VIROS

Are there any characters or character ideas you wish you'd had more time to explore? P.S. James II's time with Vaeri was definitely my favorite experience on the server. <3

I used to feel differently about this, but time and experience have shown me that a 13+ minecraft fantasy roleplay server is usually ill-equipped to handle sensitive topics like homophobia and racism.

The Layman looks in the mirror (an awful affair, for he is ugly with scars of self-mortification) and remarks to himself aloud.

“It came that one of Horen’s people, a man called Saul, had ignored the warning of Julia and left the camp. He wandered into the iniquity which Iblees wrought and coveted the gold and sweet food, and he spoke at length with the Denier. Iblees was cunning and guised Saul with the appearance of Horen, and sent him into the camp of his folk with a message. Saul went among the people of Horen, and he began to work Iblees’ iniquity.” (Gospel 2:28-31) There is a false prophet among us. The Denier has clothed his servant in a cunning disguise, one so lofty few would dare to impeach it. He was sent to work iniquity among the faithful, armed only with a passable costume and a corrupt message: “The True Faith is a malleable thing. You do not need to believe anything particular. Who can say what is true and what is not? You need only obey Me. I speak for God. My conquests are proof.” This impostor calls himself an Owynist, but he does not follow the True Faith of Ex. Owyn, which is the faith of every prophet. For did not Ex. Owyn write “There is no innovation in faith"? (Spirit 2:17) So the false prophet says that Ex. Sigismund himself is an innovation. He claims the scriptures are corrupted. But here has been the dogma of the Church for 500 years: “God has delivered four Scrolls of the countless Holy Scrolls, known as the Canon, through four exalted prophets; Horen I, Owyn I, Godfrey I, and Siegmund I.” The Holy Scrolls are the Word of God. The Four Exalted are the Prophets of God who delivered it. It is not the purview of any man to change that. He who does is an innovator. St. Peter of Gaekrin was a Canonist. He was crowned Holy Orenian Emperor in 1456 by a Church which knew the truth of the four prophets. St. Emma of Woldzimir was a Canonist. She took up arms in the Schism War, that all the four prophets would be recognized. St. Jude of Petrus was a Canonist. He devoted his life to spreading the words of the four prophets to the corners of the world. Theirs is the faith which has existed since the dawn of humanity. Their story is your story. Yet the false prophet tells you they were wrong. He says they fought for nothing–a corrupt faith, a lie. His master, Iblees, hates that the saints and the Scrolls testify against him, and seeks to wipe away their memory forever. So give no credit to this false prophet who has taken hold of the Church, and do not attribute to him the holy name of Ex. Owyn. He must accept all of the prophets or he accepts none of them. He must accept the faith of the saints or reject them. He cannot claim the laurel of the same Exalted he denies. He is not an Owynist. He is a Saulician–a servant of the Denier, and a worshipper only of his own authority. To you who serve him, I offer you this warning: You will have no safety under the Low Priest. If he would deny the prophecy of Sigismund and the truth of the Holy Scrolls, he would deny anything. If he would call the saints liars and fools, he would do the same to you. You will have glory and acclamation for only such a time as you please him. He will demand humility of you but offer none of his own. Your house is built upon shifting sands. Any triumph will mean nothing, for it will exist in timeless present without memory or holiness. If you perish in his service, there will be no reward. You will be consumed by the Void he serves. He is of the Denier, and he will deny you as well. Remember the warning of the Prophet Owyn: "What judge is there but the all-seeing? Who shall advocate against surety?" (Spirit 3:17-18) - The Layman

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I guess I was too hard on it-- nothing lasts forever. Yes, Hunwald published a version of the Canon Law. I think it was the original, even. My revision is about 50-70% his work. Thank you! I'm glad they hold up. That was my first goal, just to give people something realistic to cite. All of the ideological stuff came later. Non-human salvation was something that Dib and I always believed for the Scrolls, but it wasn't explicitly written into them until the Auspice. The fact we added it in the second-round of scripture writing is, I think, one of the complaints of its opponents. But one of my first characters was an Imperial Traditionalist elf, so I always considered it to be a religion people could convert to regardless of race. There are hints of the fact that, originally, we still believed non-descendants were abominations who couldn't be saved. The Auspice describes "fanged men", etc. as being signs of the apocalypse. By the time of my pontificate I had changed my mind on that, and my revision of the canon law allowed them to be Canonists (though with severely-reduced rights). I like your point that the weirdness of the Krug story lends itself to apologetics! It's hard for me to say what was picked up on after James II, since I wasn't paying as close of attention. It's also not always clear what interpretations people arrived at independently vs. got a little "nudge" from me when they asked me to proofread a thesis. But I do keep up with the theses on the church forum as best I can. Off the cuff, I can remember these points being made: The Epistle to the Magi has been correctly (based on my own understanding of correct) interpreted to reflect the fact that magic is one of many tools God grants us, and if used selflessly for the benefit of others, not necessarily evil. This one took incredibly long IMO. The tale of the Adunians and the lords of mixed blood explicitly says there were people of the tribe of Harren who were not of elven descent The fact that female priesthood and gay marriage aren't explicitly ruled out was also noticed, and there's been movement on both It looks like this AMA is winding down, but you can always feel free to message me on Discord about this. I'm clearly happy enough to write about it!

We tried to have as much foresight as possible when we were writing them, to prevent getting stuck with inconvenient dogmas down the road, so there is not much I would change. Dib and I both had hopes for a humanity that wasn't so tied racism/sexism/genocide RP (those are valid narrative themes, but they tend to attract people who believe in them OOCly), so we intentionally left a rhetorical backdoor in any verse that could be used to justify those things. Those backdoors didn't always get noticed or applied like we hoped, so I tried to write down as many of them as possible when playing my pontiff. But IMO it's a little cheap to be a "brilliant scholar" of a book I wrote! I like Canonism more when other people are interpreting it. As long as their argument is internally consistent, I don't mind if it's not what I intended-- it's like being surprised by your players as a DM. I do wish that we hadn't singled out the Krug and the orcs, particularly making it so the kinslaying is what made them have tusks. But that was "locked in", as you put it. I think you and I have discussed before that the original drafts of the Scrolls were more explicit in Krug killing Horen while he was asleep. We later decided it wasn't really in line with his "brutal, but honorable" character and made the wording more ambiguous. I actually regret that change, if only because it led to people thinking a lot more of the Scrolls were changed than they ever were-- that's the only major edit to the first half that we did after 2015. But I do wish it hadn't been written that way in the first place. It creates a theological imbalance between the races, and encourages the idea that some Descendants are innately evil. It's sort of ugly. I wouldn't say it restricted our writings. It was a change we both pushed for ourselves. We thought it was a bad look to be constantly making and unmaking prophets like that, and it distracted emperors from their actual job when they all wanted to become living gods. We tried to tie the scriptures up pretty tight to prevent any future rewrites by overly-ambitious rulers. If anything, we probably tied it too tight. There are people who care about dogma and people who don't; in the end we just ended up restricting the people who care about it, whereas the people who don't care weren't impacted at all. (e.g. the current High Pontiff denies Sigismund, despite asserting a separation of church and state that was Sigismund's doing. The monarchs of Godfrey's line appointed and fired high priests, they certainly weren't overthrown or forcefully put into regencies by them!) As a sidebar, this is a lesson I also l learned with the Canon Law. I put a lot of work into that revision to try to resolve as many recurrent conflicts as I could. But, a) it was so long no one read it, and b) people wanted to have the conflicts it tried to resolve, so they didn't heed it.

I would have liked to make the Church less Catholic-themed, for one. I think that was within our grasp if we pushed it, but it was just easy to go with the existing titles and structure. But I do think the theme tends to drive people away who want something more creative or fantastical, and it's a shame to miss out on those players. As far as the Canon, I would've liked to include a book of minor prophets between Owyn and Godfrey, or at least have some more fleshed-out characters throughout the Gospel narrative. There are only a few names given, and only the prophets really get any characterization. Plus, I don't think a woman has a single line of dialog in the whole book. The Scrolls are very barebones because frankly it's hard to write that much and I didn't have the skill at the time. Generally I'm not happy with the direction it took. There were some good parts, but in the long scale I think it went the wrong way. On my end, I particularly regret the consequences of patronizing Draeris for so long (I have a bleeding heart and I tend to believe sob stories, which has burned me many times on this server). I could write a book about this but I'll try to keep it short. I think that temporal power for the Church is always a boondoggle and ultimately corrupting to its moral authority. We designed it as a compliment to the panhumanist empire, a sort of "check" on its power. In the lengthy absence of an empire--or even in the presence of an empire like the Novellen one, which explicitly rejected panhumanism by voluntarily ceding Haense--the Church starts to get weird. Having its own interests and its own desire for wealth and authority will, ultimately, undercut it. It's impossible for a High Pontiff to live up to the saintly standard set for it if he's also the richest, largest, and strongest temporal power (see John of Darfey). The Church is better in a supplementary role: strengthening, correcting, and elaborating on Canonist nations. But I haven't played in 3 years and may not have a handle on things enough to judge. Include other people! Have a co-author, not just an editor. And tie it into existing player-made lore as much as possible-- that's what makes people interested, that they feel like their contribution to the world is acknowledged and highlighted. For religions, always go beyond just listing a pantheon with deities, their portfolios, and their personalities. The larger part of religion is about the people who follow it: how they see themselves and the world. Some questions to consider: is the highest virtue wisdom, mercy, honor or something else? Where does authority come from? Why do people suffer? Does divine revelation happen continuously, or did it end a long time ago? Is there a priesthood (or multiple?), and how are they different from laymen? Can everyone achieve the highest goal of the faith, or is it restricted to a few? I really can't say. I doubt it, if only because there were already so many Canonist human nations that it's only natural for there to be one that wasn't. I still would've done exactly what you did. It's good roleplay. I'm also not much of an NL, so I don't have much advice for them, or about overhauling communities. Under the circumstances I'm not sure there's much else you could have done better with Sutica. Maybe if Oren wasn't so insistent on having an enemy, their backing would have helped your reforms stick. But it may also have led to you getting absorbed and erased like Curonia, Suffonia, and Kaedrin. I really don't know.

"Un-ask the question. Without boundaries, there is no outside." (Aeseoth is my answer) To preface-- for Asioth, the first poem is straight lifted from the Emerald Tablet. I've never really put my method into words, but I can try. Basically I identify a few evocative pieces of imagery, keep returning to them, and expanding on the interplay between the concept discussed and the symbol used to represent it. So Canonism has the Fruit of Virtue. Fruit is a good symbol for a Christian-esque religion based in salvation-- there's the Garden of Eden connection; it's something natural, beautiful, and provides nourishment; it's almost bursting with pure, fresh, primordial sweetness. Then I expand the metaphor: virtue grows like fruit; God gave us a garden of abundance; people without the fruit of virtue are starving spiritually. In the case of Asioth, I wanted to use something more alchemical, trying to hint at the idea that this religion is about secret knowledge which can't be laid out in neat words like Canonist dogma, only worked out by each individual for themselves. I was drawn to the alchemical fascination with the moon as a luminary that transforms the light of the sun into a new kind of light. It's reliant upon the sun because it doesn't generate its own, but it's still contributing to the heavens in a way only it can. It has a unique, individual perspective which is still sustained by another. "Greater loves lesser, core loves periphery." The fire and the vessel are a sort of re-stating of that concept-- unlike Canonism, which only uses a few mostly unrelated symbols (water, fruit, etc.), Asioth uses clusters of related metaphors to "walk around the shape of an idea." Metaphors aren't as good when you explain them, but those are my thoughts. Thank you! I hope it's helpful. Not very much. I learned some Brathmordakin for the short time I played dwarf, but I haven't retained it after so long. I kept up with the Red Faith for a bit, partly because it was a religious competitor, but mainly because I was really impressed with the writing. The religions of orcs, elves, etc. never really drew me. I'm a human through and through. Most of the Gospel references things that were already determined. It was, initially, a "compromise" of many competing religious narratives among different groups. (e.g. We made it so that most Harrenite lords were bad, to assuage the playerbase who liked doing Adunian prejudice; but we made it clear that their subjects were virtuous, if enslaved, to ensure we weren't permanently losing a large segment of potential humans.) Our biggest innovation that I can think of was re-telling the story of Godfrey, such that he never personally called himself a living god, but only allowed other people to do it. Trying to usurp God was such a massive sin of arrogance that we couldn't really let a prophet get away with it and the story make sense. But I played Godfrey's scribe and, yes, he most certainly did claim to be God incarnate. A specific timeline is lost to Skype, but broadly: I started first drafts in 2013 but abandoned them shortly thereafter. In 2014, Dib convinced me to pick it back up and persuaded me to include Sigismund (I had been an Imperial Traditionalist who rejected him). By 2015, the first 2.5 scrolls (Virtue, Spirit, and the first half of Gospel) were mostly in their modern forms, but the last half of Gospel and all of Auspice were only in "outline" bullet points instead of prose. In 2018/2019 we finished the rest of them and released them in private to the priesthood. Then they all went public when I played James II. Other players were consulted in the drafting scrolls, but unfortunately I can't think of anyone in particular. Basically we just roped in whoever the relevant people at the time to see what they thought was important for humanity as far as morality and historical narrative. I don't think we ever shared entire scrolls until they were done-- it's hard to remember though. Thank you! I credit @Crackerfor the better parts of them. I'm good at the "fairy tale" prose, but for narrative I tend to fall back into cliches. He makes sure I keep things interesting and every story has its own unique themes. Two reasons: a. When Dibley originally convinced me to write them, I was still skeptical of recognizing Sigismund as a prophet. I sort of insisted he have a shorter book than the rest on that basis; Dib relented because he thought it was worth it to have me in, which is flattering. a. I just like sets of 7 and sets of 3. I particularly like the number 24 because it's made up of three sets of 7 and one set of 3. Couldn't tell you why 🤷‍♂️

I hope you enjoy them! Most of the other areas of history have been covered by other writers now (notably and recently,@Nectorist's Decline and Fall series), so the latter 3 Epochs are not necessarily needed--just wish I had finished them. It has been a while now, but the Sermons of Vivec, the Nu-Mantia Intercept, and the Monomyth are favorites. The latter two are more, I guess "metaphysical", than religious. But it's all the same bones.

Thank you! That's a good question--I think my biggest one is I wish I had finished the Epochs of the Empire. It was meant to be a five volume series but we only finished two.

I think all Canonist heresies are interesting broadly, but there's usually not as much meat on them as I'd like. I'm more excited when people put in the effort to document and justify beliefs than not; so for the modern Owynists, I'd be interested if they put more effort into trying to prove their claims IRP. I do think it's a little strange for a religious leader and most of his followers to differ on how many prophets there are and what counts as scripture. But that's just my perspective; I don't play here anymore, so people can roleplay how they like. 🤷‍♂️ Anti-Siegmundism specifically is a little played out for me because I was anti-siegmundist myself, 13 years ago (although we were called Imperial Traditionalists instead of Owynists at the time). But I was persuaded of panhumanism and the role the True Faith could play in it. I was tired of human infighting making us lose wars. I would never have played the Princess Imperial towards the end of the Novellen Empire. She was supposed to be a sort of "retirement character" after spending a year as pontiff. But I got roped into the politics of an exploding empire, and it went as well as everyone saw. If I had to go back, I'd have just stopped playing after James II, while I was still enjoying myself. Also, I wish I had instituted female priesthood as pontiff-- I'm envious my successors got that win. I think I could've pulled it off if I wasn't so worried about precedent.

When Canonism was just called the True Faith, it was common to either cite the real Bible IRP or to invent quotes and give them a random verse number. At first, I just thought it'd be nice if we had a real book to cite. I wrote a few outlines but never got around to making anything solid until @Cracker convinced me that a unified humanity needed a unified scripture. So in the beginning it was a panhumanist project to reconcile the Raevir, Heartlander, and Waldenian playerbases into one human playerbase. We also wanted it to be a "book of morals" to strengthen the playerbase. So a lot of the narratives or themes have a purpose along those lines (e.g., not intermarrying with other races was intended to prevent forming coalitions with nonhumans, criticizing Godfrey for claiming to be god-emperor was to discourage the political weirdness of personality cults, etc.) Yes, but try something more creative like nailing a written protest to an opposing clergyman I'll preface this by saying that I don't really think what I wrote of Canonism is my most interesting work. It's more Christian/Catholic than I had really planned, but that's what the playerbase wanted at the time we started it. My favorite religious work I wrote for LotC is Asioth The religious lore I like best is in Elder Scrolls. It's trippy like religion should be I can't say there's a formula, or if there is I don't have it. My biggest advice is that every individual word should have a purpose within both the sentence and the story. There's an instinct when writing "up-register" into something theological or academic to add pointless rhetorical frills, or fancy synonyms that don't quite match the intended meaning. I recommend reading this essay by George Orwell Amaranth

Does it count if I haven't played in the past 3? I co-wrote the Holy Scrolls with @Crackera long time ago. You can also ask me about things that aren't the Scrolls. AMA Edit: Guess I should include that I wrote Asioth too Proof attached

THE LOTHAR STONES THE THIRD TABLET Kin DEDICATION Beloved Daughter, You are dearly missed in Veloz, but your family’s pride in you surpasses all else. You are the first of our house to return to the Aegisian exiles in nearly two hundred years. Our ancestors were common scribes and priests, sworn ever to serve greater lords. Yet now one of us may soon guide the fate of a great kingdom. I do not doubt that you are humble of this achievement and will say the path was cleared for you. But always remember that what you have done is also your work. To mark your triumph for our house, I have enclosed a work of our best scribes: a translation of one of the tablets of your St. Lothar. His house was mightier than ours, but met a worse fate. He claims this was the channel his kindred dug for him. I believe we also dig our own life’s channel. You have made yours well, as I know you will for your kindred-to-be. With Love, Affection, Deference, and Pride, Your Devoted Father, Arif Godfrey Virosi III. KIN This ink rendering of the third tablet depicts the arrival of Bero IV’s royal host at his capital, Sibilsgard, in preparation for a celebratory triumph. Note the different modes of entry on the left and right hand: according to a custom established by Bero IV’s great-grandfather, the day preceding a triumph was marked by a ritual expulsion of foreigners (with exemptions for concubines, slaves, and ambassadors). As the gates were shut to common traffic during a triumph, refugees had to choose between waiting three days outside the city or returning by boat. Meanwhile, on the right hand, the figure beneath the parasol is likely not Bero IV, despite his royal attire. The Balthalite emperor would have entered at the head of the army. Instead, it is probably a vassal king, brought along as one of his war trophies. Triumphs—and the wealth they brought—were essential in winning the support of Sibilsgard. Bero IV’s cessation of them in the latter half of his reign likely contributed to his unpopularity, despite his extensive victories abroad. Kinship is water pushing water, so we Balthali believe. Our lives flow through channels dug by those before us. They made us as we are. Their world becomes our world. Before I, Lothar, was given life, my kindred had already set my course. On the day of the Fourth Bero’s anointment, the priests brought a maiden before him. She was called Adelheid, the holy name of Owyn’s wife. They laid prophecies and blessings upon her. She was promised to bear him a fated child. So he took her as his wife. He vowed to be faithful to her, as his own father had not been to his mother. For his kin too had dug a channel for him. My mother was kind and patient. She forebore the pride of her husband. And wrapped him up with sweetness, for a time. Their first year of marriage bore my sister, Doda. She had the name of our father’s mother. She was bold and majestic. She neither forebore nor acted in haste. It seemed the prophecies and blessings of the priests fell upon her, for she was swift in growing and knew many things before her time. My father was pleased to have such a mighty heir. Their third year bore my brother, Fulko. He had the name of our mother’s father. He was handsome and beloved by all. He did as always as he was bid, and asked for no glory. The people of Sibilsgard kept him in their heart. So my father had a daughter and a son each. It seemed the prophecy of the priests was finished. The House of Balthier passed pleasant years together in Sibilsgard. Those days ended before ever, I, Lothar, drew breath. Yet still I think of them fondly. The ebb of the past pulls at us all. My father’s conquests took him far afield. Old provinces he reclaimed, and new ones he named. His visits to the capital grew ever rarer. Adelheid reigned over Sibilsgard in his stead. She raised their children to know wisdom and restraint. But war was always the true bride of the Fourth Bero, and victories, his best children. Twelve years before my birth, the Great Rebellion rose up in the south. It was the work of my father’s half-brother, Hanno. He was the son of a concubine. He made alliance with three mighty tribes, sealed with three brides. The Fourth Bero brought his war-camp swiftly to cast down the host of Hanno. But in his anger, he slew also his half-brother. This was not the way of the Balthali. The blood of kin we do not spill. The Fourth Bero sought his vengeance upon the tribes. He would not release them from their bondage, yet they would not submit. They knew their own land well. Thus their rebellion lasted another year. But the Fourth Bero longed to return to conquest. At last he made a peace, to be sealed with three brides. He foreswore his vow of faith to our mother. The widows of Hanno he took as his wives. Then he married often to seal his conquests. But the prophecy of the priests was not yet finished. A channel had been dug. The year of my birth was a mighty one for the Fourth Bero. All the south was yoked beneath him. His heir was now a woman grown with children of her own. She had taken up rule of the capital in his stead. All said the majesty and justice of Doda surpassed any since Balthier. Then news came that Adelheid would bear a third child. His chief wife had forty years, but was still as fruitful as a maiden. He ordered a triumph in Sibilsgard to mark his many victories. The House of Balthier surely flourished. In glory came the host of the Fourth Bero to his capital. He sent for his daughter and son to make arrangements. His army would march through the east gate. He would proclaim Doda’s rule in his stead as perpetual. He would laden the city with trophies of war and give blessings to his wife. Then he would depart through the west gate. Only a single rising and setting of the sun could my father spare. The world still awaited the conquest of the Fourth Bero. But Fulko would not stand this dishonor. He had seen the strain of rule upon his sister. War brought no glory to Sibilsgard, but troubles. The Fourth Bero’s heir was mighty, surpassing all before. But he shirked his duty to her and his city. His daughter’s children did not know his face. His coming child would greet no father at his birth. And he had foresworn his vow of faith to Adelheid. He fathered other sons on other wives, all with claims as Hanno had. Surely, the House of Balthier flourished. Fulko spoke these fierce words to our father. The Fourth Bero heard not, but marked them well. Then he asked the thought of Doda. My sister was too mighty a ruler to deny the truth of it. But she was wiser in her speech. She knew the minds of others. Let her father lay down the burden of conquest, she offered. Let him stay in Sibilsgard to see all he had won. For his other wives and sons, let him set them aside with kindness. Good pensions would ensure their loyalty. But let the Fourth Bero stay to see the flourishing of his House. He would not. The Fourth Bero did not love the splendor of Sibilsgard. His skill was in battle, and Doda’s in rule. And what was the skill of Fulko, but audacity? For his daughter’s sake, the Fourth Bero spent his life at war. His work would be done when all the world was hers. But no more would he return to Sibilsgard, if he troubled Fulko so. This second vow he swore, and left. At last, I, Lothar, was born. My mother gave me the name of the priest who had brought her to my father. The gift of a prince’s name was given in thanks for three blessed children. No one comes into a world of their own making. My life’s water poured into its channel. Triumphs passed not through Sibilsgard in the youth of Lothar. Each year heralds came with gifts and tales of glory from my father. To my mother and I, he sent exotic treasures. To my sister and brother, he sent trophies of war and few commands. Only kind words they spoke of him. Yet his gifts they passed on to me. It seemed then that adults had no need for such things. For me, the Fourth Bero was only a shadow of a tale. But my kindred gave me happy days in Sibilsgard. In that city, my mother taught me wisdom and restraint. Her handmaidens were clever in letters and kind to a young prince. My sister showed me majesty and justice. She sat me by her side while she ruled in our father’s stead. My brother gave me honesty and love of life. He garbed me in peasant’s clothes and took me down among the people. I did not see my father’s face until my fourteenth year. Royal Doda passed suddenly from this earth. Some whispered that the strain of duty took her. Or perhaps the Creator reclaimed the fruit of Adelheid, in vengeance for my father’s vow. But no duty was too great for Doda, and the Creator knows no vengeance. Grief fell upon the Fourth Bero at this news. His daughter had left six children. They were each born but a year apart, and all as mighty as she. Yet the keepers of lineage said her eldest could not be his heir. A grandchild could not inherit before a living son. This was not the way of the Balthali. So the Fourth Bero foreswore another vow. In rage, his host returned to Sibilsgard. It seemed a siege was upon us. He would not enter the city, but spoke from outside the gate. The dictate of the Fourth Bero to his capital: “My soldiers say a dog must return to his bone. He cannot be free of it, while he knows where it is buried. Now I, the Fourth Bero, return to you, Sibilsgard. Do you remember the prophecies and blessings laid upon my daughter? She surpassed all in majesty, you have said. I have ridden far and won many campaigns, for the sake of her inheritance. But all for naught. Doda has passed, and my heart along with her. Yet her eldest daughter I cannot even call my heir. It is carved upon obelisks of lineage you love to praise. They loom larger in your hearts than I or her. What good are the prophecies and blessings of priests? Only eight years has lived the daughter of Doda, and fewer still her siblings. Yet I am told it is our custom to rob these orphans. I will not enter this capital of mine. Let Fulko rule you for now, if you love him so. And let him raise up the line of Doda, as proof of his faith. I shall ride far in my campaigns, and guard my life, only for their sake. But first you shall send to me my youngest son. You will not trouble his heart as you did my daughter’s. A war-camp will be of better health to him than this City of Splendor.” There was silence for a time. The streets of Sibilsgard whispered of the wickedness of the Fourth Bero. He had spurned his capital and would not name his son as heir. He did not enter even to give comfort to his wife. In darkness, he was called the Serpent King, who returned not with glories but venom. Yet honest Fulko came forth to do as our father bid. For the sake of Doda, he swore to rule as best he could and raise her children up. Then he gave me over to my father’s care. I would enter the camp of the Fourth Bero, to learn the love of war. Thus ended the happy years of the House of Balthier in Sibilsgard. My kindred flowed through channels dug by those who came before. In their flowing, they dug too the channel of my life. Once they made me as I was. Their world became my world. As now my world becomes yours. No branch is cut off from the tree of life.

THE LOTHAR STONES THE FIFTH AND EIGHT TABLETS Splendor & War ABSTRACT The Lothar Stones are marble engravings regarding life in the Bathalite Empire, otherwise known as Old Balian, dated somewhere between the fifth to seventh century. They are attributed to St. Lothar the Bannerlord, the final dynast of that ancient civilization. At least twelve of these stones are believed to be in existence, with each depicting the perspectives of Lothar and his countrymen on various topics. They are written in Old Balthalite, a script similar to non-Dragaari Flexio. The tablets presented herein were discovered as a pair in an antiquity shop. They were purchased and translated by Caspian of Rhen, the Lesser, who now presents them to the Balianese people as a gift to mark the accession of their king, Alexander II. SYNOPSIS The Fifth Tablet, Splendor, describes the capital of the Balthalite Empire in the time of St. Lothar's grandfather, Emperor Lugo II. The period depicted is the zenith of the empire's wealth and dominion. It is written as an epitaph to the author's father, and the son of Lugo II, who was Bero IV. Like all tablets in the series, it freely addresses events both contemporary to St. Lothar and before his birth. In particular, Splendor seems to be an explanation of why St. Lothar continued to honor his ancestors despite rejecting their failures. The Eighth Tablet, War, chronicles the transformation of the Balthalite Empire, first from a liberating force (at the time of its founding by the mythical Balthier) into an imperial hegemony under the later emperors, and at last, its overthrow by St. Lothar. In it, the author admits guilt for his participation in the empire's conquests, and attempts to provide justification for his eventual rebellion against his father. V. SPLENDOR VIII. WAR

Elegy for an Empire (1868) by Caspian of Rhen A herald came to town today, unlike the one who came before. She bore no banner, wore no clothes, and spoke nothing but two words: ‘Again, again!’ the magpie cried, its voice a laughing girl’s. ‘Again, again!’ the magpie mocked, and flew into the woods. Few heard the feathered herald’s cry, as few had heard the day before, when another messenger arrived, his voice thundr’ing: “No more!” “No more will you know hunger, no more will you struggle, and no more will soldiers come, to trample your green fields. No more will vultures plunge to gorge upon your wayward sons. For Hark! A prince is born to us, a final prince, a final war.” A hundred years, four score, and ten, that old familiar promise echoed. But ignorant of the tongue of men the magpie’s forecast never erred: ‘Again! Again!’

Josephine Augusta curses the murderous Mary Casimira, who slew her beloved brother in his own home. "May she rot in the Void-- no prayers for her," she hisses.

The Archchancellor remains confident that her brother Philip Aurelian takes after his son, and will soon return from the dead at the head of a mercenary army to save the country. He can't be dead. He just can't. Nevertheless, she can't stop crying.

“Your people have proven themselves once again,” remarks the Archchancellor to her second-in-command @Minuvas

The Archchancellor marvels at the speed of her imperial father's quill. "He can really move when he wants to, can't he, Anne?" @Fie

The Archchancellor receives the ultimatum while taking her morning tea. She addresses her Vice-Chancellor, "Ulfric's beard will make fine material for my brother's coronation wig, don't you think?" @Minuvas

Josephine Augusta leans back in her desk, her dutiful implementation of the DeNurem blueprints nearly complete. ((Hope you guys like it! Thanks to all our builders.))

Josephine Augusta, aunt to Philip Amadeus, is utterly shocked. "Who could have predicted the Duke would fake his own death? Certainly not I," she remarks.

The Archchancellor stamps the travel advisory as it passes across her desk, sighing. “So much to do during a war—so many policies to approve, so many opinions to have.”

"His Holiness does not quail before the baseless accusations of heathens. I am glad to see he will stand up for Canondom," remarks the Archchancellor to her imperial brother, @ErikAzog