Written By Skapti
March 22, 2020, 10:58 p.m.(12/22/1012 AR)
Relationship Note on Arianna
I realize given recent events with Lady Navegant, and also Lady (Archduchess?) Esera, and abundance of other personages wrongfully reported deaths recently, death may seem less permanent than it was before, but I assure, that's not really how this works. If this was a jest at such, it was in rather poor taste.
Written By Skapti
Feb. 9, 2020, 10:07 a.m.(9.639172453703704/22.79365740740741/1012.7199310378087 AR)
Relationship Note on Estil
Well, I can certainly see why you recommended the book you loaned. It was riveting, and kept me up long hours into the night to finish it.
Written By Skapti
July 28, 2019, 10:57 a.m.(7/18/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Viveka
A few weeks ago I ended up wronging one of the people I hold dear to me. We have not spoken since, and I fear the possibility we might not ever get back what we had because of my actions.
I miss the sound of her voice.
I miss the sound of her voice.
Written By Skapti
Feb. 5, 2019, 8:15 p.m.(7/8/1010 AR)
Over the past few weeks I've seen several people discuss the issue of thralldom, but mostly silks, or the occasional well-off commoner who believes they know something of a thrall's life. Few have I seen in the writings been thralls themselves at one point, or spoken to a thrall about such.
My name is Skapti Thrallson. It is not perhaps an imaginative surname, but certainly descriptive as to the providence of my birth. In a sense, I am only here because of thralldom. Had they not been taken as such, my mother and father likely never would have met, and I would not have been born.
They were not criminals, but war thralls, taken during two different raids on Abandoned tribes. This is not to say they were somehow savages, as many of the Compact views Abandoned. My father was both a skilled luthier, and a master of the lute, the lyre, and the fiddle. My mother, who now lives as a freed woman in Escuma, is a seamstress, a painter, and a singer with a voice like a songbird.
Due to their skills, they were better treated than most thralls. Favored, even. This favor did not extend to myself. My father tried to pass on his craft, and his musical talents to myself, but I had neither the patience, nor the inclination, nor the deftness of finger for such. As to my mother, an unfortunate 'accident' as a child left me with a voice as if I'd been hanged, so singing was right out, and I have all the creativity and artistry of a blind idiot flailing his arms, so painting was never going to be my calling.
The lord who owned their thrall price recognized this even sooner than they did, and so he saw to it that while I was fed and clothed, there was little else wasted on myself, that could be better spent elsewhere. I spent my days in the village, trying to do what odd jobs I could to earn some coin to avoid adding to my parents debt, and at times, lessening it some if by the most meager of amounts.
When I was twelve, I took a berth as a cabin boy as a trader, trying to squeeze every last copper piece out of any silver I earned. It wasn't enough.
If you really want to make money on the seas, and you have to do it fast, there's only three ways about it. One of those requires you to already have some coin to begin with, and I was too busy sending everything back to my folks to try and buy off their price before it was passed on to me, because if that happened my freedom was gone and I would never be able to earn the coin for my parents. The second gets you hanged in pretty much any sea you care to name if you're caught. The third wasn't much better than the second, but it was all that was left, and so I joined a reaver crew when I was fourteen.
A crew much like the one that took my parents as thralls. A crew with which I helped make other thralls, and worse besides. I'm not proud of it, but nor do I regret it. My mother's freedom was important to me. Theirs was not. Maybe that makes me an arsehole. I do not care. I would do it again.
When my father died, crushed by a run away grain cart, while walking home, my mother's price had been paid, but his had not. I received the news of my new found status as a thrall when we entered port. I did not have enough silver to cover the debt. It was paid, anyhow. By men most would call heartless bastards, but that is not important.
I guess I'm writing all of this to say I know exactly the plight of most thralls. And I know it's a hard lot, and not easy to break free, but it can be done, with a bit of luck.
I should likely object to the practice, but I find myself only doing so to a point. If it weren't for thralls, my parents would have likely been slaughtered rather than taken. Most thralls in the Isles are Abandoned war thralls, but many others are criminals, guilty of crimes for which the alternative is the hangman's noose.
Many think the total abolition of thralldom a great thing, but even with what I've experienced, I disagree. I won't try to polish a piece of shite and call it a jewel, but if I were found guilty of a crime and given the choice between death and being a thrall, I know which I'd choose. And if I was an Abandoned, and the choice was a sword in the gut, or being taken as thrall, I'd choose the same.
You've already abolished debt inheritance. You've already abolished the making of child thralls. More or less, you've already won. All you do now by removing thralldom is sentence people to death that might otherwise not be. Rather than try to tear down the system as a whole, instead focus on what matters, which is the remaining forty thousand child thralls that were made before it was illegal. Work to free them if you will, but then let the matter rest.
My name is Skapti Thrallson. It is not perhaps an imaginative surname, but certainly descriptive as to the providence of my birth. In a sense, I am only here because of thralldom. Had they not been taken as such, my mother and father likely never would have met, and I would not have been born.
They were not criminals, but war thralls, taken during two different raids on Abandoned tribes. This is not to say they were somehow savages, as many of the Compact views Abandoned. My father was both a skilled luthier, and a master of the lute, the lyre, and the fiddle. My mother, who now lives as a freed woman in Escuma, is a seamstress, a painter, and a singer with a voice like a songbird.
Due to their skills, they were better treated than most thralls. Favored, even. This favor did not extend to myself. My father tried to pass on his craft, and his musical talents to myself, but I had neither the patience, nor the inclination, nor the deftness of finger for such. As to my mother, an unfortunate 'accident' as a child left me with a voice as if I'd been hanged, so singing was right out, and I have all the creativity and artistry of a blind idiot flailing his arms, so painting was never going to be my calling.
The lord who owned their thrall price recognized this even sooner than they did, and so he saw to it that while I was fed and clothed, there was little else wasted on myself, that could be better spent elsewhere. I spent my days in the village, trying to do what odd jobs I could to earn some coin to avoid adding to my parents debt, and at times, lessening it some if by the most meager of amounts.
When I was twelve, I took a berth as a cabin boy as a trader, trying to squeeze every last copper piece out of any silver I earned. It wasn't enough.
If you really want to make money on the seas, and you have to do it fast, there's only three ways about it. One of those requires you to already have some coin to begin with, and I was too busy sending everything back to my folks to try and buy off their price before it was passed on to me, because if that happened my freedom was gone and I would never be able to earn the coin for my parents. The second gets you hanged in pretty much any sea you care to name if you're caught. The third wasn't much better than the second, but it was all that was left, and so I joined a reaver crew when I was fourteen.
A crew much like the one that took my parents as thralls. A crew with which I helped make other thralls, and worse besides. I'm not proud of it, but nor do I regret it. My mother's freedom was important to me. Theirs was not. Maybe that makes me an arsehole. I do not care. I would do it again.
When my father died, crushed by a run away grain cart, while walking home, my mother's price had been paid, but his had not. I received the news of my new found status as a thrall when we entered port. I did not have enough silver to cover the debt. It was paid, anyhow. By men most would call heartless bastards, but that is not important.
I guess I'm writing all of this to say I know exactly the plight of most thralls. And I know it's a hard lot, and not easy to break free, but it can be done, with a bit of luck.
I should likely object to the practice, but I find myself only doing so to a point. If it weren't for thralls, my parents would have likely been slaughtered rather than taken. Most thralls in the Isles are Abandoned war thralls, but many others are criminals, guilty of crimes for which the alternative is the hangman's noose.
Many think the total abolition of thralldom a great thing, but even with what I've experienced, I disagree. I won't try to polish a piece of shite and call it a jewel, but if I were found guilty of a crime and given the choice between death and being a thrall, I know which I'd choose. And if I was an Abandoned, and the choice was a sword in the gut, or being taken as thrall, I'd choose the same.
You've already abolished debt inheritance. You've already abolished the making of child thralls. More or less, you've already won. All you do now by removing thralldom is sentence people to death that might otherwise not be. Rather than try to tear down the system as a whole, instead focus on what matters, which is the remaining forty thousand child thralls that were made before it was illegal. Work to free them if you will, but then let the matter rest.
Written By Skapti
Jan. 31, 2019, 10:53 a.m.(6/26/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Victus
You just know some dumb ass is going to stab themselves while trying to scratch their own arse, y'grace.
Written By Skapti
Jan. 20, 2019, 4:26 p.m.(6/4/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
Don't mind Fiora, Officer Fatchforth. She's just one of the silks as thinks being a noble somehow makes her inherently wiser than the rest of us.
Written By Skapti
Dec. 8, 2018, 7:57 p.m.(2/20/1010 AR)
Went to Sorrel's Metallic Song bit the other night. This one was on Cobalt. Brought one of the blades we found to it. Don't hardly ever wear it typically. Not my style. If you're gonna go to a concert about them though, seems only fitting to bring one of the first set that was ever recovered though, don't it?
In any case, an old acquaintance, Ian was there. Gave him a place on my ship years back for a few runs to help him get his footing. Seems the young man's gone and got himself married. Knocked her up and everything.
Others, as well of course. Aella, and her brother, Cadern, though I don't know him nearly as well. That Thrall Champion, Caspian I saw I think. Some princes and princesses... Don't think I'll ever get used to that. Reasonably sure I'd be hanged before I sat a table with any of a High Lord's family, much less multiple.
In any case, an old acquaintance, Ian was there. Gave him a place on my ship years back for a few runs to help him get his footing. Seems the young man's gone and got himself married. Knocked her up and everything.
Others, as well of course. Aella, and her brother, Cadern, though I don't know him nearly as well. That Thrall Champion, Caspian I saw I think. Some princes and princesses... Don't think I'll ever get used to that. Reasonably sure I'd be hanged before I sat a table with any of a High Lord's family, much less multiple.
Written By Skapti
Dec. 2, 2018, 8:10 p.m.(2/8/1010 AR)
The Leatherback made harbor in Arx last night. I thought perhaps the journey south might bring some warmth, but apparently it's as cold as a witch's tits here in Arx just like out at sea in the northern isles. I still need to speak with Turo, but at least I can rest my bones by a warm fire now while I wait.
Written By Skapti
Sept. 17, 2017, 1:18 p.m.(3/24/1007 AR)
I'm off to look for magical, elven made weapons, in the company of two Swords, a princess, and an admiral as the captain of my own ship.
Where the fuck did I go wrong with my life?
I offer my prayers to Mangata and the Dark Thirteenth that our mission is successful.
For those who've passed on, and have yet to do so, both.
Where the fuck did I go wrong with my life?
I offer my prayers to Mangata and the Dark Thirteenth that our mission is successful.
For those who've passed on, and have yet to do so, both.
Written By Skapti
Aug. 20, 2017, 11:32 p.m.(1/22/1007 AR)
Relationship Note on Aksel
Fucker hits like a falling main mast.
Written By Skapti
Aug. 3, 2017, 6:38 p.m.(12/15/1006 AR)
Relationship Note on Edward
Damnit, they've got you doing it, too, now.
Written By Skapti
Aug. 2, 2017, 1:31 p.m.(12/13/1006 AR)
Fucking mainlanders and their fucking sea puns.
Written By Skapti
July 22, 2017, 3:45 p.m.(11/19/1006 AR)
I think I'm going to need a sturdier desk. Shit.
Written By Skapti
July 13, 2017, 6:42 p.m.(11/1/1006 AR)
I was once told that I had the most brilliant perfume of rum, ginger and tobacco leaf, and they asked where the apothecary I purchased it from was. They were rather put out when I said I wasn't wearing any damn perfume.
Written By Skapti
July 10, 2017, 5:13 p.m.(10/23/1006 AR)
Marriage I would think is something I'll likely never have to worry about, thankfully.
Written By Skapti
July 8, 2017, 4:18 p.m.(10/19/1006 AR)
Relationship Note on Gian
So, apparently sparring with damned giants leads to headaches. Man hit like a bloody falling boulder. About as tough as one too, wrapped up in all that steel.
Written By Skapti
July 8, 2017, 1:54 p.m.(10/19/1006 AR)
Captain Skapti Thrallson of the Leatherback, flagship of the Navegant fleet.
If my father were still alive to read that he'd die of laughter. He always figured I was bound to be hanged someday for piracy, and I tended to agree with him. I guess there's still a chance I might, but it looks slimmer than it once did, for sure.
Apparently being a respectable member of society, and not a bloodydamn reaver means paperwork. I think my entire life is paperwork now.
Somedays, I think Turo did me a solid in taking me in. Others, I think he just wanted to do less of the damn paperwork himself.
If my father were still alive to read that he'd die of laughter. He always figured I was bound to be hanged someday for piracy, and I tended to agree with him. I guess there's still a chance I might, but it looks slimmer than it once did, for sure.
Apparently being a respectable member of society, and not a bloodydamn reaver means paperwork. I think my entire life is paperwork now.
Somedays, I think Turo did me a solid in taking me in. Others, I think he just wanted to do less of the damn paperwork himself.
Written By Skapti
June 24, 2017, 3:06 a.m.(9/18/1006 AR)
Relationship Note on Abbas
A reaver's reaver, this one seems. If perhaps a bit too into his cups at times.
Written By Skapti
June 24, 2017, 12:53 a.m.(9/18/1006 AR)
Relationship Note on Marian
Finally met Count Turo today, during the duel between Dagon and Dominic. Dagon absolutely destroyed the man. It was over as soon as it started.
Anyhow, it seems someone is coming by to visit Turo and he's peeved at Regi about it. Not sure what that's about.
In other news, we'll be getting some tutoring in the finer parts of swordplay from some Valardin woman, name of Marian. She taught Dagon it seems, so if she's half as good as he is, it'll be worth it.
Anyhow, it seems someone is coming by to visit Turo and he's peeved at Regi about it. Not sure what that's about.
In other news, we'll be getting some tutoring in the finer parts of swordplay from some Valardin woman, name of Marian. She taught Dagon it seems, so if she's half as good as he is, it'll be worth it.
Written By Skapti
June 24, 2017, 12:50 a.m.(9/18/1006 AR)
Relationship Note on Regla
I've been taken on as a vassal for House Navegant by Regi. It seems she speaks with her brother's voice. We'll have to see where this leads, I suppose.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.