Written By Eleanor
Oct. 4, 2019, 9:25 p.m.(12/15/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Alecstazi
And what about those criminals' children? Not innocents, either?
Written By Raven
Oct. 4, 2019, 7:49 p.m.(12/15/1011 AR)
It was my delight recently to travel with Ladies Viviana and Lucrezia, and with my friend Drusila. Time at sea is time well spent with such fine companions. Few experiences can match the thrill of visiting new places and meeting delightful new people, and of course this journey did not disappoint.
I doubt I shall ever forget the singular ambiance of the charming gentleman barkeep who was so kindly and invested in our party's satisfaction. And then receiving such flattering compliments about my accessories! I could almost swoon at the memory alone.
My only regret is that our journey together had to end, as they all must do, but I will cherish the memories and keep them deep within the brambles of my thorny heart. Every time I set my eyes on Lady Lucrezia's fine new ship, I will recall our time together, and smile.
I doubt I shall ever forget the singular ambiance of the charming gentleman barkeep who was so kindly and invested in our party's satisfaction. And then receiving such flattering compliments about my accessories! I could almost swoon at the memory alone.
My only regret is that our journey together had to end, as they all must do, but I will cherish the memories and keep them deep within the brambles of my thorny heart. Every time I set my eyes on Lady Lucrezia's fine new ship, I will recall our time together, and smile.
Written By Naka
Oct. 4, 2019, 5:40 p.m.(12/15/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Vitalis
Lord Vitalis Mazetti set forth a few interesting exercises in general observation for me earlier in the City Center. With so many stalls and so many people, it made for an interesting time, and potentially improving. If I have chiefly improved my observational skills with respect to the specific locale rather than in general, well, I suppose that could require further consideration. But I feel as if I am better positioned with respect to the whole of the subject matter.
Increasing a student's confidence is, on occasion, also the purview of the instructor.
My thanks to him were stated on the occasion in question, but should also be recorded here.
Increasing a student's confidence is, on occasion, also the purview of the instructor.
My thanks to him were stated on the occasion in question, but should also be recorded here.
Written By Niklas
Oct. 4, 2019, 3:44 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Teagan
The best part of this season are the stews, but I also enjoy the desserts.
I, too, enjoy making complete non-sequiturs.
I, too, enjoy making complete non-sequiturs.
Written By Vanora
Oct. 4, 2019, 3:14 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
It feels good to have all of my boys under this roof again. To watch them smiling and laughing, the twins chasing after their big brother whom they absolutely adore.
Baby Harry is too little to keep up with their play, he just laughs and watches them. But it won't be long now before he is running in circles in the Practice Yard too, with a play sword of his own.
They grow up too quickly.
Baby Harry is too little to keep up with their play, he just laughs and watches them. But it won't be long now before he is running in circles in the Practice Yard too, with a play sword of his own.
They grow up too quickly.
Written By Alecstazi
Oct. 4, 2019, 3:06 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
The scholar tasked with reading me the issues of the day has left the poor woman quite parched. I gave her a glass of water and a rest before requesting that she pen this for me.
My first thought upon hearing all of the words written on this topic is that so many people are quick to wring their hands and wail and moan for the poor, poor victims of Thralldom. Clearly these innocent souls have suffered tragically in their lives of forced labor, having done nothing at all to deserve it.
Except that is not the case at /all/. We do not simply walk up to people minding their own business and slap them in irons and declare them Thralls. These are criminals, thieves, rapists, murderers and shavs who have taken up swords against people of the Compact. Those who have stolen from the law-abiding peoples who want only safety, security and peaceful lives. We enthrall those who have broken with the social contracts or live so far outside the boundaries of civilization to spit on the the thought of rejoining it. These are people, who in other parts of this Compact would be put to death. Was the system flawed? Of course. Were there those abusing it? Absolutely. But I ask you to find me a system of criminal justice anywhere that is without flaw or corruption.
Mainlanders are fond of punishing Compact citizens who commit terrible crimes by saying they are no longer members of the Compact, effectively turning them into abandoned, which in turn renders them unprotected from whatever Lord has decided to go on a cleansing rampage of getting those sorts off their lands.
What really gets me, however, about this event, or debacle that is raging is that it is attempting to shame those seeking to raise money to abolish something that they themselves abhor. I can see why there are those calling it crass or gross. Not because it seeks to normalize something as foul as the slave auctions of Eurus, but rather that it cheapens the horror of it. Instead of reacting with an innate horror at the imagery of a human being being paraded about like a sub-human animal, judged and allocated a price, it becomes a titillation. A means of deriving some sort of arbitrary social esteem that, while I can see how it might be flattering, nevertheless reduces a person down to a monetary value.
The appeal there is clear for those whose own ego is not enough to sustain them but requires some outside validation in the form of garnering an exorbitant price, or at least one that is higher than that Lord or Lady you secretly despise.
To those who protest, however, I ask you this: What harm is it really doing? If a person is not self-aware enough to see the reasons for why such a thing is, by its very nature, gauche, are words really going to change their mind? If this is how they choose to raise money to pay for a short-term non-solution to a greater problem that is, effectively, being kicked down the road for future conflicts to swell and fester, just roll your eyes and let them.
As for Whisper House and their participation, well. I'd have thought that they would choose the politically correct avenue, but I cannot fault them for adhering to the principals of Skald either. Let who so ever desires to, make themselves look like an ass. I do it all the time.
My first thought upon hearing all of the words written on this topic is that so many people are quick to wring their hands and wail and moan for the poor, poor victims of Thralldom. Clearly these innocent souls have suffered tragically in their lives of forced labor, having done nothing at all to deserve it.
Except that is not the case at /all/. We do not simply walk up to people minding their own business and slap them in irons and declare them Thralls. These are criminals, thieves, rapists, murderers and shavs who have taken up swords against people of the Compact. Those who have stolen from the law-abiding peoples who want only safety, security and peaceful lives. We enthrall those who have broken with the social contracts or live so far outside the boundaries of civilization to spit on the the thought of rejoining it. These are people, who in other parts of this Compact would be put to death. Was the system flawed? Of course. Were there those abusing it? Absolutely. But I ask you to find me a system of criminal justice anywhere that is without flaw or corruption.
Mainlanders are fond of punishing Compact citizens who commit terrible crimes by saying they are no longer members of the Compact, effectively turning them into abandoned, which in turn renders them unprotected from whatever Lord has decided to go on a cleansing rampage of getting those sorts off their lands.
What really gets me, however, about this event, or debacle that is raging is that it is attempting to shame those seeking to raise money to abolish something that they themselves abhor. I can see why there are those calling it crass or gross. Not because it seeks to normalize something as foul as the slave auctions of Eurus, but rather that it cheapens the horror of it. Instead of reacting with an innate horror at the imagery of a human being being paraded about like a sub-human animal, judged and allocated a price, it becomes a titillation. A means of deriving some sort of arbitrary social esteem that, while I can see how it might be flattering, nevertheless reduces a person down to a monetary value.
The appeal there is clear for those whose own ego is not enough to sustain them but requires some outside validation in the form of garnering an exorbitant price, or at least one that is higher than that Lord or Lady you secretly despise.
To those who protest, however, I ask you this: What harm is it really doing? If a person is not self-aware enough to see the reasons for why such a thing is, by its very nature, gauche, are words really going to change their mind? If this is how they choose to raise money to pay for a short-term non-solution to a greater problem that is, effectively, being kicked down the road for future conflicts to swell and fester, just roll your eyes and let them.
As for Whisper House and their participation, well. I'd have thought that they would choose the politically correct avenue, but I cannot fault them for adhering to the principals of Skald either. Let who so ever desires to, make themselves look like an ass. I do it all the time.
Written By Aureth
Oct. 4, 2019, 2:14 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Teagan
As it happens, I did not realize that anyone was ascribing a temper tantrum to me, as I was under the impression that the Peerage of Arx was quite familiar with what it looks like when my temper is engaged. But since Lady Teagan has decided to make her direction towards me so plain, I do wonder at why.
Voices of the Peerage should know better than to challenge the Faith for literally no reason. Especially Voices in the Oathlands. What a regrettably foolish choice to so publicly insist upon.
But this is what you have done, and so what I shall say is this:
I have far, far more important work to do than to puzzle out what possible objection Lady Teagan has to anything I have written, and so I shall carry on with it while she publicly brands herself regrettably foolish.
Voices of the Peerage should know better than to challenge the Faith for literally no reason. Especially Voices in the Oathlands. What a regrettably foolish choice to so publicly insist upon.
But this is what you have done, and so what I shall say is this:
I have far, far more important work to do than to puzzle out what possible objection Lady Teagan has to anything I have written, and so I shall carry on with it while she publicly brands herself regrettably foolish.
Written By Amund
Oct. 4, 2019, 1:48 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
The answer to existential questions isn't always obvious or as simple as we think.
But 'who am I' is a question I prefer to answer in the blacks.
But 'who am I' is a question I prefer to answer in the blacks.
Written By Willow
Oct. 4, 2019, 1:05 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
On date auctions:
I do find it a bit concerning that some people are so quick to conflate people willing to donate their time to charity to free people with someone who has actually lived their lives in shackles.
On thralldom:
Sure, voice your concerns, and they even make sense in some contexts. But to act as though people volunteering for charity are inherently wrong headed for pursuing the same goal as you but with a different methodology is confusing - and assumes you know what they are actually doing. It is entirely possible to be part of diplomatic efforts and helping shore up and expand infrastructure to cope with the freeing of thralls while /also/ spending money to help free them more quickly with a minimal loss to the ones whose way of life has until now relied on their presence.
On petty outrage:
It would be funny that some are so concerned with the WAY thralls are freed that they would prefer their freedom not come as soon as humanly possible if we were not even now being dogged by people who facilitate actual slavery and have the resources to turn an entire continent to glass /a thousand years ago/. Maybe we work on that problem and put our very well founded concerns about human auctions on the ones who still have actual slaves?
I do find it a bit concerning that some people are so quick to conflate people willing to donate their time to charity to free people with someone who has actually lived their lives in shackles.
On thralldom:
Sure, voice your concerns, and they even make sense in some contexts. But to act as though people volunteering for charity are inherently wrong headed for pursuing the same goal as you but with a different methodology is confusing - and assumes you know what they are actually doing. It is entirely possible to be part of diplomatic efforts and helping shore up and expand infrastructure to cope with the freeing of thralls while /also/ spending money to help free them more quickly with a minimal loss to the ones whose way of life has until now relied on their presence.
On petty outrage:
It would be funny that some are so concerned with the WAY thralls are freed that they would prefer their freedom not come as soon as humanly possible if we were not even now being dogged by people who facilitate actual slavery and have the resources to turn an entire continent to glass /a thousand years ago/. Maybe we work on that problem and put our very well founded concerns about human auctions on the ones who still have actual slaves?
Written By Fiora
Oct. 4, 2019, 12:36 p.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
In the last year or so there have been a number of these auctions for people's time. I know that long past there has been argument in public discourse about them, but recently, there has been minimal to no backlash. Until Caspian 'People are silly' Wild's event.
Why?
Perhaps because the way he presented it and did it was 'silly'.
Many people are arguing over the act itself. Then Caspian goes on to 'educate' people on how to make criticisms of his actions. Perhaps we should be arguing less about the event itself and focus more on the real issue that started all of this:
Caspian Wild is silly.
Why?
Perhaps because the way he presented it and did it was 'silly'.
Many people are arguing over the act itself. Then Caspian goes on to 'educate' people on how to make criticisms of his actions. Perhaps we should be arguing less about the event itself and focus more on the real issue that started all of this:
Caspian Wild is silly.
Written By Victus
Oct. 4, 2019, 11:55 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
I have seen a few comments aimed toward /when/ today's thralls will be made free citizens. The deadline set tat the Assembly was seven years for a total abolition. A date that has not and will not change. I understand that nearly a decade is a long time to be in chains. Perhaps it would ease the mind to think that for a thousand years, no thrall was given the peace of mind to when they would be released. When their torment would end. Seven years was decided on with the specific goal in mind of seeing all /living/ thralls make it to freedom in their lifetime.
Legate Aureth outlines perfectly how silver alone will not fix this problem. It is a problem at Thrax's core. Infrastructure, agriculture, mining, the simple act of rowing our ships is carried on the backs of thralls. The foundations cannot be torn down without a thought, it must be replaced with something stable.
In the many months since the last Assembly, we have remained committed. Fifteen percent of thralls across the Mourning Isles have found freedom within the year, at the cost of trade and our own economy. Ramifications which have been felt across the mainland and the seas aplenty. It is my hope that this upcoming Assembly will be a time for the Compact to regroup and focus on our next steps into the future.
The work ahead of us is taller than the mountains. But we can do it.
Legate Aureth outlines perfectly how silver alone will not fix this problem. It is a problem at Thrax's core. Infrastructure, agriculture, mining, the simple act of rowing our ships is carried on the backs of thralls. The foundations cannot be torn down without a thought, it must be replaced with something stable.
In the many months since the last Assembly, we have remained committed. Fifteen percent of thralls across the Mourning Isles have found freedom within the year, at the cost of trade and our own economy. Ramifications which have been felt across the mainland and the seas aplenty. It is my hope that this upcoming Assembly will be a time for the Compact to regroup and focus on our next steps into the future.
The work ahead of us is taller than the mountains. But we can do it.
Written By Belladonna
Oct. 4, 2019, 11:07 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Is this really what passes for drama these days? Things have surely gotten dull. Peace does breed weak people.
Written By Lucita
Oct. 4, 2019, 10:19 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Quenia
Sometimes fatigue makes one miss important points they should have observed before. Just last evening I was reviewing some bits and pieces of information I've acquired over the past few months and there was the name of a cousin, right there, in the middle. I'll have to visit and talk with Quenia to see if she knows her brother has been mentioned.
Written By Aureth
Oct. 4, 2019, 9:21 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
I think that Caspian Wild is an excellent and energetic fellow with a dedicated heart, who has done more with his money than many, many people who credit themselves as helps to others.
I clarified the position of the discipleship of Skald to clear up genuine confusion on the subject. The work continues.
I clarified the position of the discipleship of Skald to clear up genuine confusion on the subject. The work continues.
Written By Teagan
Oct. 4, 2019, 7:45 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Niklas
I worry for the day when our leaders in the Faith cannot admit to their own failings as men and women. They guide us. They are not gods themselves.
Written By Teagan
Oct. 4, 2019, 7:45 a.m.(12/14/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Niklas
I worry for the day when our leaders in the Faith cannot admit to their own failings as men and women. They guide us. They are not gods themselves.
Written By Niklas
Oct. 4, 2019, 1:40 a.m.(12/13/1011 AR)
Relationship Note on Teagan
It is a funny thing to say that all we can do is honor the Faith in the same paragraph where one dismisses the words of a legate of the Faith as a temper tantrum.
Written By Shard
Oct. 4, 2019, 1:31 a.m.(12/13/1011 AR)
There's still a Cardian warship anchored outside of our harbor. One of the greatest enemies of humanity--not the Compact, humanity--is wholly dedicated, mind and soul, to the very concept of slavery itself, and he's out there, preparing. A few months back Eurusi slavers were kidnapping Abandoned with the apparently willing help of Compact citizens. The event in question has the aim of freeing thralls (granted, by paying slavers, but fuck it, I've had this argument already, Aureth is better at it).
But sure. It's just like putting the wrong foot forward on the street. Just like that. People just want to be angry about something when they point out that maybe making the selling of people into a fun game for the rich and noble so that you can give money to the other rich and noble who actually do own actual people isn't the best idea ever conceived. It's the ones offering mild criticism who are blowing everything out of proportion.
Fuck's sake.
But sure. It's just like putting the wrong foot forward on the street. Just like that. People just want to be angry about something when they point out that maybe making the selling of people into a fun game for the rich and noble so that you can give money to the other rich and noble who actually do own actual people isn't the best idea ever conceived. It's the ones offering mild criticism who are blowing everything out of proportion.
Fuck's sake.
Written By Rafael
Oct. 4, 2019, 12:07 a.m.(12/13/1011 AR)
My late wife hailed from lands practicing in thralldom. I can't speak to ever having heard her opinion on it one way or the other but, funny thing, I do recall a pretty lengthy diatribe against singles auctions.
Written By Bhandn
Oct. 3, 2019, 11:30 p.m.(12/13/1011 AR)
We approach the end of 1011 AR, and I find myself thinking on everything that has transpired this year. I do not think I could possibly record the entirety of the changes that have significance for me, but I can name some.
For the first time in many, many years, I commissioned an entire new suit of armor, rather than simply replacing portions of it over the years (and the same holds true for Vigil, as well). Rubicund is the material, in this case. This decision came simply because various people have impressed upon me the value of having a more durable armor. I labored for months at amassing favors, writs, resources -- or whatever people want to call them -- in exchange for silver, and at last I was able to secure the necessary materials to request the whole thing. I hope /someone/ in the Crafter's Guild was happy about this. They know who they are.
I can not sit still in it. I don't recall the last time I was fitted for an entire suit in one go, but as I was saying to the Brother in Jayus's Shrine today, I can remember quite a bit of frustration from that dimly remembered era, and that I was sure I was in a saddle wearing it more often than I was off of a mount. The exact comparison I used was that of the din of the voices in the market drowning out those crying their wares to those who might offer their custom, as far as learning to ignore the sense of feeling odd in this new armor; I need a distraction until I am accustomed to the feel.
A new suit of armor -- just keeping the coin to commission it, really -- is its own change. Some would call it avaricious, perhaps, and they would be right, particularly since I felt that I needed to do this on my own, with my own two hands. I've always preferred putting my hands to work rather than have others do it for me. There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with the completion, and this is no different. Yet the fact remains that I actually did not simply gave away all of my silver once I started amassing it. There is also the fact that I am ensuring a mouth other than my own is being fed, and that the lad stays clothed, warm, and safe as well. I think I am finally starting to reach him, that he is starting to open up. The blankets were one thing, during that time that I felt at my lowest this year if not ever, but just recently he actually said 'thank you' to the latest batch of books I gave him. I must have been quite surprised, as he looked visibly embarrassed and turned away right after. I do not think that he realized just how happy I was to hear it. That I /was/ happy to hear it is also a difference from before. Valena would have been proud.
And now we come to the change that is much more personal: I found something I had lost, or perhaps it was returned to me. Regardless of which it is, I do not know how I can possibly state my gratitude enough, but I also think that simply stating it is not enough compared to /demonstrating/ that gratitude. I've always felt what one does has far greater impact than what one says, just one of many things I have forgotten these past two years. Thinking back on it, I still can not believe just how broken I had become in the wake of Valena's death. I will always miss her voice, chiding me on some surly manner of mine, but now I have come to a point where I must learn to speak with my own voice, to honor her memory and that of those many others who came before me in this calling.
And so as part of that, I have decided to name this year, and I call it the Queen's Year, to represent reaching the end of one path in this journey that is my life, so that I may begin walking another road that is entirely new to me. It will be difficult, but I think, at last, that I am finally ready to learn, and there is a great deal that remains to be found, so that /I/ can pass something on to those who would walk in these same shoes after. They will need everything that they can get, no doubts remain to me of that, and they are also not the only ones for whom I must persevere.
For the first time in many, many years, I commissioned an entire new suit of armor, rather than simply replacing portions of it over the years (and the same holds true for Vigil, as well). Rubicund is the material, in this case. This decision came simply because various people have impressed upon me the value of having a more durable armor. I labored for months at amassing favors, writs, resources -- or whatever people want to call them -- in exchange for silver, and at last I was able to secure the necessary materials to request the whole thing. I hope /someone/ in the Crafter's Guild was happy about this. They know who they are.
I can not sit still in it. I don't recall the last time I was fitted for an entire suit in one go, but as I was saying to the Brother in Jayus's Shrine today, I can remember quite a bit of frustration from that dimly remembered era, and that I was sure I was in a saddle wearing it more often than I was off of a mount. The exact comparison I used was that of the din of the voices in the market drowning out those crying their wares to those who might offer their custom, as far as learning to ignore the sense of feeling odd in this new armor; I need a distraction until I am accustomed to the feel.
A new suit of armor -- just keeping the coin to commission it, really -- is its own change. Some would call it avaricious, perhaps, and they would be right, particularly since I felt that I needed to do this on my own, with my own two hands. I've always preferred putting my hands to work rather than have others do it for me. There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with the completion, and this is no different. Yet the fact remains that I actually did not simply gave away all of my silver once I started amassing it. There is also the fact that I am ensuring a mouth other than my own is being fed, and that the lad stays clothed, warm, and safe as well. I think I am finally starting to reach him, that he is starting to open up. The blankets were one thing, during that time that I felt at my lowest this year if not ever, but just recently he actually said 'thank you' to the latest batch of books I gave him. I must have been quite surprised, as he looked visibly embarrassed and turned away right after. I do not think that he realized just how happy I was to hear it. That I /was/ happy to hear it is also a difference from before. Valena would have been proud.
And now we come to the change that is much more personal: I found something I had lost, or perhaps it was returned to me. Regardless of which it is, I do not know how I can possibly state my gratitude enough, but I also think that simply stating it is not enough compared to /demonstrating/ that gratitude. I've always felt what one does has far greater impact than what one says, just one of many things I have forgotten these past two years. Thinking back on it, I still can not believe just how broken I had become in the wake of Valena's death. I will always miss her voice, chiding me on some surly manner of mine, but now I have come to a point where I must learn to speak with my own voice, to honor her memory and that of those many others who came before me in this calling.
And so as part of that, I have decided to name this year, and I call it the Queen's Year, to represent reaching the end of one path in this journey that is my life, so that I may begin walking another road that is entirely new to me. It will be difficult, but I think, at last, that I am finally ready to learn, and there is a great deal that remains to be found, so that /I/ can pass something on to those who would walk in these same shoes after. They will need everything that they can get, no doubts remain to me of that, and they are also not the only ones for whom I must persevere.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.