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House Piacevoli
House Piacevoli Tales: Volume Eight:"The Children of Topsy Turvy Land: A Tale of the Sho kingdom"
BY Dragen and Aonghus of VT
The second of my children stories the first being "Sugars Up!! An Aluvian's Childs Tale"
Present Eipoth
Now if you really want to know how the boys and girls of the Sho kingdom live, let us visit the home of a Sho boy and girl. The boy's name is Taro. It is a name Sho boys like very much as it is the name of a very famous hero. The little girls name is Yuki Chan and her servants say "O Yuki San" which means the Honorable Ms. Snow.
Now a Sho house is much like a great big box,at night it is all tightly nailed up and during the day one side is left open to the sunlight and breeze. The big sleeping quilts which look like big padded overcoats with hudge sleeves but these sleeves are for tucking in the covers not for your arms are put away and the Sho house begins to stir.
Grandma looks in on the children. There is always a Granny in a proper Sho house, because well no Sho house would be complete without one of course. One wonders how there are enough granny's to go around. But there seems to be a granny for every family. Taro and Yuki would not know how to get along without theirs.
After washing their faces in small brass bowls Taro and Yuki put on their light leather armor. Yuki's armor is very bright much more so than Taro's with her patterns of flowers and birds on it while Taro's has the blue and gold of House Who to which his family belongs.
Yuki and Taro then go off to breakfast. If anyone offered you what a Sho child eats you would make a very wry face. Pickled plums, as sour as can be, and dipped in salt to boot!! Plus a bowl of soup called "o miso" which is made of bean curd.
The children think it is better than the dillo chunks and reedshark milk or bander toes and viamont toast things Aluvian children in Dereth love to eat for breakfast.
If you should ask what day in the year Yuki likes best she would no doubt say "O Hima Sama" or the dolls festival. This is a special day for a Sho girl on the third day of the third month of the Sho calender the festival is held all around the Sho lands in any house with a little girl.
First days ahead the pack dolls are placed upon a tier made like a miniture grandstand. This is covered with bright red cloth. On the top shelf sit the Sho king and his Queen. Next come three
court ladies and then below them the court musicians. Every family owns these dolls and many own many more pack dolls plus miniture toy furniture and utensils and food.
Peach blossoms are set everywhere and Ursin fat candles are lighted to make the display even brighter at night. On the third day Yuki will invite all her little friends over and they will play
Sho games and then eat and drink all the good stuff themselves.
The Dolls festival is not all fun and games and Granny uses the occasion to teach her leason in politeness and good taste and most importantly loyalty and respect.
Things Alas in short supply in Dereth today.
Boys Festival
On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Sho calender Taro has his special holiday called "Boys Festival". Instead of pack dolls, swords, helmets, armor of all sorts and figures of warriors are put out on display.
A pole is set out in the garden and a cloth carp with his mouth open is attached to the top to eat the winds.
The carp is the symbol of the boys festival. For as Taro's father told him the carp swims upstream and leaps over waterfalls so must Taro swim up the stream of life overcoming all difficulties.
Taro takes his bath seeped in hawthorn which is supposed to make him strong stronger than the iris that Ghar children use.
Taro and Yuki think bedtime is the best time of the day. They lay besides the cheerful glow of the charcoal brazier and beg granny for bedtime stories which no one tells as well as granny.
"Granny tell us of Momo Taro the boy who sprang from a peach" pleads Taro.
"No tell us about the sparrow with the split tongue" begs Yuki.
Settle it between yourselves granny says, so Taro and Yuki play a game of John Kem Po which is very similar to the Aluvian game of rock paper sissors.
This time Taro happens to choose sissors; so he beats Yuki, whose flat pink palm shows her choice of paper.
"All right granny Taro wins, Momo Taro it will be" Yuki says.
So Granny starts the often told story of the boy who sprang from a peach and his wonderful feats of fighting Tusker Kings and Shadows Generals and bringing home immense hidden treasures.
Garden in Kashmir India outside of LAke Dal. Wonderful area and wonderful people sad they can't get along. |
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House Piacevoli |
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FROM: Who himself
TO: House Who of Verdantine
Posted by Magus Dragen by special request.
Good Day to you all!
After reading the House of Piacevoli the other day, and the small stories therein it has come to my attention that we all have a tendency to miss the point of AC. That point is that AC is more than a game, it is more than a game because it reflects on not just who we are, but who we would like to be in our hearts. The interactions that we have with one another, and they way that we conduct ourselves online is often radically different to the way we deal with our fellow man when offline. It is this escape that is the attraction of AC, giving all of us a chance to lead an existence other than the one that we currently follow.
I would like to believe that I am a little like Who in real life, that I am generous and patient with everyone, that I am slow to anger and fast to forgive, but in reality only some of those elements exist in the RL Who, and only then to a certain select group of people, my friends. That is the beauty of Asheron's Call, and of the clan we have built together, I deal with everyone at first with open arms, devoid of suspicion, it is only after they have proven to be un trustworthy that my attitude changes, a direct opposite of how many of us deal with the world at large.
The reason that I am writing this is that I don't want the attitude of the people within this clan to change, it was formulated by real life friends, and through its existence we all gain a little more every day. AC shouldn't be about goals, about levels, about who will make 126 first, or who is the big fish in the virtual pond, it should be about allowing our selves to communicate on a level unwise in RL, to do childish things like snow angels without getting wet clothes. It is about fun.
Does this mean that De Lacey will level slower, that I will strive less to improve my char, to stay in the top 10 for my skill? No, but what it does mean is that I won't turn down the opportunity of fun over XP, and the chance to help someone else get more out of the game that has kept me
entertained for over 4 years. I know that most of you feel this way, and that is what makes our small clan strong.
Who.
END
From me Dragen and Aonghus of House Who:
A younger Magus Dragen schoolin' the 18 and under English boys Rugby team (on world tour) in Hong Kong thats my legs ;) there next to my friend Danny Choi #22 playing for the All Hong Kong 18 and under Team.
Because I said I would put an old (1982 age 17) Marine pic up for someone here ya go.
My little brother and I. Don't call him that now he is one of those Ultimate fighting DoODS all those years of martial arts together and he goes bare knuckle fighter, well ok he specialize in chokes and locks and he only just turned 30. Give them heck bro!!!!
Love ya my brotha Semper FI
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House Piacevoli |
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HOUSE PIACEVOLI TALES VOLUME SEVEN.2: "Keeping Our Word"
We have lived to very little purpose in this world, however few our years may be, unless we have found we live by faith. Now I have lived to long and seen too much to mean religious faith (that's my loss I suppose) but rather that- Faith that causes will have consequences, faith that seed will bear fruit, faith in the conduct of others, faith in the good of those about us, faith in the wisdom of those above us.
This faith we must have in one another. We call it keeping our Word.
Life is not worth living if people break their word. If we cannot believe a person we can have no dealing with them, either buying or selling. If someone sells us brass and claims it is gold, we buy from them no more, and trade is ruined. People cannot prosper on a broken word.
We live side by side with people who could rob us or poison us, but they live in peace instead; they have given their word, and we believe them. We go to bed at night and work by day because we believe that people will keep their word.
There is neither work nor wages for us if we break or word. We work for a week or a month on the promise that our wages will be paid. We put our money in banks take our goods to repair shops, trust people with important information, we risk our very lives on the promise of a word.
Keeping our word mean keeping it no matter what the cost.
The great Roman Regulus, taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, was sent back to Rome to plead the cause of Carthage. He gave his word that he would either presuade Rome to make peace or that he would return. Once in Rome he urged his countrymen to fight on! telling them Carthage was on the verge of falling. His friends begged and pleaded for him to stay and not return to Carthage. He scorned their suggestions and went back to Carthage , where he was tortured and put to death.
But he had kept the faith with Rome and kept his word with Carthage.
Bankers say the best security for the money they lend is the word of an honorable person- better than land or property. For these may fail in value and become worthless but the value of an honorable person will NEVER fail.
Many a person has fallen into bankruptcy and the law says that their debts are forgiven but an honorable person holds themselves to a higher law, and works his fingers to the bones and pays off every cent. Then the world bows before them and gives them the greatest title a person can recieve - they are called a "person of their word".
END
In Asheron's Call and other online games we are in a unique situtation, a person's word becomes very important.
What made me think of writing the above essay was the following letter from our AC king the Honorable "Who" of Verdantine. We are small but growing and we depend on each other to keep our word so that we may prosper.
FROM AN EMAIL SENT BY WHO:
Good Day to you all :)
This weeks COW MOO (Message of Organisation) is predominantly a very well done to you all :)
As most of you are aware, we have now obtained a mansion, in a delightful location just NW of Holtburg. It is a modest little 3 towered affair with only a few hundred acres of hunting in the vicinity...
Anyhow, it has been a real eye opener at the team work of the clan that we have managed to achieve such an impressive task so soon, being only the 4th clan on the server to manage it, despite being 5% of the size of El etc.
Even more heart warming was the way that within 45 minutes of getting the
mansion, the first months rent had been paid. I deposited 4 writs and 1mil
py myself, but the next 6 writs arrived within minutes of me saying we were a few short!
A quick reminder to you all that our ownership of a mansion is still very
tenuous, we need to establish a third rank 5 under Who before I can really
be at ease with the whole situation, taking that on board, please think before deleting mules etc, or you could end up with a very angry COW! :P
Also, now that we have a mansion, what is the next step? As far as I am aware Crimson Sunbird is going to be taking up permanent residency at the mansion as House Buff Bot (Dobby? :P) and Ray Beam will be relocating once running down his client base to do the same. Who will still be at the MP as he has a following, and also is bringing in a regular income for the clan, that can be used to pay rent, buy writs, salvage etc etc. However, what now?
:) I think we are still too small to establish a regular in game clan meeting, and that it is still easier for us all to quest on an adhoc basis.
This means that as far as I can tell the only remaining step is the clan
colours idea, and the clan website. Clan colours were agreed to be Dark Blue
and Bright Gold, perhaps now we should start pooling our evidently considerable resources into stockpiling dyes of the correct colour, in preparation for a mass Dyeing campaign in the next couple of months :)
And finally... What a weekend for Grats!!!!
De Lacey 95
Who 91
Aonghus 83
Vo Mimbre 75
Klaven 74
Little Arn 72
Quentin 67
Handem'a 56
(added by me)
Sunah 27
Transfixed 24
Dragen 34
Brother 62
Stands Alone ?
Bubuprincess ?
Peabody ?
Mysque ?
Hussien ?
and all you other shy ones ;)
If I have forgotten anyone, reply to all and let us know :)
As you can see above I have only been on Verdantine for a short Time. "Who" has welcomed me into his allegiance and so has Hussein, De Lacey, Hadreem Hankee, Vo Mimbre, Quentin, Dakota Rose, Klaven, Little Arn, Stands Alone and others I hope to meet in the future. We are a small group but very friendly please stop by and say hello. |
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House Piacevoli |
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 HOUSE PIACEVOLI TALES VOLUME SIX:"Sugar!!"
Growing up in the fertile country of the “Down”, between Arwic and Eastham, Aonghus was proof-positive that there was no part of farming a boy enjoyed more than the making of sugar. It was better than blackberrying and the equal of fishing. One reason he loved it as a boy was that someone else did most of the work. It was the sort of work in which one could appear to be very active, and yet not do much but have fun.
Sugar making is something between picnicking and being shipwrecked in the Dires. Where one saves from the wreck tubs, pots, great kettles, fire bull meat, hen’s eggs and rye-and-Lugian bread and begins at once to live the sweetest life in the world.
As a boy in the “Down” Aonghus used to be on the qui vive in the spring for the sap to begin to running. A sort of feeling in the veins would overcome him- a sort of spring stirred in his legs and arms which tempted him to stand on his head, or throw a handspring if he could find a spot on the ground where the snow had melted. The sap stirs early in the legs of a Eastham boy, which shows itself in an uneasiness of the toes, which get tired of steel toed boots, and want to come out touch the soil as soon as the sun has warmed it a little.
“Saps Running!!!!”
The sap buckets are taken out by the townsfolk in a great gathering to the beach by the windmill and scalded. The Auorchs are given yoke and make their road to the sugar camp which is not far from the town of Eastham. The camp fire can still be seen on the beachway to Arwic. Then the campaign begins.
Aonghus remembered how as a boy he would be everywhere superintending. The men would begin to tap the trees, drive the spouts and hang the buckets. Aonghus thought about how he wished the trees would pour out a stream of sap as a winter-ale barrel does when tapped.
The camp is cleared of snow and two great logs are rolled together between them a fire is built. Two forked sticks are set at each end and a long pole is laid on them, on this are hung the great kettles and cauldrons. The hudge hogsheads are turned right side up, and cleaned out to receive the sap that is being gathered.
The great fire is kindled up and is never let out night or day as long as the season last. Someone is always cutting wood to feed it, someone is always gathering sap and someone is always watching the kettles so they don’t boil over.
Not Aonghus he was to busy as a boy with things in general to be of any use in the details. He had his own little sap-yoke and small pails with which he gathered his own sweet liquid. He had a little boiling place all of his own with small logs and a tiny kettle.
In the great kettles the boiling goes on slowly, and the liquid as it thickens, is dipped from one kettle to the next until in the final cauldron it is reduced to a syrup and is taken out to cool and settle, until enough is made to “sugar off”. To “sugar off” is to boil the syrup until it is thick enough crystallize into sugar. This is only done once every few days.
But Aonghus desire was to “sugar off" perpetually. He would boil the kettle down as fast as possible; he was not particular about chips, scum, or ashes and was often apt to burn his sugar, but if he could get enough to make a little wax on the snow or scrape some from the bottom of his pot with his little wooden paddle he was happy.
To watch the operations of the camp in his memory still gives him pleasure. Sometimes he was left to watch the boiling kettles with a piece of fire Bull meat tied on the end of a stick which he would dip into the kettle if it threatened to go over. He would constantly taste it to see if it was almost syrup. He also liked to boil eggs with the men of the camp in the hot sap; they would roast potatoes in the fires ashes and if he had his way he would have lived in the camp all season. To sleep under the stars by the great fire watching the sparks fly up was nearly perfect.
After the “sugaring off” they would pour the some of the hot sugar on the snow where it would congeal without crystallizing into a wax of the most delicious substance ever made. Aonghus still carries the little wax bars of sugar into the field to hunt to this day.
Lastly the Pythos Menace is a madhouse on the weekends and even weeknights. Sometimes I wonder if they could add another Menace ala the "Citadels".
On a good note our fellow was rocking thanks out to Giff, Renegade Hardware, Crimson Sunbird, Sticky Icky Icky, Enuff, and the other for a good Saturday morning fellow there.
Good hunting to all! |
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House Piacevoli |
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HOUSE PIACEVOLI TALES VOLUME SEVEN:
Empyrean Tale: "Mist Calf."
 Empyrean Tales: "Mist Calf"
Arelis Eipoth.
From the Falatacot work:"The Book of Eibhil". House Piacevoli translation.
This tale takes place not long after Isparian Roulea, the first Capital's founding on the continent, known to us as Dereth.
Aesir Haebrous and Vanir Palacost had never gotten along too well. Although both were still young, in their early hundreds, Vanir was proving quite adept at Golem making while Aesir was destined to be a skilled warrior. Vanir used the clay of the Great River, which today is known as "The Prosper", along with a mix of beach sands for his fighting Golems. Vanir's works were quite formidable in their matches and he was renowed from snow to marsh. Golem fighting was a favorite pastime and sport of young and old alike with a long tradition. Vanir was as well known, in fact for his Golems, as Aesir was for his deadly skill with melee weapons.
Vanir at some perceived slight by Aesir began work on "Mist Calf" a gigantic clay and sand behemoth. Vanir used an infused pyreal ingot, imprinted with the essense of a swamp grommie, to animate the huge monster. Instead of the mote or nugget with less wild imprints that were common for fighting Golems. In his rage and vanity Vanir had made this monster to vanquish his rival Aesir once and for all. The Golem towered into the sky and shook the land with each step it took on its way to its programmed task. Mist Calf was very slow moving and its legs were vulnerable to attack, even if this wasn’t readily seen by most, as they looked up in awe.
Mist Calf shattered the sleep and work of people from Mountain Keep to Desert tent to the Great Swamp Totems. Many gathered as the leviathan approached Aesir's house. Some heros attempted to stop the giant from destroying their crops or houses as Mist Calf made his way across the landscape, and failed. At the sight of the beast Aesir fell to his knees and was dumbstruck at the rage embodied by this vision hulking before him. Mist Calf began to raise his hill sized foot to stamp Aesir back to clay. The gianourmous foot slowly, ever so slowly, began to rise, Aesir's amber eyes were fixed upon the Golem in a terrible trance. Vanir's marble green eyes flashed with red streaks of fire and delight.
At this point Aesir's good friend De Lacey, who was less impressed with the Mist Calf thankfully, grabbed Aesirs fathers axe and started in on the giants other leg. With great wide axe strokes the mud and sand flew and was splattered upon many of those watching. In no time at all, the great Golem fell, toppling backwards and forming what people of this age call Aaron’s Pond southwest from Fort Nighthawk and halfway to the Hermit.
Vanir Palacost fled in fear of revenge, to the Outreemer, or land across the Inner Sea. What we now call "The Direlands"
Painting by J Leyendecker, 1916
Welcome Dakota Rose to clan "Who". |
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House Piacevoli |
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