"Thrice you shall find true love and seven times shed tears before the end of your days."
My Youthful Folly - 1:3
"On the shores of Hali the Tatterdemalion spoke to me, showed me the Sigil, the Yellow Sign. I had no way of knowing what it was or meant back then, no way to connect it to that ancient relic that would become so pivotal in my future life. But he did pass on those words of prophesy, sealing my fate, so to speak. When next I wept, years later, I wept blood. That is when I believed. Three times I would fall in love and seven times I would cry these sanguineous tears before I died. Right now, I'm two and five. I suppose it all began with Ysonde. Her father opposed our romance, and eventually broke us apart. I heard shortly after that her Shadow was torn asunder, but by then I was in Gothica, and there was Aspen. She cared much more than she let on, and though she never confessed it to be mine, she bore my second child, Rintra. But what of the first, you ask? Galenne, daughter of Ysonde. As I found out afterwards, Ysonde was already carrying our daughter when, at her father's behest, she bade me leave and never return. She did this to protect me, or so she thought, and our child. Immediately marrying a man selected by her father, she convinced him that Galenne was his own flesh and blood, though mayhaps he suspected otherwise. All Galenne knew is that one day her mother was not to be found, and was informed that Ysonde had died in a hunting accident. That entire world is gone now, though, so it is unlikely we shall ever know the truth. But this does bring us to Galenne. I consider her the first of the three, so like her mother in many ways, both in love and betrayal. Though she was my child, we bloodbonded in the Vryolaka fashion, mated for life, or so it might have been in a more perfect world. Instead there was much pain and many tears, and our bond was destroyed as I first assayed the Logrus; when all was said and done I lost not only a daughter but a brother."
To Bitter Dregs - 2:4
"Love's lessons are hard learned, and after that breach of promise perpetrated by sibling and child, I swore never to so freely give my heart again. It is strange how quick I was to break a promise to myself though I would have upheld to the death my word to another. Her name was Dorlyn, of House Tinzien as we eventually discovered, and native of Seattle, that cyberpunk Shadow that had played a pivotal part in my earlier amnesia. I had submitted a work to her museum, a statue of my daughter which I entitled Galatea. That was the the start of it. We were terribly wrong for one another, but we tried nonetheless, and she became the second, my bloodmate, in the early turnings of my Lordship of House Jasner. Passions were often high, not always for the best, and it was during this turbulent on again off again relationship that I was briefly engaged to Frankie Yrymyss, a political marriage that fell through, and then became involved with Se'tara, a distant cousin of mine whose own bloodmate was recently slain in a mishap with a Pattern Blade. As Archduchess of Eastcroft, she needed me as much as she loved me, but I saw too much of Galenne in her, and my heart was already with another. Mayhaps wisely, Dorlyn and eventually I parted ways, more than once, in sooth. In the space of one of these hiatuses I took into employ Tatyana Silverthorne, my sometimes bodyguard and sometimes lover. She gave me so much more than I could have ever given her, restoring a part of myself that I had lost long before. But she moved on when Dorlyn and I decided to give things just one more try - the last try. My second walk along the Serpent's Back broke the link that was already flagging between us; people who love one another should not possess such capacity for spite. I still think of her whenever I hear someone order a Maker's Mark."
These Tears of Pearl - 2:5
"There has not been a third, though if there were, it would have most likely been Lallante. She has shown me love and devotion beyond any I have known, standing by my side down through the years, comforting me during my ups and downs, and mothering my two youngest daughters, Isilinde and Orelinde. Long time Water Elder of the Eternal Forest, recently she came into her own within Chaos, being appointed the Royal Archivist for King Rasputin I, having once worked as the assistant to the former Royal Archivist before his demise. Sweet `Lante, I wish I could say it was only time that had tested us. Mayhaps the hardest test was Natalie, a kindred spirit in many ways, with whom I had a brief but memorable involvement. Though I have watched her rise to power in the Courts, I shall always think of her as that darkly imaginative youthful aesthete: artist, philosopher, and provocateur. Awhile later, at the El San Diablo School of Fine Arts, I befriended and eventually took on as my student a woman by the name of Lorana. An invaluable assistant and unwavering ally, she serves to this day as amanuensis in my sundry duties and responsibilities. And then there was Allisande. I met her while visiting Kryonia, a troubled girl learning of powers she did not yet understand, the rare and enigmatic craft of Oneiromancy, an old interest of mine since I first learned of the Tatterdemalion, of Hastur, and Yhtill. Bringing her to Chaos and the Society, I sought to instruct her in the control of these magicks which had already slain those closest to her. Through a series of revelations, it was discovered that she was the daughter of one of the candidates for the Throne. He asked that I be her guardian, though we had already become more, and on the night of his coronation she was finally recognised as a Royal Princess of Chaos."
"I have been a ravager of Shadows and killer of Kings. I have stolidly faced the Tandrai, abominable monstrosities predating the Pattern, and wept at the sight of my daughters as they took their first breath. I have said farewell to many a friend and seen the rise and fall of many a foe. I have walked with Gods then dined with Devils, and been mistaken for either or oftimes both. I have penned concertos and ordered the deaths of armies. I have played violin while the ravenous winds of the Abyss whipped through my hair and sung with laughter as worlds crumbled about me. I have soared among my Clutch upon the thermals of Gondwanaland and partaken of the Blood Games, with the barbed wire to prove it. I have dived open-armed into the Pit and returned home in time for tea. I bear the Serpent's Mark, found solace in its twisting tendrils, peace at its unreachable heart, and have lead countless others into the blessed madness of its embrace. I have woven doors and sundered realities; I am the opener and closer, creator and destroyer. And so for now I, Mikloshe Volgryth Orilian Iranon Tibinder Jasner-Hendrake, set quill aside on this, the Twenty-Fifth Turning of the Third Writhing of the First Convolution of the Reign of King Rasputin I. Serpent keep; anon and shade."
Bitter Dregs | Tears of Pearl | Denouement
Other Matters | Something Old | AmberMUSH
I have resourcefully begged, borrowed, and
stolen to make this site what it is.
It is in no way a challenge to any
copyrights or intellectual properties but a tip of the hat to those with far
more talent than I.
