Written By Shard
April 15, 2019, 4:11 p.m.(12/6/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Thesarin
Knowledge. Answers to questions. Things that don't fit very easily into wrapped boxes.
It wasn't a tradition where I grew up.
It wasn't a tradition where I grew up.
Written By Shard
April 14, 2019, 2:36 p.m.(12/4/1010 AR)
I think it's my birthday. That's so strange; usually, I just realize it several days later in passing. It's a good morning. Chill and clear, with the smell of wood smoke.
Written By Shard
April 7, 2019, 3:05 a.m.(11/17/1010 AR)
There was an important principle in my tribe that children learned early, and often: if someone does for you, you do for them. If they give you something you need, you give them something they need in turn. If they protect you, you protect them. If they stand for you, you stand for them, because none of us could stand forever on our own. This wasn't debt, exactly, or at least, not debt in the way that debt happens here. You didn't keep a tally. You didn't go break bones if someone owed you. You simply did for each other, because it was right, and also because it was necessary. The tribe would not survive otherwise.
It's not doing for someone else if you're only holding out a hand to someone in danger because you want them to stand between you and worse danger. It's not doing for someone else to take advantage of their desperation and offer them a choice between death and death. If you're only thinking of someone as an expendable resource, then you might be doing business, but you aren't doing them a favor.
And you should always be wary of someone who treats making a trade as though they were bestowing a benevolent gift.
It's not doing for someone else if you're only holding out a hand to someone in danger because you want them to stand between you and worse danger. It's not doing for someone else to take advantage of their desperation and offer them a choice between death and death. If you're only thinking of someone as an expendable resource, then you might be doing business, but you aren't doing them a favor.
And you should always be wary of someone who treats making a trade as though they were bestowing a benevolent gift.
Written By Shard
March 20, 2019, 10:35 p.m.(10/10/1010 AR)
Do oaths of fealty mean anything to the people they're sworn to? Do you feel any obligation toward your citizens? Any regard, any concern? Do justice and honor even matter at this point? Breaking sanctuary is terrible, but is that really the only fucking thing to even get a response? Are we just going to ignore /why/ sanctuary was broken? Do the lives of all those other people--/your people/ whose oaths /you accepted/--not matter because they didn't happen to die in a shrine?
Are we just going to be okay with a loud chunk of the Oathlands deciding that it's perfectly fine to start attacking and murdering prodigals, so long as those prodigals aren't on their way to be godsworn? For a whole bunch of refugees fleeing from Compact lands, not because of invaders or illness or disaster, but because their own liege lords have decided to either turn a blind eye to this or actively participate in it themselves?
Do our lives not even merit a stern fucking word or two to our murderers?
Are we just going to be okay with a loud chunk of the Oathlands deciding that it's perfectly fine to start attacking and murdering prodigals, so long as those prodigals aren't on their way to be godsworn? For a whole bunch of refugees fleeing from Compact lands, not because of invaders or illness or disaster, but because their own liege lords have decided to either turn a blind eye to this or actively participate in it themselves?
Do our lives not even merit a stern fucking word or two to our murderers?
Written By Shard
March 18, 2019, 3:33 a.m.(10/5/1010 AR)
It's great that the Oathlands Orthodoxy is taking the time to condemn heresies in the North, seeing as they're otherwise so busy ignoring their oaths, breaking sanctuary, and murdering their own people. It shows a real commitment to the cause.
Written By Shard
March 17, 2019, 9:04 p.m.(10/4/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Willow
I promise, you were never going to prevent this, no matter how many ransoms you paid. These people want only one thing out of this issue, and that's to keep thralls from ever being freed, and to be able to continue to make as many thralls as they want, without interference. This is why they got angry when the Liberators bought and freed thousands, despite following every one of their rules. This is why they murdered a freed man well before Brass ever showed his face. This is why they butchered an entire village and a Peer.
For the people doing this, thralldom isn't just a means to an end. Thralldom /is/ the end. And unless you let them have that, turn your back and let all those people remain enslaved forever, you're their enemy and they'd kill you as easily as they've killed everyone else.
For the people doing this, thralldom isn't just a means to an end. Thralldom /is/ the end. And unless you let them have that, turn your back and let all those people remain enslaved forever, you're their enemy and they'd kill you as easily as they've killed everyone else.
Written By Shard
March 17, 2019, 2:06 a.m.(10/3/1010 AR)
It's not like I forget the sentiment, or don't see it when it exists but isn't so blunt, but it's always something when someone just comes straight out and says that the only thing that should ever be done with the Abandoned, no matter what they have or haven't done, no matter if they're willing (or forced) to bend the knee, is kill them or drag them into slavery. Prodigals, you see, are the source of moral decay and erosion of the very fabric of the Compact, not the people who cheer when thousands of men, women, and children are butchered and openly lust for more killing. Not the people who grow fat and rich off the misery of generations of slaves. No, no, it's the skewered babies that were the savages.
Surely, the Sentinel will reward only the truly civilized murderers, slavers, and poisoners for their unending dedication to justice.
Surely, the Sentinel will reward only the truly civilized murderers, slavers, and poisoners for their unending dedication to justice.
Written By Shard
March 17, 2019, 1:37 a.m.(10/3/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Caspian
He can bend over and kiss his own ass on the way down. It won't be any more challenging than the fucking acrobatics he's already performing.
Written By Shard
March 14, 2019, 4:38 p.m.(9/26/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Valdemar
There was already a price in blood being paid, it was just the blood of criminals, or people the Compact doesn't consider to be worth caring about. Entire lifetimes of blood drained slowly through the years, or cut off brutally on an owner's whim. Generations upon generations of it, for longer than I think anyone actually knows. There are people suffering and dying in the Mourning Isles right now. Given the choice between caring about them or caring about the people causing all that misery, the choice seems pretty obvious. I don't shed any tears for slavers who love slavery so much they'll turn against all the rest of us to keep it.
And I don't care about unity for the sake of unity. Too often unity is held up as a shield against ever changing anything for the better, including Thralldom. Unity for a purpose is better. Unity for a cause is powerful. Unity for the sake of letting people do terrible things is neither of those. I mentioned unity because you brought it up, and seemed to value it.
The people who are going to revolt over this are already people who think I am scum on their shoe. If not now, then they thought I was better off in chains for the vast majority of my life, along with every single man, woman, and child in my tribe. If you don't care about my opinion, I sure as hell don't see why they would.
And I don't care about unity for the sake of unity. Too often unity is held up as a shield against ever changing anything for the better, including Thralldom. Unity for a purpose is better. Unity for a cause is powerful. Unity for the sake of letting people do terrible things is neither of those. I mentioned unity because you brought it up, and seemed to value it.
The people who are going to revolt over this are already people who think I am scum on their shoe. If not now, then they thought I was better off in chains for the vast majority of my life, along with every single man, woman, and child in my tribe. If you don't care about my opinion, I sure as hell don't see why they would.
Written By Shard
March 14, 2019, 1:07 a.m.(9/25/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Valdemar
Actually, I will answer a part of it:
If people break their oaths to their lieges and the Compact as a whole over this (and it will happen), it's because they value owning people over all the rest. And if they value owning people over the Compact, over House Thrax, and over all their other traditions, then they care far less about unity than you do.
If they want to die for it, then they have made their choice and I see no reason to downplay that decision by pretending that the Compact forced them to sacrifice their honor and their loyalty for the sake of holding on to a tradition that is slavery in everything but name, and if we were still playing by their rules the punishment for their rebellion would be execution or an effective lifetime in chains.
Traditions are not good simply because they are traditional. The Compact, Great House Thrax included, obviously understands this, because Abandoned with incompatible traditions are forced to either give them up or die.
If people break their oaths to their lieges and the Compact as a whole over this (and it will happen), it's because they value owning people over all the rest. And if they value owning people over the Compact, over House Thrax, and over all their other traditions, then they care far less about unity than you do.
If they want to die for it, then they have made their choice and I see no reason to downplay that decision by pretending that the Compact forced them to sacrifice their honor and their loyalty for the sake of holding on to a tradition that is slavery in everything but name, and if we were still playing by their rules the punishment for their rebellion would be execution or an effective lifetime in chains.
Traditions are not good simply because they are traditional. The Compact, Great House Thrax included, obviously understands this, because Abandoned with incompatible traditions are forced to either give them up or die.
Written By Shard
March 14, 2019, 12:49 a.m.(9/25/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Valdemar
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like my answer to those questions.
Written By Shard
March 11, 2019, 1:58 a.m.(9/19/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Victus
I said they would never do it, because none of them would ever be willing to make the sacrifices it would require. I said it repeatedly. I believe I wrote it down here, so I'll write this here as well:
I was wrong. I was wrong in the best possible way it is to be wrong. I had no faith in House Thrax, and no faith even in the leaders who had made gestures toward at least easing thralldom. At best, I thought, children were being freed--without their parents, without their families--and being raised in unfamiliar households. At best this was accomplished by paying the people who had either enslaved them in the first place, or encouraged their enslavement by buying their debt. At best, an entire generation of children would be cut loose from everything and everyone they'd known, to save them from a lifetime of slavery. But not their parents. Not their grandparents. Not their brothers and sisters and cousins who were too old to raise the kind of sympathy they could. Just them. At best, they and they alone would be free.
Seven years is a long, painfully long time. Children will grow up in seven years. Men and women will die or be killed in seven years. Older thralls may not have seven years left in them. But seven years is not a generation. It's not a century. It doesn't condemn every current thrall to die in thralldom for the sake of the future and the comfort of their owners.
I apologize for underestimating you. And me and mine, many of whom are former thralls themselves, will stand with you in this.
I was wrong. I was wrong in the best possible way it is to be wrong. I had no faith in House Thrax, and no faith even in the leaders who had made gestures toward at least easing thralldom. At best, I thought, children were being freed--without their parents, without their families--and being raised in unfamiliar households. At best this was accomplished by paying the people who had either enslaved them in the first place, or encouraged their enslavement by buying their debt. At best, an entire generation of children would be cut loose from everything and everyone they'd known, to save them from a lifetime of slavery. But not their parents. Not their grandparents. Not their brothers and sisters and cousins who were too old to raise the kind of sympathy they could. Just them. At best, they and they alone would be free.
Seven years is a long, painfully long time. Children will grow up in seven years. Men and women will die or be killed in seven years. Older thralls may not have seven years left in them. But seven years is not a generation. It's not a century. It doesn't condemn every current thrall to die in thralldom for the sake of the future and the comfort of their owners.
I apologize for underestimating you. And me and mine, many of whom are former thralls themselves, will stand with you in this.
Written By Shard
Feb. 27, 2019, 2:33 a.m.(8/23/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Zeriax
If you were the very last one, with no one to come after you and no one to remember you, you could always try revenge against whoever or whatever took all the rest away.
Written By Shard
Feb. 21, 2019, 5:09 p.m.(8/12/1010 AR)
Shocking? No. Cowardly, short-sighted, selfish, and over-all a generally bad idea that will likely backfire on you? More that.
Does the Compact submit to other nations' laws now? Justice for the king's son will not be found in fucking Cardia, who are, if you weren't quite paying attention, currently holding the kid hostage. They are not going to punish Brass for endangering him. They are going to punish him for daring to attempt a slave revolt and generally being their enemy. The Cardians, again, if you aren't aware, were enemies of the Metallic Order. Turning Brass over to save your skin is turning a former slave over to his former masters, even if you want to ignore every damned thing that man has done over the centuries to protect humanity. If you want him to face justice for what he's done, then you should advocate that he should face the King's justice, not Cardia's. Don't pretend that's what you actually care about.
And I'm curious. Do you think the Undying Emperor is going to be happy you're turning over a former companion of his to his long time enemies? Because I don't know him, but I don't really think that would put him in a very forgiving mood.
Sacrificing people is never a good thing. Never a noble thing. Sometimes it's the thing you have to do, but it's last resort, not the first option you turn to when you feel threatened. Sacrificing someone just for your own safety and gain makes you a piece of shit, not the 'reasonable' person. And as for the Metallics, the Metallics sacrificed themselves, over and over again, to save the world. To save humanity. The reason you can sit there and write these things is because a bunch of them died to keep your ancestors alive.
And that's right, I'm a mercenary. I've never been accused of having a sweet and tender heart. What the fuck does that say that I'm having to point this shit out to /you/?
Does the Compact submit to other nations' laws now? Justice for the king's son will not be found in fucking Cardia, who are, if you weren't quite paying attention, currently holding the kid hostage. They are not going to punish Brass for endangering him. They are going to punish him for daring to attempt a slave revolt and generally being their enemy. The Cardians, again, if you aren't aware, were enemies of the Metallic Order. Turning Brass over to save your skin is turning a former slave over to his former masters, even if you want to ignore every damned thing that man has done over the centuries to protect humanity. If you want him to face justice for what he's done, then you should advocate that he should face the King's justice, not Cardia's. Don't pretend that's what you actually care about.
And I'm curious. Do you think the Undying Emperor is going to be happy you're turning over a former companion of his to his long time enemies? Because I don't know him, but I don't really think that would put him in a very forgiving mood.
Sacrificing people is never a good thing. Never a noble thing. Sometimes it's the thing you have to do, but it's last resort, not the first option you turn to when you feel threatened. Sacrificing someone just for your own safety and gain makes you a piece of shit, not the 'reasonable' person. And as for the Metallics, the Metallics sacrificed themselves, over and over again, to save the world. To save humanity. The reason you can sit there and write these things is because a bunch of them died to keep your ancestors alive.
And that's right, I'm a mercenary. I've never been accused of having a sweet and tender heart. What the fuck does that say that I'm having to point this shit out to /you/?
Written By Shard
Feb. 21, 2019, 4:11 p.m.(8/12/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Rymarr
I described a shield. But I don't think you need me to tell you that it's not a good idea, when using a shield, to simply stand there and take a massive hit straight on instead of trying to deflect some of that force away from you. It's a good way to break your arm.
The point was that no matter /what/ you choose to do, you have to actually react, and react appropriately, when faced with a significant threat. I keep reading or hearing people talk about these choices as though not making a change is a valid option, and not only is that not the case, but it's not what Ashe actually offered either.
The point was that no matter /what/ you choose to do, you have to actually react, and react appropriately, when faced with a significant threat. I keep reading or hearing people talk about these choices as though not making a change is a valid option, and not only is that not the case, but it's not what Ashe actually offered either.
Written By Shard
Feb. 21, 2019, 3:46 a.m.(8/11/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Gilroy
Handing someone over, particularly someone who is offering desperately needed help, for torture and death because you think they're a hypocrite (I guess?) and because you think it will benefit you shouldn't be a popular opinion, no.
But, more to the point is this; we can't keep on the same way we have. I wrote before that the Compact, whatever it decides, /has/ to change. Every choice in front of us requires some kind of a change, and none of them are small, and none of them are easy, though some are easier, and some are certainly better, than others.
I thought of a few analogies to this. I thought about referencing my tribe, and how we constantly moved to survive, but that's not a life most Compact people are familiar with. So I'll try one a little more familiar. When you're on the field and some screaming madman is coming at you with a weapon half the size of your body, you can't just stand there, rigid. If you've got a durable enough shield, you might be able to take the blow, but if you don't set your feet right and give a little, try to direct the force of the strike away, chances are he's going to split your shield right in two and you with it. And if you don't have a shield you'd better be prepared to duck to the side at just the right time and let his own momentum carry him past you. If you're fast enough, and practiced enough, and good enough at anticipating him, you might even get him in the side or the back with your own weapon before his swing is even over. But if you just stand there, unwilling to move, unwilling to shift your feet, or unwilling to give with the blow, he's going to crush you.
If battle analogies don't work either, then one more. You don't stand in the way of a charging bull just because you think you can out-stubborn it.
There are things out there that are coming at us, whether most people are aware of them or not. Whatever we decide to do, whatever tactic we go with, it has to be /something/. And it has to be something potent enough that we can actually strike back when we see an opening, because we won't get many. We cannot simply continue standing in place just because it's where we think we've stood all along.
But, more to the point is this; we can't keep on the same way we have. I wrote before that the Compact, whatever it decides, /has/ to change. Every choice in front of us requires some kind of a change, and none of them are small, and none of them are easy, though some are easier, and some are certainly better, than others.
I thought of a few analogies to this. I thought about referencing my tribe, and how we constantly moved to survive, but that's not a life most Compact people are familiar with. So I'll try one a little more familiar. When you're on the field and some screaming madman is coming at you with a weapon half the size of your body, you can't just stand there, rigid. If you've got a durable enough shield, you might be able to take the blow, but if you don't set your feet right and give a little, try to direct the force of the strike away, chances are he's going to split your shield right in two and you with it. And if you don't have a shield you'd better be prepared to duck to the side at just the right time and let his own momentum carry him past you. If you're fast enough, and practiced enough, and good enough at anticipating him, you might even get him in the side or the back with your own weapon before his swing is even over. But if you just stand there, unwilling to move, unwilling to shift your feet, or unwilling to give with the blow, he's going to crush you.
If battle analogies don't work either, then one more. You don't stand in the way of a charging bull just because you think you can out-stubborn it.
There are things out there that are coming at us, whether most people are aware of them or not. Whatever we decide to do, whatever tactic we go with, it has to be /something/. And it has to be something potent enough that we can actually strike back when we see an opening, because we won't get many. We cannot simply continue standing in place just because it's where we think we've stood all along.
Written By Shard
Feb. 20, 2019, 5:13 a.m.(8/9/1010 AR)
I've always been what I am. None of us, myself included, knew exactly how far that went, but I am what I am and I am who I am, and I didn't suddenly become someone entirely different just because of a revelation at an Assembly. Perceptions are what changed. My bloodline did not.
For the record, I have accepted the title, insofar as I can right now. It's an enormous mess, but it can be worked out.
For the record, I could have walked away from the Valorous Few. I considered it. I've always been largely terrible at being a sellsword. But they're my crew now, and Audric trusted me to handle it. How can I, theoretically, be trusted with an entire kingdom if I can't take care of the people who are my responsibility right this moment?
For the record, it's definitely weird. And awkward. And a mess. I don't disagree. And while I might find it irritating and maybe a little insulting that people would suddenly find me extra-foreign and untrustworthy because of where my family originally came from, it's only really a step up from just being normal foreign and untrustworthy because of where /I/ came from.
I'm not a very reassuring person by nature, but I'll offer this: none of my positions or opinions, like them or hate them, have changed. None of my priorities have changed; they might expand in the future, but they haven't /changed/. And I think, honestly, though I've certainly made missteps and mistakes, what I've done since arriving here in the Compact largely speaks for itself.
For the record, I have accepted the title, insofar as I can right now. It's an enormous mess, but it can be worked out.
For the record, I could have walked away from the Valorous Few. I considered it. I've always been largely terrible at being a sellsword. But they're my crew now, and Audric trusted me to handle it. How can I, theoretically, be trusted with an entire kingdom if I can't take care of the people who are my responsibility right this moment?
For the record, it's definitely weird. And awkward. And a mess. I don't disagree. And while I might find it irritating and maybe a little insulting that people would suddenly find me extra-foreign and untrustworthy because of where my family originally came from, it's only really a step up from just being normal foreign and untrustworthy because of where /I/ came from.
I'm not a very reassuring person by nature, but I'll offer this: none of my positions or opinions, like them or hate them, have changed. None of my priorities have changed; they might expand in the future, but they haven't /changed/. And I think, honestly, though I've certainly made missteps and mistakes, what I've done since arriving here in the Compact largely speaks for itself.
Written By Shard
Feb. 16, 2019, 3:22 a.m.(8/1/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Niklas
Am I an actual head of state now, then, rather than a mouthy commoner who clearly doesn't know what she's talking about? Fascinating.
They're not an army, they're a company of sellswords. People, usually nobles, hire them to do things, and that puts food on their table. On my table. They're all Compact citizens. And I've been helping to lead them for a number of years in countless battles. I led them at Setarco. I helped command at the Lodge of Petrichor.
I can see where this might be uncomfortable, given recent revelations. I can see where this might be questionable. By all means, let's have this discussion. Is it right, or proper, for me to be leading armed men and women into battle for members of the Compact? Is it right, or proper, for me to keep taking contracts from the nobility in order to carry out your wishes? To continue fighting in your wars as a mercenary? A weapon for hire?
The one thing that has changed, the one thing that is different, is that I've been named Prima of a faraway land most people have never heard of. Does that matter to the Compact, Your Highness? Because if it matters in this particular instance, it has to matter in /all/ instances. If my bloodline is important, then it's important. If I'm royal, then I'm royal. Not a joke. Not something to sneer at. Not someone to talk down to.
I mean this sincerely; I'm very interested in what anyone might have to say on this wrinkle.
They're not an army, they're a company of sellswords. People, usually nobles, hire them to do things, and that puts food on their table. On my table. They're all Compact citizens. And I've been helping to lead them for a number of years in countless battles. I led them at Setarco. I helped command at the Lodge of Petrichor.
I can see where this might be uncomfortable, given recent revelations. I can see where this might be questionable. By all means, let's have this discussion. Is it right, or proper, for me to be leading armed men and women into battle for members of the Compact? Is it right, or proper, for me to keep taking contracts from the nobility in order to carry out your wishes? To continue fighting in your wars as a mercenary? A weapon for hire?
The one thing that has changed, the one thing that is different, is that I've been named Prima of a faraway land most people have never heard of. Does that matter to the Compact, Your Highness? Because if it matters in this particular instance, it has to matter in /all/ instances. If my bloodline is important, then it's important. If I'm royal, then I'm royal. Not a joke. Not something to sneer at. Not someone to talk down to.
I mean this sincerely; I'm very interested in what anyone might have to say on this wrinkle.
Written By Shard
Feb. 15, 2019, 4:36 a.m.(7/27/1010 AR)
I'll make this short. Baron Audric De Lire is gone. That means I'm officially taking control of the Valorous Few as the new Captain General. That will last until if or when I find someone who can do the job better than I can--who I can also stand to be in the same room with for more than a minute.
We're not taking time off for mourning or anything like that. There are mouths to feed. If you have contracts, bring them to me. If you had agreements with Audric involving the Valorous Few, bring them to me, and we'll talk. If you somehow owe the Valorous Few money, I'm going to find out about it, so you'd best bring that to me before I bring it to you.
If you're sad about him being dead and want to honor him in some way, I'm going to arrange something in the way he'd want. Someone else might want to do something more solemn and official, I don't care. They can do that too.
We're not taking time off for mourning or anything like that. There are mouths to feed. If you have contracts, bring them to me. If you had agreements with Audric involving the Valorous Few, bring them to me, and we'll talk. If you somehow owe the Valorous Few money, I'm going to find out about it, so you'd best bring that to me before I bring it to you.
If you're sad about him being dead and want to honor him in some way, I'm going to arrange something in the way he'd want. Someone else might want to do something more solemn and official, I don't care. They can do that too.
Written By Shard
Feb. 7, 2019, 2:10 a.m.(7/11/1010 AR)
Relationship Note on Audric
To the end, you told me.
You weren't supposed to be the one who died first.
You weren't supposed to be the one who died first.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.