Written By Mattheu
Dec. 31, 2023, 3:04 p.m.(6/20/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Ann
They are growing up quickly. Soon the three who have joined us will be of age to make their own choice to where they sit with the Rivenshari. With a young brother who will only know this life.
Similar to how my siblings and I know of two lives. My nieces and nephews only know this life as well. As much as we seek to teach them a life where dancing between boats. To run in the dark without navigation other than stars above and how each boat within the floatila sounds. To be able to climb a mast and swing from fittings.
They know more of how the land feels under their feet. And will laugh at those of us who prefer a hammock over the unmoving beds with heavy posts.
I don't know what the dream has to offer moving forwards. Just to be able to share it with those of our heart. Those who we've freely shared our heart with.
That is what matters.
Similar to how my siblings and I know of two lives. My nieces and nephews only know this life as well. As much as we seek to teach them a life where dancing between boats. To run in the dark without navigation other than stars above and how each boat within the floatila sounds. To be able to climb a mast and swing from fittings.
They know more of how the land feels under their feet. And will laugh at those of us who prefer a hammock over the unmoving beds with heavy posts.
I don't know what the dream has to offer moving forwards. Just to be able to share it with those of our heart. Those who we've freely shared our heart with.
That is what matters.
Written By Jeffeth
Dec. 31, 2023, 2:59 p.m.(6/20/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Jan
Out of context Jan:
"I am asking each of you if you would stand with me in protecting my husband from the dingle-berry grazing, rat-fucking, horse-queef sniffing shithead..."
"It could be dangerous but danger's balls do hang low..."
I said yes.
"I am asking each of you if you would stand with me in protecting my husband from the dingle-berry grazing, rat-fucking, horse-queef sniffing shithead..."
"It could be dangerous but danger's balls do hang low..."
I said yes.
Written By Titania
Dec. 31, 2023, 2:57 p.m.(6/20/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Caspian
And into a very large fire.....
Written By Sen'azala
Dec. 31, 2023, 8:52 a.m.(6/20/1021 AR)
At a point along the journey to find what had been stolen from my people, we were told to think about something we'd believed unbreakable, but "broke with heartbreaking ease". That wasn't hard for me at all; the defining, driving moment of my life, for a long, long time, was exactly that, and I remember saying to myself, once and then again, that nothing is unbreakable.
I wonder if that's a reality that ever crossed the Horned God's mind. Considering everything he'd done to protect himself, the hideous lengths he took to try to make himself immune to destruction, I think that he'd convinced himself that way. I think, when he realized what we were doing, what he'd overlooked, he must have panicked a little. I know for certain that when I stopped my howl, he was afraid.
I wonder if he thought what he'd done to his soul would still save him, even against the Kindly Voices. I wonder if it ever occurred to him, before the moment that it happened, that not only was his protection breakable, but that someone would actually choose to break it.
I wonder just how many people were like him that night, and how many learned, as he did, that *nothing* is unbreakable. Not kings. Not gods. Not emperors.
I wonder if that's a reality that ever crossed the Horned God's mind. Considering everything he'd done to protect himself, the hideous lengths he took to try to make himself immune to destruction, I think that he'd convinced himself that way. I think, when he realized what we were doing, what he'd overlooked, he must have panicked a little. I know for certain that when I stopped my howl, he was afraid.
I wonder if he thought what he'd done to his soul would still save him, even against the Kindly Voices. I wonder if it ever occurred to him, before the moment that it happened, that not only was his protection breakable, but that someone would actually choose to break it.
I wonder just how many people were like him that night, and how many learned, as he did, that *nothing* is unbreakable. Not kings. Not gods. Not emperors.
Written By Caspian
Dec. 31, 2023, 12:35 a.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
out of the frying pan...
Written By Raven
Dec. 30, 2023, 10:25 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
The Compact is truly lucky to have the Pathfinder as well as so many who have long served the gods, the crown, their houses. It was helpful to hear the experiences of so many and to have collective wisdom on tap. Unrelated noted I've been trying to be on my best behavior with mixed results. It could be maybe I am not cut out for civilized life but I will keep trying.
Written By Aconite
Dec. 30, 2023, 7:20 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
It is my dearest hope that people find it in themselves in this chaotic time to take time out for small acts of kindness.
It's these that will hold us together.
It's these that will hold us together.
Written By Lucita
Dec. 30, 2023, 4:45 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Jaenelle
Wise, understanding, making tough decisions when they are necessary. I always come away from a conversation with her feeling like I have gained something or learned something and with a warm feeling inside.
Written By Jeffeth
Dec. 30, 2023, 4:22 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Imi
It was good to catch up with my old friend. I am very proud of her for accomplishing long sought after goals. And she was very uplifting and helped me see some new ones in myself. I look forward to our next time together.
Written By Jeffeth
Dec. 30, 2023, 4:20 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Mattheu
The Rivenshari are really irrepressable folks! Mattheu just doesn't go down. What spirit! And those bells always make me feel jolly. I want to get some for myself.
Written By Jeffeth
Dec. 30, 2023, 4:18 p.m.(6/19/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Nurie
She is a fierce combatant with legendary battle gloves that put me straight into the sand. Congratulation's to the undisputed slap fighting champion!
Written By Pasquale
Dec. 30, 2023, 12:18 p.m.(6/18/1021 AR)
To understand the story of the Witchwood you must first know the story of the Mor'ral.
The Mor'ral were a tribe of abandoned that lived to the north of the Compact during the time of the Elven War. I do not know how long they had been there but it may well have been centuries more. They had a gift that the Traitor desired and even as the Compact was celebrating its victory they were still fighting for survival. They asked for help from us, but it was refused, and so they fought alone. For a long time they held their own.
The Compact houses that refused them were destroyed by the Traitor, because he did not care that they had refused to help, and still the Mor'ral managed to survive. They lived and they loved and they fought and over time a refugee from the Compact called Reidar Holte and the Mor'ral leader, a woman by the name of Tialha, found love and married.
But there finally came a battle where the wolves of Clan Mor'ral and the forces of the Traitor clashed. A battle where Orichalcum himself walked the field. At this battle he found Tielha's one weakness - Her love for her wife - and he used it to force her to give up her name. And so her name was lost and she became one of the Legion. A creature with no will of her own. A slave.
He turned that creature on the Mor'ral themselves because nobody knew the forests like she did. She knew all the hiding places. And he used that knowledge to dig them out and turn them one by one to his cause.
The Mor'ral were lost but it was not her fault. It was never her fault.
He forgot about Reidar, leaving her bleeding and wounding on the field, but they recovered. They said she would die but instead she vowed that she would free her wife no matter the cost. They met on a field with the Traitor looking on and fought, Wife against wife, until both were mortally wounded.
For the Traitor this wasn't enough and as Tialha died he gave her her name back. He freed her so that she would know the full depth of everything that had happened to her, her people, her wife - and he told her that it was all her fault. Tielha went to the Queen of Endings, like almost all of us do, but Reidar stayed. She couldn't leave the people she too had loved alone. Century after century she lingered, unable to do anything to stop the mor'ral's suffering as the Traitor used them for his own sick purposes. Waiting.
Over time, this forest where the Mor'ral once lived and loved, danced and fought, became the Witchwood.
Eventually the Queen decided it was time that the soul that once carried the name Tialha should be reborn and Sunaia Ashford came to be. There is a reason we forget our past lives and Sunaia is a perfect shining example of this. As Tialha she had seen terrible things. She had been forced to do terrible things. But as Sunaia she could start afresh. She was innocent but the Traitor took that away from her too. He sought her out and he taunted her with dreams of things Tialha had done and things he would enjoy forcing her to do. Taunting her. Threatening her. Haunting her. She fought him valiantly for years and years until one day, humming a song under her breath, she went north, a slave once again.
Pursuing her north we found the Witchwood, Lianne, Ian, Jan, Aleksei, and I and we stepped inside. We met Reidar's Ghost and we found and managed to give Sunaia her self back. She could have returned with us, nobody would have blamed her, but instead she chose to sacrifice herselt to fix those ancient wrongs. And with that sacrifice the terrible Witchwood, a place of terror, death and suffering, burned away.
Leaving nothing but a plum tree with a trunk shaped just like two long long lovers behind.
The Mor'ral were a tribe of abandoned that lived to the north of the Compact during the time of the Elven War. I do not know how long they had been there but it may well have been centuries more. They had a gift that the Traitor desired and even as the Compact was celebrating its victory they were still fighting for survival. They asked for help from us, but it was refused, and so they fought alone. For a long time they held their own.
The Compact houses that refused them were destroyed by the Traitor, because he did not care that they had refused to help, and still the Mor'ral managed to survive. They lived and they loved and they fought and over time a refugee from the Compact called Reidar Holte and the Mor'ral leader, a woman by the name of Tialha, found love and married.
But there finally came a battle where the wolves of Clan Mor'ral and the forces of the Traitor clashed. A battle where Orichalcum himself walked the field. At this battle he found Tielha's one weakness - Her love for her wife - and he used it to force her to give up her name. And so her name was lost and she became one of the Legion. A creature with no will of her own. A slave.
He turned that creature on the Mor'ral themselves because nobody knew the forests like she did. She knew all the hiding places. And he used that knowledge to dig them out and turn them one by one to his cause.
The Mor'ral were lost but it was not her fault. It was never her fault.
He forgot about Reidar, leaving her bleeding and wounding on the field, but they recovered. They said she would die but instead she vowed that she would free her wife no matter the cost. They met on a field with the Traitor looking on and fought, Wife against wife, until both were mortally wounded.
For the Traitor this wasn't enough and as Tialha died he gave her her name back. He freed her so that she would know the full depth of everything that had happened to her, her people, her wife - and he told her that it was all her fault. Tielha went to the Queen of Endings, like almost all of us do, but Reidar stayed. She couldn't leave the people she too had loved alone. Century after century she lingered, unable to do anything to stop the mor'ral's suffering as the Traitor used them for his own sick purposes. Waiting.
Over time, this forest where the Mor'ral once lived and loved, danced and fought, became the Witchwood.
Eventually the Queen decided it was time that the soul that once carried the name Tialha should be reborn and Sunaia Ashford came to be. There is a reason we forget our past lives and Sunaia is a perfect shining example of this. As Tialha she had seen terrible things. She had been forced to do terrible things. But as Sunaia she could start afresh. She was innocent but the Traitor took that away from her too. He sought her out and he taunted her with dreams of things Tialha had done and things he would enjoy forcing her to do. Taunting her. Threatening her. Haunting her. She fought him valiantly for years and years until one day, humming a song under her breath, she went north, a slave once again.
Pursuing her north we found the Witchwood, Lianne, Ian, Jan, Aleksei, and I and we stepped inside. We met Reidar's Ghost and we found and managed to give Sunaia her self back. She could have returned with us, nobody would have blamed her, but instead she chose to sacrifice herselt to fix those ancient wrongs. And with that sacrifice the terrible Witchwood, a place of terror, death and suffering, burned away.
Leaving nothing but a plum tree with a trunk shaped just like two long long lovers behind.
Written By Tikva
Dec. 30, 2023, 12:03 p.m.(6/18/1021 AR)
There is a long life ahead in which we can face the battles to come. We will do so free of chains, with heads high and hearts full, and the songs each sings will be her own.
It's always been frightening to be truly free. But you're not alone in this. None of us is.
It's always been frightening to be truly free. But you're not alone in this. None of us is.
Written By Avary
Dec. 30, 2023, 4:45 a.m.(6/18/1021 AR)
Not that the Most Holy requires my support for decisions made, but because it should be written that he does not stand alone in the decision he has put forth.
Aside from being well within his rights as Voice of the Faith and closest to the Gods, the Dominus' acceptance of Deathspeakers into the ranks of the Harlequins - the disciples of the Queen of Endings - is a judicious one.
Many are awakening to aspects of the Dream that were once relegated to superstition or lore, or beliefs taken on faith. For this, the world is changing, and as it changes we of the Faith must embrace the spirit of Lagoma and shift with it.
The proclamation of Dominus Aldwin forbidding the participation of those involved in shamanistic worship from the discipleships of the Faith was meant to stave off the potentiality of schism owing to the large amount of shamanistic Abandoned who were bending the knee to join the compact.
Under the blanket of incredulity, the Deathspeakers were viewed as a sort of eccentric fringe group. Recent events, not the least of which the prelude to Harrow Hall and the battle itself, showed beyond doubt that they dealt not in strange mysticism but in Truth. It showed as well their close kinship with Death, not an abstruse or different shamanistic concept of death, but the very same God we worship and count among the Pantheon.
The purpose of the Faith of the Pantheon is to serve the Gods. The Gods are real and they communicate in various ways. Sometimes it is not so straightforward. Their messages may appear as dreams or notions, and sometimes coincidences. Other times, they are quite direct and their messages leave nothing to interpretation.
So it is with the Queen of Endings. She and her Seraph have indicated that she is served well by these Deathspeakers. The Queen of Endings has signaled how she wishes to be served, and so that is how we will serve her.
Dominus Aureth is wise to take notice and heed that call and I for one support the decision.
Aside from being well within his rights as Voice of the Faith and closest to the Gods, the Dominus' acceptance of Deathspeakers into the ranks of the Harlequins - the disciples of the Queen of Endings - is a judicious one.
Many are awakening to aspects of the Dream that were once relegated to superstition or lore, or beliefs taken on faith. For this, the world is changing, and as it changes we of the Faith must embrace the spirit of Lagoma and shift with it.
The proclamation of Dominus Aldwin forbidding the participation of those involved in shamanistic worship from the discipleships of the Faith was meant to stave off the potentiality of schism owing to the large amount of shamanistic Abandoned who were bending the knee to join the compact.
Under the blanket of incredulity, the Deathspeakers were viewed as a sort of eccentric fringe group. Recent events, not the least of which the prelude to Harrow Hall and the battle itself, showed beyond doubt that they dealt not in strange mysticism but in Truth. It showed as well their close kinship with Death, not an abstruse or different shamanistic concept of death, but the very same God we worship and count among the Pantheon.
The purpose of the Faith of the Pantheon is to serve the Gods. The Gods are real and they communicate in various ways. Sometimes it is not so straightforward. Their messages may appear as dreams or notions, and sometimes coincidences. Other times, they are quite direct and their messages leave nothing to interpretation.
So it is with the Queen of Endings. She and her Seraph have indicated that she is served well by these Deathspeakers. The Queen of Endings has signaled how she wishes to be served, and so that is how we will serve her.
Dominus Aureth is wise to take notice and heed that call and I for one support the decision.
Written By Jaenelle
Dec. 29, 2023, 10:38 p.m.(6/17/1021 AR)
Relationship Note on Leona
I am so sorry.
Written By Sen'azala
Dec. 29, 2023, 9:06 p.m.(6/17/1021 AR)
There's not room to list the name of every person who contributed to the victory at Harrow Hall, and even if there was, we don't even know all the names that would be listed, as there were thousands, tens of thousands more that helped beyond the Hedge. Only Death would be able to name all of them.
There are, however, a handful that I must name:
Tikva, formerly Princess Tikva Grayson, who sacrificed her title
Princess Sorrel Thrax, who sacrificed her blade
Gianna Delvecchio, Nightingale of the Bard's College, who sacrificed her voice
Marquessa Quenia Igniseri, who sacrificed cherished memories
Lord Savio Amadeo, who sacrificed his power
First Liberator Aleksei Morgan, Nina Autumndale, and Lord Ian Kennex, who protected, supported, and quested to find what needed to be found.
Fox, of whatever name she chooses, who knows what she did, and didn't have to.
I would have failed without them.
They quite literally saved the world.
There are, however, a handful that I must name:
Tikva, formerly Princess Tikva Grayson, who sacrificed her title
Princess Sorrel Thrax, who sacrificed her blade
Gianna Delvecchio, Nightingale of the Bard's College, who sacrificed her voice
Marquessa Quenia Igniseri, who sacrificed cherished memories
Lord Savio Amadeo, who sacrificed his power
First Liberator Aleksei Morgan, Nina Autumndale, and Lord Ian Kennex, who protected, supported, and quested to find what needed to be found.
Fox, of whatever name she chooses, who knows what she did, and didn't have to.
I would have failed without them.
They quite literally saved the world.
Written By Aureth
Dec. 29, 2023, 7:43 p.m.(6/17/1021 AR)
The matter of the relationship between the Deathspeakers and the Harlequins has always been one that has troubled me before. I have no desire to diminish the judgment of Beloved Orazio or of Beloved Aldwin who came before me in this role, nor to alienate the conservative orthodoxy of the Oathlands by scattering shamanists willy nilly throughout the Discipleships of the Faith.
Yet the idea that a Deathspeaker may be a voice for Death should not come as a shock. It literally exists in the word "Deathspeaker," for one thing.
While I must say that the Faith of the Pantheon does not take direction on matters of theology from the Court of the Nox'Alfar, and I am in fact the Closest to the Gods, and it is my duty to speak for the Faith of the Pantheon -- I am persuaded that a Seraph of Death may tell us much on behalf of the Queen of Endings, and to refuse to hear him would simply be silly.
All this to say that it is the position of this Dominus that, while generally a faithly discipleship ought to remain as it is, without dilution of the message of the Faith of the Pantheon and the clarity of our previous posture - nevertheless, the nature of the role of the Deathspeaker to the shamanists and the role of Harlequin to us all is simply, and has always been, rather interconnected.
Therefore henceforth, the Deathspeakers are welcome to serve as Harlequins. This exception is limited to the Deathspeakers and Harlequins, and I remind the public generally about the commitment in hours of time that comes in volunteering your time for the Faith before anyone else starts complaining to me about this.
I have made my personal congratulations to Lady Volcica along with my certain prayer that she never run out of puns.
Yet the idea that a Deathspeaker may be a voice for Death should not come as a shock. It literally exists in the word "Deathspeaker," for one thing.
While I must say that the Faith of the Pantheon does not take direction on matters of theology from the Court of the Nox'Alfar, and I am in fact the Closest to the Gods, and it is my duty to speak for the Faith of the Pantheon -- I am persuaded that a Seraph of Death may tell us much on behalf of the Queen of Endings, and to refuse to hear him would simply be silly.
All this to say that it is the position of this Dominus that, while generally a faithly discipleship ought to remain as it is, without dilution of the message of the Faith of the Pantheon and the clarity of our previous posture - nevertheless, the nature of the role of the Deathspeaker to the shamanists and the role of Harlequin to us all is simply, and has always been, rather interconnected.
Therefore henceforth, the Deathspeakers are welcome to serve as Harlequins. This exception is limited to the Deathspeakers and Harlequins, and I remind the public generally about the commitment in hours of time that comes in volunteering your time for the Faith before anyone else starts complaining to me about this.
I have made my personal congratulations to Lady Volcica along with my certain prayer that she never run out of puns.
Written By Lys
Dec. 29, 2023, 11:44 a.m.(6/16/1021 AR)
I dreamt of chains made of glittering gems wrapped around my neck as a necklace or a noose. To be loosened or tightened as my masters pleased. And then with a piercing scream it shattered to dust and I could breathe to speak once more.
Written By Raven
Dec. 29, 2023, 11:08 a.m.(6/16/1021 AR)
It's good to see so many wise, dedicated people come into their own. People who multitudes of people including yours truly have turned to time again for guidance and assistance. As an urchin in the streets of Setarco it seemed like the worse you were the higher you could make it like a turd floating to the top. Seeing the scions of the compact themselves having someone to turn to for mentoring and guidance has restored my faith in the balance of things.
Written By Sen'azala
Dec. 29, 2023, 3:49 a.m.(6/16/1021 AR)
Now we know.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.