critter

A young baron stoops over texts upon texts, furiously jotting cures for the ailments of the cold.

Glass bottles littered a moss-covered stone. Sister Vine stooped over the papers which sometimes found their meandering way to her, and paused.

Ithelanen.

Distantly did she recall memories of the last Ithelanen to write and speak of Bronze, almost as distant as last she called seeing any she might call brethren. It had been far too long for her to assess this supposed state they were in. 

A visit, perhaps, was due. 

1350 A.H. - Present

From Ashes, We Rise

16th of Wzuvar & Byvca | 498 E.S

VA EDLERVIK,

A sixteenth name-day is no small achievement for an Amador son, particularly in these frigid times of strife. It is with pride that Henrik Amador sees his own sixteenth winter and, in accordance with the customs of his House, shall join VE FITSK I HAES. He will wield the Halberd, the likes of which he has forged for his own use, and in lieu of celebrations instead requests donations be made to the Brotherhood of St. Karl or St. Amyas’ Hospital. He himself puts forth 

837 iron ingots

34 cowhides

2 ½ bales of fletching-grade feathers 

and his own pending enlistment as an initiate.

A portrait of the young Baron.

IV JOVEO MAAN,

His Lordship, Henrik III Edvard Amador, 11th Baron of Mondstadt

Lady Liridona Ingrid Amador, The Gem of Amador, Regent of House Amador, 

Lady Chamberlain of Hanseti-Ruska.

1350 A.H. - Present

From Ashes, We Rise

17th of Joma & Umund | 497 E.S

VA EDLERVIK,

As I approach my own coming-of-age, it seems most pertinent that I further dedicate myself to the record and practice of my family’s customs. In two short years I will take my place as the eleventh peer to lead my House, and in doing so seal myself in the annals of Amadorian history. 

It would be my first choice, then, to put into public archives those practices which my inveterate House still keeps.

TO MAKE THE FIRST COIN | ERRE VE AUWNARANY

An Amador, as a child of legacy foremost built by the industrious merchantry of our ancestors, keeps the first coin made by their own labor; preserved and guarded, whether carried on their person or sheltered in the family home. To lose or trade this coin is a sign of misfortune to come upon the house: but to keep it, to take pride in it and how it was earned, is to assure success. 

TO WEATHER THE STORM | PETRAVEZK VE OXTZOIK

An Amador must understand that the House’s legacy hinges on the art of shipwrighting. By the age of thirteen, they are expected to have the skills and understanding to build and maintain a small rowboat, to be tested on the rapids and ice-floes of the Haeseni north. 

TO FIGHT THE ANCESTRAL FIGHT | VE FITSK I HAES

Each Amador must be able to, no matter their circumstance or entrance, wield a blade with which they can defend their Kingdom and kin. By their sixteenth nameday, an Amador is expected to have selected a preferred weapon, the crafting and maintenance of which they must understand in its intricacy.

TO BEAR AN HONORED NAME | DRAVATIVSK VE KAROSMAAN

The children of the Amador patriarch or matriarch are to bear a second name of a respected ancestor, the history of which they are expected to learn by their thirteenth nameday, and the story of which ancestor they shall retell at their coming-of-age.

TO REST BENEATH THE SILENT TREE | TUEK WAULDIV VE GRAVDRVOGG

Upon death, an Amador is to be buried in a cedar casket beneath a tree, into which their initials are then carved. In this way, they are returned to that which made this family what it is: the wood from which we carve our crafts, build our homes, and once made our ships. The size of the tree shall reflect the stature of the Amador beneath it.

IV JOVEO MAAN,

His Lordship, Henrik III Edvard Amador, 11th Baron of Mondstadt

Lady Liridona Ingrid Amador, The Gem of Amador, Regent of House Amador, 

Lady Chamberlain of Hanseti-Ruska

Professor, Albus Amador, Chronologist of the House of Amador

Lord Murtagh Matyas Amador, The Protector of the Phoenix, Commander of the Amadorian Wardens, Master of the Wardrobe of Hanseti-Ruska

Henrik Amador, Baron of Mondstadt, recalls his final discussion with his father. The ache in the young nobleman's chest had yet to fade, and now grew vice-tight in his throat. At least he did not remember his mother: but his father, for better or for worse, would never be forgotten.

-

Fabian lays alone in a sickbed, curled silently around a pillow. He is weeping. He has been weeping for nights upon nights upon nights, and all of them he has been alone.

Published on the 2nd of Joma & Umund, 494ES.

It is a tragedy for the house to lose one who led us for so long. I write, of course, of Ileana “the Duelist”; my elder twin, who bore the peerage of our House since she was all of thirteen winters, and carried it across two continents and through countless battles. Though her righteous burial in consecrated land has not yet come to pass, the matter of a regency until the eighteenth name-day of our heiress must be addressed as swift as my bereaved hand can write.

ᓚᓗ⦡ᓚ✬ᓗ⦡ᓚᓗ

My sister wrote in her final will that I might guide her daughter, Irena Stefaniya Kortrevich, as Regent: a duty I would bear with honor, however sorrowful. The young Baroness is my ward; my firstborn niece; and, most importantly, a child whose youth has been too early marred by tragedy. It would not be my charge to reign in her stead, but to shepherd her so she might one day reign herself – when the time has come that she has grown into such a heavy mantle, as Godan has willed by her birth. By my hand, Irena Stefaniya Kortrevich, Baroness of Koravia, will always have a guardian and teacher who holds only her own welfare above the health of our good and storied House. So it is written; so it will be, by the blood of the Bull and the will of the Duelist.

SIGNÉE PAR,

His Excellency, Fabian Otto d’Arkent-Kortrevich, Grand Lord of Hanseti-Ruska, Regent of Koravia, Archivist to the House

“Tiz Dzuty, Triek Caezk”

“With duty, comes honor”

Fabian, the final triplet to bear his family's name - the last of his siblings to live as a Kortrevich - sat quietly. Asleep in his bed was Irena, the heiress, the Baroness of Koravia - asleep on the couch was his own son, his Leonid. In the next week their lessons would begin; but for now they mourned, wrapped in the warmest blankets he had, protected by his hand and his watch. 

"I hope vyr laughing, Illy," he murmured. "I hope vy found some peace." - "She'll niet know vyr burdens, sestra. Give mea best to all ve family, up there."

Tear-stained documents pile upon the tavernkeep’s table. 

(r)

Fabian Kortrevich, who for most of his life despised his ducal uncle, raises a verdant glass of absinthe to the newly-ascended Viktor.

"Good on vy, coz," he muses to no one who can hear him, and despite the unlikelihood such a sentiment would ever be given -- or received -- directly by the Duke of Vidaus. "-Though it is Godan's place and not mine to judge, of course - but good on vy."

Fabian d'Arkent Kortrevich lights a goddamn cigarette.

Henrik in kind mourns his unknown aunt, signing a chubby-fisted Hussariyan.

The missive, its writer among his oldest friends, does not yet reach the Grand Lord; he sits in a quiet patch of the Northern forest fletching, with a steady hand and a grim resignation, barbed arrows.

But it will. And his loyalty to the Queen, already hers by right, will briefly warm him with a bone-deep gratitude.

FROM THE DESK OF

ON THIS 8th DAY OF JOMA AG UMUND OF 490E.S. 

VIRTUE 5:3-6: I am the Lord GOD without peer. I poured the brine into the sea and the sweet water into the rivers, and I created the fire of the desert and the soft breeze that cools it. And as I have created for you the struggles of the world, so too do I create the struggles of the spirit. And as I have created the struggles of the world and the spirit, so too do I bring their remedies.

ON TRUTHS AND VEILS:

VIRTUE 4:9: So I am the Most High, and in pursuit of My Virtue, I bid my faithful this: You shall not be idle, nor forget your duties in favor of sloth.

So it is said I have died.

The writings of a man who can only sign these craven allegations with a lone letter should not justify a response from one who puts such value to his name and time as I do. But a man does not come to preside over the Queen’s Court without knowing the power of a rumor, and so let me quash this one before it bears any rotten fruit. 

REGARDING MY FAITH:

VIRTUE 7:8: So I am the most High, and in pursuit of My Virtue, I bid my faithful this: You shall not judge your own virtue, be it great or small, for all fall short of Me.

There is no refute I might make on the matters of my virtue that would not defy GOD, and as I was baptized as a child of His faith, so I shall die as His to judge. Have I lied, which is to sin? – does a man draw breath who has not? I have sought and shall seek forgiveness for mine, and pray that I leave this realm better for having lived upon it, which, if the rise and fall of my chest now is any indication, I still do.

If it is anyone’s will to test me of my living humanity, by all means: lance me with aurum and salt my blood. I welcome you. Please use a sharp blade and do not cut too deep, if it can be helped; I imagine my wife will be displeased if I scar. 

TO THE TURNCOAT:

VIRTUE 3:9: And so I am the Most High, and in pursuit of My Virtue, I bid my faithful this: You shall not raise a hand in wrath, nor in envy, nor in any kind of sin.

I am no brother to any who still draw breath.

Still, there was a time I thought we might wait until my dear lady mother had passed on to the Skies above before setting forth to see your head once more adorn the walls of the North, if only to spare her the entire burden of your corruption. 

Woe, it is now without doubt that your vicious hand made me her last son, and furthermore that your destroyer’s gluttony will not be abated until even I am brought to ruin. One must concede to your tenacity in completing this damnable endeavor you set yourself upon: but I take some insult that you think it should be so easy.  

Know I yield nothing and to none but my GOD. I serve no force above Him and nothing of his Creation before the CROWN, to which I have dedicated my life’s service and intend to dedicate all the rest, too. 

You claim to have felled me once, and yet I stand. Whom, I wonder, willed it?

WITH A HEART THAT BEATS TRUE,

His Excellency, FABIAN OTTO D’ARKENT-KORTREVICH, 

Grand Lord of Hanseti-Ruska

Something shatters against the wall of the Grand Lord's office. For a while after there is silence: then, the grinding clatter of a printing press.

From the Desk of the Grand Lord

ISSUED BY THE GRAND LORD

ON THIS 15TH DAY OF GRONNA AG DROBA OF 490 E.S. 

✧──────────────⊱🜂⊰──────────────✧

I

Firress Marian Blackwood has, since her youth, been a ward of myself and a loyal student not only of the courts, but the nation. We saw endless, interested candidates in the position of Custodian, for whom in the coming days we will be offering other offers within the court: but it is my pride and joy to welcome the Court Custodian Marian Blackwood to her position overseeing the inner workings of the Esrova Prikaz and its servantry.

✧⊱🜂⊰✧

II

I hired Firr Rolim Tordove in my youth as a fledgling in my post, and after many years of service across two continents, he has chosen retirement. He contributed much to the cultural and structural developments of the Courts in his time, and we will be indebted to him.

Next to the position, then: the Courts call upon Her Royal Highness Franziska Elaine to assume the post of Mistress of the Hunt. Her dedication to Haeseni culture and embracing the natural world will be an asset to a historic and valued post of Hauchkhazya.

✧⊱🜂⊰✧

III

Ser Sterling Amador was among the first appointed to Sofia of Hyspia’s council, and in his tenure served well and dutifully as an interpreter of the Stars and advisor on their celestial guidance.

It is with the blessing of Her Royal Majesty and the council of Princess Mischa Florentina that The post of Court Astronomer shall absorb all duties associated with the retired post of Court Astrologer. 

The Court Astronomer, operating within the Office of the Abstract, shall be charged with the study of the stars, their subsequent interpretation, and more extensive research into the celestial bodies that represent the traditional folk-stories of Haeseni mythologies, of which the Princess is a scholar thereof. Her advisory shall reconnect us to both our historical relation to the stars as well as the renaissance the Courts observe in the sciences.

His Excellency, FABIAN OTTO D’ARKENT-KORTREVICH, 

Grand Lord of Hanseti-Ruska

Fabian sobs, and sobs, and sobs, and sobs some more.

They are all happy tears.

ISSUED BY THE CLERC de le PARTELE

On this 5th day of GRONNA ag DROBBA of 490 E.S.

IV JOVEO MAAN

Nine years prior to this writ, SERGEI NIKOLAI KORTREVICH, the youngest brother of the Countess, went missing from the Royal Capital of Valdev. It was the suspicion of his family that Lord Sergei had been taken by the forsaken bastard VIRGIL, but it was not until this very morn that the young Kortrevich’s remains were left in ruin and rot upon the gates of the Palace. The forsaken bastard left his claim upon this crime, this desecration of our blood, without shame; without fear; without remorse. 

We have not forgotten the other wrongs of the man once named Virgil. He maimed the Lady Astrid Colborn, the very act which first spurned his disownment. He enacts cruelty upon a whim, threatens the children of his betters. He is less man than beast; more sinner than flesh; no more a brother to our good and dutiful family than the wolf is to the flock which it torments. His blood is that of the TURNCOAT, and it is with as much remorse as the treacherous blot upon our lineage himself holds that the Countess Ileana Stefaniya Kortrevich and her Archivist Fabian Otto d’Arkent-Kortrevich so decree – not as a Peer of the Realm and her dutiful, but as KIN WRONGED:

A MAD DOG MUST BE PUT DOWN.

We so lay our claim upon the head of the TURNCOAT, and extend our hand to the good HOUSE COLBORN to join us in this pursuit. No other is asked or invited to spill the blood of the TURNCOAT, and woe to those who would impede us. Any information regarding his whereabouts will be rewarded with the favor of our family. 

SIGNÉE PAR, 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, Ileana Stefaniya Kortrevich,

Countess of Jerovitz, Viscountess of Krusev and Baroness of Koravia

HIS EXCELLENCY, Fabian Otto d’Arkent-Kortrevich, Archivist to the House

WITH DUTY, COMES HONOR

A scholar of the Auvergnians takes somewhat frantic notes. 

Fabian d'Arkent-Kortrevich prepares flowers for his beloved cousin's nuptials, even as his courtiers are ordered, without room for question, to report so much of a murmur of the name Carrion to him without waste of breath; and the Lord braces to send the blooms in the stead of his attendance. 

Fabian d'Arkent-Kortrevich is immensely, immensely proud of his younger cousin, and sets to arranging a bouquet in the traditional Haeseni style - save the addition of a few white Aaunish roses - to be delivered at once to her offices. 

9 of Joma & Umund | 488 ES

ON A SUITABLE TUTOR FOR THE PRINCESS

It is the desire of the Princess Isabel of Kvenoland to have found for her an instructor most educated in the ways of equestrianism; the art of horseback riding and care of horses.

Accordingly, the Palace does seek to find and employ such a mareschal if one can be found who can be entrusted with the education of a Royal in such an area which brings her great joy. 

Interested applicants may write to His Excellency, Fabian d’Arkent-Kortrevich to arrange a preliminary interview before the Princess and her mother the Queen Dowager may select the most suitable candidate. 

SIGNÉE PAR,

His Excellency, Fabian Otto d’Arkent-Kortrevich, Grand Lord of Hanseti-Ruska

15th of Gronna ag Droba | 488 ES

SPOKEN PHRASES

Although true New Marian is a scholarly language meant for written use and therefore not often utilized in regular conversation, a number of phrases are woven into the daily tapestry of Haeseni life. To use an excess of New Marian is to be considered somewhat pretentious; to speak with none of the regular terminology, however, is a sure sign of an outsider.

AI - Yes, formal; DA - Yes, informal

ORDAK - Alright

NIE - No; NIET - Not

SPASIBA - Thank you, formal; SPASIBO - Thank you, informal

BALZYM - Please

SZAM - Sorry; my apologies

PREVJA - Hello, formal; EJA - Hello, informal

DRAVI - Goodbye, formal; DRAVO - Goodbye, informal

DOBRY - Good

VY - You; VYR - Your

EAM - Me; I’m

MEA - My

MAMEJ; PAPEJ - Mother, father

A prefix of ‘aedy’ indicates an aunt or uncle; a prefix of ‘hauch’ indicates a grandparent.

BORSA; SESTRA - Brother, sister
FIRR; FIRRESS - Mister, miss

KOENG - King; KOENAS - Queen

PRINZEN - Prince; PRINZENAS - Princess

HAUCHPRINZEN - Crown Prince

GODAN, GODANI - GOD

KRUZAE ZWY KONGZEM - Protect this Kingdom

NONVERBAL CUES

To nod thrice in a row is an indication that the conversation is at an end.

A dip of the chin or eyes when a respected individual enters the vicinity is a both polite and non-disruptive way to recognize them.

It is common for those in armor to bang their fists on their chest plates upon the entrance of the King. 

—

This publication is the collaborative effort of Ser Arthur Gant, Lord Walter Weiss, Lord Viktor var Ruthern, Lady Roslin Baruch, Lady Alyona Godunov, Lord Otto Ludovar, Ser Vladimir var Ruthern, and Her Majesty, Amaya of Venzia.

27 minutes ago, _mady07 said:

Try.. on occasion.. to let your shoulders fall?

Fabian sits, stone, at his desk; recalling what felt like a lifetime the old woman he'd carved a place in his courts for. A first act; a defining one, as the years would show.

"I will try," he murmurs; mourning blacks brought to his desk, and the order rolling through the courts that his courtiers were, indeed, to do the same. "I will certainly try, Nona; and thank vy." - "For everything." 

Henrik Amador - alone, as he often took to being, on the Valdev riverbanks - reviewed the letter with a frown much too deep for such a little face, mouthing the words to himself. When at last he understood, he crammed the letters into a little pocket and scrambled back up the rocky edge towards the capital - where his siblings and his family awaited, and where he felt, all too aptly, he was needed. 

--

Fabian d'Arkent-Kortrevich drops his teacup.

7 of Joma & Umund | 487 ES

As the Prikaz once more establishes itself as a center for the traditions of the Haeseni people and an institution for the betterment of our youth, it weighs on my mind that the Completion of a Wardship is yet unmarked by little more than the quiet ushering-on of the once-Ward. The benefit of a Wardship is, of course, what is learned in its tenure; and also, the prestige of its completion, of which we offer no material symbol. The heart of the Court is labor for the hearth, yes; but the stereotype of a frivolous court is because we are also the shepherds of Ceremony, and accordingly, I propose the following:

A CAPSTONE FOR THE WARDS

Upon the completion of a Court Wardship, the Wards of the generation – now of the age of majority and having completed their final tasks – shall be the guests of honor at a ceremony recognizing their achievement. This festivity shall either be organized by any youth still in their own wardship, or by the Hauchkhazya of the Court, and each graduating Ward shall be recognized with a Medallion Brooch of the Esrova Prikaz.

Furthermore, the festivities shall honor some aspect of each Ward's House, or if they are not of a Haeseni lineage, then of some aspect of the Haeseni culture which the Ward has come to embody.

The Medallion Brooch shall be Aurum, with ornamentation corresponding to the following achievements:

WARDSHIPS OF THE COURT

Ward to the Crown

A round-cut fire-opal, set in a rose-petalled medallion.

Ward to the Grand Lord

A square-cut emerald, set in a rose-petalled medallion.

Ward to the Custodian

A natural amethyst cabochon in an oval setting, top crested with the cast silhouette of the Esrova Prikaz.

Ward to the Chamberlain

A natural aquamarine cabochon in an oval setting, top crested with the cast silhouette of the Esrova Prikaz.

Ward to the Offices

An oval setting, top crested with the cast silhouette of the Esrova Prikaz.

ABSTRACT - Topaz in hues of deep purple.

ASTROLOGIST - Topaz in hues of deep blue.

ALCHEMIST - Topaz in hues of light green. 

ARTS - Topaz in hues of honey-yellow.

HUNT - Topaz in hues of deep amber.

WARDROBE - Topaz in hues of red.

All other Wardships shall receive an aurum medallion, bearing the silhouette of the Prikaz. 

YEARS IN WARDSHIP

An aurum bar which shall hang from the Ward’s brooch, displaying ornamentation according to the following;

A Dutiful Dwolv

A row of twelve tiny fire-opals, symbolizing a twelve-year Wardship in the Esrova Prikaz.

A Decade’s Diligence

A row of ten tiny fire-opals, symbolizing a ten-year Wardship in the Esrova Prikaz.

A Sieg’s Service

A row of five tiny fire-opals, symbolizing a five-year Wardship in the Esrova Prikaz.

As all prior proposals from my desk, this is subject to the consideration and debate of Queen and Council and commentary of the people, should I wander too far in my indulgences.

SIGNÉE PAR,

His Excellency, Fabian Otto d’Arkent-Kortrevich, Grand Lord of Hanseti-Ruska