Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Kenetica

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

Natural magicka can be broken down into the two base components that are very much related to blood magicka. In the previous section we gave our attention to the so-called pure Elementalist, and in this we shall discuss the most common expression of the kenetic type: conjuration.

Conjuration is, as previously stated and all other writings on the subject indicate, related to necromancy most closely. It relies on ritual and animation to direct and guide an action.

However, conjuration itself is a misnomer for most. It captures everything from making giant golems to the journeyman kineticist working the shuttles on industrial looms. All conjurors gain the skill necessary to do the smallest of the works - simple animation, and only those, again, who can work the leylines and nodes can accomplish the larger scale works.

It is worth noting: where the elementalist by definition must be able to See and Feel the magic they work with (although they may not be interested or capable of putting that experience to formal analysis) the keneticist has no such limitation and in fact, they are unlikely to miss the ability at all. They work directly upon existing manifestations of both pure and mixed elements, and with similarly physical creatures thereof.

These two extremes show how differently the paths branch - one is most significantly military, and the other most significantly civil. No matter the background or civilisation lived in, there will always be pressure to find what is the most that can be done in the full exploitation of any skill. The kenetic collegia have often been referred to as the Wellspring of Industry, and that designation is as pragmatic as it is poetic.

This does lead to some error in understanding the skill base, as a conjuror that can make a golem could run more than half of a city’s industrial equipment alone, and unaided. Similarly, the current industrial kineticist could be utilized for launching small, numerous, destructive projectiles with a corps or archers. The fact that Industry and the various militaries do not organize in that manner is as much a factor of custom as of suspicion and greed.

Those conjuror-kenetics who can subjugate a Greater magical creature - or animate a vast mass with artificial sentience under the direction of the caster's will - rightly terrify both the lords and dependants of Industry. Accordingly, the various collegia are united in ensuring that those with such potential are herded to the battlefields along with the Master and Adept class elementalists.

It is more comfortable for the untrained masses to honor their fallen Arcanists as Great Heros, than to learn to school their fear of such power moving too closely among them. What mundane mortal could gainsay the demands of such a person, should it occur to them that they are, in fact, in a position to make those demands? No reader of this work can be unaware of the tyranny that may arise among the mundane, and it may perhaps too easily be imagined what terrors might manifest under a mageborn regime.

I digress.

Because of the difference in power and the personal energies being so varied, it is not feasible for even a large group of kineticists to summon a golem for longer than a few minutes. As soon as one is out of their personal reserve, the bit under their control would fail. Accordingly, the kenetica rarely work cooperatively, or upon any of the permanent magics.

The rare exception is the Grand Adept of the Kinetic Arts, who through intuitive or ritual harnessing of node-bound mana is capable of crafting immensely ingenious automata - many of which may continue to function long after the death of the caster. Properly tuned and maintained, these Permanent Kinetic Magics can be tended by a specially trained cadre of lesser kinetics even though they could never recreate them once destroyed.

There is not as much competition among conjurors as there is among necromancers, but among the Masters and Adepts there still tend to be intrigues. These skew towards matters of military, rather than magical interest, and therefore is of little relevance for the casual student.

There is not as much to say about the functional details of this line that has not been discussed and compared in other works. The only remaining crucial point is this: where a kineticist is unlikely to be capable of manipulating greater magical forces by Sight and Feel, the usual course of extensive memorization and precise ritual may be entirely circumvented if they have the luck, talent, or ruthlessness to acquire a True Familiar.

Not all magical, elemental-bound creatures have the capacity to serve as a True Familiar, though they may aid a mage's work by increasing their base affinity with that element merely through proximity. Those that do have the potential to become True Familiars, could well be classed as mages themselves. Through their alliance with - or control over - those creatures, a Kinetic may well amass and deploy such immense power that they can - and do - challenge the greatest of Grand Adepts.

The reader by now must be well able to imagine what consequence such association or exploitation this practice may have on the sanity and ethical capacities of both Mage and Familiar, and no doubt is aware that many of the great mage-battles of the past have involved at least one such pairing on any given side.

Therefore, we close this lecture early, and move to the next general concern, which has personal significance for even the most unMagickal of persons.

Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Elemental Arcana

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

Whatever the degree, a Mage has a personal well to draw from in some finite means. The inclination of each Mage will determine how it can be used. For example, some incline towards creating fire through the manipulation of thermal energies, and others to the formation and direction of ice through the same means. Others develop towards what may be broadly defined as kineticism, which mechanisms have been of vital importance to the stability of Industry and numerous mechamagical developments.

Elemental magicka can be broken down into the two base components that are very much related to blood magicka. The first we shall discuss is considered by most academia to be “pure elementalism”, or working only the elements and not adding a layer of compulsion or animation.

As such, elemental mages tend to work like a hematurge, casting by intuition and intent rather than full ritual as they advance and age. Many of the same principles apply, especially the possibility for an elementalist to work some magics generally considered beyond their reach through cooperative or ritualistic forms. The biggest main difference, however, is incredibly stark: there are no Grand Adepts among Hematurges, howsoever much blood may be spilled for their art.

An elemental mage may not necessarily became as powerful in their art. Some are born with the predisposition towards working with leylines and nodes, as in the case of the previously discussed Master and Adept rank mages, and some are not. The issue cannot be forced without serious and usually deadly consequences: cooperative Workings which would touch one of the Greater Nodes must place one arcanist of Grand Adept potential - even if they are untrained - in the central working position, or the Node will consume the entirety of the circle that dared to attempt the harnessing. Similarly, a ritualized Working meant to mimic the praxis of a higher-level magus has an exponentially increasing chance to consume the working Mage as part of its power source as the demands of the Work also increase.

The so-called “weaker” elementalists tend to be called hedge wizards, though it would be folly to assume that someone working the lines and nodes would always represent a more formidable power, whatever the formal designation for them.

This main division causes interesting effects, as a hedge wizard is able to refine their arts gain a vast understanding of what they can and cannot do. Masters and adepts, for all they handle more power, tend more towards be a channeler of energies and act as a funnel. They tend to miss many of the finer details of spellcraft as so much is transpiring during a casting, and to direct such vast power toward anything requiring finesse invites disaster. It would be as well to chain a greater fire-drake to light a single candle. Additionally, there tends to be a higher cost to the castings they make and are too exhausted to immediately set themselves to examining how their spell worked and “felt”.

These classifications are vital to understand as the training either branch will get is vastly different from the other, and again vastly different within their division to further narrow a particular specialty.
Not all people can do all things, and not all mages can cast all spells or work with all elements.

Regardless of form, elementalism can be broken down into intention and connection, and kineticism can be broken down into subjugation and animation. The first style tends to be elemental in nature, such as calling forth Fire or Water, or manipulating the properties of Wind, Wood, or Stone. That is not to say a personal affinity or talent for any one element precludes a kenetic's working upon them: it is more a question of whether the mage works with potential or actual manifestations of their chosen element.

The pure elementalist may seem to create physical manifestations of their magic from nothingness, but in practice they are manipulating the latent potential in a given medium, supplemented by what proverbially "raw" mana is available to them.

The kineticist frequently seems to work in a more accessible fashion, for example, by directing where existing mundane water should go to, and in what form. The reader may rest assured the matter is more complex and wonderful than it may first appear, and do well to remember that nothing whatever prevents the emergence of a Grand Adept among the kinetica.

Intention gives shape to the elemental spell. From a simple fireball to a complex ice wall, the elementalist guides the form of the casting, and again it can be done almost intuitively. Most mages undergo extensive training in the focus and refinement of their will, for a vague intention predictably creates a vague result, but it is entirely common - especially among the shorter-lived races - to encounter a particular innate talent for such focus which requires very little help to manifest exactly what the mage desires.

The major difference comes in connection. Rather than a sympathetic connection to a target, an elementalist relies on an innate understanding and connection with the element of the spell. This, of course, is the reason why pure elementalists are often surrounded by - and work with - creatures of elemental magical nature, even though the nature of their talents frequently preclude any possibility of actually ordering them to assist or carry a Working. The greater the connection, the more strongly the mage may channel, manifest, and manipulate that element.

From that point, the target will find harmony with the spell, or it will not. Elementalist training frequently focuses on internalizing the properties of every possible material relative to the element or elements which the student has the strongest talent for. For example: a fire spell used on water will find harmony if it is shaped to manifest in diverse mage-fed particles throughout the water, exciting and infusing the water with immense heat for an explosive result, even at a great distance from the fuel source. A fire spell which asks the water itself to burn, however, will pull immense power only to fizzle in disharmony as the spell seeks and fails to find sufficient potential Fire in the water itself.

Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Natural Arcana

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

Natural magicka contains many similar properties depending on what things answer to who, and what the power source is. As with all branches, the first inclination is to use self as the power source - blood is not called for in natural magicka, and instead the accumulation of 'mana' serves.

The current thought on how this occurs is by a form of osmosis, at latent background levels deep into all things all the time, with areas around nodes having a higher concentration. The practiced mage can draw from loose, pooled, or flowing mana to greater or lesser degrees according to both talent and training, although the modulation and direction of this power must be drawn directly from the mage's own vital energy.

It may be helpful to think of these mages above the rank of master as drawing this mana as one would draw water from a spring-fed well. The size of one's bucket, and efficiency of one's winch and pulley will have a marked impact on the upwards limit of how much water may be harnessed, but the final arbiter of what is possible will always be dictated by the strength and endurance of the operator. Foci and ritual may be likened to manual pump systems, with all the implied exponential increases in throughput that suggests, even though the maximum harnessable vitality of the operator remains the same.

To stretch the metaphor slightly further, one can only begin to picture the sheer power represented by the rare grand adept by considering that they are a living embodiment of several things at once.

Like the mechamagical mana batteries which power an automatic hydro pump, their base vital capacity is at once far greater than our proverbial winch-and-pump operator, and like those batteries, may be refilled to some degree by the very act of their proper use. Like the well operator, they can draw from still pools, and like the diversion pumps, they can also draw off moving streams of mana and redirect them with minimal filtration. The grand adept also operates like the great reservoirs and their pressure turbines - as well as the reservoir itself - able to at once open the proverbial sluice-gates of natural and created mana reservoirs for direct use, and to contain and channel some amount of that power into forms that so-called lesser Adepts and Master-grade mages can then tap.

Unlike all of these devices, the grand Adept as a living creature is highly mobile, as they can adapt themselves and their physical environments at will, and are further able to "tune" the varied sources of mana, manipulating the very composition and alignment of these mana networks. The reach of a Grand Adept is finite, but the upper limit has never been finally determined, nor is it likely to be: like every other endeavor, the practice of Arcana builds on all that has come before, and thus climbs to ever more precipitous heights.

The reader may well ask how, with such power, a Grand Adept can ever be defeated. Unfathomable though it may seem from a mundane perspective, Grand Adepts do have variations of ability within and between themselves. Consider that the oceans are several orders of magnitude more vast and powerful than any inland sea, lake, or even pond, and one may begin to grasp the nature of the distinctions in this field of magicka - and also where the limitations and weaknesses of these rarified beings might begin.

As the Oceans are both beautiful and terrible, so it is with Grand Adepts. They are but mortal creatures, and many potential Grand Adepts are themselves destroyed by the raw power that they work upon and within. Isolating one from the network of mana sources is an enormous task, but entirely possible, and in the same way that a Grand Adept may tune the local network for their ease, it may also be made discordant and poisonous to them. The reader might do well to consider the extravagant loss of life, and utter decimation of organized magicka following the Great Rending: it was not until the Era of Discovery that true Grand Adepts began to emerge again.

There are those who will always assert the increased contact with draco nobilius was the cause and support of this development: the reader may rest assured the reason is far less dramatic. Final Death and the imperfect vagaries of the Restorative Arts destroyed forever many of the greatest mage-gifted bloodlines during the Age of Turmoil. The survivors were hardly in a position to organize anything like a formal breeding program to strengthen and fix the remaining talents, even had they access to the relatively stable and vibrant mana network we use today.

Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Necromancy

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

In part one, we compared and contrasted hematurgy and necromancy. Part two focused on hematurgy. Part three, therefore, is on the necromantic arts.

Necromancy relies on subjugation and animation for its workings, which is precisely what conjuring an elemental requires. The difference lies in the power source. The necromancer relies on the power of pain and blood, as they are calling dead flesh to move again, and like calls to like - blood responds to blood.

As contrast, an elemental conjurer calls on their own power, or the power of lay lines and nodes. Nearly all other elements are shared.

Dead flesh has no motivator force to give it direction. Subjugation, or the forcing of will upon a thing, is the key first step. With no will to maintain movement, all energies fed to an undead thrall soon dissipate.

There is always some challenge at this, as the original inhabitant of the body can still influence how the flesh responds - or in most cases doesn't - especially if the inhabitant is a ghost. If the working is vital, going out of the proximity of the ghost can assist matters, as can banishing or appeasing it.

In certain rare cases, ghost and body can be brought back together and instill life once again, though this is so rare as to have no known causal factors.

What is known, however, is that ghosts do not hold well to flesh that was not their own very easily, and any stresses can break a binding.

Animation, or kineticism, is the other end of the necromantic working. Many mages are capable of such, and again the difference is power source.

Even with a will, undead flesh still does not wish to move. It will need direction at every point. Some necromancers will link this to their thought, and others will 'teach' certain movements and convey special instructions from there.

Which ever way direction is given, animation is thus bestowed, completing the familiar.

In parts one and two, ritual was mentioned. Because the natural order of magic and motion is broken in working with the dead, a full ritual is not just necessary, but required. The power needs explicit direction and shape that intention cannot bestow.

The symbols and representations guide the shaping even as much as a Druid or shaman's magic might. Without, the least you get is wasted time, and the worst is a thrall that tries to kill you. Rare cases exist where the unattached thrall is docile and accepts no commands, though one can guess the majority of these are unreported.

Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Hematurgy

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

In part one, hematurgy and necromancy were compared and contrasted as far as styles. In part two, we will cover hematurgy in regards to ritual, intention, and connection, all interacting with spell casting.

As discussed, ritual is not entire necessary to cast in hematurgical works. Ritual therefore is a way to set the mind on the intention and connection. It engages a target to hold certain properties, such remembering flesh that is whole, or flesh that has been cut. Even if such casting does not yield visible results, your target believing they have no way to close their hand, or have experienced death, will be affected.

The full effect of the spell will be enhanced by how connected the caster is - as such, even correctly imagining who the target is will cause connection and empathy. A close friend or lover will respond accordingly - and I have mentioned enemies as well. It takes knowing and identifying your enemy to have such a strong opinion of them.

"Othering", of course, makes the working not have as big an effect, but the affected target has less connection to respond with some spell of their own. As stated, heavy arms specialists tend to be weak caster, and this is precisely why.

Because hematurgical works respond to such varying stimuli, most mages are frustrated by attempting it, as their own natural powers are more predictable.

Setting the limitations aside, hematurgical healing is quite dramatic and can be quite refined. It can, under the best circumstances, rebuild pelvic bones. The process is slow and never perfect, yet has far more refinement than divine castings.

Selections from: Notes on Diverse Magicka - Necromancy and Hematurgy

Notes on Diverse Magicka

by

Legatus Pax Sytan Fiac

---

Author's note:

This is a series dedicated to informing those with limited or non-extant abilities in arcana on the various forms of magic and their uses. This is not intended as an in depth study, nor does it go into all details. For many, the usage of leylines or nodes will never manifest, nor will the finesse to guide the blood magicka explicitly.

This discourse will cover the concepts of similarities and differences among the branches, and peel back some of the mysteries.

The first section will cover my specialties of hematurgy and necromancy.
The second will cover natural magicka.
The third will touch on the psionic talents.
The fourth will delve into the divine controversy.
The fifth will touch upon the delicate and complex question of void.

It is to be hoped that the interested student will find the more technical treatises on the above topics more readily accessible for this humble offering. Any errors or elisions in this work must be attributed to the difficulty of enumerating in plain language what becomes a nearly reflexive, intuitive impulse for the grand adept.

---

It is important to note that hematurgical works operate in the same fashions that mechanical and magical systems - thus, energy input has a related energy output. Such input creates a sympathy with the source and target, such as fire will make a pot of water hot and boil regardless of mechanical or magical input.

What can be controlled in this situation is intensity, or intention, and duration, or connection. It is these that hematurgy works upon. As with the fire, if your work is to melt the metal, your intention will require a hot fire and your connection will require it be fired for an appropriate length or time.

Because of the nature of the work, your emotional state will have a huge bearing on the working. Creating a resonance between objects or people will tend to increase the desire for closeness or sexual intimacy.

Performing a healing will tend to be similar, though will only last during the casting and between castee and caster, unlike resonance which will linger and affect an entire room.

Performing a detrimental casting, such as to weaken or injure, can have similar effects on the caster to the point of creating the same injury. This is, of course, dependent on emotional state and feeling towards the person; a target you have never met before will be unlikely to have any connection or resonance to you, where a hated enemy has a connection and resonance.

Once resonance is established, the pathways of power are built in both people, and it is just as easy to strike a caster by the means in which the working was done.

Thus, it is in the best interest of a hematurge to cast only on willing and trusted targets.

For these reasons, hematurgy is an unpopular path, as those desiring power create resonance in simply wishing to take it from others, and those wishing good deeds create resonance in wishing to help others.

This can be contrasted with a necromancer by the simple expedient that most castings are on the dead or undead, which can have no resonance not enforced upon it, and therefore the path of the necromantic arts is potentially safer, were the desire for power and destroying one's enemies not so popular.

Hematurgy is not a restricted path, per say, and is not regulated by any organization. This is in part due to the multitude of ways it can be expressed and taught, as well as the many uses it can be put to. The healers collegia, Mage corps, heavy arms specialists, and scout corps all have a use for it, keeping it from being effectively shoehorned as so many other focuses have been.

The majority of hermaturges are not naturally inclined towards the path, as intention and connection are heavy factors in a casting. As such, the strongest users tend to be empaths, and whatever segment of a society is taught to be more tuned with emotional states; in Teir'Dal societies before the Age of Sky this would be men, while Koada'Dal tend to train empathy out of both genders, and human cultures vary heavily depending on region, for examples.

The heavy arms corps tend to host the weakest users, both because empathy tends to be detrimental to them, as well as a focus on more physical means.

Scout corps tend to host strong users, as much of what their profession calls for is intuition and "reading" their targets - a form of empathy that is vital to their work.

Interestingly enough, typical Mage academies tend to not host many hematurges, opting instead to train them as necromancers. While both branches do respond to ritual forms of practice, the lethal competition, as stated prior, discourages the hematurge's empathic nature.

Healing collegia handle the hematurge in a separate way entirely - given a typical situation, there is plenty of pain and blood magic to work in a house of healing. However, in times of duress, a hematurge can make a similar injury to them self as their target bears to create empathy and extra energy for the casting. Unintended side effects can include creating a strong emotional resonance, either in caster to castee, or castee to power source.

In some situations, the caster might instead employ necrotic healing, such as in tending a corpse familiar. This is a crude form at best, and will tend to buy time for a true healer or provide a brief second wind in duress. The flesh will be weaker and prone to failing again if put to moderate use.

As stated previously, both necromancy and hematurgy respond to ritual forms. Use will lessen the need for overt ritual only in hematurgy, as the mind will hold the ritual and intention will move the power. Necromancy is then limited by comparison as it will require full ritual for a working, though implements are interchangeable for 'close enough'. However, most necromancers will not risk the trial and error to find like items or phrases.

Curiosity is discouraged by both competition and familiars that may turn on a master too weak to banish or fight it.

Roster: Sytan Fiac

~ Vigiles Amicae Service Record ~

~ Available to all sworn Amicae ~

Name: Sytan Fiac
Status: Active, with medical restrictions
Rank, specialty, auxiliary: Legate Auxilus Pax, Necromancer, Sage
Gender: Male
Age: Appears no more than middle-age - or about 300 years old for an elf.
Race: Teir'dal
Birthplace: Unknown
Residence/Citizenship: Most recently registered in Gorowyn

Description and/or portrait:
A light ashen skintone over a thin frame, and perpetually slouched shoulders. His face is etched deep with worry lines and is set in almost a continuous frown. He frequently can be seen walking with a limp. In loose or thin clothing, a set of gnarled, poorly healed scars bisect his sternum and scapula. He can typically be found in dark, somber robes, Except in Maj'Dul. When he is in the desert he frequently adopts the thin and ornamented linens of the local dervin people, though even in these he selects deep jewel tones.
He wears a bone ring on his right pinky finger. The faint smell of sandalwood follows him.
His hair is shoulder length, frequently braided, and seems to lack luster, as if he is not eating well or recovering from illness.


Specialties:
Staff fighting, histories, diplomacy, magical theory, direction of entropic and hematergic magical energies

Proficient:
Unarmed combat, light arms, medium arms, pole arms, staff, terrain, research, magic theory, energy storage, carpentry, needlepoint, diplomacy, field survival.

Weaknesses:
Diplomacy. Walks with a limp, and sometimes needs a cane for balance and support. Vulnerable to all standard physical and magical attacks capable of overcoming the shields and reactive defenses of any average necromancer of middle-rank.

Service Record & Events of Note:
Appears to have been appointed as Legate Pax as far back as the earliest records of the Vigiles. With the exception of the years he was being held by hostile fores, he has served that role continuously ever since. His service record is exemplary: without controversy or challenge, except insofar as he traditionally opposes the Legates Bellum when debating matters of diplomatic significance before the Council.
Widely believed to serve the Praetor as consort, but no official record supports this rumor.

Previous known Aliases: Legate Auxilus Pax Sytan Finn, Diplomat Sytan of Argentum Circuli. Referred to by the Erollissian devotees as Brother Fiac. Hailed by the Ravens as Greyfeather. Known in certain slums as Sidhen Finn.

Records suggest no public positions held before being named Diplomat for Argentum Circuli. Argentum history hotly contested by reputable scholars, as those fragmentary records date from the Age of the Spires many dozens of centuries ago. Likely the record refers instead to an ancestor of the present Fiac.

Awards:
- Linguist
- Bookbinder

Notable kills:
- Mayong Mistmoore
- Harla Dar
- Darathar

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, and reveals some of the considerable impact her stint in High Command as Acting Praetor had on her own abilities. 

It is uncertain what partisan Amrunrosse refers to in this entry, but Lenoire Du'Claire and her consort Kanaemar are confirmed in contemporary records as being deeply involved in the turmoil that surrounded the end of Amrunrosse's tenure as Praetor. 

This is one of few indications that come down to us as evidence that the turmoil was not born of chaos, but rather carefully orchestrated to create a path back to leadership for the deposed Hero and Protector of the Amicae. As so little evidence did survive, it has been a matter of much dispute among the chroniclers, but it stands to reason that after the very public manner in which Amrunrosse usurped the position that it would be impossible to reverse peacefully. It must not be forgotten that during her tenure, Amrunrosse enjoyed wide popular support, and that other private communication during that period confirms a deeply rooted mistrust of the deposed Praetor's temporal stability.

Even to this day, there are apologists for the usurpation, who question the trustworthiness and tactical stability of a leader who is so patently secretive about her history, her age, and her sanity. It is widely believed that the Praetor does not punish such treasonous agitation because she is unaware of it: historians who have investigated the history of the Heroes' Quarter in Maj'Dul hotly argue the reverse. No foreigner could have survived the ever-shifting sands of Maj'Dul politics for long - let along risen to a stable and uncontested prominence there - who did not have a canny understanding of political maneuvering and the exigencies of war.

---

This is a long and twisting path - Sytan is back among us, which is more than timely as I needed an agent who would be able to do the things I cannot. The house will pass back to Ari.

I have given him the information I have been working with, and he has seen my plan within it. Fafnier needs pushed away, as does Ari. If they leave the house under my regime, it can be painted as my poor leadership.

There are only a few ways this can go. I will do everything I can to ensure the House is strong...
that she leads it again.

One vocal supporter has been arranged. In the time I write this, the next has been as well.
I have struck Sin, and Ari comes soon. I had hoped to be more civil in this, but the way things have played out prevents that, now. I would give commendations if I could - Leni and Sin both are going above and beyond the call in the time of need. I will put my faith in them, that they will support Ari as Praetor.

They come. I will give them a good show.
I hope it will be enough...

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]

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.

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.

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...

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

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.

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This entry is less focussed than most, and seems to be trying to fill in random, potentially political events between this entry, and the blithe survey which seems to have been written some time before it. 

It is unclear whether this stowaway incident was in fact the same as mentioned previously, as it seems the younger Amrunrosse developed a habit of escaping her guardians and tutors.

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.

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There has been much in the last little bit. Life is either slow, or overburdened. It always amazes me to see it shift between the two.

As a start to all of it, Cheva was playing in the harbor, and decided to play on a ship in the harbor. When the ship was ready to sail, this boundary did not hold up and she decided to be a stowaway. As soon as I found out, I was on the nearest ship I could find. She, of course, was on a simple supply run down the coast and back. I ended up shipwrecked with a bunch of pilgrims on a snowpack glacier. “Playing in the harbor” does not mean the ships in the harbor, and certainly not taking said ships in the harbor.

Luck was on my side, that I had opted to have my normal kit with me. I must say - my travel companions were less than helpless, and many of which needed rescued from the various dangers of the ice. Must keep in mind - do not work for free even once. If nothing else, take the money and sneak it back into their belongings later. Once you do one thing...

Later in the evening, I was able to find out from a Fier' in the Amicae that Cheva was returned. That was very relieving - it is more than unfortunate that he ran afoul of Marconis in a mission onto the tundra himself. We don’t know a thing about where they may have gone, so for now there is not much we can do but search.

On a completely unrelated note, a few evenings ago I spent learning some about Tier tastes. I will gladly wear a collar for her again. I cannot explain, exactly, why it was so desirable, but to have someone wish to own you! And to serve! This has been my only positive interaction with masters and slaves, and I really enjoyed myself thoroughly. I do not think Ari has taken such a keen outlook on it - but as I told her, I will test her and show her and me if she is the monster she fears.

Our little magus, Randie, seems to be having some trouble. He has lost some old friends and it has hit him hard. However, he also seems to have inherited a dragon’s horde... very odd. I feel for him, though. A lot on his shoulders, and so far as I can tell, there isn’t anything for him to actually do any longer. He gets to make up his own fate, when he never used to. He will get to feeling better.

Varric has come back from the dead, it would seem. I saw him last performing or guarding at the Lotus the other night. He apologized about falling off the face of Norrath, and that it was not anything planned. Very odd, still, that one.

The same night in the Lotus, I caught up with Vaka again. After arresting some girl for attacking some newly turned vampire, I wanted to know about a thing the girl said - she is a part of a group who “doesn’t exist”. Must be a very young operative, to even admit that. It could spell trouble, and it could be someone a little soft in the head. Either way, it is good to know potential challenges.

I still miss Xil, from time to time. And missing him reminds me of Fafnier. I hope Sytan can resurrect him soon. It has been far too long since I have heard his voice and enjoyed his company.