becalmed sea, and the Inquisitor loses her wife and children. The city she protects slides from her grasp; the innocent walk free and the guilty are enslaved. Half-mad with loss, she boards a merchant schooner and ...
"Tell me, what happens after that?" the thrall asks.
The Inquisitor travels by ship then caravan to a city that is suspended between two mountains, hanging over a void--a furrow that is both grave and womb. The city is bound to the rocky crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. Below the Inquisitor, a few clouds glide past; farther down, the city takes shape within a net which serves as passage and as support. Instead of rising upward, this city is inverted: the spires of the towers point downward from the bottom of rope ladders. There are hammocks, houses made like sacks, terraces like gondolas, baskets on strings, trapezes for children's games.
Suspended over the abyss, life in this swaying city is less uncertain than in other cities. We know the net will last only so long. We know the guilty and the innocent will change places again.
(She turns to me with her seafoam eyes and blood-striped back and says, "What do thralls want with freedom? We want their blood. To expect our gratitude is to consider us animals. We are more human than them. We will summon waves.")
"Tell me, what happens after that?" the thrall asks.
The Inquisitor travels by ship then caravan to a city that is suspended between two mountains, hanging over a void--a furrow that is both grave and womb. The city is bound to the rocky crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. Below the Inquisitor, a few clouds glide past; farther down, the city takes shape within a net which serves as passage and as support. Instead of rising upward, this city is inverted: the spires of the towers point downward from the bottom of rope ladders. There are hammocks, houses made like sacks, terraces like gondolas, baskets on strings, trapezes for children's games.
Suspended over the abyss, life in this swaying city is less uncertain than in other cities. We know the net will last only so long. We know the guilty and the innocent will change places again.
(She turns to me with her seafoam eyes and blood-striped back and says, "What do thralls want with freedom? We want their blood. To expect our gratitude is to consider us animals. We are more human than them. We will summon waves.")
Written By Preston
June 18, 2019, 3:52 p.m.(4/22/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
You have excellent taste in protogees, your highness. Dame Ida is a most skilled smith - but more than that, she is devout a true. A friend of the Templars, and a trusted ally.
Written By Alaric
Feb. 12, 2019, 6:11 p.m.(7/22/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
I'm still waiting for an epic verse about a scaffold.
Written By Vanora
Dec. 19, 2018, 1:35 p.m.(3/14/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
That song is very beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.