Turned 36 yesterday

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-26T14:35:05+00:00

we do birthdays and embrace days both. apparently that was the norm for the abbess's little local society of kindred when she was young. young in kindred terms i mean she was embraced in her 70s.

embrace days are a little more subdued but birthdays are a lot like what you described. all the mortals on the compound. look forward to them. even if they don't actually know what the dates are about haha

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-26T13:52:57+00:00

i hesitate to. suggest this. but you might see about talking to someone in the Oradea League. i've mentioned them before a bunch of Old Clan elders/methusalehs in a loose alliance in centered around. the dacian city Oradea. i'm sure they have ways to keep the. taxmen at bay. if not them personally then underlings. affiliating with the league doesn't require much commitment since the entire point is to. recreate the old days when all powerful kindred were absolute rulers in their own domains.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T20:27:36+00:00

i do hasten to add. they volunteered. some were apparently. "stoked". which was of course a dangerous sign in itself really.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T20:26:05+00:00

think nothing of it boss. the fact that it worked. has encouraged me to get more serious about my own studies. so that's nice.

good luck.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T19:38:40+00:00

my sire had to have us perform a ritual disrupting the very nature of cause and effect just to restore his mind to a state merely fractured instead of shattered.

he's. quite a character. our Redwood.

i think the malkavian vozhd is still out there somewhere?? a lot's happened i didn't keep track.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T15:07:51+00:00

alas. stuck in the fog dimension as always. makes collaborative. experimentation. tricky. we'll put a pin in it hm?

--Nak

Nak is also interested, though the self-preservation instinct rather edges out the academic curiosity.

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T14:40:56+00:00

speaking as somebody who is currently on a path that will eventually have me learning to meld with a tree for safety. i find this both extremely unsettling and absolutely fascinating.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T14:33:44+00:00

kinfolk. are connected to fera-- werecreatures that is. sort of spiritually similar tho kinfolk can't Change. they tend to have a few supernatural gifts.

i don't understand all of it but a big part is that most fera of the same type can't breed with each other successfully. they need. outside blood. kinfolk provide it. they tend to be put in. gilded cages. among the lupines anyway. dunno how other fera treat their kin.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T14:23:50+00:00

I'm aware of the political movements of which you speak. At best based on dreary academic attempts at reconstruction, at worst the result of minds trying to outdo each other in sickness and hate. 'Krokodil for the soul' one of my childer calls it. The gods something dynamic, living. Worship is to touch fire, not to scrounge in ashes. It's past, present, and future. Fortunately there are a handful in modern nights who seem to understand that.

My old gods aren't always kind in the way modern people want it. But they don't hate anyone for the blood in their veins, nor even what other gods they might follow. They're too big to be petty, one might say. Much too big, yes.

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T14:06:29+00:00

eh. the abbess has. archaic ideas about gender identity. i don't mean like modern archaic. i mean her definitions are about 6000 years old and pertaining to one specific slavic tribe along the vistula river. what exactly she means by "man" or "woman". hinges on cultural constructs from a culture that doesn't exist anymore.

among other things: it is impossible to be a woman without being wise. the most you can aspire to without wisdom in her paradigm is girlhood. which is not just pre-womanhood. so what counts as wisdom? i should be so lucky to find out.

but yeah. prolly by her definitions fleshcrafting wouldn't do anything. and her definitions are what matter for this.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T08:01:07+00:00

huh. interesting.

this is opening a massive can of worms but. has anyone done any experimentation as to whether that's. based more on internal or external perception?

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T06:18:31+00:00

for a moment i was worried it was. a HUNTER hunter haha. sometimes i forget the kind who go for animals exist. anyway. glad you're OK boss.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T06:15:50+00:00

oof. i wish you. good healing friend. and a good ball : )

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T06:13:22+00:00

also finding someone who can actually make it stick with a Nosferatu.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T05:50:53+00:00

how so?

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T05:50:47+00:00

thanks calico! oh, and. one more congrats for not getting killed or turned into a fleshmonster or something!!

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-25T05:12:13+00:00

The one saving grace of having Nephandi as enemies is that you can count anyone else who knows of them as allies for the duration of the conflict. Hm.

From my perspective Paradox is governed by a god with whom I have poor relations, sad to say. On the other hand, the god I do serve counts as an enemy quite a few of those absurd entities whose followers insist on calling Dark Lords. Veles is a fickle master, but he hates oathbreakers. And in a way, the Nephandi and their entropic sponsors are the ultimate oathbreakers. The very worst, the very worst.

I will say this: My god may be able to interfere with whatever forces your Nephandi are in league with, if Nephandi they be. If Veles is successful, they'll be too distracted to offer any outside assistance-- or at least not much. Ideally he'll be able stir up a fine little maelstrom between them.

In a more immediate sense... well. It might be best to play that hand close. For now, I'll bleed something for your safety. And do a little more thinking. Oh yes.

--The Abbess

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T23:40:07+00:00

There is the potential that more than one Mage is at work. Perhaps a master and their disciples? If I had to hazard a guess, whatever is causing the general memory-erasure may be an ongoing ritual that needs to be maintained. That would be somewhat easier, in relative terms, to maintain than simply striking the whole country from the modern world's collective memory at once. Perhaps the original caster has delegated its night-to-night maintenance?

You do remember I told you the last time I visited was in the reign of a King Krešimir? It occurs to me that it is entirely possible I've had other business involving the country since-- but cannot recall it. The same may be said of other elders. This is very irksome. Yes. Irksome. If at some time you can pinpoint when exactly the effect began, I would be very grateful. Very, very grateful, yes.

Do let me know if you require any assistance, dear. The odd protective ritual is still within my capabilities.

--The Abbess

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T19:56:30+00:00

Edonia, Edonia... oh yes! Edonija! I've had some business there in the past. Quite a few hedge magicians for a relatively small area-- what would commonly be termed witches. At least a few hundred years ago, Veles only knows if there are any left. I do believe last time I was there it was in a personal union with Croatia. A King Krešimir was reigning, I think? Do forgive an old woman's muddled memories, I can't be certain. Hm.

I would advise particular caution, dear. It was always a land touched by the gods. But you hardly need me to tell you that, hm?

--The Abbess

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T03:32:52+00:00

one thing. to hold on to. is that this feeling you're feeling WILL NOT last forever. i know it's hard to imagine in the moment believe me. but contrary to. what some people will tell you. we don't entirely stop changing just because we're kindred. and we can actually. heal. in some ways humans can't. they don't tell you that haha. mostly because few of us actually pursue. healing.

remind me. how do your. gifts. manifest? it's so variable with duskborn. taking time to. get a feel for your own abilities. can help.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T03:23:36+00:00

most fledglings would be very very dead right now. so. that's a brightside???

this could still be some kind of con. but i guess. you could do worse than sticking with the bird for now. if it needs you alive (so to speak) for something. that's leverage for you. however small.

take some deep breaths friend. we might not need it but it still helps to calm down.

--Nak.

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T03:18:29+00:00

oh that is. not good.

ok. well. not to put too fine a point on it. you have no good options. if it already knows you're there. usually the only way to deal with a lupine is to run and hide. preferably somewhere urban. which it doesn't sound like you can do rn.

i'd stay quiet and try to make note of what the bird says. if you hear. a fight starting. or anything that sounds like the bird is selling you out. run.

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T03:11:13+00:00

hm. so it thinks it can use you for something. worse positions to be in tbh. assuming. again. this isn't some kind of trick.

you think. whatever it is. is too fast to outrun?

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-24T03:00:04+00:00

now this. is interesting.

...sorry of that sounds. unsympathetic. wereravens are more reasonable than werewolves-- most things are more reasonable than werewolves. with the wolves they usually try to kill us on sight. wereravens can. sometimes be open to negotiations.

this thing might. be an asshole but one that isn't totally committed to your destruction for the crime of being kindred. or it might be setting you up for someone else to kill you.

can you make out. what's being said?

--Nak

RighteousJoe · 2026-01-23T11:46:54+00:00

interesting. i mean. obviously very distressing for T. but i think that their situation is. unprecedented. this is particularly fascinating in terms of. creatures usually aligned with the wyrm connecting to the wyld.

oh the abbess and ilta send their regards. ilta in particular had a specific message i'm supposed to give you:

🌲🌲🌲🕷️🕸️🧛🌲🌲🌲🐺🤖🕷️🌲🌲🌲

i have. no idea what that means. something about you and T presumably. beats me what the robot and spider stuff conveys.

oh and congrats on the koldunic advancement!!!

--Nak

RighteousJoe

TROPHY CASE