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Written By Edward

April 15, 2017, 8:04 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Valery

It is fortunate for everyone, that no one else has your skills of stealth dear lady. I fear no secret would be safe.

Written By Edward

April 15, 2017, 7:59 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

I knew a longfellow who lost a song,
An arrow too, its flight was long,
They fell to earth, he knew not where,
So he searched from here to there.

Inside a heart, the song he found,
A song of love, that drew him 'round,
The arrow later, years long unbroke,
Where love was buried, beneath an oak.

Simple thing, to remember then,
Such things lost, can be found again,
Where its found, or in whom it will be,
Might bring lifelong joy, or tearful memory.

Written By Selene

April 15, 2017, 7:11 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

I have stepped up to offer Diplomatic services to smooth over the situation between House Thrax and The Faith and have been given support in this matter. Negotiations are underway and I am certain an answer exists for this that will make everyone happy.

In an effort to keep something like this from escalating beyond a minor diplomatic situation and making the task of peace a harder one than it already is, I do urge all Houses and Families to wait until further developments have been made and announced before making any more proclamations. Thank you for your understanding and support in this matter.

In addition, two things:

*I will be meeting with all Great Houses, not just Thrax, to negotiate a treaty and law to implement that will ensure the acts committed by Prince Abbas Thrax never happen again.

*I am also meeting with Prince Calarian Grayson regarding application to the Diplomats to act on a more official basis in the future, should such situations arise.

Written By Dominique

April 15, 2017, 4 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

Up again. Ghosts of the past haunting me. I walk in the garden at night to ease my pain.

Written By Valery

April 15, 2017, 12:56 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

In just a few days:

I've been told if I'm an assassin.
And I've been asked if I'm a spy.

I know at least one a joke, or I think so...
But I'm none.
And I don't know why anyone could think I am one...

Written By Serafine

April 15, 2017, 12:36 a.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

When is it better to have Oblivion take the -entire world-? Because it seems more and more that there are those intent to divide us than unify us, and plainly, I am getting more than fed up defending and protecting people that would take the time to spread words of division than hold their tongues until after we, all of Arvum, no longer have the fate of Not Being looming over our heads. Aye, this isn't confined to us, is it? This is the fate of the -world-, held in the balance on the strength and willpower of Mortals. Isn't it better to face dishonor and shame in the generations to come, because there will -be- generations to come and not just Nothing?

I am sorry, I cannot pore over the war-crime's of an ally's vassal while I'm in the middle of defending the city, and helping keep the evil beyond the walls from Ending Everything, and I am not going to condemn the House who sends soldiers to watch my back, my comrades' backs, my fellow men-and-women-in arms, and those I hold dear. It's common sense. You don't shit where you eat.

You want to raise a fuss? Fine. Can it wait until we've got this shit handled and the war is over and the Big Bads are dead and we're not in danger of starving? I can't defend my back and my front at the same gods damned time.

I'm too fucking busy dealing with the enemy before me than to make enemies inside the walls I live in.

Written By Harper

April 14, 2017, 11:58 p.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Ford

Went back to train. I'm going to be doing that a lot. I need it, I really do.

So. Milord Leather. I dunno if I got his name. If he gave it - I lost the damn thing after he knocked me over on my ass after our fight. He says he don't wear armor for ease of movement and to look good. There's a whole bunch of words I can use for a person that says that - but some of them might be too rude to write down forever, so I'll use the ones that the Scholar pointed out. Those words are: dandy, rake, and popinjay.

That last one is my favorite, so, I'm going to use it: Milord Popinjay.

Written By Harper

April 14, 2017, 11:50 p.m.(4/11/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Calaudrin

His words an' sense of humor are as pointy as those arrows he shoots. Almost like an uncle - definitely a friend a'mine. He's good people.

Written By Alarie

April 14, 2017, 10:04 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

I have a deep desire to help in this seige. I have found that I have very little skill to offer! What am I going to do, sew a pretty dress for a Bringer? That'll show them! Ha! However, it is Joscelin that has inspired me in a way that I -can- help. She put out word through the crafters guild to recruit us to help with various efforts. It was this word that inspired me to begin crafting bandages. I had found that I had a surplus of silk and cotton. So, I began creating fresh bandages for the healers to use. I am taking silk and using cotton between the silk layers and sewing it together. It will be more comfortable against the skin and absorbant! I figure that if I can save even one life with my bandages, I can make a difference.

Written By Reese

April 14, 2017, 10:03 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

My hands are far from perfectly clean when it comes to warfare.

I have killed more bringers than I can count, but I have also killed more Shavs than I can count and I am not proud of that.

All the Shavs that I have killed have been adults part of the attacking army, armed and engaging in combat.

In order to help spare those who can be spared, I target bringers first and if the Shavs stop attacking after the Bringers are dead, I let them go.

That being said my hands are stained. I expressed before that I was turning myself over to the faith regarding the attack on the pirate ship.

I journaled about this in great detail and I will not go back into such again, but one can read my old journals if desired.

Dominus Aldwin is a busy man, but finally we had a chance to speak. I am grateful he was able to make the time for me and the burdens of my soul.

The Dominus asked if I acted to the best of my ability and I said that I did not. Yes the pirates were armed and fighting back, but I could have given them a much greater chance for surrender and I did not. I expressed my regret as such is not the way of Gloria and the Sentinel.

The Doninus gave me a penance to serve. I am very grateful for such. I may not fully cleanse my hands, but it allows me hope for healing. The lingering stain will be a reminder. I will be serving my penance with Sir Armel of the Knights of the Solace and/or Sir Preston of the Templars by serving them for a time.

I have struggled greatly with the actions of Prince Abbas. I believe that his actions are offensive to the Gods. I urge him to speak with the Dominus as I did. I urge this for the sake of his soul and for the sake of those who have and may yet suffer under his cruelty.

My heart hurts for those who followed him into slaughter and yet ignorance is not an excuse, just as my ignorance when I followed was not an excuse.

Let self-reflection, self-awareness and the guidance of the faith and the gods keep us from being the monsters who we fight.

Princess Reese

Written By Alarie

April 14, 2017, 9:53 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

It is clear that people do not like those of my fealty, Thrax. I have seen people that know I am Thraxian stare at me as I walk by. I have been barred from some establishments just because of my fealty. It is rather frustrating. There are some of us that have tried hard to boost the image of the Thraxian people. All it took was the actions of one person to bring all that work down. I am but a commoner. I am but a seamstress.

Written By Merek

April 14, 2017, 9:49 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

The exhibit was wonderful, as was the dance and tale that Yasmine had given. I'm hopeful when I have some extra silver, I can put it towards the refugees. I like learning about cultures, as well as various other things, especially when it comes to artwork.

Written By Ford

April 14, 2017, 9:19 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

I am a Mainlander. I am a Saffron Islander. I am Thrax. I am Oathland. I am Lycene.

I'm a child of three homes. When I lived in each of those homes I met so many different kinds of people, stuffy, brash, crude, lovely, warm, charming, sweet, upstanding, stalwart, heroic, and wise. I loved some, hated some, and was indifferent to others. One thing, however, that they all agree on, is that war is horrible.

It's a horrible, horrible thing to do to people. Simply the notion of what it is is abhorrent. To gather up as many people that aren't -you- and send them knowingly to their deaths. There is inherently, no honor in that.

We are at war, The Compact, on two fronts. One here at home, and the other out in a sea that we haven't even mapped out properly yet. Unfortunately, during the theater at sea, some terrible things were done. They were done to secure victory, to ensure it. Do I agree with them? No. Not in the slightest. Did they sway the tide of that initial campaign? Unquestionably.

We can discuss and point fingers and condemn one another until we're all blue in the face about who committed a worse atrocity. Yes, the leadership of the Compact agreed that sending 13 people to a sacrificial ritual was in our best interest. Yes, biological warfare was used against Shavs in the Saffron, including innocent people.

This was all done in the name of survival. Because this is what war does to us. It turns us as a people into the worst versions of ourselves.

There is no right way or, GOOD way to fight a war. There is no honor in killing others. Condemning those fighting for us, all of us from the King, down to the poor bastard who hangs out in front of the Traders Tavern with a pot to collect silver. That doesn't inspire those of us who are fighting to continue fighting. But we will, because we must. Even if we come home to hateful words, condemnation, and rescinded trade agreements.


War fucking sucks. But someone has to fight it.

Written By Aleksei

April 14, 2017, 7:08 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

I don't have a lot of pride. I have vanities and I have confidence, sure, but I grew up without much sense of Pride-with-a-capital-P, much to my father's chagrin. I'm a common-born Oathlander, and while my family has a long history of service and a tendency towards Pride, I always felt a bad fit in those confines. I didn't hear the siren call of duty and responsibility there. Sure, if you want to come up to my face and insult my brother or something like that, I'll probably react, but that's always been personal. Loyalty to my family members, not so much the family name.

So maybe I can't quite grasp what brings the nobility to react first and foremost to a perceived insult than to an atrocity. Maybe I can't appreciate the immense responsibility that weighs on the shoulders of so many house leaders.

But I do appreciate tens of thousands slaughtered in as deliberately inhumane a manner as possible, many of them children and the elderly, many of them barely passingly affiliated with the Gyre. And I appreciate the fact that the man responsible was not a rogue pirate to be shuffled aside as someone else's responsibility, but a prince of House Thrax given the authority of military leadership. Given command of their entire fleet. His actions are the responsibility of House Thrax and reflect upon its members whether they want it to or not.

There's an easy way for House Thrax and all of its vassals to separate themselves from the actions of Prince Abbas: condemn him. Publicly stand against his actions. If you think that your pride is more important than the lives of tens of thousands of people, you are wrong. If you think that your pride is more important than the tenets of honorable combat given to us by Gloria, you are both wrong and heretical. If you cannot stand being splashed with the blood spilled by one of your own leaders, then get rid of him. Condemn him. I assure you that the Compact is desperate to believe you stand with those horrified by all of this. Give any sign at all that you can think of the lives of tens of thousands flayed and crucified or killed by the deliberate spread of disease before you can think of your pride and your reputation. The sanctity of honor and human lives are worth more than both.

Help the rest of us believe that you stand against butchery and atrocity by excising it from your own ranks. Please.

Written By Killian

April 14, 2017, 7:01 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

Oh excellent! I've finally stopped coughing up blood! I'm not sure what it was that was in that concoction the bringer controlled shav threw, but I shudder to think how much damage it would have done to us all had it not been contained. Even just the deep breath I took of it being close at hand, seared my lungs and left me struggling to breath. Attempting to sleep at night was the worst, when every breath would claw like ragged nails down my chest, and I'd awake with the pillow flecked with blood from coughing through the night..

It makes me wonder..what sort of thing could do such damage. And what sort of thing might we find that would do such damage to the Bringers of Silence..it is said by some few that Elfblight Orchids are damaging to the sylv'alfar..is there another substance we could concoct to harm the Bringers? A perfume infused with the essence of the orchids for example, if it harms them too, or perhaps infused with some ground extract of alaricite...

I wonder if we have any alchemists interested in insane experiments.

Written By Reese

April 14, 2017, 6:54 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

Aurem Text beng closed is disappointing news!

Princess Reese

Written By Caelis

April 14, 2017, 5:48 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

Survived my first formal riding lesson. I hope Semiramis and I go a long way together. I think I have learned most importantly, always bribe the horse. A horse with treats is a horse that lets you stay in the saddle. Perhaps fighting on land isn't the worst thing. We'll have to see if the next lesson goes as well.

May your hopes find safe harbors.

Written By Aiden

April 14, 2017, 5:20 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

Good Things That Happened:
- I was accepted as a clerk of the court. The Chief Magistrate believes I have a future ahead of me, if I work hard.
- I received more presents from a good friend, I wish I could express myself more.
- I met new friends!
- I asked a Whisper friend of mine to attend a theatre show with me.
- I was promised a picnic!
- I sent presents to friends.
- Family believes in me to send me to the Wall and inspire the archers.
- I helped train Lady Charlaine's icebear and word is getting around that I train animals!

Bad Things That Happened:
- My mail keeps getting intercepted and I keep getting threats. Threats against my friends and against me.
- I was in the Badger house when more Bringers attacked. I have been unlucky in going out places.
- I wasn't able to help a lady in a top hat on the street. I wish I could have given her money.

Written By Ariel

April 14, 2017, 5:18 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Asger

I shouldn't have been to quick to speak ill of Asger, I just received the fur cloak that I won from him and it is more lovely than I ever imagined it would be!

Written By Orazio

April 14, 2017, 5:05 p.m.(4/10/1006 AR)

To the Faithful Reader:

When I was a much, much younger man, I served as a soldier in the military of Southport. It was expected, certainly, but it was also a source of pride for me. The Saik and the Malvici enjoyed a cordial relationship, and it was considered an honor to train and fight alongside the warriors of the Malvici. From those brave men and women, I learned about many things. Among them, Gloria; the goddess had been a distant, barely understood figure in my youth - the Saiklands are small enough that the border skirmishes rarely touched us. But I remember Sister Grace. She was godsworn, and provided most of the spiritual guidance for my division. She had also been a soldier in her own youth, and proved that one can be devout and also swear like a tavern full of angry sailors. Grey-haired, uncompromising when it came to what mattered, but willing provide counsel when one needed it, and a clonk on the head when one needed that.

I needed both, from time to time.

But although I saw her perform many rituals, prayers, and functions over the years of my service, a sequence of events stands out in my mind, and has always been one of the ways that I came to understand Gloria. It was a far patrol, and we came upon a trading caravan that had been attacked by shavs. They had been butchered, one and all, their bodies laid out in gruesome display, corpses desecrated. The caravan had only one real guard; the rest had been simple traders and their children. The sight filled every soldier with horror...and with fury. Our Captain sent out our scouts, and we followed the trail of the shavs for days, back to their camp. We descended like the wrath of Gloria herself, young men and women filled with fire. The fighting was fierce, but the shavs were ill-trained for a real fight, and we cut their warriors down. I remember, in the midst of the fighting, a young shav girl - maybe just past her first decade - picking up a flaming branch from the bonfire and racing at one of my comrades. We both turned. We both raised our blades in the heat of the battle. And Grace, who had been fighting just as fiercely along with us, struck them aside, before kicking the branch out of the girl's hand and knocking her to the ground and out of the fight.

"But why?" we cried out, after we were victorious, and the noncombatants had been driven from Malvici lands. "They were our enemy, even the child!"

"She weren't your enemy, unless you think a child's a fair fight." She spit to one side. "What I've seen of your bladework says you got an argument, mind."

"Our cause is righteous! Look what they did to our people."

"Ayup, and that's why we fought them. But let me tell you something, from Gloria, to me, to you: Righteous ain't a thing you /are/. It's a thing you /do/. The only thing separating you boys from those shavs is that you've got the Pantheon to guide you, to demand better of you, and they got their damned heresies and blood sacrifices. The moment a soldier ain't god his or her honor, they're nothing but a butcher or a thug. Is that what you wanna be?" She was holding that great blade of hers in a way that suggested it was not a rhetorical question, so we both shook our heads. She grunted. "Then mind what you do, because black acts are black, no matter what name you hold."

Some years later, I was still in Southport, serving the Faith and remembering those words when Southport marched to war against Tor. As the reports came in from the battlefields, and as the soldiers of Southport sought out counsel, prayer, and absolution for the orders they had received under Lucien's command, I learned what it meant for a commander to believe that there was no honor in war, and that nothing mattered but stacking up enough bodies to achieve your goal.

If one believes that there is no honor in war, and thus no honor needed by warriors and commanders, then what is left?

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