Written By Yvon
Oct. 19, 2019, 1:13 p.m.(1/16/1012 AR)
"As far as they're concerned, /you/ are the savage, backwards idiots who don't know what's best for you and who are, at best, squatting on territory they either want, or already consider theirs. I'll note from experience that it's not a very safe or comfortable place to stand, but it's where we all are."
While I would amend 'you' to 'we,' I agree with the above.
The puppy trapped between two warhounds cannot hope to prevail over one, much less both. The puppy who wishes to survive will learn to roll onto his back, show his belly, and wet himself. Our choice appears quite clear: chose which side to whom we wish to submit (though we may use the word 'ally' to salve our pride) and commence to wagging.
If our betters in the Compact are not currently negotiating our surrender with both sides, to determine who offers the better terms, they are doing us a disservice.
While I would amend 'you' to 'we,' I agree with the above.
The puppy trapped between two warhounds cannot hope to prevail over one, much less both. The puppy who wishes to survive will learn to roll onto his back, show his belly, and wet himself. Our choice appears quite clear: chose which side to whom we wish to submit (though we may use the word 'ally' to salve our pride) and commence to wagging.
If our betters in the Compact are not currently negotiating our surrender with both sides, to determine who offers the better terms, they are doing us a disservice.
Written By Yvon
Sept. 15, 2019, 3:23 p.m.(11/4/1011 AR)
One dislikes to belabor the obvious, but if this is, in fact, an attempt to pin the blame on an innocent (in this case) party, then it is blatant to the point of childishness: "an Abandoned carved the sigil of the Platinum Throne into his chest, and wrote on the wall, 'The Undying Empire tolerates no Cardian dogs.'"
What is entirely unambiguous is this: such an action might be expected to sway noble sentiment, and political calculus, in a very specific direction.
What is entirely unambiguous is this: such an action might be expected to sway noble sentiment, and political calculus, in a very specific direction.
Written By Yvon
Aug. 9, 2019, 12:47 a.m.(8/13/1011 AR)
Magic exists. This we know. This is an article of Faith.
Four years ago, in 1007, Dominus Orazio clarified the Laws of Limerance to permit select approved magical practices while forbidding abyssal magics and congress with abyssal beings. Because such things absolutely exist. In fact, a coven, if that is the correct term, of princess-witches has wielded magic in defense of the Compact within recent memory.
This is common knowledge among certain segments of the city. Those in the know are shaking their heads at my ignorance. Of course magic exists! There is widespread, conclusive knowledge of actual, non-metaphorical, existing magic ... among the few. And if you are one of the many, like myself, to whom this comes as a surprise? Then I pray you have a better excuse for your blindness than I. How can I have failed to heed the Dominus for -years- after he declared that magic exists? The Laws of Limerance make it utterly clear.
As does the recent history of the city.
Some of Tolemar Brand's troops were animated by abyssal magic. They possessed unmistakably inhuman strength and speed. Knights report battles against animals and humans twisted by the abyssal realms, warped into demonic monsters who could casually rip men in half. Soldiers report monsters formed out of many men, shambling to destroy. An uncrewed longship sailed through Arx's harbor directly into an open berth without collision, bearing a gift of hulking rune-covered ballistae. Many among us fought the Gyre, battling uncanny servants of the Archfiend of the Deeps. Every vessel from the Mourning Isles sank into the waves as if turned to stone. Sailors were drowned by oily black tentacles and the navy that attacked was not comprised of human soldiers, but of dead things, some bloated, others skeletal, encrusted with barnacles and rotting seaweed.
We forged relations with the elves, who practice blood-magic and are not precisely human, exactly as our queen is not precisely human. An army of automatons rose from the waves. A choir of highborn witches sang a creature from the sea in the aid of Mangata. A huge blue-black monster hunted them and a glass shark leaped from the water. Murderdogs and squid-horses were reported by people of good repute. We have reports of a man turned into a swarm of insects, of a storm of blood-drinking bats--winged rats with snake-tails and snake fangs--sweeping across the Lowers. In finest drawing rooms in the Compact there are those who claim to have spoken with embodied gods. Dragons exist--this is a statement of tedious fact in diplomatic salons--and demons exist, too. An ancient member of the Metallic Order, a mage called Brass, lives within the city. Skald Himself lives in Arx, which is a city built atop a necropolis constructed to appease the Queen of Endings.
Yet do these things touch commoners like you and me? They do. For a moment, no more than a second, every single silver coin in Arx glowed faintly. You remember that. And you remember this, though you might prefer that you didn't: for an instant, every single person within the walls of Arx felt a sense of terror, of anguish. As though the world was coming to an end, as though your very essence was being consumed.
Is -that- all? No. There is more, but I shall end with a final ringing condemnation of my previous ignorance. A castle appeared, magicked from nowhere, in the forest outside of the city. Climb the walls tomorrow and look to the northeast. The spires still rise above the trees. An entire castle. Appeared. By magic. And somehow this did not shake the foundations of my world ... or yours.
Four years ago, in 1007, Dominus Orazio clarified the Laws of Limerance to permit select approved magical practices while forbidding abyssal magics and congress with abyssal beings. Because such things absolutely exist. In fact, a coven, if that is the correct term, of princess-witches has wielded magic in defense of the Compact within recent memory.
This is common knowledge among certain segments of the city. Those in the know are shaking their heads at my ignorance. Of course magic exists! There is widespread, conclusive knowledge of actual, non-metaphorical, existing magic ... among the few. And if you are one of the many, like myself, to whom this comes as a surprise? Then I pray you have a better excuse for your blindness than I. How can I have failed to heed the Dominus for -years- after he declared that magic exists? The Laws of Limerance make it utterly clear.
As does the recent history of the city.
Some of Tolemar Brand's troops were animated by abyssal magic. They possessed unmistakably inhuman strength and speed. Knights report battles against animals and humans twisted by the abyssal realms, warped into demonic monsters who could casually rip men in half. Soldiers report monsters formed out of many men, shambling to destroy. An uncrewed longship sailed through Arx's harbor directly into an open berth without collision, bearing a gift of hulking rune-covered ballistae. Many among us fought the Gyre, battling uncanny servants of the Archfiend of the Deeps. Every vessel from the Mourning Isles sank into the waves as if turned to stone. Sailors were drowned by oily black tentacles and the navy that attacked was not comprised of human soldiers, but of dead things, some bloated, others skeletal, encrusted with barnacles and rotting seaweed.
We forged relations with the elves, who practice blood-magic and are not precisely human, exactly as our queen is not precisely human. An army of automatons rose from the waves. A choir of highborn witches sang a creature from the sea in the aid of Mangata. A huge blue-black monster hunted them and a glass shark leaped from the water. Murderdogs and squid-horses were reported by people of good repute. We have reports of a man turned into a swarm of insects, of a storm of blood-drinking bats--winged rats with snake-tails and snake fangs--sweeping across the Lowers. In finest drawing rooms in the Compact there are those who claim to have spoken with embodied gods. Dragons exist--this is a statement of tedious fact in diplomatic salons--and demons exist, too. An ancient member of the Metallic Order, a mage called Brass, lives within the city. Skald Himself lives in Arx, which is a city built atop a necropolis constructed to appease the Queen of Endings.
Yet do these things touch commoners like you and me? They do. For a moment, no more than a second, every single silver coin in Arx glowed faintly. You remember that. And you remember this, though you might prefer that you didn't: for an instant, every single person within the walls of Arx felt a sense of terror, of anguish. As though the world was coming to an end, as though your very essence was being consumed.
Is -that- all? No. There is more, but I shall end with a final ringing condemnation of my previous ignorance. A castle appeared, magicked from nowhere, in the forest outside of the city. Climb the walls tomorrow and look to the northeast. The spires still rise above the trees. An entire castle. Appeared. By magic. And somehow this did not shake the foundations of my world ... or yours.
Written By Yvon
July 31, 2019, 10:34 a.m.(7/24/1011 AR)
The Grandmaster of the Templars claims to know the mind of Gloria with utter certainty. Let us pause to consider the implications.
Written By Yvon
July 25, 2019, 7:36 p.m.(7/12/1011 AR)
I cannot decide which of the following two responses I more keenly enjoy.
First, the suggestion that one must question everything ... subject to the caveats of the lickspittle: only if 'appropriate!' One wouldn't wish to offend, after all. Only if 'legitimate!' How terrible it would be to air an illegitimate question. Only if done 'thoughtfully,' with knowledge and evidence! As if we are -only- lawyers and not also much more.
Questions which are inappropriate and illegitimate are not merely valuable, they are _more_ valuable than appropriate and legitimate questions. What are 'appropriateness' and 'legitimacy' other than conventional notions that must be tested by people unafraid of the yipping of frightened terriers? One shrinks from asking questions without evidence only if one is afraid of making mistakes and being exposed as ignorant. That is mere pride. Ask and be exposed. Be wrong. Be disdained for your ignorance or your cruelty. This is not meant to be an easy path.
Leave the appropriate, legitimate, questions to our sisters and brothers the scholars, and the devotees of other gods. They do not require our aid in asking wise, informed, appropriate, legitimate questions. They are trained for it. And they are trained to shy away from inappropriate, impolite, thoughtless, offensive questions.
Let me repeat: our role is not to ask the questions that any clever, educated, insightful scholar might ask. They are scholars. They are better at their duties than we are at their duties. We must focus on our -own- role instead. The pantheon's strength emerges from diversity within unity. We have a specialized, and vitally important role. Let us accept that, instead of cowering within the castoff robes of Vellichor and Lagoma, pretending we can match them for wisdom and caring.
Second, the assertion--repeated always in deeply offended tones--that my questions are so stale that they don't even offend. Well, that one perhaps I -do- enjoy more keenly.
I have spent some days now, in the shrine, and the single most common reason people enter is to preen. Smugness is what they bring and self-love is what they depart with. The shrine functions too often in support of spiritual onanism. They gaze at their reflections with the eyes of self-love. Are my fellow students of Tehom satisfied with this status quo?
First, the suggestion that one must question everything ... subject to the caveats of the lickspittle: only if 'appropriate!' One wouldn't wish to offend, after all. Only if 'legitimate!' How terrible it would be to air an illegitimate question. Only if done 'thoughtfully,' with knowledge and evidence! As if we are -only- lawyers and not also much more.
Questions which are inappropriate and illegitimate are not merely valuable, they are _more_ valuable than appropriate and legitimate questions. What are 'appropriateness' and 'legitimacy' other than conventional notions that must be tested by people unafraid of the yipping of frightened terriers? One shrinks from asking questions without evidence only if one is afraid of making mistakes and being exposed as ignorant. That is mere pride. Ask and be exposed. Be wrong. Be disdained for your ignorance or your cruelty. This is not meant to be an easy path.
Leave the appropriate, legitimate, questions to our sisters and brothers the scholars, and the devotees of other gods. They do not require our aid in asking wise, informed, appropriate, legitimate questions. They are trained for it. And they are trained to shy away from inappropriate, impolite, thoughtless, offensive questions.
Let me repeat: our role is not to ask the questions that any clever, educated, insightful scholar might ask. They are scholars. They are better at their duties than we are at their duties. We must focus on our -own- role instead. The pantheon's strength emerges from diversity within unity. We have a specialized, and vitally important role. Let us accept that, instead of cowering within the castoff robes of Vellichor and Lagoma, pretending we can match them for wisdom and caring.
Second, the assertion--repeated always in deeply offended tones--that my questions are so stale that they don't even offend. Well, that one perhaps I -do- enjoy more keenly.
I have spent some days now, in the shrine, and the single most common reason people enter is to preen. Smugness is what they bring and self-love is what they depart with. The shrine functions too often in support of spiritual onanism. They gaze at their reflections with the eyes of self-love. Are my fellow students of Tehom satisfied with this status quo?
Written By Yvon
July 21, 2019, 12:15 p.m.(7/4/1011 AR)
The practice of taking thralls strengthens the Compact, and civilizes the shavs, and should be encouraged--and, in fact, mandated by the crown--instead of being opposed and limited. Even the briefest reflection reveals two benefits:
1) Shavs are benighted and backward peoples. They refuse to join the Compact, which is not only a repository of culture and wisdom, but our best defense against the forces of destruction. Shav are, by definition, uncivilized. They are lost children, without the guidance of the faith and the crown. To claim they are in any way our equal is to claim that our obedience to the crown and the faith does not elevate us. This is wrong. Shavs are debased by their estrangement from the Compact ... yet this doesn't mean they are utterly without value or hope for redemption. Quite the contrary. They are called 'Abandoned,' but we must not abandon them. We must save them, redeem them, and raise them from savagery. And there is no better tool by which to achieve that than thralldom. Let them join us as free people if they choose; if not, we must act with the firm hand of the strict, loving parent, and set them firmly upon the correct path.
2) This will not only redeem the shavs but--far more importantly--strengthen the Compact. Thralldom is a mighty weapon in our battle against forces which seek to overthrow us. Not only for the valuable labor thralls perform, though that is not insignificant. No; taking thralls strengthens the Company in uncountable ways, from the lowest rungs of society to the highest. The proof is in our own city. Former thralls are now nobles of high rank, far above a common wretch like myself. Former thralls founded an entire noble house, with resources and power far beyond that of our own people of the lower boroughs. Many nobles owe their current position to thralldom, and we all owe thralldom for the many, many contributions they make to the strength of the Compact. Every time a former thrall, or the descendent of one, acts in support of the crown, by force of arms, scholarship, art, faith, or in any other way, we all accrue another debt to the institution of thralldom.
And what is the objection? That thralldom is unpleasant. This is true. However, many things are unpleasant and while infants avoid discomfort, adults understand that sometimes we must sacrifice for the greater good.
1) Shavs are benighted and backward peoples. They refuse to join the Compact, which is not only a repository of culture and wisdom, but our best defense against the forces of destruction. Shav are, by definition, uncivilized. They are lost children, without the guidance of the faith and the crown. To claim they are in any way our equal is to claim that our obedience to the crown and the faith does not elevate us. This is wrong. Shavs are debased by their estrangement from the Compact ... yet this doesn't mean they are utterly without value or hope for redemption. Quite the contrary. They are called 'Abandoned,' but we must not abandon them. We must save them, redeem them, and raise them from savagery. And there is no better tool by which to achieve that than thralldom. Let them join us as free people if they choose; if not, we must act with the firm hand of the strict, loving parent, and set them firmly upon the correct path.
2) This will not only redeem the shavs but--far more importantly--strengthen the Compact. Thralldom is a mighty weapon in our battle against forces which seek to overthrow us. Not only for the valuable labor thralls perform, though that is not insignificant. No; taking thralls strengthens the Company in uncountable ways, from the lowest rungs of society to the highest. The proof is in our own city. Former thralls are now nobles of high rank, far above a common wretch like myself. Former thralls founded an entire noble house, with resources and power far beyond that of our own people of the lower boroughs. Many nobles owe their current position to thralldom, and we all owe thralldom for the many, many contributions they make to the strength of the Compact. Every time a former thrall, or the descendent of one, acts in support of the crown, by force of arms, scholarship, art, faith, or in any other way, we all accrue another debt to the institution of thralldom.
And what is the objection? That thralldom is unpleasant. This is true. However, many things are unpleasant and while infants avoid discomfort, adults understand that sometimes we must sacrifice for the greater good.
Written By Yvon
July 20, 2019, 12:42 p.m.(7/2/1011 AR)
In these pages, Raimon asks me, 'Who are you to question the integrity and honor of a High Lord?'
I ask Raimon, 'Who are you *not* to question them? By why right do you, apparently a prince--at least for now--abdicate your responsibility to doubt commonplaces when they are treated as unquestioned fact?' In this debate about the High Lord's actions, it came to my attention that people consider one thing certain: no one still questions Victus's dedication to ending thralldom. Yet that sort of certainty is dangerous. That sort of certainty, I believe, must be challenged, probed, and tested by those who hew to the Thirteenth's teachings.
Who am I? A student. A commoner. A man, of sorts, who arrived in this city eager to learn more about the God into whose service he feels called, and who thus far has gained the impression that the Shrine of the Thirteen turned itself into a toothless masturbatory cult to one minor attribute of Tehom. Look at your reflection. See your darkest flaws. Embrace them. Balance them. Inhabit calm. Good! Now feel your darkest passions. Accept them. Release them. Balance them. Inhabit calm. Good!
Is this not selfishness? Shrinking a God into a personal totem to help one master oneself? To improve oneself? Tehom is not merely the god of balance. Or of tranquility. Or of SELF-reflection. He is not the Reflection, he is the Dark Reflection and His realm is far, far grander than our pathetic selves.
Let no assumption stand uncontested. Let no dogma remain unexamined. Never assume that even the greatest triumphs--especially not those--are not fatally flawed. Leave no self-righteousness unchallenged and no darkness unacknowledged. Not just in our selves, that most pitiful of arenas, but in our society and in our faith.
But I'm merely a student. Perhaps I will learn better.
I ask Raimon, 'Who are you *not* to question them? By why right do you, apparently a prince--at least for now--abdicate your responsibility to doubt commonplaces when they are treated as unquestioned fact?' In this debate about the High Lord's actions, it came to my attention that people consider one thing certain: no one still questions Victus's dedication to ending thralldom. Yet that sort of certainty is dangerous. That sort of certainty, I believe, must be challenged, probed, and tested by those who hew to the Thirteenth's teachings.
Who am I? A student. A commoner. A man, of sorts, who arrived in this city eager to learn more about the God into whose service he feels called, and who thus far has gained the impression that the Shrine of the Thirteen turned itself into a toothless masturbatory cult to one minor attribute of Tehom. Look at your reflection. See your darkest flaws. Embrace them. Balance them. Inhabit calm. Good! Now feel your darkest passions. Accept them. Release them. Balance them. Inhabit calm. Good!
Is this not selfishness? Shrinking a God into a personal totem to help one master oneself? To improve oneself? Tehom is not merely the god of balance. Or of tranquility. Or of SELF-reflection. He is not the Reflection, he is the Dark Reflection and His realm is far, far grander than our pathetic selves.
Let no assumption stand uncontested. Let no dogma remain unexamined. Never assume that even the greatest triumphs--especially not those--are not fatally flawed. Leave no self-righteousness unchallenged and no darkness unacknowledged. Not just in our selves, that most pitiful of arenas, but in our society and in our faith.
But I'm merely a student. Perhaps I will learn better.
Written By Yvon
July 19, 2019, 11:23 a.m.(6/28/1011 AR)
I question Prince Victus's dedication to ending thralldom.
His credentials as an abolitionist are too obviously, too blatantly cemented. Is the Usurper Prince playing a double game? Are his principles as changeable as the tide? Does he answer, willingly or otherwise, to some hidden, malevolent force? Is he motivated by personal animosity in this matter, by revenge or jealousy?
I don't know. Yet if we cease to question, we cease.
His credentials as an abolitionist are too obviously, too blatantly cemented. Is the Usurper Prince playing a double game? Are his principles as changeable as the tide? Does he answer, willingly or otherwise, to some hidden, malevolent force? Is he motivated by personal animosity in this matter, by revenge or jealousy?
I don't know. Yet if we cease to question, we cease.
Written By Yvon
July 18, 2019, 11:42 a.m.(6/26/1011 AR)
What is the Mirrormask stance regarding this abrupt embargo of trade relations with Eurus?
What is the Mirrormask stance regarding the denoblement of Princess Fatima Thrax?
What is the Mirrormask stance regarding _any_ recent Proclamation?
Silence is acquiescence.
What is the Mirrormask stance regarding the denoblement of Princess Fatima Thrax?
What is the Mirrormask stance regarding _any_ recent Proclamation?
Silence is acquiescence.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.