Narwen Alendiel

[SilverK]

I will miss narwen a lot. She was always there and always kind. Charity like that is hard to come by.

[Styngraven]

Fantastic character to play with, I wish I had involved my own more with her. Good luck on your next! Can't wait to see what it is!

[efuincarnatereturns]

Doomsinger. Loved every interaction with her, across several PCs.

[Lannister]

Narwen felt integral to the setting. It has been a struggle to now think of moving on without her. I really, REALLY enjoyed our interactions and any time Narwen wanted to get down and do some cool mystic vibes it was truly great. I'll really miss her! What a fantastic character!

[MAGIC]

I want to give a big shout-out to the DMs and players for giving me such good material to work with. Several of the poems and stories she told were inspired (or recited wholesale) from things that npcs and pcs have said. I usually try to credit the original authors (be it npcs or engravings or whatnot) but sometimes those things are lost in the moment. In particular - some pieces I loved to rely upon were - "Gone are the years of woe; Coming are those of Plenty" is from the DMs + NPCs. "Deep is the Desert, Long is the Day; Far has the Wanderer Wandered" is from Sister Nebtu. All the bits from the Ayabassim / Stonefolk song, of course.



I also liked to take pieces of poems, translations, or statements and weave them into her stories and poems when they felt appropriate.

There are too many great and touching moments to call out. To many characters whose interactions were great. A lot happens over 2 years. Even going through the screenshots is daunting - I am not a prolific screenshot-taker but I have 19gb of screenshots.

Narwen's course and interests changed quite drastically with the Marcellus Assuru Rescue as well as the encounter with the Ayabassim Warrior on one of the Orc Raids. She would never be the warrior-skald that Ipqu the Sundered was, but his one appearance gave her so much to work with and filled me with the belief - as a player - that the songs and stories we tell as players can amount to something more than just filling the time.





I was inspired to try to enact what was essentially a Hero Quest from Glorantha - A ritualistic re-enactment of mythological events with the hopes of - through this sacred reenactment - affecting the present in some meaningful way. Mad love to Alejandro for just accepting the idea and helping (when he was the Seat of Research for the Divan) and for the DMs for running with it. Alejandro wrote most of the Ab-Yuxartes script, Narwen wrote most of the Ab-Rorus one, but they both collaborated on each others. Special thanks to all the pcs who participated in them - sometimes with very little prompting other than "here's the lines you should recite, but otherwise go with the flow and do what feels right."

One of Narwen's biggest hangups was being left behind (her kinband dying in such a traumatic way really affected her) and going unrecognized. She didn't really know how to navigate the social systems, so she would get a little jilted when she would see other people's songs and poems added to the 'official' library of the Krak but hers would go unnoticed :D It's touching to see such an outpouring of support for the character, as well as an appreciation for some of her works.

"Ab-Yuxartes"

Ab-Yuxartes
Slew Rak'nam, reviled progeny of the murderer Cyaxares, after two-score days of contest amidst the Dunes.

Earth & Fire:
We sing of the Days of Myth,
We chant of the Days of Legend,
We whisper of Ab-Yuxarte's hunt amidst the dunes...

Fire:
The Axe is raised, the Axe!
Reforged are the Cohorts, for Rage and Sorrow!
They march, and leave naught but ruin!
They march, and Rak'nam leads them!

    Rak'nam:
    Recall the Bloom and Flower!
    Recall the Bronze and Silver!
    Make Axe, and in that making: Fury!
    To make Purity, in blood forged.

Fire:
The Axe is raised, the Axe!
The Axe is held high!
The Axe descends, the Axe!
It clefts the brother's temple.

Earth:
So rage the Clans, so leave they ruin:
So rings the widows' lament.
No army can stop them! No city!
And thus comes Ab-Yuxartes:

    Ab-Yuxartes:
    Long are the Ages; longer, the Sorrows.
    For the Shame, for the Shame!
    Shatter, and cry,
    And shatter again!

Earth:
So rages the Storm, so cloud the skies.
So rings the Shame of Ages.
Upon the field of battle,
So too clash the Warlord and the Ayyabasim.

    Rak'nam: (charging upon his foe)
    For Bronze! For Bloom!

    Ab-Yuxartes: (charging upon his foe)
    For the Shame! For the Sorrow!

(They begin fighting. Earth and Fire circle them, singing again and again, these verses, so long as the battle continues)

Fire: And so do the hours pass!
Earth: And so does Axe meet Spear!
Fire & Earth: And so and so and so
Fire & Earth: Does the ground drink blood, spilled.

Earth: And so do the days pass!
Fire: And so fight Rak'nam and Ab-Yuxartes!
Fire & Earth: And so and so and so
Fire & Earth: Does Pra'raj circle the heavens.

Fire: And so do the weeks pass!
Earth: And so watch, the clans, the armies!
Fire & Earth: And so and so and so
Fire & Earth: Does History hold its breath.

Earth: And does the moon pass!
Fire: And so does their pain sing!
Fire & Earth: And so and so and so
Fire & Earth: Does the Wheel turn.

(The battle ends when one is defeated. The other falls to the ground, too)

Fire: And so does Rak'nam bleed!
Earth: And so does Ab-Yuxartes shatter!
Fire & Earth: And so and so and so
Fire & Earth: After forty days: an end to battle.

    Rak'nam: (Laying down, in agony)
    For Bloom... For Bronze...

    Ab-Yuxartes: (Laying down, in agony)
    For the Sorrow... For the Shame...

Fire & Earth:
And so, the Cohorts are broken.
And so, the people sigh.
And so, we honor the sacrifice.
And here and there,
And there and here,
An ending to this tale.

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"Ab-Rorus"

Ab-Rorus
Amidst an Ash Storm, on the day of Aeb's shame, she did gift her last drops of water to a wounded scholar.

Air & Water:
We sing of the Days of Myth,
We chant of the Days of Legend,
We whisper on the Day of Aeb's Shame...

Air:
Hard storms bite
A Wanderer wanders
There, we find the Scholar
Lost...

    Scholar:
    Deep is the desert,
    Long is the day.
    Far has the Wanderer wandered.

Air:
Sore are his feet,
Parched is his throat,
He clutches his side,
Bleeding...

Scholar:
    ...
Countless steps taken
Over the study of Ages
Yet with this
Did I falter?

Air:
All hope is lost for him.
Alone in the sand.
Alone in the ash.
Alone...

Water:
From a gust of wind,
From a billow of sand,
From the rocks and sand,
Flowing.

    Ab-Rorus:
    For the shame, for the shame!
    Shatter, and cry,
    And shatter again!

Water:
From the storm she comes
From the biting ash
From the dark she comes
Illuminated by the Scholar's lamp.

Water:
She stands tall above the Scholar
The bronze pitted and scoured by sand
The spear pitted and scoured by sand
Defiant.

Ab-Rorus:
...


Water:
To the little wanderer, she comes.
To the little wanderer, she listens.
Their words, stolen by the winds.
They are known to none by they.

Water:
O! What is said between them,
To move Ab-Rorus so?
O! What is said?

Air:
Hard storms bite,
Yet in this biting,
Small wonders are made,
Both great and small.

Water:
Ab-Rorus gives to the Scholar
The last drops of her water,
The last drops of her life,
This, to the Scholar, she gives.

(Ab-Rorus 'dies' here. Represented by her kneeling down in the sand and lowers her head?)

    Scholar:
    And you and I, my friend,
    Have waded the ash,
    Have sifted the sands,
    Have tasted the Water of Life.

    And you and I, my friend,
    Have met once before,
    And shall meet again,
    And name all the Names,
    And dance in the ash
    At the End of the End.

Air & Water:
And so, Ab-Rorus passes
And so, the Scholar lives
And so the Wheel turns.
And so, and so, and so.

Air & Water:
Weeping, we give back.
And so, we honor her gift.
And so, we lament her passing.
And so, we weep.
And here and there,
And there and here,
An ending to this tale.

[close]

[MAGIC]

Fun facts: Narwen had synesthesia, which would explain some of the odd colours or auras she would paint around things. It didn't come up too often in rp, and was one of those things that if it wasn't constantly reinforced it would tend to become forgotten.

The maps were originally going to be by some unnamed narrator, like the pre-mission cut-scenes in Myth, but the dm insisted that I make Narwen herself responsible for them. I was a little bit hesitant as I didn't want to intrude upon the Torchbearer's Thing, but I think the maps served different enough roles / scopes / scales that it was okay.

I had never worked with watercolours in any serious attempt before. Her later paintings were to represent a sort of... watercolour-based augury. Load up the paper with lots of water and see what sorts of patterns emerge from the flow of the paint as well as the warping of the paper - and then try to accentuate some of them with touch-ups. It was fun, but often I just wasn't in the mood to paint - art is a very emotional thing for me, I have to be in the right mood for it.

Narwen often modeled her behavior and speech mannerisms around those she was surrounded by. She would speak and behave more like Nebtu when she was trying to sound smart or writing reports, and so forth.

[Aniel]

i miss the funcolyte ;(

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[efuincarnatereturns]

I miss Narwen. Such a staple of the server for so long. Really glad I got to interact with her across a few pcs!