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Written By Joscelin

April 13, 2017, 1:15 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

It wasn't written without careful thought and consideration, it wasn't a childish snapping of teeth at some wise old man.

Do not reduce Lady Donella's words to immature gibberish. It's clear she meant what she meant and wrote what she meant. Nothing needs to be re-stated or explained to her. Navigating inside the rules she was born into takes skill and intelligence, far more observant person than anyone realizes.

Most everyone knows that despite my mother's origin, I've had no great love of Thrax. But it's been Lady Donella, the Voice of Thrax, who has shown me time and again that not all of its people are remotely similar to each other. I've -known- this since I was small and yet fear and hurt and anger discolored all of that for a long time. Bit by bit, wounds have been cleaned and healed and I remember the rich culture of the Saffron Chains.

This isn't about picking sides, as I fear this may rend the city asunder, and if I'm over-reacting then I blame it on the siege that threatens our homes just beyond the walls. I am a Disciple and still I feel the hurt of collective blame, and conflicted because, as a commoner, though I am also a Guildmaster, speaking out against the flaws and poor choices of a noble would put me in danger.

This record of my emotion shouldn't be held against me. It's clear this is a Mess of the first order, the timing is awful and my fears have doubled.

Written By Armel

April 13, 2017, 1:03 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

What I say now, I say not as a knight-commander, or event a Knight of Solace. I speak as a citizen of arx.

So many fling insults back and forth, and while I know in my deepest of hearts that the words of Father Orazio ring true, I wonder if not a more reasoned approach is good for discussing this.

I think anyone of sane mind can agree that using plague as a weapon is a horrible crime. Amd that this was done, it seems, by the fleet commander and ruling family member of Thrax, Abbas.

So far, many have said, "It was not me, do not paint us in the same brush". Perhaps that is fair. But frustration exists while there is no Thraxian condemnation of his actions. Is that an action they have planned? Are not all Thraxian fealty ships under abbas' command, and thus took part in this, indirectly or no?

What is the Thraxian stance on this? What are their words, other than to hiss back at us, a response I can understand? Are you content with your prince's actions? Are you planning your own justice, as may be your right? I am no master of law, I leave that to more expansive heads than my own. But I would hear them plainly say what their plan is, since this was an event that concerns the death of thousands of unarmed or innocent souls, and is thus a matter for all to hear? Before judgment be thrown down, let us hear more of what they have to say.

Written By Joscelin

April 13, 2017, 1:02 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Kima

Reading Lady Kima Saik write the word 'moderation' near made me choke on my quill.

Written By Kima

April 13, 2017, 12:59 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

There are those who view everything in the world as either all Good or all Bad. As such, everyone else must either fully embrace something or completely reject something. Indifference, ambivalence and moderation are not permissible in their world view. The only things that matter, the only things that can matter, are those that require a moral position. All else falls outside the set of things that exist, at least to such individuals.

Written By Mira

April 13, 2017, 12:40 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

Was stabbed tonight in the side by a cultist. Twisted the knife and everything. Ingrateful bastard. And the lovely black robes I just bought for the occasion? Ruined. Completely soaked with blood. At least I didn't lose anything else of value...

Written By Tikva

April 13, 2017, 12:07 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

House Riven stands for the proposition of what can happen when Shav'Arvani are treated as humans instead of as cattle for the slaughter. Prodigals work our fields, tend our orchards, sail our rivers, manage our trade, fight our battles and defend our borders. Because they took oath. Because they are people.

I married Lord Kelleth of the Greenwood, and loved him, and bore him a son. He was born outside the Compact. Yet he was treated with, as a man, with reason, and understanding, and a soul, and he bent the knee, and in the end, he fell, defending the Compact from its enemies.

House Deepwood has reached out to the Gray Forest tribes and brokered peace. Thirty thousand men and women bent the knee to Marquesa Samantha.

House Deepwood crucified no one.

House Grayson has reached out to the Gray Forest tribes and brokered peace. Princess Peregrine joined that house with a marriage alliance, and thousands of men and women, swords and arrows, to join the fight against the forces of the Abyss.

House Grayson did not use the sick and dying as weapons against their loved ones.

I will not hear a word in defense of the senseless murder of tens of thousands of _civilians_. I accept the wisdom of the Faith that horrific brutality is against the tenets of Gloria.

I will not hear a word of complaint from those who refuse to condemn those actions. I am appalled that there are _any_ that refuse to condemn those actions.

House Riven hereby invokes the right of rescission in our trade compacts with all Houses who refuse to condemn Abbas Thrax. This white journal shall fulfill the public notice provision in each contract so written.

If you cannot understand that those who have not yet bent the knee are human beings, if enemies then _honorable enemies_, then you will not have the benefits of the labor of those who have bent the knee.

Written By Octavia

April 13, 2017, 12:02 a.m.(4/7/1006 AR)

I find that Donella has once again said the words I was thinking. Once again, the drylanders have fundamentally misunderstood the people of the salt. We are not lawless, mindless, savage reavers. We are not the Bringers, we are not the gibbering shav'arvani of the Gyre, and we are not faithless oath-breaking animals.

The people of the salt are a people of pride, of determination, of justice - though swift and decisive. We are Arvum at its most sincere - with no patience for the underhanded politics of the Lyceum or the self-righteous chest beating of the middle of the continent. To say any more would be to repeat what Princess Donella has said.

Written By Dulcinea

April 12, 2017, 11:29 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Donella

Dear Me,

Princess Donella is simply marvelous.

That is all.

Let There be Shimmying,

Me

Written By Edward

April 12, 2017, 9:52 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

I have a friend, he is a toad;

Squished by a cart, flat on the road;

But he's my friend, my friend to stay;

Till he peels up, and sails away.

Written By Valdemar

April 12, 2017, 9:21 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Past suffering does not excuse present insults.

Prior pain does not forgive current accusations.

To justify thoughtless statements with childhood misery is cowardice. Own your actions and your words.

Worry less about the mercy of the gods and more about the waning tolerance of your fellow man. The vassals of Thrax are patient, and long have we been expected to endure the snobbery and derision of the mainland houses. But when we are called godless, when we are called corrupt, when we are called unjust, we hear and we remember.

And our memories are longer than our patience.

Written By Juliet

April 12, 2017, 7:29 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Romance is such a strange thing. By the books, by the stories, it's a matter of roses and wine, and sweet surroundings by moonlight. To be watched by the stars as there are declarations of love. Oaths of Fidelity raised to the sky, in secret but kept, and so on. Deeds undertaken.

That's true. The deeds. But the deed is to say something both of the doer and the one honoured. Dead animals won't impress everyone.

Romance is about intimacy. It's about telling the person you are romancing that you care about them and their well-being. It's a little touch, one of familiarity, more often than not. That is one of the reasons whirlwind romance and early romantic gestures have such an effect - they speak, when successful, of someone who has learned of you and paid enough attention to you, to make you feel special and cared for.

I've been thinking a lot about romance lately.

Today, as if to provide me with an exquisite example for my journals, I received a very romantic message. To understand why it has romance is to understand not only me, but the woman who sent it.

Her letter was simple. It was not perfumed. And it contained two words:

"Don't die".

I don't expect people to understand why this is such a powerful letter to me. But it is. And the caress of those words are as intimate as any lover's whisper in the middle of the night.

I love you too.

Written By Harper

April 12, 2017, 6:28 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Sameera

I'm going to get a mace with my allowance, I am. But I stopped by her shop on the way back home. She's a talent, I'd say. Got myself a fancy brooch.

Real pretty though - a silver knife with a snake winding around it. It shines like it ain't deserving to be on my cloak. It does. It's gonna be a good reminder.

Written By Harper

April 12, 2017, 6:15 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Valery

She ain't a haunt - or a mouse. Just a lady with a hood and a basket. But, Gods above, she's fucking quiet like those two things. I'm keeping an eye on her.

Written By Harper

April 12, 2017, 6:13 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Sparte

He's a green guy like me - and I'm calling him Angry Eyebrows - 'cause he was right. What good are nicknames if you don't use them face to face? I did. So, I think that means that I also get to use them in the Journals. Anyway, Angry Eyebrows shown me how to hammer out the dents in armor with this curved wooden block and a small hammer. He told me about how he burnt his eyebrows off while killing a Bringer. Which makes him less of a green guy than me - and that's okay. We introduced ourselves and had a talk about how pushing yourself to the limit - whether you break, or not - is a good thing.

I'm gonna do that. Push myself. Bend not break.

And if I get dented, like my helm, I'm just gonna hammer that shit out and keep at it.

Written By Harper

April 12, 2017, 6:09 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Talen

So, I got my morning exercise and had to endure getting outran by the publicly nicknamed "Dark Prince" of the Velenosa. That's a florid ( Scholar looked that fancy word up for me - instead of the word I wanted to use ) moniker ( another one ) if I'd ever heard of one. But, he can fight. And it's no real big secret for me to say that I want to learn how to fight like that. I'll even forget that he's a fancypants royal, mebbe.

He really must be bored if he's willing to take me on.

All I got to to is learn how to speak well. Wait --

I shall endeavor ( another one ) to improve my vocabulary and my enunciation ( another one. )

Written By Dulcinea

April 12, 2017, 5:42 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Dear... not me. Other people.

Dear Other People,

A question recently posed: "What can change the nature of a man?"

Answer: "An arrow through the eye."

...

What?

Love and Occam's Razor,

Me

Written By Dulcinea

April 12, 2017, 5:33 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Dear Me,

He came home.

Just as he promised.

For just a little while, all is right with the world.

Love and Gifts from the Sea,

Me

Written By Talen

April 12, 2017, 5:32 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Relationship Note on Harper

The little red headed guard is now my protege. I will likely grow to regret this decision if she cannot learn how to talk properly.

You have a month, Harper. If you fail to make any progress I'm sending you to the Whisper House for enunciation lessons.

Fucking get it together.

Written By Dulcinea

April 12, 2017, 5:30 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

Dear Me,

Apparently, more than one woman wants to marry my brother.

I am told LOTS of women want to marry my brother.

The ladies of Arx should know, before they get any big ideas about being Duchess Telmar, that they will be strictly and stringently judged. They shall be pretty but not TOO pretty, charming but not TOO charming, and clever but not TOO clever. They shall behave themselves, bear children, and be entirely uninteresting.

Or there may be a hunting accident.

In the library.

...

These things happen.

Love and Vigilance,

Me

Written By Mira

April 12, 2017, 5:07 p.m.(4/6/1006 AR)

To the reader of this note, a simple question: What can change the nature of a man?

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