Caranthir_

Representing the party of the Kingdom of the Petra, Her Majesty Renile I Representing the party of the United Kingdom of Aaun, His Excellency Olivier Dieuxmont The Petran party immediately and forever rescinds the sovereign and territorial claim of the lowlands (lowlands 3), releasing all who live there and reside there in tenancy to the Petran state by those said people's consent. The party of the United Kingdom of Aaun immediately clarifies forever and alone its sovereign right and territorial claim of the lowlands. The party of the United Kingdom of Aaun consents to annex the land as a core and integral part of their sovereign polity; immediately accepting oaths of fealty from those who live and reside there; And also the Kingdom of the Petra party affirms and the United Kingdom of Aaun accepts the sovereign right and territorial claim of the Petran party to the Langkette Pass (birch_forest_1) BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Majesty, and by the consent of the Estates, in this Royal Diet assembled; In witness whereof We have signed this Amendment at the Hand of Horen on the twenty-fifth of Godfrey’s Triumph in the first year of Our reign, HIS MAJESTY, Edmund II Alstion, By the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Aaun and of His other Territories King, Prince of Alstion, Duke of Corazon and Balamena, Count of Enswerp and Whitespire, Protector of the Realm, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, Richard Leonus Novellen, Count of Stassion, Baron of Renzfeld AND, HER MAJESTY, Renilde I, By the Grace of God, Queen of the Petra, Countess of Temesch and Moere, Marchioness of the East March Ends.

The C O N S T A N C E R I V E R A C C O R D S Issued and Confirmed by His Excellency the High Emissary on the 5th Sigismund’s End 1937 ARTICLE I - SOVEREIGNTY The United Kingdom of Aaun and the Kingdom of the Petra, or henceforth ‘the parties’, recognise each other’s sovereignty and the rule of their domains, and their respective monarchs. ARTICLE II - NON-AGGRESSION The parties pledge to each other to adhere to principles of peace between each other, they shall not wage war upon one another, nor shall they raise arms against one another or try to bring harm to the integrity of one another’s sovereign nation. ARTICLE III: CLAIMS AND BORDERS The parties agree that, in aid of peace and mutual understanding, as well as the inviolability of borders, that territorial claims shall be treated as the sovereign right of each party to designate, the forsaid not to be disregarded or maligned in any way; And recognising this to be an undeniable truth, the parties commit forever to uphold and not to infringe on their mutually agreed territorial claims, either by claiming in any way or settling meddling dishonouring or subverting the forsaid; That is to say, The meadowlands shall be the sovereign right of the party of the Kingdom of the Petra to claim entirely alone and forever; The Alpes des Saintes and the forests they nestle up to the western edges of the Silver Sea shall be the sovereign right of the party of the United Kingdom of Aaun to claim entirely alone and forever. ARTICLE IV - TRADE AGREEMENT The parties are to exchange stalls free of rent in their respective capitals to foster outstanding economic ties. Any tariffs beforehand imposed are revoked, and the creation of new ones are forbidden. The parties are in agreement towards access of facilities pertaining to materials restricted in their respective lands. This includes but not limited to as applicable; horse farms, wheat fields, and mines to produce greater steels; That is to say, the Petran party accepts and allows six miners freedom to move through the said party’s territory for the express purpose of prospecting for the rare mineral Daemonsteel, and declares that they are not to be disturbed for those purposes should they present their letters of warrant; And further, the party of the United Kingdom of Aaun accepts and allows a stables to be made in the Crownlands beside Whitespire for the breeding of purebred horses, and declares that any stablehand of the Petran party are not to be disturbed for those purposes should they present their letters of warrant. ARTICLE V: DIPLOMATIC PRINCIPLES The parties jointly agree on the principle of the exchange of envoys to each others governments to aid and facilitate dialogue and mutual understanding; to this end, the party of the United Kingdom of Aaun will send an envoy pro-tempore to the Kingdom, and the reverse party is willing to be summoned for diplomatic meetings on request of His Majesty’s Government. The parties jointly agree on the principle of the inviolability and immutability of diplomatic freedom; that is to say, envoys or any other messengers of government shall have freedom of movement within each party’s territory; further, they shall not be prosecuted by local or national authorities on any suit civil or criminal unless their home country waives their right to their said immunity. The parties reserve the right to formally expel a diplomat that they consider to have severely undermined the national integrity and order of either party’s realm. ARTICLE VI - DURATION This Agreement shall be in effect for a period of sixteen years, after which the parties shall convene once again for renegotiations. BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Majesty, and by the consent of the Estates, in this Royal Diet assembled; In witness whereof We have signed this Treaty at the Hand of Horen on the second of Owyn’s Flame in the fourteenth year of Our reign, HIS MAJESTY, Edmund II Alstion, By the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Aaun and of His other Territories King, Prince of Alstion, Duke of Corazon and Balamena, Count of Enswerp and Whitespire, Protector of the Realm AND, HER MAJESTY, Renilde I, By the Grace of God, Queen of the Petra, Countess of Temesch and Moere, Marchioness of the East March Ends.

P R O C L A M A T I O N O F A S C E N S I O N WHEREAS, it hath pleased Almighty God to call His servant and our late Sovereign J A M E S to His heavenly Skies, and by whose decease the Royal Crown of this United Kingdom of Aaun rightfully and singularly moves to the Prince Edmund Alexander according to the devises of the last Will and Testament of His Majesty, the succession of the Royal House of Alstion, and the power of the Great Charter of this Realm. We, therefore, the Lords of this Realm being here assisted by these members of His late Majesty’s High Council, and by the Executors of our late Sovereign’s last Will and Testament, and with other numbers of Gentlemen and Ladies of Quality, and representatives of the Citizens of Whitespire, do now hereby with one voice publish and proclaim that the Prince Edmund Alexander is now, by the decease of our late Sovereign James of Glorious and unending memory, become our rightful and lawful K I N G E D M U N D, by Grace of God K I N G O F T H E U N I T E D K I N G D O M O F A A U N and all His other Territories King, P R I N C E O F A L S T I O N, Duke of Corazon and Balemena, Count of Enswerp and Whitespire. To whom we do give all humble affection true allegiance and unwavering obedience; and also recognising the charge of the forsaid Executors to have the public and private government of His Majesty the King Edmund until he shall fully complete his eighteenth year. We pray to Almighty God, by whose great gifts Kings do reign, to bless the Royal King Edmund with long and happy years. Given at the Hand of Horen on the fifth of Harren’s Folly in the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven. ✿ AS THE ESTATES, His Serene Highness, Brandt Wilheim Barclay Großfürst von Minitz, KBS, GMSTSR GMVBE, KIH, Duke of Kanunsberg, Count of Neu Brandthof, Viscount of Tucay, Baron of Boriënwald and Brandthof, Lord of Durres, Warden of the Franklands, High Chieftain of the Reinmaren, LORD VANDALORE His Highness, Heinrich II Lothar von Alstreim Prince of Merryweather and the Rhine, Landgrave of Alstreim, Baron of Corwinsburg and Lord of Blackwater His Grace, Ser Istvan Ivanovich Duke of Stran, Voivode of Vaška, Count of Pravets, Baron of Vsensk, and Godansk, Lord of Andregrad, Hetman of the Host of St. Arpad, Keeper of the Hussariya, Protector of Raev and the Vaškan Steppe His Lordship, Olivier Dieauxmont de Rosius Margrave of High Peak, Count of Beaufoy and Arentaniebourg, Baron of Rosius, Lord of Mont Louis, Lord Commander of the Rose Guard and Protector of Arentania His Lordship, Seigmund Otto von Reuss Margrave of Velen, Count of Revedin and Cantal, Baron of Mons Velena and Alsace, Defender of the Velenic Peoples His Lordship, Konstantin Edmund von Augusten Count of Hohengarten AS THE EXECUTORS, His Eminence, Father Arnaud de Novellen Archbishop of Albarosa, Pontifical Chamberlain, Cardinal of the Canonist Church, Pastor of the Crownlands, Prince of the Petra, Headmaster of the Holy University of Albarosa, Burgrave of Horensberg, Steward of Corbenic. Her Royal Majesty, the Queen Mother Viscountess of Valence Ser Gawyn Tiber Grandmaster of the Knightly Order of the Circle of Saint Godwin of Aaun Her Ladyship, Melina Dieuxmont de Rosius His Lordship, Louis Owyn Haverlock Prince of the Haverlocks, Lieutenant of the Legion of Aaun, and Patriarch of House Haverlock AS THE CITY GOVERNMENT, His Lordship, Fernand de Lewes Lord Mayor of Whitespire, Baron of Virdain His Grace, Fr. Mikhael Bishop of Buron His Lordship, Ser Leopold Alexander Haverlock Knight of the Knightly Order of the Circle of Saint Godwin of Aaun, Ward Representative of the City Council of Whitespire, Lieutenant of the Legion of Aaun, and Heir to House Haverlock Her Ladyship, Julitta Laurelai Haverlock Head Physician of Saint Amyas’ Hospital & The Medical Society of St. Catherines' 'STRENGTH THROUGH UNITY' GOD SAVE THE KING Ends.

A young boy high within the Hand of Horen finalises the arrangement of his playthings with neat precision. He was now five years old. With small quick eyes, with indomitable schedules; he is at home wherever he wakes: his mothers room, or his own, or the council chambers, or in some other place his mother happens to be. He is risen at five, says some small prayers; the words which he knew, the meaning lost on him at this early age. He breaks his fast, he attends to his toy-soldiers, and then flutters his lids shut for some rest. By six o’clock he is with his tutors, who carry in their heads the statutes of the Realm, the canticles and the words of the Exalted Prophets, the accounts of the king; the lineages, the incomes, the lands, the dignities. These days are long and arduous, and in spite of the attention he could not help to feel solemn isolation. Often, he looked out onto the Silver Sea. As he did so, on this day, above him the thunderous climbing of Counsellors of State disturbed his brief peace. He did not know the reason why. Nor would anyone tell him. By night he dreamt of ghosts rising and angels descending; the world turned upon itself, but he remained. He, Edmund, King of Aaun by the Grace of God. Though he barely knew it.

The Prince Edmund, Lord of Alba, felt the great weight of destiny upon his small shoulders. Though he did not know it. He scarcely knew his father was dead.

Louis-Etienne Olivier Dieuxmont de Rosius, who calls himself Olivier, places pen to paper and signs his name against this the pronouncement of his forthcoming matrimony. He whispers a prayer to Almighty God for His unbound Providence and for His other gifts that he - he, Olivier - might soon be wedded to the kindest and most understanding woman he knew. Asides from his mother.

Louis-Etienne Olivier Dieuxmont de Rosius, who simply calls himself ‘Olivier’, braces to take on the defining role of his life in this world; to safeguard his kingdom into the future and ensure peace amongst the realms of the descendants. He showed genuflection to his king upon the appointment being made, and prayed to Almighty God for the strength and courage to see his task through.

Olivier Dieuxmont, an eminent historian in the making, scrutinises the names, attempting - along with the spirits of all Alstion's past - to find the progeny of the similarly named but entirely unaffiliated 'Hans Carolus Alstion'. He could not.

As the beacons of Whitespire are lit a young man looks up towards the Hand of Horen, hopeful for the future the country he loves.

"Lairdy, ye can call yourself whit ye like - doesnae make it true. Whilst ye've been griftin fish, we've been protectin the royal alstions for a hundrit years, an will for a hundrit years more. Ye iver see us gae for glory? Have I iver call myself yer laird? An yet ye call yerself mine. Ye are na more ma chief than I king o Haense. Now git aff back tae yer island ye pesky scrounger." He - he, Iain Gromach - is simmering to his sister, who undeservedly receives his present tirade as a mere messenger. The aging Warden of the Daelish Crown has a foul-smelling shoe thrown at him.

Somewhere - in some manner of place set about crickets and woodpeckers - an aged, but perhaps not yet grey, Dael ponders His Majesty's address. A solemn man, he thinks of the boy he grew up alongside. A sober man, he thinks of the gambler who he once frequented round-tables with. A loyal man, he thinks of the King his dear friend James has become. Perhaps it is time, Iain Gromach thinks, to come back into his Kings service.

A VISION OF PORTENT 1917 Cairtaigh, The Heartlands Heinrik Sarkozic, You claim to speak for the Kingdom. Indeed, at every turn you have attempted to. Through elbowing your way to the centrepiece, your megalomaniac ambitions have ultimately led you to this moment. This one moment where you may call yourself, as your kinsman and fellow-anathema once did, ‘the Great’. Oathbreaker, cast your eyes aside, pull back from the crowd, for you are not welcome here. You call yourself a Duke, dream of being king, but your chains of office are stripped to bare. All right is gone, you are the Lord of Misrule, at your right hand the Renatian wolf, baying for blood. All you have is a twisting, puncturing, slicing, and destructive coil of flesh that pulls you and your luddites to the depths of hell. Heinrik, You claim the Right of the country. You may truly believe you speak for the nation. You claim tyranny, blood, provocation. Yet your pivotal reference was to claim to know the hearts of men who are dead by half a century. Men who were, and still are despite their passing, greater than you can ever know. You claim to know their imperial ambitions, but at least they fought for a cause. You fight only for yourself. Purge your own sins; wash your own filth. Point not your finger at us, and those martyrs who now rest eternally with their Lord God. Heinrik, Your ideology is flawed. You claim to speak for the downtrodden, the victims of an Alstion tyranny, and yet you circumvent all legal means by which these disputes should be settled. Do not claim ignorance, Sarkozic. For the constitution of this realm bears the signature of your own hand. And yet, you insist, the menace is your liege lord, the King; it could not possibly be you. But you are false. That not one of your peers would stand with you shows the expanding boundaries of your arrogance. They cannot all be wrong, and you alone right. You may truly believe that your doctrine is freedom, liberty, independence. These concepts you claim to defend. Yet they are not for any one man to carry; they are the collective inheritance of us all. Your doctrine is destructive arrogance, and your means are tearing the Realm apart that you might stand upon its ashes as Rex. Heinrik, You may think that the world is your divine promise, that destiny calls your name. But then let me correct the record, for you are an aberration. You think that you are the future, yet you are nothing but a mouthpiece for violence. Traitors have come before you and will come again after. Look at what you have become, conceiting only power. A vestige of your former self. You who promised the realm liberty, but deliver it only bloodshed. Realms of Men, The martyr William Alstion once branded the anathema Philip Novellen as Vargengotz the Destroyer. He did so that humanity may put the swords of the Exalted to them, and strike them down to hell. But he was mistaken, for scripture speaks of Vargengotz as not one corporeal form, but the multitude of humanity’s tyranny. The first wyrm is Vargengotz, and he goes forth to conquer and to rule. His six heads bear six crowns, which are the great kingdoms of the world, and he lets no evil be spoken of him. (Auspice 1:5-6) Where Vargengotz once came to us as Philip Novellen, so too does he return as Heinrik Sarkozic. But his many faces are to be found elsewhere: in Vilacz, van Aert, von Draco - the opportunists who feel no love for Adria, but use it to propel a kingdom of their own design through the blood of us all. They are the leaders of men whose hearts crave glory and wanton destruction. And Vargengotz calls forth three deceivers in the guise of messengers, with wings of cold fire. They are called Justice, Glory, and Reward. (Auspice 1:9-10) Our charge is as soldiers of God to defeat the wicked anathema and his wolves. They mistake humility for doubt, meekness for fragility. They are mistaken, for Alstion has suffered the fires of indignation and it has left them inflammable. They do not know our strength, for they do not care to count it. So let me give you a number: Alstion has lived for a thousand years, and will survive for a thousand more. And Godfrey’s host meets them in battle upon the mountain. Thus Godfrey raises the sceptre of rebuke. And lo! the command of GOD is justice, and the unjust are punished: Vargengotz and his servants are destroyed. (Auspice 5:35-8) Let the oathbreakers come to test our resolve; and may God have mercy on their souls, for the law shall not. Iain Gromach, Warden and Protector of the Daelish Crown & Nauzican

There comes a time where all summers must cede to autumn, all tides will rise, the sun must set, the moon looms above. A watchful gaze over that charred field, the Nauzican stood his ground, knowing that Haverlock was to win or to die. That Nauzican of Haverlock. As night came, plunged the earth into darkness, so did the volley. Arrow on arrow; rock on rock; smashing, pounding, clattering, clunking. A whistle, a cheer, a rasping of metal on metal, a scream, a groan, a quiet whimper. All around him Muffled cries. Boys begging for their mothers; Men begging for their wives; Women, too, gasping their husbands' names. Too many gone for so little. A cause, perhaps? Did they know any better? Was grass and soil the utility of man? Someone's war, somewhere. Long forgotten: a feud we did not know. Winter must end, the waves will return for slumber, that night did give way to dawn. But all that saw the sun was flies, and rats, and crows. Mangled and slashed. Not even human; Recognisable only by their purple and gold. Their faces are lost. Their stories untold. No funeral rites. No quarter. Was this martyrdom? The cries of mothers say not. That Nauzican of Haverlock. Some yet remain scattered, Drifting on a breeze. In Memoriam, Maxim Attenlund William Alstion

The 'voluntarily' celibate and unmarried nobleman William Alstion nodded with satisfaction and gave a thumbs up, "His Holiness Tylos II is truly a wise and pious shepherd of the faithful."

"He's doing it again." groaned the full-time carer of Henry Penton to his colleague at the Orenian nursing home for the old and infirm, "He's talking about priests being lizards. Someone give him a sweetie! Pronto!"

"So much potential. If only she hadn't committed treason against the crown." William Alstion tutted wistfully.

A VISION OF STRIFE 1857 Location Unspecified Thus the kingdom of Oren fell into the rule of those who cast out his heir: witches, consorters with Iblees, Saulicians, necromancers, and destroyers of the virtuous. The evil of Iblees presented itself in the world, and it was wracked with chaos. (Gospel 5:38-9) Providence, that is what they called it. Humanity’s destiny guided by God, guided by the Church. Grand pillars of triumph, a magnificent palace proclaiming the mighty footstep of mankind imprinted upon the earth. Our signature; a testament of our access to the divine. Hundreds of workers to build a spire that we might take a glimpse of the skies. Yet it was obvious to all that the foundations were poor. Like a house built upon sand. Moveable, permeable, liminal. The ebb and flow of the tide, permanence and certainty lost. Humanity without its heir. Philip Amadeus, oftimes referred to as Philip III, saw this more keenly than his predecessors. He returned from death lamenting the weakness that threatened to ruin Orenia, and would attempt to prevent this ruin by reinforcing its foundations with chains and buttresses. Where beauty may have been, albeit weak, by Philip’s hand is covered now by metal reinforcements. Philip, Your ideology is flawed. God will not save your crumbling foundations, for they are not yours to tread upon. You have no right to it. You once called yourself ‘the Great’ and proclaimed the mandate of ‘Heaven’. Any doctrine claimed to be divine cannot be if it is not heard from God. That no man of proven faith would accept your proclamation of Everard VI as illegitimate shows that you are either ignorant or arrogant. They cannot be all wrong, and you alone right. That you implicitly accepted the Cardinals that served the Pontiff proves you are the latter. Your doctrine was based on destructive arrogance, political opportunism. I dare not call you an apostate, for it would imply you ever held in your blackened heart the faith of God. Philip, You do not worship the saints, you covet them. You promise justice, glory, reward but neglect faith and salvation. You are an aberration: Emperors have come before you and will come again after. You speak of divinely ordained rule, yet yours is the language of the intruder. It sits, and smothers. Purge your own sins; wash your own filth. Point your finger at us no more Philip; do not walk upon land that is not yours. Fidei Defensor, Scripture speaks of Vargengotz the Destroyer, he who leads men whose hearts crave glory. He rules from a city once the holiest of them all. At his side are tyrants and traitors. He has come to this world as Philip Novellen, and offers falsehoods to those of the sword that he might destroy the faith. And Godfrey’s host meets them in battle upon the mountain.Thus Godfrey raises the scepter of rebuke. And lo! the command of GOD is justice, and the unjust are punished: Vargengotz and his servants are destroyed. (Auspice 5:35-8) At Vargengotz’s side is Ishtar the Defiler, who brings famine and defeat. Ishtar offers riches and fame to the impure of heart. Ishtar may promise the world, but she poisons the heart of Mankind that she may cripple it. She has come to the world as Anastasia Novellen, and leads the aristocrats of Orenia to sin. Our crops blacken, our water quickens to stagnation, no rains will come until she is vanquished. So Horen calls forth Sigismund and Urguan, and he speaks unto them “Lo, in your days you were each tempted with envy, and the world suffered. For Urguan, you have desired the wealth of your brothers, and Sigismund, their power. And by God’s will I redeem you of your failures, and send you to work peace upon it.” And they go out, and Urguan is lieutenant to Sigismund, and they strike out against Ishtar. First Sigismund goes forth ministering, and among his host are the tribes of Edel and Rhen, and at their side the Sons of Urguan. And they are redeemed in ministry, for Sigismund wields a globe bearing the mark of heaven, which is God’s domain. And Sigismund’s host meets them in battle upon the ice. Thus Sigismund raises aloft the mark of heaven. And lo! the waters of prophecy are purifying, and they spill forth to purify: Ishtar and her servants are consumed. (Auspice 2:7-10, 23, 27-30) King of Haense, that you are named Sigismund is no coincidence. That you were the first of the Sigismund’s folk to be named Defender of the Faith in centuries was no accident. And that you once stood with the Dwarves under Urguan’s mountains is no mistake. God has given you His globe that you might strike Ishtar down. Fidei Defensor, it is your duty to stand with the faithful. We call on you now. As the world seems to fight itself, a host readies itself to put fire to Sedan. We of Godfrey’s folk, Godfrey’s heir, will make our stand here to live or die - with or without aid. Vargengotz and Ishtar rule in tandem, in service to Iblees. Sigismund King, Dwarves of Urguan, never have the stars aligned so that we may glimpse paradisum, but they are now. Bring us the paradise that Exalted Sigismund prophesied. Halt their armies, put the swords of the Exalted to them, strike down Philip and Anastasia Novellen to free the earth of their tyranny. So each is given a law unto their kind, and the world is perfected. This is the promise of GOD to the World, that it shall belong to the virtuous, who love Him. (Auspice 3:16-17) William Alstion, Duke of Furnestock and Lord of Alba

The simple peasant doesn't understand the girl so shrugs and says, "At least I'll go to the seven skies." All he knows is God, Church, and farm. That was all he wanted to know.

"Mad because anathema." a peasant loyal to the true faith chants repeatedly on hearing Victoria babble to herself.

what is your biggest regret on lotc? asides from running against me in senntisten mayoral election thereby making me lose and putting me on a destructive path of coping still seen today

why should I waste my ratio to ask you a question?

From the Seven Skies Amadeus d'Aryn wished his old colleague all the help he could get as the Vicar of God. Goodness knows he would need it now. In many respects, he was blissful to not have to witness any longer the treachery of men. Perfection in God, that was all he knew now, and all he would remain for eternity.

The Cardinal Amadeus, having only barely left his state of bedridden illness and with a thick bacon bap squeezed beneath his amusingly thin fingers, had the homily read aloud to him. As he drifted to sleep ten seconds later, he dreamt of a life that could have been. The ancient statesman was young once again, and bills flowed like water from magnificent fountains. The people applauded him as he lifted the Tapestry of Man up high between both hands. Decades later, the High Pontiff himself congratulated Amadeus on a job well done. He swam amongst a pile of votes, and greeted Joseph II atop a unicorn. In the real world the manservant grimaced at the sleeping Cardinal. "A mop, please!" He called out into the hallway as a puddle formed on the floor.

As Manfried slowly read the contents of the bull out in the confines of his poorly aired room, the Cardinal Amadeus - laid down in a well embroidered bed - found some sense of peace. Having been Vice Chancellor to the last High Pontiff for the majority of his adult life, he saw solace that the true work of his mortal existence would continue in normal function. He seemed resigned to his own fate, whatever it may now be.

The wind-up clock ticked with its old monotonous rhythm. Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock: it did not end, it just kept on going on and on. The lump in the corner of the room stirred restlessly. It had been listening to this same clacking sound, which pulsated in an alternative beat with his heart, since morning. A door opened. “Eminence…” came a voice. All it got in return was a groan. The figure moved closer through the dark room, peppered with a variety of smells and spices aromating in and out the wooden beams. “Lord Richard died the other day: executed.” the grim-reaper continued, being very blunt with his news. He thought that if he could tell it quickly and straight that it would go by unnoticed, and he would be back down for lunch within a minute. But it was noticed. A low wail came from the corner, scraping and distressed. The lump barely moved, it barely could. A friend gone, another lost forever. Many had gone in the past few years, they seemed to be dropping off one-by-one. Would they meet again in the Skies? He no longer knew. But anything was better than this.