"Concerns formulated by the ignorant are often just as useful as the solutions they propose, which is to say not very. Given that, I hope you can appreciate my reaction to some members of this distinguished body attempting to speculate on problems that may arise from use of ruudun."
- Transcript of Vumo Ra’s address to the Ministerium, Royal Archives, Ce Raedhil.
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It was morning by the time Ce Raedhil’s towering skyline came into sight along th...
2020-11-11 16:58:45 +0000 UTC
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A man is courting the Madi’s daughter, so the Madi asks to meet him at his home. The man welcomes him to his table and pours him water, and as the Madi sits he notices that the house is spotlessly clean. There is not a tool out of order, not a speck of sand on the wooden floors. He is impeccably polite, charming and knowledgeable about many subjects. The two men talk into the evening before the Madi excuses himself to return home.
“Well?” his d...
2020-11-04 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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“No one can stop the youth from dancing, but the players can guide the steps.”
- Aesvain saying.
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“Are they clear?” Mark asked, looking over at Arjun. The older man popped back through the doorway to the gateway room, weaving his way between teams of Cereinem and Idhytsen struggling to move bundles of food, supplies and other essentials. “We’re coming up on our window.”
Arjun nodded, walking quickly back to the gateway. &n...
2020-10-28 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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I generally want to announce things like this farther in advance, but the last several days took me by surprise and it doesn't look like chapter 51 will be quite finished in time for the normal Wednesday update. Since I don't anticipate that my schedule will clear appreciably in the short term I'm going to take a skip week and push the next post to Wednesday, October 28th. As we draw closer to the end of things each chapter begins to take on more importance, and the choice between...
2020-10-20 22:01:52 +0000 UTC
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My grandfathers flew in the sky and etched their will into the very air, my fathers mastered the land and engraved stone with their desire. And I, pitiful scion of their legacy, have told my children nothing of the greatness that should be theirs. Why should I? What benefit is it to them, knowing that their long-dead fathers could accomplish more with a twist of their fingers than they could manage in a lifetime? That their birthright is an impossible duty, a promi...
2020-10-14 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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A man walks up to his father, troubled, saying that a man has been loudly proclaiming the intent to kill him on the next day. The father thinks for a moment, then asks the son why that might be.
“Does it matter?” the son cries, distraught. “He wants to kill me!”
“Of course it matters,” the father replies. “If the man says he means to kill you out of hate, then you must treat it as a threat. If he says it is o...
2020-10-07 16:00:34 +0000 UTC
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A Sjocelym, an Aesvain and a Setelym are traveling in a far land and sit down for a drink. The Sjocelym takes a long pull from a flask and smiles, saying - “Ah! Liquor from roasted jehan. It reminds me so much of home.” The Aesvain produces his own flask, taking a hearty swallow that drains half its contents. “Reinetel brandy!” he bellows. “The true taste of home!”
The Setelym opens his own flask and sips sadly at it. &...
2020-09-30 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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No, we must turn our eyes upward, forward. Not only for our own sake, but for those who saw the spectre of doom approaching. For those who searched desperately, fruitlessly for a way to escape it. They are our ancestors, our origin just as much as the tragedy that befell them, and for their sake we must strive to fly the skyward arc they surely yearned for in their last moments.
Vumo Ra, Three Lectures at the Setimen Convocation , Royal a...
2020-09-23 16:01:08 +0000 UTC
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We have forged the blade, plucked it from its shining alcove in our mind and made it real. But the prism is imperfect. Has been made imperfect. The distortion imparts perspective, the mark upon the window shows that there is glass - and therein we see the flaws cascading outward. Our relentless zeal cannot divert us now that it has been tricked into satisfaction, and all that we have left is the cold comfort that this monstrosity we have birthed will t...
2020-09-16 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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disturbing reports from some of the outlying groups. It was bad enough that the survivors from the provinces have formed militias, but Gavo’s latest report claims that some of the armed groups come from our own camps. Our own comrades, our own sons and daughters - sometimes alone, but often leading misguided followers from outside our territories. They do not teach their children their heritage, they do not limit themselves to having only those children th...
2020-09-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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I’ve still never been to Idhytse. The others passed near it when they first fled the desert, but even if they had chanced to encounter it they would not have been ready for the city - and the city would not have been ready for them. It was only a brief intersection of fate that brought life to that dead place. Without such an animating spark there is only sand, sand, sand.
- Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jesa Sagoja: Zhetam Asade
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...
2020-09-02 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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After several days of observation I have concluded that there is no threat from Idhytse. Although the ruins are indeed infested by scavengers, criminals and other undesirable sorts, there is little threat of them organizing in any fashion that could pose a threat to the garrison and walls protecting Sevai Sazha, much less Sjan Saal itself. Periodic checks may be advisable, but no more frequently than every third-risen eighth of days. The local dregs keep the...
2020-08-26 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Kings often dwell on subversion, although mostly of a different sort than what I find myself contemplating on quiet evenings. For subversion of the self, the issue is the degree of change one is willing to accept from a single source. The inevitable minor changes from life go mostly unnoticed, the gentle wearing of waves on rock or wind on a crag. Major change may be a tragedy, a friendship, a marriage. Many a man has been dragged to a new course by a ...
2020-08-19 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Some of the most dangerous men I know are unfailingly honest, personable and generous with friends and enemies alike. Violent brutes are certainly not a rare species, nor are deceptive schemers. They are simple dangers, though, and easily planned around if you have a moment of consideration and a dash of wit. No, pity the man with reasonable enemies. His is a world of nagging disquiet, all losses beckoning with seductive rationalizations and all victories soured wi...
2020-08-12 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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visit I dismissed the cultists at the foot of the mountain as ignorant and misguided. Today’s encounter showed that they are still such, but as they have somehow found arms, armor and allies we cannot dismiss them so easily. On our next expedition I fear that we may be the ones dismissed. Every movement of my hands, every line of script we survey seems to carry double its weight now that I know this may be our last chance to perform the duty that is our bi...
2020-08-05 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“It may seem like a simple truism to state that one is defined by one’s origins, but bear with me a moment while we examine what that really means. Throw a stone. You may choose an infinite number of paths for the stone to take, but they all share a single origin point in your hand. Endless variety on one extreme of the path, inflexible constraint limiting the other. Is the stone any less free because its infinite selection of paths is forever fixe...
2020-07-30 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Hi all - some of you may have been keeping up with my computer drama elsewhere, but suffice to say my home PC had to be taken out back and shot. I'm back up and running but it will take me some time to get everything in order. As a result, this week's chapter will be posted Thursday. We should be back on the Wednesday schedule after that!
2020-07-29 02:07:32 +0000 UTC
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I often wonder about the impact a small group of very irritated people can have on the course of events.
- Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jesa Sagoja: Zhetam Asade
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Pain.
It was white-hot, searing, an amorphous mass of pure agony. There was no beginning or end to it. It simply was, and it was everything.
Well, not quite everything. There was an awareness of the pain, so surely the awareness was separa...
2020-07-22 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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We hear from a young age that Maja’s blessing lies in moderation, for the crop that grows too eagerly exhausts the soil that feeds it. I have always thought this turn of phrase to be ill-constructed both in the initial premise and the commonly appended metaphor, as any scholar will tell you that a primary effect of Maja’s blessing is decidedly immoderate growth without any of the purported downsides. What folly that the common wisdom should be so mistaken!
2020-07-15 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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“The few surviving records that reference the vinesavaim assert that they are comparable in their gifts across regions, if not nearly identical. It is interesting, then, that they should be perceived so differently. We Sjocelym know Maja as our protector and keeper, and rightly give our thanks for His sheltering grace. The Aesvain treat Tija with a more familiar love, like an honored elder and teacher. The Gadhun Draatim associate Dija with the ocean...
2020-07-08 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Many times my grandfather spoke of going to the Sanctum in the mountains over Tinem Sjocel. It was a long journey, made until the road became too dangerous to consider even for such an important task. One day he spoke of it and I asked him if he had visited any other Sanctums, for I remembered that he had told me there were a number of them scattered in far lands. He looked at me and smiled, and told me that they do not return where they are not needed....
2020-07-01 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Approach not the doors of the seat, they have been closed to your fathers and will be closed to your sons. There is no penalty for drawing near, as you cannot harm them. The seat is inviolate. You injure only yourself, by asking a question that should not be asked and receiving the inevitable answer: you are unworthy. Do not seek a reminder of the transgressions our fathers wrought on this world. The weight of their actions rest on your shoulders...
2020-06-24 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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”And some may say - why not? Why not let the scriptsmith’s art spread beyond the halls of the guild? I have heard and answered this question longer than most of you have been alive, ministers, and the answer is always the same - focus. Yes, there are other benefits such as consistent education and reliable scriptwork, but our primary contribution is not teaching our talented members how to script - it is teaching them why we script. &nb...
2020-06-17 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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I’m sure it will come as no surprise to most when I say that we saw wonders during our time at the Sanctum. Such things are to be expected in the abode of a vinesavai. Finding out that I had mistakenly used a priceless artifact as a plate several days prior, however - I will freely admit that it caught me a bit unprepared.
- Tasjadre Ra Novo, Jesa Sagoja: Zhetam Asade
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Inhale, exhale. Jesse sat in a corner of the...
2020-06-10 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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“But why twilight?” I asked her, as I had several times before. “Does sunlight harm these halls, or do they have some disposition against it?”
This last caught her attention, and she turned to me with sorrowful eyes. “Oh, my love,” she said. “These halls yearn for the sun’s warmth as few things ever have. It is a tragedy and a crime that they languish in this half-light.”
”Then why does the sun withhold...
2020-06-03 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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But as we left, just before her light faded, she met my eye and smiled at me. I still see it when I close my eyes sometimes. There is no purpose to such a thing, no essential function, yet my forebears paused in their great work to ensure that she could smile. It troubles me even in my elder days, that boyhood memory.
I may be the last one living who has seen her, and the local fanatics have made a return visit impossible. Does that fain...
2020-05-27 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Upon Maja all things rest, and from Maja all things flow. He coaxes grain from the soil, water from the rock. But more than this, He holds cloud, wind and rain in His hand, guiding them to be gentle and constant. The child may ask, are not the clouds pleasant, the wind and rain gentle by their nature? It is good that a child is well-loved, and during their youth understands the world as a gentle place. Youth ends with entry to the world of men, a...
2020-05-20 16:00:01 +0000 UTC
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All things have a beginning. Men from children, trees from saplings, rivers from rain.
All things have a foundation. Life rests upon bread, and below that grain, stalk, seed, soil, water and sun.
But what kindles the first beginning? Upon what does the first foundation rest?
- Introductory words of the Majan Saom.
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“Every day?” Mark asked sourly.
<...
2020-05-13 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Must we not question
the wellspring, the fount
giving of that which
it does not possess?
A mouthful of water
stifles more than thirst:
inquiry wants for breath
and must fall silent.
- Attributed to Qavazhe Vae Sazhocel, Second of the Cevaceiqan Kings. Royal archives (restricted), Ce Raedhil.
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T...
2020-05-06 15:00:54 +0000 UTC
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I’m often asked if there was a moment when it seemed like all hope was lost, which I find amusing because it implies that I didn’t spend almost the entirety of those days in a constant state of mortal terror. That last night in Sjatel, though, as the smothering blanket of dust turned from red to inky black, as the thunder drowned out the cries of panic and terror and the formless dark resolved itself into grasping, silent hands - well. I will not say it was ou...
2020-04-29 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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