Skip to main content.

Written By Rook

Jan. 16, 2022, 7:06 p.m.(12/11/1016 AR)

The Race Across Arx may have had small attendance, but I do believe that everyone in attendance enjoyed themselves, and that is what matters!

I need to make sure that I am partners with Princess Denica Thrax whenever there is some kind of competition. She always ends up on the winning team...

Written By Rook

Jan. 9, 2022, 10:30 p.m.(11/25/1016 AR)

This time when I came home, the blood I was covered in was not mine. That did not seem to alarm Yasmine any less. Perhaps it is time to retire from a life of action...

Written By Rook

Jan. 2, 2022, 9:15 p.m.(11/11/1016 AR)

So this is what it feels like to be sliced open. I do not think I like it.

Written By Rook

Dec. 26, 2021, 11:04 a.m.(10/24/1016 AR)

Sir Audgrim Veilandir held a fantastic event to encourage unity, a gift exchange that fostered a sense of community. We need more events like these, where we all can come together. It is the best way to combat the forces which currently seek to tear us apart.

Written By Rook

Dec. 10, 2021, 2:18 p.m.(9/20/1016 AR)

Relationship Note on Jasher

I had the occasion to spend some time getting to know my patron's dear cousin at the Whispers gala. What a fantastic idea that the Softest had!

While we certainly have not become best friends, there was a certain earnesty to the conversation, and I am not sure if we would have had that opportunity otherwise.

That we were able to win the contest certainly helps - I suspect he is just as competitive as his cousin!

Written By Rook

Dec. 4, 2021, 9:22 a.m.(9/8/1016 AR)

Collaboration is always the best way to accomplish any task! I have recently announced the upcoming Race Across Arx, and am looking forward to the event. While the initial seed of the idea is mine, I shall have to remember to give credit to Princesss Lark Grayson, Guildmaster Caprice Artiglio, and my protege Sira for providing some much needed honing of the idea.

Most specifically, Princess Lark helped save me from what might otherwise have been a rather tone-deaf display in a manner I had not even conceived of.

I do hope that the event is successful both in generating some much needed unity and providing some much needed diversion in these times of strife.

Written By Rook

Dec. 3, 2021, 9:20 p.m.(9/7/1016 AR)

I had the fortune of running into a most intriguing noble today, Baroness Vaevici. She seems to have some great ideas for her House, and has news of troubles with supply lines to the south. I am wondering if the Silver Consortium can help ease their troubles...

Written By Rook

Nov. 28, 2021, 2:31 p.m.(8/24/1016 AR)

A story that I recently shared, that I think may hold value to others.

One day I was walking in the market and I found a girl, little more than a child, selling glass bottles that she had collected. Discards, of course, but she had carefully taken them, washed them, and was selling them on the street to passers by, at a significantly lower cost than the ones the merchants were offering.

I offered to the girl to purchase the entirety of the lot, at a small discount, and with the requirement that she assist me with transporting them, as she had a small wagon. She gladly accepted, thrilled to be done for the day but for the small task.

She and I set out to a tavern in a slightly more upscale part of town. After a brief negotiation with the tavern owner, I sold half of the lot, at nearly twice the price I had paid her. She began to protest as we left, and I reminded her of our deal. To her credit, she continued on.

We visited three other taverns that day before selling out of all of them, collecting on average twice what I had paid her. Some more, some less, but in total I had more than doubled my silver. Her mood soured as she watched her bottles gain me more silver than they had her.

After the last tavern, she looked up at me and asked if she was now free to go with her wagon. She wanted to set about collecting bottles again, for she was now without any inventory, and to be frank likely wanted to be away from me after seeing how much I had profited. I told her that we were nearly done, but that I had one last transaction. I offered to pay her for some information - where she went to gather the bottles that she sold, that she found them in perfect condition. She balked at this, and again, to her credit, refused.

I asked her if she had learned anything, and she said yes, that she should not trust people in fancy clothes. I laughed, and told her that may be true, but not necessarily in this case. I told her that the reason why I could profit off her labor was that she had priced her bottles too cheaply. She said she sold them at that price because she paid nothing to acquire them, and so anything she got was good. I asked her if the tavern owners cared how much it cost them to acquire the same from their typical source, or simply that my price was lower than they were accustomed to. I could see it start to dawn on her, and I explained that you should never undersell yourself based around what it took you to get where you were, but ask instead for what your customer is willing to pay. And of course that sometimes a little bit of a journey can find customers willing to pay far more.

As she absorbed the lesson, I could see the wheels turning within her mind. I made her one last offer - my pouch of silver, in exchange for hers. She looked at me in confusion. I told her that the pouch that now held my silver was one given to me, long ago, by someone who had shown me the ways of the market. And that it was my duty to pass it along with the lesson. She went home that night not with the tidy sum I had initially paid her, but instead with the sum that I had collected from the merchants. And I came home with an old, patched up pouch of silver, a reminder of the struggle that many go through when they allow others to profit from their work and sweat.

That pouch sits in my vault at the Silver Consortium, and I bring it out from time to time when I am asked to explain the details of the market. I know not if she has kept the pouch I gave her, but I will say that I saw her, from a distance, some months later. Pulling a larger wagon, filled to the brim with bottles. I had not even needed to tell her the value of re-investing her silver in herself.

Written By Rook

Nov. 27, 2021, 4:16 a.m.(8/22/1016 AR)

I have the most delicious idea for a game that could entertain plenty. I cannot wait to share details.

Written By Rook

Nov. 21, 2021, 12:04 a.m.(8/9/1016 AR)

The auction was a rousing success! We raised almost five million silver for the cause, and it truly seemed as if all were together and united for the cause. I will need a vacation to recover from the effort, but it was well worth it, in my opinion. I hope the Physicians find great use for the silver.

Written By Rook

Nov. 14, 2021, 8:07 a.m.(7/24/1016 AR)

Who would have thought that it would be so much work to convince artisans to take advantage of a free opportunity to get in front of the gathered nobility of Arx...

Written By Rook

Nov. 7, 2021, 3:21 a.m.(7/10/1016 AR)

It was an exhausting amount of time, but I have successfully liquidated half of the Legate's resources. As tired as I am, it is nostalgic to get back to the basics of simply negotating a sale again.

Written By Rook

Nov. 7, 2021, 3:14 a.m.(7/10/1016 AR)

I had not even realized how much I needed an uplifting talk until I was in the midst of it. Valencia is such a treasure, and has made me completely rethink how I have been going about my business lately.

Written By Rook

Oct. 31, 2021, 2:12 a.m.(6/23/1016 AR)

I feel like sometimes I get in my own way. I never seem to know how to quit when I am ahead.

Written By Rook

Oct. 30, 2021, 10:08 a.m.(6/22/1016 AR)

What an unexpected delight...it appears that I shall have an escort to the Masquerade after all. It would do me well to have an opportunity to exercise my social muscles again.

Written By Rook

Aug. 30, 2021, 6:06 p.m.(2/13/1016 AR)

The Spider's Journey. How much you are missed my dear Itzal.

Written By Rook

Aug. 30, 2021, 4:53 p.m.(2/13/1016 AR)

Things are looking good. House Clement's official membership in the Silver Consortium is just the start. Soon we will have the influence and wealth to create real change for people.

Written By Rook

Aug. 9, 2021, 6 p.m.(12/27/1015 AR)

Skimming through the journals I find a great poem written by Lord Savio Proscipi on the dangers of chasing a bear. One that I truly recommend to my peers. As the saying goes, 'Nothing good can come from chasing that bear-masked man Savio so drop it.'

Written By Rook

Aug. 3, 2021, 7:50 p.m.(12/15/1015 AR)

Nobles, especially those new to the Compact, should see the Whisper House when it comes to finding patrons or protegees. Their networks are vast and diverse.

Written By Rook

Aug. 3, 2021, 7:46 p.m.(12/15/1015 AR)

If I die, it was nice knowing you all. Wish me luck.

Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.

Leave blank if this journal is not a relationship

Mark if this is a private, black journal entry