The great orb has once again slipped from its spire and a new year has begun to rise around me. The land still gripped in Winter, I found myself content to read in my abode with a fire burning in the hearth as revelers poured from their homes to celebrate in drunken fashion throughout the land. As many do in this time I found myself looking back. I had gained a good many things; arcane knowledge, a trusted circle of companions, a good woman, and rank in the eyes of my Lord. I had also lost things that even the foulest of necromancies could not bring back; my feline Hunter, and my Alchemist's title.
I found upon taking measure of those events that the scales of fortune had swung heavily in my favor. While my Woman stands at my side I am unbeatable. With my esoteric knowledge I am able to continue my studies without the council, sating my own need to understand this world's curiosities. With my elevation to the Vassal of his Lordship I am able to have the small amount of power that I crave. While seemingly content with all those things I found that I still wanted. As if the rewards that some small amount of luck, or skill, or even the simple tangled yarns of fate had brought me had stoked the fires of my ambitions.
I have seen through three troubled times, three winters, three days of remembrance of my own birth while living in this Kingdom. It is longer than I have spent anywhere for the last fifteen winters. I can feel the wanderlust rising up to take me. I have ties to this land though; friends, property, fealty to a lord, and a love. Ties I have been reluctant to make in every other land I have passed through. A weakness maybe but a necessary one. I believe these ties anchor us to our humanity. Without these things what do we fight for? I feel this will be a time of compromise. I will seek out the secret paths that will allow me my freedom and my life here. I will explore them all finding a middle ground that increases my fortune. I will not rest on my accomplishments as I would. I will marshal my forces and continue forward.
The first step is the hardest and I have begun to take it. Complacency has taken me this last season. My position at the Kingdom has always been one of direction from afar. My bidding has always passed from myself through an underling that roamed the lands, of which I saw far too rarely, down to my adventurers to carry out their tasks. Passed through my Lieutenant, Barbarian, Huntress or Ronin as I poured through the scrolls they brought me, bartered with the others of my rank when I was forced to intrude upon their domains, and insulate my men from the politics of the court. As my powers have increased I find myself staring at more scrolls, and pouring through libraries of the large tomes that the Kingdom's Mages, Alchemists, and Metallurgists are so keen to produce. While not a warrior, I have seen battle. I recognize the value of exertion and toil. My body once ready for combat through force of arms or guile and treachery is now soft with decadence. My gold buys a good meal but does not save me from my own gluttony. This season will be one of changes. Changes which I can only imagine will lead me to hardship and war. I have begun training for battle. I will not be content to sit in my castle and have fate steer me any longer. I will seek out my path and to the gods go those that stand in my way.
I found upon taking measure of those events that the scales of fortune had swung heavily in my favor. While my Woman stands at my side I am unbeatable. With my esoteric knowledge I am able to continue my studies without the council, sating my own need to understand this world's curiosities. With my elevation to the Vassal of his Lordship I am able to have the small amount of power that I crave. While seemingly content with all those things I found that I still wanted. As if the rewards that some small amount of luck, or skill, or even the simple tangled yarns of fate had brought me had stoked the fires of my ambitions.
I have seen through three troubled times, three winters, three days of remembrance of my own birth while living in this Kingdom. It is longer than I have spent anywhere for the last fifteen winters. I can feel the wanderlust rising up to take me. I have ties to this land though; friends, property, fealty to a lord, and a love. Ties I have been reluctant to make in every other land I have passed through. A weakness maybe but a necessary one. I believe these ties anchor us to our humanity. Without these things what do we fight for? I feel this will be a time of compromise. I will seek out the secret paths that will allow me my freedom and my life here. I will explore them all finding a middle ground that increases my fortune. I will not rest on my accomplishments as I would. I will marshal my forces and continue forward.
The first step is the hardest and I have begun to take it. Complacency has taken me this last season. My position at the Kingdom has always been one of direction from afar. My bidding has always passed from myself through an underling that roamed the lands, of which I saw far too rarely, down to my adventurers to carry out their tasks. Passed through my Lieutenant, Barbarian, Huntress or Ronin as I poured through the scrolls they brought me, bartered with the others of my rank when I was forced to intrude upon their domains, and insulate my men from the politics of the court. As my powers have increased I find myself staring at more scrolls, and pouring through libraries of the large tomes that the Kingdom's Mages, Alchemists, and Metallurgists are so keen to produce. While not a warrior, I have seen battle. I recognize the value of exertion and toil. My body once ready for combat through force of arms or guile and treachery is now soft with decadence. My gold buys a good meal but does not save me from my own gluttony. This season will be one of changes. Changes which I can only imagine will lead me to hardship and war. I have begun training for battle. I will not be content to sit in my castle and have fate steer me any longer. I will seek out my path and to the gods go those that stand in my way.
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