Written By Victus
May 24, 2018, 12:27 p.m.(10/24/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
I will have to disagree with you that this change could be called 'rapid' at all. More than what has been done in years? Yeah, definitely. But rapid? No.
The series of reformation laws I introduced about a year ago did change how thralldom is practiced, but it did not change the fact that Lords of the Isles could still enforce thralldom for crimes they found fit required it as punishment. The creation of new thralls dropped dramatically yes, but it is still a system that functions for the same purposes as it always has. The differences between then and now is the fact that treating thralls as less than human was more widespread, abuses was far easier and many would find themselves shackled for life. Now, the system requires the end-goal of reintroducing the thrall to society with the tools to prosper as an individual before their contract is served.
Does this change the fact that any Lord with an army can go across his land, kick over the nearest tribe of Abandoned and take their entire village in chains for his service? No, no it does not. That can still happen, that does still happen.
But I'm assuming this is all being bred because of the slow process of releasing child thralls by paying off their standing debts. If we're going to analyze how that stacks up to thralldom as a whole, you'll find that it is actually sorely irrelevant to the entire practice.
The total number of child thralls currently within Thrax is 50,000. It costs 1.5 million silver to release a few thousand of them. 1.5 million silver to release not adults with developed skills for labor, but children who were born into the system before inheriting debts was outlawed. Children who are growing up knowing nothing but servitude for crimes they didn't commit. And there are still tens of thousands of them yet to go.
Compare this to the fact that thralls as a whole number in the hundreds of thousands. That is not an exaggeration.
The release of child thralls is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the practice as a whole. That doesn't make it any less of a worthy goal, but if we're speaking realistically, this changes so very little. What it represents more is empowering the ideal of eroding an unjust system that has unfairly squandered years of their life already rather than ripping out roots of a tree.
This is a slow process. It will stay a slow process if it's to be done properly. What's happening now is popular, newsworthy, but its true effects are whispers and influence that we'll be seeing take root for some time yet. It may well be awhile before we can see the real, tangible change this creates beyond the obvious.
The series of reformation laws I introduced about a year ago did change how thralldom is practiced, but it did not change the fact that Lords of the Isles could still enforce thralldom for crimes they found fit required it as punishment. The creation of new thralls dropped dramatically yes, but it is still a system that functions for the same purposes as it always has. The differences between then and now is the fact that treating thralls as less than human was more widespread, abuses was far easier and many would find themselves shackled for life. Now, the system requires the end-goal of reintroducing the thrall to society with the tools to prosper as an individual before their contract is served.
Does this change the fact that any Lord with an army can go across his land, kick over the nearest tribe of Abandoned and take their entire village in chains for his service? No, no it does not. That can still happen, that does still happen.
But I'm assuming this is all being bred because of the slow process of releasing child thralls by paying off their standing debts. If we're going to analyze how that stacks up to thralldom as a whole, you'll find that it is actually sorely irrelevant to the entire practice.
The total number of child thralls currently within Thrax is 50,000. It costs 1.5 million silver to release a few thousand of them. 1.5 million silver to release not adults with developed skills for labor, but children who were born into the system before inheriting debts was outlawed. Children who are growing up knowing nothing but servitude for crimes they didn't commit. And there are still tens of thousands of them yet to go.
Compare this to the fact that thralls as a whole number in the hundreds of thousands. That is not an exaggeration.
The release of child thralls is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the practice as a whole. That doesn't make it any less of a worthy goal, but if we're speaking realistically, this changes so very little. What it represents more is empowering the ideal of eroding an unjust system that has unfairly squandered years of their life already rather than ripping out roots of a tree.
This is a slow process. It will stay a slow process if it's to be done properly. What's happening now is popular, newsworthy, but its true effects are whispers and influence that we'll be seeing take root for some time yet. It may well be awhile before we can see the real, tangible change this creates beyond the obvious.
Written By Victus
May 24, 2018, 1:45 a.m.(10/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Saoirse
Change, regardless of the type, comes slowly. Thralldom as a whole has been inlaid in Thrax's economy for the last thousand or so years, maybe even longer depending on how much of our own history we really don't know. Something to keep in mind though is that the economy of Thrax and a variety of houses under it have also relied on thralls for almost as long for a good chunk of their economic growth. You don't have to pay thralls wages and the fact that they can legally be captured from war, with a majority of Thrax having very militaristic traditions, makes thralldom economically lucrative for a lot of them.
This comes of course at the cost of human life, which is at times a complicated thing to unravel. Some are thieves and murders who have taken from or hurt others for their own gain. Others are prisoners of war, taken because they didn't sit under the Compact's flag and didn't bend to it neither. But thralldom as a punishment is entirely different from its economic impact, though the reasons for it are still important to measure when dealing with people who have had it an ingrained part of their society for centuries.
My point being, thralldom is an archaic system but one that has been rooted firmly into the heart of the Mourning Isles for a long, long time. Any small measure of re-balancing to it risks grave destabilization. I would point to the infamous Kennex rioting that occurred when all Thralls suddenly found themselves free one day. Murder in the streets, crimes of passion and vengeance taken from both sides, piracy are on the uptick to waylay folks who didn't have a thing to do with the process. Death and destruction totaling millions worth of silver for the Compact to hemorrhage was had over those few months, for an Isle that was the size of a March. Not everyone will come to benefit immediately, some maybe not for the life they have left to live before they're back on the wheel.
Those who wish to see it be overtaken by another, fairer, more just system will be fighting that battle for many years. Their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond will probably take on the mantle of that fight for their entire lives when we've all turned to dust. I think any major shift in Thrax won't truly be able to be judged until the ones who started making the first waves are ancient and grey.
Even then, Thrax is but one house over the span of hundreds that dot the Isles. Everyone will share a different thought to what should be done and what will be right. It'll be its own battle to break the chains of every single one that would listen. Some easier than others, some harder than trying to move a mountain from its perch.
If anything is certain, it's that it'll be an interesting future to see.
This comes of course at the cost of human life, which is at times a complicated thing to unravel. Some are thieves and murders who have taken from or hurt others for their own gain. Others are prisoners of war, taken because they didn't sit under the Compact's flag and didn't bend to it neither. But thralldom as a punishment is entirely different from its economic impact, though the reasons for it are still important to measure when dealing with people who have had it an ingrained part of their society for centuries.
My point being, thralldom is an archaic system but one that has been rooted firmly into the heart of the Mourning Isles for a long, long time. Any small measure of re-balancing to it risks grave destabilization. I would point to the infamous Kennex rioting that occurred when all Thralls suddenly found themselves free one day. Murder in the streets, crimes of passion and vengeance taken from both sides, piracy are on the uptick to waylay folks who didn't have a thing to do with the process. Death and destruction totaling millions worth of silver for the Compact to hemorrhage was had over those few months, for an Isle that was the size of a March. Not everyone will come to benefit immediately, some maybe not for the life they have left to live before they're back on the wheel.
Those who wish to see it be overtaken by another, fairer, more just system will be fighting that battle for many years. Their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond will probably take on the mantle of that fight for their entire lives when we've all turned to dust. I think any major shift in Thrax won't truly be able to be judged until the ones who started making the first waves are ancient and grey.
Even then, Thrax is but one house over the span of hundreds that dot the Isles. Everyone will share a different thought to what should be done and what will be right. It'll be its own battle to break the chains of every single one that would listen. Some easier than others, some harder than trying to move a mountain from its perch.
If anything is certain, it's that it'll be an interesting future to see.
Written By Victus
May 23, 2018, 1:59 p.m.(10/17/1008 AR)
You can say any manner of things you like, but actions will still dictate how people see your true colors.
Written By Victus
May 21, 2018, 9:46 p.m.(10/14/1008 AR)
Why does pregnancy drive people to eat so much weird shit?
Written By Victus
May 20, 2018, 3:40 p.m.(10/11/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Driskell
Oh, did I forget to comment on the fact that one of my brothers from the sea is back in town?
He is. He still speaks cryptically, yet helpfully. You can still find all the wisdom you could ever hope to have behind his words if you take the time to listen.
Also he bakes some kick-ass cookies.
He is. He still speaks cryptically, yet helpfully. You can still find all the wisdom you could ever hope to have behind his words if you take the time to listen.
Also he bakes some kick-ass cookies.
Written By Victus
May 20, 2018, 1:28 a.m.(10/10/1008 AR)
I'm proud of my wife.
In over a year she's shown remarkable growth in stepping up to the role and responsibility in her rule at my side. Seeing her adapt to our ways and customs, they have washed over her like a hard rock in the storm, yet they've not washed away who she is. She still holds the drive and the passion that she possessed when I'd first met her, through the thick of what the time has brought. The daughter we made now has her first year behind her. One spent with bubbling in her cradle to walloping with a wooden sword.
I never saw myself as a father. Yet, the Stormborn is one of my proudest accomplishments.
I can't think of anyone better I could be spending my life with, and I'm glad that I took the chance when it presented itself. I just hope this next kid(s) won't be such fucking firecrackers to deal with. One screaming baby that keeps trying to steal all the sharp objects is enough. Gimme a calm one next, please.
In over a year she's shown remarkable growth in stepping up to the role and responsibility in her rule at my side. Seeing her adapt to our ways and customs, they have washed over her like a hard rock in the storm, yet they've not washed away who she is. She still holds the drive and the passion that she possessed when I'd first met her, through the thick of what the time has brought. The daughter we made now has her first year behind her. One spent with bubbling in her cradle to walloping with a wooden sword.
I never saw myself as a father. Yet, the Stormborn is one of my proudest accomplishments.
I can't think of anyone better I could be spending my life with, and I'm glad that I took the chance when it presented itself. I just hope this next kid(s) won't be such fucking firecrackers to deal with. One screaming baby that keeps trying to steal all the sharp objects is enough. Gimme a calm one next, please.
Written By Victus
May 17, 2018, 7:30 p.m.(10/6/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Caith
No, we have one already.
Written By Victus
May 17, 2018, 8:28 a.m.(10/5/1008 AR)
Will be good seeing kids back to their families.
Written By Victus
May 12, 2018, 1:35 a.m.(9/22/1008 AR)
Climbed a tower. Found out old friends weren't dead. Got two new proteges in Princess Sabella and Duchess Margot.
Overall, been a good week of productivity. Now we do the paperwork side of business.
Overall, been a good week of productivity. Now we do the paperwork side of business.
Written By Victus
May 11, 2018, 3:53 p.m.(9/21/1008 AR)
Another expedition into part's unknown, another brush with death soon to happen. Should I not come back, I've got a will stashed in my black journals from the time of the Pirate War. I've no real modifications I think need to be made, except that Ailith should get her beard beads back and also grow a beard to use them. Oh and Rinel, Rinel should get something shiny. I got a bunch of shiny shit stashed in my room, somebody break it open if I'm a corpse and find her something she likes.
Here we go again.
Here we go again.
Written By Victus
May 8, 2018, 4:51 p.m.(9/15/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Orazio
I'll try.
My name is Legate
I say a lot of shit
I'm a legate
I say a lot of sh
Nevermind, this ain't working.
My name is Legate
I say a lot of shit
I'm a legate
I say a lot of sh
Nevermind, this ain't working.
Written By Victus
May 7, 2018, 10:25 p.m.(9/13/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Jonathan
This explanation makes me feel gross.
Written By Victus
May 7, 2018, 9:42 p.m.(9/13/1008 AR)
Would someone please tell me, what the fuck is a banjo?
Written By Victus
May 7, 2018, 11:57 a.m.(9/13/1008 AR)
I think most people here have already summed up the gist of things, probably more sufficiently than I could. But let's record anyway.
I've been called 'old school' a couple of times on my thoughts toward folk's relations. When I was growing up I was given next to no expectations on peerage and the like finding matches for 'love', even before it was expected that I'd go beyond just being a bastard. Even being an acknowledged blood of Thrax was good enough for those lessons, because unions between Houses are just that damn important. Marriages between nobility in my mind should always be for the benefit of their family's and their people first and foremost. If you're only thinking of your personal gain before that, then something is wrong.
What I think is often difficult to realize is that so long as you hold your place among nobility, facets of your personal life no longer belong to you. You have obligations, responsibilities, and honor to your House and family that's expected of you. "Fuck who you like if you like them" said wiser Islanders than I when I was a youngin, "But when you put your name on the line, shit gets serious". Because a promise is a promise, an oath is an oath. One broken promise or one broken oath too damn many. You need to own what's been done, walk your line to forgiveness and show you mean it. From personal experience, being humbled the hard way is often the quickest road to that realization.
If you don't like the person who you married, then ask yourself first, 'what is this providing my family, my brothers and sisters back home who I've vowed to stand by always and our gods who's guidance we cherish'? Because then, only then if it's really fucking things up should you consider just how serious you need to take stepping out of those vows.
To knowingly enter a union is to commit, body and soul to the purpose you've sworn to. Whether it's marriage, soldiering, knighthood, etc. All of it is fucking important. Stand by them.
I've been called 'old school' a couple of times on my thoughts toward folk's relations. When I was growing up I was given next to no expectations on peerage and the like finding matches for 'love', even before it was expected that I'd go beyond just being a bastard. Even being an acknowledged blood of Thrax was good enough for those lessons, because unions between Houses are just that damn important. Marriages between nobility in my mind should always be for the benefit of their family's and their people first and foremost. If you're only thinking of your personal gain before that, then something is wrong.
What I think is often difficult to realize is that so long as you hold your place among nobility, facets of your personal life no longer belong to you. You have obligations, responsibilities, and honor to your House and family that's expected of you. "Fuck who you like if you like them" said wiser Islanders than I when I was a youngin, "But when you put your name on the line, shit gets serious". Because a promise is a promise, an oath is an oath. One broken promise or one broken oath too damn many. You need to own what's been done, walk your line to forgiveness and show you mean it. From personal experience, being humbled the hard way is often the quickest road to that realization.
If you don't like the person who you married, then ask yourself first, 'what is this providing my family, my brothers and sisters back home who I've vowed to stand by always and our gods who's guidance we cherish'? Because then, only then if it's really fucking things up should you consider just how serious you need to take stepping out of those vows.
To knowingly enter a union is to commit, body and soul to the purpose you've sworn to. Whether it's marriage, soldiering, knighthood, etc. All of it is fucking important. Stand by them.
Written By Victus
May 7, 2018, 1:38 a.m.(9/12/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Sameera
I remember that necklace well. I won it in a costume contest at the menagerie. I dressed as a steel shark and brought along one of my shaman friends.
I saw it was in the likeness of a horse. I said to myself, "fuckin' hate horses", and threw it to you instead. I'll warn you that if it passes into my hands before you're dead that I'm gonna wind up tossing it again.
But if you're dead, I'll keep it around. For you. Even if horses are fucking terrible.
I saw it was in the likeness of a horse. I said to myself, "fuckin' hate horses", and threw it to you instead. I'll warn you that if it passes into my hands before you're dead that I'm gonna wind up tossing it again.
But if you're dead, I'll keep it around. For you. Even if horses are fucking terrible.
Written By Victus
May 6, 2018, 7:28 p.m.(9/11/1008 AR)
I'm not convinced that horses are just larger donkeys.
Written By Victus
April 29, 2018, 11:46 p.m.(8/23/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Talen
The birthday I'm afraid doubles my power. Unless of course you are Magpie the Usurper, for his dark power cannot be contained.
(scribbled at the bottom, barely legible is the phrase "Fucking rigged")
(scribbled at the bottom, barely legible is the phrase "Fucking rigged")
Written By Victus
April 29, 2018, 11:22 p.m.(8/23/1008 AR)
To Astrid and our yet unborn child,
As of the time I’m writing you two this letter - Astrid, you’re nearly a year old. Child, you’re still in my wife. Originally I was just leaving these out for Astrid to find as I wasn’t sure we were gonna have another babe, but you’re well on your way. We’re looking forward to meeting you but I’m really hoping you don’t make as much of a fucking fuss as Astrid did on her way out. Anyway, here’s today’s lesson.
Today we’re going to talk about ‘honor’. Something that most everyone is familiar with, yet also comes in a dozen different varieties depending on where you’re from and just what ‘code’ your people consider important to them. You’ll find lots of different tenets of honor depending on where you go, but generally the core rules remain the same. Show your opponent respect, don’t cheap-shot them in battle, don’t kick them in the taint or punch them in the balls. Simple shit really. But there’s general one virtue that doesn’t often get shared in the Isles, and that’s mercy.
Soldiers and lords of the Isles aren’t known for their mercy. Thrax itself has been built upon a bloody past of taking from others, enemy and not, and treading upon those who would raise up against them with iron boots and fists. Brutality has been apart of the Mourning Isles for centuries at this point. Though it wasn’t always that way, that is the legacy we have been spawned from. What many families of the Isles have been spawned from as well. It’s what made many strong and what’s made just as many suffer as well. It’s a hard truth, but so it goes. You might think upon hearing that, there is no place for mercy left to grow within our people. I would disagree.
Brutality serves a purpose, but it is not one that is beneficial in the long-run. What it does is fuel fear. Fear is a tool, often wielded but more often battled with. Fear is your survival, your instincts, your tell that something will bring you harm and you need to worry about it. Fear wielded as a weapon is one that strikes those principals into the heart of those around you, to believe that what is to come will hurt you and not care a lick about it. Do these sound like things that a leader and a protector does for those they are oath-bound to safeguard? Nah, I don’t think so. Brutality and fear go hand in hand. They’re cheap, easy ways out. For all the strength they’re prophesied to bring, more often than not the lowest hanging fruit for someone with money and power to cultivate.
Each are equally unnecessary, so long as you have the strength to reject them for something worth working for. My children, you will not be people who lean upon either. I forbid it and I’ll keep doing so until I’m old and a fucking codger that can’t see ten feet in front of himself. Because I’ll still be young enough to whoop some proper sense into the both of you.
None of this is to say however that we are a people who lack honor, I’ve known many a man of the Isle who fought like the Sea Serpents they represent and held true to every warrior’s code I can think of. There just aren’t many. There aren’t enough encouraging it. I hope by the time you two are grown that I’ve managed to change that, but that is a discussion for another day. The point of what I write about now is that honor exists in many forms, honor is important in all facets it takes, and it shall always lie with the individual who takes these oaths to heart to make their own path. None of it, not a word, should ever be forgotten when forging a place for yourself in this world.
Chivalry and honor have their place, no matter what the hard-nosed folk across the world may try to tell you. We do not aspire to be like any other source of honor but our own. For our people and your lives have their own story to tell, each one unique. You will be taught and you will listen with an open-mind to the stories that already exist and the ones that are being told all around you. These are what will guide you.
One day, I hope to see both of you grown and strong. Encouraging the weak to find their strength and being the pillar that holds what is already strong that much more securely. You will find your fire. You will do it with honor. When you’ve earned it, you will do it well.
Remember, a fire that burns to warm others burns with purpose. A fire that burns to consume will find itself alone. A fire that burns alone burns without purpose.
As of the time I’m writing you two this letter - Astrid, you’re nearly a year old. Child, you’re still in my wife. Originally I was just leaving these out for Astrid to find as I wasn’t sure we were gonna have another babe, but you’re well on your way. We’re looking forward to meeting you but I’m really hoping you don’t make as much of a fucking fuss as Astrid did on her way out. Anyway, here’s today’s lesson.
Today we’re going to talk about ‘honor’. Something that most everyone is familiar with, yet also comes in a dozen different varieties depending on where you’re from and just what ‘code’ your people consider important to them. You’ll find lots of different tenets of honor depending on where you go, but generally the core rules remain the same. Show your opponent respect, don’t cheap-shot them in battle, don’t kick them in the taint or punch them in the balls. Simple shit really. But there’s general one virtue that doesn’t often get shared in the Isles, and that’s mercy.
Soldiers and lords of the Isles aren’t known for their mercy. Thrax itself has been built upon a bloody past of taking from others, enemy and not, and treading upon those who would raise up against them with iron boots and fists. Brutality has been apart of the Mourning Isles for centuries at this point. Though it wasn’t always that way, that is the legacy we have been spawned from. What many families of the Isles have been spawned from as well. It’s what made many strong and what’s made just as many suffer as well. It’s a hard truth, but so it goes. You might think upon hearing that, there is no place for mercy left to grow within our people. I would disagree.
Brutality serves a purpose, but it is not one that is beneficial in the long-run. What it does is fuel fear. Fear is a tool, often wielded but more often battled with. Fear is your survival, your instincts, your tell that something will bring you harm and you need to worry about it. Fear wielded as a weapon is one that strikes those principals into the heart of those around you, to believe that what is to come will hurt you and not care a lick about it. Do these sound like things that a leader and a protector does for those they are oath-bound to safeguard? Nah, I don’t think so. Brutality and fear go hand in hand. They’re cheap, easy ways out. For all the strength they’re prophesied to bring, more often than not the lowest hanging fruit for someone with money and power to cultivate.
Each are equally unnecessary, so long as you have the strength to reject them for something worth working for. My children, you will not be people who lean upon either. I forbid it and I’ll keep doing so until I’m old and a fucking codger that can’t see ten feet in front of himself. Because I’ll still be young enough to whoop some proper sense into the both of you.
None of this is to say however that we are a people who lack honor, I’ve known many a man of the Isle who fought like the Sea Serpents they represent and held true to every warrior’s code I can think of. There just aren’t many. There aren’t enough encouraging it. I hope by the time you two are grown that I’ve managed to change that, but that is a discussion for another day. The point of what I write about now is that honor exists in many forms, honor is important in all facets it takes, and it shall always lie with the individual who takes these oaths to heart to make their own path. None of it, not a word, should ever be forgotten when forging a place for yourself in this world.
Chivalry and honor have their place, no matter what the hard-nosed folk across the world may try to tell you. We do not aspire to be like any other source of honor but our own. For our people and your lives have their own story to tell, each one unique. You will be taught and you will listen with an open-mind to the stories that already exist and the ones that are being told all around you. These are what will guide you.
One day, I hope to see both of you grown and strong. Encouraging the weak to find their strength and being the pillar that holds what is already strong that much more securely. You will find your fire. You will do it with honor. When you’ve earned it, you will do it well.
Remember, a fire that burns to warm others burns with purpose. A fire that burns to consume will find itself alone. A fire that burns alone burns without purpose.
Written By Victus
April 27, 2018, 10:21 a.m.(8/18/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Eirene
Sometimes you find one that tolerates you more than most, and for some reason that specific cat is gonna be your favorite thing in life for a long time.
It's fucking magic, I don't know how to explain that shit.
It's fucking magic, I don't know how to explain that shit.
Written By Victus
April 23, 2018, 4:16 p.m.(8/9/1008 AR)
Relationship Note on Ainsley
I got a wooden figure in the mail for this 'gift day' thing.
What the fuck is a Donkey Knight?
What the fuck is a Donkey Knight?
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.