Written By Perronne
Nov. 14, 2020, 12:14 a.m.(5/19/1014 AR)
Relationship Note on Zyanya
My friend,
You must understand the history of those who heap scorn on your head. I remember visiting Grimhall, years ago. The thing I first remember is how the sailors, stern Islander men all, took me carefully aside and warned me: step lightly in Grimhall if you are a commoner, a merchant, someone with no defender and no patron. I remember that advice sinking in as I stepped off the ship. The lot of thralls was never good. I mean, it's awful to be a thrall, and I never saw a happy one. Quite a few that their masters claimed were just so happy, so loyal. But you could see it in their eyes, the fear. The desire to be free.
But I remember the hollow cheeks and thin limbs of Grimhall thralls the most. I remember one unloading a vessel, falling to his knees. I remember the man who callously beat him back to his feet, and how with shaking limbs, he picked up the burden and set it back on his bleeding back. When you're a thrall, you earn a salary. Sort of. But your owner gets to charge you for food, shelter, clothing, whatever. In Grimhall, they would charge silk prices for soiled linen, Lycene wine prices for fouled water, and Merchant's Row rent for shacks built of three sticks and a tarp. Your 'debt' grows, moment by moment, day by day. And when you finally died, it would be passed onto your children. And they were worked from the moment that they COULD work, the chains dragging on the wood as they crawled over the ships, scraping away barnacles.
So, I know that it may seem super hypocritical for Islanders, especially Island nobility, to attack you, who had no power to make any changes in your land, who traveled so far to the Compact to see if you could find a home, when all their coin is built on misery, pain, and shackles. But please, be kind, and remember that they have to be able to look at someone else and say, "This person is worse than me." And it probably hurts that you don't hate that person, the person they can look at instead of themselves, right or wrong, and you don't hate that person as much as so many of their shackled victims have hated them over the years. And we're not all so inhospitable. Many of us learned different lessons than cruelty to those less powerful than us, I promise!
Also, we should get together for hot cider, soon! If you see this, drop me a letter - the stores are just about used up from the winter, and I'd love to knock it out with some cider and cake.
You must understand the history of those who heap scorn on your head. I remember visiting Grimhall, years ago. The thing I first remember is how the sailors, stern Islander men all, took me carefully aside and warned me: step lightly in Grimhall if you are a commoner, a merchant, someone with no defender and no patron. I remember that advice sinking in as I stepped off the ship. The lot of thralls was never good. I mean, it's awful to be a thrall, and I never saw a happy one. Quite a few that their masters claimed were just so happy, so loyal. But you could see it in their eyes, the fear. The desire to be free.
But I remember the hollow cheeks and thin limbs of Grimhall thralls the most. I remember one unloading a vessel, falling to his knees. I remember the man who callously beat him back to his feet, and how with shaking limbs, he picked up the burden and set it back on his bleeding back. When you're a thrall, you earn a salary. Sort of. But your owner gets to charge you for food, shelter, clothing, whatever. In Grimhall, they would charge silk prices for soiled linen, Lycene wine prices for fouled water, and Merchant's Row rent for shacks built of three sticks and a tarp. Your 'debt' grows, moment by moment, day by day. And when you finally died, it would be passed onto your children. And they were worked from the moment that they COULD work, the chains dragging on the wood as they crawled over the ships, scraping away barnacles.
So, I know that it may seem super hypocritical for Islanders, especially Island nobility, to attack you, who had no power to make any changes in your land, who traveled so far to the Compact to see if you could find a home, when all their coin is built on misery, pain, and shackles. But please, be kind, and remember that they have to be able to look at someone else and say, "This person is worse than me." And it probably hurts that you don't hate that person, the person they can look at instead of themselves, right or wrong, and you don't hate that person as much as so many of their shackled victims have hated them over the years. And we're not all so inhospitable. Many of us learned different lessons than cruelty to those less powerful than us, I promise!
Also, we should get together for hot cider, soon! If you see this, drop me a letter - the stores are just about used up from the winter, and I'd love to knock it out with some cider and cake.
Written By Perronne
Aug. 30, 2020, 7:25 p.m.(12/8/1013 AR)
I have met new people this week!
...okay, I meet new people just about every week. I'm a merchant, and it's what I do. But some stick out more than others, even though MOST people are interesting if you pay enough attention to them. But I think there's at least one who might be a decent new friend!
Also, I can't help but notice silk markets getting someone depressed with the release of the new materials of late. I might have to re-plot some of my caravan schedules to take advantage of the new demands. And I should probably start working on the third edition, but things are so unstable at the moment that I'm not certain any of my models even WORK anymore. And gathering new information will take months, by which time the situation might have changed completely!
Change is good, so says Lagoma, and so I believe. But it sure is INCONVENIENT at times.
...okay, I meet new people just about every week. I'm a merchant, and it's what I do. But some stick out more than others, even though MOST people are interesting if you pay enough attention to them. But I think there's at least one who might be a decent new friend!
Also, I can't help but notice silk markets getting someone depressed with the release of the new materials of late. I might have to re-plot some of my caravan schedules to take advantage of the new demands. And I should probably start working on the third edition, but things are so unstable at the moment that I'm not certain any of my models even WORK anymore. And gathering new information will take months, by which time the situation might have changed completely!
Change is good, so says Lagoma, and so I believe. But it sure is INCONVENIENT at times.
Written By Perronne
Aug. 23, 2020, 11:25 a.m.(11/21/1013 AR)
There are beautiful and wondrous people in the world.
Some of them are strange, and dangerous, and I don't pretend to understand the whole of how they came to be, but the world is better off for them being in it.
I think we should all remember that, and look for the beauty in the strange.
Without being a COMPLETE idiot about it, of course! Only half an idiot. Half an idiot is just enough of an idiot where you think 'I can definitely climb down that cliff' without going all the way to 'I can leap off that cliff and fly'.
Mark your idiot scale accordingly!
Some of them are strange, and dangerous, and I don't pretend to understand the whole of how they came to be, but the world is better off for them being in it.
I think we should all remember that, and look for the beauty in the strange.
Without being a COMPLETE idiot about it, of course! Only half an idiot. Half an idiot is just enough of an idiot where you think 'I can definitely climb down that cliff' without going all the way to 'I can leap off that cliff and fly'.
Mark your idiot scale accordingly!
Written By Perronne
June 23, 2020, 9:20 a.m.(7/11/1013 AR)
Hmm.
It feels like people perhaps have some ambitious and enthusiastic ideas about what the Commoners' Council can, or is supposed to do. That's great! But I feel like I should note for history, and anyone who might be reading this, that its primary function - what it was created for - is as an advisory body, and it's mostly around to give the Crown information about the things the Crown asks for. If people are running for the Council thinking that they'll be able to make laws or anything, that's going to be a disappointment. The Crown has always been polite and responsive when they've asked for information, mind you - in my experience, it's been harder to get people to tell us what they're thinking than it has been to pass that along to the Crown. The Council certainly has absolutely no say in anything that isn't explicitly about the Crownsworn in Arx - the Crown itself has very little say in the lives of the average commoner throughout the Compact - that's not even the Great Houses, that's usually Barons and local magistrates and things. For that matter, most of the common people I knew back home wouldn't care about the things that the vocal in Arx are very, uh, vocal, about!
Most commoners throughout the Compact don't spend a single day thinking about thralldom, or Eurus, or even the next province over. They'd like lower tariffs on things they sell, and higher tariffs on things the guy from the other province is trying to sell to compete with them, and enough food to get through the winter, and if you could arrange for more traveling performers to come through town during the quiet times of they year, they'd probably be thrilled. On the other hand, the idea that some Prodigals or random folk from Arx are 'advocating' for them would bewilder - and then probably offend -them. Not because they're bad people, but just because most people throughout the Compact don't really care about Arx, or what anyone in Arx with the exceptions of the King and the Faith have to say about things.
My recommendation, if anyone's interested, as far as who to elect for the Council? Picture each of the candidates in the room, talking with nobles and Crown representatives. Maybe even the King! If you wince, or if you think, "Oh, that sounds hilarious," then that may not be who you want to vote for. Or maybe it would be! I don't know. It's a good way to make sure that the Crown isn't interested in asking anything from the Council - and the Council serves exclusively at the Crown's pleasure. But either way, remember that you're not electing someone to govern, but to advise. And that there's really no way for the Council to poll half a million Crownsworn in Arx on every issue that comes up, so whoever it is will rely on their own wits and thoughts a lot, so make sure they have at least a few of both!
It feels like people perhaps have some ambitious and enthusiastic ideas about what the Commoners' Council can, or is supposed to do. That's great! But I feel like I should note for history, and anyone who might be reading this, that its primary function - what it was created for - is as an advisory body, and it's mostly around to give the Crown information about the things the Crown asks for. If people are running for the Council thinking that they'll be able to make laws or anything, that's going to be a disappointment. The Crown has always been polite and responsive when they've asked for information, mind you - in my experience, it's been harder to get people to tell us what they're thinking than it has been to pass that along to the Crown. The Council certainly has absolutely no say in anything that isn't explicitly about the Crownsworn in Arx - the Crown itself has very little say in the lives of the average commoner throughout the Compact - that's not even the Great Houses, that's usually Barons and local magistrates and things. For that matter, most of the common people I knew back home wouldn't care about the things that the vocal in Arx are very, uh, vocal, about!
Most commoners throughout the Compact don't spend a single day thinking about thralldom, or Eurus, or even the next province over. They'd like lower tariffs on things they sell, and higher tariffs on things the guy from the other province is trying to sell to compete with them, and enough food to get through the winter, and if you could arrange for more traveling performers to come through town during the quiet times of they year, they'd probably be thrilled. On the other hand, the idea that some Prodigals or random folk from Arx are 'advocating' for them would bewilder - and then probably offend -them. Not because they're bad people, but just because most people throughout the Compact don't really care about Arx, or what anyone in Arx with the exceptions of the King and the Faith have to say about things.
My recommendation, if anyone's interested, as far as who to elect for the Council? Picture each of the candidates in the room, talking with nobles and Crown representatives. Maybe even the King! If you wince, or if you think, "Oh, that sounds hilarious," then that may not be who you want to vote for. Or maybe it would be! I don't know. It's a good way to make sure that the Crown isn't interested in asking anything from the Council - and the Council serves exclusively at the Crown's pleasure. But either way, remember that you're not electing someone to govern, but to advise. And that there's really no way for the Council to poll half a million Crownsworn in Arx on every issue that comes up, so whoever it is will rely on their own wits and thoughts a lot, so make sure they have at least a few of both!
Written By Perronne
May 2, 2020, 11:54 a.m.(3/20/1013 AR)
Snow.
Snow snow snow.
This morning, I found that one of my shutters had popped open in the night, and a veritable avalanche of the stuff had been blown in by the wind. I don't know why I wasn't awoken by the banging of it against the wall - but then, sometimes when I sleep, I sleep very deeply, and I think I dreamed that it was music. Loud, bangy music. At any rate, it took a couple of hours to get the snow out of the flat, and then secure the shutter, and make sure that no small animals decided to take refuge in my house.
And then a messenger showed up with a stack of letters to go through! Which at least helped warm my fingers back up, and was actually rather delightful, besides! I also have a small stack of notes regarding various undertakings, not to mention an expedition that I'm going to organize for myself, with the intent to head off as soon as the thaw arrives. In between? Research!
Oh, and should anyone read this who has undertaken, or plans to undertake, efforts to help aid citizens in need through the winter or until the harbor opens up again - if you would like to petition for Crown aid, please contact myself or any member of the Commoners' Council with what sort of aid you'd like for whatever it is you're planning to do!
Snow snow snow.
This morning, I found that one of my shutters had popped open in the night, and a veritable avalanche of the stuff had been blown in by the wind. I don't know why I wasn't awoken by the banging of it against the wall - but then, sometimes when I sleep, I sleep very deeply, and I think I dreamed that it was music. Loud, bangy music. At any rate, it took a couple of hours to get the snow out of the flat, and then secure the shutter, and make sure that no small animals decided to take refuge in my house.
And then a messenger showed up with a stack of letters to go through! Which at least helped warm my fingers back up, and was actually rather delightful, besides! I also have a small stack of notes regarding various undertakings, not to mention an expedition that I'm going to organize for myself, with the intent to head off as soon as the thaw arrives. In between? Research!
Oh, and should anyone read this who has undertaken, or plans to undertake, efforts to help aid citizens in need through the winter or until the harbor opens up again - if you would like to petition for Crown aid, please contact myself or any member of the Commoners' Council with what sort of aid you'd like for whatever it is you're planning to do!
Written By Perronne
April 22, 2020, 4:36 p.m.(2/28/1013 AR)
AUGH.
I wasn't mad about the rain, because at least it washed away some of the winter snow and accumulated...stuff that gathers in a city during the winter. It's dreary, but manageable.
But now apparently my suppliers are telling me that they have to dock at harbors down the coast, and I have to hire wagons and riverboats to move everything, everything!, the hard way. Because of a whirlpool in the harbor. A whirlpool in the harbor. The harbormaster swears that it's just some artifact of the storm, and it will go away soon. I don't know much about the ocean, so maybe he's right. Either way, I'm donating to the Faith, praying extra hard for Mangata to take pity on us poor souls down here and...losing money. Luckily I don't deal much with staples, especially in the winter, but I'm going to have to pass these costs on to those of my clientele who can afford it.
Wagons! IN THE SNOW!
By Mangata's Merry Melons, this city gets weirder every year.
I wasn't mad about the rain, because at least it washed away some of the winter snow and accumulated...stuff that gathers in a city during the winter. It's dreary, but manageable.
But now apparently my suppliers are telling me that they have to dock at harbors down the coast, and I have to hire wagons and riverboats to move everything, everything!, the hard way. Because of a whirlpool in the harbor. A whirlpool in the harbor. The harbormaster swears that it's just some artifact of the storm, and it will go away soon. I don't know much about the ocean, so maybe he's right. Either way, I'm donating to the Faith, praying extra hard for Mangata to take pity on us poor souls down here and...losing money. Luckily I don't deal much with staples, especially in the winter, but I'm going to have to pass these costs on to those of my clientele who can afford it.
Wagons! IN THE SNOW!
By Mangata's Merry Melons, this city gets weirder every year.
Written By Perronne
Feb. 24, 2020, 8:51 a.m.(10/23/1012 AR)
Holy gods!
I apparently now own a trebuchet and a dromond.
I guess I'm ready to fight someone? Anyone want to fight? Can I put the trebuchet ON the dromond? Does that work? I guess I could try! I don't think it could go the other way around, unless it was a very LARGE trebuchet.
But, seriously. What do I do with these things?? I don't know how to sail a boat! But I could live on it, I guess. Ooh, and I could decorate it! I need paint! And silk! And maybe some gilding? I don't know, that might be tacky.
I apparently now own a trebuchet and a dromond.
I guess I'm ready to fight someone? Anyone want to fight? Can I put the trebuchet ON the dromond? Does that work? I guess I could try! I don't think it could go the other way around, unless it was a very LARGE trebuchet.
But, seriously. What do I do with these things?? I don't know how to sail a boat! But I could live on it, I guess. Ooh, and I could decorate it! I need paint! And silk! And maybe some gilding? I don't know, that might be tacky.
Written By Perronne
Jan. 11, 2020, 4:45 p.m.(7/17/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Mayir
The best welcome home I could get from the best partner I could have!
Written By Perronne
Jan. 10, 2020, 10:45 a.m.(7/15/1012 AR)
I spent several months on the road, and had a number of adventures - which are mostly recorded in the local Archives along the way, because who could wait to put down the most exciting of them? And carrying journals on long journeys is always a dicey proposition; it only takes one good rainstorm for words dedicated to Vellichor to just become a lot of wet sheepskin and ink blobs. Which, really, if you think about it, most writings already are. Maybe not wet. Except metaphorically wet? Is that a thing? What would it be a metaphor for? Melancholy? Wishy-washy? Points to ponder.
But that's not the point! The POINT is that here's something I didn't write down on the journey, but that I've been thinking about since coming back to Arx.
It was deep winter, and we were traversing the passes between the areas that are mostly agreed to be Northern and those mostly agreed to be Oathlands. I'm not gonna say which particulars, because that 'mostly' always starts a fight, and you could see it in those passes. It was easy to stumble upon old graveyards, or lost patrols in a myriad of livery, united in death as they never were in life. We had stopped for a rest on a mountain terrace, scrubbed mostly clean by the wind, and I noticed a gap in the rock face, a deep vertical slash in the stone. Now, it was only barely big enough for me, skinny as I am, but I was bored, and the beasts absolutely needed another few hours rest, at a minimum, so I grabbed a lantern and went exploring. If you've never squeezed yourself into a crevice with a city's worth of stone over your head, smelling the ice and the cold stone, I recommend it! If you wanna know what it's like to be entombed without that tedious 'dying' thing, anyway.
Anyway. I got through, and the crevice opened up into a sort of platform, naturally broken off from some long ago avalanche. It wasn't large, and it was icy; I tied a rope around a rock formation and my waist before stepping out on it and looking out over the sheer drop. The world spread out before me - only a small piece of it, but for a moment it felt like the /whole world/, written in perfect scale, for my eyes only. After the claustrophobic tightness of the crevice, it was doubly immense. I was so small! But, at the same time, I saw /everything/. At once humbling and intoxicating.
And for a moment, the space of a heartbeat (or maybe I should say a space WITHOUT heartbeat, because I swear everything stopped, including such silly things like 'hearts' and 'lungs'), I wanted to jump. Just spread my arms, and leap.
Not to die. I like being alive! The whole thing is pretty neat, and while I could do without blisters, I don't think rotting and desiccating would be an improvement. No, death wasn't on my mind at all. I just wanted to be a PART of that immense sky, and I had the crazy, stupid, wishful thought that if I leapt into the air, that in this place and at this time, the wind wouldn't let me fall. It would lift me up, and I could see everything just as the birds did, or the wind did.
I didn't jump. Obviously. I'm not an idiot. But I cried. They were happy tears, sort of. At least they weren't sad. And then they froze and my eyes hurt like five kinds of nasty, because WINTER does not appreciate DRAMATIC MOMENTS.
But it's worth thinking about, sometimes. What both humbles and exalts you, in your life?
But that's not the point! The POINT is that here's something I didn't write down on the journey, but that I've been thinking about since coming back to Arx.
It was deep winter, and we were traversing the passes between the areas that are mostly agreed to be Northern and those mostly agreed to be Oathlands. I'm not gonna say which particulars, because that 'mostly' always starts a fight, and you could see it in those passes. It was easy to stumble upon old graveyards, or lost patrols in a myriad of livery, united in death as they never were in life. We had stopped for a rest on a mountain terrace, scrubbed mostly clean by the wind, and I noticed a gap in the rock face, a deep vertical slash in the stone. Now, it was only barely big enough for me, skinny as I am, but I was bored, and the beasts absolutely needed another few hours rest, at a minimum, so I grabbed a lantern and went exploring. If you've never squeezed yourself into a crevice with a city's worth of stone over your head, smelling the ice and the cold stone, I recommend it! If you wanna know what it's like to be entombed without that tedious 'dying' thing, anyway.
Anyway. I got through, and the crevice opened up into a sort of platform, naturally broken off from some long ago avalanche. It wasn't large, and it was icy; I tied a rope around a rock formation and my waist before stepping out on it and looking out over the sheer drop. The world spread out before me - only a small piece of it, but for a moment it felt like the /whole world/, written in perfect scale, for my eyes only. After the claustrophobic tightness of the crevice, it was doubly immense. I was so small! But, at the same time, I saw /everything/. At once humbling and intoxicating.
And for a moment, the space of a heartbeat (or maybe I should say a space WITHOUT heartbeat, because I swear everything stopped, including such silly things like 'hearts' and 'lungs'), I wanted to jump. Just spread my arms, and leap.
Not to die. I like being alive! The whole thing is pretty neat, and while I could do without blisters, I don't think rotting and desiccating would be an improvement. No, death wasn't on my mind at all. I just wanted to be a PART of that immense sky, and I had the crazy, stupid, wishful thought that if I leapt into the air, that in this place and at this time, the wind wouldn't let me fall. It would lift me up, and I could see everything just as the birds did, or the wind did.
I didn't jump. Obviously. I'm not an idiot. But I cried. They were happy tears, sort of. At least they weren't sad. And then they froze and my eyes hurt like five kinds of nasty, because WINTER does not appreciate DRAMATIC MOMENTS.
But it's worth thinking about, sometimes. What both humbles and exalts you, in your life?
Written By Perronne
Jan. 6, 2020, 11:32 a.m.(7/7/1012 AR)
There is nothing like a long, long journey to make you appreciate a bed that isn't a public house or a bedroll inside a tent or wagon. I had spend a couple of years off the road, and then went back on it - and let me tell you, your feet punish you for that decision. Even though I'm now wealthy enough to afford wagons and horses, my feet lost all their callouses, and for a while, it was just blister on blister on blister.
Now I'm back, in Arx, and it feels good. It feels like home. I have a shop, which has filled with dust in my absence. I have factors and subordinates who are incredibly pleased that I can be reached by letters at a singular address again. I have goods! Oh, good gods and Gild's great galloping grins, I have so many goods. I even managed to do a little ruin-hunting while I was gone, and picked up some antiques for restoration and sale. The first batch already disappeared!
I mean, they were bought. They didn't actually disappear. And so far none of them have talked to me, or moved, or depicted any horrific scenes of devastation, so I count that as a small blessing!
Now I'm back, in Arx, and it feels good. It feels like home. I have a shop, which has filled with dust in my absence. I have factors and subordinates who are incredibly pleased that I can be reached by letters at a singular address again. I have goods! Oh, good gods and Gild's great galloping grins, I have so many goods. I even managed to do a little ruin-hunting while I was gone, and picked up some antiques for restoration and sale. The first batch already disappeared!
I mean, they were bought. They didn't actually disappear. And so far none of them have talked to me, or moved, or depicted any horrific scenes of devastation, so I count that as a small blessing!
Written By Perronne
Aug. 13, 2019, 3:15 p.m.(8/22/1011 AR)
While I've been gone, my various concerns have continued to mature. Which is great! Just absolutely great! I'm getting all sorts of interesting goods coming through my trade routes, my trading houses are humming along (with occasional hiccups, which is just the price of doing business), and so far, nowhere I've got a major interest has burned down. That's a very good thing and I pray that it continues!
But, it does mean that I have a surplus of capital at the moment. And money sitting in a bank vault somewhere is not money that is being useful; we like money to be useful!
So, I think I'm going to be looking for investment opportunities. Young businesspeople, craftspeople, those who have just arrived to Arx, or those who have been here for a while and have just gotten an idea for something they want to do! Assuming anyone reads this white journal while I'm still alive and around, if you should happen to be common, with a GREAT IDEA for something interesting and potentially profitable, that you just haven't been able to fund the starting costs for, please send me a letter! I'd be delighted to meet with you to discuss your plan, and the idea, and see if it's something I'd be willing to fund, and to what extent!
I think, in return, I'll ask for a return on the initial investment over time, or in-kind considerations, with a small bit of interest. Nothing onerous, but enough to make it clear that this is an investment and a relationship, not just giving people things! Not that there's anything wrong with giving people things, but that's not investment!
But, it does mean that I have a surplus of capital at the moment. And money sitting in a bank vault somewhere is not money that is being useful; we like money to be useful!
So, I think I'm going to be looking for investment opportunities. Young businesspeople, craftspeople, those who have just arrived to Arx, or those who have been here for a while and have just gotten an idea for something they want to do! Assuming anyone reads this white journal while I'm still alive and around, if you should happen to be common, with a GREAT IDEA for something interesting and potentially profitable, that you just haven't been able to fund the starting costs for, please send me a letter! I'd be delighted to meet with you to discuss your plan, and the idea, and see if it's something I'd be willing to fund, and to what extent!
I think, in return, I'll ask for a return on the initial investment over time, or in-kind considerations, with a small bit of interest. Nothing onerous, but enough to make it clear that this is an investment and a relationship, not just giving people things! Not that there's anything wrong with giving people things, but that's not investment!
Written By Perronne
Aug. 12, 2019, 3:14 p.m.(8/20/1011 AR)
Great good gods in their vaulting places of rest and reward!
It has been a LONG time since I've been able to just flop on my bed and not be moving or about to move. I never really expected Arx to feel like 'home', but I can't deny that it does, now that I'm back, and have brushed the dust off of my bed so that I don't sneeze all the time. Where have I been - the question that no one is asking, but I'm going to answer anyway, because the dozens of white journals left in shrines around the continent will probably not be easy to track down!
Everywhere.
It started with a request by one of my new factors to have me onsite to oversee some contract negotiations for local suppliers, but then there was some talk about some roads being washed out, and since I'm still working on the new Almanac, I of course had to ride out to see the damage and what revisions might need to be made. But then, staying over night in a village, I heard a fascinating story about a ruined shav castle that had recently been stumbled over during some land reclamation, so of course I had to go see it - and discovered a fully intact series of Pantheonic statues of just the perfect size for transport, but not so small that I actually want to lug them around everywhere, so I just went to the nearest major city to arrange their sale, and after that, some messages caught up with me that suggested now would be a good time to visit my factors in the Lyceum, so I headed down there for a bit, before swinging up to visit some of the interests I had in the Isles, and it's just been a lot of traveling!
And a lot of dodging armies going various places, too. Hopefully some of that will cool down, now, and let people get back to farming and making money! But now I'm back, some of my investments have matured, and I'm ready to get back to work. I mean, more work. I was working before, even if sometimes the 'working' was just riding in a wagon for days upon days upon days. Even then, there was reading and writing to do, I guess. But! I have a few ideas. And I need to make a few new connections.
It has been a LONG time since I've been able to just flop on my bed and not be moving or about to move. I never really expected Arx to feel like 'home', but I can't deny that it does, now that I'm back, and have brushed the dust off of my bed so that I don't sneeze all the time. Where have I been - the question that no one is asking, but I'm going to answer anyway, because the dozens of white journals left in shrines around the continent will probably not be easy to track down!
Everywhere.
It started with a request by one of my new factors to have me onsite to oversee some contract negotiations for local suppliers, but then there was some talk about some roads being washed out, and since I'm still working on the new Almanac, I of course had to ride out to see the damage and what revisions might need to be made. But then, staying over night in a village, I heard a fascinating story about a ruined shav castle that had recently been stumbled over during some land reclamation, so of course I had to go see it - and discovered a fully intact series of Pantheonic statues of just the perfect size for transport, but not so small that I actually want to lug them around everywhere, so I just went to the nearest major city to arrange their sale, and after that, some messages caught up with me that suggested now would be a good time to visit my factors in the Lyceum, so I headed down there for a bit, before swinging up to visit some of the interests I had in the Isles, and it's just been a lot of traveling!
And a lot of dodging armies going various places, too. Hopefully some of that will cool down, now, and let people get back to farming and making money! But now I'm back, some of my investments have matured, and I'm ready to get back to work. I mean, more work. I was working before, even if sometimes the 'working' was just riding in a wagon for days upon days upon days. Even then, there was reading and writing to do, I guess. But! I have a few ideas. And I need to make a few new connections.
Written By Perronne
May 12, 2019, 11:16 p.m.(2/4/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Fortunato
The rarest friend is the one who can walk with you down a lot of different paths, from the sweet, to the silly, to the sorrowful. Or all at the same time, and making snow people as you do. Being handsome in brocade and charming in anything at all doesn't hurt, either.
Half-making. We didn't finish. And that's my fault. But in my defense, he really needed to be pushed into the snow at that moment. Really! It was for his own good. And my amusement.
He'll probably get me back. That's okay!
Half-making. We didn't finish. And that's my fault. But in my defense, he really needed to be pushed into the snow at that moment. Really! It was for his own good. And my amusement.
He'll probably get me back. That's okay!
Written By Perronne
May 11, 2019, 8:51 a.m.(2/1/1011 AR)
Oh, dear.
It has been a while! I mean, for me to write. I feel bad about that - the Seraph from my childhood would definitely make unhappy noises about me neglecting my duty to Vellichor. But! In my defense, I have been writing a LOT of stuff, just not in journals. Letters, ledgers, financial plans, more letters, instructions to factors, requests to suppliers, MORE LETTERS.
There's been a lot of writing, is what I'm saying. And when it was all done, I've mostly just flung myself into bed and slept until I had to get up and start it all again. I've finally gotten a chance to reduce the paperwork to something of a dull roar, and be able to reconnect with a few friends, not to mention get started on other projects. I'm excited about them! It's all very exciting!
But I'm going to try to be better about the writing of journals. I don't want Vellichor to frown or be sad.
It has been a while! I mean, for me to write. I feel bad about that - the Seraph from my childhood would definitely make unhappy noises about me neglecting my duty to Vellichor. But! In my defense, I have been writing a LOT of stuff, just not in journals. Letters, ledgers, financial plans, more letters, instructions to factors, requests to suppliers, MORE LETTERS.
There's been a lot of writing, is what I'm saying. And when it was all done, I've mostly just flung myself into bed and slept until I had to get up and start it all again. I've finally gotten a chance to reduce the paperwork to something of a dull roar, and be able to reconnect with a few friends, not to mention get started on other projects. I'm excited about them! It's all very exciting!
But I'm going to try to be better about the writing of journals. I don't want Vellichor to frown or be sad.
Written By Perronne
April 7, 2019, 3:29 p.m.(11/18/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Thena
I wish to send the Grandmaster's second-in-command on an errand! I don't know what kind of errand, though. I could use some sticky rolls from that Uppers shop, and I would happily give him half the sticky buns as payment! Would that be alright, do you think? I mean, sure, using members of the Holy Church as errand runners is probably really offensive, but...STICKY BUNS.
Just think about it. Sticky buns.
Just think about it. Sticky buns.
Written By Perronne
March 31, 2019, 2:31 p.m.(11/4/1010 AR)
I've never really missed anywhere before.
I've missed people! I miss my family every day, even if that's a complicated sort of missing that is equal parts relief with sorrow. But I was happy to leave my homelands and excited about seeing what I've never seen before. Then I spent ten years on the roads, never staying anywhere for more than a few months at a time and always, always keeping my eyes on the horizon, planning the next leg of what I thought at one point would be an unending journey.
When I've been out exploring, and headed back to base camp, that's how I'd think of it. Like, 'back to the camp' or 'back to the inn' or on rare occasions, 'back to the manor' (when I've worked with nobility who were putting me up for the duration). But I've been in Arx for over a year now, and I find myself thinking at the end of the day, "Time to head home."
Home. A shop that is all mine, filled with bits and pieces of memories from my journeys, and above that shop, a modest set of rooms that I know so well, I don't even keep an oil lamp by the bed at night, because I can actually wander around in the dark without breaking my toes. I know the way it smells, where the furniture is, how it's going to react in all four seasons. My bed always feels the same when I roll into it, even if sometimes it has a person in it who needs to be gently hit with a pillow. It's nice! I would have thought that it would be boring. But it's nice.
The road still calls. And I'm still going to follow that call. But I'm going to miss Arx while I'm gone.
I've missed people! I miss my family every day, even if that's a complicated sort of missing that is equal parts relief with sorrow. But I was happy to leave my homelands and excited about seeing what I've never seen before. Then I spent ten years on the roads, never staying anywhere for more than a few months at a time and always, always keeping my eyes on the horizon, planning the next leg of what I thought at one point would be an unending journey.
When I've been out exploring, and headed back to base camp, that's how I'd think of it. Like, 'back to the camp' or 'back to the inn' or on rare occasions, 'back to the manor' (when I've worked with nobility who were putting me up for the duration). But I've been in Arx for over a year now, and I find myself thinking at the end of the day, "Time to head home."
Home. A shop that is all mine, filled with bits and pieces of memories from my journeys, and above that shop, a modest set of rooms that I know so well, I don't even keep an oil lamp by the bed at night, because I can actually wander around in the dark without breaking my toes. I know the way it smells, where the furniture is, how it's going to react in all four seasons. My bed always feels the same when I roll into it, even if sometimes it has a person in it who needs to be gently hit with a pillow. It's nice! I would have thought that it would be boring. But it's nice.
The road still calls. And I'm still going to follow that call. But I'm going to miss Arx while I'm gone.
Written By Perronne
March 30, 2019, 8:02 a.m.(11/1/1010 AR)
I love markets in the morning.
I love markets at all times of the day, I admit - they're loud and boisterous and filled with colors and smells and the sizzle of cooking meat from the food stalls and the shout of hawkers and the music of buskers on corners, and it's just beautiful! But mornings are best. When the produce is being just offloaded from the wagons, and the vegetables are at their most crisp, and the meat is being hung before the sun has a chance to get to it, and the live food is still sleepy and only squawks gently in protest. The air is heavy with POTENTIAL. And that's beyond beautiful. It's exciting and delightful.
I remember when I used to rent stalls at local markets, and how lovely it was to stand amidst my peers and compete and chat and complain all at once. Although I don't miss many parts of my days as a peddler, I do miss the sense of camaraderie, and the excitement of trying to draw customers and entice them into buying.
I love markets at all times of the day, I admit - they're loud and boisterous and filled with colors and smells and the sizzle of cooking meat from the food stalls and the shout of hawkers and the music of buskers on corners, and it's just beautiful! But mornings are best. When the produce is being just offloaded from the wagons, and the vegetables are at their most crisp, and the meat is being hung before the sun has a chance to get to it, and the live food is still sleepy and only squawks gently in protest. The air is heavy with POTENTIAL. And that's beyond beautiful. It's exciting and delightful.
I remember when I used to rent stalls at local markets, and how lovely it was to stand amidst my peers and compete and chat and complain all at once. Although I don't miss many parts of my days as a peddler, I do miss the sense of camaraderie, and the excitement of trying to draw customers and entice them into buying.
Written By Perronne
March 24, 2019, 10:41 a.m.(10/17/1010 AR)
Caravans!
I have a couple on the roads now - some delivering goods to Cascade Springs and my new trading house there, and then some to make initial investments in my new venture in Iasu. I worry about them - I've done what I can to protect the factors who guide the caravans, plotted out the safest, fastest routes I know, and all of that. But the instability throughout the Compact definitely has an impact.
On the other hand, it means that if you can get your goods through, profit is pretty much assured. It's not the way I'd prefer to reduce local competition, I admit, but things are what they are. I wish I were on the road with them, in some ways. Both because I fret over their safety like a mother hen, but also because the road is a beautiful place. So is Arx! But things are simpler on the road, just a few companions and a winding track that leads through quite a lot of wilderness before you. You never quite know what you'll face on the road, but you always know what you have to face it with.
The city is more complex, both externally, and internally.
I have a couple on the roads now - some delivering goods to Cascade Springs and my new trading house there, and then some to make initial investments in my new venture in Iasu. I worry about them - I've done what I can to protect the factors who guide the caravans, plotted out the safest, fastest routes I know, and all of that. But the instability throughout the Compact definitely has an impact.
On the other hand, it means that if you can get your goods through, profit is pretty much assured. It's not the way I'd prefer to reduce local competition, I admit, but things are what they are. I wish I were on the road with them, in some ways. Both because I fret over their safety like a mother hen, but also because the road is a beautiful place. So is Arx! But things are simpler on the road, just a few companions and a winding track that leads through quite a lot of wilderness before you. You never quite know what you'll face on the road, but you always know what you have to face it with.
The city is more complex, both externally, and internally.
Written By Perronne
March 21, 2019, 8 a.m.(10/11/1010 AR)
It's always a disappointment to see people who you still consider the kin of your raising and fellows of your heart fucking things up by the numbers, as it appears certain Oathlanders are doing.
I, of course, support the withdrawal of the Knights of Solace from those lands that seem to be Abyss-bent on murdering people who have bent the knee, and shattering some of the most deeply held traditions of the Compact and strictures of the Faith. Who breaks Sanctuary?? A complete moron, that's who, exceeded in moronity (is that a word? I don't think that's a word. But it's a good word! I'm keeping it.) only by those who shelter or defend such actions.
For merchants who will be affected by the dangers of the roads without Solace protection, I'm happy to use my Almanac data to map the safest and fastest routes AROUND those demesnes, but you're on your own if you want to supply those guys. Just remember: people who will break Sanctuary definitely can't be trusted to pay on time, in full, or at all.
As for Prodigals...gods above. They've done exactly what we've asked them to do. They've bent the knee, they've renounced their previous ties, and they're citizens now. Even the ones who still dress and act a little too much like shavvy bandits for my tastes are still OUR PEOPLE. Keep our bargains with them. Act with honor. You don't have to trust them, heck, I don't trust most people who've been in the Compact their entire lives, but slaughter is...well, it's slaughter. There's no such thing as a 'good slaughter'. It's not a word people use for good things!
Stop making all those Lycene jokes about Oathlander hypocrisy true. They're terrible jokes!
I, of course, support the withdrawal of the Knights of Solace from those lands that seem to be Abyss-bent on murdering people who have bent the knee, and shattering some of the most deeply held traditions of the Compact and strictures of the Faith. Who breaks Sanctuary?? A complete moron, that's who, exceeded in moronity (is that a word? I don't think that's a word. But it's a good word! I'm keeping it.) only by those who shelter or defend such actions.
For merchants who will be affected by the dangers of the roads without Solace protection, I'm happy to use my Almanac data to map the safest and fastest routes AROUND those demesnes, but you're on your own if you want to supply those guys. Just remember: people who will break Sanctuary definitely can't be trusted to pay on time, in full, or at all.
As for Prodigals...gods above. They've done exactly what we've asked them to do. They've bent the knee, they've renounced their previous ties, and they're citizens now. Even the ones who still dress and act a little too much like shavvy bandits for my tastes are still OUR PEOPLE. Keep our bargains with them. Act with honor. You don't have to trust them, heck, I don't trust most people who've been in the Compact their entire lives, but slaughter is...well, it's slaughter. There's no such thing as a 'good slaughter'. It's not a word people use for good things!
Stop making all those Lycene jokes about Oathlander hypocrisy true. They're terrible jokes!
Written By Perronne
March 17, 2019, 11:48 a.m.(10/4/1010 AR)
It can be easy to forget, when you're living in Arx, that a lot of people in the Compact don't really consider us one people at all. We're not, really, citizens of the Compact as such - I'm a Crownsworn, he's a Lycene (and not even a Lycene except to people outside the Lyceum - within the Lyceum, he might be sworn to Velenosa, or a citizen of Southport, or a member of a certain merchant family, and the idea of seeing him as a "citizen of the Lyceum" might seem to be ridiculous, because it's his /family/ and his small cadre of people he truly 'belongs' to, and everyone else is a potential rival, ally, or enemy, but not really "us". Very much "them".
I don't mean to pick on the South, either! While it's one of those places that jumps forcibly to mind when one thinks of rivalries and intrigue, the truth is that, as we're clearly seeing, the conflicts exist throughout the Compact. We're held together - to the extent we ARE held together - by tradition and alliances based on a sense of personal honor and the pressure of peers to keep each other in line, either through diplomacy, or force of arms. Unspoken and unwritten expectations that tomorrow will be very much like today, so long as no one starts kicking the apple cart.
But we are. We're kicking! Sometimes, it's for good reasons - I think thralldom is a tradition we have long since needed to consign to the dustbin of history, and I'm excited that there is at least some agreement on that. I think that the Isles and everyone else will be better, will be stronger, once it is gone and the wounds have healed, and that will happen all the faster if people didn't go out of their way to make things horrible. But they will. Some of them. But then, sometimes the reasons don't feel so great. I admit, I don't really know if people have thought through all the neo-noble elevations - I'm sure the elevated are very nice people, but there are other options for rewarding someone for being a nice person! Consider a purebred horse, or a really shiny necklace, before elevating someone and all of their heirs in perpetuity to the peerage, maybe. Side note: I like antiques and old, old heirlooms, and have absolutely no interest in a noble title. If it ever comes up and you need something that will cause a moderate amount of scandal as a reward. I will accept furniture! Small furniture. I don't have a really big house, and I'm not entirely sure of the sturdiness of the floor, so no ironwood armor racks or anything, even if they're made by Eris the Woodsmith from the Three Queens Era (but if you HAVE an ironwood armor rack made by Eris the Woodsmith, I'd love to see it).
Wait. What was my point? Oh, right, yes - good thing about journals, you can always read back to see where you wandered off the field. Basically: we're kicking at a lot of long traditions. Some for good reasons. Some maybe not for good reasons, but made way above my level of status or competence. But either way, kick kick kick. And people are going to kick BACK, because we don't really have a lot of us who see ourselves as 'citizens of the Compact' but rather 'members of X House/family/village/land', and the change in those traditions is seen as a direct threat on that identity. Things are gonna get surly for a bit. Dangerous. Unhappy. I think we're going to get through it, though. Most of us. We're just going to have to fight for what we really believe, whatever that is - and know that other people are gonna do the same.
I don't mean to pick on the South, either! While it's one of those places that jumps forcibly to mind when one thinks of rivalries and intrigue, the truth is that, as we're clearly seeing, the conflicts exist throughout the Compact. We're held together - to the extent we ARE held together - by tradition and alliances based on a sense of personal honor and the pressure of peers to keep each other in line, either through diplomacy, or force of arms. Unspoken and unwritten expectations that tomorrow will be very much like today, so long as no one starts kicking the apple cart.
But we are. We're kicking! Sometimes, it's for good reasons - I think thralldom is a tradition we have long since needed to consign to the dustbin of history, and I'm excited that there is at least some agreement on that. I think that the Isles and everyone else will be better, will be stronger, once it is gone and the wounds have healed, and that will happen all the faster if people didn't go out of their way to make things horrible. But they will. Some of them. But then, sometimes the reasons don't feel so great. I admit, I don't really know if people have thought through all the neo-noble elevations - I'm sure the elevated are very nice people, but there are other options for rewarding someone for being a nice person! Consider a purebred horse, or a really shiny necklace, before elevating someone and all of their heirs in perpetuity to the peerage, maybe. Side note: I like antiques and old, old heirlooms, and have absolutely no interest in a noble title. If it ever comes up and you need something that will cause a moderate amount of scandal as a reward. I will accept furniture! Small furniture. I don't have a really big house, and I'm not entirely sure of the sturdiness of the floor, so no ironwood armor racks or anything, even if they're made by Eris the Woodsmith from the Three Queens Era (but if you HAVE an ironwood armor rack made by Eris the Woodsmith, I'd love to see it).
Wait. What was my point? Oh, right, yes - good thing about journals, you can always read back to see where you wandered off the field. Basically: we're kicking at a lot of long traditions. Some for good reasons. Some maybe not for good reasons, but made way above my level of status or competence. But either way, kick kick kick. And people are going to kick BACK, because we don't really have a lot of us who see ourselves as 'citizens of the Compact' but rather 'members of X House/family/village/land', and the change in those traditions is seen as a direct threat on that identity. Things are gonna get surly for a bit. Dangerous. Unhappy. I think we're going to get through it, though. Most of us. We're just going to have to fight for what we really believe, whatever that is - and know that other people are gonna do the same.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.