Post by Thelin on Feb 21, 2018 15:20:51 GMT -5
So, I've been thinking to myself about my future and not enough about my past. I have decided to make an attempt at recording my own history and hindsights. Given that I have been a member of the Cossisary since coming of age, I should put forth the same effort to completing this task as I should any task but as this is a personal journal I'm not so sure that I will maintain that particular virtue.
A little about me. My name is Hammond Targus. At present I am one of the Beautified rank of the Cossisary. I was born in the realm of Several and raised on a farm by my simple but caring parents. I think that is worth mentioning as unlike many, both of my parents were alive and, as far as I know, still are to this day. They raised me with the hopes that someday I might take over the family lands and learn to run the farm and continue leading it in the manners of fairness and generosity. They taught me that hard work yields rewards but not to do it simply because of the rewards for myself but that the best rewards serve others as well. A good yield may bring great wealth but not at the cost of starving your staff or neighbors. I met and dealt with scores of farmhands, too many it seemed for me to remember their names, (I'd always been bad with names) and learned that each was different in their own way but when properly lead, together they could accomplish just about anything. Sure there were plenty of instances where the farmhands had differences of opinion, sometimes so dire that they could no longer remain on the farm, but for the most part, when given the chance, diplomacy could smooth over the differences and return things to pleasantry. This was what I considered the greatest of the lessons my parents taught me. I found talks of rotating crops, planting schedules, shipping routes and the likes to be utterly uninteresting. I knew that I needed to learn all of it if I was to eventually take the reigns but I just didn't want to. I feared for years that my lack of interest was a great disappointment to my parents but they never showed it. I knew that eventually I would have to bring my thoughts to the surface and admit to my parents that I would never truly be a good successor but I feared the disapproval. I spent much of my free time doing mindless chores, stacking bales of hay, chopping wood, moving timber... I never really got into caring or feeding the livestock but I did enjoy the horses.
It was just as I was about to turn 16 when my parents introduced me to an envoy from the Cossisary. I didn't know it at the time but they had sent word to the Cossisary to send a seeker to our farm. They had seen my dreary disposition and noted that my chosen labors were always less thoughtful and more active. They knew that my heart, while moral, wasn't in farming, but lay in other pursuits. I don't remember the reason he gave for being there, something about wolves or some such that had been roaming the area and harassing the community. He took me with him as a guide, to show him around and familiarize himself with the area and whilst doing so, I questioned him (at length) about his profession. The wonder in my eyes at a life spent searching out problems and dealing with them, the adventure of going new places and witnessing amazing things. You could say that rather than him recruiting me, I threw myself at him, begging to join.
I spent the next few months still at the farm, my parents not letting up on my duties but also the held an underlying happiness that leaked out of their smiles, knowing that I had finally found something that focused my wandering fancies and had started on a path to my own future. When it came time for me to leave it was joyous for all. My leaving was not something anyone dwelled upon, rather it was a proud parting as I went to join the ranks of the Beautified.
The first few weeks at the Cossisary were so wildly different than the life I had lived that I had no idea what to do. This wasn't unusual for me as I wanted to learn everything all at once. The welcome that I received was just strange as I was afforded a respect that in my mind bordered on the mannerisms one might find in a noble court, much unlike the free spirited buffeting that was the common farm hands banter. Everyone spoke earnestly but with so polite an air that it seemed almost as if it was another language altogether. The brotherbound groups shared experiences seemed to fill in details of their stories with unspoken words, jokes that weren't said but were just understood. It was a code that I knew I wanted to learn. (Still working on it but I'm getting better)
I spent hours upon hours between the arms training hall, the library, and the multitude of shrines at the Cossisary. So many things to learn! I was a natural hand with the way of the warrior but I also developed a knack for studying the workings of magic, both arcane and divine. My great size and strength made me a natural student of arms but my curiosity made me just as good a student of people. The principles of the Cossisary, the Virtues and the Beatitudes, seemed like a code of chivalry, something to strive for and self imposed restrictions. Learning them all and practicing them were two different things though. My simple but rural upbringing didn't serve me very well and I ended up being what the Justicars referred to as a 'challenge'. Many times they tried to focus me on one point of learning but I always wanted to incorporate each task with other learnings, figuring that the more tools one has, the more options for a better outcome. Eventually, my teachers simply allowed my fanciful solutions to pass, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse, but always guided by the principles they instilled in me.
After many weeks, I took my vows and joined the ranks of the Beautified in full. Only a scant number of days afterward, I was asked to travel to a relatively new Cossisary on the world of Thelis. The thought of travelling to an entirely new world whilst I still hadn't even seen the world of Several caught me by surprise but something inside me stirred and my heart lept at the chance. This was a defining moment for me, the excitement of such a change, the lure of experienceing first hand what most had only ever read of or heard in minstrels tales.
A little about me. My name is Hammond Targus. At present I am one of the Beautified rank of the Cossisary. I was born in the realm of Several and raised on a farm by my simple but caring parents. I think that is worth mentioning as unlike many, both of my parents were alive and, as far as I know, still are to this day. They raised me with the hopes that someday I might take over the family lands and learn to run the farm and continue leading it in the manners of fairness and generosity. They taught me that hard work yields rewards but not to do it simply because of the rewards for myself but that the best rewards serve others as well. A good yield may bring great wealth but not at the cost of starving your staff or neighbors. I met and dealt with scores of farmhands, too many it seemed for me to remember their names, (I'd always been bad with names) and learned that each was different in their own way but when properly lead, together they could accomplish just about anything. Sure there were plenty of instances where the farmhands had differences of opinion, sometimes so dire that they could no longer remain on the farm, but for the most part, when given the chance, diplomacy could smooth over the differences and return things to pleasantry. This was what I considered the greatest of the lessons my parents taught me. I found talks of rotating crops, planting schedules, shipping routes and the likes to be utterly uninteresting. I knew that I needed to learn all of it if I was to eventually take the reigns but I just didn't want to. I feared for years that my lack of interest was a great disappointment to my parents but they never showed it. I knew that eventually I would have to bring my thoughts to the surface and admit to my parents that I would never truly be a good successor but I feared the disapproval. I spent much of my free time doing mindless chores, stacking bales of hay, chopping wood, moving timber... I never really got into caring or feeding the livestock but I did enjoy the horses.
It was just as I was about to turn 16 when my parents introduced me to an envoy from the Cossisary. I didn't know it at the time but they had sent word to the Cossisary to send a seeker to our farm. They had seen my dreary disposition and noted that my chosen labors were always less thoughtful and more active. They knew that my heart, while moral, wasn't in farming, but lay in other pursuits. I don't remember the reason he gave for being there, something about wolves or some such that had been roaming the area and harassing the community. He took me with him as a guide, to show him around and familiarize himself with the area and whilst doing so, I questioned him (at length) about his profession. The wonder in my eyes at a life spent searching out problems and dealing with them, the adventure of going new places and witnessing amazing things. You could say that rather than him recruiting me, I threw myself at him, begging to join.
I spent the next few months still at the farm, my parents not letting up on my duties but also the held an underlying happiness that leaked out of their smiles, knowing that I had finally found something that focused my wandering fancies and had started on a path to my own future. When it came time for me to leave it was joyous for all. My leaving was not something anyone dwelled upon, rather it was a proud parting as I went to join the ranks of the Beautified.
The first few weeks at the Cossisary were so wildly different than the life I had lived that I had no idea what to do. This wasn't unusual for me as I wanted to learn everything all at once. The welcome that I received was just strange as I was afforded a respect that in my mind bordered on the mannerisms one might find in a noble court, much unlike the free spirited buffeting that was the common farm hands banter. Everyone spoke earnestly but with so polite an air that it seemed almost as if it was another language altogether. The brotherbound groups shared experiences seemed to fill in details of their stories with unspoken words, jokes that weren't said but were just understood. It was a code that I knew I wanted to learn. (Still working on it but I'm getting better)
I spent hours upon hours between the arms training hall, the library, and the multitude of shrines at the Cossisary. So many things to learn! I was a natural hand with the way of the warrior but I also developed a knack for studying the workings of magic, both arcane and divine. My great size and strength made me a natural student of arms but my curiosity made me just as good a student of people. The principles of the Cossisary, the Virtues and the Beatitudes, seemed like a code of chivalry, something to strive for and self imposed restrictions. Learning them all and practicing them were two different things though. My simple but rural upbringing didn't serve me very well and I ended up being what the Justicars referred to as a 'challenge'. Many times they tried to focus me on one point of learning but I always wanted to incorporate each task with other learnings, figuring that the more tools one has, the more options for a better outcome. Eventually, my teachers simply allowed my fanciful solutions to pass, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse, but always guided by the principles they instilled in me.
After many weeks, I took my vows and joined the ranks of the Beautified in full. Only a scant number of days afterward, I was asked to travel to a relatively new Cossisary on the world of Thelis. The thought of travelling to an entirely new world whilst I still hadn't even seen the world of Several caught me by surprise but something inside me stirred and my heart lept at the chance. This was a defining moment for me, the excitement of such a change, the lure of experienceing first hand what most had only ever read of or heard in minstrels tales.
