Written By Shard
July 8, 2019, 6:22 a.m.(6/5/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Jeffeth
From what I heard, it was more like Skald got saddled with wolves whether he liked them or not. But Skald and Wolf are very similar in some ways, if you hear enough stories.
Written By Shard
July 7, 2019, 8:03 p.m.(6/4/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
A lot of those stories came from Audric himself, and they were different every single time. I won't defend Audric as a good man; he was not a good man, and he'd tell you that himself. But while I served under him, we never engaged in butchery. Fighting, yes. Ugly jobs, yes. That's the life of a sellsword, and he loved it. It would not surprise me to learn he did worse things than I was ever aware of.
Why I worked under Audric De Lire is a long story. I don't care to tell it here, but the short of it is this: I would never have been alive to come to the Compact if it wasn't for him. I would have been another dead, forgotten Abandoned corpse left to rot in the wilds, along with all of my tribe. And whatever reasons he had for what he did, selfish, unselfish, it doesn't change the outcome.
And, to be blunt, I was so naive and so angry when I first came to Arx that I'm fairly confident I would've been knifed in an alley within a month if I didn't have someone to watch my back and keep me from doing something particularly stupid.
Why I worked under Audric De Lire is a long story. I don't care to tell it here, but the short of it is this: I would never have been alive to come to the Compact if it wasn't for him. I would have been another dead, forgotten Abandoned corpse left to rot in the wilds, along with all of my tribe. And whatever reasons he had for what he did, selfish, unselfish, it doesn't change the outcome.
And, to be blunt, I was so naive and so angry when I first came to Arx that I'm fairly confident I would've been knifed in an alley within a month if I didn't have someone to watch my back and keep me from doing something particularly stupid.
Written By Shard
July 7, 2019, 4:34 a.m.(6/3/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
I am a citizen of the Compact who grew up Abandoned. The Compact is never going to let that go, so I don't see why I should.
Every one of those things you listed are things the Compact is guilty of doing to the Abandoned in turn. Every last one. And while the Compact works as a whole, while the Compact answers to a single king, the Abandoned do not; but the Compact is perfectly happy to punish any Abandoned for any crime of any other Abandoned, no matter what their tribe or location. To the Compact, they are all guilty of every crime any individual may commit, and to the Abandoned, you are all guilty of every atrocity any one of you have dreamed up. Do you think they don't notice? Do you think they don't talk? Do you think there weren't constant stories told around the fire when the adults thought we were sleeping about what barbaric murdering thieves you all were? Do you think I grew up without being constantly warned about what would happen to me and all the rest of my tribe if I ever, ever did anything to bring your attention down on us? Do you think /we/ weren't afraid of infiltrators and spies?
I don't hold the Compact in contempt. I used to. I used to think you were all the worst possible people, more monsters than men, eternally hungry and eternally greedy and eternally growing and grasping to seize up every last thing from everyone else. You used to terrify me, I used to hate you. There were nights I went to sleep wishing you would all vanish into thin air or die of plague. You tried to kill me and mine, every last one, down to the smallest baby, because we were somehow in your way.
I don't hate the Compact. I hate butchers. I hate baby murderers. I hate people who massacre thousands of other people and then leave them to rot, or burn in a ditch, or nail them to trees. I hate people who drag other people off in chains to work their entire lives under the boot of their kidnappers. You don't need to tell me that's not all of you, or even most of you, because I've learned that. It took me a while, longer than it should have, but I learned it.
If I want the Compact to be better, to live up to what their stories say they are, to what the gods say they should be, to hold on to their honor, why is that disloyal? If I am loudest when something terrible has been done, it's because I want it to be realized, and to be remembered, even if I know there will never, ever be justice for it. Everyone mourns for lost Compact Houses. Everyone weeps for dead nobles, if they were remotely decent, and sometimes even when they were not. No one needs to be told those are sad things, terrible things. They don't need my voice on the pile, saying the same things everyone else is saying. But no one has been crying for dead Abandoned children, because their murderers made sure there was no one left to cry for them. And if the most anyone feels about it is annoyance that some mouthy Prodigal sellsword keeps bringing them up, then at least for a moment they were remembered, and maybe someone felt /something/ about it other than satisfaction at a job well done.
Every one of those things you listed are things the Compact is guilty of doing to the Abandoned in turn. Every last one. And while the Compact works as a whole, while the Compact answers to a single king, the Abandoned do not; but the Compact is perfectly happy to punish any Abandoned for any crime of any other Abandoned, no matter what their tribe or location. To the Compact, they are all guilty of every crime any individual may commit, and to the Abandoned, you are all guilty of every atrocity any one of you have dreamed up. Do you think they don't notice? Do you think they don't talk? Do you think there weren't constant stories told around the fire when the adults thought we were sleeping about what barbaric murdering thieves you all were? Do you think I grew up without being constantly warned about what would happen to me and all the rest of my tribe if I ever, ever did anything to bring your attention down on us? Do you think /we/ weren't afraid of infiltrators and spies?
I don't hold the Compact in contempt. I used to. I used to think you were all the worst possible people, more monsters than men, eternally hungry and eternally greedy and eternally growing and grasping to seize up every last thing from everyone else. You used to terrify me, I used to hate you. There were nights I went to sleep wishing you would all vanish into thin air or die of plague. You tried to kill me and mine, every last one, down to the smallest baby, because we were somehow in your way.
I don't hate the Compact. I hate butchers. I hate baby murderers. I hate people who massacre thousands of other people and then leave them to rot, or burn in a ditch, or nail them to trees. I hate people who drag other people off in chains to work their entire lives under the boot of their kidnappers. You don't need to tell me that's not all of you, or even most of you, because I've learned that. It took me a while, longer than it should have, but I learned it.
If I want the Compact to be better, to live up to what their stories say they are, to what the gods say they should be, to hold on to their honor, why is that disloyal? If I am loudest when something terrible has been done, it's because I want it to be realized, and to be remembered, even if I know there will never, ever be justice for it. Everyone mourns for lost Compact Houses. Everyone weeps for dead nobles, if they were remotely decent, and sometimes even when they were not. No one needs to be told those are sad things, terrible things. They don't need my voice on the pile, saying the same things everyone else is saying. But no one has been crying for dead Abandoned children, because their murderers made sure there was no one left to cry for them. And if the most anyone feels about it is annoyance that some mouthy Prodigal sellsword keeps bringing them up, then at least for a moment they were remembered, and maybe someone felt /something/ about it other than satisfaction at a job well done.
Written By Shard
July 6, 2019, 4:13 a.m.(6/1/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Vincenzo
As someone with personal experience, I want to point out that Abandoned don't get to walk in the gates. They don't get to walk anywhere. They get to die if they show their faces anywhere near city walls. And while I don't think a real comparison is worth anything given the endless rivers of blood shed on both sides, I'm fairly confident more Abandoned have been butchered in their homes than Arvani since the Great Road came about. Beaucage alone is responsible for thousands of dead, children included, in response to one dead noble. Grayreeve decided to decorate Riven's borders with the tortured and crucified members of an entire tribe in order to show that he was put out. Other noble houses from the Oathlands have been calling not just for Abandoned blood, but Prodigals as well. Refugees were hunted down and murdered in a place of sanctuary.
I don't like seeing any undeserving family or House fall. I don't like child killers. I don't like murderous butchers in general, regardless of where their allegiances lie. There are monsters on either side of the line, but right now ours are being very fucking loud, so it seems strange to pretend like we can't hear them calling for more blood. More, and more, always.
As for Cardia and Jadairal, I really doubt the Nox'alfar would appreciate having them as embassy neighbors, but I'm even more certain there'd be blood in the streets if you tried to stick their embassies in the same city, let alone the same road.
I don't like seeing any undeserving family or House fall. I don't like child killers. I don't like murderous butchers in general, regardless of where their allegiances lie. There are monsters on either side of the line, but right now ours are being very fucking loud, so it seems strange to pretend like we can't hear them calling for more blood. More, and more, always.
As for Cardia and Jadairal, I really doubt the Nox'alfar would appreciate having them as embassy neighbors, but I'm even more certain there'd be blood in the streets if you tried to stick their embassies in the same city, let alone the same road.
Written By Shard
June 23, 2019, 6:16 p.m.(5/4/1011 AR)
If you break a bone, a healer has to set it right; extremely painful, if you've ever had that 'pleasure'. If you broke your sword arm, you cannot use it to wield a sword until it heals. Someone will have to fight for you. Someone will have to hunt for you. If you broke your leg, you cannot walk on it until it heals. Someone will have to help you stand. Someone may even have to carry you.
Is this charity? Will you refuse to let someone protect you while you cannot fight? Will you sit on your ass, never moving, because you can't stand to lean on another? Will you let your limb heal twisted because you refuse to let someone set it in place?
You are not somehow /less/ for asking for help. And you are not somehow /less/ for accepting it, even if you didn't ask. People do for each other, that's how we survive. Today it's your need. Tomorrow it will be someone else's, and you can do for them in turn.
...That is, more or less, what I was told when I decided to be a stubborn little shit of a child. I admit I needed to hear her lecture quite a few times over the years before it fully sunk in.
Is this charity? Will you refuse to let someone protect you while you cannot fight? Will you sit on your ass, never moving, because you can't stand to lean on another? Will you let your limb heal twisted because you refuse to let someone set it in place?
You are not somehow /less/ for asking for help. And you are not somehow /less/ for accepting it, even if you didn't ask. People do for each other, that's how we survive. Today it's your need. Tomorrow it will be someone else's, and you can do for them in turn.
...That is, more or less, what I was told when I decided to be a stubborn little shit of a child. I admit I needed to hear her lecture quite a few times over the years before it fully sunk in.
Written By Shard
June 22, 2019, 4:01 a.m.(5/1/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Aureth
On the other hand, if you're just genuinely devoted to leaving donations via piles of money on the floor, my floor has plenty of space available.
Written By Shard
June 21, 2019, 5:33 p.m.(4/28/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
I haven't missed that. You've fed yourselves for centuries. You've held lavish feasts in the middle of winter, I'm sure, the same as every other House's nobility. Your problem will be manpower and coin, not food directly. That's why your High Lord worked out that it would be years before Thralldom is fully abolished. That's the point. You'll eventually have to pay the people who hold up your society. You'll have to deal with the fact that at least a few of them won't want to stay with the people who have held their leash. And I'm not pretending that won't be very difficult. But I'm not shedding tears over it either. You'll have the entirety of the Compact behind you, in every way possible. That's more support than most can hope for.
I'm not even touching that laughable bit about Thralls having the choice to be thralls. But again, the rest of the Compact somehow gets along without killing everyone who steals an apple. And I highly doubt you were letting murderers take care of your children or work in your households. If you decide to just start executing anyone who might have otherwise been a thrall, that's you being petulant, not you having no other option.
Other people make this argument better than I do. Someone has already made an analogy. But I'll offer this one: starvation and I are old enemies. Every single year, we would have to prepare for the coming winter. Every year we would have to stow away food, try to predict the herds, and decide where we were going to set camp. Often things would go wrong. Sometimes we would miscalculate. Sometimes we would lose hunters, or the herds would go too far south, or the herds would die, or any of a thousand things. But inevitably, winter was on the way. No matter what happened, winter would arrive. We could not stop it. We could not escape it. We could not argue it away. And there was no Compact to call on when there was no food left.
You have time to prepare. You have years, not seasons. You have others to support you. And there's much more to gain than mere survival. I don't believe Great House Thrax will crumble, so long as you don't spend all the time you have in front of you arguing and fighting over whether you should actually /have/ to repair your foundation, rather than continue to rely on the enslavement of others to prop you up. You're far stronger than that.
I'm not even touching that laughable bit about Thralls having the choice to be thralls. But again, the rest of the Compact somehow gets along without killing everyone who steals an apple. And I highly doubt you were letting murderers take care of your children or work in your households. If you decide to just start executing anyone who might have otherwise been a thrall, that's you being petulant, not you having no other option.
Other people make this argument better than I do. Someone has already made an analogy. But I'll offer this one: starvation and I are old enemies. Every single year, we would have to prepare for the coming winter. Every year we would have to stow away food, try to predict the herds, and decide where we were going to set camp. Often things would go wrong. Sometimes we would miscalculate. Sometimes we would lose hunters, or the herds would go too far south, or the herds would die, or any of a thousand things. But inevitably, winter was on the way. No matter what happened, winter would arrive. We could not stop it. We could not escape it. We could not argue it away. And there was no Compact to call on when there was no food left.
You have time to prepare. You have years, not seasons. You have others to support you. And there's much more to gain than mere survival. I don't believe Great House Thrax will crumble, so long as you don't spend all the time you have in front of you arguing and fighting over whether you should actually /have/ to repair your foundation, rather than continue to rely on the enslavement of others to prop you up. You're far stronger than that.
Written By Shard
June 20, 2019, 11:56 p.m.(4/27/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
No, what I am saying is learn to grow and hunt your own damned food. Work your own damned fields. Make your own damned coin and do your own damned labor. Maybe your kidnappers can learn a new profession that doesn't involve selling people. I get that it isn't as easy or as clean as just snapping your fingers and making things just so, that it's far from it, but I'd also like to point out that the reason you're in this situation is because you decided to build your fealty on the backs of millions of slaves for hundreds and hundreds of years, even after the rest of the Compact outlawed it. If you want to lay blame, lay it at the feet of all the people who year, after year, decade after decade, century after century kept this system going, because it was never going to last forever. The reason people face starvation and hardship /now/ is because they decided to tie your entire economy to slavery /then/. They built this weakness into your society, and every generation afterward decided to continue it. When every other member of the Compact gave it up, surely with the same kind of hardships and difficulties, Thrax chose to continue.
/I/ find it curious that your only solution to the Abandoned is either kill them or enslave them. Those aren't the only two options, they're merely the only two options most of the Compact ever entertains. You're right that as a child I wouldn't have wanted to be murdered in my sleep, or tortured and strung up to die, but I also wouldn't have wanted to be enslaved for the rest of my life so I could 'repay' the 'debt' of having been born to the wrong parents. But if I had to choose between the two, I'll take death over chains. Even when you decide to get especially fucking cruel about it, it doesn't last as long as a lifetime of forced service to the people that would have destroyed everything I cared about.
You have a long time to work this out. No one's taking away your precious free labor immediately. You've got years of 'tradition' ahead of you before the time is up. The rest of the Compact somehow managed, I'm sure you can do it with all the rest of the Houses providing aid.
/I/ find it curious that your only solution to the Abandoned is either kill them or enslave them. Those aren't the only two options, they're merely the only two options most of the Compact ever entertains. You're right that as a child I wouldn't have wanted to be murdered in my sleep, or tortured and strung up to die, but I also wouldn't have wanted to be enslaved for the rest of my life so I could 'repay' the 'debt' of having been born to the wrong parents. But if I had to choose between the two, I'll take death over chains. Even when you decide to get especially fucking cruel about it, it doesn't last as long as a lifetime of forced service to the people that would have destroyed everything I cared about.
You have a long time to work this out. No one's taking away your precious free labor immediately. You've got years of 'tradition' ahead of you before the time is up. The rest of the Compact somehow managed, I'm sure you can do it with all the rest of the Houses providing aid.
Written By Shard
June 19, 2019, 5 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
Shamanism is not in any way comparable to /owning people/.
Shamanism is only still allowed if it goes hand in hand with belief and instruction in the Faith. There were crusades fought over it. And it's not as though the majority of those thralls, the war-thralls taken by raiding Abandoned villages, had a tradition of being slaves before they were thrown into servitude and their tribe and families were torn apart.
Traditions are not valuable just for being traditions. If they were, the Compact wouldn't force new Prodigals to constantly give them up. And a tradition of slavery is not worth mourning just because it's been practiced for so damned long.
Shamanism is only still allowed if it goes hand in hand with belief and instruction in the Faith. There were crusades fought over it. And it's not as though the majority of those thralls, the war-thralls taken by raiding Abandoned villages, had a tradition of being slaves before they were thrown into servitude and their tribe and families were torn apart.
Traditions are not valuable just for being traditions. If they were, the Compact wouldn't force new Prodigals to constantly give them up. And a tradition of slavery is not worth mourning just because it's been practiced for so damned long.
Written By Shard
June 16, 2019, 10:12 p.m.(4/18/1011 AR)
There was a lot of scolding over the lecture and question answering the Imperial Emissary gave. And honestly, there were some people that even I think were being needlessly hostile, or, at the very least, very /unwisely/ hostile. That said, I've given it some thought, since.
Sometimes things need to be said. Sometimes things need to be challenged. Sometimes you can't do that in a very polite fashion. And sometimes it shouldn't be polite anyway. I think there's a balance that can be struck between fawning over someone and shouting over them.
I don't claim to have managed it, but I think it's possible.
Sometimes things need to be said. Sometimes things need to be challenged. Sometimes you can't do that in a very polite fashion. And sometimes it shouldn't be polite anyway. I think there's a balance that can be struck between fawning over someone and shouting over them.
I don't claim to have managed it, but I think it's possible.
Written By Shard
June 12, 2019, 9:59 p.m.(4/10/1011 AR)
I'm no stranger to fear. Fear is natural. Normal. Important. Fear keeps you alive. It's important to listen to your fear, to understand your fear, and to decide when to follow your fear or to deny it. Most people are afraid. People who do great things are afraid. Anyone who isn't afraid at least sometimes is an idiot who will probably get themselves and others killed.
It's easy, though, to let fear lead you by the nose. When you stop listening to fear as a potential guide, and just let it make your decisions for you. Very easy. That's what makes someone a coward.
It's easy, though, to let fear lead you by the nose. When you stop listening to fear as a potential guide, and just let it make your decisions for you. Very easy. That's what makes someone a coward.
Written By Shard
June 7, 2019, 2:03 a.m.(3/27/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Amantha
Value is relative. All lives are equal according to whom? Because if you're talking about society, or parts of society, or people who hold special rank in society, then no, all lives are not considered equal by the people with the power to make those decisions. In fact, what specific value are we talking here? Because if we start talking money, I can tell you from experience that all lives have different weights in coin and a lot of life is bought very, very cheaply.
Are we talking according to the gods? I can't speak for the gods.
Are we talking about how all lives /should/ have equal value? Because that's a different discussion entirely, and in that, I'll say this: all lives should have equal value, but all choices and actions /do not/. If it's a choice between saving slaves or slavers, let the slavers drown and burn every single time.
Are we talking according to the gods? I can't speak for the gods.
Are we talking about how all lives /should/ have equal value? Because that's a different discussion entirely, and in that, I'll say this: all lives should have equal value, but all choices and actions /do not/. If it's a choice between saving slaves or slavers, let the slavers drown and burn every single time.
Written By Shard
May 23, 2019, 1:52 a.m.(2/25/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
There's nothing wrong with recognizing that someone else can help you in whatever you're trying to do. There's nothing wrong with assembling a team of people who can all contribute in important ways to the goal. The problem is when you start thinking of other people as resources instead of people. I think I got really angry at someone in front of you once, over this sort of thing. The expectation that a person or persons who /can/ help you therefore /will/ and /must/ help you, with no thought toward their own needs, or even their own existence /as/ a person or persons, is widespread and extraordinarily obnoxious, at best. At the. Very. Best.
Written By Shard
May 22, 2019, 2:47 a.m.(2/23/1011 AR)
I understand the grieving. I sympathize with the grieving. I definitely understand, intimately, the desire for revenge.
But it's hard not to notice what is and isn't considered tragic and horrible when they keep following on each others' heels this way.
But it's hard not to notice what is and isn't considered tragic and horrible when they keep following on each others' heels this way.
Written By Shard
May 19, 2019, 11:05 p.m.(2/18/1011 AR)
Nobody knows how they're going to react when they're faced with combat for the first time. I've seen the roughest, most well trained fighters turn and run at the first charge. The first time I killed a man, I threw up and couldn't keep anything down for two days. You don't know until it happens. And you don't really know until you've forced yourself back into it a second, third, maybe even a fourth time.
And you certainly can't know just from looking at someone. Make a guess, sure. But you can't actually know.
And you certainly can't know just from looking at someone. Make a guess, sure. But you can't actually know.
Written By Shard
May 18, 2019, 12:33 a.m.(2/15/1011 AR)
A warrior is someone who picks up a weapon and ends up never fully putting it down. The reason isn't important. There's nothing special about it. There aren't any oaths or dedications that are required. It's not noble or heroic. A warrior is a person who spends most of their life fighting wars. That's it.
And if someone wants to fight, can hold a weapon, and can manage not to die immediately (something a lot of warriors fail at), then who cares if they're 'suited' to something else? Life doesn't care what you're suited for, and it doesn't wait for you to figure it out. Sometimes a warrior is a farmer who sharpened their pitchfork to defend their home. Sometimes a warrior is a healer who picked up a club to defend their patients. Sometimes someone makes a choice to be something else, because they want to or because they have to, and sometimes they succeed at it.
A warrior is someone who chose to be a warrior, and chooses to keep being a warrior. I don't see why anyone should make it any more complicated than that.
And if someone wants to fight, can hold a weapon, and can manage not to die immediately (something a lot of warriors fail at), then who cares if they're 'suited' to something else? Life doesn't care what you're suited for, and it doesn't wait for you to figure it out. Sometimes a warrior is a farmer who sharpened their pitchfork to defend their home. Sometimes a warrior is a healer who picked up a club to defend their patients. Sometimes someone makes a choice to be something else, because they want to or because they have to, and sometimes they succeed at it.
A warrior is someone who chose to be a warrior, and chooses to keep being a warrior. I don't see why anyone should make it any more complicated than that.
Written By Shard
May 3, 2019, 4:57 a.m.(1/13/1011 AR)
The only weather more miserable than an Arx summer is a Lyceum summer. A mild winter is entirely deserved, and I'm going to be smug about it.
Written By Shard
April 27, 2019, 2:19 a.m.(1/1/1011 AR)
Every now and then I have to explain to someone why my name is what it is. And I don't think they expect to hear that I was just angry and feeling sorry for myself. A shard is something broken, a piece of something larger. Most people in the Compact think of mirrors or worse things when they hear it. I was just thinking about a broken pot.
There it is, anyway. Maybe I should make up a more entertaining story.
There it is, anyway. Maybe I should make up a more entertaining story.
Written By Shard
April 22, 2019, 6:34 a.m.(12/19/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
I already said this, but as a contrast, to explain a little of the conversation to anyone that might read it, this is what these things were to me and mine, growing up:
Paths and game trails are useful, provided you pay attention to what else might be using them. Someone or something has come before you and found the easiest way forward, enough that a little of it has been worn into the land, and if the footing is sure enough you can use them as well as the rest. Roads will get you to where you want to go much faster, but they're dangerous. You didn't build them. The people you know didn't build them. They carry soldiers, and a road near your camp means they can carry soldiers to your door. Never use roads, unless you absolutely have to, or unless you're absolutely sure they'll stay empty; and you can never be absolutely sure they'll stay empty. Stay away from them. Keep to the wilds.
Low walls are for animals, to keep them out or to keep them in, for marking out farms and pens or small villages without many soldiers. Unless you know the tribe or the colors, you are not welcome there, and you should stay away. Tall walls are what the people who want to kill you use to keep you and the rest of the world out. If you see them on the horizon, turn away. If you see them being built, turn away. Change hunting trails. Change camps. The tallest walls are city walls or castle walls. They have soldiers and archers watching and waiting, and if you are close enough to see them, they are close enough to shoot you. Never, ever go near these walls. Not for any reason. You will die.
Tall walls protect me now, of course, but I don't like them. I still feel penned in. It still feels a little like one might decide to fall on me if I linger near it too long. Like I still might catch an arrow. I won't complain if I have one to stand on when I'm trying to fight off an army, obviously. But I might still be a little twitchy.
I don't like roads either, even though I'm allowed to use them now. I'll travel down one like anyone else, but I still prefer the trees. I prefer little used paths and trails. I don't like being easily spotted when I'm traveling. Anyone can walk down a road, and anyone can guess which road you're using if they know where your destination is.
Paths and game trails are useful, provided you pay attention to what else might be using them. Someone or something has come before you and found the easiest way forward, enough that a little of it has been worn into the land, and if the footing is sure enough you can use them as well as the rest. Roads will get you to where you want to go much faster, but they're dangerous. You didn't build them. The people you know didn't build them. They carry soldiers, and a road near your camp means they can carry soldiers to your door. Never use roads, unless you absolutely have to, or unless you're absolutely sure they'll stay empty; and you can never be absolutely sure they'll stay empty. Stay away from them. Keep to the wilds.
Low walls are for animals, to keep them out or to keep them in, for marking out farms and pens or small villages without many soldiers. Unless you know the tribe or the colors, you are not welcome there, and you should stay away. Tall walls are what the people who want to kill you use to keep you and the rest of the world out. If you see them on the horizon, turn away. If you see them being built, turn away. Change hunting trails. Change camps. The tallest walls are city walls or castle walls. They have soldiers and archers watching and waiting, and if you are close enough to see them, they are close enough to shoot you. Never, ever go near these walls. Not for any reason. You will die.
Tall walls protect me now, of course, but I don't like them. I still feel penned in. It still feels a little like one might decide to fall on me if I linger near it too long. Like I still might catch an arrow. I won't complain if I have one to stand on when I'm trying to fight off an army, obviously. But I might still be a little twitchy.
I don't like roads either, even though I'm allowed to use them now. I'll travel down one like anyone else, but I still prefer the trees. I prefer little used paths and trails. I don't like being easily spotted when I'm traveling. Anyone can walk down a road, and anyone can guess which road you're using if they know where your destination is.
Written By Shard
April 20, 2019, 2:58 a.m.(12/15/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Luca
You were the best warrior I've ever seen, anywhere, if not quite the craziest. I know that doesn't stack up much against what other people who knew you better will write, but it's what I have. I'm glad to have fought alongside you against monsters, human and otherwise. I'm glad to have learned something from you, and that you were willing to teach. I'm glad that there will be people who will tell your story long after you've gone.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.