https://nexuswiki.com/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Ffyll 2026-05-04T03:21:38Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.41.0 https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12083 2007-05-16T11:58:16Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The Rheged Longsword and Ryan Llanis Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ffyll's Family==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Longsword and Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> <br /> ''The story starts in Northern England and Southern Scotland, then called 'Rheged'. The land is occupied by the huge Roman Empire from the south. The Romans have built a wall across Rheged and Northumbria, a neighbouring Kingdom, to protect themselves from the Celts and other tribes who seek their freedom.''<br /> <br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became ratehr famous throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives. He was put second in command of a 12 strong raiding group.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====The Attack on Caerel====<br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old, Ryan was put in the advanced unit which would attack the Romans first. 40 people woudl swim across the Solwayy, around the wall at Caerel, and sneak into the city. The Romans were spread too thin to maintain a garrison along each part of the wall and this party would open the gates to allow Arthr's army into Caerel and beyond.<br /> <br /> Ryan and thirteen others survived the mission. They were caught trying to attack Caerel by a company of horsemen, preparing ready for battle with the Celts, who attacked the warriors with little thought. They had 75 men and mounts between then and Ryan's fifty men launched a desperate attack. At dawn, those waking early would see the blood stained earth, the dead, the broken weapons and sheilds that surrounded the victorious Celts finishing off the last few horsemen. With their blades glinting in the morning sun, the warriors, breathing hard from 3 hours of fighting, eventually killed the last horsemen. Ryan had taken 13 himself, throughout the night, his blade had seemed like ten as he rapidly shook off attack after attack. A few boys with the Romans later swore to their commanders that Ryan himself breathed fire and angels surrounded him with their swords and fought for him. It was a testament to his skill and quickness with the blade.<br /> <br /> <br /> Caerel's gate was taken by the Celts. In fact the gatehouse was empty as the few Roman guards had seen the fight in the fields behind the wall and, when Ryan had turned and led the charge, had run for their lives along it to escape. Arthr's men were let inside the wall and with in the day, 150 Romans had been slaughter as the Roman parts of Cearel was again sacked. From here, King Arthr knew he could collect support from around the occupied parts of Rheged to boost his army further. With in 3 weeks, Arthr was commanding and leading 600 warriors and their servents, wives, women and horses south along the straight, wide roads the invaders loved building.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Rescuing The Mage Merlin====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Adventures In Mercia====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Exiled from the Kingdom====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Travels Across The World====</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12082 2007-05-16T11:57:43Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Tales of Ryan Llanis Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ffyll's Family==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Rheged Longsword and Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> '''The story starts in Northern England and Southern Scotland, then called 'Rheged'. The land is occupied by the huge Roman Empire from the south. The Romans have built a wall across Rheged and Northumbria, a neighbouring Kingdom, to protect themselves from the Celts and other tribes who seek their freedom.'''<br /> <br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became ratehr famous throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives. He was put second in command of a 12 strong raiding group.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====The Attack on Caerel====<br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old, Ryan was put in the advanced unit which would attack the Romans first. 40 people woudl swim across the Solwayy, around the wall at Caerel, and sneak into the city. The Romans were spread too thin to maintain a garrison along each part of the wall and this party would open the gates to allow Arthr's army into Caerel and beyond.<br /> <br /> Ryan and thirteen others survived the mission. They were caught trying to attack Caerel by a company of horsemen, preparing ready for battle with the Celts, who attacked the warriors with little thought. They had 75 men and mounts between then and Ryan's fifty men launched a desperate attack. At dawn, those waking early would see the blood stained earth, the dead, the broken weapons and sheilds that surrounded the victorious Celts finishing off the last few horsemen. With their blades glinting in the morning sun, the warriors, breathing hard from 3 hours of fighting, eventually killed the last horsemen. Ryan had taken 13 himself, throughout the night, his blade had seemed like ten as he rapidly shook off attack after attack. A few boys with the Romans later swore to their commanders that Ryan himself breathed fire and angels surrounded him with their swords and fought for him. It was a testament to his skill and quickness with the blade.<br /> <br /> <br /> Caerel's gate was taken by the Celts. In fact the gatehouse was empty as the few Roman guards had seen the fight in the fields behind the wall and, when Ryan had turned and led the charge, had run for their lives along it to escape. Arthr's men were let inside the wall and with in the day, 150 Romans had been slaughter as the Roman parts of Cearel was again sacked. From here, King Arthr knew he could collect support from around the occupied parts of Rheged to boost his army further. With in 3 weeks, Arthr was commanding and leading 600 warriors and their servents, wives, women and horses south along the straight, wide roads the invaders loved building.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Rescuing The Mage Merlin====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Adventures In Mercia====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Exiled from the Kingdom====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Travels Across The World====</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12081 2007-05-16T11:55:02Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya! */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ryan Llanis Blach==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became ratehr famous throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives. He was put second in command of a 12 strong raiding group.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====The Attack on Caerel====<br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old, Ryan was put in the advanced unit which would attack the Romans first. 40 people woudl swim across the Solwayy, around the wall at Caerel, and sneak into the city. The Romans were spread too thin to maintain a garrison along each part of the wall and this party would open the gates to allow Arthr's army into Caerel and beyond.<br /> <br /> Ryan and thirteen others survived the mission. They were caught trying to attack Caerel by a company of horsemen, preparing ready for battle with the Celts, who attacked the warriors with little thought. They had 75 men and mounts between then and Ryan's fifty men launched a desperate attack. At dawn, those waking early would see the blood stained earth, the dead, the broken weapons and sheilds that surrounded the victorious Celts finishing off the last few horsemen. With their blades glinting in the morning sun, the warriors, breathing hard from 3 hours of fighting, eventually killed the last horsemen. Ryan had taken 13 himself, throughout the night, his blade had seemed like ten as he rapidly shook off attack after attack. A few boys with the Romans later swore to their commanders that Ryan himself breathed fire and angels surrounded him with their swords and fought for him. It was a testament to his skill and quickness with the blade.<br /> <br /> <br /> Caerel's gate was taken by the Celts. In fact the gatehouse was empty as the few Roman guards had seen the fight in the fields behind the wall and, when Ryan had turned and led the charge, had run for their lives along it to escape. Arthr's men were let inside the wall and with in the day, 150 Romans had been slaughter as the Roman parts of Cearel was again sacked. From here, King Arthr knew he could collect support from around the occupied parts of Rheged to boost his army further. With in 3 weeks, Arthr was commanding and leading 600 warriors and their servents, wives, women and horses south along the straight, wide roads the invaders loved building.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Rescuing The Mage Merlin====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Adventures In Mercia====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Exiled from the Kingdom====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Travels Across The World====</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12080 2007-05-16T11:54:45Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Rescuing The Mage Merlin */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ryan Llanis Blach==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became ratehr famous throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives. He was put second in command of a 12 strong raiding group.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====The Attack on Caerel====<br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old, Ryan was put in the advanced unit which would attack the Romans first. 40 people woudl swim across the Solwayy, around the wall at Caerel, and sneak into the city. The Romans were spread too thin to maintain a garrison along each part of the wall and this party would open the gates to allow Arthr's army into Caerel and beyond.<br /> <br /> Ryan and thirteen others survived the mission. They were caught trying to attack Caerel by a company of horsemen, preparing ready for battle with the Celts, who attacked the warriors with little thought. They had 75 men and mounts between then and Ryan's fifty men launched a desperate attack. At dawn, those waking early would see the blood stained earth, the dead, the broken weapons and sheilds that surrounded the victorious Celts finishing off the last few horsemen. With their blades glinting in the morning sun, the warriors, breathing hard from 3 hours of fighting, eventually killed the last horsemen. Ryan had taken 13 himself, throughout the night, his blade had seemed like ten as he rapidly shook off attack after attack. A few boys with the Romans later swore to their commanders that Ryan himself breathed fire and angels surrounded him with their swords and fought for him. It was a testament to his skill and quickness with the blade.<br /> <br /> <br /> Caerel's gate was taken by the Celts. In fact the gatehouse was empty as the few Roman guards had seen the fight in the fields behind the wall and, when Ryan had turned and led the charge, had run for their lives along it to escape. Arthr's men were let inside the wall and with in the day, 150 Romans had been slaughter as the Roman parts of Cearel was again sacked. From here, King Arthr knew he could collect support from around the occupied parts of Rheged to boost his army further. With in 3 weeks, Arthr was commanding and leading 600 warriors and their servents, wives, women and horses south along the straight, wide roads the invaders loved building.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Rescuing The Mage Merlin====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Adventures In Mercia====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Exiled from the Kingdom====<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Travels Across The World====</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12069 2007-05-15T14:37:01Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ryan Llanis Blach==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became ratehr famous throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives. He was put second in command of a 12 strong raiding group.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====The Attack on Caerel====<br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old, Ryan was put in the advanced unit which would attack the Romans first. 40 people woudl swim across the Solwayy, around the wall at Caerel, and sneak into the city. The Romans were spread too thin to maintain a garrison along each part of the wall and this party would open the gates to allow Arthr's army into Caerel and beyond.<br /> <br /> Ryan and thirteen others survived the mission. They were caught trying to attack Caerel by a company of horsemen, preparing ready for battle with the Celts, who attacked the warriors with little thought. They had 75 men and mounts between then and Ryan's fifty men launched a desperate attack. At dawn, those waking early would see the blood stained earth, the dead, the broken weapons and sheilds that surrounded the victorious Celts finishing off the last few horsemen. With their blades glinting in the morning sun, the warriors, breathing hard from 3 hours of fighting, eventually killed the last horsemen. Ryan had taken 13 himself, throughout the night, his blade had seemed like ten as he rapidly shook off attack after attack. A few boys with the Romans later swore to their commanders that Ryan himself breathed fire and angels surrounded him with their swords and fought for him. It was a testament to his skill and quickness with the blade.<br /> <br /> <br /> Caerel's gate was taken by the Celts. In fact the gatehouse was empty as the few Roman guards had seen the fight in the fields behind the wall and, when Ryan had turned and led the charge, had run for their lives along it to escape. Arthr's men were let inside the wall and with in the day, 150 Romans had been slaughter as the Roman parts of Cearel was again sacked. From here, King Arthr knew he could collect support from around the occupied parts of Rheged to boost his army further. With in 3 weeks, Arthr was commanding and leading 600 warriors and their servents, wives, women and horses south along the straight, wide roads the invaders loved building.<br /> <br /> <br /> ====Rescuing The Mage Merlin====</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12068 2007-05-15T14:21:31Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Tales of Ryan Llanis Blach==<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach===<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became famed throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's raiding war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives.<br /> <br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old,...</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12067 2007-05-15T14:19:34Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya! */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===<br /> <br /> <br /> ==The Rheged Longsword of Ryan Llanis Blach==<br /> <br /> '''(Father of Ffyll Blach, current subject of Her Majesty Princess Lasahn of Buya)'''<br /> <br /> This is the tale that my father, Ryan Llanis Blach, told me of his home land. My previous stories have recounted how my father came from a very long way away from the Kingdoms, from where he travelled across three vast oceans, 2 deserts, forests and more to eventually settle down in Northern Han. But this story is about him and his Rheged Longsword, from a time when my father was young and was a fit and furious warrior, from where he and his Rheged brethren fought under a mighty King Arthr to drive back an invading army of metal from his homeland.<br /> <br /> The Kingdom of Rheged was, at that time, under a bitter struggle. For almost a hundred and three score years the land of the Celtic Britons had been ruled by this invading army from the South. This army was ruthless. They cut down everyone in their path and, at the northern most reaches of their mighty and vast empire, they built a huge wall to keep the barbarian hoardes, as they saw the Celts, out. This wall compares to in the world, it is higher and longer than any found in all of Europe, Asia or the dark Africa. The invaders built it and no one could attack them.<br /> <br /> Now at one end of this wall, in the west, was my father's town. This was Caerel, a city as big as Kugnae and every bit as handsome. The invaders, who called themselves the Romans, built the city and owned everything there. The merchants, the smiths, the horsemen and shepherds all paid a large tribute to their occupiers. They were powerless to resist and their sad and pitiful lives in occupied Rheged continued.<br /> <br /> My father was nine when King Arthr first attacked Caerel. His magnificent war chariot and horsemen, his fine warriors with their longswords and great sheilds attacked the great wall. For the first time in almost a century, the wall was breached and the 100 men warriors ransacked the fortifications. The defending armies, superior in number, were rattled and fled the town. Arthr's men, including the men from the tribes of the Picts, Celts, Britons and Scots, were eventually pushed back on the 4th day of the battle when reinforcements arrived. My father, Ryan, fled with Arthr's army. He'd seen the courage the resistors had and didn't think twice about leaving his home town.<br /> <br /> It took 4 years for him to be trained in the ways of the warrior. He became very adept with the Longsword, famed throughout the empires and lands. Rheged soldiers used these to great effect, it is a thin, long, sharp sword that in the hands of a skilled warrior, darts around like a viper, rapidly probing an opponent’s defences, disarming him and then ripping his skin. It is a balanced weapon, light but sharp, straight and with good proportions to its blade. Ryan Blach, it was said, could cut down a man in seconds and was so quick that two enemies could be fought and vanquished at once.<br /> <br /> Content to sit behind their wall and wait, the southern invaders built ever stronger defences. Occasionally, when the weather was right for it in the spring and summer, Ryan would find the camps to the north of the wall under attack from war parties, launched by their enemy to disperse them. Ryan's skill with the sword, as well as his eye for sizing up the weaknesses of his targets and his height that was normally found only in noble circles, meant that he and his Rheged Longsword became famed throughout the lands. From Lindisfarne to Caerel, Ryan's raiding war party was feared by the invaders but loved by the natives.<br /> <br /> <br /> Arthr declared a full war on the Romans 12 years after his first attack on Cearel. Twenty one years old,...</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12012 2007-03-16T13:44:55Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Becoming Do */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: A Journey, to become Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12011 2007-03-16T13:42:35Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s30/Ffyll/Ffyll.png<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Becoming Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12010 2007-03-16T11:36:30Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One&#039;s Do */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Becoming Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12009 2007-03-16T11:35:36Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One's Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ====Facts Before====<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ====A Shattering====<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ====Losing Myself====<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ====Redemption at Last====<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ====Seeking the Way====<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12008 2007-03-16T11:34:17Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One&#039;s Do */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One's Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> ===Facts Before===<br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> ===A Shattering===<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> ===Losing Myself...===<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> ===Redemption===<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> ===To Buya!===<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12007 2007-03-16T11:31:10Z

<p>Ffyll: /* The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach */</p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> Here are the tales which tell of the adventures I've been on. They are quite a long read, but should offer insight into my life. If you've got the patience to read, I've got the patience to write. Enjoy.<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One's Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12006 2007-03-16T11:29:58Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>==The tales and adventures of Ffyll Oust Blach==<br /> <br /> ===The First Adventure: Finding Oneself and Realising One's Do===<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Second Adventure: Finding Love and a Home In The Kingdom Of Buya!===</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=User:Ffyll&diff=12005 2007-03-16T10:15:22Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>'''The story of Ffyll Oust Blach'''<br /> <br /> Hello, my dear reader. My name is Ffyll Oust Blach, though I prefer just Ffyll for some reasons. So you wish to read my story, the tale of how I arrived in Buya? It will take a while to read, forgive me, but I can leave no details out. My journey has taken me to the brink of death, redeemed my soul from that brink, and now I seek the ways of the Do, knowing that my heart is Do. If you can learn something from my tale, then learn; if you feel I've missed a part out that you were in, add it; and if you think it will make a good tale for a campfire in the midst of a wood in the company of friend, then don't hesitate to recall. It is, like every story, unfinished, but this first tale will tell you more of who I am.<br /> <br /> <br /> My journey to Buya started just after my 16th birthday, but there are things you will need to know before I begin the tale in ernest. My family lived in a small Han village on the edge of a fairly well-off town. About 5,000 people worked as farmers and craftsmen in the town, most lived out in nearby villages. Every morning people would get up and travel miles to go to work - not people from my village, though: we were all farmers. The only villager allowed to work in the town was my father. This was because he wasn't from Ilbon, as the rest of the older ones were. Before I was born, many'd fled the brutal and never ending war that engulfed that country (it still rages today). Because of the war, my people, though not unwelcome, were always treated with a slight contempt.<br /> <br /> Anyway, my father, Ryan Llanis Blach wasn't from Ilbon, but no from Han either. He was from a country very far away. When he was 19, he'd picked up his things and left home, travelling for almost 15 years by sail, horse and foot; as he went he crossed water, vast plains, never-ending forests, dry and dealy deserts, more strentches of water, more deserts, more plains, and another ocean, until, finally, he'd settled down in Lauriesgori, the village. He got married some 15 weeks after arriving, to a beautiful twenty year old girl called Klaya, and half a year later, his first child, a son, was born. Now this son troubled his poor Ilbon - born mother with a labour that lasted two days, and the son was very small and weak. I am told I almost died, but obviously came through. To recognise this fearlessness of fighting death, father named me Ffyll. It means, in his native language, 'Fearless Angel'. To punish me for the pain and trouble I put my poor mother through, she insisted on a girly name, and thus 'Oust', named after Ryan's Goddess of fertility and spring time, was chosen. I've tried to forget that, but yes, it is true: I am named after a goddess of fertility.<br /> <br /> I was joined a year after by a sister, and then two more. Kyria was just a year younger, and the twins Rahyl and Lauros were born when I was 4. There was a academy nearby, and I was, on my 5th birthday, enrolled in the Iaido Baisho-Tyra School of Martial Arts. I seemed to excel in fighting studies, and for 11 happy years I went to school, learnt all the 12 iaido kata, learnt to perform them flawlessly, and led a very happy life. Fairly poor, yes, but very well loved, peaceful, happy and innocent was the peasant life Ryan and Klaya gave me and my sisters.<br /> <br /> That peaceful life was shattered just days after my 16th birthday. I remember some of the events vividly, some of them not at all. I remember returning from school, extremely happy that I had just passed my first set of exams to earn my Oh-Dan grade in Iaido (I was Sa-Dan at the time, the 9th of 16 grades that can be awarded). Mother was at home, cooking a beef stew, and my sisters were already at home. Father was at work, or so we thought. Then came the knock at the door.<br /> <br /> Mother went to answer it, wondering who it could be. A guard stood there, solemnly. I remember mother screaming as she saw father, beaten and covered in blood, being held standing up between two guards. &quot;What happened?&quot; she cried as she tried to push her way to him.<br /> <br /> The guard pushed her into the house. &quot;Back!&quot; He spoke in such harsh tones. &quot;This man, your husband, is a criminal. He was arrested a short time ago for adultery. He has admitted his crime and...&quot;<br /> <br /> The rest is a blur to me. I know Mother dropped to her knees and wailed. I'm sure I hurried my sisters upstairs and returned with my sword, but the men were already gone. Mother was distraught. We both knew the penalty for such a thing was execution, before the next sunrise. We didn't know what to say to each other or do.<br /> <br /> That night we visited father and he admitted his crimes against mother and the family. They couldn't look each other in the eyes and I said nothing at all, numb, imagining myself not there. I knew my father would be dead the next morning, but I could barely feel a thing. I hugged him when the guards came to take him, and held mother back when she tried to go with him. That was the last I saw of my father alive. He was executed and buried as a criminal.<br /> <br /> 3 days passed and the house felt like a morgue. We were all crushed. No one spoke, mother just wailed and wailed. To make matters so much worse, we began to find out about his secret life. He had another 2 children in another village... and a third in yet another. In some ways I was quite admiring of how he'd managed to keep his family from knowing about his 2 mistresses, and support them all. And, to be honest, I didn't know he had it in him to keep three women on the go! But those feelings soon disappeared when guards moved in to take our furniture from our home - apparently the mistresses needed financial support too.<br /> <br /> On that forth morning I could bare the house no longer. I went to school for the day, taking my sisters for some fresher air. It was the worst thing I could have done. We returned to such a terrible thing I can barely write it. Suffice to say mother had killed herself. Perhaps she couldn't bare the shame and humiliation, perhaps the feelings of loneliness were too much. Perhaps she just killed herself in despair. Anyway, you can imagine the effect losing two parents in 4 days had on us. It is nothing that a 16, 15 and two 12 years olds should every need to experience.<br /> <br /> A week after mother's funeral, I made another mistake. I'd barely eaten and had left my room only to check on my sisters or eat some food scraps. I wasn't thinking, I was just sad, pained, numb, almost unable to articulate or express how I felt. I remember finding my way to father's study, where I knew he kept bottles of liquor. I spat out the foul-tasting first mouthful, but felt drawn to take another. This sip made me cough, but I persisted. I managed to get through an entire bottle, it became easier to drink as I became more drunk. One of my 12 year old sister tried to stop me and got a rather undeserved slap across the face. It shames me to remember such a thing.<br /> <br /> I slept well that night, for the first time since that first terrible day. I have some fairly interesting dreams, and remember waking up feeling unusually happy. It took me a while to remember - and when I did, the pain hit me like a building might collapse on top of me. I cried all day, the emotional low following the drink the night before made me feel even worse. That night, in my sorrow, I found another bottle. It was easier to drink it the second night.<br /> <br /> So I began to drink. Money gifted to me to look after my family by kind friends was used instead to buy more intoxicating liquids. I consumed them as quick as I could, escaping each night from the pain and becoming feeling and acting worse in the day time. I stopped attended Iaido class, I slapped my sisters if they tried to stop me or made me angry, and at times, when money was short, I'd steal wine from the merchants. If people tried to help me I would rage at them, becoming like a demon, uncontrollable, full of hate and venom. It was just 5 weeks into my intense encounter with liquor that my sisters left me, kindly taken in by an aunt who could not bare to see her nieces hit almost every day.<br /> <br /> Of course, this made me worse. Before long I was continually drunk, begging for coins which were spent on drink. It was my sole relief, but the double edge blade was taking away far more than it was giving. My senses were taken from me, and I became a shell, a husk of a boy, living to drink, drinking to die.<br /> <br /> 6 months passed, and I 'lived' in a way that I can only express as living without life. I don't know what happened on this day, except that I must have gotten into a fight. I woke up about 3 in the afternoon in a muddy ditch a few miles from the village. My headache was terrible and I ached all over. My Katana, a gift from my father on achieving Sa Dan Iaido, was at my side, as was a hurriedly packed bed roll. A note informed me I'd been expelled from the area for drunkenness and fighting in public, and that I would 'be under no protection', by the following sunrise. I knew what that meant - I wouldn't legally exist if I didn't get moving. I didn't try to turn back, I knew I had no home anymore.<br /> <br /> It was still cold, being spring, and I was shivering. I must have been lying in the water for an hour or so. It took me half an hour to painfully stand up. Whoever had dumped me here had put his great boots and fists all over me. I realised some ribs were broken, likely a finger or two as well, and I was bruised from neck to knee, cut along my arms where I'd been dragged. I was badly hung over, but knowing I would be killed unless I crossed the border into the neighbouring province, I was soon limping along.<br /> <br /> I didn't make the border by the time, but no one came for me. Maybe knowing that I wasn't worth anyone's time even to kill was worse than knowing I'd been exiled from my home. It was as if I was lower than a snake or rabbit that one might expend energy to kill to eat. It took me 4 days to cross the border, into the mountains. I was starving, so hungry I ate soil-covered vegetables I ripped from a field. In such a bad way, I could barely walk, let along hunt. Without knowing why, I walked, or rather stumbled, along a track into the mountais. Higher and higher it led, as I grew weaker and weaker. I stumbled, fell onto a sore rip, and fainted with the pain. Miles from anyone, unconscious, my soul and body eaten away by half a year's abuse, I lay, barely alive in the spring.<br /> <br /> With one last bout of mental strength I pulled myself into consciousness again, tried to pick myself up, before finally collapsing due to exhaustion.<br /> <br /> There, with a last whimper, I died.<br /> <br /> Well, I say I died. Almost; I'm told I was unconscious for 8 whole days. When I awoke, I was warm, clean and my wounds were dressed. I could barely see, my eyes were blurry. I groaned for water - water was given to me. I moaned for food, and the tastiest rabbit stew was lovingly fed to me. As I came back to life for the next hour, my vision and wits returning, I realised I was wrapped in fine blankets, next to a warm campfire. There were people around me - 9 friends I would late learn. They seemed very glad I'd woken up.<br /> <br /> It was embarrassing at first, thanking people I didn't know for their kindness, and also humbling that they would treat me so well, without knowing what a terrible being I was. I slowly recounted my sorry tale, or what I could remember of it, and they told me their names, and said I would be travelling with them for a while. They were a band of travellers, they said, and I was lucky to have been found. They were all friendly, but rather mysterious. They didn't seem to get annoyed when I got angry with myself, and only had compassion and wise words when I cried.<br /> <br /> The alcohol still had effects on me, of course. I craved for the stuff, and when I didn't get it, I got into my usual angry rages. The travellers didn't seem in any way bothered, and when they calmed me down, they talked about the need for self-control, the need to master myself and let go of my anger. I followed their techniques, meditation and weapons training, and soon my craving for the liquor subsided. I stayed with the group for the rest of spring, travelling here and there, learning some more forms of self-control, some more kata and really learning to love my life again.<br /> <br /> One night they seemed to have a challenge for me. Around a campfire, a bottle of wine was passed around. I felt a deep passion to put the glass to my lips and take a swig. The bottle was passed to me. Everyone was watching. I think they knew I wouldn't take any, but they all smiled when I passed it on, undrunk. It was liberating. From that moment on, I've not wanted the wine like I used to. They had made sure I would deal with my pain properly, without abusing myself, or escaping from it with alcohol.<br /> <br /> Spring turned to summer, then to autumn, and the winter came. The group was still in the mountains, travelling every day, talking, reciting tales, meditating, hunting and camping. I'm sure we were going round in circles, but they seemed to do it with purpose. I had regained most of my strength, and by now my rage attacks were rare. I still had them on the occasional times I felt really lonely, or cut off, but my new family didn't seem to mind too much. Not one of them made a comment about tantrum or how young ones are volatile, or make any of the usual taunts. The winter was cold, but by living as a family, helping each other, cooking and hunting with each other, none of us really felt the cold.<br /> <br /> In due course it was spring again, and then the start of summer. We were up in the mountains, overlooking a village. I could make out a DoJoung below. The leader of the group, who was known as Jung (though I'm sure that was a title, not a name) asked me to follow him. He pointed to the training area below. &quot;Come,&quot; he said, &quot;this is where we're going today.&quot;<br /> <br /> It was a real trek down the mountain, and I went in front. It took a few hours but we eventually got to the foot of the hills. At the edge of the forest was a path which lead to the village. There was a sign: 'Sanhae Village'. I smiled, and turned to point it out to my companion.<br /> <br /> He'd gone. Like they always did, he'd disappeared into the shadows. I looked for just a few seconds, but I knew I'd never find him if I tried to. He'd pointed me to the DoJoung, and left me. Goodbyes would have upset me.<br /> <br /> I took a deep breath as I left the forest. I'd barely spoken to anyone other than the small band since I was exiled all those months before. But I was almost 18 now, far more confident than I had been, and walked with a spring in my step. As I arrived at the inn, I looked back up the mountain. On the ledge where I'd looked down from, I could just make out the figures of those who wanted to show themselves one last time. There was no going back now. I waved, turned, and entered the inn.<br /> <br /> And so it was that I moved to Sanhae. It didn't take me long to explore Buya, and make friends. Like many new people, I found a tutor, who helped me get to know the city. I kept returning to that DoJoung, to study, to think, to seek. Someone sold me an ancient parchment in return for a fox blade. I could not believe I had been without it all my life! The teachings made so much sense, and as I read the stories I seemed to live through them as I read. Every time I read, my soul yearned for more understanding. Every time I trained or meditated, I thought about the stories and how I could become more like these Do I read about. Occasionally a nightmare would still disturb me, but the DoJoung's garden would help me concentrate and meditate again, to find my balance. <br /> <br /> <br /> This concludes my tale, really. I'm still here, a Do seeker, still training and yearning to master myself. It's strange, I know I'm Do at heart, but my occasional rages and nightmares still cloud that. I have a great deal to learn about weapons and fighting, about mastering myself, but I'm really rather enjoying finding it all out. Being a seeker is... quite natural to me, really. I'm young and eager to learn - though, perhaps strangely, most of what I've discovered about myself so far I've found out on my own. I love and value my life because I almost lost it; I value self-control because at one time I was not controlled; I value patience and humility because these were the values that those who saved me taught me.<br /> <br /> My tale won't end here. I hope you've enjoyed reading it, dear reader. Learn any lessons you can find in my tale. Use it to better yourself. If you want to know how I get on, pop by Sanhae some time. I won't have left.<br /> <br /> One thing remains for me to write: if you are the group of Do who rescued me, know that you did more than save a person from death. You put me back on my path, you cared for me, and you taught me how to control myself when that was the last thing on my mind. So, kind Do, if you hear this narrative, this story, my story of how I came to Buya and found the Do, I have this to say: ten thousand thank yous to each of you would not be enough for me to properly acknowledge you.<br /> <br /> <br /> By '''Ffyll''',<br /> Do Seeker</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Quests&diff=11995 2007-03-01T17:09:20Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Beginner&#039;s Quests */</p> <hr /> <div>Throughout the Kingdoms there are things to find, monsters to slay and items to scout for. These are some, but not all, of the quests currently available for young and old adventurers to undertake.<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Beginner's Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Chu Rua Quest]] ''(aka By The Sea)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Ice beast quest|Ice Beast quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00007_00.gif [[Freed Leviathan]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Sute quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Dog linguist]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Blessed by the stars]]<br /> <br /> ==All-path Quests==<br /> * [[Subpath#Player_run|Subpath Quests]]<br /> * [[Deeds of Citizenship]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Nagnang Quests==<br /> Each [[Path]] has a quest in [[Nagnang]]. Before you begin, make sure you have [[Freed Leviathan|Freed the Leviathans]].<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif Mage's [[Spirit stone quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00004_00.gif Poet's [[Poet Whip quest|Whip quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00009_00.gif Rogue's [[Nagnang Dagger quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Nagnang Warrior Quest]]<br /> <br /> ==Item Quests==<br /> <br /> * The [[Nagnag Palace Quest]] ''(also called Shield Quest)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif Poet's [[Restore quest]]<br /> * Rogue's [[White Moon Axe quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Tiger mail quest]]<br /> * [[Image:Legend_mark_1.gif]] [[Staff of the elements]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Armour Quests==<br /> <br /> ''You must be [[Blessed by the stars]] to start these''<br /> <br /> <br /> ===Rogue Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Poet Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Mage Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Warrior Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Shield and Wind Armour Quests===<br /> <br /> * [[Shield quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Nagnang Quest<br /> * [[Wind quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Moon Celestial Quest<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Advanced Quests==<br /> <br /> * [[Haengsa]]'s Monthly Challenges for [[Pirate coins]]<br /> * [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Throwing axe quest]]<br /> * [[Faerie Light]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Minor Quests]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[NPC Subpath Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==The Sans==<br /> <br /> * [[Image:Il_san_dot.jpg]] [[Il San]]<br /> * [[Image:Ee_san_dot.jpg]] [[Ee San]]<br /> * [[Image:Sam_san_dot.jpg]] [[Sam San]]<br /> * [[Sa San]] ''(Not currently available)''</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Tree_of_Reflections&diff=11993 2007-02-23T14:34:02Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>In the days before the [[Great Shift]], apple trees grew in abundance on the shores of [[Kugnae]] Lake. Though they were simple trees, they had been planted by Thoth, so that the people might share in her wisdom. One such tree, though no different from the others, stood upon a secluded bluff overlooking the lake.<br /> <br /> The [[Onyx]] had not been shattered, and the [[subpaths]] did not yet exist. Perhaps, in modern times, the [[Geomancer]]s would have considered the feng shui of the place a particular union of water, earth, and wood. Perhaps the [[Diviner]]s would have seen for themselves the union of heaven and earth. But the eyes of the people were not yet opened.<br /> <br /> However, one person, though a mere [[poet]], held this particular apple tree to be her favorite. A graceful, beautiful woman, she would sit on the bluff and gaze out in its shade, partake in its fruit, and enjoy the moonlit glimmer of the lake with her love. The tree was hers.<br /> <br /> After the [[Shattering]], in their infancy the [[subpath]]s began to regard the tree as a fairly important place, but did not pay it much attention as they had other matters that troubled them. The graceful woman continued to adore her favorite place, but another soon joined her.<br /> <br /> The God [[Grin]] had long desired and envied the human experience. He sought to learn what mortality was like, of love and humor and sorrow. While [[Grin]] wished to know the human experience, he admired the woman whose special place could transcend it. He made a habit of frequenting the apple tree to discuss these matters with the Graceful Lady. If one could not call what he felt &quot;love,&quot; one could say he shared in the love she held for her friends and family, and for the kingdoms.<br /> <br /> One night, she did not come, and Koguryo was darkened with loss. For the first time, [[Grin]] shed tears; the death of his mortal friend had taught him the human experience of sorrow.<br /> <br /> Not long after that, the [[Great Shift]] occurred, for better or worse. Though many trees were uprooted whilst others sprung from the ground, in the tumultous chaos [[Grin]] cradled the sacred apple tree. With the energies of the [[Great Shift]], he transformed the simple apple tree into the most majestic tree in [[Koguryo]]. As he reflected on the loss of his friend, a sliver of his immortality formed the heart of the tree, for with mortal loss, Grin had known, for a moment, what it meant to be human.<br /> <br /> In [[Yuri]] 82, cut down by the [[Triiofa]] under Mupa's evil influence, the rings inside the [[Tree of Reflections]] could be easily studied. They show that [[Yuri]] 23 was a year of immense growth for the tree, where it nearly quadrupled in thickness. The [[Great Shift]] was this rainy season, the Tree of Reflections painstakingly adorned with the tears of a god.<br /> <br /> <br /> ''''Hyul 6'''' The Tree of Reflections has returned!</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=History&diff=11992 2007-02-23T14:32:17Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Events to be sorted */</p> <hr /> <div>The history of Nexus is rich with intrigue, grand celebrations, tales of adventure, and deadly wars.<br /> <br /> Visit the [[Museum]] in [[Dae Shore]] for a glimpse at events past.<br /> <br /> = Timeline of Nexus =<br /> <br /> * Y20 [[The Shattering]]<br /> * Y23 [[Great Shift]]<br /> * Y25 [[Buya-Koguryo War]]<br /> * Y27 [[Lost Mines, Y27]]<br /> * Y25 [[Silver Jubilee Ball]]<br /> * Y32 [[Pirate Attack, Y32]]<br /> * Y32 [[Godwar]]<br /> * Y33 [[Kajang's Crypts]]<br /> * Y35 [[Lost Mines, Y35]]<br /> * Y38 [[Pirate Attack, Y38]]<br /> * Y39 [[Alignments Event]]<br /> * Y40 [[Malady poisons King Yuri]]<br /> * Y40 [[Nagnang War]]<br /> * Y41 [[Sonhi Invade Buya]]<br /> * Y42 [[Lost Mines, Y42]]<br /> * Y43 [[King Nyogh's Hideout Discovered]]<br /> * Y45 [[Winds Attack the Kingdoms]]<br /> * Y48 [[Pirate Attack, Y48]]<br /> * Y48 [[King Yuri Falls Ill]]<br /> * Y49 [[Mythic Wars]]<br /> * Y48 [[Shadow disbandment]]<br /> * Y50 [[Golden Jubilee]]<br /> * Y55 [[Great Void Found]]<br /> * Y56 [[Vortex Opens]]<br /> * Y57 [[Pirate Attack, Y57]]<br /> * Y58 [[Spies Capture Elders]]<br /> * Y59 [[Lost Mines, Y59]]<br /> * Y66 [[Pirate Attack, Y66]]<br /> * Y66 [[Nyogh's arctic hideout]]<br /> * Y68 [[Pirate Mines Found]]<br /> * Y68 [[Staff of Elements]]<br /> * Y75 [[King Yuri Calls for more Crowns]]<br /> * Y82 [[King Yuri's Ball]]<br /> * Y82 [[Triiofa]] ([[Tree of Reflections]])<br /> * Y83 [[Death of King Yuri]]<br /> <br /> <br /> * H1 [[Anniversary 8]]<br /> * H1 [[Mongols]]<br /> * H2 [[Friday the 13th (2006)]]<br /> == Events to be sorted ==<br /> <br /> * Y?? [[Totems|The Totem Gods]]<br /> * Y?? [[Buya/Kugnae War]]<br /> * Hyul 5 [[Pirates Capture Clan Workers]]]<br /> <br /> {{stub}}</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Shield_quest&diff=11991 2007-02-23T14:26:20Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>== Quest Details ==<br /> <br /> ===Pre-requisites===<br /> <br /> You MUST complete the relevant [[Quests#Nagnang Quests|Nagnang Quest]] before you can access all items with the below quest:<br /> * Warrior: [[Nagnang Warrior Quest|Shield Quest]]<br /> * Poet [[Poet Whip quest|Whip Quest]]<br /> * Mage [[Spirit stone quest|Spirit Stone Quest]]<br /> * Rogue [[Nagnang Dagger quest|Dagger Quest]]<br /> <br /> NB If you can get someone to make the Twine and lockpick for you who's already completed the quest you can save yourself some walking.''<br /> <br /> <br /> ===The Quest===<br /> <br /> '''1)''' Find [[Baek]]. Ask him about a [[Compass]] to help you find your way through the [[Dark forest]] (Baek shop is the scroll shop in the north west corner of [[Kugnae]]).<br /> <br /> '''2)''' Tell him you wish to find [[Nagnag]]<br /> <br /> '''3)''' Give Baek a Soup bowl and 1 Fine metal (Say Nagnag again when you return to him), he will give you 10 Compasses in return. (Note: You can hold a total of 20 at a time. If you have bad luck with quests and not following directions, I suggest you pick up 20 at this point)<br /> <br /> '''4)''' Gather your supplies to make a [[lantern]][[Image:Lantern.gif]] (1 [[White paper]], 1 [[Ginko wood]], 1 [[Beef]], 1 [[Hot coal]]) and head to the Dark Forest. <br /> <br /> '''5)''' To find your way through the forest you will need to use a compass in every room you're in. It's dark in here.. so this is a good place to equip your lantern. Make sure you go in the direction that the compass tells you to go in each room.<br /> <br /> '''6)''' You will emerge from the Forest to a farm. Here you will look for Majhum, a Zibongesque ghost who likes to wander around the farm (he may need to spawn). Tap him with your little grey bird. He will tell you... nothing! You don't know how to speak to ghosts.<br /> <br /> '''7)''' Leave the Dark Forest and talk to Dusk Shaman who is located at 43,91 in Kugnae. Ask her about Majhum, the friendly ghost from the farm who you couldn't understand. She just so happens to be his cousin and will teach you how to understand him.<br /> <br /> '''8)''' Return to the Dark Forest (aren't you happy I told you to get all of those compasses? You may need to pick up more in the future though.. keep that in mind) and return to the Ghost on the Valley farm. Tap Majhum with your little grey bird again. He will ramble on for a bit until you realize you're stuck where you are when he's done speaking. (Note: If you tell him that Dusk said hello, you will get a small amount of [[Karma]])<br /> <br /> '''9)''' Ask Majhum about a bridge. He will tell you to make some stilts and how to make them.<br /> <br /> '''10)''' Gather 10 pieces of Wool and 10 pieces of Ginko wood. Take them to the weaver in the Wilderness (45,30). Ask her about Twine two times. She will take the wool and give you some twine.<br /> <br /> '''11)''' Get more compasses.. you'll need them to return through the Dark Forest YET again with your load of Ginko wood. Find the Ghost and ask him about the &quot;bridge&quot; again. He will give you some lovely stilts.<br /> <br /> '''12)''' Use the stilts to cross the water. To do this, simply walk up to the water at the northern part of the farm on the western side of the hut.<br /> <br /> '''13)''' After crossing the water you will find you still have to endure further suffering. The gate seems to be locked. Travel eastward around the outside of the Palace courtyard and cross the little bridge to Benitnath's Island. Enter his hut and tap on him with your little grey bird.<br /> <br /> '''14)''' Benitnath will tell you that the sewers are the only way into the Palace. Ask him about the &quot;sewers&quot; and equip your lantern once again. If your old one burned out by this point.. you will have to make a new one because it is pitch black inside the stinky sewage pit.<br /> <br /> '''15)''' Blindly fight off swarms of rats and snakes that live in the sewers to find your way through. Or.. if you don't like that option.. find these coordinates and you will find the sweet light at the end of the tunnel after traveling through many rooms:<br /> From the first room:&lt;br /&gt;<br /> <br /> 1. 0028, 0017&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 2. 0010, 0003&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 3. 0007, 0008&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 4. 0014, 0016&lt;br /&gt; <br /> 5. 0013, 0018&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 6. 0005, 0002&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 7. 0021, 0002&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 8. 0002, 0001&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 9. 0016, 0023&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 10. 0022, 0027&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 11. 0005, 0028&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 12. 0003, 0009&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 13. 0003, 0002&lt;br /&gt;<br /> 14. 0006, 0015&lt;br /&gt;<br /> &lt;br /&gt;<br /> '''16)''' Success! I can see the light of day again!! You have now entered the courtyard of Nagnag. There is a small building nearby with an open door. Head inside and say &quot;Hi&quot; (or &quot;Hello&quot;) to the friendly man. Then ask him about a &quot;lockpick&quot;. He will tell you that you need a lockpick to get into the Palace. To get the lockpick you must.. you guessed it.. return to town!<br /> <br /> '''17)''' Leave the area (sadly) once again and head to [[Maso]] (the [[Buyan Rogue guild]] teacher).<br /> <br /> '''18)''' Speak with Maso. Ask him about a &quot;lockpick&quot;. He will tell you what you need to create one.<br /> <br /> '''19)''' Leave the Rogue guild in search of wood scraps. The best way to get these is to ask your fellow clan members who are carpenters or to go to Splinters house in the wilderness. Get a few pieces of the wood scraps and grab a fine steel dagger and return to the Rogue Guild.<br /> <br /> '''20)''' Ask Maso to make you a &quot;Lockpick&quot;. He'll take all of your wood scraps and your dagger and make you a pretty red key looking thing.<br /> <br /> '''21)''' Now it's time to return to the Palace! Grab your lantern.. AND if you don't wish to return through the entire forest and sewer again.. bring the items you need to create your runes or shield.<br /> <br /> '''22)''' Take your lockpick and all of your items back through the sewers and return to the little hut in the courtyard. Walk up to the safe and say &quot;Hello&quot; to it. You will discover you can't help the man stuck inside. Leave the hut and go eastward in the courtyard.<br /> <br /> '''23)''' Upon reaching the eastern gateway your lockpick will suddenly work (don't you wish it did so you didn't have to walk through the sewers again?). Walk north along the top wall of the courtyard past all the mean mercenary men until you find the hole to exit into the flower pot in the courtyard of Nagnag's palace (on the right side of the locked wall).<br /> <br /> '''24)''' Walk around the courtyard until you make your way to the building and enter the Palace.<br /> <br /> '''25)''' Now you're in the Great hall of the palace, Head through the appropriate doorway for your path:&lt;br /&gt;<br /> Poets: North Western Door&lt;br /&gt;<br /> Warrior: South Western Door&lt;br /&gt;<br /> Mage: South Eastern Door&lt;br /&gt; <br /> Rogue: North Eastern Door&lt;br /&gt;<br /> &lt;br /&gt;<br /> '''20)''' Follow your way through all of the stairs/rooms and evil mercenaries and you will find yourself in a room with just a lonely man. Tap him with your grey bird, listen to his story and get your lovely items. And that's it! Yes.. you can soak your poor tired feet in some hot water.. you're going to need it.<br /> &lt;br /&gt;<br /> <br /> == Quest Items Awarded==<br /> [[Rogue_Shields]] | [[Rogue_hand_items]]&lt;br /&gt;<br /> [[Warrior_Shields]] | [[Warrior_hand_items]]&lt;br /&gt;<br /> [[Poet_Shields]] | [[Poet_hand_items]]&lt;br /&gt;<br /> [[Mage_Shields]] | [[Mage_hand_items]]&lt;br /&gt;</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Things_you_can_do&diff=11990 2007-02-23T14:17:29Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Warrior-only '''[[Quests]]''' are:<br /> <br /> * Armour: [[Warrior Star quest]] | [[Warrior Moon quest]] | [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> * Sheilds: [[Shield quest|Warrior Shield quest]]<br /> * Warriors might also like to learn the [[Throwing axe quest|Sonhi Ancient Art of the Throwing Axe]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Things_you_can_do&diff=11989 2007-02-23T11:16:58Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Warrior-only '''[[Quests]]''' are:<br /> <br /> * Armour: [[Warrior Star quest]] | [[Warrior Moon quest]] | [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> * Sheilds: [[Warrior Sheild quest]]<br /> * Warriors might also like to learn the [[Throwing axe quest|Sonhi Ancient Art of the Throwing Axe]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal_Talk:Warrior&diff=11988 2007-02-23T11:12:54Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>Just thought I should get this one started. I hope others with more <br /> Wiki skills will take up the page and add things to it.<br /> <br /> I just wanted to standardize it with the rest of the portals!<br /> <br /> <br /> Added a little content. I'm a noob so can't do much. [[User:Ffyll|Ffyll]] 06:12, 23 February 2007 (EST)</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Tips&diff=11987 2007-02-23T11:12:15Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>Need light fox furs? Instead of going to the [[Buya]] or [[Kugnae]] fox caves where these are rare, try heading to [[Tangun]], where there are many in the fields. Everything you need to make [[lanterns]] can also be found or bought in Tangun - Coal, Flash Dust, Ginko Wood and Beef - and the final item, White Paper, just a short walk south from the North [[Gate]] of Kugnae.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Selected_article&diff=11986 2007-02-23T11:03:35Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>'''Shonono's Story'''<br /> <br /> By Shonono of Koguryo: <br /> <br /> The most difficult thing about being a warrior for myself was the need to buy expensive <br /> weopons and armour, and also find good food such as bear livers for emergency healing. I spent alot of time in the Rat caves from level 15 or so and sold Ginseng in Hamgyoung-Namdo and Topaz from Centipedes to other players. I also killed alot of squirrels for acorns!<br /> <br /> When I could use the flank spell, I began to gather wool and sell it to weavers.<br /> Flank attacks make it easy to hunt Sheep. Now at level 32, I began weaving myself!<br /> <br /> Around level 36 I began hunting in the Iron Labinryth. The bears were dangerous but<br /> because they dropped alot of livers, I could find enough food to keep going.<br /> <br /> There are many warrior spells that require fox furs. So I spent alot of time<br /> in those caves. I think the [[Kugnae]] has more Sun Foxes than the [[Buya]] fox caves.<br /> <br /> After I passed level 40 I began hunting in the [[Mythic Nexus|Mythical Rabbits]]. They drop amber and provide alot of experience.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ''I found the [http://www.chungryongdojang.cjb.net/ Chung Ryong Dojang website] had very useful information for training young warrios. The advice about where to hunt for lower level warriors was especially helpful! Be sure to also read<br /> [http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/darkmaverick/pre99guide.html The No-Nonsense Guide to Leveling as a pre-99 Warrior].''</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Subpaths&diff=11985 2007-02-23T10:59:39Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>* [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian]]<br /> * [[Image:Chongun.PNG]] [[Chongun]]<br /> * [[Image:DoSymbol.PNG]] [[Do]]<br /> * [[Image:ChungRyong.PNG]] [[Chung Ryong]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Portal:Warrior/Intro&diff=11984 2007-02-23T10:50:29Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The [[Warrior]] is a powerful fighting figure, who can deliver maximum damage to many enemies that surround him. The Warrior's poor defence and spell abilities are made up for by his 4-way damage and his own ability to deal much damage to enemies. Warriors hunt with poets, as they require the greatest level of support.<br /> <br /> Early in the Warrior's life, his or her ability to gain experiance and experiance is unparelleled as he or she can solo against large numbers of weak enemies.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Creation_of_a_Magical_Net&diff=11983 2007-02-23T10:36:41Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>Wind Quest: Part One<br /> <br /> ''''A Magical Net''''<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Level]] Required: 11<br /> <br /> Prerequisite: [[Quests|Moon Quest]]<br /> <br /> [[Karma]] Required: Spirit<br /> <br /> <br /> == How to Begin ==<br /> <br /> Say &quot;Wind&quot; to the [[Old Scribe]], who's located on the [[Scribe's Mountain]], i [[Vale]].<br /> <br /> <br /> == Steps ==<br /> <br /> 1. Head to [[Scribe's Mountain]] in Vale. The [[Old Scribe]] will ensure you have at least Spirit [[Karma]] before letting you begin.<br /> <br /> 2. Go to the [[Wilderness]] Weaving Station and click on the Weaver. There should be a option available saying &quot;Weave Magical Net&quot;. To [[Weaving|weave]] the net you will need:<br /> 10 [[Fine cloth]],<br /> 1 [[Red potion]],<br /> [[Weaving tools]].<br /> Some have woven the [[Magical Net]] in a few times, others take sometimes 60 times. It is recommened that you [[Weaving|weave]] during your [[Totem]]'s time and that you even worship your [[Totem]] beforehand. For each time, you will need 10 [[Fine cloth]] and 1 [[Red potion]].<br /> <br /> == Items lost to Sacrafice ==<br /> <br /> *10 [[Fine cloth]]<br /> *1 [[Red potion]]<br /> *(For each attempt!)<br /> <br /> == Rewards ==<br /> <br /> *[[Magical net]]<br /> * 1 point of [[Karma]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Creation_of_a_Magical_Net&diff=11982 2007-02-23T10:35:16Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Wind Quest: A Magical net */</p> <hr /> <div>== Wind Quest: A [[Magical net]] ==<br /> <br /> [[Level]] Required: 11<br /> <br /> Prerequisite: [[Quests|Moon Quest]]<br /> <br /> [[Karma]] Required: Spirit<br /> <br /> == How to Begin ==<br /> <br /> Say &quot;Wind&quot; to the [[Old Scribe]] ([[Scribe's Mountain]], [[Vale]]).<br /> <br /> <br /> == Steps ==<br /> <br /> 1. Head to [[Scribe's Mountain]] in Vale. The [[Old Scribe]] will ensure you have at least [[Spirit]] [[Karma]] before letting you begin.<br /> <br /> 2. Go to the [[Wilderness]] Weaving Station and click on the Weaver. There should be a option available saying &quot;Weave Magical Net&quot;. To [[Weaving|weave]] the net you will need:<br /> 10 [[Fine cloth]],<br /> 1 [[Red potion]],<br /> [[Weaving tools]].<br /> Some have woven the [[Magical Net]] in a few times, others take sometimes 60 times. It is recommened that you [[Weaving|weave]] during your [[Totem]]'s time and that you even worship your [[Totem]] beforehand. For each time, you will need 10 [[Fine cloth]] and 1 [[Red potion]].<br /> <br /> == Items lost to Sacrafice ==<br /> <br /> *10 [[Fine cloth]]<br /> *1 [[Red potion]]<br /> *(For each attempt!)<br /> <br /> == Rewards ==<br /> <br /> *[[Magical net]]<br /> * 1 point of [[Karma]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Quests&diff=11981 2007-02-23T10:32:31Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Nagnang Quests */</p> <hr /> <div>Throughout the Kingdoms there are things to find, monsters to slay and items to scout for. These are some, but not all, of the quests currently available for young and old adventurers to undertake.<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Beginner's Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Chu Rua Quest]] ''(aka By The Sea)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00007_00.gif [[Freed Leviathan]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Ice beast quest|Ice Beast quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Dog linguist]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Sute quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Blessed by the stars]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==All-path Quests==<br /> * [[Subpath#Player_run|Subpath Quests]]<br /> * [[Deeds of Citizenship]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Nagnang Quests==<br /> Each [[Path]] has a quest in [[Nagnang]]. Before you begin, make sure you have [[Freed Leviathan|Freed the Leviathans]].<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif Mage's [[Spirit stone quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00004_00.gif Poet's [[Poet Whip quest|Whip quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00009_00.gif Rogue's [[Nagnang Dagger quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Nagnang Warrior Quest]]<br /> <br /> ==Item Quests==<br /> <br /> * The [[Nagnag Palace Quest]] ''(also called Shield Quest)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif Poet's [[Restore quest]]<br /> * Rogue's [[White Moon Axe quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Tiger mail quest]]<br /> * [[Image:Legend_mark_1.gif]] [[Staff of the elements]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Armour Quests==<br /> <br /> ''You must be [[Blessed by the stars]] to start these''<br /> <br /> <br /> ===Rogue Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Poet Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Mage Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Warrior Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Shield and Wind Armour Quests===<br /> <br /> * [[Shield quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Nagnang Quest<br /> * [[Wind quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Moon Celestial Quest<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Advanced Quests==<br /> <br /> * [[Haengsa]]'s Monthly Challenges for [[Pirate coins]]<br /> * [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Throwing axe quest]]<br /> * [[Faerie Light]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Minor Quests]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[NPC Subpath Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==The Sans==<br /> <br /> * [[Image:Il_san_dot.jpg]] [[Il San]]<br /> * [[Image:Ee_san_dot.jpg]] [[Ee San]]<br /> * [[Image:Sam_san_dot.jpg]] [[Sam San]]<br /> * [[Sa San]] ''(Not currently available)''</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Quests&diff=11980 2007-02-23T10:28:23Z

<p>Ffyll: /* Warrior Celestial */</p> <hr /> <div>Throughout the Kingdoms there are things to find, monsters to slay and items to scout for. These are some, but not all, of the quests currently available for young and old adventurers to undertake.<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Beginner's Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Chu Rua Quest]] ''(aka By The Sea)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00007_00.gif [[Freed Leviathan]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Ice beast quest|Ice Beast quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Dog linguist]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Sute quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Blessed by the stars]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==All-path Quests==<br /> * [[Subpath#Player_run|Subpath Quests]]<br /> * [[Deeds of Citizenship]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Nagnang Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif Mage's [[Spirit stone quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00004_00.gif Poet's [[Poet Whip quest|Whip quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00009_00.gif Rogue's [[Nagnang Dagger quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Nagnang Warrior Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Item Quests==<br /> <br /> * The [[Nagnag Palace Quest]] ''(also called Shield Quest)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif Poet's [[Restore quest]]<br /> * Rogue's [[White Moon Axe quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Tiger mail quest]]<br /> * [[Image:Legend_mark_1.gif]] [[Staff of the elements]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Armour Quests==<br /> <br /> ''You must be [[Blessed by the stars]] to start these''<br /> <br /> <br /> ===Rogue Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Poet Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Mage Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Warrior Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Shield and Wind Armour Quests===<br /> <br /> * [[Shield quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Nagnang Quest<br /> * [[Wind quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Moon Celestial Quest<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Advanced Quests==<br /> <br /> * [[Haengsa]]'s Monthly Challenges for [[Pirate coins]]<br /> * [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Throwing axe quest]]<br /> * [[Faerie Light]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Minor Quests]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[NPC Subpath Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==The Sans==<br /> <br /> * [[Image:Il_san_dot.jpg]] [[Il San]]<br /> * [[Image:Ee_san_dot.jpg]] [[Ee San]]<br /> * [[Image:Sam_san_dot.jpg]] [[Sam San]]<br /> * [[Sa San]] ''(Not currently available)''</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Quests&diff=11979 2007-02-23T10:26:12Z

<p>Ffyll: Re-arranged layout</p> <hr /> <div>Throughout the Kingdoms there are things to find, monsters to slay and items to scout for. These are some, but not all, of the quests currently available for young and old adventurers to undertake.<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Beginner's Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Chu Rua Quest]] ''(aka By The Sea)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00007_00.gif [[Freed Leviathan]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Ice beast quest|Ice Beast quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Dog linguist]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Sute quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[Blessed by the stars]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==All-path Quests==<br /> * [[Subpath#Player_run|Subpath Quests]]<br /> * [[Deeds of Citizenship]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Nagnang Quests==<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif Mage's [[Spirit stone quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00004_00.gif Poet's [[Poet Whip quest|Whip quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00009_00.gif Rogue's [[Nagnang Dagger quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Nagnang Warrior Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Item Quests==<br /> <br /> * The [[Nagnag Palace Quest]] ''(also called Shield Quest)''<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif Poet's [[Restore quest]]<br /> * Rogue's [[White Moon Axe quest]]<br /> * Warrior's [[Tiger mail quest]]<br /> * [[Image:Legend_mark_1.gif]] [[Staff of the elements]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Armour Quests==<br /> <br /> ''You must be [[Blessed by the stars]] to start these''<br /> <br /> <br /> ===Rogue Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Rogue Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Poet Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Poet Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Mage Celestial===<br /> <br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Star quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Moon quest]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Mage Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> ===Warrior Celestial===<br /> <br /> ** http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Star quest]]<br /> ** http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Moon quest]]<br /> ** http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Warrior Sun quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ===Shield and Wind Armour Quests===<br /> <br /> * [[Shield quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Nagnang Quest<br /> * [[Wind quest]] -- Must have completed relevent Moon Celestial Quest<br /> <br /> <br /> ==Advanced Quests==<br /> <br /> * [[Haengsa]]'s Monthly Challenges for [[Pirate coins]]<br /> * [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Throwing axe quest]]<br /> * [[Faerie Light]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00005_00.gif [[Minor Quests]]<br /> * http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00003_00.gif [[NPC Subpath Quest]]<br /> <br /> <br /> ==The Sans==<br /> <br /> * [[Image:Il_san_dot.jpg]] [[Il San]]<br /> * [[Image:Ee_san_dot.jpg]] [[Ee San]]<br /> * [[Image:Sam_san_dot.jpg]] [[Sam San]]<br /> * [[Sa San]] ''(Not currently available)''</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Chung_Ryong&diff=11914 2006-12-19T14:26:52Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Category:Warrior]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Chung_Ryong&diff=11913 2006-12-19T14:26:31Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Chung Ryong is the powerful blue dragon, and the [[totem]] of power, strength, and battles. This incredible beast is unmatched in its ability to deliver great amounts of damage to large groups of opponents.<br /> <br /> Chung Ryong is the [[Totem]] god of the [[Warrior]] path. View history and lore of the [[Totems]].<br /> <br /> == Chung Ryong NPC Subpath ==<br /> <br /> * Chung Ryong(99)<br /> * Fury (Il san)<br /> * Assault (Ee san)<br /> * Barrage (Sam san)<br /> <br /> == General Information ==<br /> <br /> The Chung Ryong NPC subpath is for Warriors only. A Warrior who joins this subpath is given access to a few new things:<br /> <br /> * The Chung Ryong Scale, a large sword<br /> * [[Chung Ryong's Rage]], the main spell of the Chung Ryong path<br /> * Access to the mutt subpath spells<br /> <br /> == Weapons ==<br /> <br /> [[Chung ryong scale]] [[Image:Chung_ryong_scale.gif]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Chung Ryong]]<br /> <br /> == Other Information ==<br /> <br /> The Chung Ryong [[Shrine]] is located in the [[Wilderness]] at [[coordinates]] 210, 95.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Warrior&diff=11912 2006-12-19T14:25:53Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The [[Warrior]] is one of the basic paths to walk. A Warrior specialises in dealing a medium amount of damage to a large group of enemies.<br /> <br /> <br /> The [[portal:warrior|Warrior's Portal]] is a great start to research the Warrior.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Warrior&diff=11911 2006-12-19T14:25:25Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>Warriors, another good hunting path, get an early Enchanting spell (double damage) which is good for hunting.<br /> <br /> ==Subpaths==<br /> [[Image:Sword.JPG]] [[Barbarian]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Sword.JPG]] [[Do]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Sword.JPG]] [[Chongun]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Sword.JPG]] [[Chung Ryong]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Warrior]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Barbarian&diff=11910 2006-12-19T14:24:11Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Category:Warrior]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Barbarian&diff=11909 2006-12-19T14:23:50Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>== Announcements ==<br /> <br /> New Events have been added (Winner gets a branding as usual): Barbarian Heal Out and Rage Battle<br /> <br /> We have also begun hosting Story Contests for the community (brand to the winner).<br /> <br /> --TOURNAMENT OF THE HORDE TOMORROW, FRIDAY OCTOBER 13th, 6pm EST--<br /> Info below.<br /> <br /> == Titles ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] Barbarian (Below Il san)<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] Berserker (Il san)<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] Savage (Ee san)<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] Beast (Sam san)<br /> <br /> == Family ==<br /> See a list of the Barbarian subpath's members [http://users.nexustk.com/webreport/Barbarian.htm here]. <br /> <br /> See a list of the Horde's members (Barbarians and Extended Family) [http://users.nexustk.com/webreport/Horde.html here].<br /> <br /> The current Elder of the Barbarians/Leader of the Horde is [http://users.nexustk.com/?name=Winder Winder].<br /> <br /> == Joining the Barbarian subpath ==<br /> <br /> In one word, a Barbarian is a survivor. Barbarians survive all challenges, have a strong bond with one another, treat each other equally and with respect, and face challenges that fall before us together.<br /> <br /> However, unlike many others who make the claim, we are a true family, one that sticks together through thick and through thin. If you wish to seek us out to train and join us, you must be prepared to make that sort of sacrifice.<br /> <br /> You are born a barbarian; you are either one or are not. Do you feel the rage inside your heart? The endurance and will to fight to the end? The bond of family? Do you feel you have the devotion and commitment to survive in such a family? Then you may have barbarian blood flowing through your veins. There is no &quot;application&quot; or &quot;form&quot; to fill out that can express this bond or commitment, so there is no application to join us.<br /> <br /> So, how do you begin your journey home? The Barbarian cave is located at ((27, 17)), slightly east of the entrance to the wilderness from Buya, and slightly west of Ranger's famed Trapper's Paradise. Come visit us, meet Genghis khan, and take a copy of our runes to read over and learn of our history and legends. Act as you feel a barbarian should, come to the aid of your brethren, participate in our events, show your dedication, and one of our guides will approach you to aid you on your journey home. We approach you for training, you do not approach us. <br /> <br /> However, in order for us to approach you, you must commit yourself to these guidelines. Do not sit there wondering why no one approaches you to aid your journey. Commit yourself to these guidelines.<br /> <br /> Remain ((in character)) anytime while you are in public.<br /> Never attack a member of The Horde. They are your future brethren.<br /> Aid your brethren to the best of your ability when called upon.<br /> You may not live in Koguryo, Buya, or Nagnang, you must live in the depths of the Wilderness for us to contact you. (Neutral)<br /> You may not be apart of any ring, tribe, clan or army.<br /> You may not be apart of the Do, the Chongunate, or the Chung ryongs.<br /> You must adhere to our [[Branding Policy]], which is actually not as bad as I make it seem, really, it isn't.<br /> <br /> <br /> With regards,<br /> <br /> The Horde<br /> <br /> Winder,<br /> <br /> The Merciless<br /> <br /> == Barbarian Roleplay ==<br /> <br /> Everyone Roleplays a Barbarian a little bit differently.<br /> <br /> By reading the &quot;Joining the Barbarian subpath&quot; section, you will see Winder's Perspective.<br /> <br /> Below you can read some important topics, provided by some of our previous Elders and Guides:<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Nomad's Perspective]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian Taboos. By Barnibus]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[What is Rage? By Barnibus]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Townies! By Purekin]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian Traits Part 1. By Angelicus]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian Traits Part 2. By Angelicus]]<br /> <br /> == The Barbarian Cave ==<br /> <br /> The Barbarian Cave is Genghis Kahn's home as well as our public gathering area. It is located slightly south-east of buya. ((27, 17 Wilderness)) <br /> <br /> == Website ==<br /> The Barbarian subpath has a website, this it it, and there are no plans to have anything else. Any information relating to the Barbarian subpath can be found on the &quot;Barbarian runes&quot;. Please buy this from Genghis Kahn for 1000 Coins inside the Barbarian Cave.<br /> <br /> == Equipment ==<br /> <br /> All Equipment is Barbarian Only.<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianAxe.gif]] [[War axe]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianTigerSkull.gif]] [[Tiger skull helm]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianGauntlet.gif]] [[Savage gauntlet]]<br /> <br /> == Items ==<br /> [[Image:BarbarianBrew.gif]] [[Barbarian brew]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianRunes.gif]] [[Barbarian runes]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianAxe.gif]] [[Throwing axe]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:SonhiPipe.gif]] [[Sonhi pipe]]<br /> <br /> == Services ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianBlood.gif]] [[Blood Oath]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Survived Wilderness Training]]<br /> <br /> == Tournaments ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianBlood.gif]] [[Tournament of the Horde]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Sah Ruh Tournament]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Last Man Alive]]<br /> <br /> == Story Contests ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian Tales]]<br /> <br /> == Events ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Barbarian Heal Out]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Rage Battle]]<br /> <br /> == Quests ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Throwing axe quest]] (Barbarian Quest)<br /> <br /> == Extended Family ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] [[Kin to Barbarians]]<br /> <br /> == Negative Brands ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianAnger.gif]] [[Angered the Horde]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:BarbarianEnemy.gif]] [[Enemy of Barbarians]]<br /> <br /> == Forum ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Barbarian.PNG]] Access the [[http://www.nexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=6 Barbarian Forum]]<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Barbarian]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Warrior&diff=11908 2006-12-19T14:22:49Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Warrior is one of the basic paths to walk. A Warrior specialises in dealing a medium amount of damage to a large group of enemies.<br /> <br /> <br /> The [[portal:warrior|Warrior's Portal]] is a great start to research the Warrior.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Chongun&diff=11907 2006-12-19T14:21:45Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Category:Warrior]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Extended_Noble_Title&diff=11906 2006-12-19T14:21:19Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Chongun extended titles of nobillity allow someone to submit a roleplay story of a title they feel they are worthy of. The story must be submitted to a Chongun guide. However, recently in the new client the abillity is A) bugged, or B) limited, so many Chongun guides have stopped offering this service as it serves no purpose (as NPC's title is 2 characters shorter).<br /> <br /> [[Category:Chongun]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Chongun_Kitchen&diff=11905 2006-12-19T14:20:45Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Chongun Kitchen is located as the Easternmost building in Immortal's Gateway. Suayan Li runs the kicthen with iron oven-mitted fist, and will buy your cooked goods for you.<br /> <br /> [[Category:Chongun]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Pardon_Tribunal&diff=11904 2006-12-19T14:20:27Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>''Taken from the Chronicles of the Winds post 1714 by Deimos''<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Image:Chongun.JPG]] '''Chongun Pardon Tribunal''' [[Image:Chongun.JPG]]<br /> <br /> <br /> &quot;Rebirth of the prosperity, cleansing of licentiousness!&quot;<br /> <br /> <br /> If you have been convicted of a crime, and either claim that you were falsely accused, or have taken measures to redeem yourself, the Chongunate will hear your appeals.<br /> <br /> <br /> The Chongun Warriors are Protectors of the Kingdoms. We to ensure their rights, as human beings are not infringed upon, protect both law-abiding citizens and criminals. IF we feel a criminal has been wrongfully convicted or has been rehabilitated into a productive citizen, we CAN pardon them for their crimes to remove any criminal history they may have.<br /> <br /> <br /> A branded person ~MUST~ meet the following guidelines for their pardon:<br /> <br /> [[Image:Blade.JPG]] Tiger Karma or above<br /> <br /> [[Image:Blade.JPG]] Can be no earlier than 2 ~FULL~ Yuri's old. ((To the season))<br /> <br /> [[Image:Blade.JPG]] For more than 3 brandings, one Yuri must pass. (5 brands, 5 Yuri's must pass AFTER the last one before a pardon is considered granted)<br /> <br /> <br /> The base cost of the pardon, if granted, are as follows (addition maybe added at the time of your verdict):<br /> <br /> [[Image:Blade.JPG]] One [[Angel's tear]] http://users.nexustk.com/items/00428_00.gif<br /> <br /> [[Image:Blade.JPG]] One complete Ogre Weapon set (Electra, Steelthorn, Titanium lance, Star-staff)<br /> <br /> <br /> We handle each pardon case differently than we do another. Depending on what you did and what crime you committed, we will decide how to handle your case. This will be done at the Chongun Tribunals, which are held weekly and posted on the Community event boards for all to see. Severity of case will be considered in the decision process. <br /> <br /> <br /> A Pardon is a service, NOT a right. Demanding Pardons demonstrates to us your attitude towards others has not changed and thus you shall be denied and forced to wait longer. Your actions during the proceedings will also count towards whether or not you receive a pardon.<br /> <br /> <br /> To request a Pardon, you must send a formal request (MUST be in RP format. If not, you shall not be heard) to Thugofsmeg explaining what crime you have committed, and why you feel you deserve a pardon. You must then appear at the ~next~ Tribunal that is scheduled to have your case heard. If you do not show, you will have to resubmit another request. <br /> <br /> <br /> If we do not have your request by the time the Tribunal starts, you will not be heard that night.<br /> <br /> <br /> We cannot pardon for the following crimes:<br /> http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00085_00.gif Sage abuse<br /> http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00085_00.gif Sexual Harassment<br /> http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00085_00.gif Serious crimes<br /> http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00085_00.gif Bug Abuse<br /> http://users.nexustk.com/legend/00085_00.gif Murder<br /> <br /> <br /> ((~NOTE~<br /> Once you are at the tribunal, you ~MUST~ be in character. Failure to do so may cause your case to be dropped. ))<br /> <br /> <br /> Without any of these achievements, you cannot gain a Pardon.<br /> <br /> <br /> This weeks Tribunal is to be held on ((Sundays 8pm Est)) at the Immortal's Gateway ((59,6 )) Dae Shore. Those attending must remain silent unless called upon by the tribunal. <br /> <br /> '''Note: Check the Community events board for times each week, as they may change.'''<br /> <br /> [[Category:Chongun]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Chongun&diff=11903 2006-12-19T14:20:10Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>* Chongun (99)<br /> * Sonbae (Il san)<br /> * Kysh'itra (Ee san)<br /> * Musadan (Sam san)<br /> <br /> == Members ==<br /> The current members of the Chongun subpath can be found [http://users.nexustk.com/webreport/Chongun.htm here]. The current elder of the Chonguns is [http://users.nexustk.com/?name=SilentS SilentS].<br /> <br /> == Roleplay ==<br /> <br /> The Chonguns are the protectors of the people of Nexus. They hold honor above all else and do not tolerate the exploitation of the weak. The provide many services for the community including the ability to bestow a title of nobility upon all citizens and to pardon reformed citizens for past crimes. More information on the Chongun subpath can be found at the official Chongun forum, [http://www.nexusbio.org/forums/ Legacy Forums].<br /> <br /> == Services offered to the Community ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Chongun.JPG]] [[Pardon Tribunal]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Chongun.JPG]] [[Chongun Kitchen]]<br /> <br /> [[Image:Chongun.JPG]] [[Extended Noble Title]]<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Chongun]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Warrior&diff=11902 2006-12-19T14:19:06Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Warrior is one of the basic paths to walk. A Warrior specialises in dealing a medium amount of damage to a large group of enemies.<br /> <br /> There are four sub-paths a Warrior may walk.</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Category:Do&diff=11901 2006-12-19T14:17:43Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>[[Category:Warrior]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Weapon_Master_Mark&diff=11900 2006-12-19T14:17:19Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>The Do path perform the service known as the Weapon Master Brand. This brand is a mark bestowed as a symbol that represents a persons knowledge of the lore and raw ability of the numerous weapons throughout the Nexus. This mark does NOT neccessarily mean a person is a master of handling them, or a friend of the Do Path. To recieve the mark a person must approach a Do Master or the Elder and meet certain criteria. Once met the applicant is tested based on the feelings of the person they approach as everyone has a different system. <br /> <br /> Below are the rules governing how one earns the Weapon Master Brand.<br /> <br /> ----<br /> <br /> Many have inquired about the various ways to gain a Weapon <br /> Master Mark. There are 3 ways to prove yourself and show <br /> that you are worthy to bear the mark of &quot;Weapon Master&quot;.<br /> <br /> 1. Take and pass a Weapon Master Test issued by a Do Master. To be tested in this fashion you must meet the following prerequisites...<br /> <br /> # Be of the 99th insight ~~ &lt;br&gt; Because with experience comes knowledge.<br /> # Been victorious in at least 10 Carnages/Bloodlusts/Do Masai ~~ &lt;br&gt; To show your knowledge of weapon use.<br /> # Be at least Skilled Carpenter or Smith, or Grand Master Tailor ~~ &lt;br&gt; To show your knowledge of weapon crafting.<br /> <br /> If you meet the requirments and believe you are prepared for the Test send a letter ((nmail)) to the Elder or one of the Guides ~~ &lt;br&gt;<br /> ((You can find a list of all current Master's and Elder on the community section of the Nexus main page http://www.nexustk.com)) &lt;br&gt;<br /> ((you may try whispering also to see if they are free))<br /> <br /> If you should fail a test you may retest but only after waiting for a minimum of one month ((1 week RL or longer)) and to retake the test the first time you must offer one ogre weapon as a retesting fee. If you should fail the second test each retest after that you must offer a path weapon. (Spike, Surge, Blood, or Charm) There is no limit to the number of retests you may take. <br /> <br /> 2. There are Do Events held periodically in which the Weapon Master Mark can be awarded as a prize. These events usually deal strongly in Weapon Knowledge, Weapon Mechanics, or Weapon Origins. These contests are open to all levels and Paths with no prerequisites.<br /> <br /> 3. Someone can be granted the title of Weapon Master by making significant contribution toward weapon study in general, although it has to be a fairly original study to earn a mark. Only a few people have gained the Weapon Master Mark in this manner, but if it is done.. then there are not other requirements.. No Level.. No Crafting, No Weapon Test.<br /> <br /> If you have an idea for a Weapon Study that you wish to pursue, please contact one of the Guides. They can tell you if you are on the right track.<br /> <br /> [[Category:Do]]</div>

Ffyll https://nexuswiki.com/w/index.php?title=Do&diff=11899 2006-12-19T14:16:58Z

<p>Ffyll: </p> <hr /> <div>* Do (99)<br /> * HwarangDo (Il san)<br /> * Sulsa-Do (Ee san)<br /> * Jung-Do (Sam san)<br /> <br /> == Members ==<br /> The current members of the Do subpath can be found [http://users.nexustk.com/webreport/Do.htm here]. The current elder of the Do is [http://users.nexustk.com/?name=MythicTenchi MythicTenchi].<br /> <br /> == Roleplay ==<br /> A Do is a master of many things, foremost being the art of weapons mastery. But the goal of this mastery is not for the use of weapons, but merely a step on the Way.<br /> <br /> <br /> But what is the Way?<br /> <br /> The ability to accept with humility the teachings of the world...<br /> <br /> Mastery of not just a weapon, but of yourself...<br /> <br /> To trancend the weapon, for it to become a part of you...<br /> <br /> Accepting that through mastery of the self one may understand others...<br /> <br /> Through understanding others one understands the world...<br /> <br /> Through understanding the world understanding your place in it...<br /> <br /> Through this understanding walking the Way of Enlightenment...<br /> <br /> And understanding that the Way never ends and prefection is not attained but sought.<br /> <br /> <br /> You see a warrior fights with his weapon, his skill, his muscle. A Do fights with his entire being and soul. This is the essence of the Way, the essence of Do.<br /> <br /> Do Elder,<br /> Masana<br /> <br /> <br /> == Seeking the way ==<br /> <br /> You wish to join those who call themselves Do?<br /> There are many who believe this to be their path.<br /> <br /> You want me to teach you to be a Do?<br /> That cannot be done.<br /> <br /> I can teach you about weapons: their attributes, origins and forms. I can teach you about combat: when to attack and how to defend. I can teach you about healing: the use of potions, herbs and spells.<br /> But knowing all of this would not make you Do.<br /> <br /> You must be Do at heart, and that cannot be taught.<br /> It must simply be who and what you are.<br /> <br /> So it is your heart that must be discovered and that is quite a task.<br /> <br /> We will be watching for those who seek the way. If you have a simple curiosity or a deep desire for knowledge, we encourage you to study and search. The Do value patience, humility and balance.<br /> <br /> ~To one who is Do at heart, time means nothing~<br /> <br /> keely<br /> red sun Do<br /> Do Elder<br /> <br /> == Do Services ==<br /> <br /> [[Image:Do_symbol.JPG]] [[Masai Tournament]]s<br /> <br /> [[Image:Do_symbol.JPG]] [[Weapon Master Mark]]<br /> <br /> <br /> == Do Weekly Events ==<br /> <br /> .: Extension of Oneself Haiku:.<br /> .: Do Joust :.<br /> .: Do Poetry Contest :.<br /> .: Kendo :.<br /> .: Weapon Trivia :.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Do]]</div>

Ffyll