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All is Vanity


Birdman
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Idries Irulan wanders dreamily around the Providence streets. A gentle smile marks his face, and his air of contentment strikes those passersbys that he encounters on his saunter towards the front gates. 

 

Atop a stack of yellowing parchment in his old chambers sits a ministerial ring, bearing the seal of the Orenian Foreign Affairs Office. Beside it rests an unkempt pile of unfinished paperwork, letters unsealed and unsent, drafts of bills, treaties, diplomatic assignments....

 

As he passes beneath the city portcullis, the guard on watch might catch a few whispered words beneath Idries’ breath:

 

“Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, all is vanity…” 
 

Edited by Birdman
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Caedric passes a strange man in Providence, he'd nod, "Aye, ye've never seen t'is place ye' live? Vain bastards." he says with a shake of his head, "Allfat'er guide ye'."

Edited by Qaz_The_Great
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5 hours ago, Qaz_The_Great said:

Caedric passes a strange man in Providence, he'd nod, "Aye, ye've never seen t'is place ye' live? Vain bastards." he says with a shake of his head, "Allfat'er guide ye'."

Orenian bureaucrat James Corners pays the idle Nordling a scheduled visit at a middling-tier restaurant in a government subsidized residential area of Providence.

"Hello there, Caedric! Good day to you! I've communicated with the Interior ministry and found a list of jobs you can consider - should you be so inclined to find gainful employment. Of course, there is no pressure, for the Imperial government is well-equipped to indefinitely support those of marginal backgrounds such as yourself."

Seating himself across from Caedric, Mr. Corners gives the man a polite grin and offers him a brochure listing details of the employment program.

"One of my associates will be here shortly to provide you some logistical help for your choice, sir. Have you tried the coffee?"

@Esterlen

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4 hours ago, ARCHITECUS said:

Orenian bureaucrat James Corners pays the idle Nordling a scheduled visit at a middling-tier restaurant in a government subsidized residential area of Providence.

"Hello there, Caedric! Good day to you! I've communicated with the Interior ministry and found a list of jobs you can consider - should you be so inclined to find gainful employment. Of course, there is no pressure, for the Imperial government is well-equipped to indefinitely support those of marginal backgrounds such as yourself."

Seating himself across from Caedric, Mr. Corners gives the man a polite grin and offers him a brochure listing details of the employment program.

"One of my associates will be here shortly to provide you some logistical help for your choice, sir. Have you tried the coffee?"

The same non descript Norlander named Caedric offers a kind nod to James before kindly rejecting his services. "Oh James! I am not here fer' employment, we Norlanders need only ourselves te' live! I'm 'ere because Ms. Corners has taken a likin' te' me an' scheduled te' 'ave me pick 'er up 'ere!" he'd say with a smile as he simply passes James; moving to kindly take the now giggling woman's hand. "By the way James, it'd be best ye' stay out late tonight ye' wouldn't want te' miss any quotas." Caedric says before leaving the coffee shop and escorting the woman home. 

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Mr. Corners does nothing but watch as Caedric is taken back to the municipal sanitarium by his elderly handler, where he may be plotting today the fourteenth or so disastrously failed Nordling invasion of their betters. Caedric‘s life would surely be immeasurably improved if he allowed himself to be helped, but a mix of deluded egocentrism and class frustration seems to keep their tribe shackled to a horrifically austere existence punctuated by violent coping fantasies.

James contemplates the man's comment about self-sufficiency. The Nordling polity is still existentially reliant on its alliances with Haense and Urguan - would the new Haeseni monarch hold up his predecessor's promises relating to conversion and vassalization? Can a culture based only on seething last without conflict for much longer?


"Vanity of vanities, indeed..." is the glum truth of life in a place such as Caedric's homeland, a reduced and purposeless place where the prideful of blood live as a minority, the prideful of honor live without victory, and the prideful of realm live without a king.

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Caedric, doing well in both physical and mental fortitude, escorts Ms. Corners home. He'd look back only once through the window to see the sad figure of James, seemingly unable to register reality begin to attempt to string together words, though it comes hard for such a man. Perhaps he was distracted as he imagined a world where the pseudo-Empire which he resides was not in decline due to the policies of the now dead Emperor or maybe he was thinking of some alternative universe where he would concoct a way to bring back the ages dead glory to his fledgling homeland; in any situation the babbling thoughts of fools concerns Caedric very little. Ms. Corners would look to Caedric longingly and she squeezed his hand before Caedric says "Ye' only find vain bastards 'ere, why don't we go North te' Varhelm?" Ms. Corners would excitedly agree and the pair would leave for the Capital of Norland.

 

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