Written By Alecstazi
June 19, 2019, 6:57 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
It has been at least eight years since the last time I was in Arx. Unsurprisingly, quite a lot has changed. The city is louder than I remember. Some of the landmarks are familiar, the markets, the city squares. But so many details are subtly changed. Walking through the sanctums, I expected the shrines of Lagoma and Jayus to have changed, but the Shrine of the First Choice and Shrine to the Queen of Endings are new. What was once the Shrine of the Lost now seems to favor the Dreamer.
Change, often said to be the only constant. In many ways this city seems to feed on change. New people, new Houses, new politics, new beliefs. From moment to moment, breath to breath everything is in motion. It is a frenzy at times. I stand still and watch and it seems as nothing stays still for longer than the space between heartbeats.
My question is this: When did we become a people of gamblers? Our ways are what they are because we know what works. What has always worked. This rush to adapt to the new ways feels reckless to me. When we begin to let our traditions slip away, we let our identities slip away. Once we say one thing is no longer sacred, soon all constants are lost. That is the slippery slope that leads to chaos, lawlessness. It starts with small things. Little shifts. Compromises. But it grows, it becomes easier to justify more and more until the moment it becomes clear that all we are all we were is lost forever. It cannot be coincidence that in this time of unprecedented change we are met with a rapid succession of challenges and threats. Perhaps this is the gods way of warning us that to continue along this path is dangerous and unwise.
I do not know the full story. I do not know the whys. And that is why I crossed the Mourning Sea and came to Arx. To hear. To listen. And I pray that I will begin to understand. So that I can go back to the scared people of the Mourning Isles who see their entire way of life changing, who are crying out, feeling abandoned, feeling unheard. I can go to them and explain. To reassure them that the world is not ending.
Change, often said to be the only constant. In many ways this city seems to feed on change. New people, new Houses, new politics, new beliefs. From moment to moment, breath to breath everything is in motion. It is a frenzy at times. I stand still and watch and it seems as nothing stays still for longer than the space between heartbeats.
My question is this: When did we become a people of gamblers? Our ways are what they are because we know what works. What has always worked. This rush to adapt to the new ways feels reckless to me. When we begin to let our traditions slip away, we let our identities slip away. Once we say one thing is no longer sacred, soon all constants are lost. That is the slippery slope that leads to chaos, lawlessness. It starts with small things. Little shifts. Compromises. But it grows, it becomes easier to justify more and more until the moment it becomes clear that all we are all we were is lost forever. It cannot be coincidence that in this time of unprecedented change we are met with a rapid succession of challenges and threats. Perhaps this is the gods way of warning us that to continue along this path is dangerous and unwise.
I do not know the full story. I do not know the whys. And that is why I crossed the Mourning Sea and came to Arx. To hear. To listen. And I pray that I will begin to understand. So that I can go back to the scared people of the Mourning Isles who see their entire way of life changing, who are crying out, feeling abandoned, feeling unheard. I can go to them and explain. To reassure them that the world is not ending.
Written By Fiora
June 19, 2019, 5:05 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Martino
We're fresh out. And if you just so happen to think that I'm lying and do the unthinkable of trying to search my quarters, I hope you enjoy the display I've set up to be the first thing one sees when entering: All of my archery medals and trophies on display.
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 Rysen
June 19, 2019, 4:22 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Reigna
Sonnet for the Guildmaster of the Physicians
Low was I, and scared that in the darkness
Would never see again the happy light,
Or feel again warmth of gentle kindness,
But only the frozen void's joyless bite.
The cold frost my eyes did close, sealing shut,
So too, my lips did cease to utter words,
Yet no panic in my breast rose up -
My will but begging to accept my curse,
But in that moment of abject despair,
When I could not even utter a moan,
Then one looked down on me with loving care,
And from that fiery Elysian throne
Lagoma whispered, "never surrender,"
And sent forth a flame whose name is Reigna.
Low was I, and scared that in the darkness
Would never see again the happy light,
Or feel again warmth of gentle kindness,
But only the frozen void's joyless bite.
The cold frost my eyes did close, sealing shut,
So too, my lips did cease to utter words,
Yet no panic in my breast rose up -
My will but begging to accept my curse,
But in that moment of abject despair,
When I could not even utter a moan,
Then one looked down on me with loving care,
And from that fiery Elysian throne
Lagoma whispered, "never surrender,"
And sent forth a flame whose name is Reigna.
Written By Alarissa
June 19, 2019, 4:07 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Is it better to have a lonely heart, or a broken heart?
Written By Josephine
June 19, 2019, 2:41 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
There is just one moon and one golden sun... such an odd tune. So dark. I almost wish that the talk of thawing would dislodge this song.
It's a dark world after all... so strange.
It's a dark world after all... so strange.
Written By Aleksei
June 19, 2019, 2:32 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
If a way of life or a tradition involves enslavement, it deserves to die. And it's not comparable to the destruction of a way of life that isn't inherently harmful.
Written By Sparte
June 19, 2019, 1:38 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Kenna
I'm still just getting used to having the door at all, myself.
By the by, I'm making a space for Dame Tom to entertain friends in the room. Or trying to. This decorating thing may go poorly for me, but I'm trying.
By the by, I'm making a space for Dame Tom to entertain friends in the room. Or trying to. This decorating thing may go poorly for me, but I'm trying.
Written By Sparte
June 19, 2019, 12:59 p.m.(4/24/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Elisha
A man both fisherman and farmer, taker and maker of life, plants his garden. In the hole he digs, a single fish is dropped. "The fish that was will nurture the plant that will be. In that the fish will become the plant, but the plant will never be the fish." He contemplates this as he takes a bite of an apple from his garden.
A blind artist paints a work of art. Her brush touches the canvas and reveals sights only she had seen, but others are blind to the beauty.
Five brothers sit at a round table. One speaks up. "We must agree that I sit at the head of the table, or else we will have no table at all." The other brothers as one rise and leave.
Seven birds above sing a song for seven cats to hear. One cat chitters and spits, "Come closer birds, come here. My song waits on pointed claws, sung through sharpened teeth. My song a wave of hypnotic tail and of a merry feast." The seven birds come and leave behind six cats who knew to flee.
Upon the skin a tapestry, upon the tapestry a tale, upon the tale a single man who stood when none prevailed. That single man saw victories at cost too great to tell, so on his skin a tapestry, upon that his tale.
A blind artist paints a work of art. Her brush touches the canvas and reveals sights only she had seen, but others are blind to the beauty.
Five brothers sit at a round table. One speaks up. "We must agree that I sit at the head of the table, or else we will have no table at all." The other brothers as one rise and leave.
Seven birds above sing a song for seven cats to hear. One cat chitters and spits, "Come closer birds, come here. My song waits on pointed claws, sung through sharpened teeth. My song a wave of hypnotic tail and of a merry feast." The seven birds come and leave behind six cats who knew to flee.
Upon the skin a tapestry, upon the tapestry a tale, upon the tale a single man who stood when none prevailed. That single man saw victories at cost too great to tell, so on his skin a tapestry, upon that his tale.
Written By Helena
June 19, 2019, 11:50 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
I wasn't sure how the latest poetry reading would go but I found it insightful, enlightening on what and who the gods are in our lives as well as what it means to be human.
Thank you as always to our lovely poets who find the strength to share their innermost thoughts with others.
Thank you to those who come to listen and never judge.
The next will be upcoming, with a special theme in line with other special event -- to be announced later! I am very excited and look forward to it already.
Thank you as always to our lovely poets who find the strength to share their innermost thoughts with others.
Thank you to those who come to listen and never judge.
The next will be upcoming, with a special theme in line with other special event -- to be announced later! I am very excited and look forward to it already.
Written By Delilah
June 19, 2019, 8:35 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
A mere trifle consoles us, for a mere trifle distresses us.
Written By Willow
June 19, 2019, 8:12 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
It is such a joy and so refreshing to treat with someone else who seems to have such a similar perspective. There are a good many ways in which I might be considered progressive or unorthodox, and those are usually the product of reflection and careful cultivation and thought experiment. I am reminded on reading his latest musings of why it was that I wanted to try to work with Thrax and the Peerage of the Isles on the most respectful terms possible. When hearing that Thralldom was ultimately going to be abolished, as a Northerner with our associations with and allusions to Skald, I was in truth overjoyed, because that has never been something I have believed was right. But at the same time, my heart went out to a people who were watching their traditions and way of life disappear, because all I could think was what if the same happens to or were to happen to shamanism, and what impact would that have on Stonedeep, its stability, and morale. What would it be like to have someone else take it from us because they disagreed?
Written By Martino
June 19, 2019, 8:11 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Domonico
I will use the same words our Duchess just used. Effective use of resources this...
"Don't screw up"
I mean hire the staff and when she gets to nine, the training can begin. I pray that she has Lady Aahana's beauty over yours, brother.
"Don't screw up"
I mean hire the staff and when she gets to nine, the training can begin. I pray that she has Lady Aahana's beauty over yours, brother.
Written By Martino
June 19, 2019, 8:07 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Fiora
Cousin. I /nearly/ had our Duchess treat herself to a cup of jasmine tea. Nearly. It was the afternoon as well. So perfect.
But the tea pot that you had, do you know where another can be found?
But the tea pot that you had, do you know where another can be found?
Written By Thea
June 19, 2019, 6:48 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
There is now a new baby Malvici. A girl. That I got to watch be born. This was entirely different than the normal blood and injuries and and things I see in battles or sicknesses I've overseen. This was...fascinatingly disgusting and beautiful. Something that beautiful could come from all---that. Being Malvici, I am positive her bones wont break or anything as I'm sure I might drop her or accidentally squeeze her and Finn might like her too much.
Anyway---Congratulations to my family on the newest addition.
Anyway---Congratulations to my family on the newest addition.
Written By Joscelin
June 19, 2019, 2 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Joss gave me flowers today. My flowers. He dug up all of my irises and left them on the kitchen counter with a drawing in charcoal of himself, Ianthe, and Mongoose. It was covered in fingerprints, just as my counter, towels, and the duvet the boy and the dog were sleeping on when I discovered them.
Written By Joscelin
June 19, 2019, 1:58 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Josephine
Remarkable enough in her ability to grasp her weaknesses as much as her better attributes, to strengthen the one and lean on the other. We all stumble in our new roles, at least a little, though I admire her foresight in much of what she does, it's a relief to see that no one is perfect.
Written By Joscelin
June 19, 2019, 1:56 a.m.(4/23/1011 AR)
Sometimes, even when we don't intend to, we say the wrong things or don't say the right things at the right time. Timing can be everything, and our best intentions don't always come through in the proper light. We do our best, as leaders, friends, kin, and have to hope that when we fuck up, those that know us understand we definitely didn't mean to ruffle feathers or step on toes. Yes?
Written By Evangeline
June 18, 2019, 9:02 p.m.(4/22/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Lisebet
The Duchess is a darling woman who has refined tastes in fashion. We had a serendipitous meeting at Bold Espressions, which is perhaps one of my favorite spots in the city. My craving for chocolate has not waned and I fear for my hips. The Duchess however was craving something different; raspberries actually and I was so thankful her assistant was there to oblige. I have heard terrible things about denying a blessed woman what she craves. I do not need a sty in my eye. We had such a lovely conversation and I look forward to making her acquaintance again soon. Sadly, I had to cut our conversation short and make haste to handle an urgent matter. Duchess Lisebet, you are so lovely. Thank you for sharing a bit of your time with me. It was truly an honor.
Written By Evangeline
June 18, 2019, 8:55 p.m.(4/22/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Martino
I cannot begin to express the joy I feel when I am reconnected with those from my past. More and more, I am discovering acquaintances and friends I have met in my travels convening in the city of Arx. Lord Martino is one of those familiar faces whose presence fills me with absolute delight. I have enjoyed working with him in the past and very much look forward to rekindling our friendship now that we are both in the same place once more.
He is not only one of the most kind noblemen I've ever met, but he is quite generous. He also has a way with words that leaves me breathless. Gentle readers, if you have not made the acquaintance of Lord Martino Malvici yet, I am not sure what you are waiting for!
He is not only one of the most kind noblemen I've ever met, but he is quite generous. He also has a way with words that leaves me breathless. Gentle readers, if you have not made the acquaintance of Lord Martino Malvici yet, I am not sure what you are waiting for!
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.