Doubts

I have dreamt of the Strega every night since i first encountered her.
I remember her taunts, her viciousness, and the very essence of her evil turning the air around her dark with corruption.
I am not blind to what she intended.
But I am finding myself starting to question.
Because there is a balance to everything. A balance to the natural order. And you can't have one without the other. Co-existence is a harmony that is not easily understood by most. If you have light, you must also have dark. Day must have night. Good must have Evil. Right must have Wrong.Life must have Death. Without a balance, they both suffer.

I realize this is not a popular opinion, and my view is going to be very unpopular. But i'm beginning to question whether the Strega was really the one threatening the balance...or was she attempting to set it all straight again? Perhaps the balance has been destroyed, not by her, but by stopping her. Just because she acted in a way that was considered "Evil", does that automatically mean she was acting out of harmony? that she wasn't doing what was supposed to be done?

I wonder...
 
You weren't there the first time, so how can you know? She didn't want balance, she wanted death and destruction--to destroy the very Weave; our world; existence itself, all in an attempt to create...something (a world?) that would be held under her dark, iron fist.

Balance?

No. Far from it.

We fought and died to protect the balance, and in the end, we didn't really win. Our world was destroyed and rebuilt...after a fashion. If anything, I'd say us killing her restored balance because the struggle of good versus evil continues onward in this mortal realm. Had she won, there would be no good (no light), only darkness.

So think what you will, you're entitled. Just don't be surprised if one of the 8,000+ slain speaks harshly against your opinion; especially those who survived (and remember) Crocevia that was.

Good day.

*bow*

-Avaran
 
Cerulean Jax said:
I have dreamt of the Strega every night since i first encountered her.
I remember her taunts, her viciousness, and the very essence of her evil turning the air around her dark with corruption.
I am not blind to what she intended.
But I am finding myself starting to question.
Because there is a balance to everything. A balance to the natural order. And you can't have one without the other. Co-existence is a harmony that is not easily understood by most. If you have light, you must also have dark. Day must have night. Good must have Evil. Right must have Wrong.Life must have Death. Without a balance, they both suffer.

I realize this is not a popular opinion, and my view is going to be very unpopular. But i'm beginning to question whether the Strega was really the one threatening the balance...or was she attempting to set it all straight again? Perhaps the balance has been destroyed, not by her, but by stopping her. Just because she acted in a way that was considered "Evil", does that automatically mean she was acting out of harmony? that she wasn't doing what was supposed to be done?

I wonder...
The question is understandable as you were not with us in the days when she came to power once again. I could list what she did and how she did, but I would rather not taint the dreams here with such words. However if you wish I can tell you in person what happened, and why we did what we did.
 
Cerulean Jax said:
I have dreamt of the Strega every night since i first encountered her.
I remember her taunts, her viciousness, and the very essence of her evil turning the air around her dark with corruption.
I am not blind to what she intended.
But I am finding myself starting to question.
Because there is a balance to everything. A balance to the natural order. And you can't have one without the other. Co-existence is a harmony that is not easily understood by most. If you have light, you must also have dark. Day must have night. Good must have Evil. Right must have Wrong.Life must have Death. Without a balance, they both suffer.

I realize this is not a popular opinion, and my view is going to be very unpopular. But i'm beginning to question whether the Strega was really the one threatening the balance...or was she attempting to set it all straight again? Perhaps the balance has been destroyed, not by her, but by stopping her. Just because she acted in a way that was considered "Evil", does that automatically mean she was acting out of harmony? that she wasn't doing what was supposed to be done?

I wonder...

Goodman Jax,

I really have to wonder who are to be offering up such advice. Do you hold the title of Sage? Are you a learned Celestial Scholar who has spent decades studying the planes and their very nature? Are you a historian who specializes in the Special Kin, or as the adventurers call them Fae? A theorist of the Magistratium? I am none of these things, but I did grow up in a town protected by the Special Kin and listening to the stories told by Nana Papera. The Strega should not ever have been as powerful as she was; she stole the King of Dreams gift of the Cards to the Queen of Nightmares and used their power to become greater than she had been. This is also how they came to be in our realm. This is no cycle that has been played out time and again... she attempted to destroy the world and near as I can tell she did, with the exception of this town... It is all we have left. My cousins and aunts and uncles and other family and friends that lived elsewhere in Dagliano are gone. They are missing, at least to us, or worse... they were never here- they never existed to anyone else outside of this town. I suppose as a new adventurer -and yes, your reputation precedes you- to the town you are more clever than us simple artisans and farmers. I am certain that you spent years with the adventurers we took in as refuges and ourselves researching and learning about the Strega. I am certain that you must have been here as the homunculi came in waves and killed us and our families. Wait, was it you who was here as we picked up hoes and shovels and stones and wood and fought alongside with the adventurers when there was nothing else to fight with? You must have been here as our loved ones and neighbors were consumed by those damnable Crimson Mists. You stood by us as the trees themselves came to life with her power and attacked us. Did you help us as madness swept over the town and we looked to our daughters as the source of the evil that plagued us? Because the Strega did indeed come from one of our daughters. Our homes and shops were destroyed by her minions and we did not understand why we did not just kill her- yes I knew the Sindaco ?sorry Magistrate- and the adventurers figured out which little girl it was, but because they had researched it they knew when the time was right, so we waited. We endured suffering and war and death to make sure we were doing the right thing. Estates literally fell into the earth while others were overrun with undead. Farms burned while Griffons and a Dragon rained terror from above- She even corrupted the Guardians, the Dragons, and made one of her very own, which we also destroyed. My fianc? died permanently in that last war. My parents are gone forever for they had the misfortune of leaving early with some of the first children and infirm. Destroying the Strega cost us the very world we know and very nearly everything else. Now I may just be a simple chandler, but I would say Goodman Jax that your damnable balance has been struck.

Magda Florencia
 
Do not forget about the horrible pandemic that swept across the entire continent; the disease that had the nickname "Bloodtears." In its early stages, one who would recieve aid from a healer's touch from the purest source of the earth would be flung into a murderous rage. The advanced stages were even worse causing unspeakable horror and death. It spread to everywhere, even some of the adventurers contracted the plague. Once yoou had it, you had it till the end of your natural life; there was no immediate cure for those dying to it in the northern lands. Fortunately, a cure was found and made, but not in time to save the countless many who perished from it.

~Johnathan Lancaster
 
Cerulean,

The Strega brought war upon us. We did not ask for war; yet war was brought.

Forgive me if I brush aside much of the fluff of metaphysical guesses you spout. I have little patience with them; if I need such musings and meanderings I will search for them from those whom I know to be educated in such. I have had my fill of such for now. If you find a need to question a "cycle" of "light" and "darkness", don't let us stop you. But I do have one request for you while you are doing this.

Do not belittle the war which is still fresh in our minds. I was there in the war room, where orders were given that sent thousands to their deaths. I was there at the dragon's maw, when the Guardian had been corrupted and it sent magics forth to Obliterate Slice. I was there when word came in that the ground itself had collapsed, swallowing hordes on both sides. I was the one who brought thanks to our allies, the Shar'thah, though of necessity they were bitter due to the severe death toll, and I saw the looks on their faces. I saw Magistrate Savelli, in bloodstained clothes, return from the front lines, speaking in flat tones of the death and destruction which were beyond anything he had seen.

The Fae are not natural denizens of this plane. When I gave the cards to the Queen of Nightmares so that they would return to their own place, their natural place, the "balance" you speak of so lightly came closer to where it should be. The Strega was an aberration, an unnatural monstrosity; she has no place in this existence.

Removing her was a mercy to this world.

So muse all you want on "light" and "dark". Consider the thoughts of "Life" and "Death". I suspect you will soon stumble onto the question of "Chaos" vs "Earth" that has been examined and reexamined a thousand thousand times before, and you will bring forth thoughts that you think to be new and unique only to be told of the centuries these same thoughts have been studied and discarded. Think what you like on these questions.

But never again mention the Strega in the same breath as anything dealing with a "proper balance". She had nothing to do with any balance.

-Polare Lissenstine
 
Jim said:
Goodman Jax,

I really have to wonder who are to be offering up such advice. Do you hold the title of Sage? Are you a learned Celestial Scholar who has spent decades studying the planes and their very nature? Are you a historian who specializes in the Special Kin, or as the adventurers call them Fae? A theorist of the Magistratium? I am none of these things, but I did grow up in a town protected by the Special Kin and listening to the stories told by Nana Papera. The Strega should not ever have been as powerful as she was; she stole the King of Dreams gift of the Cards to the Queen of Nightmares and used their power to become greater than she had been. This is also how they came to be in our realm. This is no cycle that has been played out time and again... she attempted to destroy the world and near as I can tell she did, with the exception of this town... It is all we have left. My cousins and aunts and uncles and other family and friends that lived elsewhere in Dagliano are gone. They are missing, at least to us, or worse... they were never here- they never existed to anyone else outside of this town. I suppose as a new adventurer -and yes, your reputation precedes you- to the town you are more clever than us simple artisans and farmers. I am certain that you spent years with the adventurers we took in as refuges and ourselves researching and learning about the Strega. I am certain that you must have been here as the homunculi came in waves and killed us and our families. Wait, was it you who was here as we picked up hoes and shovels and stones and wood and fought alongside with the adventurers when there was nothing else to fight with? You must have been here as our loved ones and neighbors were consumed by those damnable Crimson Mists. You stood by us as the trees themselves came to life with her power and attacked us. Did you help us as madness swept over the town and we looked to our daughters as the source of the evil that plagued us? Because the Strega did indeed come from one of our daughters. Our homes and shops were destroyed by her minions and we did not understand why we did not just kill her- yes I knew the Sindaco ?sorry Magistrate- and the adventurers figured out which little girl it was, but because they had researched it they knew when the time was right, so we waited. We endured suffering and war and death to make sure we were doing the right thing. Estates literally fell into the earth while others were overrun with undead. Farms burned while Griffons and a Dragon rained terror from above- She even corrupted the Guardians, the Dragons, and made one of her very own, which we also destroyed. My fianc? died permanently in that last war. My parents are gone forever for they had the misfortune of leaving early with some of the first children and infirm. Destroying the Strega cost us the very world we know and very nearly everything else. Now I may just be a simple chandler, but I would say Goodman Jax that your damnable balance has been struck.

Magda Florencia

I'm amused that my simple pondering has caused you to be so worked up.
Perhaps you aren't listening to my 'reputation' as well as you should , then, if you are going to classify me as one of your 'adventurers'.
I'm simply a man who chooses to question, rather than to blindly believe.

In the future, perhaps you can learn from Kauss; he certainly seems to understand when an offense is meant, and when it is not, and he knows how to instruct, without also insulting.
 
Polare Lissenstine said:
Cerulean,

The Strega brought war upon us. We did not ask for war; yet war was brought.

Forgive me if I brush aside much of the fluff of metaphysical guesses you spout. I have little patience with them; if I need such musings and meanderings I will search for them from those whom I know to be educated in such. I have had my fill of such for now. If you find a need to question a "cycle" of "light" and "darkness", don't let us stop you. But I do have one request for you while you are doing this.

Do not belittle the war which is still fresh in our minds. I was there in the war room, where orders were given that sent thousands to their deaths. I was there at the dragon's maw, when the Guardian had been corrupted and it sent magics forth to Obliterate Slice. I was there when word came in that the ground itself had collapsed, swallowing hordes on both sides. I was the one who brought thanks to our allies, the Shar'thah, though of necessity they were bitter due to the severe death toll, and I saw the looks on their faces. I saw Magistrate Savelli, in bloodstained clothes, return from the front lines, speaking in flat tones of the death and destruction which were beyond anything he had seen.

The Fae are not natural denizens of this plane. When I gave the cards to the Queen of Nightmares so that they would return to their own place, their natural place, the "balance" you speak of so lightly came closer to where it should be. The Strega was an aberration, an unnatural monstrosity; she has no place in this existence.

Removing her was a mercy to this world.

So muse all you want on "light" and "dark". Consider the thoughts of "Life" and "Death". I suspect you will soon stumble onto the question of "Chaos" vs "Earth" that has been examined and reexamined a thousand thousand times before, and you will bring forth thoughts that you think to be new and unique only to be told of the centuries these same thoughts have been studied and discarded. Think what you like on these questions.

But never again mention the Strega in the same breath as anything dealing with a "proper balance". She had nothing to do with any balance.

-Polare Lissenstine

I wasn't belittling anything, Polare. And i wasn't seeking you out to insult you, or attempting to offend you, as you have just done to me.
If i were a lesser man, i probably would be offended, or angered.
As it is, i'm just disgusted that i have to dumb down my musings YET again so that you can't possibly get the wrong idea.
 
Cerulean Jax said:
As it is, i'm just disgusted that i have to dumb down my musings YET again so that you can't possibly get the wrong idea.

Alas, the very nature of the Dreamscape. Dreams here are like the paintings of a master painter; once they are made, the interpretation of the creation is up to those who come upon them, and will always come to seperate conclusions from what the originator originally intended. Its one of the reasons I hardly take part in serious debates on the Dreamscape anymore, as dreams are meant for other things. Anything else is a nightmare, which is what most debates in the dreamscape eventually become.

With that said, I will go back to dreaming about distant battlefields and being the victor of such. Good dreams to all.

~Johnathan
 
Goodman Jax,

Either your intent was malicious or you are idiotic enough for several villages. You can claim your intent to just ponder the matters of the universe simple and plainly all you want, but to do so here in a mass dream, a gift of the King Dreams himself- any enemy of the Strega from the very beginning, where all who suffered, died time and again, lost nearly everything in the fight of their lives can experience it is nothing short of cruel. Would you have us offhandedly remind you of your worst experiences and then put a bit of boorish bit of would-be scholarly supposition to it? Would you like us to take painful memories of your past and trivialize them, to wave away their significance and importance? The time to question the decision is long past. Do you really think that thousands of us did not question ourselves over and over again? Do you think that we did not research and examine and reexamine to be sure the actions we took were the correct ones? You have a few dreams on the subject, perhaps fought the Void's reflection of the Strega and suddenly you are an expert enough to question the decisions of the whole town? And if you do not want to be thought of as an adventurer, try not covering your face and wearing dark clothes ?it is the classic adventurer motiff of dark strangers in folktales. Staying in the Adventurer's Quarter also does not help your cause. I find you to be an errant dismal dreaming hedge-pig and I suggest you keep your musings to yourself or your gaggle of haughty ne'er-do-wells. You all can sit in self-importance in the dark! You won?t find a merchant to sell you a candle in this town!

Magda Florencia
 
Jim said:
Goodman Jax,

Either your intent was malicious or you are idiotic enough for several villages. You can claim your intent to just ponder the matters of the universe simple and plainly all you want, but to do so here in a mass dream, a gift of the King Dreams himself- any enemy of the Strega from the very beginning, where all who suffered, died time and again, lost nearly everything in the fight of their lives can experience it is nothing short of cruel. Would you have us offhandedly remind you of your worst experiences and then put a bit of boorish bit of would-be scholarly supposition to it? Would you like us to take painful memories of your past and trivialize them, to wave away their significance and importance? The time to question the decision is long past. Do you really think that thousands of us did not question ourselves over and over again? Do you think that we did not research and examine and reexamine to be sure the actions we took were the correct ones? You have a few dreams on the subject, perhaps fought the Void's reflection of the Strega and suddenly you are an expert enough to question the decisions of the whole town? And if you do not want to be thought of as an adventurer, try not covering your face and wearing dark clothes ?it is the classic adventurer motiff of dark strangers in folktales. Staying in the Adventurer's Quarter also does not help your cause. I find you to be an errant dismal dreaming hedge-pig and I suggest you keep your musings to yourself or your gaggle of haughty ne'er-do-wells. You all can sit in self-importance in the dark! You won?t find a merchant to sell you a candle in this town!

Magda Florencia

Did your tantrum make you feel any better? i hope so, it certainly amused me.
I don't have to justify my actions to you, Magda, just as you didn't have to justify your actions to me. But you chose to do so, obviously because you have some sort of need to puff yourself up.
I don't know you, so I never had a reason to make any sort of personal attack on you, though you continue to act as though i had.

If i decide to do so, you'll know it because it WILL be personal and it won't be in any dream. now, i'm tired, so kindly go fornicate yourself.
 
Jim said:
Goodman Jax,

Either your intent was malicious or you are idiotic enough for several villages. You can claim your intent to just ponder the matters of the universe simple and plainly all you want, but to do so here in a mass dream, a gift of the King Dreams himself- any enemy of the Strega from the very beginning, where all who suffered, died time and again, lost nearly everything in the fight of their lives can experience it is nothing short of cruel. Would you have us offhandedly remind you of your worst experiences and then put a bit of boorish bit of would-be scholarly supposition to it? Would you like us to take painful memories of your past and trivialize them, to wave away their significance and importance? The time to question the decision is long past. Do you really think that thousands of us did not question ourselves over and over again? Do you think that we did not research and examine and reexamine to be sure the actions we took were the correct ones? You have a few dreams on the subject, perhaps fought the Void's reflection of the Strega and suddenly you are an expert enough to question the decisions of the whole town? And if you do not want to be thought of as an adventurer, try not covering your face and wearing dark clothes ?it is the classic adventurer motiff of dark strangers in folktales. Staying in the Adventurer's Quarter also does not help your cause. I find you to be an errant dismal dreaming hedge-pig and I suggest you keep your musings to yourself or your gaggle of haughty ne'er-do-wells. You all can sit in self-importance in the dark! You won?t find a merchant to sell you a candle in this town!

Magda Florencia

OH, and just as a side note, IF the King of Dreams is so offended by mine, i'd love to talk with him and find out why he allows it to be, seeing as HE hasn't flipped out and thrown childish tantrums my way. Why don't you be a good little whatever-you-are and pass that along.
 
A request to all here. I know that the void creature is delt with, but I suspect it is still not a good idea to speak much about the witch here where her power still echos in both the real world and the dream realm. Tho it may be harmless, it may also cause those echos to grow even without the void creature, and I would rather not risk that. And in any case, things are often said to be best said outside the dream, where we can see our words rooted in the world we stand in. On a topic like this, with the feelings and hurts involved, a face to face might not just be safer, but also better.
 
When you insult my town, you insult me, but what would I expect from someone who speaks so to a woman. I speak for the people and you shall feel the people's wrath. You mock us and act as if you are better than us. It will be tolerated no more. What you call a tantrum I call justified rage. Have you ever fought for anything in your life Cerulean? I doubt very much that you have ever cared enough about anything or anyone other than yourself to even know what I speak of. You wanted a bit of contemplation over a subject you know nothing about. Why does this sound familiar? That is because you did the same thing regarding the Earth Guild as well. All you appear to want in life is discord and for the masses to hate you. I am sure that you have that is spades. Never under these skies do I think there has been a bigger fool than you Cerulean Jax! May the lessons you are about to learn sink into what must be the thickest, densest skull in the entire world!

Magda Florencia
 
Jim said:
Have you ever fought for anything in your life Cerulean? I doubt very much that you have ever cared enough about anything or anyone other than yourself to even know what I speak of.


Easy, Magda, please. I have watched Goodman Jax on the battlefield, and I will vouch that he has not only fought, but has done so in the defense of others. He fought with a passion that can only comes from the heart as opposed to the careless flailings of some brigand or highwayman interested in coin.

If you wish to discuss this with me further in the waking world, Magda, I invite you to visit me in the Adventurer's Quarters in the coming days. We have words over lunch or possibly a drink if you'd like, instead of reducing the dreamscape into a point of turbulation where noone will find rest.

~Johnathan Lancaster

...or as you would probably know me better as...

~The Meddler
 
Johnathan Lancaster said:
Easy, Magda, please. I have watched Goodman Jax on the battlefield, and I will vouch that he has not only fought, but has done so in the defense of others. He fought with a passion that can only comes from the heart as opposed to the careless flailings of some brigand or highwayman interested in coin.

If you wish to discuss this with me further in the waking world, Magda, I invite you to visit me in the Adventurer's Quarters in the coming days. We have words over lunch or possibly a drink if you'd like, instead of reducing the dreamscape into a point of turbulation where noone will find rest.

~Johnathan Lancaster

...or as you would probably know me better as...

~The Meddler

Thank you, sir. I didn't expect any form of defense to come from outside myself, and it's appreciated to know that not all of my efforts were lost on everyone.
 
I know that I have not been seen in this town, but I shall be dealing with that soon, my travels have put a few blockaids in my path as of yet. But I shall be there to stay with my brother Diego soon. I have kept out of the dreams that bombard my sleep since I have set foot in this land, all be it I do find it a beautifull way to cumincate to people. But, at the sounds of what seems to be a trained "adventurer" threatening a merchant becosue they have expressed rage for having their world destroyed makes me sick. Jax, grow up, I may not be from this town, but from what I have heard, these people have weathered more striff and war then almost any I have heard. Do not mock that, I personlay bow my head to what these people have done. When I reach town, I will add my blade and bow to the defence of this town, not only from the monsters that threaten it, but from any childish adventurer threatening the merchants. I will be seeing you all very soon.

Demitir
 
Jim said:
When you insult my town, you insult me, but what would I expect from someone who speaks so to a woman. I speak for the people and you shall feel the people's wrath. You mock us and act as if you are better than us. It will be tolerated no more. What you call a tantrum I call justified rage. Have you ever fought for anything in your life Cerulean? I doubt very much that you have ever cared enough about anything or anyone other than yourself to even know what I speak of. You wanted a bit of contemplation over a subject you know nothing about. Why does this sound familiar? That is because you did the same thing regarding the Earth Guild as well. All you appear to want in life is discord and for the masses to hate you. I am sure that you have that is spades. Never under these skies do I think there has been a bigger fool than you Cerulean Jax! May the lessons you are about to learn sink into what must be the thickest, densest skull in the entire world!

Magda Florencia

Magda, if you want to be treated as a lady, ACT like a lady.
I do NOT prey on women, but if ANY one attacks me, they're treated as an aggressor, no matter what they previously were.
And yes, i HAVE fought for things. Be grateful you still have a town left, for i never had that luxury.
I grow weary with this. I need not justify anything to you, or to anyone. I don't care what you think of me.
Thankfully, there are plenty of people in this town, and this land, who do not meet someone for the first time with as much venom and animosity as you have.
 
Demitir. Magda.

I forget, so I hoping that one or both of you can help me as the battle which was raged almost a weekago grows more and more distant in my memory and there were so many on the battle field who fought the creature which stirs this conversation. Where you there? Did i miss you on that bloody field? I know Jax was. I healed him just as I did Slice and Teth and many many others. I don't recall healing you and I don't recall your help on that field.
I do recall Jax's though.
I recall it valently to be exact.
He has the right to question that which he fought because he fought it. He was there. I for one support his right to question such things. To not would be to ask for it all one more time.

Afterall, nothing repeats itself better then that which dare not be named. Oh and uhm.. Polare if you would seek to give 'it' power - I personally can't think of a better way to do so then to make it an institution of fear. Didn't it thrive in darkness and secrets? Or was I the only one the 'it' told that too?

-Ashe
 
Ashe,

First, forgive me if I ramble. It is late, and my dreams are disturbed by an illness that has befallen me (oog: I have a cold. :( )

What was fought a week ago (or nearly so) is not what Jax was referring to, I don't think (I'm still new to this whole reading thing). It certainly isn't what Magda, Polare, Kauss and Johnathan were referring to. Point of fact, what we fought last week was (dare I say this?) a joke in comparision. The true Strega was far, far more powerful, and was fought a year previous to great destruction and death.

Understand, it is a bit of a sore spot for those of us who were a part of that struggle, because we...didn't really win. Sure, we defeated her, but our world--the one we knew--was utterly destroyed (except for this town...which itself was drastically changed), and that isn't an easy thing to watch or endure.

And if that...thing...we killed last week had any intention of reawakening the real Strega, I dare say we may not have been as fortunate as we were before. But who am I to know these things?

Please don't take this the wrong way; please tread lightly. There has been enough strife as of late, and I'd rather not see more.

Good day.

*bow*

--Avaran


Ashe said:
Demitir. Magda.

I forget, so I hoping that one or both of you can help me as the battle which was raged almost a weekago grows more and more distant in my memory and there were so many on the battle field who fought the creature which stirs this conversation. Where you there? Did i miss you on that bloody field? I know Jax was. I healed him just as I did Slice and Teth and many many others. I don't recall healing you and I don't recall your help on that field.
I do recall Jax's though.
I recall it valently to be exact.
He has the right to question that which he fought because he fought it. He was there. I for one support his right to question such things. To not would be to ask for it all one more time.

Afterall, nothing repeats itself better then that which dare not be named. Oh and uhm.. Polare if you would seek to give 'it' power - I personally can't think of a better way to do so then to make it an institution of fear. Didn't it thrive in darkness and secrets? Or was I the only one the 'it' told that too?

-Ashe
 
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