Written By Bliss
Dec. 27, 2023, 6:37 p.m.(6/13/1021 AR)
Huh.
Written By Bliss
Nov. 10, 2021, 12:04 p.m.(7/16/1016 AR)
Relationship Note on Roran
Are you fucking kidding me?
Written By Bliss
July 26, 2021, 4:10 p.m.(11/27/1015 AR)
Fine.
I'll come home.
I'll come home.
Written By Bliss
March 9, 2021, 10:37 p.m.(2/2/1015 AR)
The right person has the job now. I honestly held it longer than I expected to, the mantle chafing like a badly tailored piece of mail -- and in all the worst places. I couldn't be happier to see it go to someone so deserving.
So what now? Well, we have a wonderful tradition of past Radiants settling down into married life, or finding their calling in diplomacy, being living embodiments of state. Maybe the second could be interesting, I don't know.
What I do know is the first thing I'm going to do is get drunk and get laid. Utmost importance, those. Everything else can fucking wait.
So what now? Well, we have a wonderful tradition of past Radiants settling down into married life, or finding their calling in diplomacy, being living embodiments of state. Maybe the second could be interesting, I don't know.
What I do know is the first thing I'm going to do is get drunk and get laid. Utmost importance, those. Everything else can fucking wait.
Written By Bliss
June 11, 2020, 6:52 a.m.(6/15/1013 AR)
"Bliss, wherever have you been?" They might ask. Growing quiet in the White Journals, further distancing myself from the crowds, until, one day, people looked around and I was no longer there.
But a Whisper must have her secrets, and those secrets will remain my own, for now. I have not, however, been entirely absent from this world. Despite my brief trips into Arx, during which some few of you might have seen me, I've kept my ears and my eyes open. My, my, what a time of it there has been here. Battles in Piero and Sungreet, riots in the Lowers, things which would not surprise those who have been looking, who have not been so secluded in their little towers of gilded lilies to see that this web we all live on, this delicate thing upon which we are so precariously balanced, must constantly be reinforced.
The threads are everywhere, connecting us all, and nothing any of us does is without effect. Of course, each part has support from many others. But we can become convinced otherwise, that the particular node we sit upon is critical because so many things lead to it, and we seize and do not know what to do next. All an illusion. We can step away, breathe, let the reinforcing we've done hold its own weight.
I am tired from my journey back, and spiders are on the mind. My ramblings may not make the most sense, and I am not used to writing anymore, I fear.
I believe I have begun to heal from being healed, that the old, festering wounds that are finally closed can be left behind.
But I think I'm rather done with the bullshit. I was getting soft.
But a Whisper must have her secrets, and those secrets will remain my own, for now. I have not, however, been entirely absent from this world. Despite my brief trips into Arx, during which some few of you might have seen me, I've kept my ears and my eyes open. My, my, what a time of it there has been here. Battles in Piero and Sungreet, riots in the Lowers, things which would not surprise those who have been looking, who have not been so secluded in their little towers of gilded lilies to see that this web we all live on, this delicate thing upon which we are so precariously balanced, must constantly be reinforced.
The threads are everywhere, connecting us all, and nothing any of us does is without effect. Of course, each part has support from many others. But we can become convinced otherwise, that the particular node we sit upon is critical because so many things lead to it, and we seize and do not know what to do next. All an illusion. We can step away, breathe, let the reinforcing we've done hold its own weight.
I am tired from my journey back, and spiders are on the mind. My ramblings may not make the most sense, and I am not used to writing anymore, I fear.
I believe I have begun to heal from being healed, that the old, festering wounds that are finally closed can be left behind.
But I think I'm rather done with the bullshit. I was getting soft.
Written By Bliss
March 30, 2020, 2:57 p.m.(1/10/1013 AR)
After Everard, you'd think I would know that noble is a title and not a descriptor. So many who claim to be simply aren't. At least we can use them as examples.
Written By Bliss
March 25, 2020, 2:09 a.m.(12/26/1012 AR)
I have words to write about Sister Juniper. Let it simply be said for now that they are ones that should not be rushed -- nothing to honor her should be done in haste.
As for other matters, my, how people do talk.
As for other matters, my, how people do talk.
Written By Bliss
March 11, 2020, 6:43 p.m.(11/28/1012 AR)
Too much work, I think. After years of planning every small move I made, calculating how it would help me get what was mine, inching up and grooming my appearance and public persona, building credibility --
Work, work, all of it work, all of it always trying to make something happen. Before I knew it, I found myself well over my head. To the point I didn't recognize that I was drowning. That I was burying my frustrations in easy ways out, tying myself down to not have to think about things. And then, when I had everything I wanted, it's not really a surprise that things around me started breaking, is it?
Frustrations kept secret. Resentments held in because it was more useful to keep them quiet. Times I held back my tongue.
Trying to act like the fucking Radiant instead of remembering that I define what that office is, now, by my very presence in it.
I needed some time away. I tried coming back a few times already, but I tried to do too much, too quickly.
Three Voices should help.
I'm going to just focus on being me for a while, I think. The Compact is doing just fine.
Work, work, all of it work, all of it always trying to make something happen. Before I knew it, I found myself well over my head. To the point I didn't recognize that I was drowning. That I was burying my frustrations in easy ways out, tying myself down to not have to think about things. And then, when I had everything I wanted, it's not really a surprise that things around me started breaking, is it?
Frustrations kept secret. Resentments held in because it was more useful to keep them quiet. Times I held back my tongue.
Trying to act like the fucking Radiant instead of remembering that I define what that office is, now, by my very presence in it.
I needed some time away. I tried coming back a few times already, but I tried to do too much, too quickly.
Three Voices should help.
I'm going to just focus on being me for a while, I think. The Compact is doing just fine.
Written By Bliss
Nov. 22, 2019, 3:43 p.m.(3/28/1012 AR)
As Arx endures, we shall remember. We lose four shining examples of the best of us from the city, but I would trust few others.
Written By Bliss
Nov. 13, 2019, 9:38 p.m.(3/11/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Ingrid
This is a bad look.
Written By Bliss
Oct. 30, 2019, 4:03 p.m.(2/10/1012 AR)
It is amazing that as things seem to calm and we work to deal with the active, immediate threats, where all plans have been made and things sit until the spring thaw, we immediately start seizing on even the slightest things to keep ourselves feeling productive. Mountains or being made of even the shallowest molehills, and people are growing restless and getting more extreme while the cold seeps in through these walls. Now, we are all spending time showing how we are the best moral crusaders out there, that we are the ones most worthy of fighting injustices in the world, and so we work ourselves into a tizzy over who is selling what, and to whom, and where, and why. We all see the Faith proclamation and want to show we're willing to go farther, to be even more moral. To prove to each other that no, we are the most dedicated to this fight.
How inane. What a dull game to play. I hope it works, I truly do, but as I watch you all drive each other into extremism for these highly performative acts, I wonder if this is really the best method.
How inane. What a dull game to play. I hope it works, I truly do, but as I watch you all drive each other into extremism for these highly performative acts, I wonder if this is really the best method.
Written By Bliss
Oct. 10, 2019, 2:47 p.m.(12/26/1011 AR)
To the matter of embassies:
I stand with those who think that embassies belong to our allies. We do not need to grant our enemies sovereign soil in our city in order to treat with them. Let them stand on Arvani ground, subject to Arvani law, when they wish to treat with us. To that end, I am publicly offering a very simple solution to that matter:
If anyone needs to meet with officials from the Cardian Empire or Jadairal on official diplomatic business, I am willing to open the doors of Whisper House to let these matters take place. There, you may have your neutral ground, but we are not going to be conceding any of our own soil to those who have expressed a will to dominate and rule over us.
If this is something that interests you, please do write.
I stand with those who think that embassies belong to our allies. We do not need to grant our enemies sovereign soil in our city in order to treat with them. Let them stand on Arvani ground, subject to Arvani law, when they wish to treat with us. To that end, I am publicly offering a very simple solution to that matter:
If anyone needs to meet with officials from the Cardian Empire or Jadairal on official diplomatic business, I am willing to open the doors of Whisper House to let these matters take place. There, you may have your neutral ground, but we are not going to be conceding any of our own soil to those who have expressed a will to dominate and rule over us.
If this is something that interests you, please do write.
Written By Bliss
Oct. 10, 2019, 2:38 p.m.(12/26/1011 AR)
I leave town for a week, come back and find...
Well, I certainly hope people have learned their lessons. Call Champions and be done with it. Much, much cleaner.
Well, I certainly hope people have learned their lessons. Call Champions and be done with it. Much, much cleaner.
Written By Bliss
Oct. 3, 2019, 7:19 p.m.(12/13/1011 AR)
This decision was a unilateral one made by me as Radiant. I consulted no other members of Whisper House, I was not pressured to make it by any other member of Whisper House. I saw a ruling which I could not stand behind, and I decided to eliminate it rather swiftly and firmly. I still cannot stand behind it.
This isn't a matter of not understanding why it was made. I see the argument being presented: the visible similarities, the danger in putting a value on a human and selling them off. Yet I just cannot agree with it. I cannot, in my own conscience, tell anyone in my House "No, you have complete autonomy over yourself, but you cannot choose to contribute to a charitable event in this particular way." Perhaps that makes me less hardline about things than the Liberators, than the Legate of the Lost and Acting Archlector of the First Choice. That speaks massive good about him, but there is another side to all of this, and that rests on how Whisper House functions in the first place.
We have the most dedicated courtiers in all of the Compact, people who have dedicated their lives to learning the finer arts. We are entertainers, mediators, diplomats, but we also provide privacy and conversation, entertainment in the form of a dinner behind closed doors, of presence and peace of company, or of being an escort for someone to bring to a dinner to provide that elevated conversation to a crowd. We have trained to do these things, worked to do these things, and we put a price on our services - the price of a contract with one of us. An evening with a Whisper is meant to be a delight, and it is not usually free. Our presence is our labor, just as much as our appearance and our portrayal of ourselves. These are the skills we ply. We strive to make ourselves the best so people will seek our company and counsel.
Whispers already sell a few hours of our time for silver. I doubt anybody has the gall to call the work we do slavery. The reason is because we are hired for specific work, and we get the choice of whether or not to participate in that. The contract has a set limit, it is not a life sentence, and we are paid in kind for that labor.
One might notice there is very little difference in that work and the kind of time that is being sold at a 'date auction'. If anything, it is just a very specific contract being bid upon between people, where the proceeds will go to charity. Question the nature of that charity in this particular case all you want - that's fine - but the work itself is all part and parcel of being a Whisper in the first place. The thing being sold is our time and presence, a potential romantic evening with someone who you hope will make your heart sing - whatever the details, it is entered into knowingly, willingly, and temporarily.
If I thought that the very concept would devalue the people I work with, I would of course be against it. But it doesn't. If I thought it would be tawdry or gross, or that any of the people who work for Whisper House would be stained by it, I would have words to say - but what I see coming is an event made in good fun, where people are being cheered and praised, where money is being brought in to remove a stain on our society that we are collectively working to take out. To better ourselves.
I do not have illusions that all people are going to want to give up their thralls simply because it's seen as the right thing to do and there is pressure from the world. So if silver can ease that transition, I see nothing wrong with silver easing that transition.
But just like the fact that there are elections in Lim'Al'Ruus does not mean that the Commoner's Council is an invalid body or that my own position as Radiant is invalid, or the fact that Gildorian is the greatest bazaar and richest city in the world does not mean that we should dismantle our markets, the very fact that there is a similarity between a date auction and the methods of sale of human chattel does not mean that the former is utterly despicable.
I doubt anyone is going to be forced under threat of beatings or death to remove all their clothing, to be oiled up, collared, chained, mutilated, or broken just so that someone can hire them for a date night. They will not spend their lives in despair, yearning for freedom and an easing of their toil because they made some money for charity with their time. Their bodies will not fail on them and they will not die painfully young because they playfully flirt to try to free some of the people who are in those positions. Their children will not be ripped from their arms and sold across the continent, never to be seen again. They will not be seen as livestock after. They will not have difficulties coming back into society, or a lifetime of persecution from people who think they should still be serving, that they will never be seen as people.
Those are the realities of slavery. Trying to compare them to the socialite equivalent of someone spending their free time digging a ditch in order to help bring some water to a dry area is disingenuous, and I cannot believe that this, of all things, has caused this level of outrage and disdain from some people. We help where we can, how we can.
There are surely better uses of your time. There are certainly better uses of mine.
This isn't a matter of not understanding why it was made. I see the argument being presented: the visible similarities, the danger in putting a value on a human and selling them off. Yet I just cannot agree with it. I cannot, in my own conscience, tell anyone in my House "No, you have complete autonomy over yourself, but you cannot choose to contribute to a charitable event in this particular way." Perhaps that makes me less hardline about things than the Liberators, than the Legate of the Lost and Acting Archlector of the First Choice. That speaks massive good about him, but there is another side to all of this, and that rests on how Whisper House functions in the first place.
We have the most dedicated courtiers in all of the Compact, people who have dedicated their lives to learning the finer arts. We are entertainers, mediators, diplomats, but we also provide privacy and conversation, entertainment in the form of a dinner behind closed doors, of presence and peace of company, or of being an escort for someone to bring to a dinner to provide that elevated conversation to a crowd. We have trained to do these things, worked to do these things, and we put a price on our services - the price of a contract with one of us. An evening with a Whisper is meant to be a delight, and it is not usually free. Our presence is our labor, just as much as our appearance and our portrayal of ourselves. These are the skills we ply. We strive to make ourselves the best so people will seek our company and counsel.
Whispers already sell a few hours of our time for silver. I doubt anybody has the gall to call the work we do slavery. The reason is because we are hired for specific work, and we get the choice of whether or not to participate in that. The contract has a set limit, it is not a life sentence, and we are paid in kind for that labor.
One might notice there is very little difference in that work and the kind of time that is being sold at a 'date auction'. If anything, it is just a very specific contract being bid upon between people, where the proceeds will go to charity. Question the nature of that charity in this particular case all you want - that's fine - but the work itself is all part and parcel of being a Whisper in the first place. The thing being sold is our time and presence, a potential romantic evening with someone who you hope will make your heart sing - whatever the details, it is entered into knowingly, willingly, and temporarily.
If I thought that the very concept would devalue the people I work with, I would of course be against it. But it doesn't. If I thought it would be tawdry or gross, or that any of the people who work for Whisper House would be stained by it, I would have words to say - but what I see coming is an event made in good fun, where people are being cheered and praised, where money is being brought in to remove a stain on our society that we are collectively working to take out. To better ourselves.
I do not have illusions that all people are going to want to give up their thralls simply because it's seen as the right thing to do and there is pressure from the world. So if silver can ease that transition, I see nothing wrong with silver easing that transition.
But just like the fact that there are elections in Lim'Al'Ruus does not mean that the Commoner's Council is an invalid body or that my own position as Radiant is invalid, or the fact that Gildorian is the greatest bazaar and richest city in the world does not mean that we should dismantle our markets, the very fact that there is a similarity between a date auction and the methods of sale of human chattel does not mean that the former is utterly despicable.
I doubt anyone is going to be forced under threat of beatings or death to remove all their clothing, to be oiled up, collared, chained, mutilated, or broken just so that someone can hire them for a date night. They will not spend their lives in despair, yearning for freedom and an easing of their toil because they made some money for charity with their time. Their bodies will not fail on them and they will not die painfully young because they playfully flirt to try to free some of the people who are in those positions. Their children will not be ripped from their arms and sold across the continent, never to be seen again. They will not be seen as livestock after. They will not have difficulties coming back into society, or a lifetime of persecution from people who think they should still be serving, that they will never be seen as people.
Those are the realities of slavery. Trying to compare them to the socialite equivalent of someone spending their free time digging a ditch in order to help bring some water to a dry area is disingenuous, and I cannot believe that this, of all things, has caused this level of outrage and disdain from some people. We help where we can, how we can.
There are surely better uses of your time. There are certainly better uses of mine.
Written By Bliss
Sept. 22, 2019, 5:14 a.m.(11/17/1011 AR)
"Fire is cleansing, it purifies and refines. By its flame shall the chaff be burned away. Use it wisely."
When the destruction of an inferno has raged through, and everything has burned down, there are often very few things left standing. Those that are, those that remain in good condition, they are the things you can lean upon to move through. They may not have seemed important before, but due to sheer longevity, they hold a place now.
But that is not everything. When the ash is cleared, we are faced with a choice. Choose the next thing carefully. It is a blank slate, and from that, you can build whatever you want off of that. Whatever you build, make it important.
Make life something worth living.
After many years of service, I have left the Discipleship of Limerance. The constancy of the vows I swore to my self served an important base for me to follow, and they drove me forward in a way to achieve my goals. But I find myself running into something else now. Stagnation. Feeling the world slow down around me, and stop moving.
That is the one thing, above all else, I cannot abide. That is the one thing I will rip and scream and claw at once it has become too much. So, a change.
I am now a Harlequin. The choice was an easy one, once I was sure I would never, ever have to attend a birth. There has long been a call to me from Death - an echo that, I think, has resonated back with Her people. So here in the service of Our Lady of Terrible Puns, the Mother of Beginnings, I will make a new one. I will find my next steps forward to change the world.
Not Radiant. Not Champion. Not Disciple.
Not lover. Not friend. Not confidant. Not historian. Not servant. Not firebrand. Not celebrity. Not upstart. Not thief.
All of these things are things which will, in the end, be able to burn away and leave the core standing. There is only one word that I have ever found, that has ever captured the entirety of who I am. The one core thing that will continue forward.
I am Bliss. A name I gave myself, a name that has become mine far more than the one I am born with.
Only I am in control of what that means. I need to remember that.
The rest? Is chaff.
When the destruction of an inferno has raged through, and everything has burned down, there are often very few things left standing. Those that are, those that remain in good condition, they are the things you can lean upon to move through. They may not have seemed important before, but due to sheer longevity, they hold a place now.
But that is not everything. When the ash is cleared, we are faced with a choice. Choose the next thing carefully. It is a blank slate, and from that, you can build whatever you want off of that. Whatever you build, make it important.
Make life something worth living.
After many years of service, I have left the Discipleship of Limerance. The constancy of the vows I swore to my self served an important base for me to follow, and they drove me forward in a way to achieve my goals. But I find myself running into something else now. Stagnation. Feeling the world slow down around me, and stop moving.
That is the one thing, above all else, I cannot abide. That is the one thing I will rip and scream and claw at once it has become too much. So, a change.
I am now a Harlequin. The choice was an easy one, once I was sure I would never, ever have to attend a birth. There has long been a call to me from Death - an echo that, I think, has resonated back with Her people. So here in the service of Our Lady of Terrible Puns, the Mother of Beginnings, I will make a new one. I will find my next steps forward to change the world.
Not Radiant. Not Champion. Not Disciple.
Not lover. Not friend. Not confidant. Not historian. Not servant. Not firebrand. Not celebrity. Not upstart. Not thief.
All of these things are things which will, in the end, be able to burn away and leave the core standing. There is only one word that I have ever found, that has ever captured the entirety of who I am. The one core thing that will continue forward.
I am Bliss. A name I gave myself, a name that has become mine far more than the one I am born with.
Only I am in control of what that means. I need to remember that.
The rest? Is chaff.
Written By Bliss
Sept. 19, 2019, 9:41 p.m.(11/13/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Bliss
"Fire is destruction, and a fire unchecked can grow beyond boundaries very quickly. Use it carefully."
I am getting so tired of holding back.
I am getting so tired of holding back.
Written By Bliss
Sept. 18, 2019, 12:49 a.m.(11/9/1011 AR)
You would think people who think they are close to me would know me better than this.
Let it burn. It doesn't fucking matter, anyway. Life goes on, and better to shrug it off and keep going.
Let it burn. It doesn't fucking matter, anyway. Life goes on, and better to shrug it off and keep going.
Written By Bliss
Sept. 1, 2019, 11:36 p.m.(10/5/1011 AR)
But on a more serious note -
Take a look at what has happened in the west. With the tribes of Abandoned.
Discretion is a byword of our lives for a reason. This is a direct response to things people have said, and beyond that? The political ramifications of this are mindboggling.
One thing averted, something far worse now coming.
Take a look at what has happened in the west. With the tribes of Abandoned.
Discretion is a byword of our lives for a reason. This is a direct response to things people have said, and beyond that? The political ramifications of this are mindboggling.
One thing averted, something far worse now coming.
Written By Bliss
Sept. 1, 2019, 11:35 p.m.(10/5/1011 AR)
Partially, I find my thoughts turned to fashion lately. I have never worked with such a strange substance, trying to define an shape it to my body, feeling its resilience and flexibility both. It is a wonder in so many ways, and the workers at the Leather Paean have been excellent in trying to help make sure this goes as smoothly as possible.
Written By Bliss
Aug. 25, 2019, 12:03 p.m.(9/18/1011 AR)
It's always a shame when an artist runs out of new ideas and has to keep rehashing the same things over and over again. Sometimes it can be saved if the presentation is new and interesting, but alas, it seems that particular talent is rarely granted.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.