Written By Margot
Jan. 18, 2017, 11:48 p.m.(9/13/1005 AR)
The open mind must be hungry; it must also accept the truth, no matter what form it takes.
~ From psalms of Vellichor (21), Vellichor's Uncommon Prayer Book
~ From psalms of Vellichor (21), Vellichor's Uncommon Prayer Book
Written By Margot
Jan. 11, 2017, 4:02 p.m.(8/19/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Harald
Pleasant company for a Grimhall, pleasant enough company for a Thrax man in general really.
I can hardly remember the last time I had a civil drink with one of our Reavers with no profanity, or uncalled for oogling. I really do hope that Abbas and Victus take a note from Lord Harald....
A Tyde recommending a Grimhall for anything, who would have ever thought? Perhaps next fish will walk ashore and deer begin to fly.
I can hardly remember the last time I had a civil drink with one of our Reavers with no profanity, or uncalled for oogling. I really do hope that Abbas and Victus take a note from Lord Harald....
A Tyde recommending a Grimhall for anything, who would have ever thought? Perhaps next fish will walk ashore and deer begin to fly.
Written By Margot
Jan. 8, 2017, 12:50 p.m.(8/10/1005 AR)
The Teind?
I am struggling, my place, my duty, my role is to be empathetic to and understand those mindsets alien to those of the isles.
In that I understand the outrage of those who have lived in worlds where war is minimal, where they have the luxury of grieving over every life lost. Where survival is, perhaps not easy but can be achieved without blood shed. Perhaps their morality and religious dedication has become more developed than ours with the much more frequent contact they have had with each other as a means to prevent constant, large scale battles between them that would result in massive losses of life.
I also understand the simplicity of this decision among those raised on the isle. It is not as many would believe a willingness to throw thralls blood to the elves. I know when Donrai Thrax says I will have 13 who will willingly sacrifice themselves for the survival of the rest of us that those are not thralls but free men. They are our Reavers, our sailors, our warriors. Every time they man a ship to go out and defend us against any threat they are making that very same decision. In the Isles we honor those sacrifices, and respect them, they are not abhorrent, they are the cost of survival in isolation from the rest.
I look back on my own history and wonder, had we existed any where else and I had see what I had seen, would it have destroyed me? If even the idea of the loss of one family member to my peers is so great a threat that they are filled with fury and rage, what toll would it take to not only be parted with every single one of them, small to large, powerful to powerless, but to have witnessed each one?
I am not immune to grief, but I will not drown in it either. My family broke it's agreements and oaths. A blood price was paid as a result - far less willingly. Such is the cost of breaking one's oaths. That understanding is intrinsic to my existence now.
I cannot help but feel that the mathematics of it are simple now, having a view the whole board as it where - with the threats of the Rex'alfar and the brings of silence to the north, south and west, and Gyre to the east. Silence and Oblivion cannot be allowed to win, but they will should nothing change from it's current configuration.
Thirteen lives, given freely to spare hundreds if not thousands? To Lady Dawn Baseborn and her 12 I give the same respect I would to any of our fierce and mighty reavers. And thank her for her sacrifice rather than cry over it.
Let us not waste that sacrifice but ensure that it accomplishes what it is intended to.
I am struggling, my place, my duty, my role is to be empathetic to and understand those mindsets alien to those of the isles.
In that I understand the outrage of those who have lived in worlds where war is minimal, where they have the luxury of grieving over every life lost. Where survival is, perhaps not easy but can be achieved without blood shed. Perhaps their morality and religious dedication has become more developed than ours with the much more frequent contact they have had with each other as a means to prevent constant, large scale battles between them that would result in massive losses of life.
I also understand the simplicity of this decision among those raised on the isle. It is not as many would believe a willingness to throw thralls blood to the elves. I know when Donrai Thrax says I will have 13 who will willingly sacrifice themselves for the survival of the rest of us that those are not thralls but free men. They are our Reavers, our sailors, our warriors. Every time they man a ship to go out and defend us against any threat they are making that very same decision. In the Isles we honor those sacrifices, and respect them, they are not abhorrent, they are the cost of survival in isolation from the rest.
I look back on my own history and wonder, had we existed any where else and I had see what I had seen, would it have destroyed me? If even the idea of the loss of one family member to my peers is so great a threat that they are filled with fury and rage, what toll would it take to not only be parted with every single one of them, small to large, powerful to powerless, but to have witnessed each one?
I am not immune to grief, but I will not drown in it either. My family broke it's agreements and oaths. A blood price was paid as a result - far less willingly. Such is the cost of breaking one's oaths. That understanding is intrinsic to my existence now.
I cannot help but feel that the mathematics of it are simple now, having a view the whole board as it where - with the threats of the Rex'alfar and the brings of silence to the north, south and west, and Gyre to the east. Silence and Oblivion cannot be allowed to win, but they will should nothing change from it's current configuration.
Thirteen lives, given freely to spare hundreds if not thousands? To Lady Dawn Baseborn and her 12 I give the same respect I would to any of our fierce and mighty reavers. And thank her for her sacrifice rather than cry over it.
Let us not waste that sacrifice but ensure that it accomplishes what it is intended to.
Written By Margot
Jan. 8, 2017, 12:18 p.m.(8/10/1005 AR)
I am reminded that we all are sailors, simply those of us who are not asea are navigating the tides and winds of the social and political here in Arx.
We cannot always control these forces greater than ourselves but we can adjust our approach without losing sight of our destination.
We cannot always control these forces greater than ourselves but we can adjust our approach without losing sight of our destination.
Written By Margot
Jan. 1, 2017, 11:35 p.m.(7/18/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Victus
I cannot decide if I prefer the prince to be or the ungrateful brute.
Written By Margot
Dec. 21, 2016, 9:56 a.m.(6/11/1005 AR)
I miss the ocean. Not the bit that laps at the beaches off of Arx, but the unending expanse seen off the shores of the Isles.
On the surface she is such a fickle creature, calm one day, cruel the next. But it is what she hides that I miss most. The wonder of what little clues and trinkets she may push upon onto our rocks and beaches, hinting of her victories over we mortals who set out to tame her, or the alien world contained within her. Every so often yielding up a trophy for those both brave and reckless.
She was a mystery and familiar. We were neighbors with an understanding that our trespasses would sometimes come a a cost.
I miss a time when the stranger was a thing so comfortably lived beside. A puzzle so well understood.
Childhood is over for us all.
On the surface she is such a fickle creature, calm one day, cruel the next. But it is what she hides that I miss most. The wonder of what little clues and trinkets she may push upon onto our rocks and beaches, hinting of her victories over we mortals who set out to tame her, or the alien world contained within her. Every so often yielding up a trophy for those both brave and reckless.
She was a mystery and familiar. We were neighbors with an understanding that our trespasses would sometimes come a a cost.
I miss a time when the stranger was a thing so comfortably lived beside. A puzzle so well understood.
Childhood is over for us all.
Written By Margot
Dec. 17, 2016, 8:07 p.m.(6/1/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Aldwin
I can only aspire to one day possess a fraction of such wisdom.
Written By Margot
Dec. 13, 2016, 11:12 p.m.(5/17/1005 AR)
In the storm of our time, refuge and reprieve, for how ever long or brief, is a rare and precious thing.
Written By Margot
Dec. 8, 2016, 7:55 p.m.(5/2/1005 AR)
I am just a woman, and I know that my thoughts do not bare much mention in the greater scheme of what will be, but they are still present.
In the wake of Marquessa Samantha's protests and now her leaflet campaign I am conflicted. I look over to Linette, who serves me so well now as a maid, and I remember the starving little girl who was convicted of stealing from Maelstrom's kitchens. Would they have preferred we sever her hand and send her out to starve on the streets? Is that the freedom proposed? Rather than allowing her to live in our house, not to have to worry over meals, to learn to dwell in polite society?
I wonder too, if the compact does not believe mercy can be traded for debt, if instead they would have preferred that Prince Donrai executed a 10 year old girl not so long ago, rather then raising her to serve him.
Freedom, we speak so much of freedom, and on its surface such seems charitable, but when I chase the chains of consequence I can clearly see that the the alternatives are not so perfect either.
I shall have to query those I know who whole different beliefs how they balance their ideas about freedom with their ideas about justice and perhaps come to understand them better for it.
In the wake of Marquessa Samantha's protests and now her leaflet campaign I am conflicted. I look over to Linette, who serves me so well now as a maid, and I remember the starving little girl who was convicted of stealing from Maelstrom's kitchens. Would they have preferred we sever her hand and send her out to starve on the streets? Is that the freedom proposed? Rather than allowing her to live in our house, not to have to worry over meals, to learn to dwell in polite society?
I wonder too, if the compact does not believe mercy can be traded for debt, if instead they would have preferred that Prince Donrai executed a 10 year old girl not so long ago, rather then raising her to serve him.
Freedom, we speak so much of freedom, and on its surface such seems charitable, but when I chase the chains of consequence I can clearly see that the the alternatives are not so perfect either.
I shall have to query those I know who whole different beliefs how they balance their ideas about freedom with their ideas about justice and perhaps come to understand them better for it.
Written By Margot
Nov. 6, 2016, 6:06 p.m.(1/18/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Max
Pink skies in morning, sailors take warning.
Written By Margot
Nov. 1, 2016, 10:22 p.m.(1/3/1005 AR)
I awoke to a bang, to a distant rumble. For the first time in years I freshly remembered the sacking of Tyde Hall, the sudden well of panic followed the realization that the walls could not protect us from all threats.
For the first time in years I felt my chest clench, my breath lost.
Was I relieved to find out it was only a fire in the lower districts? Of course. But I cannot help but feel it is a portent of what is to come.
Danger is closer to home than any of us care to admit and none of us are safe here.
For the first time in years I felt my chest clench, my breath lost.
Was I relieved to find out it was only a fire in the lower districts? Of course. But I cannot help but feel it is a portent of what is to come.
Danger is closer to home than any of us care to admit and none of us are safe here.
Written By Margot
Oct. 16, 2016, 10:09 p.m.(11/11/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Nadia
The Duchess of Nightgold and I are planning a bonfire to bring together the Redrain and Thrax nobles.
I must remember she promised to show me some Redrain cuisine and I have promised to give her some beauty secrets from the isles.
I must remember she promised to show me some Redrain cuisine and I have promised to give her some beauty secrets from the isles.
Written By Margot
Oct. 16, 2016, 1:41 p.m.(11/10/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Abbas
Prince Abbas' if Fatima's brother. There father and mother supported my family during the Tyde rebellion and for that their father from across the seas was executed and their mother was sent off to exile in the Lyceum states.
As a result Fatima, Abbas and I grew up close together. While there are many orphans of the war in the Thrax house, they were the ones who shared my circumstance as the seed of the traitors.
While Fatima and I learned other ways to cope, Abbas grew to be a fierce Reaver and as a result went off to hunt and haunt the Dark Water 5 years ago. In all honesty I never expected to see him again.
I didn't realize how deeply I missed him until he returned and for a brief time I remembered the relief it is to have someone who wouldn't ask the questions or need an explanation and instead simply understood.
As a result Fatima, Abbas and I grew up close together. While there are many orphans of the war in the Thrax house, they were the ones who shared my circumstance as the seed of the traitors.
While Fatima and I learned other ways to cope, Abbas grew to be a fierce Reaver and as a result went off to hunt and haunt the Dark Water 5 years ago. In all honesty I never expected to see him again.
I didn't realize how deeply I missed him until he returned and for a brief time I remembered the relief it is to have someone who wouldn't ask the questions or need an explanation and instead simply understood.
Written By Margot
Sept. 25, 2016, 6:25 p.m.(9/4/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Dawn
A tea companion with whom conversation is interesting and has lead down some interesting rabbit holes.
We are both much alike in our positions in many regards and both so unalike otherwise.
We are both much alike in our positions in many regards and both so unalike otherwise.
Written By Margot
Aug. 28, 2016, 10:10 p.m.(6/5/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Donella
If there is anyone who can understand the perils of my position it is Donella. We have called a truce between ourselves. I only hope that Donrai will allow us to maintain it.
Written By Margot
Aug. 20, 2016, 12:10 a.m.(5/6/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Dawn
In many ways we are alike though I do not hold nearly the position within my house that she does in hers. Still we agree on what is important and I hope sincerely we may continue to work towards the same goals.
Written By Margot
Aug. 14, 2016, 5:16 p.m.(4/18/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Larissa
Good fortune had my path cross with this lovely young Whisper's and she is indeed delightful company. I shall have to invite her to the estate for tea so that we may further discuss future party plans and fashion.
Written By Margot
Aug. 13, 2016, 11 p.m.(4/16/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Dagon
I am glad that we are friends again. The quarrel is passed and hopefully never to come about again.
I have missed him these past weeks.
I have missed him these past weeks.
Written By Margot
Aug. 11, 2016, 7:18 p.m.(4/10/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Edain
I don't believe that I have ever met such a genuinely good and honorable person in my life.
Written By Margot
Aug. 2, 2016, 8:48 p.m.(3/11/1004 AR)
Relationship Note on Dagon
It is a privilaged position to be allowed to be able to dream about 'doing things better', about reforming the whole of everything. Sometimes I do not think he knows what a danger he is to himself and the family.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.