Author Topic: The Swordsman's Tale:  (Read 15471 times)

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #100 on: November 20, 2017, 05:15:42 PM »
Updated my journal.
Passed my trials and completed my training. All that remains is my baptism and to be given the light carrier spear.

Tinu and I have grown even closer.
Also, paid off my resurrection debt to Jaedon.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #101 on: November 25, 2017, 04:17:08 AM »
Updated my journal.
Tinu agreed to be my wife and we are to be married soon.
She is a star elf. They lived in a sort of a demiplane or pocket reality I guess... She told me which got destroyed by nihilistic wizards who love destruction because they want to reduce all that is to nothing one dimension at a time? Seems a stupid great waste of effort in manpower and resources to conquer and subjugate a place just to completely wipe it out if you ask me.
That means even before getting misted she was already displaced via a type of planeshifting.

She is 120 which I am told is relatively young for an elf. I do not mind being the younger person in our relationship. We seem to be at about the same level of physical development in any event.*

I wonder what the other elves with think that she has decided to go with a human.
She says if they don't like us they'll hiss.
Hmm, sometimes elves remind me of cats.
I wonder if you rub their stomachs if they will want to disembowel you the way a cat does.

*Also, I know there's ways of extending the human lifespan with magics and medicine. Not that I would want to become an undead and lose my sense of touch but there are wizards and people who are known to have lived well beyond what is considered the average maximum age for members of their races. Sometimes those blessed by gods can too. Just think, if I take the right potions and elixirs (or make the right prayers if they were to be answered by the Morninglord perhaps) I could spend an extra century with her so she'd be less lonely.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2017, 05:22:02 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #102 on: November 25, 2017, 05:25:45 AM »
With my various swords for different situations and magical light carrier spear, clad in my orange and gold armor, I am become a juggernaut of the Morninglord church.

I am Kaine the undead killing machine (a killing machine of the undead not a particularly violent and restless undead. Perhaps I should reconsider the phrasing of such a concept a little more carefully?).

My wife (to be) is Tinu one of the rare dying breed of star elves. She is an excellent shot with a bow and capable of blending in with the leaves and shadows.

Trades and crafting:
It's slower progress than I'd like but I'm gradually getting better at potion brewing.

My carpentry is okay but woodworking remains woefully inadequate. Both need much more work.
Tinu and I are together puzzling out the art of fletching, that is creating arrows and bolts.

Sir Havenshire expressed concern that he believes Tinu and I are being reckless to move so fast but life in the core and lands of mists is fleeting. She was orphaned and I was raised in a military academy. To be honest neither of us has much of an idea about how this "family" thing is supposed to work but we are going to give it a try, our best one at that.

We want to give it a shot and the Morninglord church is willing to sanctify or officiate our union for us so it is formally recognized... When Tinu and I feel ready, mind you.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2017, 10:29:29 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #103 on: December 03, 2017, 05:14:15 PM »
More missions for the church.
Details to follow.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #104 on: December 06, 2017, 10:26:52 PM »
Updated my journal
Mother Kali, the halfling trap and lockspringer Dara and I raided the Alhoon's Lair, a foul place full of twisted necromantic and alchemical abominations which should not exist.
They were devised by the Alhoon, a mindflayer considered even alien and deranged among his own kind because he is an undead one.

A normal mindflayer is a bizarre squid faced psionic person or thing that consumes the brains of others.
We didn't face Alhoon him or itself but going against his "broken ones" and the zombie golems proved to be too much. All was not in vain though... We came back with much treasure liberated from the lair and are using it to buy toys, food, clothing and medicine for the orphans.

 Something quite dreadful happened afterwards though which I do not feel comfortable going into much detail on yet. It is still painfully fresh in my mind and was a living nightmare.

Let's just say it took Mishandra and me hours to clean up the gore from the Degannwy resort building and that there are much worse things than a botched resurrection. You can have a double botched resurrection where the fallen gets raised as an even more powerful and terrible form of zombie called a "tyrant fog" zombie. That is something no matter how much I would like to I can't forget.

I am tired of always being scapegoated and of Mother Kali expecting me to be a paladin.
I am not a knight. I never considered myself a hero. I am a fighter. If you take away the fighting that leaves just an Er. An Er is a mistake.

When I do carpentry I am a carpentEr.
When I teach I am being a teachEr.
When I translate that is a translate-... Okay the last one does not work but we (you, or I for whoever is reading this) can assume it fits the overall pattern.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2017, 10:28:31 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #105 on: December 07, 2017, 11:58:33 AM »
Updated my journal.
Have been off as of late in the company of two Krynn elves Sarathalanas and Elres. They are newly misted. If these two are indicative of the average Krynn person they seem to have come from a remarkably polite world. Also great opportunity in traveling with them to practice my Elven! Most fortuitous and practical!
« Last Edit: December 07, 2017, 12:00:11 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #106 on: December 08, 2017, 10:40:26 PM »
Kaine's Prison Letter:
My dearest Tinu,
I am sorry but think I will be late to our wedding.
To the Morninglord Church I also apologize; I know I was to be the carpenter to assemble stalls for the festival (that's why I practiced those many hours of day and night in the woods and outskirts gaining knowledge of the carpentry trade).
The Garda have an iadul idea I must somehow be hiding or protecting the real culprit but I don't know who that is, truly.
To keep my own sanity, I am writing my thoughts down on this since I may not make it to see the Dawn's coming, at this rate.
I love my fey bride and though Barovia is not my homeland have come to love her, too.

I cannot make up a name for a person I only have a dim suspicion is the one to blame. I do not know them.

They (Garda, Ezrites, Cyricists and whomever else) cannot *Make* me stop believing in the Morninglord.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2017, 01:43:40 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #107 on: December 10, 2017, 07:17:57 PM »
Updated my journal.
Father Allek offered me the position of being his squire. He explained to me that since the world on the realm he is from itself is dead he is the last remaining knight of his order as far as he knows.
He stated that knightly discipline he felt would be good for my growth.
I think he will attempt to adapt these traditions and the Morninglord faith syncretically.
I have not received much in the way of training from Sister Anya and indeed to date only been on two missions with her directing me. One went well and the other was unsatisfactory.
The majority of my instruction and tutelage has come from Mother Kali.
She means well but at times berates me for not seeming divinely inspired enough.

I don't have a font of holy magic to draw from the way a cleric or paladin does.
I have just my body and mind. I fight and provide aid in the name of the Morninglord faith.
I do worry sometimes that having had less experience than previous light carriers to come before me I may screw up horribly.  There is though the new dawn's hope.
You may have screwed up yesterday but you learn from it to do better today.
Indeed with every challenge met one gains experience.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #108 on: December 13, 2017, 01:37:02 PM »
Updated my journal.
Spent time in quiet contemplation of the Dawn and the Morninglord's promises with Father Ile and the Vicars these past few days.

It isn't true that I fear nothing I simply have greater fear of not doing anything when I could have than of dealing with things and failing.

The Barovians think we Morninglordians are naive and unaware of the grim realities of day to day life living in so harsh a land with monster choked nights. That isn't the case.
We consciously defy it. Positivity is a weapon. When you completely give in to despair that is letting the old night ("Old Noapte") win.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #109 on: December 13, 2017, 02:54:48 PM »
People often fuss about Tinu and I being together.

Apparently it is of concern to them that with my being a human and her being an elf the differences in our upward limits of lifespan would be a bad thing.
Tinu and I are not overly concerned about it.
We feel we have time to allow things to develop or not as they happen on their own.
We also will look into alleged "elixirs of life" and longevity rituals... Carefully. Lichdom would not be desirable. There are ways of adding a century or two to your lifespan which I know that mages often do. I don't want Tinu to be left to raise our half elf children by herself.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2017, 03:03:22 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #110 on: December 13, 2017, 02:58:30 PM »
Updated my journal.
People seem incredulous that Tinu and I are a couple but they don't *really* know us.
They will insultingly and boldly suggest quite stupidly that they feel no one could possibly want to get close to me, that there must be something mentally off about Tinu to be attracted, and other quite not nice things.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #111 on: December 14, 2017, 02:59:13 AM »
Updated my journal.
Hmm it seems Lumi has been charged with witchcraft of the worst sort and banished.
Who'd have thought, eh?

Tinu and I are still editing our guest list for the wedding.

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #112 on: December 14, 2017, 01:08:22 PM »
Updated my journal.
I met an incredible star elf sorcerer named Qyral.
He was less than pleased about my and Tinu's upcoming union going so far as to express being one of those "the races ought not intermix" purists but I guess begrudgingly understands Tinu and I are unlikely to back down. Ended up giving me some tactical training. He's quite witty albeit somewhat well, smug. I suppose that's typical of "naturally gifted" mages.

He did have quite a bit to say in way of a fast and loose primer for me going over basic types of sorcerer and sorcery. Without having observed Tinu directly it is difficult for him to determine which type of sorcerer (they aren't exactly traditions the way wizard schools of magic are) it is she draws from or closest resembles but we speculated a few guesses.

He was also unsettled I knew a bit what an elven arcane archer is. When I explained to Qyral I was a student of military history and did not actually know too much on the mechanical aspects of how an arcane archer worked that seemed to allay some of his er, unsettled-ness for want of a better word.
I mean, look, those are a very famous special infantry unit that even other races are awed by. Did he think all elven things are super secret? Sometimes sorcerers are silly.
We also discussed among other things Baelnorns... Ancient undead elven family crypt guardians and lore keepers.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2017, 01:10:08 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #113 on: December 16, 2017, 03:28:40 AM »
Tensions still swirl in the Vallaki parish. Ugh.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #114 on: December 16, 2017, 05:29:49 AM »
I think I will invite Brother Barris and Corporal Hubchev.
Borval says he will come, probably. From Urk the half Orc monk I got a maybe.

I wonder who the guests Tinu wants to bring might be...

Wizards and sorcerers, monks and even some priests tell me there *are* ways to extend your life without resorting to undeath, by the way.

Tinu and I knew there were. There had to be.

I'm not pursuing immortality either I just want to keep my bride and any children we might have a decent length amount time of company, to assist her in raising them and so on. That's *really* NOT such a horrible thing.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2017, 09:01:08 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #115 on: December 18, 2017, 06:12:33 PM »
Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated!
Tinu is mad at me.
Varian and Jadin lied at the Wayfarer kinship conference with the other churches and guilds and said we Morninglordians were in league with the Banite Lawgiver church. They're so petty and childish!

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #116 on: December 21, 2017, 11:56:34 AM »
The day before Kaine's disappearance:
I worry.
I have built Tinu the lovely indoors outdoor house she had told me she has always wanted and Lumi came over asking if she could stay with us tonight and if there was anything which could be done to have her banishment lifted. I figured there couldn't be too much harm in putting her up for a single day and said I would talk to the Garda about it the following day.
Since the Harbinger has decided it some sort of personal affront I have defied his wishes by not staying dead he had a few days back sent a caliban messenger to me while I was training some initiates in the crypts. The message he carried was to the effect of he (Harbinger) very much wants to hunt me down and kill me over again as many times as it takes until I am too weak to ever draw a sword again.

People still make up bad things about me to the priests and to the Garda and I am expected to be held responsible for every single wild tale of my supposed exploits, deeds and misdeeds.

All I really want is to kill monsters and spend time with my bride.
We are to be married soon.

Other people don't understand what that is like to have a deranged serial killer decide you are an especial target he would seek to go after. I frustrated him by not following whatever warped and cracked predetermined script he had in mind for his enemies to follow... Is how things would seem.

Strange that I would find myself yearning for the iron bars of a Garda cell and the stone walls of the citadel. I'd likely be safer in there than out here at this little camp I have built for myself and Tinu near Lex's chapel. Tinu was so happy though to have a place she could call "our house." She has had a hard life and I feel she deserves to have some of the finer things in life she had been previously denied when younger.

Lumi and I made her some nice warm wool dresses as a surprise for when she gets back from night hunting. I put them in the armoire. My tailoring skills with needle and thread aren't the greatest but the thick wool will be good for keeping the chill off and away. She is such a small and skinny elf sometimes I worry she will catch cold.

I love my elf wife, I love Barovia and I love the Morninglord.

Spoiler: show
 What happened to Kaine is the Garda detained him for finding Lumi in his camp, he was punished for her running away, Yordan decided the appropriate yet still as lenient as he could comfortably allow punishment would be a temporary banishment from Vallaki and all of its surrounding associated lands, and then, Kaine found himself marched out of town at the crack of the next dawn naked and in irons. As soon as he was uncuffed at the border and dressed himself he found some water as the Garda left,drank it and was brutally murdered by the Harbinger who was less than pleased his foe was still living.  His wife was as powerless to do anything about it as he was. Kaine's body was severely mutilated and as is the Harbinger's usual procedure, stripped of gold and weapons then hidden in a very hard to find place.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2017, 12:17:57 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #117 on: December 21, 2017, 02:10:54 PM »
Spoiler: show
 There are no large clues. The only person who fully witnessed what transpired was Tinu. Sure Kaine told a few of his friends and fellow martial duelists he respected about how the Harbinger was after him, he told the Garda and Lumi too. It didn't do anyone much good though. He *was* a lot safer in his cell than he was at the border. Tinu being the loving and supportive wife she was urged him not to travel alone while the Harbinger was at large and had his socketed helm visage set on Kaine and she was understandably rather upset that the banishment would more than likely spell his doom. It very literally and predictably did.

Both the Garda and the ML Church had recently told Kaine this is the last straw with his behavior and they are sick of receiving such numerous reports from various people, yes even though several tended to be highly exaggerated and even fictitious.
It gravely wounded him psychologically to be whittled down day after day by the peasants, the priests, the Garda and pilgrims. He took it personally that they whined and whinged very hard at his every action and inaction in order to cause him more problems as though life was already not hard enough and probably only Tinu and Father Allek much understood he went through that.

Through it all Kaine struggled to maintain a positive outlook and his most often received reward was being treated as a common criminal more often than not.

When the Harbinger told the Widowed Tinu who was still too shocked to even properly grieve that the hope Kaine as a light carrier tried to espouse died with him in a way he wasn't totally wrong. It was in hindsight a tad unusual that only Father Allek and he recognized it for that though.

« Last Edit: December 21, 2017, 02:20:28 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #118 on: December 29, 2017, 03:57:30 PM »
Somehow I have returned to the land of the living. I don't know how or who but was told someone found my body either in the sewers or the river and a group of warriors chipped in together to pay the resurrection fee.
My beloved says it has not been a whole week yet. Since my banishment from Vallaki is to be for two weeks I should just lay low for awhile longer.  Money is tight and our resources scant.

I worry this journal might be scryed by a diviner so I will not write the location of where I have chosen to hide, what our aliases are or anything like that.  It isn't safe to.

To think if it were not for Lumi and Private Savu's meddling Tinu and I might be still experiencing a domestic bliss at our lakeside campground across from where Sir Havenshire had set up his Creator Goddess shrine and memorial dedicated to Mother Kali.  Or the Harbinger could have found it (our secluded campsite) and slaughtered us both in which case our bodies would have been food for the minks and wolves.  Knowing our typical run of luck the latter case seems quite likely.

I do hope Corporal Hubchev sleeps well at night. Knowing he is fine with condemning a friend over abstract principle makes me wonder how he treats his actual true enemies.
He probably doesn't even feel like he did anything wrong in banishing me despite that Tinu and I had both explained to him there was a deranged serial killer after us. I don't know for certain how he feels but I'd be at least a little conflicted about knowing I'd had an unwitting part in it had our positions been reversed... Well, maybe.
Who can say?

I'm not a citizen. I don't have rights. What protections we are granted as outlanders are privileges relying on the charity and goodwill of the native Barovians around us.  These privileges can be easily taken away on a whim.  It was a mistake to ever think I could take any of it for granted.

Someday I think I should like to interview and talk with the Count. I know he is a great and terrible man and that it could cost me my life or worse but the more I hear about Von Zaroviches the more interesting this family sounds. Surely he would have some insights or advice about leadership? The question is whether he would be willing to share any tips with a small pissant foreigner such as myself.  It is unlikely I would be able to ever have anything he should want and also I know he is one to prefer keeping to himself in his castle and being left alone, to count his gold the Burgomasters of the towns and cities collect as tax.  This is a silly thought and I should cease such folly.

I should start smaller and when my banishment is over perhaps try to get to be acquainted with one of the burgomasters. Perhaps some of my friends in the city watch could help arrange this? It's something to think about at least albeit not terribly realistic.

Lance Corporal Stirbei did not have to allow Tinu to visit me in the Citadel jail during what we all including myself believed to be my last night among the living. That she did demonstrated a remarkable compassion.  She is... a true friend.  She tried to do what she could to reduce my sentence and would have been able to if Yordan had not caught wind of it.  I don't... go out of my way to cause trouble for the garda and have been mostly a victim of some seriously unfortunate circumstances which rapidly got out of my control.

Yordan told me he felt that I got in and out of trouble so often reflected badly on his regiment.
I honestly can't control what people make up and exaggerate about me. I can only control what comes out of my mouth not that of others. 
If I last through to the end of my banishment I must be ever so very careful in treading Vallaki lands because should one more tall tale, malicious rumor or bit of lying gossip concerning me be spread and I will surely be executed.

Perhaps some mean peasant will like starting a campfire story I am an outlander with two heads on his shoulders and that my rear end is fluent in draconic? Honestly some people these days...
Tsk, tsk.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2017, 05:54:05 PM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #119 on: December 29, 2017, 05:58:52 PM »
I was always swift to pay off my fines accrued no matter how high and with a minimum of fuss.
I did not protest my sentences no matter how barbaric and backwards the punishments might seem and accepted my penalties willingly.

I hope some day Corporal Hubchev might be able to look at that part of my record and realize a significant portion of the charges brought against me being overturned is not through inefficiencies in Barovian Law but because lack of sufficient evidence or later contradicting evidence becoming made available caused people in the citadel to reconsider.  That is how justice in more civilized countries operates sometimes. It isn't about flexibly allowing some people to violate more things than others, no.
It is about making sure you have the right person convicted. At least that's what I think. I know nobody asked me and I probably won't ever be asked to give an opinion about legal systems but that would be my two copper pieces, golden wolf fangs, my lesser solare, etc. on such matters. Just so it's in my journal at least.

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #120 on: December 30, 2017, 12:30:04 AM »
Life on the lam is rather miserable.
Money is scant, resources run low.

Again I find myself treated as though I were a criminal while others who commit real actual serious abominable acts get away scott free! How frustrating.

I have to pretend not to be involved with my dear bride now to go into even deeper cover? Why can't we just get eloped?
This puts such a damper on our lives.
Being hounded by the Cyricists and Garda alike, seemingly. Ugh.

I do wonder if we could get Dementlieuese nobles to sponsor a play given in the opera house that is a satire of my and her treatment by the Barovians. The story has some merit and aristocrats do love satire!
« Last Edit: December 30, 2017, 12:39:12 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #121 on: December 30, 2017, 12:44:50 AM »
It is always work very hard to obtain things that some jackass feels you do not deserve and sets themselves to dedicatedly undermine, isn't it? That somehow they irrationally feel they themselves deserve your achievements more.

Being punished both when you do right and the wrong thing is quite messed up.

I should be more grateful that Tinu and I are both alive and together and also that I still retain three of my five swords. The two the Harbinger robbed me of were my silver gilt one and the one given to me by Father Ilu. I have had my remaining blades, my armor and much else of my effects drastically altered so as to fashion a rather thorough disguise.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2017, 12:47:02 AM by Kaine »

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #122 on: December 31, 2017, 12:02:58 AM »
Though I do hold Savu and Lumia partially to blame for what happened to me I recognize they cannot help being who they are any more than I can help being an adventurer.

I look forward to the day when I may come out of hiding and Tinu and I can finally be married. This is ludicrous being treated like a criminal when far more murderous wretches are allowed to stalk the nights freely. I'm trying to help these stupid people. Don't they...? They can't be entirely oblivious to that. Some of it has to be intentionally feigned ignorance of a malicious sort.

That at any time anyone can make something up and I will be first arrested and beaten before the veracity of such statements is checked is highly demoralizing and I recognize it is meant to be so.
However, taking it out of my hide does *NOTHING* to control what other people choose to say about me.
I can't control what they spread. I can only hope that as I continue trying my damnedest to do the right thing eventually some of this deadly gossip might die down.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2017, 12:09:34 AM by Kaine »

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #123 on: December 31, 2017, 01:12:51 AM »
I don't consider myself a hero. I'm no knight either.
My skills and gifts are mundane not of an arcane nor divine nature but gained through hard training, rigorous practice and nae endless repetition. There is analysis before and after each fight I participate in. Not so much during.  During battle there are other things to consider.
I should work on that to be always scanning, always seeking a vantage point. Look for flaws and weaknesses to become apparent in foes. Figure out the way to best take them out with least collateral damage. The fewest civilians and allies being put into harm's way when I am fighting, that is the right way to go about things.

What do I consider evil?
Harming others for your own enjoyment, engaging in slaughter of those who cannot possibly defend themselves. Those are arguably amongst the most evil acts man can commit against his fellow man.

It isn't something as simple as that certain spells or use of poisons are inherently evil. Certainly some are but what if you resorted to use of such things to a good and noble end? Conversely, what if one were to use acts of on the surface goodwill to infiltrate deeply into a community and then like some dormant infection left untreated spread, requiring a severe amputation that the rest of the sufferer afflicted might have a chance to live?

Perhaps Yordan felt like I was such a gangrene on his beautifully ordered ideal of a Barovian society and community.

You can't simply never trust anyone as that's no way to live. You might live longer but the quality (or lack thereof) of that life, eh? It's a calculated risk but without some bonds and relationships the isolation will destroy your mind I think. More completely than any physical enemy could ever attempt to.

I have read some translated Lamordian and Dementlieuse books and papers on madness afflictions, the psyche, that new science of mesmerism and even a few popular current erudite theories on criminality during this period of my exile.

Also more of medicine. I probably won't be in a position to obtain a degree any time soon but some of the eugenic theories that perhaps humans and demihumans are not altogether different species but simply differing races, hence their ability to interbreed struck with me. I do not know that the differences between the races are magical in origin or truly the result of differing proportion to the humoral balance. The raging academic debate about this seems interesting but what do I know? I'm just a former soldier skilled to an extent in basic and intermediate herbalism as well as the rudimentary treatment of wounds and infection. I would enjoy listening to scholars and chirurgions wax on about their trade and fields of study but perhaps that is not for this life.

I'm a fighter not a practitioner of the dark arts. My reasons for hoping there to be a method of prolonging my life a bit longer than is average for my race are to be there for my family. Our family. It has nothing to do with diabolism or necromancy in the slightest and those avenues are strictly off the table. In other words, I reject them.

Must people always assume the very worst conclusions after only partially listening and not gathering the proper context?

So far the most direct methods available to me seem proper nutrition, regular exercise and when possible using medicine to avoid becoming too seriously ill.
I never at any point suggested I was interested in pursuing immortality.

Indeed there are certain enchanted amulets which are said to drastically slow the process of physical aging for their wearer but the cost associated with those is if you should ever take them off you will crumble into dust!

Trying to extend the lifespan in measured increments is not in itself a terrible thing. Imagine how much more discovery and refinement of technique in a discipline one could get to levels of with more time on his or her hands. Such is the honey tongued promise of advances in these "sciences" to do greater good. As a man who has been raised from the dead many times from fatal injuries and recovered from what should have seemed entirely fated demises at least a handful of times, I do know that I am not immortal but wonder if that is the sort of thing these physicians attempt to tease out the secrets of in  advancing their studies.

Is it unnatural? Certainly but something about death in these lands I am coming to think strikes as rather unnatural as well. Arcanists have shown me and explained to me things leaning toward this notion. The body of evidence continues growing.

Also note that as a Morninglordian and light carrier I regularly battle against undead abominations given a mocking semblance of life through curses, necromancy and the like.  I cannot emphasize enough the importance of drawing a distinction between undeath and extending the upper limits of our time on this mortal coil. However, quality of life certainly is an issue of concern. Should one transcend too far you would stop being human or demihuman altogether. It's not about trying to become gods. Not for me.
Nor is the alternative outcome of becoming a mummy or the closest still living thing to a zombie much desirable either.

It has to be within limits. The question of these boundaries though is not one for me to discern or experiment with. It is... Merely a subject I find morbidly fascinating.

Silas Rotleaf

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Re: The Swordsman's Tale:
« Reply #124 on: December 31, 2017, 01:24:15 AM »
Though this is my own journal I can already anticipate being decried as some type of thing antithetical to what is deemed right and good for having thoughts one should pretend not to have for sake of propriety.
Fah! A pox on your ideas of "decency" which get so many people unwittingly killed. Good men and women who might still be with us were they not held back by such backwards and harmful ideas!
For example when the Barovians would rather suffer through an illness or injury than accept medicine or any divine healing. It has been witnessed during periods of plague.
People could be living fuller, better lives and yet this is apparently not what many wish to have for themselves.

Perhaps it is my near feverish induced paranoia at being exiled from our home combined with knowing it was never a safe haven that is pushing my mind in such a direction even further as of late.

In my mind I can already hear the voices of my detractors telling me I am mad and bad for wanting things to be better rather than convincing myself to be satisfied with the current bad state of affairs.

In private behind locked doors Tinu and I exchange a kiss here, a friendly yet forbidden kind and reassuring word there and express the hope things will get better should we see through the current situation and manage to survive. Since when is it considered evil for two betrothed to do so much as hold hands? The passions of hatred and villainy are allowed free reign while love is unjustly scrutinized.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2017, 01:30:48 AM by Kaine »