[Artemisia] TRM Atenveldt & TRM Outlands Missives (long)

[mattkatie2]

REPOSTED AT THE REQUEST OF TRM EDUARD AND ASA, KING AND QUEEN OF ATENVELDT:
Below are two missives. The first was sent by TRM Atenveldt to TRM Outlands
and read by two Aten Emissaries (Mistress Ari and Baroness Shaylan) in court
at Outlands Mid-Winter on Dec 15th. The reply is the recent response sent to
TRM Atenveldt by TRM Outlands.

TRM Atenveldt have sent this exchange so all may know of the correspondence
and make ready for War.

---------- Atenveldt message ----------
LETTER FROM TRM EDUARD AND ASA READ IN TRM OUTLANDS COURT AT AL-BARRON
MID-WINTER (Dec 15, 2007)

Unto Their Royal Majesties Alrik Boleslavson and Slaine inghean Ui Sheanain
do we, Eduard Gostomski, All-Father and King of Atenveldt and Asa
Hrafnsdottir, Daughter of Ravens and Queen of the Sunlit Lands send
greetings on this, the beginning of thy Fimbulwinter,

Long have we looked upon thy realm with a feeling of pride, as any parent
must. Thy exploits begin to garner some renown and even the one-eyed may see
that there may be great deeds in the days ahead for you. Yet that same eye
also sees the movement of soldiers towards our borders. Ever is it thus. The
wayward child begins to feel he understands the breadth and depth of the
world-tree and seeks glorious death without truly understanding what it
means to live. Valhalla is a realm of warriors. We suspect you shall not
listen to wisdom however. The young never do.

I confess We were surprised at your choice for General, as he sounds
suspiciously French, and We are somewhat disappointed that your army is
likely to take the field only to surrender. I mean really, have they ever>
had a successful military leader that they haven't burned? (Napoleon, alas,
was Corsican)... Please note that for tribute, fine wine is acceptable,
smelly cheese is not, and no, we shall not have a break for croissant and
coffee. Oh very well, perhaps coffee...

Bearing in mind that you are likely to come to our lands only to find Your
Ragnarok, we have made every effort to be efficient hosts. Thus we are
pleased to send suitable were-gild ahead of time. This should be
enough to pay off 5 drunkards to relieve themselves on the bodies of the
worthy of your army and set them alight... what is that, a dozen or so?
Less? Hmm... Perhaps We have overpaid.

Also note that we have included two items for His Majesty in particular: The
Fimbulwinter is cold, and though the Lands of the Sun are warm to her
friends, they can be harsh and unyielding to the young. It is tradition here
that children presenting themselves before the Crown be given a gift of
booties. Thus do we present such to you, Your Majesty. We would not wish for
you to develop "cold feet" on the eve of your demise.

We have also included something which You should be intimately familiar
with, Your Majesty: A toy. The creature it represents is called a horse. You
are likely familiar with it as "horsie." Warriors ride upon it to battle. It
is our hope that this gift shall allow you suitable time to become familiar
with the concept of being around "scary big horsie things" before you take
that final ride upon Odin's eight legged steed Sleipnir. Or at the very
least, the approximation of it from four pall- bearers who shall move thy
corpse to its funerary barge. This of course assumes that enough of your
populace is left after your defeat to fill the requisite number. If not, I
suspect We will have to make arrangements to take care of this for you. It
is, after all, what the Odin-King should do.

We shall, of course, toast and boast upon your behalf in our mead halls. As
we must assume that you are not yet of age to appreciate this, We feel
obliged to inform you that mead is a fermented honey drink of surprising
sweetness and potency not unlike the first kiss of a fair maiden. Oh, but
our apologies.We had momentarily forgotten that such is a pleasure you have
yet to discover. Sadly, we think it unlikely that you shall live long enough
to experience this. Perhaps you may yet make do with milk.

So Good Children of Atenveldt's loins, we issue this challenge to you:
Bring Us your soldiers. Bring Us your champions. Bring Us your heroes. Let
us face each other upon the fields of Estrella and test each other in the
face of battle. Let us commit to the dance of death with ravens and Valkyrie
in attendance. Show us the worth of the Outlands when steel is pledged
against steel. Let skald and soldier raise voice in the honor of the brave
and the dead, and lay low the coward that slinks from the battlefield. Thus
shall we discover whether Estrella be a war of Warriors and Heroes.or merely
the noisome puling of babes and children.

For all our boasts, and all our roasts, we raise a glass in Your honor, that
we may meet and struggle before the gates of Valhalla.

Eduard One Eye, Odin-King of Atenveldt
Asa, Queen of the Sun, and Daughter of Ravens

---------- Outlands message ----------
Date: Wed, Jan 30, 2008 at 8:49 AM
REPLY SENT FROM TRM ALRIK AND SLAINE, KING AND QUEEN OF THE OUTLANDS 

Here we begin by telling of a man named Alrik Boleslavson, and it is said he
is mighty indeed and wise beyond his years, a true king.  Another man,
Eduard by name, is part in this, he a king too, so it is said, imposing
perhaps but most aged.  Alrik however is the more noted of the two, of
better stock and line and having his mighty Outlands behind him and a most
noble match in his Queen, Slaine inghean Ui Sheanain, truly a warrior in her
own right.  But gracious are they, mighty Stag Crown, and even to parents so
distant and harsh, they do send greetings in this long night and wishes of
health to Eduard, Odin-King, and Asa, Daughter of Ravens, Crown of Sun
blessed Atenveldt.

Convey our thanks to your bard for such pretty words and clever phrases, but
we surely wonder that great Atenveldt has no skald to dress such references
and the words of the Odin-King in more northern style.  Great thanks be unto
you and your land for your Midwinter wishes and gifts, things surely born
out of cherished parental concern.  At first, the court rejoiced at hearing
two gifts offered, hoping well them to be Mistress Ari and Baroness Shaylan
for weregild, for they would ornament any kingdom, with valiant nature as
clear as their beauty if one has eyes at all to see.  

 

Alas though, we return them safe to you, for aging parents might need care
and nursemaids in this cold winter and in battles to come.  Now, to the
gifts you sent in such generous care.  Less interest in drink might well
serve you, for no warrior fears an army lolling in a mead hall.  It is
hardly as good as it's said to be, mead, for the sons of men, for the more
he drinks the less he knows of man and battle and mind.  Noting the warm
shoes and toys you sent, our court can only wonder if age has stolen away
your sense, it is a soft and maternal gesture for one claiming to be the
mighty Father Kingdom.  

 


It has long been remembered and spoken that the sons and daughters of the
Stag, and the Royal line traced pure back through the ages, are
exceptionally ambitious.  They surpass most men named in old Sagas both in
knowledge and accomplishments and in the desire for victory.  Confident we
are with our able General, Sir Roger de Gilbert.  He will soon be as known
to you as his distant ancestors, Carolus Magnus and his father Pepin, mighty
and undefeated.

 

We know no history of this Napoleon you mention, but will forgive such
fantasy as the product of your venerable imagination.  Perhaps too the
waning of the mind in age has allowed you to forget the last battle of Our
kingdoms, but We would remind you.  

 

At Our Grand Outlandish Knight Bannerette this year past, Aten warriors took
the field under your ancestor, then King Morgan, against the mighty
Outlands.  Defeat they met on that field against the Outlands brave, victory
belonging to the Warrior Crown of the Stag, Alrik and Slaine, noble King's
Champion Boleslav Ragnarsson and Sir Kragon.  We have led Our warriors to
victory over Atenveldt before, and will have victory again. 

 

So now hear Alrik's words, his will, his promise to the honor of his people
and the terror of his enemies.  All peoples will bear witness that I, Alrik,
made the vow that I would flee neither fire nor iron from fear, and so have
I done. 

 

Why should my age bear on this?  Is it that age fears the youth, the
strength, the mighty Outlands at her best?  Maidens will not taunt my
warriors during games or war saying they feared battle, feared their deaths,
for death comes to each man.  No one may escape that, and we will not flee,
and for our own part act the bravest.  We have fought a hundred times, with
large armies or small, both ways have we had our victory, and it will not be
reported that Outlanders fled or begged peace.  I will bring you my
warriors, my champions, my heroes, for ours is a land of heroes, some former
sons and daughters of Atenveldt but all proud Outlanders, and we walk strong
into battle and into the sun.  

 

So yes, Odin-King, look to the East and see the Stag come forth in Spring to
lock horns with you in battle, and then to drain horns with you at night.
This will be no Ragnarok, but Valhalla indeed, that we may all fight and die
and fight again, then share in mead til your sun rises anew.