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Written By Vitalis

Dec. 28, 2022, 10:13 p.m.(2/18/1019 AR)

I find myself wondering what Savio has to say about the humble turnip.

Written By Vitalis

April 18, 2022, 8:24 a.m.(6/26/1017 AR)

Relationship Note on Kiera

True friendship is an invaluable treasure. I have found such a friend in the Lady Kiera Wyvernheart. And while I've said as much to her, it bears acknowledging to the world and the Dream at large. Life's burdens are lighter, and darknesses brighter, for the company of friends like this.

Written By Vitalis

Nov. 30, 2021, 5:11 a.m.(8/28/1016 AR)

Relationship Note on Harlex

I was referring to the Slaver, not Skald. I've been thinking on a recent reading, the relevant bit: "...any sort of grouping of humans implies a dehumanization that is how the Tyrant of Chains draws its strength."

That same text also calls for such groupings to keep individuals in mind. So who is making the call for unity matters.

I'd add that *an* opposite of unity is strife. Another is dissent or disagreement, which could be strife, but doesn't have to be - like this.

It was a thought exercise in extremes. Unsurprisingly ill-fitting as extremes tend to be. I have a lot to learn and welcome constructive exchanges.

Written By Vitalis

Nov. 29, 2021, 3:43 a.m.(8/25/1016 AR)

If there was a god of unity, wouldn't it be Skald's reflection?

Written By Vitalis

Nov. 20, 2021, 6:35 p.m.(8/9/1016 AR)

By its nature, a path has been so often tread that it became a path. If there is no path ahead, it is likely that none have been where you are going and it is yours to blaze. Or, another possibility, you have arrived.

Written By Vitalis

Oct. 25, 2021, 1:43 p.m.(6/12/1016 AR)

Relationship Note on Oswyn

It is not often I write for purposes other than reports or correspondence. I recently did and had the results illuminated by Brother Oswyn to breathtaking effect. He is Archscholar Oswyn now and congratulations ...to all of us! There is not a more conscientious curator of knowledge, who cares down to the tiniest detail and shares well and freely.

It is a heavy mantle he dons and the late Archscholar Sina was much beloved, though I see good things for the Scholarship and the Archive under his stewardship.

Written By Vitalis

July 29, 2021, 9:51 p.m.(12/5/1015 AR)

I do not often feel regret. I am feeling it now. To have said 'this upsets me' rather than 'how can I help?'

The former because I couldn't envision the latter and that wasn't the important part. I didn't need to know. Only to ask.

And so I ask: how can I help?

Written By Vitalis

July 23, 2021, 2:02 a.m.(11/20/1015 AR)

A scholar is writing this for me because my hands are still shaking too much to properly hold a quill.

I can see.

I don't even know where to begin.

Scratch that -- I do.

Written By Vitalis

July 12, 2021, 2:31 p.m.(10/27/1015 AR)

Relationship Note on Cambria

I've a morning routine lends itself to reflection. We joke that I *am* the crack of dawn as reports from the very fine whip made for me by Apollo Malespero ricochet around the garden. One of the things I reflected on recently was an offering to the White Record by Duchess Mazetti, that deep down everybody wants to be 'the one' for somebody. A strongly stated position, and thought provoking. Replies were varied and valid, and I offer this.

Speaking for myself, I would modify the sentiment to say that there is something ineffably sweet about being 'the first' rather than 'the one.' The first person someone wants to tell good news. The first person they turn to when hurt. The first face they want to see. One person may have many 'firsts' they reach for as connections are not singular, nor our relationships, nor our loves. It is a delight and a solace for me to have that 'one' embodied in many. It is a great gift be or have been that for another.

I hope that any who long for this find it in their lives.

Written By Vitalis

May 30, 2021, 8:20 p.m.(7/25/1015 AR)

Thank you, messere, who graciously described the night sky to me such that it will live a little longer in memory.

Dusting of diamond stars, brightness of the moon, and subtle velvet of the dark canvas beyond it all.

I pray that your dreams are full of music and your music is full of dreams.

Written By Vitalis

May 18, 2021, 9:28 a.m.(6/28/1015 AR)

Relationship Note on Apollo

I have been given a most remarkable gift. A reminder that the purpose of something is not fixed.

It is easy to forget this, to regard the acorn and not recognize the oak. To regard the oak and not recognize the acorn. That forget that growth and change, to grow big and small and big again, all happens in its time. Is happening all the time.

We are all both oak and acorn. The slow growth of our choices, and the small, quiet potential of what we will become.

Shade, strength, shelter, sustenance.

I never told you this, Apollo, but I always thought the name Oakhide was so limiting. So specific. Had so little to do with leather. In a manner of speaking, I was right. Oakhide has nothing at all to do with leather.

It is the spirit of transformation itself.

You always knew.

I am the acorn today. And the oak standing sentinel. I am the whisper of wind in the leaves and shelter from the sun. I am the axe and the artisan. I am the page to remember and the oath to ensure. I am the fire leaping on logs and smoke rising to the stars above.

And I have only just begun.

Written By Vitalis

May 11, 2021, 2:05 p.m.(6/15/1015 AR)

I've studied symbols, glyphs, sigils, and other ways of communicating for the better part of a decade and I've never come across any symbol like the one drawn by Marquessa Igniseri and mentioned by Scholar Oswyn. What is it? It's so simple, how is it not present in the Great Archive. Well. I may know the answer to that, but... it has caught my fancy. If you know anything about it, I would very much like to speak with you.

Written By Vitalis

April 26, 2021, 9:24 p.m.(5/13/1015 AR)

Relationship Note on Dycard

One answer, Lord Blackshore, is that a game, or a song, a play, truly anything meant to be experienced by others isn't finished at a desk, but with its intended audience. Revisions made, lyrics changed, rules adjusted. Find people who will give you their unvarnished opinions, and trust what they say.

But I am no entertainer, perhaps some who are can weigh in about their processes.

Written By Vitalis

April 25, 2021, 7:18 p.m.(5/11/1015 AR)

A personal, though largely unused, sigil of mine is a lantern. It was ever my aim to seek the unlit paths and blaze a trail for others or to learn what could be found in the doing. In recent years that lamp has burned low, the paths I tread have already been explored, or are for someone else, or are dead ends with no next step I can discern. And, yes, these are all answers to the question that always lingers on my tongue and in my mind: What will I find over there?

But I have found the answers unsatisfying. I do not know where to go next or what to seek.

On reflection, I am reminded of something my grandmother Clemenza once told me when I'd complained to her that I'd done everything there was to do and everything was so terribly boring. What she said to me then shaped me into the man I have become. 'Vitalis,' she said, 'There is always something new. You have to pay attention.'

I have forgotten this lesson, I think.

Written By Vitalis

March 4, 2021, 4:59 a.m.(1/18/1015 AR)

I return to an Arx bleaker than I left it. Mentors, friends, kin... murdered, dead, missing. War approaching. It's as if the Queen awoke from some fugue and hurries to catch up.

My late cousin, Count Giulio, urged me in a posthumously delivered letter to remember that though I have walked in shadow I have not lost the heart of myself. He said it was a rare trait. I'm not sure about that. I know many who walk in darkness and shine still.

In that spirit, however, I have some light to share in his honor. Light Giulio helped me spark into life. Not just Count Giulio, but also the Lady Mikani Crovane, and my dear Apollo, Whisper and Guildmaster of the Crafter's Guild.

After years of study, refinement, trial, error, and more refinement - Arvani hand language is complete.

It is a language of gesture that will be useful for scholars communicating in the hush of the Archives, for scouts in the field, and for those who cannot otherwise speak or hear. At one time, I thought to create it and teach it only to my confederates. Strategic. Clever. But now I dedicate it to the memory of my cousin Giulio who always shared his knowledge freely, to Vellichor, the guardian of that knowledge.

That I can 'speak' this language, but no longer 'read' it is an irony not lost on me. I wish I could share it with Giulio finally. Perhaps I will go 'speak' my prayers at the Queen's Shrine and some passing psychopomp can ferry them to his eyes.

If you wish to learn, you have only to ask.

Written By Vitalis

Jan. 31, 2021, 10:24 p.m.(11/9/1014 AR)

Relationship Note on Sydney

You should talk with Deva, she may have found a way around your skepticism.

For what it's worth - I agree. We do not live in a world of absolutes.

Written By Vitalis

Jan. 31, 2021, 10:16 p.m.(11/9/1014 AR)

It is a terrible thing to give up hope. And also a relief. A path rutted with guilt, but blessed by freedom.

Written By Vitalis

Jan. 17, 2021, 9:59 p.m.(10/9/1014 AR)

A momentous week. With care I can write my own messages and notes. Not this one, as there are others needing assistance. It is laborious, but nice to write on my own. I do miss reading terribly.

Written By Vitalis

Jan. 3, 2021, 6:01 p.m.(9/9/1014 AR)

(scribed by a Scholar)

For those who have been, we'll say 'visited' by my companion, Earl Peckworthy, and find items of yours missing or mangled, do let me know so I may make recompense. For those of you who have taught him language more colorful than his plumage on these forays, I suppose that is recompense enough. I am a man of the Lyceum, but even so, some of you are quite inventive. I hope it is a phase.

Written By Vitalis

Dec. 13, 2020, 5:50 p.m.(7/23/1014 AR)

My vision is failing. This is likely the last entry I will write myself into the White Record.

It is a hard thing to know what's coming and face it. There are things I hope to never forget the sight of. My childrens' smiles. Adalyn at weapons practice. Apollo bent over his bench. Ostria's sun-drenched patios, the way the sun falls through an arbor draped with wisteria, sunlight making green leaves and purple blooms luminous. The bit of burl on one of Count Corvini's bookshelves that looks like an affronted owl. The Kaleidoscope Garden. The map on the floor of the Society's main hall. The Tree of Joyous Thanksgiving. A horizon ahead, the bright sky above.

And then I think of the Clocktower. It is only a memory now, but Copper's lesson remains. Hold to Hope.

I will not forget.

I am afraid. But I am not alone.

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