Lady Vale / Lucretia — GGR3-11 Journal

The moon of Rolf, seventh day after the ides. Like so many things, my understanding of that word has changed since my involvement in the Riverlands commenced. Where once it was merely the name of a 30-day period, I now know it to come from a goddess, the Mistress of the Bloody Soil. I know she has somehow spawned a cursed son, Usagar. How in the hells is a god born? Aren't they eternal, with no end and no beginning? And in the ruins that I made of the church hierarchy and Leptis Regium, comes the name of yet another goddess, Taweia, the Refulgent Lady. A god that a man I have come to respect and care for deeply now champions. Yes, champions. With a sword of legend in his hand. And it fits him. This would already be over if Cryshus hadn't gotten into a pissing match with the Admiral. I would have taken the best 100 men of this sorry legion and landed next to their keep, ripped into their flank as they were completely engaged. A classic amphibious assault. Instead, I see incompetence, ego, and slaughter. I came here as an observer, to fulfill His Majesty's direct order with the bare minimum of compliance. Now, instead, I must take headship of this force against Juramentum. A city I fought and bled for, combating the Utini. A city whose lady I know to be a wise and just leader, a credit to her ancient house. A city where a holy pig farmer replaced my candle of faith as I was marching to war because he understands what devotion actually is. And a city that taught me what courage looked like in the form of Kithgi with the strength of children and the hearts of lions. Lions. I have sometimes been compared to the Lioness Rampant, the first Empress of my people. Today, I do not feel like a lion. I feel instead like a jackal. Yet should we buck the law, buck the Mos Maiorum, we tear at the bedrock of empire itself. Lord of Light, be with me. Lord of Light, forgive me.