Ye are not a Thain

[NotEvilAtAll 10906]

Spoiler

 

[!] You find a paper pinned to the Honeyhill Noticeboard

Ye are not a Thain

T'was but an old fear of mine that I hoped to be false, but now I see it confirmed by Lily Peregrin herself. The Peregrin family, having lost all of the wisdom of Iris Peregrin, fancy themselves as Halfling Monarchs. She now claims Knox to have personally chosen the Peregrins to rule forever much in the same way that biggun Kings and their Canonist Church claim to rule through the right of GOD.

 

Lily Peregrin so detests the idea of a non-aristocratic Thaindom as to slander all Applefoots in defense of a Peregrin-centric view of history that simply is not true. We Applefoots keep close records of things, and as I now scour through my late father's notes, I note his deep friendship with Thain Iris Peregrin. What would Iris Peregrin, were she alive today, think of Lily's insults towards the Applefoots when near half of her great projects were undergone alongside my father, a proud Applefoot through and through? When the stink of corruption rotted away at Bramblebury, who went alongside Iris and her family to found Knoxville? When Isalie threatened to uplift halflings from our homes and hurl us into biggun refuge, who stuck with Iris and built much of Bloomerville with her? Peregrins and Applefoots have never hated one another, until now of course when Lily brings the topic up in a crude defense of her rule as "Thain". The fact remains that Lily has scant few arguments in defense of her rule as "Thain" other than her family name, and so she must lift it up onto a pedestal and kick down the legacy of every other family so her one argument looks a little nicer.

When Rollo Applefoot founded the very Thaindom that Lily now lays claim to based on Peregrin heritage, he made sure to set a good precedent for future Thains. When the time came to pick his successor, he chose an O'Connel instead of an Applefoot. What Lily fails to understand is that I, Mimosa Applefoot, do not lay claim to Thaindom based on heritage. If such were to be the case, what foolishness would Rollo's non-Applefoot succession choices have been! I do not seek to build a dynasty much in the same way that the Rollo did not build a dynasty either. We Applefoots do not see ourselves as monarchs, aristocrats, or nobles of any kind, nor do we wish to rule "Until Arugula rises from the sea and swallows the whole world", as Lily put it. I wish to rule based on my merit and appoint a successor based on merit as well, which is what now sets me apart from Lily Peregrin's leadership philosophy. I pray for the halflings lured towards Lilly by the promise of power, for although minor positions she may grant and elections she may upend, when the time comes for one Thain to pass onto the next, Lily would only ever appoint another Peregrin, regardless of the service of other halflings and their families.

 

We are all one family under Knox, and one family under Knox we ought to remain instead of only Peregrins under Knox and all other families under the Peregrins. The only monarch I shall ever support in Honeyhill is King Cyris, who unlike Lily, devotes himself to Knox out of love rather than personal gain. We shall not become a Halfling Kingdom ruled as the bigguns rule themselves.

 

-Thain Mimosa Applefoot.

[HalflingPrincess 411]

After reading the latest news from Honeyhill, Julie finally makes a decision she had been pondering for some time...

[Barbog 448]

The resident Goblin of Honeyhill, currently half-drunk (with even his Skygod buzzed to Arugula and back), takes his time to pick his way through the pile of papers outside his door.

Sorting through the mess, of unelected sherrifs and rabblerousing coups, he forces himself to not owe his loyalty to his best-friend Iris (to whom both sides claim inspiration), but rather, to what may be best for Honeyhill at current...

The choice lingers in his head, still quite unclear.

[mateolog 1623]

Chief Mao Blackroot of Hefrumm looks in disapointment at the news in the letter "Fer so maneh years tha halflings 'ad followed Anbella's Balance and tha teachings ef gloin...now there es an usurper tha challanges tha pillars ef tha comuniteh taugh to Gloin's descendants to rule ovah othas? thes will not stand."