Written By Calista
Feb. 18, 2017, 1:19 a.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
"I ache."
Her heart was bigger than anyone knew. The love I felt for her was not just out of respect. We were to be family. She was to marry my brother and together they would unite the Lyceum. She should still be here, he should still be here.
Instead there is a hole in my heart. There is a void in my soul and every time I pass his room, I press my palm to the thick wooden door and draw in his scent that lingers in the Villa. My brother. He is gone. We do not know to where, for how long, or if ever he should return.
I ache, still.
I cannot begin to fathom the loss of those who perished in recent battles. Did we not just speak yesterday? At least it seems so. Did you not just tell me how grateful you were for my brother who saved your brother and now they are all gone.
Gods give me strength - I am losing my faith.
Written By Cara
Feb. 18, 2017, 1:19 a.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Pietro
For the rest of my life, I will turn, thinking how much I wish to tell you something, or to hear your laughter, or to get you to stop flopping onto the furniture --
But you won't be there.
I don't know what to do about that.
Written By Tikva
Feb. 18, 2017, 1:11 a.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
It interests me. Silk is beautiful, it is fine, it is slick under my hands: a soft, sliding fabric, exquisite against bare skin. It's light. If woven well, it can be deceptively strong. But--
For the most part, while a display of elegance, of beauty, of style -- it is useless. It won't keep you warm. It isn't armor. It may serve gloriously in appearance as clothing, but for the practical elements of a garment, it is, if anything, of less value than sturdier, warmer cloth.
We owe protection and justice to those whose honor we hold. A liege owes his vassal this, and we as offshoots, as threading branches of the liege's power, how can we owe less? It is the first Law of Limerance. Yet if you say it to many of the common people of Arx whom I have met this week ... I believe they might laugh, and I can offer them no blame for so doing.
Wealth is not merely wealth to be spent or squandered. It is privilege. It has purpose. It should have purpose.
We should not be silk. We should be steel, to guard and protect, rivets and supports down to the struts.
I'm sorry, Limerance, that we are failing you.
Written By Eirlys
Feb. 17, 2017, 11:38 p.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Elrych
Written By Kima
Feb. 17, 2017, 11:16 p.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Costas
Written By Cecilia
Feb. 17, 2017, 10:11 p.m.(12/11/1005 AR)
I am thankful all this is inexpensive, at the very least.
Written By Drea
Feb. 17, 2017, 9:36 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Written By Calypso
Feb. 17, 2017, 8:47 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Every life is a story. The small moments that make up who we are are so incredibly precious. Every smile. Every fight. Every moment spent loving, or feeling sadness or joy. Laughing at nothing of importance and yelling out frustrations. The spectrum of human existence is vast and each life experiences it in their own unique way.
Beyond my own soldiers, I am devastated by the loss of my friends and peers. I don't know that there is more I can say about each of them specifically, but I will say that I will not let a single one of these deaths be for nothing.
Marquis Vincere Igniseri
Lord Pietro Igniseri
Duchess Nadia Nightgold
It is by steel that we will win this, and by the might of mankind that we will find victory.
Written By Tikva
Feb. 17, 2017, 7:55 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Fatherhood.
My husband, Kelleth Riven, died fighting the Shav'Arvani in the Gray Forest, south of the Twainfort. He never got to meet his son, Lord Tiber, who was born three long, horrendous, miserable months after his death. My son will never know what it is to have a father. He will know the love of his uncles, of course, as he knows the love of his mother, as he knows the love of his aunts, and of all the zillion other people he is sure to charm into loving him before he turns two years old this spring.
As it happens, like my son, I also never knew my father. I knew Count Tibault, who raised me, and I knew him as one knows an older brother, an eldest brother, and the closest friend of one's heart.
I can't really speak to what that lack will mean for Tiber, any more than what I truly understand it meant for me. I have never regretted an instant of my family, the Laveers. I do not regret my new family, the Rivens. I love both, no, all of my family!
But I did hope for a completeness for my son that he will never have.
Written By Kima
Feb. 17, 2017, 7:54 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
It was only after I came to know recent Prodigals that I started changing my mind about the topic. These people, who had recently gone through the process of forsaking their previous lives for that of a citizen of the Compact, had very different ideas about it than natural born Arvani. More important, they had no illusions about the state of things outside the Compact's purview. Talk to newly arrived Prodigals and they will be happy to tell you that most of the people they left behind should stay out there. One might even say they left for a reason.
This came to mind the other day when I sat listening to two disparate Prodigals discuss the most recent Assembly. Both had come to Arx to bend the knee. The older man left his tribe some twenty years ago, feeling as though he had no worthwhile future amongst his more warlike compatriots. The other, a younger woman, was lured here by the kindness of a knight of Solace, and his recollections of the Scholars of Vellichor.
One of the things I have learned from them, when it comes to the Prodigal issue, is they place a high value on citizenship. That’s because they spent a lot to get it. Acquiring citizenship was a transaction for them, not an accident of birth. The older man in this left his home, and all that he knew, because he correctly saw where things were heading for his tribe. He was a guy that sold all his stuff, bought as many gambling chips as he could afford, and pushed them into the middle of the game table.
In Arvum, Prodigals are free to start their own story. Their past is no longer a set of boundaries on them. Just as important, they are free of the family and tribal restrictions. The young woman went into a career that does not exist amongst her people and even if it did, her family would not have approved. You can do those things where it is just you, striking out on your own. That’s the attraction of Arvum. It’s a blank canvass for those Prodigals that come here.
None of this means we should fling open our borders and let the world move to the Compact. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Borders and barriers are a filtering mechanism - though I won't go on about numbers and levels. It is outside of my area of expertise, and to pretend otherwise would be rank foolishness. Even so, I will conclude with this:
The people willing to go through all the steps it takes to become citizens of the Compact are going to be people who scrupulously observe the law. In fact, some of the Prodigals I've come to know since are almost hyper-patriotic for that reason. They take nothing for granted because they had to earn their citizenship. Their presence is a healthy reminder that citizenship has value.
Ultimately, my contention with those who argue the opposite is that there are those who place no value on citizenship. Those people tend not to put value on people. To them, people are just undifferentiated raw material, inputs they can manipulate. Whether the material comes from home or elsewhere is irrelevant because everything normal people associate with being human is of no concern to the managerial types. They see people the way normal people look at furniture.
Written By Demura
Feb. 17, 2017, 7:15 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Leona
Written By Demura
Feb. 17, 2017, 7:14 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
My own holding is at the tip of the central prong of the Lycene, bound to not see very many of these refugees if any. However, I can fully understand why they would be welcome in their escape from the Bringers. We could get into a debate about their beliefs and be vetting them to bend the knee, but that detracts from what is really important. If they are willing to abide the law and contribute to the land for the benefit of all, then they are absolutely welcome.
Written By Leona
Feb. 17, 2017, 6:58 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Hadrian
Written By Mae
Feb. 17, 2017, 6:21 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Written By Rymarr
Feb. 17, 2017, 6:02 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Written By Kima
Feb. 17, 2017, 5:45 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Written By Percephon
Feb. 17, 2017, 3:50 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
For those who feel the appeal to emotions, is it not right for us to assist these refuges of Abandoned -- regardless if they bend knee or not -- for actions that we, in part, seem to have caused through the issues of the Tiend? Does it not invite hubris, such as the stories of the Reckoning so many centuries ago, to think them unworthy of our help? It seems only right to assist these people in their time of need, those refugees who have clearly come in good stead, wishing nothing to do with our enemies.
For those who feel the appeal to the practical, is it not right to turn these people away, into the arms of our enemies? They will strengthen their numbers. For those who cannot, or will not fight, their sacrifices of blood will be used to fuel their evil magics. By not helping these people, we are only making our enemies stronger. They have practical skills, in foraging and foods, in leather and cloth. Skills that the compact can put to use, to strengthen us.
Regardless of the side of the coin one ends on, our path should be resolute: let us not turn these people away. Let us help them, in whatever ways we might. While I do not speak for House Telmar, I will gladly offer my personal assistance to those such as Marquessa Deepwood and Marquessa Greenmarch in their efforts to help these refugees.
Written By Simone
Feb. 17, 2017, 2:03 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Forgive me my opinions. I usually prefer to keep these to myself. But, this is a topic near and dear to my heart.
The Abandoned refugees are a recognizable result of the breakdown of the Bringers in the area of the Gray Forest. If those tribes were recognizable members of the Compact or members of our Council - they would have already been seen to safely - wouldn't they? Do we see them as a threatening mass rather than individuals? Do we judge them unjustly based on the brutal actions of others?
These refugees flee violence, hardship, and conflict. It highlights economic and political disparities between the Shav'arvani and the Compact, thus proving that many changes need to occur. In seeking to aid them, we are affirming that we are above these atrocities and great suffering. We should be willing to provide basic safety for themselves - and us.
Although, we do not need to create political pawns of these refugees, either. They need to be given opportunities to live and work in Arx, to become citizens and have a secure place among us. To have them willing to go out into the field with ours and fight our common enemies.
Otherwise, we will forever be at odds. Fighting internally, when the focus needs to be turned outward.
M. Simone Greenmarch
12/10/1005 AR.
Written By Joscelin
Feb. 17, 2017, 1:16 p.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Dominic
He was kind enough to see my beastie and offered a gut-clearing tea for her. So far, it's working well, though I have to keep the garden door open throughout the day for poor Mongoose.
Written By Samantha
Feb. 17, 2017, 11:13 a.m.(12/10/1005 AR)
I said it in Assembly, I will say it again here: We do not make peace with our friends. We make peace with our enemies.
This is my intention; by affirming that I will not require any Abandoned who seeks refuge to bend knee and declare themselves Prodigal, and so long as they adhere to the law of my land while within my my borders, they may seek it in safety. Has anyone else noticed that the Bringers have none amongst them who are children, who are elderly, who are any way infirm? It's because they slaughter them.
It is my hope that we can convince the shav'arvani to join us in the fight against the Bringers. When it is over, they have agreed to leave my borders should they continue to be Abandoned, but I am prepared to force an exit if necessary.
If I lead by example, and show the worth of the Compact as embodied in my own acts and deeds and those of my people, I believe may convince many to join the Compact willingly, and not as a condition for their aid.
I know that many believe that my choice to be kind and merciful and to look at those around me and see people is a weakness that I will pay a heavy price for. But I believe that the choice to be kind and honorable is something only the strong can truly undertake, and the treasure one can reap as reward is well worth the weight upon my back.
Do not mistake kindness for weakness, my friends.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.