Archivist's note:
This particular letter is unusually short for the subject, who was widely known for his prolific correspondence and varied publications. Although it is not directly related to the overt campaign which the Vigiles launched shortly after the date of this letter, it may provide the reader some of the context in which that campaign was executed.
For further consideration of the Second Usurption, the avid student may refer to the wealth of primary material available in the Apocryphal Journals, as well as the excellent four-volume Lives: Caduceatoris, and of course, the several chronicles specific to the campaign.
Although undated, the passionate entries in the Apocryphal Journals referring to this letter indicate that this message was received an astounding twenty-four hours after the retreat from - and subsequent critical failure of the engine core of - the Vigilant, on 17 Blossoming of Fenin Ro in the Age of Veeshan.
My dearest F. Amrunrosse
It pains me to hear of your current loss. I am left wondering what I might have been able to do to help stay the hand of fate - alas, that life does not work so!
I am all too familiar with what must be a trying time for you and your little band of soldiers. As such, I open my arms in the name of our Great Goddess to you, and extend the protection She offers to all in your band of freedom fighters.
Come. Find rest. Find healing. The Praetor Ariahdnia would not want you to grieve so.
Archbishop Marconis Fiac
Showing posts with label Marconis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marconis. Show all posts
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
From the tenth volume of The Lives: Multum Mendacis
Archivist's note:
The transcript of this speech, according to contemporary records, would suggest that it was acquired at great personal cost. The Vigiles roster in this period was frequently being adjusted, and although some of these changes were for additions, many more of them were to record the Fallen. The sagittari divisions were the hardest hit, losing several officers and specialists over only a few months.
The original ciphered message is lost, but we can be reasonably certain that this is a faithful translation. It was found among other classified papers relating to the same subject, and the uneven hand, and irregular line breaks suggest that the copy we have was written as the cipher was untangled, and never recopied. For these volumes, of course, spelling has been standardized throughout, and line breaks introduced both for readability and a humble attempt to convey the delivery.
The student unfamiliar with the character of the Archbishop would do well to remember that all contemporary sources available to us agree on the great personal charisma he brought to bear in every situation. We must accept that whatever the objective qualities of his words may have been, he was able to bring such earnestness and charm to bear that for many years, even the Vigiles council was divided on the question of how - and even, whether - to deal with him at all.
Fragmentary comments on the original translation suggest this speech was given at the Cairn of the Huntress, somewhere in the month of Warmstill, in the Year of Xegony, in the first quatrain of the Age of Veeshan. It is of particular interest that although the speech is directed at an inner circle among the cultists, it seemed to have been an intensely public display, and part of an extravagant festival thrown for the purpose, rather than one of the private shrines. This may have formed part of the cause for the White Raven leadership to align with the Erollisians in their denunciation of the Declaration of Truth.
My people, I welcome you to this most special of engagements.
I have a hard thing to speak of today that has weighed heavily on my heart.
Recently, our worship of Erollisi's hand in our lives has been attacked and slandered. I cannot believe that there are eyes to read that have not seen this denouncement, and so I will not trouble our ears with the repetition.
This Defamation - pardon, a slip - Declaration of Truth broadsheet seems to have been given freely to all known cities. This public slander is signed by one I had hoped might become one of our Sisters - the Lady Amrunrosse has instead drawn a line in the proverbial sand.
Her actions have brought unnecessary scrutiny and obstruction to our mission of Love, and yet I cannot help but feel this is her ultimate cry for help - that the recent exile and discovery of her beloved being deceased - has pushed her into a most frightening and vulnerable place.
My children, even still, despite my prayers to Our Lady, she is held in thrall by this Vigiles Amicae, who must be guiding her ever further to despair. Even with this difficult time on us, we would be remiss in our duty to Love to not stretch our arms and call this Sister back to us.
Act and think not with malice, as it can only serve to drive the wedge further. If you might try to approach her, think not of us, who Love her, for the stress might be too great.
Instead, think and be with the mission we have embraced - go forth in Love, perfect and eternal.
The transcript of this speech, according to contemporary records, would suggest that it was acquired at great personal cost. The Vigiles roster in this period was frequently being adjusted, and although some of these changes were for additions, many more of them were to record the Fallen. The sagittari divisions were the hardest hit, losing several officers and specialists over only a few months.
The original ciphered message is lost, but we can be reasonably certain that this is a faithful translation. It was found among other classified papers relating to the same subject, and the uneven hand, and irregular line breaks suggest that the copy we have was written as the cipher was untangled, and never recopied. For these volumes, of course, spelling has been standardized throughout, and line breaks introduced both for readability and a humble attempt to convey the delivery.
The student unfamiliar with the character of the Archbishop would do well to remember that all contemporary sources available to us agree on the great personal charisma he brought to bear in every situation. We must accept that whatever the objective qualities of his words may have been, he was able to bring such earnestness and charm to bear that for many years, even the Vigiles council was divided on the question of how - and even, whether - to deal with him at all.
Fragmentary comments on the original translation suggest this speech was given at the Cairn of the Huntress, somewhere in the month of Warmstill, in the Year of Xegony, in the first quatrain of the Age of Veeshan. It is of particular interest that although the speech is directed at an inner circle among the cultists, it seemed to have been an intensely public display, and part of an extravagant festival thrown for the purpose, rather than one of the private shrines. This may have formed part of the cause for the White Raven leadership to align with the Erollisians in their denunciation of the Declaration of Truth.
My people, I welcome you to this most special of engagements.
I have a hard thing to speak of today that has weighed heavily on my heart.
Recently, our worship of Erollisi's hand in our lives has been attacked and slandered. I cannot believe that there are eyes to read that have not seen this denouncement, and so I will not trouble our ears with the repetition.
This Defamation - pardon, a slip - Declaration of Truth broadsheet seems to have been given freely to all known cities. This public slander is signed by one I had hoped might become one of our Sisters - the Lady Amrunrosse has instead drawn a line in the proverbial sand.
Her actions have brought unnecessary scrutiny and obstruction to our mission of Love, and yet I cannot help but feel this is her ultimate cry for help - that the recent exile and discovery of her beloved being deceased - has pushed her into a most frightening and vulnerable place.
My children, even still, despite my prayers to Our Lady, she is held in thrall by this Vigiles Amicae, who must be guiding her ever further to despair. Even with this difficult time on us, we would be remiss in our duty to Love to not stretch our arms and call this Sister back to us.
Act and think not with malice, as it can only serve to drive the wedge further. If you might try to approach her, think not of us, who Love her, for the stress might be too great.
Instead, think and be with the mission we have embraced - go forth in Love, perfect and eternal.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
A plain, red-spined book - Apocryphal Journals: Folodu Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry is unusually brief for the bardic-trained Amrunrosse, especially in light of her extensive, longwinded reports during the Velian Exile. The doubts seeded during the era of her usurption have long been considered to have flourished in the solitude of her exile. The tone of her entries immediately following her recall to a more closely supervised position in Maj'Dul would seem to confirm this.
Fafnier is among us again, and quite hale and healthy. He has not spoken of the broken engagement. When pressed, he refused to speak of it. I get the feeling he cares, and yet is too proud to admit it.
Cheva will be thrilled to see him, though she is yet on her way to the sands.
It looks less drear, and yet.
I found him returned not long before he ordered my assistance in going to Freeport and fixing the status of his death back to living.
We disembarked our ship only to immediately encounter the Knights on patrol. As is standard, they wished to see our papers. Fafnier, having already not listened to reason and changing his documents in Gorowyn, started making demands for pleasantries.
Now it is on me if he catches their attention. Arquenniel was quite clear on that. Fafnier should have known better, and could not keep his mouth shut. He wanted to claim his own actions for himself. He does not understand how tyranny works.
It is endearing and foolish.
After, he admitted he wished Lucan to know he is returned - he would not explain why.
And then asked me to find a link between Andrejja and Marconis. Already, I am called to bring suspicion on the House. Is this all my name is worth now? As an agent against our own?
It cannot be borne.
I told him I will do no such thing until such time as the Praetor clears it.
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry is unusually brief for the bardic-trained Amrunrosse, especially in light of her extensive, longwinded reports during the Velian Exile. The doubts seeded during the era of her usurption have long been considered to have flourished in the solitude of her exile. The tone of her entries immediately following her recall to a more closely supervised position in Maj'Dul would seem to confirm this.
Fafnier is among us again, and quite hale and healthy. He has not spoken of the broken engagement. When pressed, he refused to speak of it. I get the feeling he cares, and yet is too proud to admit it.
Cheva will be thrilled to see him, though she is yet on her way to the sands.
It looks less drear, and yet.
I found him returned not long before he ordered my assistance in going to Freeport and fixing the status of his death back to living.
We disembarked our ship only to immediately encounter the Knights on patrol. As is standard, they wished to see our papers. Fafnier, having already not listened to reason and changing his documents in Gorowyn, started making demands for pleasantries.
Now it is on me if he catches their attention. Arquenniel was quite clear on that. Fafnier should have known better, and could not keep his mouth shut. He wanted to claim his own actions for himself. He does not understand how tyranny works.
It is endearing and foolish.
After, he admitted he wished Lucan to know he is returned - he would not explain why.
And then asked me to find a link between Andrejja and Marconis. Already, I am called to bring suspicion on the House. Is this all my name is worth now? As an agent against our own?
It cannot be borne.
I told him I will do no such thing until such time as the Praetor clears it.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Classified report, from the Ephemera of the Praetor
Archivist's Note:
The Praetor has been characterized in uncharitable accounts as hoarding paper as dragons hoard gold, but any historian will affirm that it would be easier to draft a coherent chronicle if in fact, that were true. The Ephemera collection attempts to assemble some semblance of chronological order to the wild and fragmented array of letters that have come down to us.
These letters are offered here, in translation if necessary, and bound in one set of volumes for the convenience of the student of history, and in respect for the fragility of many of the originals. Scholars with proper clearance from the High Council may apply to view up to 200 items from the originals: only twenty such requests will be considered in any Quatrain, irrespective of the date attributed to the items requested. Any excess applications on grounds of suspicion of censorship will result in an automatic and binding hold on the scholar's access credentials for one full year.
The report included below would normally be filed among the military records of the Vigiles, except that this was never stored with the classified military records. It is possible that it was misplaced on receipt, but as the events in question are long past and the High Council has determined that the following was of minimal interest to the Vigiles wing, it has been accessioned along with the personal effects where it was found.
Legate Fafnier has requested I investigate Chief Medic Pejic for connections with Marconis.
He has been informed that no such thing shall happen without clearance from the Praetor's office.
His last remark on the subject was "do what you must".
If interpreted one way, it is easy to associate your consent with doing what I must. Were this a few years ago, I would interpret it as "do it anyways", with "for the safety of the House" as an addendum.
I do not like the idea of beginning any espionage regarding any of the Amicae given how my own paranoia and logical leaps went a decade ago.
Either way, if you will it, it shall be done.
Equites F. Amrunrosse
The Praetor has been characterized in uncharitable accounts as hoarding paper as dragons hoard gold, but any historian will affirm that it would be easier to draft a coherent chronicle if in fact, that were true. The Ephemera collection attempts to assemble some semblance of chronological order to the wild and fragmented array of letters that have come down to us.
These letters are offered here, in translation if necessary, and bound in one set of volumes for the convenience of the student of history, and in respect for the fragility of many of the originals. Scholars with proper clearance from the High Council may apply to view up to 200 items from the originals: only twenty such requests will be considered in any Quatrain, irrespective of the date attributed to the items requested. Any excess applications on grounds of suspicion of censorship will result in an automatic and binding hold on the scholar's access credentials for one full year.
The report included below would normally be filed among the military records of the Vigiles, except that this was never stored with the classified military records. It is possible that it was misplaced on receipt, but as the events in question are long past and the High Council has determined that the following was of minimal interest to the Vigiles wing, it has been accessioned along with the personal effects where it was found.
From: Equites Amrunrosse
To: the desk of the Praetor
Security: HIGHLY CLASSIFIED
Legate Fafnier has requested I investigate Chief Medic Pejic for connections with Marconis.
He has been informed that no such thing shall happen without clearance from the Praetor's office.
His last remark on the subject was "do what you must".
If interpreted one way, it is easy to associate your consent with doing what I must. Were this a few years ago, I would interpret it as "do it anyways", with "for the safety of the House" as an addendum.
I do not like the idea of beginning any espionage regarding any of the Amicae given how my own paranoia and logical leaps went a decade ago.
Either way, if you will it, it shall be done.
Equites F. Amrunrosse
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Declaration of Truth
WHERE AS it is known that Marconis Fiac uses the aliases Marconis Finn AND Father Fiac AND Father Finn AND Archbishop Marconis AND Archbishop Fiac AND Archbishop Finn, among others yet unknown;
AND WHERE AS Marconis Fiac holds the position of Archbishop in the Erollisian Diocese;
AND WHERE AS it is known that Marconis Fiac took under his tutelage one Fier'Dal;
AND WHERE AS he has not fulfilled his obligation to her education, both in schooling and life skills;
AND WHERE AS he has deliberately undermined her self worth verbally;
AND WHERE AS he has maligned the name of sad Feir'Dal's mother;
AND WHERE AS he has made the false claim of Erollisi speaking directly to him;
AND WHERE AS he has forged a secret military force within the Erollisian sect;
AND WHERE AS he has utilized this force to wage war on his family;
AND WHERE AS he has utilized necromantic magics against his family for personal gain against restrictions by the sects of Erollisi;
AND WHERE AS he has sought to make war on the Vigiles Amicae;
AND WHERE AS he has made truce with the Crushbone clan orcs of Faydwer;
AND WHERE AS his practice of Erollisian healing tends towards coercion of the mind;
It is resolved that a
DECLARATION OF TRUTH
be leveraged towards the cause of informing all of Norrath of Marconis Fiac's transgressions towards the cause of peace in general, and the precepts of Erollisi in particular;
THEREFORE that this missive be delivered to all major and minor settlements to aid the cause of this
DECLARATION OF TRUTH
Regarding Marconis Fiac
Signed Lady Folodu Amrunrosse, Adjunct Equites Diplomatic Corps of Vigiles Amicae
AND WHERE AS Marconis Fiac holds the position of Archbishop in the Erollisian Diocese;
AND WHERE AS it is known that Marconis Fiac took under his tutelage one Fier'Dal;
AND WHERE AS he has not fulfilled his obligation to her education, both in schooling and life skills;
AND WHERE AS he has deliberately undermined her self worth verbally;
AND WHERE AS he has maligned the name of sad Feir'Dal's mother;
AND WHERE AS he has made the false claim of Erollisi speaking directly to him;
AND WHERE AS he has forged a secret military force within the Erollisian sect;
AND WHERE AS he has utilized this force to wage war on his family;
AND WHERE AS he has utilized necromantic magics against his family for personal gain against restrictions by the sects of Erollisi;
AND WHERE AS he has sought to make war on the Vigiles Amicae;
AND WHERE AS he has made truce with the Crushbone clan orcs of Faydwer;
AND WHERE AS his practice of Erollisian healing tends towards coercion of the mind;
It is resolved that a
DECLARATION OF TRUTH
be leveraged towards the cause of informing all of Norrath of Marconis Fiac's transgressions towards the cause of peace in general, and the precepts of Erollisi in particular;
THEREFORE that this missive be delivered to all major and minor settlements to aid the cause of this
DECLARATION OF TRUTH
Regarding Marconis Fiac
Signed Lady Folodu Amrunrosse, Adjunct Equites Diplomatic Corps of Vigiles Amicae
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Nearly Midnight News: February 16th
Greetings my fellow Norrathians. I am Archbishop Marconis Fiac, and I welcome you to the Nearly Midnight News.
Please excuse my presumption, however your normal host has succumbed to the festivities of Erollisi. We are hoping for a full recovery.
In our first story, Qeynos for Qeynosians held their annual meeting in New Halas again. On the agenda, considering permitting Windstalker into the list of cities not to grumble about.
Attendees of previous meetings will note every established settlement is on the "to grumble" list except for New Halas and Qeynos, which is the only city the group can afford rent prices in to host their meetings.
In other news, Maj'Dul reports no murders this week. In an effort to make up for the oversight of the citizens, the sultanate is hosting a meeting.
Food that is expected to be served includes blowfish and unusually vivid fruit punch.
Anashti Sul would like you to take a moment to recall all She has done for you. Let your mind be at ease, and let it open to new thoughts. Remember, Anashti cares.
There is usually a report on sports, but they are pointless drivel, and I know all Norrathians join me in detesting them as a rule, save for those which honor Erollisi's purviews.
The Erollisi sect in Qeynos is helping citizens plant trees this winter. While it promotes good works, the main thrust of this arboreal mission seems to be the acquisition of coarse jokes and bawdy humor.
Contact your local temple today. Help erect more trees.
On this day in history, a barkeep in Kelethin was stiffed, which lead to a series of events that culminated in the War of the Fay.
It would go on to be the bloodiest war since the one right before it, which had been the bloodiest at the time it happened.
While the establishment's name is lost to history, the barkeeper was reported to have said, "Oh Tunare. I'm so sorry. I should have let the five silver go."
The D'Morte family would like to thank everyone who participated in this year's Amateur Axe Juggling Competition.
This year saw a third more blood spilled. The AAJC is the only competition to measure blood loss.
This Nearly Midnight News is brought to you by the Temple of Erollisi. Come as you are.
Thank you for joining me for another refined casting of the Nearly Midnight News.
Please excuse my presumption, however your normal host has succumbed to the festivities of Erollisi. We are hoping for a full recovery.
In our first story, Qeynos for Qeynosians held their annual meeting in New Halas again. On the agenda, considering permitting Windstalker into the list of cities not to grumble about.
Attendees of previous meetings will note every established settlement is on the "to grumble" list except for New Halas and Qeynos, which is the only city the group can afford rent prices in to host their meetings.
In other news, Maj'Dul reports no murders this week. In an effort to make up for the oversight of the citizens, the sultanate is hosting a meeting.
Food that is expected to be served includes blowfish and unusually vivid fruit punch.
Anashti Sul would like you to take a moment to recall all She has done for you. Let your mind be at ease, and let it open to new thoughts. Remember, Anashti cares.
There is usually a report on sports, but they are pointless drivel, and I know all Norrathians join me in detesting them as a rule, save for those which honor Erollisi's purviews.
The Erollisi sect in Qeynos is helping citizens plant trees this winter. While it promotes good works, the main thrust of this arboreal mission seems to be the acquisition of coarse jokes and bawdy humor.
Contact your local temple today. Help erect more trees.
On this day in history, a barkeep in Kelethin was stiffed, which lead to a series of events that culminated in the War of the Fay.
It would go on to be the bloodiest war since the one right before it, which had been the bloodiest at the time it happened.
While the establishment's name is lost to history, the barkeeper was reported to have said, "Oh Tunare. I'm so sorry. I should have let the five silver go."
The D'Morte family would like to thank everyone who participated in this year's Amateur Axe Juggling Competition.
This year saw a third more blood spilled. The AAJC is the only competition to measure blood loss.
This Nearly Midnight News is brought to you by the Temple of Erollisi. Come as you are.
Thank you for joining me for another refined casting of the Nearly Midnight News.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Journal of Acting Praetor Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
This volume overlaps many of the events in the so-called Apocryphal Journals, but it is presented here as it's own work as it was discovered in the recent remodelling of the Gorowyn offices. The octavo journal is bound in blue dyed leather, and it had been lost in a gap between the decorative redwood panel and the blackrock maple wall sheathing, presumably since the latter Age of the New Combine.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
Contemporary records confirm that during the time covered by this log - which seems to have functioned as a kind of pocket memorandum book, outlining events for later reflection in memoirs - Amrunrosse did in fact seize the Praetorship, and lead the final assaults on the D'Vinnian territories in the campaign to recover the kidnapped Legate. By this time, he had been missing for several seasons, despite all efforts to track his captors, the Amicae seem to have consistently arrived after the hostages had been moved.
Despite her position of authority, Amrunrosse still did not set down dates on her observations, but the frustrated historian will be perhaps least frustrated by this fragment of her testimony, as the dates of these actions can readily be cross-referenced in the campaign reports and Council minutes.
-1-
A trying night.
What have I done? Dear gods, Ari will kill me, and it is because of that damn Yorrik and Valacor. Vithing pissing contest over Ari.
Yorrik is consumed with his infallibility, and thinks Ari possessed of some madness. Valacor decided to visit during her examination, and scared Yorrik senseless. Yorrik, of course, called in the military.
Dear gods, but Ari saw reason and Valacor did not - he refused to stand down, escalating the situation. Because he attacked the House, I tried to have all three detained. Valacor refused, and what is to be done? He will destroy us all before he surrenders, and I will not risk the House.
I have Ari and Yorrik detained, and have placed restrictions on returning her position once it is proven that the words Valacor spoke were false. This, I hope, will give me time to run the campaign against Marconis' orc alliance and retrieve Sytan.
Damnit all, but why does Ari seek to believe that he left of his own will? Damnit damnit damnit.
- 2 -
A trying week. Valacor has decided to take his leave, and Yorrik had to be pressed in to service because he is our only healer. I cannot get Ari to promise not to kill me, so I cannot release her bonds. I will have to take the risk of it anyways - it would be just...
Finding I have support among the military -and- civilian branches. I am leading by paranoid dictatorship. This is backwards. This is not Vigiles. Will have to run campaign against myself. Planning to attack one of the House as a last resort. If reason will not win, what else can be done?
Beginning collecting the crimes I am committing. I want there to be no question how deeply my actions go. Might need to draft an arrest warrant.
- 3 -
We go after the orcs.
Released Ari. She didn't kill me, though I almost wish she had. If there is anything to be bitter about at this entire situation, it is losing her friendship. I have mishandled this from the beginning. I was so sure this would be cut and dry, and it would have been understandable, but the course was chosen rashly.
I wish Valacor would have backed down. I grow to hate his name, now. I have I time to cobble together a plan to stop him, so that justice might happen.
Asked Fafnier to kill Ari during the raid. She needs time to rest and lose her memories. She is having trouble with so many now. I don't think he understands.
Valacor is still at large. I can't move against him. Damnit, we need Ari.
- 4 -
Retrieved Sytan. Many losses.
Countermanded order to kill Ari. She is recovering and coping with memories.
Can't get the council on the same landmass together, much less the same room to reinstate Ariahdnia. Considering breaking the injunctions I laid out to do it anyways.
Too many are supporting me verbally in my tyranny. It is time to move.
- 5 -
[editor's note: update from ingame book]
This volume overlaps many of the events in the so-called Apocryphal Journals, but it is presented here as it's own work as it was discovered in the recent remodelling of the Gorowyn offices. The octavo journal is bound in blue dyed leather, and it had been lost in a gap between the decorative redwood panel and the blackrock maple wall sheathing, presumably since the latter Age of the New Combine.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
Contemporary records confirm that during the time covered by this log - which seems to have functioned as a kind of pocket memorandum book, outlining events for later reflection in memoirs - Amrunrosse did in fact seize the Praetorship, and lead the final assaults on the D'Vinnian territories in the campaign to recover the kidnapped Legate. By this time, he had been missing for several seasons, despite all efforts to track his captors, the Amicae seem to have consistently arrived after the hostages had been moved.
Despite her position of authority, Amrunrosse still did not set down dates on her observations, but the frustrated historian will be perhaps least frustrated by this fragment of her testimony, as the dates of these actions can readily be cross-referenced in the campaign reports and Council minutes.
-1-
A trying night.
What have I done? Dear gods, Ari will kill me, and it is because of that damn Yorrik and Valacor. Vithing pissing contest over Ari.
Yorrik is consumed with his infallibility, and thinks Ari possessed of some madness. Valacor decided to visit during her examination, and scared Yorrik senseless. Yorrik, of course, called in the military.
Dear gods, but Ari saw reason and Valacor did not - he refused to stand down, escalating the situation. Because he attacked the House, I tried to have all three detained. Valacor refused, and what is to be done? He will destroy us all before he surrenders, and I will not risk the House.
I have Ari and Yorrik detained, and have placed restrictions on returning her position once it is proven that the words Valacor spoke were false. This, I hope, will give me time to run the campaign against Marconis' orc alliance and retrieve Sytan.
Damnit all, but why does Ari seek to believe that he left of his own will? Damnit damnit damnit.
- 2 -
A trying week. Valacor has decided to take his leave, and Yorrik had to be pressed in to service because he is our only healer. I cannot get Ari to promise not to kill me, so I cannot release her bonds. I will have to take the risk of it anyways - it would be just...
Finding I have support among the military -and- civilian branches. I am leading by paranoid dictatorship. This is backwards. This is not Vigiles. Will have to run campaign against myself. Planning to attack one of the House as a last resort. If reason will not win, what else can be done?
Beginning collecting the crimes I am committing. I want there to be no question how deeply my actions go. Might need to draft an arrest warrant.
- 3 -
We go after the orcs.
Released Ari. She didn't kill me, though I almost wish she had. If there is anything to be bitter about at this entire situation, it is losing her friendship. I have mishandled this from the beginning. I was so sure this would be cut and dry, and it would have been understandable, but the course was chosen rashly.
I wish Valacor would have backed down. I grow to hate his name, now. I have I time to cobble together a plan to stop him, so that justice might happen.
Asked Fafnier to kill Ari during the raid. She needs time to rest and lose her memories. She is having trouble with so many now. I don't think he understands.
Valacor is still at large. I can't move against him. Damnit, we need Ari.
- 4 -
Retrieved Sytan. Many losses.
Countermanded order to kill Ari. She is recovering and coping with memories.
Can't get the council on the same landmass together, much less the same room to reinstate Ariahdnia. Considering breaking the injunctions I laid out to do it anyways.
Too many are supporting me verbally in my tyranny. It is time to move.
- 5 -
[editor's note: update from ingame book]
Monday, August 6, 2012
A plain, red-spined book - Apocryphal Journals: Folodu Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry wrestles primarily with events which occurred at least a full season, if not a year, prior to the writing of this passage. Given other evidence of daily memorandum books, it is possible that Amrunrosse had a longstanding habit of enlarging her record of current events only after she had some distance from them.
It has also been suggested that her bardic training led her to delay the fleshing out of her records until she felt there was a suitably compelling narrative to drive the composition. The well-documented confrontation with Thrayson and Valinos was undoubtedly even more compelling at the time, and would have appeared at that time to offer a poetic circularity when contrasted with the repudiation of the Stormharrow alliance.
Contemporary records of the military actions during the Cel'Voda campaign are relatively intact, and the ally and slave mentioned in this passage are widely understood to have been Naccor Stormharrow and his koada' servant Wynteri, respectively. During this period, Naccor had paid for a commission in the Vigiles infantry for his younger brother, Malicce Stormharrow of Neriak, and records of the time suggest he was more interested in his brother's education and training than the boy himself was, and the friction between the brothers spilled over into the Cel'Voda campaign.
It seems reasonable to conclude that cultural assumptions were made on the part of both the Stormharrow boys and the Vigiles High Command, which came out in the crucible of this protracted campaign. The schism that resulted did entangle the Vigiles briefly in a diplomatic dispute with the elder Stormharrow's adopted House, the infamous trade empire of Shaded Lotus.
Detailed records of the resolution remain classified, but it is hoped that some of the more historically interesting reports will be de-classified in the near future, especially as Amrunrosse clearly believed that both events in this passage were deeply linked.
I do not know what to say. Perhaps the beginning of the thing is the only place to start.
The Priestess Chryso has returned to our midst. It was hard, having to drive her off to begin with, and it hurt another who had befriended her: Little Chryslinger, who has lost all and fights her void-lost twin. She still feels very much for her old unit, though she tells me she is not trying to rebuild. She asks me questions, I suppose trying to figure out how well I would fit their number, or to get a better idea of who I am.
House first. Always the needs of the House.
I don’t know how well she has understood that, but we will all be confronted with that, now.
We marched on the dragon Cel’Voda to recover our Lost, Xeita. We found evidence that our other, the Legate, had been there briefly. Xeita confirmed this. When we got her back, I gated out with Xeita and a smaller strike force aimed for the heart of Cel’Voda’s lair.
There, a false corpse was found, as well as a skull burning with arcana at least three days old. The dragon himself, however, is truly dead. Someone was there before us. I cannot believe anything else but that Marconis is behind this.
During this, our ally brought danger to us all when his slave knelt to them in the field. They do not want to see how this was risking their life by pointing out one of note in the field of battle.
I remember the Cel'Voda clan from before the civil war, and on my recommendation the Legate had us all march in Indigo livery, without insignia. It is an echo of a dusty past, when one house would make war on another, and provide just enough distraction that the law could plausibly ignore the action as one approved by a Power higher than theirs.
He is to young - or too poorly read! - to know the rigid conventions of that old custom.
He wants to argue her usefulness? Feh. He will not be able to accompany us any further in the field. I have purchased the slave he got bored with, so I hope his new one has all the discretion he demands of those around him.
Whatever else may befall, the issue is closed.
During that time, one approached seeking aid. I must speak with with them more fully as there is time. This gets at the heart of another issue, and I am very much inclined to sow dissention and have the brunt of the work done. I have taken the meager information to the Knights already, and will be taking more as I can get it.
I hate working with them, and feel like there is a trap about to close about me. I must step carefully.
All of these events have happened around Ari. The issue I have avoided so far...
She has been becoming less coherent, jumping around her personal history and not being very coherent in the present. I noticed this a few months ago, but her ability to lead was still intact. That has deteriorated, culminating in last night.
She was distraught when Sytan was taken: I do not know if that is what drives her from her mind now.
Last night, the Chief Medical Officer was shown how to feed Xeita’s needs for energy very directly. Valacor drew the power from him to show him the cost requirements. Yorrik believed his life under threat - and ordered the house to arms, and ordered his ancestral spirit to kill Valacor.
The spirit was housed within Ari.
When he managed this, or why, I do not know, but none may have such a thrall within the Amicae. Yorrik will be punished, but right now I need those able to heal.
Valacor leveled the accusation that Ari was not sound of mind for leadership - she did not remember her own name, and is clearly susceptible to the influence of another’s orders. I have relieved her of command pending review of a council to find her of sound mind again.
Until then...
I am acting Praetor.
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry wrestles primarily with events which occurred at least a full season, if not a year, prior to the writing of this passage. Given other evidence of daily memorandum books, it is possible that Amrunrosse had a longstanding habit of enlarging her record of current events only after she had some distance from them.
It has also been suggested that her bardic training led her to delay the fleshing out of her records until she felt there was a suitably compelling narrative to drive the composition. The well-documented confrontation with Thrayson and Valinos was undoubtedly even more compelling at the time, and would have appeared at that time to offer a poetic circularity when contrasted with the repudiation of the Stormharrow alliance.
Contemporary records of the military actions during the Cel'Voda campaign are relatively intact, and the ally and slave mentioned in this passage are widely understood to have been Naccor Stormharrow and his koada' servant Wynteri, respectively. During this period, Naccor had paid for a commission in the Vigiles infantry for his younger brother, Malicce Stormharrow of Neriak, and records of the time suggest he was more interested in his brother's education and training than the boy himself was, and the friction between the brothers spilled over into the Cel'Voda campaign.
It seems reasonable to conclude that cultural assumptions were made on the part of both the Stormharrow boys and the Vigiles High Command, which came out in the crucible of this protracted campaign. The schism that resulted did entangle the Vigiles briefly in a diplomatic dispute with the elder Stormharrow's adopted House, the infamous trade empire of Shaded Lotus.
Detailed records of the resolution remain classified, but it is hoped that some of the more historically interesting reports will be de-classified in the near future, especially as Amrunrosse clearly believed that both events in this passage were deeply linked.
I do not know what to say. Perhaps the beginning of the thing is the only place to start.
The Priestess Chryso has returned to our midst. It was hard, having to drive her off to begin with, and it hurt another who had befriended her: Little Chryslinger, who has lost all and fights her void-lost twin. She still feels very much for her old unit, though she tells me she is not trying to rebuild. She asks me questions, I suppose trying to figure out how well I would fit their number, or to get a better idea of who I am.
House first. Always the needs of the House.
I don’t know how well she has understood that, but we will all be confronted with that, now.
We marched on the dragon Cel’Voda to recover our Lost, Xeita. We found evidence that our other, the Legate, had been there briefly. Xeita confirmed this. When we got her back, I gated out with Xeita and a smaller strike force aimed for the heart of Cel’Voda’s lair.
There, a false corpse was found, as well as a skull burning with arcana at least three days old. The dragon himself, however, is truly dead. Someone was there before us. I cannot believe anything else but that Marconis is behind this.
During this, our ally brought danger to us all when his slave knelt to them in the field. They do not want to see how this was risking their life by pointing out one of note in the field of battle.
I remember the Cel'Voda clan from before the civil war, and on my recommendation the Legate had us all march in Indigo livery, without insignia. It is an echo of a dusty past, when one house would make war on another, and provide just enough distraction that the law could plausibly ignore the action as one approved by a Power higher than theirs.
He is to young - or too poorly read! - to know the rigid conventions of that old custom.
He wants to argue her usefulness? Feh. He will not be able to accompany us any further in the field. I have purchased the slave he got bored with, so I hope his new one has all the discretion he demands of those around him.
Whatever else may befall, the issue is closed.
During that time, one approached seeking aid. I must speak with with them more fully as there is time. This gets at the heart of another issue, and I am very much inclined to sow dissention and have the brunt of the work done. I have taken the meager information to the Knights already, and will be taking more as I can get it.
I hate working with them, and feel like there is a trap about to close about me. I must step carefully.
All of these events have happened around Ari. The issue I have avoided so far...
She has been becoming less coherent, jumping around her personal history and not being very coherent in the present. I noticed this a few months ago, but her ability to lead was still intact. That has deteriorated, culminating in last night.
She was distraught when Sytan was taken: I do not know if that is what drives her from her mind now.
Last night, the Chief Medical Officer was shown how to feed Xeita’s needs for energy very directly. Valacor drew the power from him to show him the cost requirements. Yorrik believed his life under threat - and ordered the house to arms, and ordered his ancestral spirit to kill Valacor.
The spirit was housed within Ari.
When he managed this, or why, I do not know, but none may have such a thrall within the Amicae. Yorrik will be punished, but right now I need those able to heal.
Valacor leveled the accusation that Ari was not sound of mind for leadership - she did not remember her own name, and is clearly susceptible to the influence of another’s orders. I have relieved her of command pending review of a council to find her of sound mind again.
Until then...
I am acting Praetor.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
A plain, red-spined book - Apocryphal Journals: Folodu Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry duplicates some information contained in earlier signatures, and the watermark on the paper indicates Maran manufacture, rather than Nektulan. It is likely that this represented the start of a fresh volume, and it appears we have several pieces of it, from a most interesting and controversial period in Amicae history.
During the so-called Age of Destiny, in the quicksilver rise of the New Combine, there was a great deal of political upheaval: from contemporary records it is clear that many of the leaders within the Amicae were aware of the turmoil, and anticipated some of the events that would later unfold, though it appears their planning availed them little in the campaigns which unfolded in those years.
The opening of this memoir is particularly interesting, as it makes some cursory attempts to bracket centuries of history in a few pithy lines. It is entirely in character for what history records of the notorious Folodu Amrunrosse, and the clearest evidence we have that these fragments are original to her hand.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
It has been some time since I kept one of these. I hope to do it more justice than my previous ones.
In the time since my last journal, I have seen Xilinar leave for Qeynos, the Overlord vanish, got reacquianted with Ari and Val, helped found the Vigiles, and discovered Marconis’ pleasure den among a sect of Erolissians. I suppose I should begin somewhere close to there, at the beginning.
Last writing had me nearly ready to burst while carrying Chevanima. I was more city bound at the time, and Xil had just left for the Queen. [note: it would seem she refers not to the Bargainers' supported "Cristanos", but rather to the hereditary "Antonia" of Qeynos, although most records suggest that Chevanima's sire was dark elven.] I discovered Ari - or at least, a ghost of Ari - and knew it not. She was changed. I felt for her, but was too blinded with wanting affection that I did not see her own pains.
Even still, I have trouble with that, but I digress.
Xil had left to honor his allegiance with Ssinss when the Ilharn blew his lid that Ssinss had gone to Qeynos - he had not been informed that she was spying, there. My dear sis had had enough and walked. Xil walked with her.
I stayed, I helped hold the House together. It was my family, and I had sworn oath. It never even occured to me to follow them. It got me a promotion, and then I hid away from the world. I was depressed, and the little darling within me was really all I had going.
Then I found the ghost of Ari. I wanted so bad to have her love - I begged, I pleaded, I cajoled. I did not see that she was doing everything she could to comfort me, and I was doing nothing for her. She was stuck, and dearly missing Sytan - and a thing I will never tell any, I think she chose it because of him. I saw her when she turned the blade on herself at the Pit - it did not register. I could have begun delving immediately.
I know what she was trying to do, at least in part. Her memory starts to go when she is dead. It is uncanny, and unsettling. She was putting herself in a place to forget all of it. And - probably did not expect to come back: the Pit gives back few of its victims.
I suspect it was over Sytan because of how she aches when she thinks of him - she wants so much to be with him, and he with her. I really do not have a place between them. And yet. She lets me close anyways. It is hard to say if it is because I am a useful tool, if lustful, or not. Some days, it is very much like she loves me - and others. Well.
I cannot but admit it any longer, at least in these pages, but she fills my heart. Not in the way Xil did, but I really should not try to compare one love to another. I know well enough that each is different. We need each other, either way. She is bold and reckless, as I put on the show of being, and I could not bear her forgetting her love for Sytan, or her memories with me.
I know she will outlive me. It pains me to know that she will outlive even Cheva - and yet maybe. Maybe she will remember. Maybe Sytan will speak of us to her, when she forgets. All I can do now is be with her any chance I can, make sure she falls infrequently, bring her to herself, and be a way to bridge the gaps.
And - many dangerous places we have gone. Since founding the Vigiles so as we might have a way to be free, at some insistence, we have taken many, many dangerous jobs. Beware dragons, for they are large.
We have gained renown and profit, though I wonder if it will ever be enough. I am no longer so young, and not afraid of the City any longer. My fear lies in Cheva. I want to stop selling my sword and focus more on making her a place to live safely - a place I did not really have. She is a big motivator, and even Ari and Sytan, the two most stoic ‘dal I know, are affected by her charms.
I am glad I opted on my way of things rather than Vaka’s. I still think it foolish to have sent her children off to some plane to age faster. They will never be all that close. Maybe Vaka isn’t the mother type, but she didn’t even try. Then she let them run amok when they were old enough, threatening the House and being the least subtle creatures she could host. This - this was held up as a model - as an ideal in that den!
I could not stay there.
I am glad Ari was revived, even if she and Sytan were hermits. He protected her, and too well. I understand it was very bad, at times.
Well.
Sometimes, we have to know that we are not ready yet, even if someone else knows. I don’t think he wanted to accept that pill. But so far it has worked out well.
The Vigiles is formed, and I have a House to serve. We are small, and our ranks grown and shrink, but this is well, too. We often go to taverns and meet interesting people. I have a lover among the Knights, now, though an evening with her leaves me aching for more. She enjoys my attentions to her, but has yet to reciprocate. I cannot tell if she will be a good relationship to maintain.
However, I have also met the Huntmaster. He makes me a little giddy, and I like the way he responds to me. He can be abrupt at times, but he can be encouraged. It makes for a very good experience. I still feel giddy leaving him - I hope Ari does not think less of me for it.
I have also met Chryso - And that is the current news, Marconis.
It was a meeting of happenstance - a cute Fier girl with more bravery than sense turned out to be the daughter of an old, old lover of mine, from a youth that I spent in a different world than this. I will miss her... and while I knew she was older than me, I still will think Marconis is to blame.
He seems to have brainwashed poor Chryso, and she dotes on him far too much. I do not like where this might lead, but at the very least Chryso does not seem to be violated in body - her mind, while harder to mend for the thing, is to be the real challenge. It brings up very old memories that I wanted to stay buried.
At least with my tormentor, he is silenced and done with. Chryso? We shall see.
Sytan is working with her. I understand he knew the girl’s mother as well.
I do not know more, but I think it might motivate him more. It will not be easy for Ari - the girl wants to know the Mysteries of her religion - as if sex were a mystery! - but she has no concept of any sort of affection or desire. She is as a child in a woman’s body. She does not know what she asks.
I am sure that conversation will come up between Ari and Sytan at some point. It will not go very well, I think. Not that I expect yelling or fighting, but I am not so certain Ari wants to share him in any way, and she is so - naive. Maybe I am just a minx, as Ari says, but maybe they should talk it over during a sensual massage or tryst. It is how I would do it.
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
This entry duplicates some information contained in earlier signatures, and the watermark on the paper indicates Maran manufacture, rather than Nektulan. It is likely that this represented the start of a fresh volume, and it appears we have several pieces of it, from a most interesting and controversial period in Amicae history.
During the so-called Age of Destiny, in the quicksilver rise of the New Combine, there was a great deal of political upheaval: from contemporary records it is clear that many of the leaders within the Amicae were aware of the turmoil, and anticipated some of the events that would later unfold, though it appears their planning availed them little in the campaigns which unfolded in those years.
The opening of this memoir is particularly interesting, as it makes some cursory attempts to bracket centuries of history in a few pithy lines. It is entirely in character for what history records of the notorious Folodu Amrunrosse, and the clearest evidence we have that these fragments are original to her hand.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
It has been some time since I kept one of these. I hope to do it more justice than my previous ones.
In the time since my last journal, I have seen Xilinar leave for Qeynos, the Overlord vanish, got reacquianted with Ari and Val, helped found the Vigiles, and discovered Marconis’ pleasure den among a sect of Erolissians. I suppose I should begin somewhere close to there, at the beginning.
Last writing had me nearly ready to burst while carrying Chevanima. I was more city bound at the time, and Xil had just left for the Queen. [note: it would seem she refers not to the Bargainers' supported "Cristanos", but rather to the hereditary "Antonia" of Qeynos, although most records suggest that Chevanima's sire was dark elven.] I discovered Ari - or at least, a ghost of Ari - and knew it not. She was changed. I felt for her, but was too blinded with wanting affection that I did not see her own pains.
Even still, I have trouble with that, but I digress.
Xil had left to honor his allegiance with Ssinss when the Ilharn blew his lid that Ssinss had gone to Qeynos - he had not been informed that she was spying, there. My dear sis had had enough and walked. Xil walked with her.
I stayed, I helped hold the House together. It was my family, and I had sworn oath. It never even occured to me to follow them. It got me a promotion, and then I hid away from the world. I was depressed, and the little darling within me was really all I had going.
Then I found the ghost of Ari. I wanted so bad to have her love - I begged, I pleaded, I cajoled. I did not see that she was doing everything she could to comfort me, and I was doing nothing for her. She was stuck, and dearly missing Sytan - and a thing I will never tell any, I think she chose it because of him. I saw her when she turned the blade on herself at the Pit - it did not register. I could have begun delving immediately.
I know what she was trying to do, at least in part. Her memory starts to go when she is dead. It is uncanny, and unsettling. She was putting herself in a place to forget all of it. And - probably did not expect to come back: the Pit gives back few of its victims.
I suspect it was over Sytan because of how she aches when she thinks of him - she wants so much to be with him, and he with her. I really do not have a place between them. And yet. She lets me close anyways. It is hard to say if it is because I am a useful tool, if lustful, or not. Some days, it is very much like she loves me - and others. Well.
I cannot but admit it any longer, at least in these pages, but she fills my heart. Not in the way Xil did, but I really should not try to compare one love to another. I know well enough that each is different. We need each other, either way. She is bold and reckless, as I put on the show of being, and I could not bear her forgetting her love for Sytan, or her memories with me.
I know she will outlive me. It pains me to know that she will outlive even Cheva - and yet maybe. Maybe she will remember. Maybe Sytan will speak of us to her, when she forgets. All I can do now is be with her any chance I can, make sure she falls infrequently, bring her to herself, and be a way to bridge the gaps.
And - many dangerous places we have gone. Since founding the Vigiles so as we might have a way to be free, at some insistence, we have taken many, many dangerous jobs. Beware dragons, for they are large.
We have gained renown and profit, though I wonder if it will ever be enough. I am no longer so young, and not afraid of the City any longer. My fear lies in Cheva. I want to stop selling my sword and focus more on making her a place to live safely - a place I did not really have. She is a big motivator, and even Ari and Sytan, the two most stoic ‘dal I know, are affected by her charms.
I am glad I opted on my way of things rather than Vaka’s. I still think it foolish to have sent her children off to some plane to age faster. They will never be all that close. Maybe Vaka isn’t the mother type, but she didn’t even try. Then she let them run amok when they were old enough, threatening the House and being the least subtle creatures she could host. This - this was held up as a model - as an ideal in that den!
I could not stay there.
I am glad Ari was revived, even if she and Sytan were hermits. He protected her, and too well. I understand it was very bad, at times.
Well.
Sometimes, we have to know that we are not ready yet, even if someone else knows. I don’t think he wanted to accept that pill. But so far it has worked out well.
The Vigiles is formed, and I have a House to serve. We are small, and our ranks grown and shrink, but this is well, too. We often go to taverns and meet interesting people. I have a lover among the Knights, now, though an evening with her leaves me aching for more. She enjoys my attentions to her, but has yet to reciprocate. I cannot tell if she will be a good relationship to maintain.
However, I have also met the Huntmaster. He makes me a little giddy, and I like the way he responds to me. He can be abrupt at times, but he can be encouraged. It makes for a very good experience. I still feel giddy leaving him - I hope Ari does not think less of me for it.
I have also met Chryso - And that is the current news, Marconis.
It was a meeting of happenstance - a cute Fier girl with more bravery than sense turned out to be the daughter of an old, old lover of mine, from a youth that I spent in a different world than this. I will miss her... and while I knew she was older than me, I still will think Marconis is to blame.
He seems to have brainwashed poor Chryso, and she dotes on him far too much. I do not like where this might lead, but at the very least Chryso does not seem to be violated in body - her mind, while harder to mend for the thing, is to be the real challenge. It brings up very old memories that I wanted to stay buried.
At least with my tormentor, he is silenced and done with. Chryso? We shall see.
Sytan is working with her. I understand he knew the girl’s mother as well.
I do not know more, but I think it might motivate him more. It will not be easy for Ari - the girl wants to know the Mysteries of her religion - as if sex were a mystery! - but she has no concept of any sort of affection or desire. She is as a child in a woman’s body. She does not know what she asks.
I am sure that conversation will come up between Ari and Sytan at some point. It will not go very well, I think. Not that I expect yelling or fighting, but I am not so certain Ari wants to share him in any way, and she is so - naive. Maybe I am just a minx, as Ari says, but maybe they should talk it over during a sensual massage or tryst. It is how I would do it.
Monday, April 30, 2012
A plain, red-spined book - Apocryphal Journals: Folodu Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, a loose chronology may be posited.
It is unclear what arrest is referred to in the opening lines of this entry, but it may be a reference to the capture of Fafnier Brangwin by the Third Brigade during a public protest a year or more prior, since in the last entry it was clear he had already been missing for some time.
This entry appears to have been composed within a season or two of the violent raid on the Freeportian luxury resort The Crimson Rose, although it does not seem from the tone of her writing that Amrunrosse was aware of the classified report on the circumstances of that event. That very ignorance would seem unusual, as by this time Amrunrosse had been raised to Vigiles-Captain rank, as head of the counterintelligence unit under the direction of the Legate Bellum - at that time, it seems the role was being filled by Vigiles-Captain Valacor Valinos under a temporary field commission, though by the date of this entry he had surrendered it to the Restored Fafnier Brangwin. Whether peaceably or no, there is no surviving record which says.
All record of Valinos serving that role in a more permanent capacity at the Founding appears to have been unknown at the time of these events, and indeed, those sealed records were lost for several centuries. It would be illuminating to the student of Vigiles history to be permitted familiarity with the surviving records of the ReFounding, but on the orders of the Praetor herself, confirmed by the High Council, that part of the Archive is to remain sealed as Classified for the next millenium, at least.
In her defence, the Order of Solace was at that time supporting some piracy in the Timorous Ocean, and contemporary records show that the Vigiles was actively supporting the overstretched Gorowyn Militia at the time. Further, there are hints in the records of several active Freeblood organizations and allies making bids for secular power, but much of the hard detail is, unfortunately, also still classified.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
It has been some time since I have had time to write. Since the arrest, there has been any number of incidents, and I just know that I’m going to be facing insubordination charges.
Ah well, the life of espionage. It is what it is, and I chose to be this way.
I hear the Wolf’s Den has finally taken itself completely off the face of Norrath - a valuable source of information gone. I served many years, and never was I really satisfied - the information games I played were entirely frivolous, but they allow me to do what I do now.
There was some disturbance on the docks of Gorowyn - had it been a city issue, the Vigiles would have readily stood by our allies. As it was, it was only petty pirates, and there was nothing to be concerned about with the city. I have not yet determined the girl we arrested had anything to do with this, but I have my suspicions.
Not long after that, Xeita and Sytan were kidnapped.
We have had success with Xeita finally. She was captured and given to the custody of a dragon - it was a glorious raid, though we were delayed far too much.
Oddly, she was kept with Sytan for a time, confirming my suspicion that the kidnappings were related. She was much bruised and beaten, and I can only hope that the lack of sexual assault will be easier to bear for all of it. Her daughter, Kahya, is quite strong for all she has been through.
With her release, I finally have some headway on the issue of Sytan. Kahya is his blood, so she can be as a beacon. Ari is attached to him, and can serve much the same function - if she will cooperate.
Ari - is losing coherence, lately. I cannot say what or why, but she seems to not be quite in our time, nor quite in any single time at all. I can only hope that having Sytan back will help, but I do not know. She seems to not know him when I speak of his title, but her pain when I speak his name is very evident.
Add to that the issue of Chryso, the Erolissian priestess. The girl is cute and sweet and looks so much like her mother. Marconis has done a number to her, to create the image in her head of the woman being as pale as I. Along with many other self-effacing tendencies, there is enough there to hang Marconis up by his thumbs for at least a century.
I hope I don’t end up having to kill the girl, though. She is the progeny of one of Ari’s old soldiers, and a friend. I will be working on befriending her again. If nothing else, she is a connection to him, and has gone to Faydwer - which is where Ari is feeling drawn to.
It is the only coincidence I have.
Fafnier is returned to us. I cannot express how glad this makes me, and how far in debt it pushes me. We are importing Vlosllye stock to feed him, and the Ilharess has declined payment. Given the nature of their quality, it is more expensive than I care to consider. I must find a way to dispel this debt for the good of the house, and the good of the relationship he wishes.
I am hesitant on this note, as he asks for a full bonding. Were I other than I am, this would be very readily accepted. To be wanted - it is intoxicating, and it has been far too long since Xil has even been heard of. I feel for Faf - but with all that is happening, no decision will be reached until after we have Sytan back.
Given the rather lone work I will be doing, I will of course explore the thoughts and see how they go. Until then, I will miss him and wish him comfort. He was so adorably enthusiastic in asking...
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, a loose chronology may be posited.
It is unclear what arrest is referred to in the opening lines of this entry, but it may be a reference to the capture of Fafnier Brangwin by the Third Brigade during a public protest a year or more prior, since in the last entry it was clear he had already been missing for some time.
This entry appears to have been composed within a season or two of the violent raid on the Freeportian luxury resort The Crimson Rose, although it does not seem from the tone of her writing that Amrunrosse was aware of the classified report on the circumstances of that event. That very ignorance would seem unusual, as by this time Amrunrosse had been raised to Vigiles-Captain rank, as head of the counterintelligence unit under the direction of the Legate Bellum - at that time, it seems the role was being filled by Vigiles-Captain Valacor Valinos under a temporary field commission, though by the date of this entry he had surrendered it to the Restored Fafnier Brangwin. Whether peaceably or no, there is no surviving record which says.
All record of Valinos serving that role in a more permanent capacity at the Founding appears to have been unknown at the time of these events, and indeed, those sealed records were lost for several centuries. It would be illuminating to the student of Vigiles history to be permitted familiarity with the surviving records of the ReFounding, but on the orders of the Praetor herself, confirmed by the High Council, that part of the Archive is to remain sealed as Classified for the next millenium, at least.
In her defence, the Order of Solace was at that time supporting some piracy in the Timorous Ocean, and contemporary records show that the Vigiles was actively supporting the overstretched Gorowyn Militia at the time. Further, there are hints in the records of several active Freeblood organizations and allies making bids for secular power, but much of the hard detail is, unfortunately, also still classified.
It is advised that the student of history take her offered chronology and editorial commentary with a hearty grain of salt. In all the records we have of her hand, public and private, there is every evidence of a profound sense of her own centrality to events. Like most of the bardic-trained, it does seem she was drawn into many of the pivotal events of her time, and this must have only confirmed to her that she was therefore a driver of them.
It has been some time since I have had time to write. Since the arrest, there has been any number of incidents, and I just know that I’m going to be facing insubordination charges.
Ah well, the life of espionage. It is what it is, and I chose to be this way.
I hear the Wolf’s Den has finally taken itself completely off the face of Norrath - a valuable source of information gone. I served many years, and never was I really satisfied - the information games I played were entirely frivolous, but they allow me to do what I do now.
There was some disturbance on the docks of Gorowyn - had it been a city issue, the Vigiles would have readily stood by our allies. As it was, it was only petty pirates, and there was nothing to be concerned about with the city. I have not yet determined the girl we arrested had anything to do with this, but I have my suspicions.
Not long after that, Xeita and Sytan were kidnapped.
We have had success with Xeita finally. She was captured and given to the custody of a dragon - it was a glorious raid, though we were delayed far too much.
Oddly, she was kept with Sytan for a time, confirming my suspicion that the kidnappings were related. She was much bruised and beaten, and I can only hope that the lack of sexual assault will be easier to bear for all of it. Her daughter, Kahya, is quite strong for all she has been through.
With her release, I finally have some headway on the issue of Sytan. Kahya is his blood, so she can be as a beacon. Ari is attached to him, and can serve much the same function - if she will cooperate.
Ari - is losing coherence, lately. I cannot say what or why, but she seems to not be quite in our time, nor quite in any single time at all. I can only hope that having Sytan back will help, but I do not know. She seems to not know him when I speak of his title, but her pain when I speak his name is very evident.
Add to that the issue of Chryso, the Erolissian priestess. The girl is cute and sweet and looks so much like her mother. Marconis has done a number to her, to create the image in her head of the woman being as pale as I. Along with many other self-effacing tendencies, there is enough there to hang Marconis up by his thumbs for at least a century.
I hope I don’t end up having to kill the girl, though. She is the progeny of one of Ari’s old soldiers, and a friend. I will be working on befriending her again. If nothing else, she is a connection to him, and has gone to Faydwer - which is where Ari is feeling drawn to.
It is the only coincidence I have.
Fafnier is returned to us. I cannot express how glad this makes me, and how far in debt it pushes me. We are importing Vlosllye stock to feed him, and the Ilharess has declined payment. Given the nature of their quality, it is more expensive than I care to consider. I must find a way to dispel this debt for the good of the house, and the good of the relationship he wishes.
I am hesitant on this note, as he asks for a full bonding. Were I other than I am, this would be very readily accepted. To be wanted - it is intoxicating, and it has been far too long since Xil has even been heard of. I feel for Faf - but with all that is happening, no decision will be reached until after we have Sytan back.
Given the rather lone work I will be doing, I will of course explore the thoughts and see how they go. Until then, I will miss him and wish him comfort. He was so adorably enthusiastic in asking...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
A letter on fine vellum, in a perfect copperplate hand
Archivist's note:
This letter has been pieced together from fragments discovered among the late Legate Bellum's personal effects. It seems all the fragments of the original are present, except of course the envelope which must have carried it through the post. It is undated, but from contemporary official reports, we know that the Legate reported finding this letter on his desk less than three days after the raid on the Crimson Rose.
Legate Fafnier:
Accept my most sincere condolences on the difficulties you and your Company are facing with the loss of not one, but two of your number. I am sure the disadvantage can hardly even be measured, as my estranged, esteemed brother is hardly a replaceable quantity, and surely any creature he would seed a child with is remarkable in her own right.
Though we have never been on the best terms, as we are too alike to ever be easy in one another’s company, I would offer you my assistance, however small. Even divided as we are there is a certain comfort in knowing he is secure. Our politics and methods have long diverged, but I have never allowed that, nor his resentful character, to color my affection for him. He has long had the habit of going missing, and at the most inconvenient times for his associates, but then he is young. The follies of youth are always less amusing when one is too close to them.
I recall one incident, in particular, when he vanished into an infamous bordello for decades. No doubt he was intent on freeing the tarnished blooms, and rehabilitating the debauched patrons to lives of virtue and celibacy. He has ever had a charmingly simple ethos, willing to sacrifice every good thing for the redemption of a stranger.
It is charming he has attached himself to you and your little Company - certainly he has been indispensible in assisting your own liberation efforts - at least until recently. I am sure you are already doing every possible thing to recover him from whatever romantic distraction has diverted him, but if there is any information I can lend you in the matter, I would be happy to take time away from my flock to assist you. I understand in your last campaign you did not receive the support you needed in time to make the desired impact on young Lucan. It was a great pity to hear of the many losses which followed, especially when I learned you were among the fallen.
I trust your own native generosity will move you to forgive my younger brother his cautious nature. I am certain there were many factors which impacted the lack of reinforcements and the subsequent untimely delay in restoring you to yourself. No doubt there are lingering complications from that - the Restorative Arts are among the most complex patterns known, but I flatter myself I have long been a master of them. I would even be able to mitigate the difficulties of the contagion you suffer, if you would flatter me with an audience.
I would of course wish to know if there is any way I might be of assistance to you in recovering my errant brother and his lover from his folly, howsoever small. Please, seek me out at your convenience in the Lady Erolissi’s temples within Qeynos, if you can. I would speak with you, have you the time.
Archbishop Marconis Fiac
This letter has been pieced together from fragments discovered among the late Legate Bellum's personal effects. It seems all the fragments of the original are present, except of course the envelope which must have carried it through the post. It is undated, but from contemporary official reports, we know that the Legate reported finding this letter on his desk less than three days after the raid on the Crimson Rose.
Legate Fafnier:
Accept my most sincere condolences on the difficulties you and your Company are facing with the loss of not one, but two of your number. I am sure the disadvantage can hardly even be measured, as my estranged, esteemed brother is hardly a replaceable quantity, and surely any creature he would seed a child with is remarkable in her own right.
Though we have never been on the best terms, as we are too alike to ever be easy in one another’s company, I would offer you my assistance, however small. Even divided as we are there is a certain comfort in knowing he is secure. Our politics and methods have long diverged, but I have never allowed that, nor his resentful character, to color my affection for him. He has long had the habit of going missing, and at the most inconvenient times for his associates, but then he is young. The follies of youth are always less amusing when one is too close to them.
I recall one incident, in particular, when he vanished into an infamous bordello for decades. No doubt he was intent on freeing the tarnished blooms, and rehabilitating the debauched patrons to lives of virtue and celibacy. He has ever had a charmingly simple ethos, willing to sacrifice every good thing for the redemption of a stranger.
It is charming he has attached himself to you and your little Company - certainly he has been indispensible in assisting your own liberation efforts - at least until recently. I am sure you are already doing every possible thing to recover him from whatever romantic distraction has diverted him, but if there is any information I can lend you in the matter, I would be happy to take time away from my flock to assist you. I understand in your last campaign you did not receive the support you needed in time to make the desired impact on young Lucan. It was a great pity to hear of the many losses which followed, especially when I learned you were among the fallen.
I trust your own native generosity will move you to forgive my younger brother his cautious nature. I am certain there were many factors which impacted the lack of reinforcements and the subsequent untimely delay in restoring you to yourself. No doubt there are lingering complications from that - the Restorative Arts are among the most complex patterns known, but I flatter myself I have long been a master of them. I would even be able to mitigate the difficulties of the contagion you suffer, if you would flatter me with an audience.
I would of course wish to know if there is any way I might be of assistance to you in recovering my errant brother and his lover from his folly, howsoever small. Please, seek me out at your convenience in the Lady Erolissi’s temples within Qeynos, if you can. I would speak with you, have you the time.
Archbishop Marconis Fiac
Friday, January 6, 2012
A plain, red-spined book - Apocryphal Journals: Folodu Amrunrosse
Archivist's note:
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
The following entry appears to have been set down towards the end of the Shadow Age, and the discovery of the Velian continent. The author - if we can be at all confident it is a genuine memoir - would suggest that the Vigiles were operating in their current form rather earlier than was previously thought by reputable historians.
It has been some time since I kept one of these. I hope to do it more justice than my previous ones.
Cheva ran off several months ago – I must be more specific in the future. “Playing in the harbor” does not mean the ships in the harbor, and certainly not taking said ships in the harbor. The girl reminds me far too much of myself. She was lucky and landed in Gorowyn, finding my dark Lady, my mentor Sytan, and Valacor. I, of course, landed on the wrong end of the world trying to find her, got in a shipwreck, and tracked all over the tundra for very little purpose, except for finding someone who had seen her. I left the barren chunk of ice immediately, my informant and an ally in the search in tow.
The informant was attached to my dark Lady’s house, the Vigiles Amicae. He was a Fier of savage disposition, as the classic thought goes. I am much indebted to him. It is unfortunate that he has run afoul of Marcanis. I am glad there is a mind I have only come in contact with briefly. Terrifying. I would lend my services, if they are asked, but at the present it would be far too challenging to disengage from my current assignment to see to him. He is a decent boy, if young. His sister is a hothead, however, and will bring ruin to everyone. I am intrigued at her unique physique, but the personality is unstable enough to give more than a few warning signs.
I have pledged myself to the Amicae as a soldier – I am greatly pleased to have a family to serve again, but I am more certain in myself now, and will watch for the warning signs that lead to leaving the Circuli. I will not allow a tyrant in my sphere again. My dark Lady has shown no signs to being like that, but the vigil will not be abandoned. Unfortunately, rank will mean a degree of separation that I will probably be unable to work around. I will miss her company and companionship, and expect that we will be strained to even be friends, but I will try my best – it is all I can do. I love her and miss her. I will serve her as I promised, and help the house be great in all the ways I can find.
I have recently been promoted to lead a squad. I have heard very little about any of them, so I will be giving them each an assignment to test for their level of competency as they report for duty – which unfortunately is somewhat slowed by my needing to be on the current assignment I am on. I hope they are lead well by Vanside while the units are equipped for the mission. I wish to become better acquainted with her during this time so I can make sure those under my care are taken care of as best I can provide, given the circumstances. I hope also to have good relations with her as a friend – I am not sure how well that will work. We are very different in our approach to life and work, and she does grate on me in her own way. I had some custom corsetry and gowns made to replace my older, antiquated ones. Having a weapon easily to hand is the most reassuring thing I can hope for, even if I cannot carry my normal blades openly. Luddicia is quite talented at meeting the needs I had.
I think the vampires of the house might be cause for concern. They are more paranoid even than I, and seem to be asking questions to try to intentionally make people uncomfortable. I know it is their way, but I cannot fathom why they try to antagonize so much. Perhaps it is just the wish to make us stronger, but right now is not a good time – but when is it ever really?
I have left Cheva in the care of Sytan while I am on assignment. She is growing so fast, and is far too much like me. I hope she grows out of some of her habits, and I must find way to apologize to Sytan for what I put him through. I never did say I was sorry about stabbing him that first time…
I cannot understand where Cheva got the idea of wanting to be a Knight of Great Virtue. Not that she wants to hear what a knight needs or should be, but I think I have found she is very fond of stories of knights. I will have to invent some that have the lessons she needs to know. I miss her and love her with all my heart. One day, I must find a way to tell her of her father – she would be enamored of the stories of him, I think. I miss him, too, but the bite is no longer so hard.
I am glad, in a way that I saw him long enough to ensure he was settled with a new partner. Once I got over my own wants and desires, I found that I wanted him to be happy, and really wanted to be the one to make him so. I am glad, again for my adopted sister, whom helped by loving him, too. I have not much to say on her, given it has been years and she has never sought me out.
I have a new life, and dwelling on the old can only get me so far. And besides, I have the greatest part of the relationship to Xil in Chevanima. I learned from the wolf-mother that the time is precious – I will never understand why she opted to give it up, and I will never make that mistake. She is mine to raise and love, and damn anyone who tries to get in the way of that!
It is clear from contemporary records that Amrunrosse was fastidious about keeping her journals on her person or otherwise well secured, yet in the recent reorganization of the archive we have found loose signatures tucked among unrelated treatises on the applied arts of entropy as relates to the keeping of vegetable gardens in various climates.
Each is no more than eight pages of vellum, stitched with waxed linen thread and apparently in good condition, aside from having been at some point separated from the rest of its volume. The handwriting appears to be consistent from one entry to the next, though there are huge swaths of the work still missing.
What remains has been bound together in a probable chronology, and wrapper leaves were added around each original signature to hold such notation as is possible. The entries are undated in the original hand, but as many of the incidents are cross-referenced in the public archives, so a loose chronology may be posited.
The following entry appears to have been set down towards the end of the Shadow Age, and the discovery of the Velian continent. The author - if we can be at all confident it is a genuine memoir - would suggest that the Vigiles were operating in their current form rather earlier than was previously thought by reputable historians.
It has been some time since I kept one of these. I hope to do it more justice than my previous ones.
Cheva ran off several months ago – I must be more specific in the future. “Playing in the harbor” does not mean the ships in the harbor, and certainly not taking said ships in the harbor. The girl reminds me far too much of myself. She was lucky and landed in Gorowyn, finding my dark Lady, my mentor Sytan, and Valacor. I, of course, landed on the wrong end of the world trying to find her, got in a shipwreck, and tracked all over the tundra for very little purpose, except for finding someone who had seen her. I left the barren chunk of ice immediately, my informant and an ally in the search in tow.
The informant was attached to my dark Lady’s house, the Vigiles Amicae. He was a Fier of savage disposition, as the classic thought goes. I am much indebted to him. It is unfortunate that he has run afoul of Marcanis. I am glad there is a mind I have only come in contact with briefly. Terrifying. I would lend my services, if they are asked, but at the present it would be far too challenging to disengage from my current assignment to see to him. He is a decent boy, if young. His sister is a hothead, however, and will bring ruin to everyone. I am intrigued at her unique physique, but the personality is unstable enough to give more than a few warning signs.
I have pledged myself to the Amicae as a soldier – I am greatly pleased to have a family to serve again, but I am more certain in myself now, and will watch for the warning signs that lead to leaving the Circuli. I will not allow a tyrant in my sphere again. My dark Lady has shown no signs to being like that, but the vigil will not be abandoned. Unfortunately, rank will mean a degree of separation that I will probably be unable to work around. I will miss her company and companionship, and expect that we will be strained to even be friends, but I will try my best – it is all I can do. I love her and miss her. I will serve her as I promised, and help the house be great in all the ways I can find.
I have recently been promoted to lead a squad. I have heard very little about any of them, so I will be giving them each an assignment to test for their level of competency as they report for duty – which unfortunately is somewhat slowed by my needing to be on the current assignment I am on. I hope they are lead well by Vanside while the units are equipped for the mission. I wish to become better acquainted with her during this time so I can make sure those under my care are taken care of as best I can provide, given the circumstances. I hope also to have good relations with her as a friend – I am not sure how well that will work. We are very different in our approach to life and work, and she does grate on me in her own way. I had some custom corsetry and gowns made to replace my older, antiquated ones. Having a weapon easily to hand is the most reassuring thing I can hope for, even if I cannot carry my normal blades openly. Luddicia is quite talented at meeting the needs I had.
I think the vampires of the house might be cause for concern. They are more paranoid even than I, and seem to be asking questions to try to intentionally make people uncomfortable. I know it is their way, but I cannot fathom why they try to antagonize so much. Perhaps it is just the wish to make us stronger, but right now is not a good time – but when is it ever really?
I have left Cheva in the care of Sytan while I am on assignment. She is growing so fast, and is far too much like me. I hope she grows out of some of her habits, and I must find way to apologize to Sytan for what I put him through. I never did say I was sorry about stabbing him that first time…
I cannot understand where Cheva got the idea of wanting to be a Knight of Great Virtue. Not that she wants to hear what a knight needs or should be, but I think I have found she is very fond of stories of knights. I will have to invent some that have the lessons she needs to know. I miss her and love her with all my heart. One day, I must find a way to tell her of her father – she would be enamored of the stories of him, I think. I miss him, too, but the bite is no longer so hard.
I am glad, in a way that I saw him long enough to ensure he was settled with a new partner. Once I got over my own wants and desires, I found that I wanted him to be happy, and really wanted to be the one to make him so. I am glad, again for my adopted sister, whom helped by loving him, too. I have not much to say on her, given it has been years and she has never sought me out.
I have a new life, and dwelling on the old can only get me so far. And besides, I have the greatest part of the relationship to Xil in Chevanima. I learned from the wolf-mother that the time is precious – I will never understand why she opted to give it up, and I will never make that mistake. She is mine to raise and love, and damn anyone who tries to get in the way of that!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
An anonymous letter, preserved with envelope
Archivist's note:
This letter is a curious survival from an era of widespread civil unrest in the most populous cities. It was discovered in the pages of a quaint, archaic treatise on the art of the sword. Although the envelope was badly torn at some point and the return address - if it ever sported one - is now lost, the letter was carefully refolded inside the abused envelope and left in the middle of a rather inventive description of the process of fashioning watered steel, where it was recently uncovered.
Contemporary records do not mention whether the expedition to Antonica was undertaken - with or without escort. Other, later records seem to indicate that the Mysterious patron "M" continued to send secret correspondence to the young Amrunrosse with little interference or discovery for many years after this date, but until the discovery of this letter, it was thought that the correspondence began late in her adolescence, during the absence of her primary guardian.
It is worth noting, however, that in the historical armory the Vigiles do have a pair of mithral boots worked up in a traditional dwarven pattern at an unusually delicate size. Although the attribution in the official provenance is "unknown", the discovery of this early correspondence would suggest that they may well have belonged to the young Amrunrosse.
Addressed to:
The Valorous Chevanima Amrunrosse
Timorous Heights, Vigiles Wing
Gorowyn Upper Prefect, Timorous Isles, Kunark
In regards to your recent success and your excellent skills, a dwarf requests your specialized presence. He has work - that is surely simplicity itself for such a skilled knight as I have recommended on this particular job. I am most interested in supporting your rise to wider glory, despite the conservative opinions of your other tutors, so I pray you will continue to regard me as your most humble patron.
This task will require dedication, fortitude, and a level head, as well as skill in harvesting various materials in the Antonican hills. The employer is a dwarf known as Hwal in the Keep of the Ardent Needle in the same region. He is willing to pay handsomely for your services.
Again, neither assistance nor escort is necessary, as your skills are more than adequate to do this.
Go in strength,
Yours & etc.
M.
This letter is a curious survival from an era of widespread civil unrest in the most populous cities. It was discovered in the pages of a quaint, archaic treatise on the art of the sword. Although the envelope was badly torn at some point and the return address - if it ever sported one - is now lost, the letter was carefully refolded inside the abused envelope and left in the middle of a rather inventive description of the process of fashioning watered steel, where it was recently uncovered.
Contemporary records do not mention whether the expedition to Antonica was undertaken - with or without escort. Other, later records seem to indicate that the Mysterious patron "M" continued to send secret correspondence to the young Amrunrosse with little interference or discovery for many years after this date, but until the discovery of this letter, it was thought that the correspondence began late in her adolescence, during the absence of her primary guardian.
It is worth noting, however, that in the historical armory the Vigiles do have a pair of mithral boots worked up in a traditional dwarven pattern at an unusually delicate size. Although the attribution in the official provenance is "unknown", the discovery of this early correspondence would suggest that they may well have belonged to the young Amrunrosse.
Addressed to:
The Valorous Chevanima Amrunrosse
Timorous Heights, Vigiles Wing
Gorowyn Upper Prefect, Timorous Isles, Kunark
In regards to your recent success and your excellent skills, a dwarf requests your specialized presence. He has work - that is surely simplicity itself for such a skilled knight as I have recommended on this particular job. I am most interested in supporting your rise to wider glory, despite the conservative opinions of your other tutors, so I pray you will continue to regard me as your most humble patron.
This task will require dedication, fortitude, and a level head, as well as skill in harvesting various materials in the Antonican hills. The employer is a dwarf known as Hwal in the Keep of the Ardent Needle in the same region. He is willing to pay handsomely for your services.
Again, neither assistance nor escort is necessary, as your skills are more than adequate to do this.
Go in strength,
Yours & etc.
M.
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