Written By Preston
July 16, 2019, 8:03 a.m.(6/21/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tatienne
I do not believe it can be a secret or a surprise that the Faith disapproves of these foreign influences and their disregard for fundamental commands of the Gods. The game played when dealing with those whom the Faith or your Liege disapproves of is that disapproval may reach a point where it breaks into outright embargo, as has happened.
Written By Preston
July 10, 2019, 7:45 a.m.(6/9/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
The prince of Thrax comments on the Valorous Few and perhaps on mercenaries more generally. I must admit, I am dull and predictable - I am wary of any who fight first for money. It places one at risk of dishonour, it pulls at the bonds of oaths. It is a path surrounded by murky waters, the beasts from which could at any time pounce from the depths to drag you away from the Gods. The Templars' displeasure with mercenaries and their actions has been clear in the past, with our issues with the Crimson Blades and their orders under Prince Alistair.
But what I will say is they are often the most honest of the secular forces we deal with. They are often the most willing to discuss matters with us. Now, I know this is because their motives are obvious - they want coin, and to survive to spend it. But some mercenary commanders have also been most willing to own errors and step up and pay with that same coin to rectify mistakes. Baroness Violet of the Crimson Blades is one such.
I never met Audric, I knew him only by reputation - I do not think we would have liked one another. I think the disagreements between myself and Prima Shard are written in the whites for the ages. But I have never found them to be dishonest. While I may often think Prima Shard is wrong, often self defeating, I may think she is at least half the cause of whatever distance she feels between herself and others in the Compact, I have never doubted that she earnestly held the views she espoused. And that earnestness is built on her experiences.
We each see the world from our own perspective. As a prince, as an outcast, as an orphan. As a noble, as a mercenary or as a knight of the Faith. Perhaps what is best is to agree on a common view of the future, than arguing over our perceptions of the past?
But what I will say is they are often the most honest of the secular forces we deal with. They are often the most willing to discuss matters with us. Now, I know this is because their motives are obvious - they want coin, and to survive to spend it. But some mercenary commanders have also been most willing to own errors and step up and pay with that same coin to rectify mistakes. Baroness Violet of the Crimson Blades is one such.
I never met Audric, I knew him only by reputation - I do not think we would have liked one another. I think the disagreements between myself and Prima Shard are written in the whites for the ages. But I have never found them to be dishonest. While I may often think Prima Shard is wrong, often self defeating, I may think she is at least half the cause of whatever distance she feels between herself and others in the Compact, I have never doubted that she earnestly held the views she espoused. And that earnestness is built on her experiences.
We each see the world from our own perspective. As a prince, as an outcast, as an orphan. As a noble, as a mercenary or as a knight of the Faith. Perhaps what is best is to agree on a common view of the future, than arguing over our perceptions of the past?
Written By Preston
July 10, 2019, 7:27 a.m.(6/9/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Aureth
The Legate is most wise - as he ever is. I just hope more of the children of the Faith understand, and do not allow fascination or a desire for understanding to morph into holding mistaken trust in these foreign emissaries.
Written By Preston
July 9, 2019, 6:39 a.m.(6/7/1011 AR)
Such interest in our foreign guests and the prospect of embassies and the notion we have much to learn from them. I admit, I struggle at the suggestion people like the Cardians would teach us much, or indeed that they truly have much they can convey when their base truth denies the uniquely divine nature of the Gods, placing their own leadership as somehow equal. The Empire? Yes, they may teach us, but I would question to what end. For whose benefit.
I make no secret of the fact I struggle to trust these foreigners. Their interests are not ours except for fleeting moments where ours and theirs might rub against each other, fingertips brushing, before diverging to our respective paths. We should approach with caution their offers. And if they wish to establish embassies, that is a matter for the secular powers - but I would always urge caution.
That said, we must remember that they are guests. Accorded the rights and protections that brings with it. We will never find ourselves if we forsake out values and beliefs, either in servility to a foreign power, or in opposing them through unjust and dishonourable means.
I make no secret of the fact I struggle to trust these foreigners. Their interests are not ours except for fleeting moments where ours and theirs might rub against each other, fingertips brushing, before diverging to our respective paths. We should approach with caution their offers. And if they wish to establish embassies, that is a matter for the secular powers - but I would always urge caution.
That said, we must remember that they are guests. Accorded the rights and protections that brings with it. We will never find ourselves if we forsake out values and beliefs, either in servility to a foreign power, or in opposing them through unjust and dishonourable means.
Written By Preston
July 7, 2019, 4:41 p.m.(6/4/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Cristoph
It seems the last year my time is spent doing a tour of the Oathland houses, working with their nobles. Duke Cristoph has proven he is capable and devout. If he holds to his beliefs and his convictions, his land will flourish.
Written By Preston
July 7, 2019, 4:39 p.m.(6/4/1011 AR)
It seems every so often the whites circle around to some discussion of Abandoned and Compact. Some will say one side is being too general about the Abandoned, and then doing so will be general about the Compact. Or vice a versa.
The important thing is to remember Gloria's commands. You must protect the innocent, and fight with honour. But that does not always end well - when tribes in the Oathlands allied with our enemies, sought to sow discord, when they made it clear they had no intention of obedience to the Gods and laws, there was no choice but to end them. The Sentinel demands that we must ensure justice is done. Gloria demands our actions are honourable.
The important thing is to remember Gloria's commands. You must protect the innocent, and fight with honour. But that does not always end well - when tribes in the Oathlands allied with our enemies, sought to sow discord, when they made it clear they had no intention of obedience to the Gods and laws, there was no choice but to end them. The Sentinel demands that we must ensure justice is done. Gloria demands our actions are honourable.
Written By Preston
July 1, 2019, 6:02 a.m.(5/19/1011 AR)
The words of Father Aureth are important and bear repeating - whatever these foreign emissaries say, understand the context and the viewpoint through which all truth is filtered for them. And where they might mislead, the only pure truth is the Gods, after all.
Also understand despite what they say, or pretend as though they are offering us help, their focus is themselves and we are tools for that. I have made no secret in the past that I trust no-one who does not worship our Gods, no-one would expect anything different of me, but even in a lie there is information about a person and their intent. Something to learn.
Also understand despite what they say, or pretend as though they are offering us help, their focus is themselves and we are tools for that. I have made no secret in the past that I trust no-one who does not worship our Gods, no-one would expect anything different of me, but even in a lie there is information about a person and their intent. Something to learn.
Written By Preston
June 30, 2019, 2:40 p.m.(5/18/1011 AR)
Recent years have marked a large increase in the use of the Templars. We have deployed to all parts of the Compact, and worked with many different houses and groups. We are active in ways my order has not seen for generations. We have done none of this alone - Dame Thena and others have been constant companions.
Written By Preston
June 24, 2019, 8:39 a.m.(5/5/1011 AR)
It has been two years since we recovered Crusader, the ancient blade of the Templars. The blade once held by the men who led our crusades and were known as Sword of the Faith, in a time many of our great stories come from.
We had thought that might be itself an end to a journey - and I owe so many thanks for their work, from Prince Alaric and Dame Mercedes, Princess Alarissa and the Order of East Light, Mother Ailith - and of course my beloved sister Dame Thena and her Knights of Solace such as Sir Jeffeth. We were wrong. A blade alone does not restore the Templars or unify them. Though we have not boasted of its return, it is no secret and Templars knew. And still Templars fell under the sway of the Heretic of Fireside. They could not believe sufficiently in the cause, they could not sufficiently place aside their doubts or parochial ways. Many of those Templars now undergo penance. I hope they will learn from their stumble. Others will never know our love again.
This and other things have proven we needed to do more. The killing of Templars and Godsworn by nobles. The desecration of places of sanctuary. So for the last year or so we have tried to recover more of our past, the stories and deeds of those who we remember now in legend. We have recovered a small part, and from that seed a mighty oak will rise. And it’s roots will tear up the mud around our feet that has for so long held us and dulled our action.
We had thought that might be itself an end to a journey - and I owe so many thanks for their work, from Prince Alaric and Dame Mercedes, Princess Alarissa and the Order of East Light, Mother Ailith - and of course my beloved sister Dame Thena and her Knights of Solace such as Sir Jeffeth. We were wrong. A blade alone does not restore the Templars or unify them. Though we have not boasted of its return, it is no secret and Templars knew. And still Templars fell under the sway of the Heretic of Fireside. They could not believe sufficiently in the cause, they could not sufficiently place aside their doubts or parochial ways. Many of those Templars now undergo penance. I hope they will learn from their stumble. Others will never know our love again.
This and other things have proven we needed to do more. The killing of Templars and Godsworn by nobles. The desecration of places of sanctuary. So for the last year or so we have tried to recover more of our past, the stories and deeds of those who we remember now in legend. We have recovered a small part, and from that seed a mighty oak will rise. And it’s roots will tear up the mud around our feet that has for so long held us and dulled our action.
Written By Preston
June 18, 2019, 3:52 p.m.(4/22/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Tikva
You have excellent taste in protogees, your highness. Dame Ida is a most skilled smith - but more than that, she is devout a true. A friend of the Templars, and a trusted ally.
Written By Preston
June 16, 2019, 11:29 a.m.(4/17/1011 AR)
People talk about the oddest things in white journals - fantasy things. I can only presume they are trying to get a rise from the scholars with these fun tales.
Written By Preston
June 13, 2019, 7:27 a.m.(4/11/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Thena
I remember a time when we thought bravery alone would protect us. When we ran at danger full tilt. Where I went flying through the air when hit by incredibly strong opponents, breastplate cracked....
I remember a time when the darkness of war seemed further off. When the light seemed brighter. When the line between the two on which we stand seemed thicker.
I remember a time when our biggest problem was nobles not listening to us and how many tables you would need to toss over before they would.
And I'll always remember that we stood together in all of that. Even when it all changed at Stormwall, at the end we charged together.
I remember a time when the darkness of war seemed further off. When the light seemed brighter. When the line between the two on which we stand seemed thicker.
I remember a time when our biggest problem was nobles not listening to us and how many tables you would need to toss over before they would.
And I'll always remember that we stood together in all of that. Even when it all changed at Stormwall, at the end we charged together.
Written By Preston
June 12, 2019, 7:10 a.m.(4/9/1011 AR)
With a few scratches of the quill on the parchment hundreds of lives are sent marching one way or another. To life or to death, it is a decision that now relies on others - my choice was to place them in the position that exposed them to those decisions.
A few scratches more and hundreds more will go another direction. A few more and several thousand march in another. It feels much of my time is now spend preparing Templars for march - our numbers have recovered from Stormwall, but the demands upon us are as great as ever. And finding the space to breath, to begin our great projects around rebuilding the fortresses of the Faith, as Grayson and Thrax have both pledged to advance as the first cases, becomes hard. But we must try.
Perhaps I need to delegate more, perhaps I must accept I can no longer do anything myself. I am no longer the young child with a sword, doing the simple bidding of the legates and the Dominus, leading a company of knights. I am Grandmaster of the Templars. And we cannot ever be diverted from our cause, to serve the Gods and to defend the Faith.
A few scratches more and hundreds more will go another direction. A few more and several thousand march in another. It feels much of my time is now spend preparing Templars for march - our numbers have recovered from Stormwall, but the demands upon us are as great as ever. And finding the space to breath, to begin our great projects around rebuilding the fortresses of the Faith, as Grayson and Thrax have both pledged to advance as the first cases, becomes hard. But we must try.
Perhaps I need to delegate more, perhaps I must accept I can no longer do anything myself. I am no longer the young child with a sword, doing the simple bidding of the legates and the Dominus, leading a company of knights. I am Grandmaster of the Templars. And we cannot ever be diverted from our cause, to serve the Gods and to defend the Faith.
Written By Preston
June 9, 2019, 7:04 a.m.(4/3/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Peri
There is a difference between questions and questioning, that perhaps I was not clear about.
Asking for understanding, the 'what is this?' 'what is the reason we do this?' questions, are perfectly fine. These are how you understand, this is part of learning.
Even questioning yourself, the choices you have made, questioning your decisions on the battlefield or posing yourself or others moral quandries, trying to find a better moral path? That is not a problem, indeed it is to be encouraged. We should all improve.
The problem is in questioning the firmament of our society, questioning the established order. Not asking what it is, but questioning its very nature, asking /why/ it should be that we worship the Gods, or give obedience to the king, or why we should hold to our oaths. These are the questions that serve no purpose other than to introduce doubt where there is no need or virtue to it. They serve no-one but our enemy.
Of course, others disagree, but the Orthodoxy has stood on these principles since the time of Carnifex Alor Valardin.
Asking for understanding, the 'what is this?' 'what is the reason we do this?' questions, are perfectly fine. These are how you understand, this is part of learning.
Even questioning yourself, the choices you have made, questioning your decisions on the battlefield or posing yourself or others moral quandries, trying to find a better moral path? That is not a problem, indeed it is to be encouraged. We should all improve.
The problem is in questioning the firmament of our society, questioning the established order. Not asking what it is, but questioning its very nature, asking /why/ it should be that we worship the Gods, or give obedience to the king, or why we should hold to our oaths. These are the questions that serve no purpose other than to introduce doubt where there is no need or virtue to it. They serve no-one but our enemy.
Of course, others disagree, but the Orthodoxy has stood on these principles since the time of Carnifex Alor Valardin.
Written By Preston
June 8, 2019, 4:49 p.m.(4/2/1011 AR)
For some reason it seems now is an appropriate time to muse on the fact that a good number of my brothers and sisters of the Templars serve as Knights of the Library, standing guard within the Archive and working with the Scholars.
Written By Preston
June 7, 2019, 5:30 a.m.(3/27/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Sophie
We are often mediators, but neutral? I do not think so. Where the children are errant, a parent must correct. So it is with the Faith and the Faithful. There is a reason the Legates are Mother and Father, the flock Children, and the Godsworn Brothers and Sisters. We are a family. And in that there are rules. And there are standards.
Written By Preston
June 6, 2019, 8:06 a.m.(3/25/1011 AR)
Choice is not something to be taken lightly or discarded simply. Choice is a command of the Gods, it is demanded by Skald. More than that, it is present in the other commands of the Gods and impacts upon the nature of innocence, of justice, of oaths and swearing.
Oaths are something again we form under the gods, we swear under Limerance, we hold to in order to obey Gloria.
Debate of these matters serves no purpose - it is to question the very nature of our society, the very ideals of our establishment. It is doubt of faith. Save your questions to improve yourselves, do not waste them fomenting discord.
Oaths are something again we form under the gods, we swear under Limerance, we hold to in order to obey Gloria.
Debate of these matters serves no purpose - it is to question the very nature of our society, the very ideals of our establishment. It is doubt of faith. Save your questions to improve yourselves, do not waste them fomenting discord.
Written By Preston
June 5, 2019, 6:10 a.m.(3/23/1011 AR)
You have several duties in life. The first is to the Gods, to their commands and their demands, to their worship and to honour them. Your second is to the Compact, to our people. Only once these first two are satisfied can you begin to think of yourself, what you wish to do, of others you might wish to help.
Except it is never that simple. To obey the Gods' commands, you may need to obey an oath to serve a King, or a Count. You may need to defend the innocents, be they foreign or Compact.
Except it is never that simple. To obey the Gods' commands, you may need to obey an oath to serve a King, or a Count. You may need to defend the innocents, be they foreign or Compact.
Written By Preston
May 31, 2019, 8:13 a.m.(3/13/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Thena
Just as long as you know when they paint the stories of your life, they will definitely use artistic license to make it a sword or a lance in a mounted charge. Not a dagger.
Written By Preston
May 29, 2019, 5:05 a.m.(3/9/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Sparte
I think I would disagree on one point - that somehow the lack of authority seemingly linked to being a commoner through and through. Is Father Aureth not a man who grew up in adverse conditions and thrived in them because he found service and in him the Church found a worthy servant who could give more in leadership? Is Grandmaster Thena no longer someone who struggled on the streets and the lowers because she was chosen at her young age to lead the Solace into an era the like we haven't seen in generations? I was an orphan, Sir Jeffeth was raised in the Tragedy...you will find many of common birth who do hold authority.
I accept the Faith may be an unusual thing, in that all are common in a way - we all forgo title - but I always thought the strength of the Faith is in that mix of experiences of those who come into us. And I don't think just because some succeed it negates or lessens their common nature. And I'd worry some may not embrace the opportunity the Faith offers to dedicated people if they thought it did.
I accept the Faith may be an unusual thing, in that all are common in a way - we all forgo title - but I always thought the strength of the Faith is in that mix of experiences of those who come into us. And I don't think just because some succeed it negates or lessens their common nature. And I'd worry some may not embrace the opportunity the Faith offers to dedicated people if they thought it did.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.