 ail
and well met! Welcome to The Way of the Warrior.
I am the Great Lord Elowan Grandmaster Warrior/Armsman,
aspiring magus; honorary Knight of the Roseate Brotherhood;
and Bearer of The Shield. I will not say which shield I
hold since the choice of this honor (and responsibility)
is one of personal philosophy and not germane to this discussion.
The value and meaning of the Shield has changed in any event.
Suffice that our Lord British and Lord Blackthorn are old
friends (once adversaries) and though our Lord British is
Blackthorns liege, each pursues his own philosophy of life.
That this dichotomy is creating strife within our realm
will be discussed anon.
But the bulk of this treatise is not about shields nor Order or Disorder nor yet Virtues but about the Way of the Warrior and how one might pursue that way. I will be thy guide along this path.
My task here before me is to set down a manual of guidance for what has become known as the Way of the Warrior but how shall I begin? Most of these things start out with: "So, thou wishest to be a warrior? Or mage, or tailor, or … whatever." We will avoid such hackneyed cliches here. If thou didst not wish to be a warrior or wonder how one achieves that goal thou wouldst not be reading this. That I have attained the status of Grandmaster signifies that I have learned a thing or two along the way — the greatest advances in knowledge having come from mistakes in judgment. This is not to say that I am a fount of all that is known — far from it. I too am a student. It is this quest for knowledge that has kept me alive these long years.
To begin any tale or lesson, it is well, as I've come to discover, to begin at the beginning. Certainly an elementary concept but one often overlooked. Hence we will hearken back first to the time of thy recruitment. I will assume that thee wishes to follow the path I have chosen. Be aware, however, that many roads lead to Britain and that there is no single path to enlightenment. What follows then is my humble view of the matter.
I encourage all those who might chance to peruse these pages that if they have aught to contribute, that they do so by means of the magical oracle whose talisman is inscribed elsewhere within this place. It matters not that these thoughts may be in contradiction to mine own — all will be considered for inclusion and due credit assigned.
The experiences described within these pages are hard won. I myself have suffered death at least six times — in each case I had only myself to blame. These times will be revealed to thee anon that thou wilt take heed of the lessons contained therein. I am relatively easy going by nature and anger slowly but I confess that being killed makes me grumpy and I tend to avoid the experience whenever I can. Which is not to say that I will run away and leave my fellows to fend for themselves though that has happened to me often enough. I am not a samurai though something of the philosophy of the samurai stirs within me. But I will not charge suicidally into a fray when the odds of success are low. Hence the first of Lord Elowan's aphorisms for the prudent is:
"There are old warriors and there are bold warriors; but there are no old, bold warriors."
Any troll-wit can wield a sword and many who do so would be advised not to cast Mind Blast on anything smarter than a rabbit. But I digress.
As I said, my purpose in this treatise is to keep thee alive so that thou might prosper, though some of what I may say to thee may not be wholly palatable since I'm fond of metaphor. For example one of the aphorism I often proclaim is:
"When in doubt — don't."
I mean by that, that thou shouldst not attempt to do a thing when thy intuition tells thee not to. Listen to thine inner voice. The other aphorism that thou shouldst keep before thee is:
"Because thou mayest do a thing it does not signify that thou shouldst do it."
Hence it may be easy to loot the body of a fallen citizen but it is unseemly and in my view — dishonorable. We will discuss this aspect of life and custom later. The Great God OSI himself has decreed through his avatar our Lord British, that such actions are to be decried and has set certain penalties upon the practice under certain circumstances. There is a rumor afoot that even greater penalties may accrue to this practice. It remains to be seen.
Some of my advice may be at odds with others or with things thou might have read elsewhere. So be it. But it is wise for thee to choose only one mentor at a time and not try to intermix the advice of many because thou hath no frame of reference to separate the wheat from the chaff. I have been successful and still live which of itself should be sufficient recommendation of mine teachings.
This is a story of one man's travels along the Way of the Warrior. Much of what is set down here is historical — after all time waits for no man. There is much to be gleaned here nonetheless and whilst I have endeavored to note those changes that have come since this was first set down it is by no means the 'last word.' The basic tenets are unchanged, however. The code of honor prevails.
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