Chroniken der Fürstin [VOL II]

[Toffee 1110]

 

CHRONIKEN DER GROßFÜRSTIN VON MINITZ

CHRONICLES OF THE GRAND PRINCESS OF MINITZ

Published by the Großfürstin Adalfriede von Hexenwald

in the year of our Lord 1965

 

 

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VOL I (LINK)

 

 

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SÖHNE UND TÖCHTER VON MINITZ,

 

 

We have struck out into the hinterlands, constructing a camp on the site that will soon be our new city. A city built by Reinmaren hands, for a Reinmaren way of life. The first of its kind. As we crested a ridge and the alpine landscape unfurled before us, we were met with craggy ravines and a sea of heather, a wash of purple and blue throughout the entire valley. We must be as the heather plant; sturdy and resilient, bringing colour to the world.

 

Inside Adelmar’s home, breaking bread prior to the skaldic performance.

 

CULTURE AND THE ARTS

 

For the Martyr’s Day Festival commemorating those lost in the War for the Heartlands, the young Lady Jadwiga Jazlowiecki put on a charming puppet show. Using puppets she had hand sewn, she crafted a humorous interpretation of the treacherous Richard Stassion stealing land from the mighty Dragon of Aaun. While Lady Jadwiga’s production was disrupted by the arrival of envoys from Hyspia requesting help for their Viceroyal, who had been captured by orcs, I have high expectations for her future in theatre.

 

The Reinmaren people are no strangers to performances and epic poetry. I witnessed a story performed by Lord Adelmar Barclay von Kanunsberg, who using shadows and light from a simple candle transformed his face and demeanour as he told the tale of the Blind Man and the Duke. 

 

In a land shrouded in stories, there lived a blind old man, who sang songs about Leon Barclay, a Duke he had never seen. That summer, he sang his song upon the Duke's name, and whispered tales of the man to anyone who would pass. The Duke Leon that summer called a folkmoot to hear of his tribe. The warriors of the land gathered, and their sons and daughters. The blind beggar, a gyjsh among men—an elder—had the right of attendance.

 

There, he knew Leon Barclay sat in front of him in the moot, the very man he had never seen. He said, motioning with his hand towards his front, “I would touch upon your face, Chieftain of Mine. As my lips have sung your song, then let me truly picture the hero of my sagas and songs.”

 

Duke Leon told onto this blind beggar, “Come then, and feel the visage of the Herzog that you yearn for.” 

 

Though, the Duke, upon the throne, denies this request with the push of his hand, dragging a warrior that stood guard next to him in front of his own visage, so that the elder's hands would touch upon the face of that common soldier instead.

 

“So I have touched upon your visage, and have built an image upon my mind of what a true Duke looks like. I will tell everyone that I saw the Herzog, Leon Barclay.”

 

Then, the hirdmen, councillors, warriors and all are bewildered and confused, that the Duke fooled the beggar with the face of that common warrior. “O, Chieftain of mine,” they cried onto him. “Why have you fooled this beggar so? Is it not your face that would glorify his song?” 

 

“Aren't I and the next Tribesman the same? Are we not one and the same as our people? And if we die, you and I, and Brandt, the people will live on. They will continue to clash with the enemy, and they will win. My younger days are behind me, anyone can say that I am weak, and that my hands no longer can yield the spear. Yet, generations will live after me, they will sing my song and your song. They will speak of my name as their ancestor, they will say that my horse hurdles the mountains and the hills. In my land they will raise their children as Reinmaren, as Theoderic did his. My hands whither. Yet, there will always be tribesmen that will say that my sword splits mountains in two.”

 

WHAT IT IS TO BE A LEADER

 

In the above tale lies the true meaning of leadership. Action and influence, not the symbol of a crown, is what makes a ruler. The common folk care not for titles, but for how their leader can serve them, protecting them from wolves and providing them with a bountiful harvest.

 

I encountered my husband instructing Lady Frederica, the Baroness of Sigradz, on her future as a leader of the Reinmaren people. Duty, honour, and family are what is most important in this world—the pursuit of personal pleasures is secondary. Grand Prince Leon exists as a pillar on which Reinmaren honour and the Kanun rests. I have witnessed him have the choice between an easy, more practical path, and a more difficult path which maintains his honour both as a man and as a Grand Prince. Every time, he chooses honour.

 

The Kanun is sacred, and so is honour. Material desires hold no station above honour or law. Should I ever try to dissolve either, let the tribesmen cast me out and cut me with swords!

 

THE MAGIC COMMISSION REPORT

 

In the year of our Lord 1963, His Holiness, Sixtus VI published a report providing clarity on the Church’s stance on magic. Within this report, various forms of Voidal magicks such as elementalism and transfiguration were deemed to be sanctioned.

 

During the Royal Court of the same year, the Lord Bailiff Peter Stroheim raised this issue with the Grand Prince. He urged Grand Prince Leon to amend Book One, Chapter III.V of the Grand Kanun, which reads:

 

ON MAGIC: The one who channels the wicked powers of magic not be allowed to step within the walls of Minitz, for the Kanun will not allow the foot that was dipped into the darkness of the void to corrupt the soil of our land. Those who practice wicked magics, not approved by the Holy Church, or that touch on anything which GOTT has not given us descendants from our birth shall not be allowed within the Herzogtum. They will find themselves escorted, and, if continuously again they show themselves amongst our populace, their feet will be cut. Their hands will be separated from their bodies if such magics they practice. Those who Housemagery, Bardomancy, or soul magics shall be exempt from this wrongdoing. Those who practice Paladinism and druidism must acquire permission from the Herzog or the Lawspeaker to enter Minitz. The mage who the void of Iblees has touched enjoys no right to be trialed by Ordeal or Combat, for the tricks of the devil are unknown.

 

The proposed amendment is to explicitly disallow all Voidal magicks. With the wording of the current law, the Magic Commission Report shows that there are some forms of Voidal magic which could be deemed to be approved by the Holy Church, and therefore permissible within Minitz. The laws of Minitz have always been stricter against magic-wielders and non-humans compared to other Canonist realms. Even with this much needed and respected guidance from the Church, we must safeguard our people, customs and culture.

 

The Grand Prince accepted Lord Peter’s petition—the amendment will be discussed at Moot under the guidance of the Lawspeaker.

 

GATHERING OF THE HIRD

 

It is tradition for the Grand Prince and Princess to build a personal household, known as their hird. I have been building my own hird, welcoming my sister-in-law Lady Gertrude Barclay as my foremost lady-in-waiting. I have also received Isolde Sturmweber’s schwur as my sworn protector, or hirdman, and commissioned a spear in her honour for her use in the protection of my household. 

 

The shaft is carved with a depiction of Isolde in the forests near Velen, striking down a Frankish warrior. This is what prompted my admiration for her martial abilities. I know that, with her by my side and GOTT watching over us, my person shall remain safe. She has already proved her mettle in discovering and remedying a security breach within Minitz alongside Mariola Sturmweber, and accompanying me on a journey into the hinterlands to see the lands that will soon be our home.

 

The Angel of Justice appearing before Grand Prince Leon II, Brandt Cardinal Albarosa, and Grand Princess Adalfriede of Hexenwald.

 

A MESSAGE FROM THE DIVINE

 

Brandt Cardinal Albarosa, Grand Prince Leon’s grandfather and the namesake of our eldest son, visited us in Kanunsberg Castle late last year. He had come to create a star chart for little Brandt Wulfhard, to glean what his future holds.

 

With the reading complete, the Cardinal Albarosa moved to stow his astrolabe away when the sky erupted into a radiant aurora in the shape of the Lorraine cross. An angel descended from the heavens, heralded by trumpet calls and a circle of holy fire, his great wings sweeping the clouds and an ephemeral blade clutched in his grip. He pointed the tip of his blade and bathed the balcony around us in a ring of flames, burning hot with the Lord’s justice.

 

“Man has shunned the Lord. They have put selfish desires over Him; the vicar of GOD has put secular affairs over his vow and commitment to our Lord. Too filled with rage, is one who must guide the flock of Man. Look, as the Kingdoms of GOD fight and ramble, so incessant in their needless rebellion against the Kingdom of Heaven. Be it so, then, that should this continue, that no Man will ascend to the Seven Skies again, and that I have been tasked to lock the gates of heaven. Please, guide them again, so that I am allowed to see Man enter the gates of heaven again. It is not only GOD that cries, but all of us.”

 

These are the words the angel said unto us, along with the grave tidings that the darkness of Iblees has once again touched our realm. Brandt Cardinal Albarosa will save us from this venom; he will convert the non-believers, and burn the darkness away until we are all bathed in the Lord’s warmth and light.

 

I rode with Mariola Sturmweber between select Canonist nations that very night, spreading the angel’s words. We were met with scorn and disdain in the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska, benign interest in the Commonwealth of the Petra, and fervent support in the Kingdom of Númendil. Just as the angel is a servant and slave to the Lord God—a messenger—so too must we be messengers. It is our duty as good sons and daughters of the Church of the Canon to convert the non-believers and to remind those who wear a cross and sleep through Mass that GOD is watching and sees through their veneer.

 

An age of true belief is upon us.

 

The skeletal remains of the burned demon in the courtyard of the Holy See.

 

THE CLEANSING OF EVIL

 

Following an investigation by Brandt Cardinal Albarosa, an unrepentant demon had its magic stripped and was condemned to death by burning at the stake. As the cleansing column of flame reached its burning tendrils towards the heavens, the glowing aurora in the shape of the Lorraine cross revealed itself to us once more.

 

The Cardinal Albarosa is doing the Lord’s work, punishing sinners and banishing Iblees’ taint from the land. GOD has shown us a symbol of his favour, and so this blessed work will continue until we can walk in peace once more.

 

 

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WER RASTET, DER ROSTET

 

 

HER SERENE HIGHNESS, Adalfriede of Hexenwald, Grand Princess of Minitz

 

[ibiou 1575]

1 hour ago, Toffee said:

For the Martyr’s Day Festival commemorating those lost in the War for the Heartlands, the young Lady Jadwiga Jazlowiecki put on a charming puppet show. Using puppets she had hand sewn, she crafted a humorous interpretation of the treacherous Richard Stassion stealing land from the mighty Dragon of Aaun. While Lady Jadwiga’s production was disrupted by the arrival of envoys from Hyspia requesting help for their Viceroyal, who had been captured by orcs, I have high expectations for her future in theatre.

JADWIGA JAZLOWIECKI showed Volume II, with much enthusiasm, towards her royal companion CHARLES ALSTION. She'd become ever-so braggish these past few months after her achievements of medicine and of the arts, flaunting them like nobody's business. "She mentioned me, and my future! I have never felt so accomplished!" The paper was shoved into the Lord of Alba's face, before Jadwiga let out a squeal and twirled around on the spot. "Look how smart I've become, Charlie!"

@Olox_

[Haseroth 953]

Spoiler

A good read, Reinmar = +1