Written By Eleyna
Jan. 6, 2017, 8:15 p.m.(8/5/1005 AR)
There are no easy choices.
Maybe these blood sacrifices have to happen. There are certainly people more knowledgeable than I am that seem to think so. Whatever my private thoughts on the matter, I stand with my Archduchess and support her choice to agree to the Teind. The decision is made.
That said, we can grieve that this choice had to be made. We can grieve for those that make this sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe. I grieve for Lady Dawn and all who love her. I grieve for the twelve that will follow her. I even grieve for the generations of Abandoned that gave themselves to keep us safe. We paid them back with slaughter.
These are people that are loved. That will be grieved. That is what we cannot allow to be forgotten. These are not 'sacrifices'. They are people.
Maybe these blood sacrifices have to happen. There are certainly people more knowledgeable than I am that seem to think so. Whatever my private thoughts on the matter, I stand with my Archduchess and support her choice to agree to the Teind. The decision is made.
That said, we can grieve that this choice had to be made. We can grieve for those that make this sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe. I grieve for Lady Dawn and all who love her. I grieve for the twelve that will follow her. I even grieve for the generations of Abandoned that gave themselves to keep us safe. We paid them back with slaughter.
These are people that are loved. That will be grieved. That is what we cannot allow to be forgotten. These are not 'sacrifices'. They are people.
Written By Cassius
Jan. 6, 2017, 7:20 p.m.(8/5/1005 AR)
Does no one in this city have enough work to keep them busy?
Come by the House of Solace. We've sheets that need changed and bandages that need washed.
Lord Cassius Nightgold, KoS
Come by the House of Solace. We've sheets that need changed and bandages that need washed.
Lord Cassius Nightgold, KoS
Written By Ida
Jan. 6, 2017, 7:19 p.m.(8/5/1005 AR)
I have a weariness that I believe only the solace of the forge might remedy. Or whiskey. One of the two. Maybe both.
Written By Belladonna
Jan. 6, 2017, 6:50 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
It disturbs me, how few of my peers seem to understand what a treaty is.
Written By Valencia
Jan. 6, 2017, 6:44 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
I am concerned by the barrage of heated insults and divisiveness that seems to be being thrown about during a time when we should be most united.
I ask why we are sending our best and brightest to certain slaughter when we need their expertise and skills for the fight to come. What good can come killing those we need most? There must be a better way.
I worry that our real enemies -- our REAL enemies -- must think we are such agreeable prey.
Defeating ourselves through bickering and in-fighting and serving up our finest up for others to dine on. All this just makes our enemy's job easier.
Regardless of what we may or may not do, let's not defeat ourselves before we even properly meet the enemy on the field.
Yes, there will be disagreements, but let's focus on what is important. Or our people will all face dire consequences for our folly and lack of vision if we do not.
Gods and grove protect us all from ourselves.
~~~<~<@
I ask why we are sending our best and brightest to certain slaughter when we need their expertise and skills for the fight to come. What good can come killing those we need most? There must be a better way.
I worry that our real enemies -- our REAL enemies -- must think we are such agreeable prey.
Defeating ourselves through bickering and in-fighting and serving up our finest up for others to dine on. All this just makes our enemy's job easier.
Regardless of what we may or may not do, let's not defeat ourselves before we even properly meet the enemy on the field.
Yes, there will be disagreements, but let's focus on what is important. Or our people will all face dire consequences for our folly and lack of vision if we do not.
Gods and grove protect us all from ourselves.
~~~<~<@
Written By Eirene
Jan. 6, 2017, 5:57 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Cassius
I swear he looks like he always has a lemon shoved up inside his mouth. Yet somehow I can occasionally make him smile. Guess I'm a fucking miracle worker.
Written By Myrinda
Jan. 6, 2017, 5:52 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
A city full of fools, liars, and mummers. You only care at the blood spilled of nobles, not commoners. You only care at someone leaving, not whether they left. You only care about yourselves.
And now, by gods, you will carry on a facade of speaking for us? Which us do you speak for?
Give us our own voices and you wouldn't have to.
And now, by gods, you will carry on a facade of speaking for us? Which us do you speak for?
Give us our own voices and you wouldn't have to.
Written By Juliet
Jan. 6, 2017, 5:37 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Samantha
There's so much to say. And yet so little.
I considered Marquessa Samantha Deepwood a friend - I was inspired by her passion and sense of justice.
I consider Marquessa Ivy Deepwood a friend. I am inspired by her passion and sense of justice, and proud of how it has led her true.
I considered Marquessa Samantha Deepwood a friend - I was inspired by her passion and sense of justice.
I consider Marquessa Ivy Deepwood a friend. I am inspired by her passion and sense of justice, and proud of how it has led her true.
Written By Cara
Jan. 6, 2017, 5:15 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Why, brother, you have stolen the hearts of so many, of course.
It is said that in the course of troubled events, much is revealed about the character of others. I have heard some urge caution, which is a reasonable position in many instances; others urge action.
But I say that when the house is on fire, the man too cautious to leave for fear of error is the one who burns; when the enemy is at the gate, it is not the time to argue. A decision must be made.
If there are alternative courses of action with /concrete/ solutions that can be implemented immediately, then for the love of the gods, bring them forth. Please.
They are in our forest. They are in our homeland.
Our house is afire, and something must be done. It /will/ be done. The only question is whether or not 'twill be done with the aid of others or without.
It is said that in the course of troubled events, much is revealed about the character of others. I have heard some urge caution, which is a reasonable position in many instances; others urge action.
But I say that when the house is on fire, the man too cautious to leave for fear of error is the one who burns; when the enemy is at the gate, it is not the time to argue. A decision must be made.
If there are alternative courses of action with /concrete/ solutions that can be implemented immediately, then for the love of the gods, bring them forth. Please.
They are in our forest. They are in our homeland.
Our house is afire, and something must be done. It /will/ be done. The only question is whether or not 'twill be done with the aid of others or without.
Written By Lianne
Jan. 6, 2017, 4:42 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Words I No Longer Care to Use:
Light, to refer to knowledge, truth and good.
Darkness, to refer to ignorance, secrets and evil.
Demons, to refer to any horror beyond our ken without proper study and classification.
Too easily, we let the connotations of these terms dictate our responses, unconsidered, unnoticed. I shall endeavor to speak more precisely, to say what I mean, unmuddled by these convoluted metaphors. We do not need light to banish the darkness; we need to question, to seek answers, to fend off ignorance and outwit those who would deceive us. We are beset by strange enemies which bear many faces and many names; we should call them what they are, distinct and different, and deny them the potency of myth.
Poetry has its place, after all this is done, when we can color our recollection any way we'd like. Now, as we face the unknown, we require clarity and concision to make it plain.
Light, to refer to knowledge, truth and good.
Darkness, to refer to ignorance, secrets and evil.
Demons, to refer to any horror beyond our ken without proper study and classification.
Too easily, we let the connotations of these terms dictate our responses, unconsidered, unnoticed. I shall endeavor to speak more precisely, to say what I mean, unmuddled by these convoluted metaphors. We do not need light to banish the darkness; we need to question, to seek answers, to fend off ignorance and outwit those who would deceive us. We are beset by strange enemies which bear many faces and many names; we should call them what they are, distinct and different, and deny them the potency of myth.
Poetry has its place, after all this is done, when we can color our recollection any way we'd like. Now, as we face the unknown, we require clarity and concision to make it plain.
Written By Juliet
Jan. 6, 2017, 4:38 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Dawn
To pen these thoughts is a religious excercise, not one of vanity - but I am vain enough to put it in my public journals.
I do not envy her Excellency for the choices she has had to make. In whatever dealings I have had with her, she has been straightforward and to the point. Like her brother, she had an intent of ruling for the common people. I firmly believe she always had the best of the Compact in mind when making her decisions.
And she has decided to give up her life for it.
I can hope and wish it isn't necessary. For some last-minute miracle - perhaps from this elven goddess, who is supposedly one of our Lost of the Pantheon. I can hope, and I can wish, and I can pray.
I don't know if you ever believed my words when we first met, your Excellency. But they were spoken earnestly and without any hidden intent.
I cannot imagine the burden of carrying the Compact's woes. I don't think I'd be strong enough for it.
I hope the rest of your days are filled with joy and pleasure. That you take good memories with you to the next life.
Be that years from now, or in a matter of weeks.
I do not envy her Excellency for the choices she has had to make. In whatever dealings I have had with her, she has been straightforward and to the point. Like her brother, she had an intent of ruling for the common people. I firmly believe she always had the best of the Compact in mind when making her decisions.
And she has decided to give up her life for it.
I can hope and wish it isn't necessary. For some last-minute miracle - perhaps from this elven goddess, who is supposedly one of our Lost of the Pantheon. I can hope, and I can wish, and I can pray.
I don't know if you ever believed my words when we first met, your Excellency. But they were spoken earnestly and without any hidden intent.
I cannot imagine the burden of carrying the Compact's woes. I don't think I'd be strong enough for it.
I hope the rest of your days are filled with joy and pleasure. That you take good memories with you to the next life.
Be that years from now, or in a matter of weeks.
Written By Valkieri
Jan. 6, 2017, 4:01 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
I would very much like to know what I have supposedly stolen.
Written By Anze
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:43 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Entertaining to watch an honorless theif call someone else honorless. What's that called? The pot calling the kettle black?
Written By Bethany
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:36 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
To the Lower, to the Upper, to the servant and the merchant. To the general populace of Arx that lack a title before their name:
Allow them to bicker. We must organize ourselves.
"... I don't believe current events is the business of those in power alone as it affects us all." Well-spoken words by a knight-scholar of Vellichor.
It will affect *all* of us. In every tier. A certain level of transparency is needed - among the social classes, among the ranks. We need to unify, stand as one city and one Compact if we are ever to understand the situation we are facing. We need to be aware of all factors, all consequences in order to cast decisions like stones upon the backs of anyone.
Highborn or lowborn alike.
Ask questions. Seek answers. Find the Corruption where it hides in the Dark and cast Light upon it. Share what you learn about it with others. No questions are useless when all that we considered myth or fiction is now made real. The only fear is in the unknown, the ignorance, the unwillingness to ask and search and learn.
We need to insist on the truth if we are to make any decisions on our future.
Allow them to bicker. We must organize ourselves.
"... I don't believe current events is the business of those in power alone as it affects us all." Well-spoken words by a knight-scholar of Vellichor.
It will affect *all* of us. In every tier. A certain level of transparency is needed - among the social classes, among the ranks. We need to unify, stand as one city and one Compact if we are ever to understand the situation we are facing. We need to be aware of all factors, all consequences in order to cast decisions like stones upon the backs of anyone.
Highborn or lowborn alike.
Ask questions. Seek answers. Find the Corruption where it hides in the Dark and cast Light upon it. Share what you learn about it with others. No questions are useless when all that we considered myth or fiction is now made real. The only fear is in the unknown, the ignorance, the unwillingness to ask and search and learn.
We need to insist on the truth if we are to make any decisions on our future.
Written By Denica
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:25 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
This entry is written in a familiar looping script, the page opposite detailing a drawing of a triangular pattern; one bird below two, four before the last two, eight, and so on. It lessens in perspective, as if the flock is flying from the first, growing infinitely small.
It seems that I am some ill omen, having come to Arx to see all of Arvum fall apart at its seams!
Last eve was the Assembly of Peers. The regent stepped down, but not before pushing a vote to commit a blood rite with the Nox'Alfar. It seemed as if she had already agreed to, saying that the elves recognized her as the Compact. They say that for the Tiend thirteen men must sacrifice their lives: thirteen. This number cannot be shrugged off, nor can the will of Arx's foremost leaders to commit to blood rites at the insistence of those whose last ritual stole the soul of their king.
They too said that there are traitors amongst us, agents of those that would have Arvum fall: how are we to trust? One must trust by action over words. And long ago, the act of committing blood magic was banned by our forefathers. It is abhorrent to those of faith! Have all lost their minds? Not all; Prince Darren of Redrain exercised a critical mind (which I admit my grandfather described as 'dithering'), and Prince Tristram of Valardin spoke against the rite (after his poor hand nearly fell off, and notably after the Regent had declared her decision).
Last eve I had a dream; the birds were two, then four, eight, sixteen--they continued in this fashion, filling the sky. No one is bound to fate, not I, not anyone. No one is stripped of decision. Our fates are infinite, our paths spread like branches on a great tree.
There is never any 'must'. There is only possibility and responsibility. Courage and cowardice.
May Jayus touch my heart to seal it against fear.
Princess Denica of Thrax
Written By Silas
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:24 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Hahahahahahaha
Yes I am writing my laughter.
Don't judge me.
Yes I am writing my laughter.
Don't judge me.
Written By Valkieri
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:18 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Aurelian
Remarkable how people can call someone a power-hungry tyrant after they have abdicated their power and family. I am sure she is reveling in her power now as she rides to her death to protect you, you honorless flec.
Written By Tristan
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:14 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
I am only a horseman with no education in politics...
But abdicating and agreeing willingly to die is certainly a novel way to prove one's self a tyrant.
But abdicating and agreeing willingly to die is certainly a novel way to prove one's self a tyrant.
Written By Leo
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:13 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Aurelian
You are a meek fool, brave only as the last to throw a stone. You are a blight on the honor of Valardin. Rescind your words, draw steel or select your champion.
Written By Cara
Jan. 6, 2017, 3:12 p.m.(8/4/1005 AR)
Relationship Note on Aurelian
It is excellent to know clearly and cleanly when someone is an unmitigated ass.
Please note that the scholars may take some time preparing your journal for others to read.